Gabriel Wagner - Wikipedia Gabriel Wagner From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Gabriel Wagner First page of Wagner's "Discourse and doubts," published in 1691. Born c. 1660 Quedlinburg Died c. 1717 Göttingen Nationality German Era 17th-, 18th-century philosophy Region Western Philosophy School Spinozism Materialism Cartesianism Rationalism Main interests Metaphysics, Rationalism, Education Influences Spinoza, Descartes, Leibniz, Christian Thomasius Influenced Leibniz Gabriel Wagner (c. 1660 – c. 1717) was a radical German philosopher and materialist who wrote under the nom-de-plume Realis de Vienna. A follower of Spinoza and acquaintance of Leibniz, Wagner did not believe that the universe or bible were divine creations, and sought to extricate philosophy and science from the influence of theology. Wagner also held radical political views critical of the nobility and monarchy. After failing to establish lasting careers in cities throughout German-speaking Europe, Wagner died in or shortly after 1717. Contents 1 Life 2 Philosophy 3 Legacy 4 See also 5 Notes 6 Sources Life[edit] Christian Thomasius, an early mentor and later opponent of Wagner. Wagner studied under scholar Christian Thomasius in Leipzig, and in 1691 published a philosophical tract critical of Thomasius, "Discourse and doubts in Christ: a Thomasian introduction to courtly philosophy."[1][2] The tract satirically dubbed Thomasius the "German Socrates" and attracted attention within philosophical circles, including from Leibniz, who sought to contact Wagner.[1] In the same year, after a dispute over rent, Wagner was expelled from university and imprisoned. Following his release, Wagner traveled in 1693 to Halle, where as a result of his increasingly libertine views he wholly broke with Thomasius, who by contrast was becoming more conservative.[1][2] Moving to Berlin later in 1693 and then to Vienna, Wagner was in 1696 given a temporary position in Hamburg,[2] which he lost due to his novel and sometimes polemical philosophical positions.[1] Receiving support from Leibniz, Wagner worked for a time at the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel;[2] and maintained his contact with Leibniz.[3] Leibniz wrote to Wagner in 1696, describing his admiration for Aristotle and opposing contemporary attacks on him, despite his view that Aristotle had discovered only a small portion of the discipline.[4] Opposing his former mentor Thomasius' belief in the soul, Wagner published another text in 1707, "Critique of Thomasian views on the nature of the soul." Theologian Johann Joachim Lange accused Wagner of Spinozist sympathies in 1710, and Wagner replied to these criticisms in the same year.[2] The last record of Wagner is found in Göttingen in 1717, where he came into conflict with historian of philosophy Christoph August Heumann. Wagner presumably died shortly thereafter.[2] Philosophy[edit] Correspondence of Leibniz, who maintained contact with Wagner for much of his life. Wagner believed that both education and philosophy should be modernized and focus on mathematics, physics and medicine, but not theology.[2] In this regard he held that Germany had made more progress, while French, Italian and Spanish thinkers were overly influenced by followers of Aristotle, Galen and Ptolemy.[2] Believing in intellectual freedom, Wagner was an admirer of German philosopher and professor Nicolaus Hieronymus Gundling, who favored "atheistic" classical Greek philosophy.[2] As articulated in his 1707 critique of Thomasius, Wagner did not believe in a soul, in divine providence, in the divinity of the bible, or in divine creation. He instead advocated reason, the most "godly" aspect of humankind, as a means of eradicating superstition. Wagner therefore celebrated advances in science facilitated by Descartes and even considered himself a Cartesian, though he disagreed with the latter's Christian metaphysical beliefs and even sought to undermine them.[2][5][6] Deeply influenced by Spinoza, Wagner placed even greater emphasis on the importance of experimentation and empiricism in developing knowledge. Wagner held radical political beliefs, advocating a restructuring of society according to more egalitarian principles and advocating greater emphasis on administration, education and culture.