Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Further reading
- Note on texts and translations
- Introduction
- Philosophical and theological writings
- 1 The Christianity of reason (c. 1753)
- 2 On the reality of things outside God (1763)
- 3 Spinoza only put Leibniz on the track of [his theory of] pre-established harmony (1763)
- 4 On the origin of revealed religion (1763 or 1764)
- 5 Leibniz on eternal punishment (1773)
- 6 [Editorial commentary on the ‘Fragments’ of Reimarus, 1777]
- 7 On the proof of the spirit and of power (1777)
- 8 The Testament of St John (1777)
- 9 A rejoinder (1778)
- 10 A parable (1778)
- 11 Axioms (1778)
- 12 New hypothesis on the evangelists as merely human historians (1778)
- 13 Necessary answer to a very unnecessary question of Herr Hauptpastor Goeze of Hamburg (1778)
- 14 The religion of Christ (1780)
- 15 That more than five senses are possible for human beings (c. 1780)
- 16 Ernst and Falk: dialogues for Freemasons (1778–80)
- 17 The education of the human race (1777–80)
- 18 [Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Recollections of conversations with Lessing in July and August 1780 (1785)]
- Index
- Cambridge texts in the history of philosophy
18 - [Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Recollections of conversations with Lessing in July and August 1780 (1785)]
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Further reading
- Note on texts and translations
- Introduction
- Philosophical and theological writings
- 1 The Christianity of reason (c. 1753)
- 2 On the reality of things outside God (1763)
- 3 Spinoza only put Leibniz on the track of [his theory of] pre-established harmony (1763)
- 4 On the origin of revealed religion (1763 or 1764)
- 5 Leibniz on eternal punishment (1773)
- 6 [Editorial commentary on the ‘Fragments’ of Reimarus, 1777]
- 7 On the proof of the spirit and of power (1777)
- 8 The Testament of St John (1777)
- 9 A rejoinder (1778)
- 10 A parable (1778)
- 11 Axioms (1778)
- 12 New hypothesis on the evangelists as merely human historians (1778)
- 13 Necessary answer to a very unnecessary question of Herr Hauptpastor Goeze of Hamburg (1778)
- 14 The religion of Christ (1780)
- 15 That more than five senses are possible for human beings (c. 1780)
- 16 Ernst and Falk: dialogues for Freemasons (1778–80)
- 17 The education of the human race (1777–80)
- 18 [Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Recollections of conversations with Lessing in July and August 1780 (1785)]
- Index
- Cambridge texts in the history of philosophy
Summary
I had always revered the great man; but my desire to make his closer acquaintance had only become more intense since his theological controversies, and after I had read his Parable. It was my good fortune that Allwill aroused his interest, that he sent me some friendly messages, at first through travellers, and finally, that he wrote to me in 1779. I replied that I was planning a journey in the following spring which would take me through Wolfenbüttel, where I longed to conjure up through him the spirits of several wise men whose views on certain things I was unable to determine.
My journey duly took place, and on the afternoon of 5 July [1780] I first held Lessing in my arms.
On that same day, we discussed many important matters; we also discussed people – moral and immoral, atheists, deists, and Christians.
On the following morning, Lessing came into my room before I had finished some letters I was writing. I gave him various items from my note-case to occupy him until I was ready. As he handed them back, he asked me whether I had anything else for him to read. ‘Yes!’, I said as I sealed the letters. ‘There's another poem here. – Since you have given offence on various occasions, you might as well be offended for once yourself.’ …
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- Information
- Lessing: Philosophical and Theological Writings , pp. 241 - 256Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005