Die Bestimmung des Menschen (1748 – 1800)

»Bestimmung des Menschen« is a central concept of the German Enlightenment: theologians, philosophers, poets and lexicographers comprehensively dealt with it, thereby focusing on the problem of the final aim of human existence from manifold perspectives. Mendelssohn, Kant, Herder, Schiller, Spalding and Fichte are only a few among the many authors who used this concept from 1748 to 1800, and gave it a pivotal role in the thought of that time. This volume offers the first complete reconstruction of its history.