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{{Short description|German philosopher and founder of the Illuminati (1748–1830)}}
] ]
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox philosopher
|region = Western Philosophy
|era = ]
|image = Johann_Adam_Weishaupt.jpg
|caption = 1799 portrait of Weishaupt
|birth_name = Johann Adam Weishaupt
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1748|2|6}}
|birth_place = ], ], ]
|death_date = {{death date and age|1830|11|18|1748|2|6|df=y}}
|death_place = ], ], ]
|school_tradition = ]
|known_for = Founder of the Illuminati
|main_interests = ], ], ]
|notable_ideas =
}}
'''Johann Adam Weishaupt''' ({{IPA|de|ˈjoːhan ˈʔaːdam ˈvaɪshaʊpt|pron}}; 6 February 1748 – 18 November 1830)<ref name="ADB Vol. 41">''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' .</ref><ref name="Engel 1906">Engel, Leopold. ''Geschichte des Illuminaten-ordens''. Berlin: H. Bermühler Verlag, 1906.</ref><ref name="van Dülmen 1975">van Dülmen, Richard. ''Der Geheimbund der Illuminaten''. Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog, 1975.</ref><ref name="Stauffer 1918">Stauffer, Vernon. '' and the Bavarian Illuminati''. ], 1918.</ref> was a German philosopher, professor of civil law and later canon law, and founder of the ].


==Early life==
<div style="float:right; padding:10px;text-align:center;font-style:italic">
Adam Weishaupt was born on 6 February 1748 in ]<ref name="ADB Vol. 41"/><ref name="books.google.com">Engel .</ref> in the ]. Weishaupt's father ] (1717–1753) died<ref name="books.google.com"/> when Adam was five years old. After his father's death he came under the tutelage of his ] ]<ref>''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' .</ref> who, like his father, was a professor of law at the ].<ref>Freninger, Franz Xaver, ed. ''Das Matrikelbuch der Universitaet Ingolstadt-Landshut-München''. München: A. Eichleiter, 1872. 31.</ref> Ickstatt was a proponent of the philosophy of ] and of the ],<ref>Hartmann, Peter Claus. ''Bayerns Weg in die Gegenwart''. Regensburg: Pustet, 1989. 262. Also, Bauerreiss, Romuald. ''Kirchengeschichte Bayerns''. Vol. 7. St. Ottilien: EOS Verlag, 1970. 405.</ref> and he influenced the young Weishaupt with his ]. Weishaupt began his formal education at age seven<ref name="ADB Vol. 41"/> at a ] school. He later enrolled at the University of Ingolstadt and graduated in 1768<ref>Freninger 47.</ref> at age 20 with a ].<ref>Engel .</ref> In 1772<ref>Freninger 32.</ref> he became a professor of law after conversion to Protestantism.<ref name="Ben-Menahem 2009 p. 2057">{{cite book | last=Ben-Menahem | first=A. | title=Historical Encyclopedia of Natural and Mathematical Sciences | publisher=Springer | year=2009 | isbn=978-3-540-68831-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9tUrarQYhKMC&pg=PA2057 | access-date=2023-06-13 | page=2057}}</ref> The following year he married Afra Sausenhofer<ref>Engel .</ref> of ].
]<br>
<small>The caption reads: "Adam Weishaupt,<br> ehemaliger Jesuit, gr&uuml;ndete am 1. Mai 1776<br> die Geheimgesellschaft der Illuminaten"<br> (Adam Weishaupt, former Jesuit,<br> founded the ] of the Illuminati<br> on May 1st, 1776)</small>
</div>


After ]'s ] in 1773, Weishaupt became a professor of ],<ref>Engel . Also, ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' .</ref> a position that was held exclusively by the ] until that time. In 1775 Weishaupt was introduced<ref>Engel .</ref> to the ] philosophy of ]<ref>''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' .</ref> of the ]. Both Feder and Weishaupt would later become opponents of ] ].<ref>Beiser, Frederick C. ''The Fate of Reason''. Harvard University Press, 1987. .</ref>
'''Adam Weishaupt''' (], ] - ], ]) was the ] founder of the Order of the ].


