Johann Georg Sulzer

Johann Georg Sulzer ( born October 16, 1720 in Winterthur, † February 27, 1779 in Berlin) was a Swiss theologian and philosopher of the Enlightenment. His General Theory of the Fine Arts is the first German -language encyclopedia that covers all areas of aesthetics systematically.

Life and work

Johann Georg Sulzer was born the 25th child of alderman Heinrich Sulzer in Winterthur in the canton of Zurich today. His parents had planned a career as a theologian for him. Both parents died in 1734, so that Johann Georg Sulzer was given in 1736 under the tutelage of one crying in Zurich. On Carolinum in Zurich, he received instruction in theology, but was interested in the same time also for aspects of mathematics, botany and philosophy. His teacher Johann Jakob Bodmer and Johann Jakob Breitinger also introduced him to the poetry and art. In 1741 Johann Georg Sulzer finished his studies in Zurich with ordination and received in Maschwanden the post of vicar.

In 1743, Sulzer went to Magdeburg, where he was employed as a teacher for the children of a wealthy merchant. Johann Georg Sulzer was a follower of the philosophy of Christian Wolff. In whose style Sulzer wrote his first work, the edification font attempt by some moral reflections on the works of nature, which was published in 1745 and contained a preface by the Berlin court preacher Friedrich August sack. In addition, Sulzer worked in Magdeburg at a German translation by Johann Jakob Scheuchzers Latin script Itinera alpina, which appeared in 1746 under the title of natural history of Switzerland's Zurich.

Sulzer moved to Berlin, where he became friends with Leonhard Euler, Pierre -Louis Moreau de Maupertuis and Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim. These three scholars promoted finally Sulzer's appointment as professor of mathematics at the Joachimsthal Gymnasium in Berlin in the year in 1747. Three years later, Sulzer was admitted to the Royal Academy of Sciences. He was the impetus for the founding of the Monday club in 1749 thanks to a spiritual center of the Berlin Enlightenment. This was followed in the summer of 1750, a trip to Switzerland, Sulzer undertook jointly with Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock.

In the same year he married the daughter of a merchant in Magdeburg Catherina Wilhelmina Keusenhoff 1753 came the first daughter Elisabeth Sophie Auguste to the world that the famous painter Anton Graff married in 1771. Catherina Wilhelmina died in 1761 after the birth of his second daughter. Her death marked a decisive turning point in the life of Sulzer.

As a widower, he made ​​numerous trips to Leipzig, Frankfurt and Strasbourg. In 1763 he resigned his professorship in Berlin and returned to Switzerland, where work continued at its 1753 already started major work The General Theory of the Fine Arts.

A letter from King Frederick II induced him to return to Germany. He became professor of philosophy at the newly established Knights Academy and received by King Frederick II a plot of land near Berlin paid, where he settled domesticated. In 1775 he became director of the philosophical class of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin was, at the time, however, already weakened. Trips to France and Italy improved its state only in the short term. Johann Georg Sulzer died 1779 in Berlin.

Encyclopedia: General Theory of the Fine Arts

The main work of this reconnaissance, the General Theory of the Fine Arts was published in four volumes in 1771 and 1774th It was the first encyclopedia in German language, which strove for a systematization of all knowledge in terms of aesthetics. Models were French encyclopedias such as Jacques Lacombe's Dictionnaire portatif des beaux arts ( " Dictionary of Fine Arts " ) and the universal lexicon Denis Diderot, Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné of the sciences, des arts et des métiers.

In approximately 900 articles Sulzer discussed in detail basic concepts and case questions of aesthetics and goes to the fields of literature, rhetoric, visual arts, architecture, dance, music (see music lexicon ) and acting a. He recovered, among other philosophical and aesthetic works Bodmer, Breitinger, Karl Wilhelm Johann Adolf Schlegel and Ramler. This turns the monumental work represents the state of knowledge of the German high education in a condensed form and is one of the major lexical publications in the Age of Enlightenment.

Sulzer rated the ode as the highest literary genre. In addition to Klopstock's Messiah, he also counts Bodmer's Noah among the masterpieces of German poetry and sees the importance of Plautus and Molière especially in their serious plays.

With his views Sulzer was criticized, as Johann Gottfried Herder wrote to Johann Heinrich Merck:

" Sulzer 's dictionary was published; but the first part completely under my expectation. All litterarisch - critical items are worthless, most mechanical nothing; the psychological are the only, and in which the most time-consuming, darbendste babblings ... "

Also Sulzer's view that art should evoke feelings in the viewer, who ultimately educating character, was questioned. So the young Goethe set against Sulzer, whom he accused of having misunderstood the nature of art.

Despite this criticism in recent poets and scholars generation, found Sulzer's main plant until the first years of the 19th century a large spread and justified his position as the main representative of the German aesthetics in the late 18th century.

Philosophical approach

The focus of his philosophical work is on the aesthetics and psychology. In his philosophy Sulzer, the feelings between the actual, clear vision and desire. Sulzer assumes that the purpose of the action is the own or the happiness of others ( eudaemonism ).

Writings

  • Short term all sciences, worinn the natural connection of all parts of the learning viewed [ ... ] is ( 1745)
  • Attempt by some moral reflections on the works of Nature ( 1745)
  • Attempt by some reasonable idea of ​​the Auferziehung and instruction of children ( 1745)
  • Critical news from the realm of scholarship (along with PeterRamler; 1750)
  • Talks about the beauty of nature (1750/1770)
  • Thoughts about the origin of Sciences and Fine Arts ( 1762)
  • General Theory of the Fine Arts (1771-1774) Four sub- volumes of the output from Leipzig at Weidmann and Reich 1773 digitized the University and State Library Dusseldorf
  • First part (here the 2nd edition of 1792)
  • Zweyter part (here the 2nd edition of 1792)
  • Digital output for full-text search in the series Digital Library as Volume 67, ISBN 3-89853-467-7
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