MENDELSSOHN, MOSES. — Philosopher, born in Dessau on 6 September 1729, died in Berlin on 4 January 1786. Having already Maimonide (v.) in Dessau, he perfected his philosophical formation in Berlin, Lessing (v.), especially through the study of contemporary currents (Leibnizian rationalism, English empiricism and pre-Romanticism).
M. is less a systematic philosopher than a critic of systems and doctrines. He considers the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and moral principles to be demonstrable truths, and religiosity to be an essential aspect of man; the objective content of religion, however, consists principally in its practical laws and maxims; even certain forms of pantheism can provide a foundation for a pure and profound religiosity. Through these and analogous doctrines, M. contributed to the affirmation of the idea of religious toleration in law and public opinion. His influence was even greater on the attitude of Jews toward society and cultural life. Through translations of the Old Testament (Pentotenco, Psalms), he facilitated for his fellow believers access to the sources of their religious tradition and, in his apology Jerusalem oder über religiöse Macht und Judentum (Berlin 1783), offered an interpretation of the Jewish religion in accord with the spirit of modern culture.
Other works: Philosophische Gespräche (Berlin 1755); Abhandlung über die Evidenz in den metaphys. Wissenschaften (ibid. 1764); Phädom oder über die Unsterblichkeit der Seele (ibid. 1767); Morgenthunden oder über das Dasein Gottes (ibid. 1785).
Bachi, Sulla vita e sulle opere di M. M., Turin 1872; D. Baumgardt, Spinoza und M., Berlin 1932; H. Hölters, Der spinozistische Gottesbegriff bei M. M. und F. H. Jacobi und der Gottesbegriff Spinozas, Emsdetten 1938; further references in W. Ziegenfuss, Philosophen Lexikon, II, Berlin 1930, pp. 149–50.