Kant and Jakob Facing Mendelssohn’s New Proof for the Existence of God: A Case of Misunderstanding

Abstract

After an overview of Mendelssohn’s catalogue of proofs for the existence of God, a detailed analysis of his new and original proof from the imperfectness of our self-knowledge, set out in Morning Hours, is offered. Kant’s and his disciple Jakob’s criticisms are then stated. The former refers very briefly to the Mendelssohnian proof on two occasions. The latter, instead, scrutinises it thoroughly in his Examination of Mendelssohn’s Morning Hours. The main result of this confrontation is that Kant and Jakob fail to adequately assess the peculiarity and novelty of Mendelssohn’s proof since both thinkers interpret the proof as being based not so much on the imperfection of our self-knowledge as on the demands of our reason in thinking the possible and the actual.

Keywords

• moses mendelssohn, ludwig heinrich jakob, proofs for the existence of god, imperfection of self-knowledge, possibility, actuality