Jakob Sigismund Beck (originally Jacob Sigismund Beck; 6 August 1761 – 29 August 1840) was a German

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

Biography

Beck was born in the village of Liessau (Lisewo) in the rural district of Marienburg (Malbork) in

Royal Prussia Royal Prussia ( pl, Prusy Królewskie; german: Königlich-Preußen or , csb, Królewsczé Prësë) or Polish PrussiaAnton Friedrich Büsching, Patrick Murdoch. ''A New System of Geography'', London 1762p. 588/ref> (Polish: ; German: ) was a ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

in 1761. The son of a priest (of Liessau), he studied (after 1783)

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...

, where

Christian Jakob Kraus Christian Jakob Kraus (; 27 July 1753 – 25 August 1807) was a German comparative and historical linguist. Biography A native of Osterode (East Prussia), Kraus studied at the universities of Königsberg and Göttingen. In 1782 he became a pr ...

, Johann Schultz, and

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

were his teachers. After his studies he first accepted a post as a teacher at a grammar school in

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

. With his thesis ''Dissertatio de Theoremate Tayloriano, sive de lege generali, secundum quam functionis mutantur, notatis a quibus pendent variabilibus'', which he wrote in Halle, he was qualified as a university lecturer. He then worked as a lecturer of philosophy at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

(1791–1799), before he became a professor of philosophy at the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continen ...

. He devoted himself to criticism and explanation of the doctrine of

Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aest ...

, and in 1793 published the ''Erläuternder Auszug aus den kritischen Schriften des Herrn Prof. Kant, auf Anrathen desselben'' (

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the ...

, 1793–1796), which has been widely used as a compendium of

Kantian Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The term ''Kantianism'' or ''Kantian'' is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, ...

doctrine. Beck endeavoured to explain away certain of the contradictions which are found in Kant's system by saying that much of the language is used in a popular sense for the sake of intelligibility, e.g. where Kant attributes to

things-in-themselves In Kantian philosophy, the thing-in-itself (german: Ding an sich) is the status of objects as they are, independent of representation and observation. The concept of the thing-in-itself was introduced by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, and ...

an existence under the conditions of time, space and causality, and yet holds that they furnish the material of our apprehensions. Beck maintains that the real meaning of Kant's theory is

idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ...

; that knowledge of objects outside the domain of

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

is impossible, and hence that nothing positive remains when we have removed the subjective element. Matter is deduced by the original

synthesis Synthesis or synthesize may refer to: Science Chemistry and biochemistry * Chemical synthesis, the execution of chemical reactions to form a more complex molecule from chemical precursors **Organic synthesis, the chemical synthesis of organ ...

. Similarly, the idea of

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

is a

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

ic representation of the voice of

conscience Conscience is a cognitive process that elicits emotion and rational associations based on an individual's moral philosophy or value system. Conscience stands in contrast to elicited emotion or thought due to associations based on immediate sens ...

guiding from within. The value of Beck's exegesis has been to a great extent overlooked owing to the greater attention given to the work of

J. G. Fichte Johann Gottlieb Fichte (; ; 19 May 1762 – 29 January 1814) was a German philosopher who became a founding figure of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, which developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Ka ...

. Beside the three volumes of the ''Erläuternder Auszug'', he published the ''Grundriss der kritischen Philosophie'' (1796), containing an interpretation of the Kantian ''Kritik'' in the manner of

Salomon Maimon Salomon Maimon (; ; lt, Salomonas Maimonas; he, שלמה בן יהושע מימון‎; 1753 – 22 November 1800) was a philosopher born of Lithuanian Jewish parentage in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, present-day Belarus. Some of his work w ...

. Beck died in

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state ...

Works

* ''Erläuternder Auszug aus den Kritischen Schriften des Herrn Prof. Kant'' (1793–96), vol. 3:
Einzig-möglicher Standpunct, aus welchem die critische Philosophie beurtheilt werden muß
' (1796)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Jakob Sigismund 1761 births 1840 deaths 18th-century German philosophers 18th-century philosophers 19th-century German non-fiction writers 19th-century German male writers 19th-century German writers 19th-century German philosophers 19th-century philosophers Academic staff of the University of Rostock Continental philosophers Epistemologists German idealism German male non-fiction writers Idealists Kantian philosophers Kantianism Lecturers Metaphilosophers Writers from Gdańsk People from Royal Prussia Phenomenologists Philosophers of education Philosophers of language Philosophers of mind Academic staff of the University of Halle University of Königsberg alumni