Solomon Maimon: An Autobiography.

Maimon, Solomon, 1754-1800Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.1
Word count
488K words
Chapters
49

Tags

English Originals General BiographyWestern Philosophy Portrait GalleryFate and FortunePhilosophical ReflectionIntellectual EnlightenmentSelf-ReflectionJewish EnlightenmentCross-Cultural View

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Solomon Maimon: An Autobiography. by Solomon MaimonAuthor: Maimon, Solomon, 1754-1800,Language: English, Class: B: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Release Date: Oct 13, 2012

Editor's review

This autobiography is the most important text left by Solomon Maimon (1754–1800), recording the life of a man born in an Eastern European Jewish community who was largely self-taught and eventually entered the center of German philosophical debate. Its value lies not in celebrity anecdotes but in its presentation of the internal order of eighteenth-century Jewish society, its educational methods, the hardships of making a living, and how a restless mind gradually broke free of environmental constraints and moved toward modern philosophy. The descriptions of traditional community customs, rabbinic education, marriage arrangements, and conflicts with personal ambition are concrete and candid, and are very helpful for understanding the intellectual background of the modern Jewish Enlightenment and German idealism. The tone interweaves self-defense with recollection, reading both as social history material and as a record of intellectual growth. It is suitable as a primary source for reading alongside studies of Enlightenment philosophy and modern Jewish history; those treating it merely as leisure biography may find the narrative pace slow.

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Reading tips

  1. Read the preface or introduction first to understand the eighteenth-century Jewish community background, then proceed to the main text.
  2. Read in segments by life stage, and after each segment review the changes in the protagonist's circumstances and choices.
  3. Look up philosophical figures and terms as you go; there is no need to grasp everything in one reading.
  4. Read alongside general history chapters on the Jewish Enlightenment for background comparison.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
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  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49

FAQ

Is this book mainly about philosophical thought or personal experience? It is primarily a life narrative, with philosophical debate as part of the life experience rather than a systematic philosophical work. Readers can see the environment and process of intellectual formation, but should not expect complete theoretical argumentation.
Can I understand it without a background in Jewish history? It is readable but requires some support. The book involves traditional community customs, rabbinic education, and figures in German philosophical circles; browsing relevant background introductions first and noting unfamiliar terms for focused lookup will make understanding smoother.
What is the nature of this edition? This is an English public-domain e-book edition released by Project Gutenberg, a free electronic text. It is convenient for searching and carrying but usually lacks modern scholarly annotations, so it is best used alongside other research materials.

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About the author

Maimon, Solomon, 1754-1800 Author · Polish · 1754–1800

Solomon Maimon (1754–1800) was a Jewish philosopher born in Poland. His life stood at the meeting point of Jewish thought in the Age of Enlightenment and German philosophy, and his writings are regarded by later generations as important material for understanding this transitional period. The library holds one work by him, the autobiography Solomon Maimon: An Autobiography. Taking personal experience as its thread, the book recounts life in the Jewish community and the growth of his thought, with a candid and concrete style that combines memoir narrative with philosophical reflection. It is a text often cited in studies of the spiritual journey of modern Jewish intellectuals. Public information on the details of his life and scholarly achievements is limited, and this entry offers only a brief introduction based on the facts in the library and reliable common knowledge.