Contributors to the genesis of Europe: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and his followers

Abstract

In spite of some difficulties the economic unification of Europe will eventually come to completion. The political unity will probably follow in the near future. Nations have realised that many modern problems concern the whole world and can no longer be solved on a national level. In Western Europe the recognition that the national state is an anachronism has emerged. This concept will accelerate the integration. Throughout history many great minds have been active and have contributed to present developments. As recent research has established, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, eighteenth century critic, dramatist and humanist, is not only the German share in European cultural development, but also beyond this in the genesis of Europe.’ Lessing’s works exhibit a profound knowledge of the great thinkers and writers of ancient as well as the following centuries alongside his own individual ideas. Particularly his late works, the dialogues of “Ernst und Falk” (1778), the drama “Nathan der Weise” (Nathan the Wise) (1779) and the treatise “Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts” (The Education of the Human Race) (1781) reveal Lessing’s beliefs and hopes which transgress boundaries of all kinds, whether in matters of political entities or religious faiths. Already, a comedy of his early years, “Der junge Gelehrte” (The young Scholar) (1748) had taken on an international perspective, when the protagonist speaks of his intent to leave Germany and find recognition in France and England. When “L’Esprit des Nations” by the French clergyman Francois Espiard de Labordie was published in 1752, Lessing had reviewed it enthusiastically, because “der Mensch”, i.e. man, dealt with man, the human being. Humanity, in form of religious tolerance and active help to fellow humans is represented by the main character in the drama “Nathan der Weise”. Nathan makes the Moslem Saladin his friend, telling him the parable of the rings. The Christian knight is converted by Nathan’s humanity to realise that one is not a Christian or a Jew, but above all a human being. It is enough to be just called “ein Mensch”. The figure of Nathan also expresses Lessing’s lifelong conviction that no single nation had received the gift of possessing the greatest intellect among the nations of the world. In this context Lessing’s words