Rethinking Enlightenment: the reception of John Locke in Germany
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Sch of History, Classics and Archaeology
Abstract
His concept of 'simple ideas' being the basis of all our knowledge, his social contract theory, as well his contributions to education, theology and economics, made John Locke (1632-1704) one of the most important Enlightenment thinkers. Locke is widely regarded as a founder of empiricism as well as of liberalism. Concepts of toleration can hardly be described without referring to Locke's Epistola de tolerantia (1689), which was translated into German in 1710. Locke's influence on continental philosophy has been the subject of many studies, but in most of these studies the 'continent' is not much bigger than France. Even though it is well known that the Germans admired British cultural and intellectual life in the eighteenth century, historians of philosophy still underestimate British influences, describing the German philosophical tradition as an independent, self-contained historical narrative from Leibniz via Kant to Hegel.
Locke's writings were initially mainly read in French and Latin. His Essay was translated into Latin in 1701, only eleven years after its first publication in English, and his Second Treatise of Government from 1690 was published in French already in 1691, both in Locke's lifetime. There are also four famous philosophers who exemplify the French interest in Locke: Voltaire, Condillac, D'Alembert and Rousseau. Their texts in turn enjoyed widespread distribution in Germany and generally raised awareness of Locke's philosophical importance there too.
This project concentrates above all on direct paths of the German reception of Locke. Discussions of Locke's works in German academic review journals, such as the Leipzig Acta Eruditorum, as well as the publication of German and Latin translations of Locke's writings in Leipzig, Berlin, Königsberg and elsewhere are evidence of the existence of a German audience that was keen to hear news of all kinds - not only philosophical - from the other side of the Channel. Although this reception can be seen in the writings of German philosophers from Christian Thomasius (1655-1728) to Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), its role in shaping the development of the German Enlightenment, from its beginning in the early eighteenth century, has never been investigated in detail. Focusing on the reception of Locke in Germany offers a uniquely promising approach to understanding the nature and impact of intellectual exchange between Great Britain and the German lands in the age of Enlightenment.
Many of the most prominent German Aufklärer drew attention directly to Locke's works. The famous philosopher and polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) not only read the English original of the Essay, but also wrote a major treatise, the Nouveaux Essais, in response to it. Ardent admirers of Locke's Essay can be found among the so-called 'popular philosophers' (Popularphilosophen) at the University of Göttingen. These are mainly Johann Heinrich Feder (1740-1821), whose lecture De sensu interno (1768) stimulated further Locke studies at the University of Göttingen, and Christoph Meiners (1745-1810), a student of Feder who became familiar with philosophical thinking by reading Locke. The first German translation of Locke's main work (published 1757 by Johann Heinrich Poley who had started working on it in 1734) led to a broader dissemination of Locke's thought in Germany, even more extensive than that in the first half of the century. Immanuel Kant, for example, referred to material which can only be found in Poley's translation. It is not too bold to state that the epicentres of the German Enlightenment were optimally informed about Locke's thought.
Thus, by about 1780, Locke's philosophy was widely present in German philosophy and intellectual life more generally. By systematically exploring the reception of Locke in Germany, the project aims to change general perceptions of the German Enlightenment, and its relation to European thought and culture in the eighteenth century.
Locke's writings were initially mainly read in French and Latin. His Essay was translated into Latin in 1701, only eleven years after its first publication in English, and his Second Treatise of Government from 1690 was published in French already in 1691, both in Locke's lifetime. There are also four famous philosophers who exemplify the French interest in Locke: Voltaire, Condillac, D'Alembert and Rousseau. Their texts in turn enjoyed widespread distribution in Germany and generally raised awareness of Locke's philosophical importance there too.
This project concentrates above all on direct paths of the German reception of Locke. Discussions of Locke's works in German academic review journals, such as the Leipzig Acta Eruditorum, as well as the publication of German and Latin translations of Locke's writings in Leipzig, Berlin, Königsberg and elsewhere are evidence of the existence of a German audience that was keen to hear news of all kinds - not only philosophical - from the other side of the Channel. Although this reception can be seen in the writings of German philosophers from Christian Thomasius (1655-1728) to Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), its role in shaping the development of the German Enlightenment, from its beginning in the early eighteenth century, has never been investigated in detail. Focusing on the reception of Locke in Germany offers a uniquely promising approach to understanding the nature and impact of intellectual exchange between Great Britain and the German lands in the age of Enlightenment.
Many of the most prominent German Aufklärer drew attention directly to Locke's works. The famous philosopher and polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) not only read the English original of the Essay, but also wrote a major treatise, the Nouveaux Essais, in response to it. Ardent admirers of Locke's Essay can be found among the so-called 'popular philosophers' (Popularphilosophen) at the University of Göttingen. These are mainly Johann Heinrich Feder (1740-1821), whose lecture De sensu interno (1768) stimulated further Locke studies at the University of Göttingen, and Christoph Meiners (1745-1810), a student of Feder who became familiar with philosophical thinking by reading Locke. The first German translation of Locke's main work (published 1757 by Johann Heinrich Poley who had started working on it in 1734) led to a broader dissemination of Locke's thought in Germany, even more extensive than that in the first half of the century. Immanuel Kant, for example, referred to material which can only be found in Poley's translation. It is not too bold to state that the epicentres of the German Enlightenment were optimally informed about Locke's thought.
