Adam Weishaupt

Johann Adam Weishaupt of civil law and subsequently of canon law, and founder of the Illuminati, a secret society that inspired subsequent conspiracy theories.

first years

Adam Weishaupt was born on February 6, 1748 in Ingolstadt, at Bavaria's electorate, in a Jewish family, whose father was Rabbi and Professor George Weishaupt. Weishaupt's father, Johann Georg Weishaupt (1717-1753), died when Adam was five years old.

After the death of his father, he was under the tutelage of his godfather Johann Adam Freiherr von Ickstatt, who, like his father, was a professor of law at the University of Ingolstadt. Ickstatt was in favor of the philosophy of the philosophy of Christian Wolff and the Enlightenment, and influenced the young Weishaupt with his rationalism. Weishaupt began his formal education at age seven at a Jesuit school. He later enrolled at the University of Ingolstadt and graduated in 1768 at the age of 20 with a doctorate in law. In 1772 he became a law professor. The following year he married Afra Sausenhofer by Eichstätt.

After the suppression of Jesus' company by Pope Clemente XIV in 1773, Weishaupt became a professor of Canon Law, a position that until then was exclusive to the Jesuits. In 1775, Weishaupt met Johann Georg Heinrich Feder's empirical philosophy of the University of Göttingen. Both Feder and Weishaupt would later become adversaries of Kantian idealism.

Illuminati Foundation

On May 1, 1776, Johann Adam Weishaupt founded the " Illuminati " in the electorate of Bavaria. Adopted the name of " Brother Spartaco " within the order. Even the references of various encyclopedias vary in the objective of the order, such as new advent that says that the order was not egalitarian or democratic internally, but that it sought to promote the doctrines of equality and freedom throughout the entire society; while others such as Collier ' S have said that the objective was to combat religion and foster rationalism instead.

The real character of society was an elaborate network of spies and counterparts. Each cell isolated from initiates informed a superior, which they did not know: a party structure that was effectively adopted by some later groups.

Weishaupt was initiated in the Masonic Lodge " Theodor Zum Guten Rath ", in Munich, in 1777. His project of " lighting, illuminating the understanding with the sun of reason, which will dissipate the clouds of superstition and prejudices " It was an unwanted reform. He used Freemasonry to recruit for his own quasi-male society, with the objective of " perfect human nature " Through reeducation to achieve a communal state with nature, released from government and organized religion. Presenting their own system as pure Freemasonry, Weishaupt and Adolph von Knigge, which organized its ritual structure, greatly expanded the secret organization.

against the famous opinion of Immanuel Kant that the Enlightenment (and Weishaupt's order was in some aspects an expression of the movement of the Enlightenment) was the passage of man outside his " self -imposed immaturity " Through dare to " make use of their own reason, without the guidance of another ", the order of the Weishaupt Illuminati prescribed in great detail everything that the members had to read and think obediently, so that Dr. Wolfgang Riedel has commented that this approach to lighting or clarification constituted a degradation and torsion of the Kantian principle of illustration

Radical rationalism and Weishaupt vocabulary had no chance of success. The writings that were intercepted in 1784 were interpreted as sedicious, and society was prohibited by the Karl Theodor Government, Bavaria's voter, in 1784. Weishaupt lost his position at the University of Ingolstadt and fled Bavaria.

Activities in exile

He received the help from Duke Ernesto II of Saxony-Altenburg (1745-1804), and lived in Gotha writing a series of works on illuminism, including the Complete History of the Persecutions of the Illuminati in Bavaria (1785), a Picture of Illuminism (1786), an apology for the illuminati > (1787). Adam Weishaupt died in Gotha on November 18, 1830. His second wife, Anna Maria (from Sausenhofer), and her children Nanette, Charlotte, Ernst, Karl, Eduard and Alfred survived. Weishaupt was buried with his son Wilhelm, who preceded him in death in 1802.

After the Weishaupt Illuminati order was prohibited and its members disperse, it left no lasting traces of their influence, even in their own former members, which in the future were developed in very different directions.

work

Philosophical Works

• (1775) De Lapsu Academiarum Commentatio Politica.
• (1786) Über die Schrecken des Todes – eine philosophische Rede.
  • (French) Discours Philosophique sur les Frayeurs de la Mort (1788). Gallica
• (1786) Über Materialismus und Idealismus. Torino
• (1788) Geschichte der Vervollkommnung des menschlichen Geschlechts.
• (1788) Über die Gründe und Gewißheit der Menschlichen Erkenntniß.
• (1788) Über die Kantischen Anschauungen und Erscheinungen.
• (1788) Zweifel über die Kantischen Begriffe von Zeit und Raum.
• (1793) Über Wahrheit und sittliche Vollkommenheit.
• (1794) Über die Lehre von den Gründen und Ursachen aller Dinge.
• (1794) Über die Selbsterkenntnis, ihre Hindernisse und Vorteile.
• (1797) Über die Zwecke oder Finalursachen.
• (1802) Über die Hindernisse der baierischen Industrie und Bevölkerung.
• (1804) Die Leuchte des Diogenes.
• (1817) Über die Staats-Ausgaben und Auflagen. Google Books
• (1818) Über das Besteuerungs-System.

Illuminati-related works

• (1786) Apologie der Illuminaten, ISBN 978-3-7448-1853-7.
• (1786) Vollständige Geschichte der Verfolgung der Illuminaten in Bayern.
• (1786) Schilderung der Illuminaten.
• (1787) Einleitung zu meiner Apologie.
• (1787) Einige Originalschriften des Illuminatenordens...
• (1787) Nachtrage von weitern Originalschriften...
• (1787) Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten.
• (1787) Nachtrag zur Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten.
• (1787) Apologie des Mißvergnügens und des Übels.
• (1787) Das Verbesserte System der Illuminaten.
• (1788) Der ächte Illuminat, oder die wahren, unverbesserten Rituale der Illuminaten.
• (1795) Pythagoras, oder Betrachtungen über die geheime Welt- und Regierungs-Kunst.