==Foundation of the Illuminati==
He was born and raised in ], where he attained the rank of Professor of Canon Law in ]. Though he was educated by ] and was clearly influenced by the discretion, loyalty and the hierarchic obedience of the Society of Jesus and was for a time a member of their order, his appointment as Professor of Natural and Canon Law at the University of Ingoldstadt in ] offended them. He broke with them and became increasingly ] in his religious and political views, favoring ] and a kind of millenial natural order that swept aside states and organized religion.
{{Blockquote|At a time, however, when there was no end of making game of and abusing secret societies, I planned to make use of this human foible for a real and worthy goal, for the benefit of people. I wished to do what the heads of the ecclesiastical and secular authorities ought to have done by virtue of their offices ...<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schneider |first1=Heinrich |title=Quest for Mysteries: The Masonic Background for Literature in 18th Century Germany|year=2005 |orig-year=1947 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |isbn=1419182145 |page=24 n.49 }}</ref>}}


On 1 May 1776 Johann Adam Weishaupt founded the "Illuminati" in the Electorate of Bavaria. Initially, Illumination was designated for a group of outstanding and enlightened individuals in society. Indeed, the word was adapted from a Latin root, ''Iluminatus,'' which directly translates to "enlightened." He also adopted the name of "Brother ]" within the order. Even encyclopedia references vary on the goal of the order, such as ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1910) saying the Order was not ] or democratic internally, but sought to promote the doctrines of equality and freedom throughout society;<ref name="Catholic Encyclopedia">Catholic Encyclopedia: ,</ref> while others such as ''Collier's'' have said the aim was to combat religion and foster rationalism in its place.<ref>{{cite book |last=Couch |first=William |date=1956 |title=Collier's Encyclopedia, Volume 10 |publisher=Crowell-Collier Publishing Company |page=370 }}</ref> The Illuminati was formed with the vision of liberating humans from religious bondage and undermining corrupted governments.<ref>{{Cite web|title=illuminati {{!}} Facts, History, Suppression, & Conspiracy {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/illuminati-group-designation|access-date=14 December 2021|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref>
With the help of Baron ], on ], ] Weishaupt formed the "Order of Perfectibilists", which was later known as the ]. Some claim that this founding date is the origin for the date of the ] ] observance. He adopted the name of "Brother ]" within the order. Though the Order was distinctly not egalitarian or democratic, its declared mission was the development of morality and virtue and the creation of an association of good men to oppose the progress of evil, by any means necessary. “Sin is only that which is hurtful, and if the profit is greater than the damage, it becomes a virtue,” Weishaupt wrote: the ends justified the means. The actual character of the society was determined by its traditionalist enemies to be an elaborate network of spies and counter-spies, though with the high goal of ensuring virtue. Each isolated ] of initiates reported to a superior, whom they did not know, a party structure that was later effectively adopted by ], and more recently by the early ] party in Syria and Iraq.


The actual character of the society was an elaborate network of spies and counter-spies. Each isolated cell of initiates reported to a superior, whom they did not know: a party structure that was effectively adopted by some later groups.<ref name="Catholic Encyclopedia" />
Weishaupt was initiated into ] Lodge "Theodor zum guten Rath", at ] in ]. He worked at first to divest Freemasonry of its pseudohistorical mumbo-jumbo and reform it. Weishaupt had no use for other occultisms in general: "It is by this scale that we must measure the mad and wicked explanations of the Rosycrucions, the exorcists and Cabalists. These are rejected by all good Masons, because incompatible with social happiness." His project of "illumination, enlightening the understanding by the sun of reason, which will dispell the clouds of superstition and of prejudice" was an unwelcome reform. Soon however he had developed gnostic mysteries of his own, with the goal of perfecting human nature through re-education to achieve a a communal state of natyure, freed of government and organized religion. He began working towards incorporating his system of Illuminism into that of Masonry, with the aim of spreading his ideals throughout the world. "I did not bring Deism into Bavaria," he wrote, "more than into Rome. I found it here, in great vigour, more abounding than in any of the neighboring Protestant States. I am proud to be known to the world as the founder of the Illuminati."


