The Link between Culture and Enlightenment in Moses Mendelssohn

Abstract

In his intervention in the late eighteenth-century German debate on the meaning of enlightenment Moses Mendelssohn assigns to enlightenment (Aufklärung) and culture (Kultur), theoretical and practical components respectively of the formation (Bildung) of a people, a function of reciprocal prophylaxis. The development of each constitutes the best means of preventing the corruption produced by the misuse of the other. Since the "way of destroying" of each is opposed to that of the other, the happiness of a nation depends on their balanced advancement. The intention of this paper is to determine Mendelssohn's position on the limits of enlightenment as well as to clarify the prophylactic link between enlightenment and culture.