Franz Michael Leuchsenring (13 April 1746 – February 1827) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

writer of the

German Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a European intellectual and philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained through rationalism and empirici ...

Life

In 1769, Leuchsenring with

Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (; ; 25 January 1743 – 10 March 1819) was a German philosopher, writer and socialite. He is best known for popularizing the concept of nihilism. He promoted the idea that it is the necessary result of Enlightenment th ...

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, and

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were known as members of the Merckschen Circle in

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. Almost all his circle broke with Leuchsenring, however, because they did not trust him. After moving to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, he was briefly teacher of philosophy to Crown Prince

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. Along with bookseller and author

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, Royal librarian Johann Erich Biester, and

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, the German Jewish philosopher, he became a member of the Berlin Wednesday Society. Later, he went to

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, where he lived as a

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

and there died.

Sources

* Franz Muncker, "Leuchsenring, Franz Michael", ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB)'', vol. 18 (Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1883) pp. 473–475. * Konrad Feilchenfeldt, "Leuchsenring, Franz Michael", ''Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB)'', vol. 14 (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1985) , pp. 367 ff. * Urs Viktor Kamber (Hrsg.) ''Briefe von und an F. M. Leuchsenring, 1746–1827'' Stuttgart: Metzler, 1976) * Reinhard Markner, "Franz Michael Leuchsenring, "Philosoph ambulant" in Berlin und Zürich", ''Aufklärung'' 24 (2012), pp. 173–205 {{DEFAULTSORT:Leuchsenring, Franz Michael 18th-century German writers 18th-century German male writers 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers 1746 births 1827 deaths