Friedrich Max Müller: The Career and Intellectual Trajectory of a German Philologist in Victorian Britain

Abstract

The Oxford-based German comparative philologist, Friedrich Max Müller (1823–1900), ignored for much of the time since his death, attracted renewed scholarly interest in the last few decades of the twentieth century. This article summarizes some of the existing research on Müller, while also reintroducing him as the most influential comparative philologist in Victorian Britain. Subjects examined include Müller’s early life and education, his focus on Sanskrit studies, his career in Oxford, his role as the first President of the English Goethe Society, his debates with Darwin and others on the origin and nature of language, and his broader influence on anthropological and religious questions in Victorian intellectual life.