Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn

E887647

epistolary work philosophical work

Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn is a philosophical work by Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, written in epistolary form, that sparked the famous Pantheism Controversy by critically examining Spinoza’s philosophy and its implications for reason, faith, and Enlightenment thought.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn canonical	3
Letters on the Doctrine of Spinoza	1
On the Doctrine of Spinoza in Letters to Mr. Moses Mendelssohn	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T10816858 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn
Context triple: [Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, notableWork, Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn]

A. Spinoza’s letters
Spinoza’s letters are a collection of Baruch Spinoza’s personal and philosophical correspondence that illuminate his ideas, relationships, and intellectual context.
B. Spinoza, Ethics, Part I
"Spinoza, Ethics, Part I" is the opening section of Baruch Spinoza’s philosophical masterpiece in which he lays out his rigorous, geometrically structured metaphysics, including his identification of God with Nature.
C. Spinoza, Ethics, Part IV
Spinoza, Ethics, Part IV is the section of Spinoza’s philosophical masterpiece that examines human bondage to the passions and outlines the path toward rational virtue and freedom.
D. Spinoza, Ethics, Part III
Spinoza, Ethics, Part III is the section of Baruch Spinoza’s philosophical masterpiece that systematically analyzes the nature and dynamics of human emotions within his rationalist, geometric framework.
E. Spinoza, Ethics, Part V
Spinoza, Ethics, Part V is the concluding section of Spinoza’s philosophical masterpiece, focusing on the power of the intellect, the nature of blessedness, and the mind’s eternal aspect through the intellectual love of God.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn
Target entity description: Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn is a philosophical work by Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, written in epistolary form, that sparked the famous Pantheism Controversy by critically examining Spinoza’s philosophy and its implications for reason, faith, and Enlightenment thought.

A. Spinoza’s letters
Spinoza’s letters are a collection of Baruch Spinoza’s personal and philosophical correspondence that illuminate his ideas, relationships, and intellectual context.
B. Spinoza, Ethics, Part I
"Spinoza, Ethics, Part I" is the opening section of Baruch Spinoza’s philosophical masterpiece in which he lays out his rigorous, geometrically structured metaphysics, including his identification of God with Nature.
C. Spinoza, Ethics, Part IV
Spinoza, Ethics, Part IV is the section of Spinoza’s philosophical masterpiece that examines human bondage to the passions and outlines the path toward rational virtue and freedom.
D. Spinoza, Ethics, Part III
Spinoza, Ethics, Part III is the section of Baruch Spinoza’s philosophical masterpiece that systematically analyzes the nature and dynamics of human emotions within his rationalist, geometric framework.
E. Spinoza, Ethics, Part V
Spinoza, Ethics, Part V is the concluding section of Spinoza’s philosophical masterpiece, focusing on the power of the intellect, the nature of blessedness, and the mind’s eternal aspect through the intellectual love of God.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (43)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	epistolary work ⓘ philosophical work ⓘ
addressesTo	Moses Mendelssohn ⓘ
aimsTo	defend the necessity of faith beyond reason ⓘ show consequences of strict rationalism ⓘ
author	Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi ⓘ
centralConcept	Glaube (faith) ⓘ Vernunft (reason) ⓘ fatalism ⓘ pantheism ⓘ revelation ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Germany ⓘ
criticizes	Baruch Spinoza ⓘ Enlightenment rationalism ⓘ Spinoza’s rationalism ⓘ
discusses	concept of God in Spinoza ⓘ limits of Enlightenment thought ⓘ possibility of metaphysics ⓘ relationship between reason and faith ⓘ
form	letters ⓘ
genre	philosophy ⓘ religious philosophy ⓘ
historicalContext	Pantheism Controversy of the 1780s ⓘ linked to: Pantheism controversy
historicalImpact	contributed to crisis of Enlightenment rationalism in late 18th century ⓘ influenced reception of Spinoza in Germany ⓘ shaped later debates on German idealism ⓘ
influenced	Pantheism Controversy ⓘ linked to: Pantheism controversy
language	German ⓘ
literaryForm	epistolary ⓘ
mainSubject	Baruch Spinoza ⓘ Spinozism ⓘ pantheism ⓘ reason and faith ⓘ
originalTitle	Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn ⓘ
philosophicalTradition	German Enlightenment ⓘ early German idealism (contextual precursor) ⓘ
positionOnSpinoza	interprets Spinoza as a pantheist ⓘ interprets Spinoza’s system as fatalistic ⓘ
publicationYear	1785 ⓘ
relatedThinker	Gotthold Ephraim Lessing ⓘ Immanuel Kant ⓘ
relatedWork	David Hume über den Glauben, oder Idealismus und Realismus (Jacobi) ⓘ linked to: David Hume über den Glauben, oder Idealismus und Realismus
triggered	Pantheism Controversy ⓘ linked to: Pantheism controversy

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi → notableWork → Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn ⓘ

Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn → originalTitle → Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn ⓘ

Von den göttlichen Dingen und ihrer Offenbarung → relatedWorkByAuthor → Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn ⓘ

Pantheism controversy → notableWork → On the Doctrine of Spinoza in Letters to Mr. Moses Mendelssohn ⓘ

linked to: Über die Lehre des Spinoza in Briefen an den Herrn Moses Mendelssohn

Pantheism controversy → notableWork → Letters on the Doctrine of Spinoza ⓘ