Weishaupt was initiated into the ] "Theodor zum guten Rath", at Munich in 1777. His project of "illumination, enlightening the understanding by the sun of reason, which will dispel the clouds of superstition and of prejudice" was an unwelcome reform.<ref name="Catholic Encyclopedia" />{{failed verification|date=December 2021}} He used ] to recruit for his own quasi-masonic society, with the goal of "perfecting human nature" through re-education to achieve a communal state with nature, freed of government and organized religion. Presenting their own system as pure masonry, Weishaupt and ], who organized his ritual structure, greatly expanded the secret organization.<ref name="Catholic Encyclopedia" />
Weishaupt's radical rationalism, sweeping away nations and religions, private property and marriage, with the vocabulary used by the ], was not likely to appeal, even to an establishment more liberal than the Wittelsbachs'. Writings that were intercepted in 1784 were interpreted as seditious, the Society was banned by ]'s government in ], Weishaupt lost his position at the ] and fled Bavaria. He received the assistance of Duke Ernest of ], and lived in Gotha writing a series of works on Illuminism, including <cite>A Complete History of the Persecutions of the Illuminati in Bavaria</cite> (]), <cite>A Picture of Illuminism</cite> (]), <cite>An Apology for the Illuminati</cite> (]), and <cite>An Improved System of Illuminism</cite> (]). He died there in ], though his later career was so obscure that some sources place the year of his death at ].


Contrary to Immanuel Kant's ] that ] (and Weishaupt's Order was in some respects an expression of the Enlightenment Movement) was the passage by a man out of his 'self-imposed immaturity' through daring to 'make use of his own reason, without the guidance of another,' Weishaupt's Order of Illuminati prescribed in great detail everything which the members had obediently to read and think so that Dr. Wolfgang Riedel has commented that this approach to illumination or enlightenment constituted a degradation and twisting of the Kantian principle of Enlightenment.<ref>Dr. Wolfgang Riedel, 'Aufklaerung und Macht', in ''Die Weimarer Klassik und ihre Geheimbuende'', ed. by W. Mueller-Seidel and W. Riedel, Koenigshausen und Neumann, 2002, p. 112</ref> Riedel writes:
A century after his death, ] interest in Weishaupt and the Bavarian Illuminati picked up, through the writings of ]. Modern adepts trace the imagery of symbolism like the eye in the pyramid, and embrace the secrecy of the Illuminati traditions but ignore the specifics of Weishaupt's published essays and correspondence.


::' The independence of thought and judgment required by Kant ... was specifically prevented by the Order of the Illuminati's rules and regulations. Enlightenment takes place here, if it takes place at all, precisely ''under'' the direction of another, namely under that of the "Superiors" .<ref>Dr. Wolfgang Riedel, ''Die Weimarer Klassik und ihre Geheimbuende'', 2001, p. 112</ref>


Weishaupt's radical rationalism and vocabulary were not likely to succeed. Writings that were intercepted in 1784 were interpreted as seditious, and the Society was banned by the government of ], Elector of Bavaria, in 1784. Weishaupt lost his position at the University of Ingolstadt and fled Bavaria.<ref name="Catholic Encyclopedia" />
==Quotes about Weishaupt==


