Difference between revisions of "Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten" - New World Encyclopedia

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'''Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten''' ([[July 17]], [[1714]] – [[May 26]], [[1762]]) was a [[Germany|German]] [[philosopher]]. He was a follower of [[Leibniz]] and [[Christian Wolff (philosopher)|Christian Wolff]], and gave the term ''[[aesthetics]]'' its modern meaning.
 
'''Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten''' ([[July 17]], [[1714]] – [[May 26]], [[1762]]) was a [[Germany|German]] [[philosopher]]. He was a follower of [[Leibniz]] and [[Christian Wolff (philosopher)|Christian Wolff]], and gave the term ''[[aesthetics]]'' its modern meaning.
  
Baumgarten was born in [[Berlin]] as the fifth of seven sons of the [[pietist]] [[pastor]] of the [[garrison]], Jacob Baumgarten and his wife Rosina Elisabeth.
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==Life==
Both his parents died early and he was taught by Martin Georg Christgau where he learned [[Hebrew]] and got interested in [[Latin]] [[Poetry]].
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Whilst words may change their meaning through cultural developments anyway, Baumgarten's reappraisal of aesthetics is often seen as the key moment in the development of aesthetic philosophy. Previously the word had merely meant 'perceptions' in its use by ancient writers. With the development of art as a commercial enterprise linked to the rise of a ''[[nouveau riche]]'' class across Europe, the purchasing of art inevitably lead to the question, 'what is good art'. Baumgarten developed aesthetics to mean the study of good and bad perceptions, thus good and bad art, linking good perceptions with beauty.  
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Baumgarten was born in Berlin in 1714, ten years before Kant and two years before Leibniz's death. He was educated at an orphanage at Halle, which had been founded and run by August Hermann Francke and which was wholeheartedly devoted to the [[Pietist]] movement and had become one of its central institutions. His dissertation at Halle, ''Meditationes philosophicae de nonnullis ad poema pertinentibus'', focused on poetry, foreshadowing the philosophical discipline to which his name is most often connected.  After spending another two years in Halle teaching (during which he published his ''Metaphysica'', which [[Kant]] used as a textbook in his lectures), he took a post as a professor at Frankfurt on the Oder.  While there, he continued writing, producing the first edition of what may be his most important work, the ''Aesthetica'' in 1750. He died at Frankurt on the Oder in 1762.
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==Philosophy==
  
 
By Trying to develop an idea of good and bad perceptions, he also in turn generated philosophical debate around this new meaning of aesthetics, without it, there would be no basis for aesthetic debate as there would be no basis for comparison or reason from which one could develop an objective argument.
 
By Trying to develop an idea of good and bad perceptions, he also in turn generated philosophical debate around this new meaning of aesthetics, without it, there would be no basis for aesthetic debate as there would be no basis for comparison or reason from which one could develop an objective argument.
  
== Works ==
 
* ''Dissertatio chorographica, Notiones superi et inferi, indeque adscensus et descensus, in chorographiis sacris occurentes, evolvens'' (1735)
 
* ''Meditationes philosophicae de nonnullis ad poema pertinentibus'' (1735)
 
* ''De ordine in audiendis philosophicis per triennium academicum quaedam praefatus acroases proximae aestati destinatas indicit Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten'' ([[1738]])
 
* ''Metaphysica'' ([[1739]])
 
* ''Ethica philosophica'' ([[1740]])
 
* ''Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten eröffnet Einige Gedancken vom vernünfftigen Beyfall auf Academien, und ladet zu seiner Antritts-Rede [...] ein'' (1740)
 
* ''Serenissimo potentissimo principi Friderico, Regi Borussorum marchioni brandenburgico S. R. J. archicamerario et electori, caetera, clementissimo dominio felicia regni felicis auspicia, a d. III. Non. Quinct. 1740'' (1740)
 
* ''Philosophische Briefe von Aletheophilus'' ([[1741]])
 
* ''Scriptis, quae moderator conflictus academici disputavit, praefatus rationes acroasium suarum Viadrinarum reddit Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten'' ([[1743]])
 
* ''Aesthetica'' ([[1750]])-[[1758]])
 
* ''[http://www.ikp.uni-bonn.de/kant/agb-initia/index.html Initia Philosophiae Practicae. Primae Acroamatice]'' ([[1760]])
 
* ''Acroasis logica in Christianum L.B. de Wolff'' ([[1761]])
 
* ''Ius naturae'' (posthum [[1763]])
 
* ''Sciagraphia encyclopaedia philosophicae'' (ed. Johs. Christian Foerster [[1769]])
 
* ''Philosophia generalis'' (ed. Johs. Christian Foerster [[1770]])
 
* ''Alex. Gottl. Baumgartenii Praelectiones theologiae dogmaticae'' (ed. Salomon Semmler ([[1773]])
 
* ''Metaphysica'' (übers. Georg Friedrich Meier [[1776]])
 
* ''Gedanken über die Reden Jesu nach dem Inhalt der evangelischen Geschichten'' (ed. F.G. Scheltz & A.B. Thiele; [[1796]]-[[1797]])
 
  
 
==References and Further Reading==
 
==References and Further Reading==
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===Works by Baumgarten===
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* Aschenbrenner, Karl and Holther, W. B. (trans.).  (1954) ''Reflections on Poetry''.  Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
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===Recommended Secondary Literature===
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* Beck, Lewis White. (1969, reprinted 1996) ''Early German Philosophy: Kant and his Predecessors''. Bristol: Thoemmes Press. ISBN 1855064480
 
* Townsend, Dabney (1998). Baumgarten, Alexander Gottlieb. In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge. Retrieved March 27, 2007, from http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/M013.
 
* Townsend, Dabney (1998). Baumgarten, Alexander Gottlieb. In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge. Retrieved March 27, 2007, from http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/M013.
  

Revision as of 21:59, 27 March 2007

Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten (July 17, 1714 – May 26, 1762) was a German philosopher. He was a follower of Leibniz and Christian Wolff, and gave the term aesthetics its modern meaning.

Life

Baumgarten was born in Berlin in 1714, ten years before Kant and two years before Leibniz's death. He was educated at an orphanage at Halle, which had been founded and run by August Hermann Francke and which was wholeheartedly devoted to the Pietist movement and had become one of its central institutions. His dissertation at Halle, Meditationes philosophicae de nonnullis ad poema pertinentibus, focused on poetry, foreshadowing the philosophical discipline to which his name is most often connected. After spending another two years in Halle teaching (during which he published his Metaphysica, which Kant used as a textbook in his lectures), he took a post as a professor at Frankfurt on the Oder. While there, he continued writing, producing the first edition of what may be his most important work, the Aesthetica in 1750. He died at Frankurt on the Oder in 1762.

Philosophy

By Trying to develop an idea of good and bad perceptions, he also in turn generated philosophical debate around this new meaning of aesthetics, without it, there would be no basis for aesthetic debate as there would be no basis for comparison or reason from which one could develop an objective argument.


References and Further Reading

Works by Baumgarten

  • Aschenbrenner, Karl and Holther, W. B. (trans.). (1954) Reflections on Poetry. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Recommended Secondary Literature

  • Beck, Lewis White. (1969, reprinted 1996) Early German Philosophy: Kant and his Predecessors. Bristol: Thoemmes Press. ISBN 1855064480
  • Townsend, Dabney (1998). Baumgarten, Alexander Gottlieb. In E. Craig (Ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London: Routledge. Retrieved March 27, 2007, from http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/M013.

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