Salomon Maimon: rational dogmatist, empirical skeptic

Repository | Series | Book

Springer, Dordrecht

2003

304 Pages

ISBN 978-90-481-6363-2

Studies in German Idealism
vol. 2

Salomon Maimon: rational dogmatist, empirical skeptic

critical assessments

Edited by

Gideon Freudenthal

Salomon Maimon (1753-1800), one of the most fascinating characters of eighteenth-century intellectual history, came from a traditional orthodox Jewish community in Eastern Europe to Berlin to seek Enlightenment. Maimon remained an outsider: an 'Ostjude' among the enlightened Jews in Berlin, a freethinker among observant Jews and a Jew among the non-Jews. His autobiography became a classic of autobiographical literature of the Enlightenment. His 'inter-cultural' experience is reflected in his philosophy. Indebted to the Maimonidean as well as to the modernEuropean (notably Kantian) philosophical tradition, he attempted a synthesis of normally exclusive orientations: 'Rational Dogmatism' and 'Empirical Skepticism'. Maimon's importance in the development from Kant to German Idealism has been acknowledged, but the interpretation of his own philosophical position suffered much from this narrow perspective. The essays of leading scholars collected in this volume focus on his synthesis of 'Rational Dogmatism' and 'Empirical Skepticism'.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-2936-9

Full citation:

Freudenthal, G. (ed) (2003). Salomon Maimon: rational dogmatist, empirical skeptic: critical assessments, Springer, Dordrecht.

Table of Contents

A philosopher between two cultures

Freudenthal Gideon

1-17