==Activities in exile==
:''As Weishaupt lived under the tyranny of a despot and priests, he knew that caution was necessary even in spreading information, and the principles of pure morality. This has given an air of mystery to his views, was the foundation of his banishment.... If Weishaupt had written here, where no secrecy is necessary in our endeavors to render men wise and virtuous, he would not have thought of any secret machinery for that purpose.''
He received the assistance of ] of ] (1745–1804), and lived in ] writing a series of works on illuminism, including ''A Complete History of the Persecutions of the Illuminati in Bavaria'' (1785), ''A Picture of Illuminism'' (1786), ''An Apology for the Illuminati'' (1786), and ''An Improved System of Illuminism'' (1787). Adam Weishaupt died in Gotha on 18 November 1830.<ref name="ADB Vol. 41"/><ref name="Engel 1906"/><ref name="van Dülmen 1975"/><ref name="Stauffer 1918"/> He was survived by his second wife, Anna Maria (née Sausenhofer), and his children Nanette, Charlotte, Ernst, ], Eduard, and Alfred.<ref name="Engel 1906"/> His body was buried next to that of his son Wilhelm, who preceded him in death (in 1802), at ], a Protestant cemetery.
:--]


After Weishaupt's Order of Illuminati was banned and its members dispersed, it left behind no enduring traces of influence, not even on its own erstwhile members, who went on to develop in quite different directions.<ref>Dr. Eberhard Weis in ''Die Weimarer Klassik und ihre Geheimbünde'', edited by Professor Walter Müller-Seidel and Professor Wolfgang Riedel (Königshausen und Neumann, 2003), 100–101.</ref>
:''A human devil.''
:--]


==Assessment of character and intentions==
:''A harmless philanthropist.''
] of Adam Weishaupt]]
:--]

Weishaupt's character and intentions have been variously assessed. Some took a negative view, such as ], who despite writing that Weishaupt's goals were that "Equality and Liberty, together with the most absolute independence, are to be the substitutes for all rights and all property" saw this as more dangerous than beneficial,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/sro/mhj/mhj313.htm|title=Code of the Illuminati, Part III of: Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism - Abbé Barreul|website=www.sacred-texts.com}}</ref> and ], who regarded Weishaupt as a 'human devil' and saw his mission as one of malevolent destructiveness. Others took a more positive view, including ], who wrote in a letter to ] that "Barruel’s own parts of the book are perfectly the ravings of a ]" and considered Weishaupt to be an "enthusiastic Philanthropist" who believed in the indefinite perfectibility of man, and believed that the intention of Jesus Christ was simply to "reinstate natural religion, and by diffusing the light of his morality, to teach us to govern ourselves".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-31-02-0297|title=From Thomas Jefferson to Bishop James Madison, 31 January 1800}}</ref>

In his defence, Weishaupt wrote a ''Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten'' (A Brief Justification of my Intentions)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WggXMQAACAAJ|title=Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten - Adam Weishaupt|last1=Weishaupt|first1=Adam|year=1787}}</ref> in 1787. Author Tony Page comments:

::"Weishaupt’s plan was to educate Illuminati followers in the highest levels of humanity and morality (basing his teachings on the supremacy of Reason, allied with the spirit of the Golden Rule of not doing to others what one would not wish done to oneself), so that if Illuminati alumni subsequently attained positions of significance and power (such as in the fields of education and politics), they could exert a benevolent and uplifting influence upon society at large. His project was utopian and naively optimistic, and he himself was certainly not without flaws of character – but neither he nor his plan was evil or violent in and of themselves. It is one of the deplorable and tragic ironies of history that a man who tried to inculcate virtue, philanthropy, social justice and morality has become one of the great hate-figures of 21st-century 'conspiracy' thinking."<ref>Tony Page (translator and editor), ''Supplement to the Justification of My Intentions by Adam Weishaupt'', Justice Publications, Bangkok, Amazon Kindle, 2014, p. 1</ref>

==Works==

===Philosophical works===
* (1775) ''De Lapsu Academiarum Commentatio Politica''.
* (1786) ''Über die Schrecken des Todes&nbsp;– eine philosophische Rede''.
** {{in lang|fr}} ''Discours Philosophique sur les Frayeurs de la Mort'' (1788).
* (1786) ''Über Materialismus und Idealismus''.
* (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''.
* (1818) ''Über das Besteuerungs-System''.

