«Können Sie denn dergleichen schreiben, ohne in Wallung zu gerathen? Ich nicht». A Commented Edition of an Unknown Letter of Baumgarten to Meier

Abstract

In this article, I make available the transcription of a letter of Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten to Georg Friedrich Meier, which has hitherto remained completely unknown to commentators. After contextualizing the writing, I examine in particular the two most significant elements of the text: the King’s order to Meier to deliver a class on Locke and Baumgarten’s observations on the dispute with Gottsched. As for this aspect, I linger on the war declared to aesthetics, both as a term and as a concept, by Gottsched and his followers, so as to consider Baumgarten’s position in a wider theoretical framework.