[7] Reform of educational institutions was a particular concern of his writing.[8] Wagner contested that aristocracy by birth was inferior to intellectual achievement. He also believed that Germany's fragmentary political system resulted in a weak and mismanaged government.[2] In these beliefs Wagner was influenced by but disagreed with political thinkers such as Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes and Niccolò Machiavelli. Much of Wagner's political and philosophical system was oriented, ultimately, towards securing religious, intellectual, and personal freedom, a project of the Enlightenment as a whole.[7] Legacy[edit] An early engraving of the philosopher Spinoza, a major influence on Wagner's world view. Wagner is known for his longstanding correspondence with Leibniz, and his erudition and innovative understanding of philosophy and natural sciences during his time, according to historian Cornelio Fabro.[9] Historian Jonathan Israel writes that Wagner is an important materialist philosopher of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and an example of both radical philosophy and atheism produced by the growing university system of the period.[10][11] Historian Frederick Beiser writes that Wagner and his fellow materialists in Germany, though they were less numerous than those found in France and England, developed mechanistic explanations for human behavior and raised fears of spreading religious skepticism.[12] See also[edit] Baruch Spinoza Christian Thomasius Matthias Knutzen Nicolaus Hieronymus Gundling René Descartes Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Jonathan Israel Eclecticism Notes[edit] ^ a b c d Dascal, 2008, pp.490-1 ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Israel, 2006, pp.173-5. ^ Poser, 2004, pp.290-291 ^ Cassirer, 1943, pp.383-4 ^ Israel, 2007, p.15 ^ Erdmann, 1890, p.38 ^ a b Israel, 2006, pp.335-7 ^ Israel, 2007, pp.6-7 ^ Fabro, 1968, p.598 ^ Israel, 2006, p.43 ^ Israel, 2006, pp.167-8 ^ Beiser, 2000, p.21 Sources[edit] Beiser, Frederick (2000). "Chapter 2: The Enlightenment and idealism". In Ameriks, Karl (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to German Idealism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521656955. Cassirer, Ernst (July 1943). "Newton and Leibniz". The Philosophical Review. 52 (4): 366–391. doi:10.2307/2180670. JSTOR 2180670. Dascal, Marcelo (2008). G.W. Leibniz: The Art of Controversies. Springer. ISBN 9781402052286. Erdmann, Johann (1890). A History of Philosophy: Modern philosophy. S. Sonnenschein. Fabro, Cornelio (1968). God in exile: modern atheism: a study of the internal dynamic of modern atheism, from its roots in the Cartesian cogito to the present day. Newman Press. Israel, Jonathan (2007). "Chapter 1: Enlightenment, Radical Enlightenment and the 'Medical Revolution' of the late Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries". In Grell, Ole; Cunningham, Andrew (eds.). Medicine and Religion in Enlightenment Europe. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 9780754656388. Israel, Jonathan (2006). Enlightenment Contested. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199279227. Poser, Hans (2004). Antonio Carrara; Antonio María Nunziante; Gabriele Tomasi (eds.). Individuals, Minds and Bodies: Themes from Leibniz. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 9783515083423. Wagner, Gabriel (1691). Discursus et dubia in Christ. Thomasii introductionem ad philosophiam aulicam. v t e Age of Enlightenment Topics Atheism Capitalism Civil liberties Counter-Enlightenment Critical thinking Deism Democracy Empiricism Encyclopédistes Enlightened absolutism Free markets Haskalah Humanism Human rights Liberalism Liberté, égalité, fraternité Methodological skepticism Nationalism Natural philosophy Objectivity Rationality Rationalism Reason Reductionism Sapere aude Science Scientific method Socialism Universality Weimar Classicism Thinkers France Jean le Rond d'Alembert René Louis d'Argenson Pierre Bayle