===Works relating to the Illuminati===

*(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''.

Source<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weishaupt |first=Adam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kwHeuQEACAAJ |title=The Collected Works of Adam Weishaupt |date=2018 |publisher=Malta Minerval Editions |isbn=978-1-946829-20-7 |language=en}}</ref>

===Works by Adam Weishaupt in English translation===

*(2008) ''Diogenes' Lamp, or an Examination of Our Present Day Morality and Enlightenment'', translated by Amelia Gill, The Masonic Book Club.
*(2015) ''The Secret School of Wisdom: The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati'', translated by Jeva Singh-Anand, edited by Josef Wäges and Reinhard Markner, London: Lewis Masonic, 447 pp., {{ISBN|978-0853184935}}
*(2014) ''A Brief Justification of My Intentions: Casting Light on the Latest Original Writings'', translated by Dr. Tony Page, Justice Publications, Amazon Kindle.
*(2014) ''Supplement to the Justification of My Intentions'', translated by Dr. Tony Page, Justice Publications, Amazon Kindle.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}


==External links== ==External links==
* {{in lang|de}} Biography in ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' by Daniel Jacoby.
*
* "Illuminati"; a critical view * by Trevor W. McKeown.
* entry in ], hosted by ].

{{Sister bar|auto=1}}
{{Illuminati}}
{{Age of Enlightenment}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weishaupt, Adam}}
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Latest revision as of 22:30, 7 November 2024

German philosopher and founder of the Illuminati (1748–1830)

Adam Weishaupt
1799 portrait of Weishaupt
BornJohann Adam Weishaupt
(1748-02-06)6 February 1748
Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire
Died18 November 1830(1830-11-18) (aged 82)
Gotha, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, German Confederation
Known forFounder of the Illuminati
EraEnlightenment era
RegionWestern Philosophy
SchoolEmpiricism
Main interestsEpistemology, Metaphysics, Ethics

Johann Adam Weishaupt (pronounced [ˈjoːhan ˈʔaːdam ˈvaɪshaʊpt]; 6 February 1748 – 18 November 1830) was a German philosopher, professor of civil law and later canon law, and founder of the Illuminati.

Early life

Adam Weishaupt was born on 6 February 1748 in Ingolstadt in the Electorate of Bavaria. Weishaupt's father Johann Georg Weishaupt (1717–1753) died when Adam was five years old. After his father's death he came under the tutelage of his godfather Johann Adam von Ickstatt who, like his father, was a professor of law at the University of Ingolstadt. Ickstatt was a proponent of the philosophy of Christian Wolff and of the Enlightenment, and he 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 age 20 with a doctorate of law. In 1772 he became a professor of law after conversion to Protestantism. The following year he married Afra Sausenhofer of Eichstätt.

After Pope Clement XIV's suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773, Weishaupt became a professor of canon law, a position that was held exclusively by the Jesuits until that time. In 1775 Weishaupt was introduced to the empirical philosophy of Johann Georg Heinrich Feder of the University of Göttingen. Both Feder and Weishaupt would later become opponents of Kantian idealism.

Foundation of the Illuminati

At a time, however, when there was no end of making game of and abusing secret societies, I planned to make use of this human foible for a real and worthy goal, for the benefit of people. I wished to do what the heads of the ecclesiastical and secular authorities ought to have done by virtue of their offices ...

