Johann Bernhard Merian

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Johann Bernhard Merian (born September 28, 1723 in Liestal near Basel , † February 12, 1807 in Berlin ) was a Swiss philosopher and director of the philological class of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and from 1797 permanent secretary of the academy.

Live and act

Merian studied philology and philosophy at the University of Basel as a teenager and received his doctorate in 1740. After unsuccessful attempts to get a job at a university, he studied theology and then accepted positions as private tutor and court master in Lausanne and Amsterdam. In 1749 Maupertuis proposed him as a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, which made him a full member in 1750 elected to the academy. In 1757 he became librarian at the academy and in 1769 inspector and professor of philosophy at the French Gymnasium , which had close ties to the Prussian Academy. From 1771 to 1797 he was director of the Philological Class of the Academy. Since the academy was no longer headed by a president from 1759 (this office was only reintroduced in 1939), the directors of the classes determined the business of the academy until the academy was reformed in 1812. From 1773 he also worked as a visitor at the Joachimsthal School . From 1797 until his death in 1807 he was permanent secretary of the academy.

Scientifically, Merian worked mainly in the field of philosophy. In his approximately fifty philosophical treatises that were published in French, he dealt with writings by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Christian Wolff , among others . Between 1770 and 1780 he gave a series of lectures on the Molyneux problem . As early as the 1750s, he was translating the writings of David Hume .

literature

  • Carl von Prantl: Merian, Johann Bernhard . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) . Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, p. 428-430 ( deutsche-biographie.de ).
  • Miriam Baumeister: Johann Bernhard Merian. In: Personal Lexicon of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft. Verlag Basel-Landschaft, accessed on March 22, 2020 .
  • Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (Hrsg.): Selected literature references from the holdings of the academy library . Johann Bernhard Merian. Berlin 2002 (directory of the writings by and about JB Merian).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Historical academy members: Johann Bernhard Merian. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, accessed on March 22, 2020 .
  2. ^ President of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (Hrsg.): A history of over 300 years. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, formerly Prussian Academy of Sciences . BBAW, Berlin, p. 128 ( bbaw.de ).
personal data
SURNAME Merian, Johann Bernhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mérian, Jean Bernard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss philosopher and member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1723
PLACE OF BIRTH Liestal
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 1807
Place of death Berlin