Isaak Iselin

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Isaak Iselin

Isaak Iselin (7 March 1728 in Basel – 15 July 1782 in Basel) was a Swiss philosopher of history and politics.[1]

Iselin studied law and philosophy at the University of Basel and the University of Göttingen. In 1756 he became secretary of the republic of Basel. He was a co-founder of the Helvetic Society, the first national Swiss reform society.[1]

Iselin's Geschichte der Menschheit ("History of Humanity") was the first fully-fledged history of humanity in German. The Geschichte der Menschheit was provoked by what Iselin conceived as

Lord Kames. Iselin's pen-friend Moses Mendelssohn
in his review of the first edition of 1764, lauded Iselin as one of the best German prose writers.

Works

  • Philosophische und Politische Versuche, 1760
  • Ueber die Geschichte der Menschheit, 1764
  • Versuch über die gesellige Ordnung, 1772
  • Träume eines Menschenfreundes, 1776

Recent edition of Iselin's works

References

  1. ^ a b Zurbuchen, Simone (2006), "Iselin, Isaak", in Haakonssen, Knud (ed.), The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Philosophy, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, p. 1186

See also

External links