Pierre Beaumarchais Nicolas Chamfort Émilie du Châtelet Étienne Bonnot de Condillac Marquis de Condorcet René Descartes Denis Diderot Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle Claude Adrien Helvétius Baron d'Holbach Louis de Jaucourt Julien Offray de La Mettrie Georges-Louis Leclerc Gabriel Bonnot de Mably Sylvain Maréchal Jean Meslier Montesquieu Étienne-Gabriel Morelly Blaise Pascal François Quesnay Guillaume Thomas François Raynal Marquis de Sade Anne Robert Jacques Turgot Voltaire Geneva Firmin Abauzit Charles Bonnet Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui Jean-Louis de Lolme Pierre Prévost Jean-Jacques Rousseau Antoine-Jacques Roustan Horace Bénédict de Saussure Jacob Vernes Jacob Vernet Germany Justus Henning Böhmer Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Gottfried von Herder Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel Wilhelm von Humboldt Immanuel Kant Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Moses Mendelssohn Samuel von Pufendorf Friedrich Schiller Christian Thomasius Gabriel Wagner Christian Felix Weiße Christoph Martin Wieland Thomas Wizenmann Christian Wolff Greece Neophytos Doukas Theoklitos Farmakidis Rigas Feraios Theophilos Kairis Adamantios Korais Ireland George Berkeley Robert Boyle Edmund Burke John Toland Italy Cesare Beccaria Gaetano Filangieri Ferdinando Galiani Luigi Galvani Antonio Genovesi Francesco Mario Pagano Giovanni Salvemini Pietro Verri Giambattista Vico Netherlands Balthasar Bekker Pieter de la Court Petrus Cunaeus Hugo Grotius François Hemsterhuis Christiaan Huygens Adriaan Koerbagh Frederik van Leenhof Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Bernard Nieuwentyt Baruch Spinoza Jan Swammerdam Hendrik Wyermars Poland Tadeusz Czacki Hugo Kołłątaj Stanisław Konarski Ignacy Krasicki Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz Stanisław August Poniatowski Jędrzej Śniadecki Stanisław Staszic Józef Wybicki Andrzej Stanisław Załuski Józef Andrzej Załuski Portugal Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo Romania Ion Budai-Deleanu Dinicu Golescu Petru Maior Samuil Micu-Klein Gheorghe Șincai Russia Catherine II Denis Fonvizin Mikhail Kheraskov Mikhail Lomonosov Nikolay Novikov Alexander Radishchev Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova Serbia Dositej Obradović Avram Mrazović Spain José Cadalso Charles III Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro Leandro Fernández de Moratín Valentin de Foronda Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos Martín Sarmiento Diego de Torres Villarroel United Kingdom (Scotland) Joseph Addison Francis Bacon James Beattie Jeremy Bentham Joseph Black Hugh Blair James Boswell James Burnett, Lord Monboddo Anthony Collins Adam Ferguson Edward Gibbon Robert Hooke David Hume Francis Hutcheson Samuel Johnson John Locke John Millar Isaac Newton William Ogilvie Richard Price Joseph Priestley Thomas Reid Shaftesbury Adam Smith Dugald Stewart Mary Wollstonecraft United States Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson James Madison George Mason Thomas Paine Category Authority control BNF: cb13194818v (data) GND: 128731486 ISNI: 0000 0000 7999 751X LCCN: nb2002052848 PLWABN: 9810682902805606 SELIBR: 263633 SUDOC: 035528192 VIAF: 64147874 WorldCat Identities: lccn-nb2002052848 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gabriel_Wagner&oldid=998051506" Categories: 1660 births 1717 deaths Early Modern philosophers Enlightenment philosophers People from the Electorate of Saxony Leipzig University alumni Materialism Rationalists Metaphysicians 17th-century German philosophers 18th-century German philosophers Philosophers of religion German male writers 17th-century German writers 18th-century German writers Hidden categories: Articles with hCards Articles containing French-language text Articles containing Hebrew-language text Articles containing Latin-language text Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages العربية Deutsch हिन्दी Malagasy Edit links This page was last edited on 3 January 2021, at 15:50 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Mobile view Developers Statistics Cookie statement