The aesthetics and scientific programme of Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841) are largely forgotten today, although being of key importance in the 19th century just as the theoretical tradition that followed Herbart. The Herbartian scientific programme did not only initiate the decline of idealism, but also laid essential foundations for art and music studies, structuralism, »Völkerpsychologie«, psychoanalysis and the Vienna Circle. The study shows, that the Herbartian aesthetics have been as fundamental for the functionalist idea of form in literary and art studies as well as for the theory formation in the humanities.