The consoling metaphysics of Moses Mendelssohn

Abstract

Moses Mendelssohn, generally known for his contribution for the emancipation of Jews was besides one of the most important German enlighteners. His oeuvre has been commonly ignored for a long time due to the fact that his demonstrations of the immortality of the soul, God and his concept of providence were soon outdated with the birth of Kants critical philosophy. While most of the scholars considered him as a philosopher of the German old rationalist school in the line of Wolff and Baumgarten, or even branded him as a popular philospher, his work should be reexamined in a new light. For he didn´t just remained faithful to the old classic metaphysical demonstrations, providing them with a new form, but rather he also guessed at this new time coming. With this in mind he tried to safeguard the main metaphysical ideas resorting to a practical approach. This makes him a forerunner of the critical philosophy.