From October 9 to 14, the School of Foreign Languages and the Humboldt Center for Transdisciplinary Studies at Hunan Normal University co-hosted the third International Humboldt Day Forum themed “Humboldt’s Cosmos: Ethics and Aesthetics” at the Tenglong Building. The event featured a series of academic activities including themed lectures and keynote speeches, commemorating the legacy of German naturalist, travel writer, and philosopher Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859).
The forum officially opened on October 10, with over 100 experts, scholars, faculty members, and students from China and abroad in attendance. Prof. Yang Zhen, Vice President and member of the Party Standing Committee of Hunan Normal University, delivered the opening address, emphasizing the forum’s significance in advancing the university’s “Double First-Class” discipline of foreign languages and literature. He noted that the Humboldt Center—grounded in national academic strategies and global scholarly collaboration—serves as a platform for elevating Chinese scholarship on the world stage and strengthening international academic networks.
Prof. Zhang Longxi, former president of the International Comparative Literature Association (2016–2019) and “Xiaoxiang Scholar” at Hunan Normal University, highlighted Humboldt’s interdisciplinary approach and its roots in Enlightenment-era organicism. He pointed out that Humboldt's work continues to offer important insights into global interconnectivity, further underscored by the rich discussions anticipated at this year’s forum.
Prof. Ottmar Ette, Director of the Humboldt Center, “Xiaoxiang Scholar,” and member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, expressed gratitude to the organizers and announced ongoing efforts to establish a global Humboldt research network. The network currently includes centers in Berlin, Havana, Changsha, and a newly established one in Kazakhstan. He also announced that the fourth Humboldt Day will take place in Chongqing in 2026.
The two-day keynote session that followed featured 13 scholars addressing diverse aspects of Humboldt’s thought, including ethics and aesthetics in his concept of nature, Confucian ethics, Humboldt’s relation to modernity, and the role of motion in his writing. Presenters included Prof. Li Xuetao (Beijing Foreign Studies University), Prof. Stefanie Buchenau (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), Prof. Alfred Hornung (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz), and others.
The Humboldt Day series also included three thematic lectures. On October 9, Prof. Li Xuetao delivered a talk titled “The Outsider’s Contribution: Cultural Contexts and Interpretive Challenges of ‘Only the Chinese Understand China.’” On the evenings of October 11 and 14, Prof. Feng Yalin (Sichuan International Studies University) and Prof. Stefanie Buchenau held lectures on Kafka’s “Positional Beings” and Kant’s concept of Earth, respectively.
This year’s Humboldt Day not only provided a platform for scholarly exchange in Humboldt studies and German literature but also fostered China-Germany and China-Europe academic partnerships. It further supported the internationalization of Hunan Normal University’s “Double First-Class” disciplines and laid groundwork for future Sino-German research and educational collaboration.