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Salomon Maimon (1753-1800), one of the most fascinating characters of eighteenth-century intellectual history, came from a traditional orthodox Jewish community in Eastern Europe to Berlin to seek Enlightenment. Maimon remained an outsider: an 'Ostjude' among the enlightened Jews in Berlin, a freethinker among observant Jews and a Jew among the non-Jews. His autobiography became a classic of autobiographical literature of the Enlightenment. His 'inter-cultural' experience is reflected in his philosophy. Indebted to the Maimonidean as well as to the modern European (notably Kantian) philosophical tradition, he attempted a synthesis of normally exclusive orientations: 'Rational Dogmatism' and 'Empirical Skepticism'. Maimon's importance in the development from Kant to German Idealism has been acknowledged, but the interpretation of his own philosophical position suffered much from this narrow perspective.
The essays of leading scholars collected in this volume focus on his synthesis of 'Rational Dogmatism' and 'Empirical Skepticism'.
List of contents
A Philosopher between Two Cultures.- The Logic of Speculative Philosophy and Skepticism in Maimon's Philosophy: Satz der Bestimmbarkeit and the Role of Synthesis.- : From Kant to Leibniz? Salomon Maimon and the Question of Predication.- Salomon Maimon's Philosophy and Its Place in the Enlightenment: Wandering in the Land of Difference.- Intuition and Diversity: Kant and Maimon on Space and Time.- Causa materialis: Solomon Maimon, Moses ben Maimon and the Possibility of Philosophical Transmission.- Maimon's Subversion of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason: There Are No Synthetic a priori Judgments in Physics.- Maimon's "Quid Facti" Argument.- What should Kantians learn from Maimon's Skepticism?.- Maimon and Fichte.- Salomon Maimon als Rezensent, nebst einer bisher unbeachteten Rezension.- Appendices.- The Published Works of Maimon.- Concordance.- Abbreviations.- The Contributors.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.
Summary
Salomon Maimon (1753-1800), one of the most fascinating characters of eighteenth-century intellectual history, came from a traditional orthodox Jewish community in Eastern Europe to Berlin to seek Enlightenment. Maimon remained an outsider: an 'Ostjude' among the enlightened Jews in Berlin, a freethinker among observant Jews and a Jew among the non-Jews. His autobiography became a classic of autobiographical literature of the Enlightenment. His 'inter-cultural' experience is reflected in his philosophy. Indebted to the Maimonidean as well as to the modern European (notably Kantian) philosophical tradition, he attempted a synthesis of normally exclusive orientations: 'Rational Dogmatism' and 'Empirical Skepticism'. Maimon's importance in the development from Kant to German Idealism has been acknowledged, but the interpretation of his own philosophical position suffered much from this narrow perspective.
The essays of leading scholars collected in this volume focus on his synthesis of 'Rational Dogmatism' and 'Empirical Skepticism'.
