Wolffianism

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In philosophical historical and contemporary sources, Wolffianism is a school-like philosophical movement during the Enlightenment that is based on Christian Wolff . The representatives of this rationalist movement are called Wolffians.

Historical meaning

In the middle of the 18th century Wolffians held almost all the philosophical chairs in German universities. With Wolff and his students, it was established in Germany to publish philosophical works in German instead of Latin. Only then did a German philosophical terminology emerge. The philosophy of Wolff's university followers was also referred to as the school philosophy .

As early as 1737, this first school founded by a German philosopher had more than 100 university teachers as supporters. Wolff's teaching, which systematized more traditional knowledge, was accepted across all classes and religions. Since many Lutherans knew how to connect their views with this system, a "Protestant scholasticism " soon developed . Most of the followers, with the exception of Alexander G. Baumgarten, however, were only epigones .

The most important representatives are Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (1714–1762), who founded the German aesthetic , and Martin Knutzen , the teacher of Immanuel Kant . Kant himself taught in his “pre-critical” time (i.e. before the appearance of the Critique of Pure Reason ) according to textbooks from school philosophy.

Well-known Wolffians are u. a. Georg Bernhard Bilfinger (1693–1750), Johann Gustav Reinbeck (1683–1741), Christian Gabriel Fischer (approx. 1690–1751), Siegmund Jacob Baumgarten (1706–1757), Christian Gottlieb Jöcher (1694–1758), Johann Christoph Gottsched (1700–1766), Lorenz Schmid or Ludwig Philipp Thümmig (1697–1728). The Leipzig scholar Carl Günther Ludovici made an extensive list of the “most noble Wolffians” in 1738. Elsewhere, Ludovici gives an overview of the "argument writings of Leibnitz = Wolffish opponents". The latter have been known as anti-wolffians since 1741 .

See also

literature

  • Martin Mulsow : Free spirits in the Gottsched circle. Wolffianism, student activities and criticism of religion in Leipzig 1740–1745 . Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-8353-0202-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schischkoff, Philosophical Dictionary, 22nd ed., 1991, p. 792
  2. ↑ Vorländer , History of Philosophy, 5th edition, 1919, § 28
  3. ↑ Hirschberger, History of Philosophy, 13th edition, 1991, p. 261
  4. ^ Carl Günther Ludovici: Detailed draft of a complete history of Wolffian philosophy , Leipzig 1737/1738, third and last part, pp. 230–309.
  5. ↑ Carl Günther Ludovici: Latest Merckworthiness of Leibnitzisch-Wolffischen Weltweisheit , Frankfurt and Leipzig 1738, p. 391-525.
  6. ↑ Pellis detracta or clearer knowledge that Mr. MXYZ is as much the older as the younger, a person and an anti-Wolfian at that, to control the truth and teach the world ... From the author of some as yet unprinted writings, Anspach [= Ansbach] 1741.