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REIMARUS, HERMANN SAMUEL (1694-1768)

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 53 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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REIMARUS, See also:HERMANN See also:SAMUEL (1694-1768) , See also:German philosopher and See also:man of letters, was See also:born at See also:Hamburg, on the and of See also:December 1694. He was educated by his See also:father and by the famous See also:scholar J. A. See also:Fabricius, whose son-in-See also:law he subsequently became. He studied See also:theology, See also:ancient See also:languages, and See also:philosophy at See also:Jena, became Privatdozent in the university of See also:Wittenberg in 1716, and in 1720–21 visited See also:Holland and See also:England. In 1723 he became See also:rector of the high school at See also:Wismar in See also:Mecklenburg, and in 1727 See also:professor of See also:Hebrew and See also:Oriental languages in the high school of his native See also:city. This See also:post he held till his See also:death, though offers of more lucrative positions were made to him. His duties were See also:light, and he employed his leisure in the study of See also:philology, See also:mathematics, philosophy, See also:history, See also:political See also:economy, natural See also:science and natural history, for which he made large collections. His See also:house was the centre of the highest culture of Hamburg, and a See also:monument of his See also:influence in that city still remains in the Haus der patriotischen Gesellschaft, where the learned and See also:artistic See also:societies partly founded by him still meet. He had seven See also:children, only three of whom survived him—the distinguished physician Johann Albrecht Heinrich, and two daughters, one of them being Elise, See also:Lessing's friend and correspondent. He died on the 1st of See also:March 1768. Reimarus's reputation as a scholar rests on the valuable edition of Dio See also:Cassius (1750—52) which he prepared from the materials collected by J.

A. Fabricius. He published a See also:

work on See also:logic (Vernunftlehre als Anweisung zum richtigen Gebrauche der Vernunfi, 1756, 5th ed., 1790), and two popular books on the religious questions of the See also:day. The first of these was a collection of essays on the See also:principal truths of natural See also:religion (Abhandlungen von den vornehmsten Wahrheiten der naturlichen Religion, 1755, 7th ed., 1798); the second (Betrachtungen ilber See also:die Triebe der Thiere, 1760, 4th ed., 1798) dealt with one particular See also:branch of the same subject. His philosophical position is essentially that of See also:Christian See also:Wolff. But he is best known by his Apologie See also:ode/ Schutzschrift See also:file die vern,ilnftigen Verehrer Ganes (carefully kept back during his lifetime), from which, after his death, Lessing published certain chapters under the See also:title of the See also:Wolfenbuttel Fragments (see LESSING). The See also:original MS. is in the Hamburg See also:town library; a copy was made for the university library of See also:Gottingen, 1814, and other copies are known to exist. In addition to the seven fragments published by Lessing, a second portion of the work was issued in 1787 by C. A. E. See also:Schmidt (a See also:pseudonym), under the title Uebrige noch ungedruckte Werke See also:des Wolfenbutlelschen Fragmentisten, and a further portion by D. W.

Klose in Niedner's Zeitschrift fiir historische Theologie, 1850-52. Two of the five books of the first See also:

part and the whole of the second part, as well as appendices on the See also:canon, remain unprinted. But D. F. See also:Strauss has given an exhaustive See also:analysis of the whole work in his See also:book on Reimarus. The standpoint of the Apologie is that of pure naturalistic See also:deism. Miracles and mysteries are denied, and natural religion is put forward as the See also:absolute See also:contradiction of revealed. The essential truths of the former are the existence of a See also:wise and See also:good Creator and the See also:immortality of the soul. These truths are discoverable by See also:reason, and are such as can constitute the basis of a universal religion. A revealed religion could never obtain universality, as it could never be intelligible and credible to all men. Even supposing its possibility, the See also:Bible does not See also:present such a See also:revelation. It abounds in See also:error as to matters of fact, contradicts human experience, reason and morals, and is one See also:tissue of folly, deceit, See also:enthusiasm, selfishness and See also:crime.

Moreover, it is not a doctrinal compendium, or See also:

catechism, which a revelation would have to be. What the Old Testament says of the See also:worship of See also:God is little, and that little worthless, while its writers are unacquainted with the second fundamental truth of religion, the immortality of the soul. The See also:design of the writers of the New Testament, as well as that of Jesus, was not to See also:teach true rational religion, but to serve their own selfish ambitions, in promoting which they exhibit an amazing See also:combination of conscious See also:fraud and enthusiasm. It is important, however, to remember that Reimarus attacked See also:atheism with equal effect and sincerity, and that he was a man of high moral See also:character, respected and esteemed by his contemporaries. See also:Modern estimates of Reimarus may be found in the See also:works of B. Punjer, O. See also:Pfleiderer and H. See also:Hoffding. Punjer states the position of Reimarus as follows: " God is the Creator of the See also:world, and His See also:wisdom and goodness are conspicuous in it. Immortality is founded upon the essential nature of man and upon. the purpose of God in creation. Religion is conducive to our happiness and alone brings See also:satisfaction. Miracles are at variance with the divine purpose; without miracles there could be no revelation " (Punjer, History of Christian Philosophy of Religion since See also:Kant, Engl. trans., pp.

550-57, which contains an exposition of the Abhandlungen and Schutzschrift). Pfleiderer says the errors of Reimarus were that he ignored See also:

historical and See also:literary See also:criticism, See also:sources, date, origin, &c., of documents, and the narratives were said to be either purely divine or purely human. He had no conception of an immanent reason (Philosophy of Religion, Eng. trans., vol. i. p. 102). H. Hoffding also has a brief See also:section on the Schutzschrift, stating its See also:main position as follows: " Natural religion suffices; a revelation is therefore superfluous. Moreover, such a thing is both physically and morally impossible. God cannot interrupt His own work by miracles; nor can He favour some men above others by revelations which are not granted to all, and with which it is not even possible for all to become acquainted. But of all doctrines that of eternal See also:punishment is most contrary, Reimarus thinks, to true ideas of God, and it was this point which first caused him to stumble " (History of Modern Phil., Eng. trans. (1900), vol. ii. pp. 12, 13). See the " Fragments " as published by Lessing, reprinted in vol. xv. of Lessing's Werke, Hempel's edition; D.

F. Strauss, H. S. Reimarus and See also:

seine Schutzschrift See also:fur die verniinftigen Verehrer Gottes (1862, 2nd ed. 1877); See also:Charles Voysey, Fragments from Reimarus (See also:London, 1879) (a See also:translation of the See also:life of Reimarus by Strauss, with the second part of the seventh fragment, on the " See also:Object of Jesus and his Disciples ") ; the Lives of Lessing by Danzel and G. E. Guhrauer, Sime, and Zimmern; Kuno See also:Fischer, Geschichte der neuern Philosophie (vol. ii. pp. 759–72, 2nd ed. 1867) ; See also:Zeller, Geschichte der deutschen Philosophie (2nd ed., 1875, pp. 243–46).

End of Article: REIMARUS, HERMANN SAMUEL (1694-1768)

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