Salomon Maimon: Rational Dogmatist, Empirical Skeptic

Salomon Maimon (1753-1800), one of the most fascinating characters of 18th-century intellectual history, came from a traditional orthodox Jewish community in Eastern Europe to Berlin to seek Enlightenment. Maimon remained an outsider: an "Ostjude" among the enlightened Jews in Berlin, a freethinker among observant Jews and a Jew among the non-Jews. His autobiography became a classic of autobiographical literature of the Enlightenment. His "inter-cultural" experience is reflected in his philosophy. Indebted to the Maimonidean as well as to the modern European (notably Kantian) philosophical tradition, he attempted a synthesis of normally exclusive orientations: "Rational Dogmatism" and "Empirical Skepticism". Maimon's importance in the development from Kant to German Idealism has been acknowledged, but the interpretation of his own philosophical position suffered much from this narrow perspective. The essays of scholars collected in this volume focus on his synthesis of "Rational Dogmatism" and "Empirical Skepticism".The collection should be of interest to scholars working in the fields of history of philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, rationalism and empiricism as well as Jewish Studies.