Abstract

It is particularly fitting for this philosophical journal to carry a review of Moses Mendelssohn's Philosophical Writings, since Mendelssohn himself made use of dialogues to discuss a number of subjects, most notably the sublime and the naive. Indeed, this volume's second essay is simply entitled "Dialogues," while the first, "On Sentiments," takes the form of an exchange of letters. The two essays which constitute Part I of the Philosophical Writings were first published in 1755 within a few months of each other. "Rhapsody or Additions to the Letters on Sentiments", "On the Main Principles of the Fine Arts and Sciences", "On the Sublime and the Naïve in the Fine Sciences", and "On Probability" constitute Part II of the work, which was first published as a whole in 1761, and in a revised edition in 1771. Thus, apart from "Rhapsody" which was newly written, Philosophische Schriften brought together works already known to the public. The present translation contains two further essays, "On the Ability to Know, the Ability to Feel, and the Ability to Desire" and "On the Question: What Does to Enlighten Mean?". These are preceded by "On Evidence in Metaphysical Sciences", on which the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences bestowed a prize, making Kant's entry, Inquiry into the Distinctness of the Fundamental Principles of Natural Theology and Morals, a close runner-up.