Thus, by about 1780, Locke's philosophy was widely present in German philosophy and intellectual life more generally. By systematically exploring the reception of Locke in Germany, the project aims to change general perceptions of the German Enlightenment, and its relation to European thought and culture in the eighteenth century.
| Description | The project has provided the first broad, in-depth analysis of John Locke's presence in the intellectual life of the German-speaking lands of the Enlightenment from c. 1690 to c. 1800. It has often been argued that Locke's ideas were slow to take effect in the German lands. Locke was once described as a sort of subterranean force in German philosophy in the first half of the eighteenth century, as the impact of British thinkers was supposedly blunted by the dominance of an indigenous Leibnizian-Wolffian philosophical school, which was entrenched in curricula at German universities. Later, it is said, in the second half of the eighteenth century, Locke's ideas became part of a synthesis with Leibnizian-Wolffian rationalist ideas. The result of this belated reception was a hybrid Anglo-German philosophy, which was eventually challenged and superseded by Immanuel Kant's critical philosophy. Our project has moved beyond and significantly revised these interpretations of the impact of Lockean texts and arguments in German intellectual culture. More specifically, it has questioned overly schematic views of Locke's thought, of 'British empiricism', and of 'German rationalism'. Instead, we have explored the different selective uses and interpretations of Locke's writings by a wide range of German thinkers. Rather than a single 'Lockean' philosophy, the reception of Locke's ideas and writings produces a variety of 'Lockeanisms' in eighteenth-century German thought, which reveal the variety of philosophical, religious, and broader cultural concerns that informed the German engagement with Locke's ideas. The main outcomes of the project will be two substantial volumes of essays. The first is focused on themes and contexts in the reception of Locke. The second examines the responses of particular German thinkers and groups of thinkers to Locke's ideas. Themes that are discussed in the first volume include religion, political ideas, logic, metaphysics, and aesthetics, as well as the portrayal of Locke in German histories of philosophy, with a separate chapter on the enormously influential short life of John Locke by Jean LeClerc. The second volume discusses the engagement of key German authors with the thought of John Locke. These authors will include famous canonical thinkers, such as Leibniz, Wolff, and Kant, as well as figures such as Feder, Tittel, Tetens, and Lambert, who are less well-known now, but were extremely influential in their own time. There will also be studies of groups of thinkers, such as the so-called 'Thomasians', the members of the Berlin academy, representatives of the Catholic Enlightenment in the South German and Habsburg lands, and German female philosophers. Proposals for the two volumes have been submitted to a prestigious publisher, who has already indicated a strong interest in them. |
| Exploitation Route | The outcomes of this funding can be used to improve our understanding of processes of the transnational reception and circulation of ideas. They also improve our understanding of the wide and complex range of concerns and intellectual currents that characterise German Enlightenment intellectual culture. |
| Sectors | Education Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| Description | Collaboration with Universities of Bielefeld and Mainz, as part of the joint AHRC: DFG research grant on 'Rethinking Enlightenment: the reception of John Locke in Germany' |
| Organisation | Bielefeld University |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Dr Jaworzyn and Professor Ahnert have taken part in a conference organised by our German partner in Mainz, Professor Konstantin Pollok, on the theme of the research project (31 August - 2 September 2023). We have secured agreement from several participants in the conference to contribute chapters to an edited volume, which will be one of the main outputs of the joint research project. During the conference we took part in discussions planning the volume. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Prof. Konstantin Pollok was the lead organisers of the conference in Mainz. Dr Lore Knapp, our partner at the University of Bielefeld took part in discussions at the conference. |
| Impact | The conference has led to the development of a proposal for an edited volume. We have secured agreement from 19 of the 21 to 22 authors that will be required for the volume. Preparation of the volume has required multidisciplinary collaboration: authors include historians, philosophers, and literary scholars. These three disciplines are also represented by the three editors (Ahnert, Knapp, and Pollok). |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Collaboration with Universities of Bielefeld and Mainz, as part of the joint AHRC: DFG research grant on 'Rethinking Enlightenment: the reception of John Locke in Germany' |
| Organisation | Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Dr Jaworzyn and Professor Ahnert have taken part in a conference organised by our German partner in Mainz, Professor Konstantin Pollok, on the theme of the research project (31 August - 2 September 2023). We have secured agreement from several participants in the conference to contribute chapters to an edited volume, which will be one of the main outputs of the joint research project. During the conference we took part in discussions planning the volume. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Prof. Konstantin Pollok was the lead organisers of the conference in Mainz. Dr Lore Knapp, our partner at the University of Bielefeld took part in discussions at the conference. |
| Impact | The conference has led to the development of a proposal for an edited volume. We have secured agreement from 19 of the 21 to 22 authors that will be required for the volume. Preparation of the volume has required multidisciplinary collaboration: authors include historians, philosophers, and literary scholars. These three disciplines are also represented by the three editors (Ahnert, Knapp, and Pollok). |
| Start Year | 2022 |