Johann Gottlob Heynig

Johann Gottlob Heynig (born April 11, 1772 in Plauen ; † February 2, 1837 there ) was a German philosopher, historian and publicist.

Life

Heynig attended high school in his hometown and studied theology in Wittenberg from 1791 , philosophy in Jena from spring 1795 and was de-registered in the autumn of the same year because of the publication of writings critical of religion and society. In January 1796 he began an unsteady wandering life, which he u. a. to Leipzig, Göttingen, Berlin, Altona, Zwickau, Hof, Heidelberg, Mannheim, Erfurt, Dresden, Wittenberg, Schleusingen, Merseburg, Bad Kösen and finally back to his hometown Plauen in 1820. In June 1803 he married Sophie von Breitenbauch (died 1820), the niece of Weimar Chamberlain Georg August von Breitenbauch (1731-1817), with whom he had five children. In 1816 Sophie Heynig, née von Breitenbauch, separated from her husband. From 1822 to 1831 he published the sporadic magazine “Der teutsche Sokrates aus dem Vogtland ” in Plauen .

effect

Heynig (pseudonyms also Samuel Psik Schalscheleth and Wekhrlin the Younger) left an extensive z. Partly polemical work that sank almost completely into insignificance. About 40 independent writings can be identified, most of which appeared in small editions in various places. After all, two of his writings against Kant and a replica of Kant's essay On Eternal Peace in the 20th Century were reprinted. But also in his admiration and later condemnation of Fichte and in objections to Schelling he left marginal traces in their editions of works, even if the respective registers do not know his exact life dates. His writings deal with historical, philosophical, psychological, theological and political topics. In an autobiography he reports on his difficulties in school and university and presents himself as a “lateral thinker” whose academic success was thwarted by malicious forces ( JG Heynig's brief life story: together with a reasoning list of his writings Strasbourg 1806 and 1809). In fact, the remarks of his contemporaries are rather distant to dismissive, the universities warned against his appearance.

In secondary philosophical literature, Heynig only appears in footnotes, if at all. His journalistic work was occasionally mentioned ( Alfred Estermann 1991), his propaedeutic of history is occasionally cited in essays on the history of historical science and his psychological writings ( Psychological Magazine ) are published by Eckardt et al. 2001 appreciated in more detail. Heynig's approach can be described as eclectic , polemical and anti-metaphysical. Philosophically, especially in the writings against Kant and later Fichte, he takes the standpoint of a naive realism, in the peace writings in a plebeian, popular enlightenment tradition. Occasionally, and especially in his last work, anti-Jewish tones can be heard. The scattered and z. Heynig's partly lost work reflects the philosophical and political issues of the time of classical German idealism from the point of view of a poor, wandering, self-thinking and academically hapless scholar. T. epigonal and eccentric way again. Nevertheless, the private scholar, who knocks at numerous universities, sometimes achieves astonishing insights. “There is a big, but hair-fine difference between wanting to think something and really thinking something. In the first case one usually only imagines that one is thinking something; but doesn't really think anything ... "

Works (selection)

• Historical-geographical description of Wittenberg and its university, including their current state. Frankfurt and Leipzig 1795
• The poor deceived Jews! Or Moses and Messiah revealed and uncovered for the second and last supper. Cologne Peter Hammer 1798
• Immanuel Kant's draft for eternal peace. Germania (d. I. Hamburg) 1797 (reprint in: Ewiger Frieden? Documents of a German discussion around 1800. Leipzig and Weimar Kiepenheuer and Munich Beck 1989, pp. 257–271)
• To Professor Fichte in his philosophical solitude. Jena and Leipzig Gabler 1795 (only detectable in the BSB Munich, lost there)
• About the immense harmfulness of brandy distillery. Presented to all authorities for their consideration by a German patriot. Altona Publishing Company 1798
• Correction of the opinions of the public about Kant and his philosophy. Not from a guild scholar or sect philosopher, but from a mere person. Cöln Peter Hammer 1797 online (reprint: Brussels 1968)
• Challenge to Professor Kant in Koenigsberg, either to justify the main tenets of his transcendental philosophy anew, or to take them back as inadmissible. Leipzig Kummer 1798 (reprint: Brussels 1968)
• Psychological magazine. Altenburg Richter 1796/7
• Heraclius. An oriental story from the times of the Arab world revolution. Leipzig Grasse 1802
• Forced declaration to the philosophers and critics in the world-famous science city Jena, either to defend the attacked Kantine philosophy, or to condemn it as invalid. Berlin 1799
• Europe's duty to drive the Turks back to Asia and to unite Greece with the Occident. Leipzig Grasse 1801 (second edition Dessau 1821)
• Genius of humanity or the true revolution. Zwickau and Leipzig Friedrich Schumann 1803
• Ideas for the history of the great corridor of culture and humanity in the world. Zwickau Friedrich Schumann 1803
• Thuringian folk history, in two parts, first part. Nuremberg and Sulzbach Seidel 1804
• Plato and Aristotle, or the transition from idealism to empiricism. Nuremberg and Sulzbach Seidel 1804
• Attempt at a propaedeutic of history. Hall Bäntsch 1805
• JG Heynig's brief life story: together with a reasoning list of his writings. Strasbourg 1806 and 1809
• The immortality of the human soul is beyond all doubt. Erfurt 1809 (several editions, translation into Dutch)
• The German Socrates from Voigtland in free communications to all who are concerned with light and truth and justice and the only human welfare that comes from them. Plauen 1822-1826
• The salvation of the world from the north. Plauen 1836

literature

• A. Neupert senior: Dr. phil. JG Heynig, "the German Socrates from the Vogtland" , in: Mitteilungen des Altertumsverein Plauen i. V., 19th annual Plauen 1908; Pp. 45-52.
• Alfred Estermann : The German literary magazines 1815-1850 Vol. 3, Munich 1991
• G. Eckardt: Anthropology and empirical psychology around 1800 Cologne Weimar Vienna 2001, pp. 177–182.
• M. John: Heynig, Johann Gottlob in: Famous Vogtlander Part 3; Association for Vogtland History, Plauen 2002, p. 45.

swell

1. ↑ The Lutterhaus - a museum story
2. ↑ The tumult of the University of Jena
3. ↑ JG Heynig in: Monthly for Germans , July 1801.