With his commitment to anthropology over philosophy, Johann Gottfried Herder is from the very beginning in opposition to the concept of a transcendental philosophy purified reason. Against the purisms of reason, he insists that reason cannot be constituted without being influenced by experience and must be tied back to language. The question of the origin of language can only be answered in connection with all the sensory forces through which humans relate to the world. In the connection to the body, Herder finds not only the sensuality defined but also all the cognitive powers of humanity. Even in the most abstract operations of the intellect, we remain what we have always been: a thinking common sensory.