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The German Enlightenment: Modern Interpretations

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Late Ancient Platonism in Eighteenth-Century German Thought

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Abstract

This chapter presents and discusses interpretations of German Enlightenment thought advanced over the last hundred years, notably those current in contemporary scholarship. It discusses whether it is possible to determine the period in an essentialist manner, valid to the European Enlightenment, or only according to national and more local categories. Jonathan Israel’s interpretation of the European, so-called ‘radical Enlightenment’ is discussed critically, and it is argued that religion and philosophy were not separated in the German Enlightenment, but intimately connected.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Cassirer 1932, xi.

  2. 2.

    E.g. Cassirer 1932, 301–302.

  3. 3.

    Gay 1967–1970, I: 2–27.

  4. 4.

    Darnton 1971, 113–124.

  5. 5.

    This view is also explained in Pocock 2008.

  6. 6.

    Bödeker 1989, 145–195.

  7. 7.

    Israel 2001, 2006, 2010.

  8. 8.

    Israel 2001, v.

  9. 9.

    Israel 2001, vi.

  10. 10.

    Israel 2001, vi.

  11. 11.

    Israel 2006, 11–12, 511–512.

  12. 12.

    See, for instance, the criticism raised against Israel 2001, 2006 in by McMahon 2007, 614–616. McMahon argues convincingly that Israel misrepresents his material in order to make it fit into his pre-conceived scheme. See also the points made about Israel’s 2001 volume in Kors 2003, 459–460. According to Kors, Israel under-estimates the role of orthodox theologians and philosophers in Enlightenment philosophy. Ruler 2007 has criticised Israel’s 2006 volume for over-estimating the role of Spinoza and Spinozism in the context of secularization. For further criticism of Israel’s interpretation, see Erdozain 2017.

  13. 13.

    Israel 2006, 409–542, has a section, “Intellectual Emancipation”, dedicated to the emergence of history of philosophy in the Eighteenth century; German histories of philosophy are at the centre of this section.

  14. 14.

    Israel 2006, 479.

  15. 15.

    Israel 2006, 477–478.

  16. 16.

    Catana 2008, 147–192.

  17. 17.

    Compare Israel’s interpretation with Catana 2008, 147–191; and Catana 2010, 70–73.

  18. 18.

    Mulsow 2002, 175–296. In this work, he does not examine the reception of Plotinus and Porphyry in German Enlightenment thought.

  19. 19.

    Mulsow 2002, 175–176.

  20. 20.

    Mulsow 2002, 175–205. For an analysis of Heumann’s interpretation of philosophia perennis, in this case Hebrew philosophy, see Mahlev 2015.

  21. 21.

    Varani 2008, 23–28, 405–475.

  22. 22.

    Varani 2008, 229–231, thus deals with Heumann’s ‘Das Leben Plotini vom Porphyrio bescrieben’ (Heumann 1715b), but she does not connect it to Heumann’s overall endeavour to dismantle the biographical tradition, and she does not connect Heumann’s review of Porphyry’s Plotinus biography to his text on Laertius, that is, Heumann, ‘V. Diogenes Laertius De vitis philosophorum’ (Heumann 1715c).

  23. 23.

    Varani 2008, 228–240 (dedicated to Heumann), does not engage with Heumann’s ‘Einleitung zur historia philosophica’ (Heumann 1715–1716).

  24. 24.

    For Martin Luther and his reformation, see Killy and Vierhaus 1995–2003, VI: 536–538.

  25. 25.

    For Luther’s reformation, its confessional divisions and development in sixteenth-century Europe, see Bagchi and Steinmetz 2004.

  26. 26.

    Hsia 1989.

  27. 27.

    For Thomasius and his role in German Enlightenment, see Ahnert 2005, 2006.

  28. 28.

    For Heumann, see Cassius 1768 and Sparn 1988.

  29. 29.

    François 1998, 99–109.

  30. 30.

    Catana 2008, 147–191.

  31. 31.

    Killy and Vierhaus 1995–2003, V: 9; Krumwiede 1972.

  32. 32.

    Killy and Vierhaus 1995–2003, II: 149.

  33. 33.

    Alt 1926, 51, 86. For this issue, see François 1998.

  34. 34.

    For Plotinus, see Gerson 2014; for Porphyry, see Emilsson 2015.

  35. 35.

    For Diderot’s use of Brucker’s Historia critica philosophiae, see Proust 1962, 233–293, 548–555; Casini 1962, 259 n. 95.

  36. 36.

    For the rediscovery of Laertius’ Lives, see Tolomio 1993.

  37. 37.

    The ‘Dissertatio praeliminaris’ can be found in Brucker 1742–1767, I: 3–45. This methodological aspect is dealt with in Catana 2008, 11–34.

  38. 38.

    For Plato, see Brucker 1742–1767, I: 627–728; for Aristotle, see I: 776–839; for Bruno, see V: 6, 7, 9–10, 12–62, and VI: 809–816. I examine Brucker’s account of Plato in Catana 2008, 73–94; his account of Aristotle on 94–108; and his account of Bruno on 35–62.

  39. 39.

    See Catana 2008, 147–168.

  40. 40.

    See Catana 2008, 169–177.

  41. 41.

    See Catana 2008, 193–329.

  42. 42.

    Heumann, ‘VI. Das Leben Plotini vom Porphyrio beschrieben’ (Heumann 1715b). This text was not included in Catana 2008.

  43. 43.

    Brucker 1742–1767, II: 162–188, deals with Middle Platonism; in II: 189–462, he deals with Neoplatonism. A few of these pages I discussed in a very peripheral manner; see Catana 2008, 74 n. 45 (discussing Brucker 1742–1767, II: 163.17–22), 74 n. 47 (discussing Brucker 1742–1767, II: 163.17–22, 165.20–166.4).

  44. 44.

    E.g. Lamm 2005, 92.

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  1. Division of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Leo Catana

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Catana, L. (2019). The German Enlightenment: Modern Interpretations. In: Late Ancient Platonism in Eighteenth-Century German Thought. International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées, vol 227. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20511-9_1

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