Karl Leonhard Reinhold

Carl Leonhard Reinhold (* October 26, 1757 in Vienna, † April 10, 1823 in Kiel ) was a philosopher and as a writer, the most important coming from Austria representative of the German Enlightenment.

Life and work

In Vienna Reinhold joined in 1772 the Society of Jesus. 1774 was a transition into the Barnabitenorden. He studied philosophy and theology and became a teacher of philosophy in 1778 Barnabitenkollegium. In 1780 he was ordained a priest, and thus religious cleric. In 1781 he became a member of the Masonic lodge " True Harmony " in Vienna.

In November 1783 to -understand now as a reconnaissance Reinhold fled the Viennese monastery "St. Michael " to Leipzig. Then he traveled to Weimar. It was here in 1784 to be crossing place for the Protestant confession, which was done by suggestion and under the supervision of Johann Gottfried Herder. In May of the same year he met Christoph Martin Wieland, and became an employee of Wieland's literary magazine " The Teutsche Mercury ". For this he wrote in 1786 the " Letters on the Kantian Philosophy ", which appeared in book form in 1790 and contributed significantly to the popularization of Kantianism. In 1785 he married Wieland's daughter Sophie Catherine Susanne and was Saxony- weimarischer Councilor. Already in 1783 he was Illuminist named ' Decius ' become and was built in 1787 "prefect" of the Order in Jena.

1787 Reinhold received an associate professor of Philosophy, 1791, he became a professor ordinarius supernumerary and was heavily involved with his popularity and his commitment to the Kantian philosophy on making Jena the center of German philosophy this year at the University of Jena. Reinhold in Jena was an influential teacher of Novalis, Franz Paul Herbert, Johann Benjamin Erhard Friedrich Karl Forberg and Friedrich Immanuel Niethammer. In 1794 he took over permanently a full professorship in Kiel. The student body in Jena had previously tried to prevent his move to Kiel. As a senior student of Adolf von Bassewitz for the Mecklenburg Country team, signed on July 23, 1793 a joint letter with eight other seniors in Jena active country teams at the hugely popular Reinhold with which this was requested by the student shaft in Jena, the call to the University Kiel not to accept and remain in Jena. When Reinhold reputation to Kiel accepted nevertheless, decided the students to shape him a gold medal and to dedicate him a hard poem. The medal was not ready in time and therefore after him with another letter of the student body on April 14 in 1794. Bassewitz hosted jointly with his brother Magnus Carl Leonhard Reinhold on behalf of the Jena students Easter 1794 on the way to Kiel on his station in Lübeck and adjusted its expense for meals and overnight accommodations, like the other Jena students along the entire route Reinholds at each travel station was handled.

In the 1790s, Reinhold then Johann Friedrich Herbart approached eclectically on the one hand to Johann Gottlieb Fichte, and secondly to Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi to, from 1800 he turned to the Stuttgart Protestant theologians, philosophers and school professor Christoph Gottfried Bardili, a cousin of Schelling to. In his later philosophy he turned - especially in the writings of "reprimand a strange confusion of tongues among the philosophers " (1809 ) and " Foundations of a synonymy for the common usage in the Philosophical Sciences " (1812 ) - one based on a critique of language philosophy, which he as a precursor of the " linguistic turn " in philosophy may apply.

In 1808 Reinhold has been a member of the Academy of Sciences in Munich and in 1809 a member of the Masonic Lodge Amalia in Weimar. In 1815 he became a member of the Knights of the Dannebrog. In 1816 he was appointed Royal Danish Privy Councillor. From 1820 until his death he was Worshipful Master of the Masonic Lodge for winning Luise friendship in Kiel. During this time he worked in Johann Christoph Bode Federation of German Freemasons, as well as Friedrich Ludwig Schröder's reform lodges ( " Schrödinger Dersche method of teaching "), whose reformist modifications are still practiced today in many domestic and foreign Masonic lodges. According to Bode's death he led the work continued under the name The moral covenant of Dissenters.

Reinhold is considered a pioneer of the reception of the critical transcendental philosophy of Immanuel Kant in German speaking countries. He tried the critical philosophy to a " Basic Philosophy " expand, be derived from the imagination of reason and sensibility. With the effect central writings " test of a new theory of the human imagination " (1789 ), " contributions in writing, to correct previous misconceptions of the philosophers, Volume One " (1790) and "On the basis of philosophical knowledge" (1791 ) he made ​​a significant contribution the development of the philosophy of German Idealism.

The common tomb for him and Jens Immanuel Baggesen is located on the Park Cemetery in Eichhof Kronshagen. In 1961 ( 22nd District ) was named Reinhold street after him in Vienna Danube city.

Writings (selection )

• Test of a new theory of human imagination, 1789, edited by Ernst- Otto Onnasch, first subband, Felix Meiner Verlag: Hamburg 2010
• Letters on the Kantian Philosophy, Volume One, 1790, Second volume in 1792
• Contributions in writing, to correct previous misconceptions of the philosophers, Volume One, 1790
• Complaint of a strange confusion of tongues among the philosophers, 1809
• Foundations of a synonymy for the common usage in the Philosophical Sciences, 1812
• Critique of language use in philosophy ( e- text )
• Correspondence 1773-1788, edited by R. Lauth, E. Heller and K. Hiller, Stuttgart, Vienna 1983