Moses Mendelssohn: A Biographical Study: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization

Preface 1 Years of Growth Childhood in Dessau * Early Years in Berlin * The Budding Philosopher * Lessing * The Metaphysician * The Bel Esprit * A Learned Society * Kohelet Mussar 2 Maturity and Fame Marriage and Family Life * Thomas Abbt * The Prize-Essay * The Correspondence about the Vocation of Man * The Phaedon * Questions and Answers * Cognate Hebrew Writings 3 Turning Point: The Lavater Affair 'Juif de Berlin' * The Prehistory of the Lavater Affair * Lavater's Challenge and Mendelssohn's Reply * First Reactions and Behind-the-Scene Activities; Lavater's Reply and Mendelssohn's Epilogue * Reverberations of the Conflict * Literary Concerns and Another Lavater Episode 4 Changes in the Pattern of Life The Strange Illness * Ups and Downs; A Chronicle of Events * Hebraica and Judaica * The Chronicle Continued * Some Philosophical Preoccupations * Friends in Unexpected Quarters 5 The Teacher The Avant-Garde of Haskala * The German Translation of the Pentateuch * Obstacles on the Road * Completing the Work 6 Political Reformer Spokesman of his People * Co-operation with Dohm * A Momentous Event and a New Tract for the Times * The Issue of Educational Reform * The Summer of 1782 * Jerusalem 7 Strains and Stresses Friendship with Lessing: The Last Phase * A Projected Essay on Lessing's Character * Jacobi's Attitude toward Mendelssohn: Antecedents of their Conflict * An Uneasy Correspondence 8 Guardian of the Enlightenment The Contest * Literary Activity, 1783-1785 * Morning Hours * In Combat * The Social and Domestic Scene * The End * Epilogue Notes Index of Subjects and Names