Georg Jonathan of Holland

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Georg Jonathan von Holland (born August 6, 1742 in Rosenfeld , Württemberg , † April 11, 1784 in Stuttgart ) was a German philosopher, mathematician and teacher.

Live and act

Holland attended the Latin school in Rosenfeld and then studied mathematics, philosophy and theology in the monasteries of Blaubeuren and Bebenhausen . He completed his studies at the theological seminar of the Evangelical Monastery in Tübingen . He completed his studies in Tübingen in 1763 with a master's degree .

In 1765 he became a private tutor and tutor for the sons of Duke Friedrich Eugen von Württemberg . In recognition of his erudition, he was awarded the title of extraordinary professor of philosophy at the University of Tübingen . A position that he never took on, rather he accompanied his pupils entrusted to him on trips to Lausanne and later to the ducal estates in Pomerania and Silesia .

Catherine II invited him to Saint Petersburg . There he advanced to the rank of Imperial Russian captain and at the same time was raised to the nobility as a baron . He spent some time in Saint Petersburg and then went to Lüben in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship .

In 1783 he was emaciated and one can probably suspect tuberculosis . So ill he traveled back to Stuttgart, where he died in the following year despite several attempts at healing.

In his essay "Réflexions philosophiques sur le système de la Nature" (1773), he railed against those of Baron d'Holbach wrote and published in 1770 in two volumes work Système de la Nature ou Des Loix du Monde et Physique du Monde morality or short Système de la Nature . The first German translation of the Système de la Nature by d'Holbach was only available in 1783. Of all his writings, the Réflexions philosophiques sur le systême de la Nature , first published in London in 1772, was the most recognized. It was published by Johann Carl Wezel as Philosophical Notes on the System of Nature in the same year in German and only one year later in French in Paris.

His correspondence with Johann Heinrich Lambert is still worth reading today, particularly about the justification of differential calculus and a mathematical representation of philosophy based on Ploucquet's and Lambert's own attempts in this direction. This correspondence is contained in the first volume of the German scholarly correspondence from Lambert published by Johann III Bernoulli .

Works (selection)

  • Contents of Kästner's lecture on the Newtonian parallelogram. Cotta, Tuebingen 1765.
  • Reflections philosophiques on the system of nature. 2 Vol. Paris 1772. (2nd edition. Valade, Paris 1773)
  • Writing about the assessment of the Plocquetic calculus in the literary letters. Tuebingen 1763.
  • Treatise on mathematics, the general art of drawing, and the variety of types of calculation. Tuebingen 1764.
  • Correspondence. in Johann Heinrich Lambert's German learned correspondence, Ed. J. Bernoulli, 1 Vol. Berlin / Dessau 1781.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Moritz Cantor:  Holland, Georg Jonathan von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 748 f.
personal data
SURNAME Holland, Georg Jonathan from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holland, Georg Jonathan Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mathematician and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH August 6, 1742
PLACE OF BIRTH Rose field
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1784
Place of death Stuttgart