Reason and Experience in Mendelssohn and Kant

Abstract

Abstract This work examines the lifelong intellectual relationship between Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) and Moses Mendelssohn (1729–86). Both engaged in a common project of striking the right balance between rationalism and empiricism, they sometimes borrowed from one another, often disagreed with one another, and can usefully be compared even when they did not directly interact. Their arguments and conclusions on metaphysical issues such as proofs of the existence of God, immortality, and idealism are examined; their works in aesthetics are compared; and the path-breaking work of both on the “religion of reason” and the separation of church and state are contrasted. Both philosophers turn out to have much to offer: Kant sometimes provides deeper insight into the underlying structure of human thought, but Mendelssohn is often the deeper student of the variety of human experience.