On 1 May 1776 Johann Adam Weishaupt founded the "Illuminati" in the Electorate of Bavaria. Initially, Illumination was designated for a group of outstanding and enlightened individuals in society. Indeed, the word was adapted from a Latin root, Iluminatus, which directly translates to "enlightened." He also adopted the name of "Brother Spartacus" within the order. Even encyclopedia references vary on the goal of the order, such as Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) saying the Order was not egalitarian or democratic internally, but sought to promote the doctrines of equality and freedom throughout society; while others such as Collier's have said the aim was to combat religion and foster rationalism in its place. The Illuminati was formed with the vision of liberating humans from religious bondage and undermining corrupted governments.

The actual character of the society was an elaborate network of spies and counter-spies. Each isolated cell of initiates reported to a superior, whom they did not know: a party structure that was effectively adopted by some later groups.

Weishaupt was initiated into the Masonic lodge "Theodor zum guten Rath", at Munich in 1777. His project of "illumination, enlightening the understanding by the sun of reason, which will dispel the clouds of superstition and of prejudice" was an unwelcome reform. He used Freemasonry to recruit for his own quasi-masonic society, with the goal of "perfecting human nature" through re-education to achieve a communal state with nature, freed of government and organized religion. Presenting their own system as pure masonry, Weishaupt and Adolph Freiherr Knigge, who organized his ritual structure, greatly expanded the secret organization.

Contrary to Immanuel Kant's famous dictum that Enlightenment (and Weishaupt's Order was in some respects an expression of the Enlightenment Movement) was the passage by a man out of his 'self-imposed immaturity' through daring to 'make use of his own reason, without the guidance of another,' Weishaupt's Order of Illuminati prescribed in great detail everything which the members had obediently to read and think so that Dr. Wolfgang Riedel has commented that this approach to illumination or enlightenment constituted a degradation and twisting of the Kantian principle of Enlightenment. Riedel writes:

' The independence of thought and judgment required by Kant ... was specifically prevented by the Order of the Illuminati's rules and regulations. Enlightenment takes place here, if it takes place at all, precisely under the direction of another, namely under that of the "Superiors" .

Weishaupt's radical rationalism and vocabulary were not likely to succeed. Writings that were intercepted in 1784 were interpreted as seditious, and the Society was banned by the government of Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria, in 1784. Weishaupt lost his position at the University of Ingolstadt and fled Bavaria.

Activities in exile

He received the assistance of Duke Ernest II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1745–1804), and lived in Gotha writing a series of works on illuminism, including A Complete History of the Persecutions of the Illuminati in Bavaria (1785), A Picture of Illuminism (1786), An Apology for the Illuminati (1786), and An Improved System of Illuminism (1787). Adam Weishaupt died in Gotha on 18 November 1830. He was survived by his second wife, Anna Maria (née Sausenhofer), and his children Nanette, Charlotte, Ernst, Karl, Eduard, and Alfred. His body was buried next to that of his son Wilhelm, who preceded him in death (in 1802), at Friedhof II der Sophiengemeinde Berlin, a Protestant cemetery.

After Weishaupt's Order of Illuminati was banned and its members dispersed, it left behind no enduring traces of influence, not even on its own erstwhile members, who went on to develop in quite different directions.

Assessment of character and intentions

Death mask of Adam Weishaupt

Weishaupt's character and intentions have been variously assessed. Some took a negative view, such as Augustin Barruel, who despite writing that Weishaupt's goals were that "Equality and Liberty, together with the most absolute independence, are to be the substitutes for all rights and all property" saw this as more dangerous than beneficial, and John Robison, who regarded Weishaupt as a 'human devil' and saw his mission as one of malevolent destructiveness. Others took a more positive view, including Thomas Jefferson, who wrote in a letter to James Madison that "Barruel’s own parts of the book are perfectly the ravings of a Bedlamite" and considered Weishaupt to be an "enthusiastic Philanthropist" who believed in the indefinite perfectibility of man, and believed that the intention of Jesus Christ was simply to "reinstate natural religion, and by diffusing the light of his morality, to teach us to govern ourselves".

In his defence, Weishaupt wrote a Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten (A Brief Justification of my Intentions) in 1787. Author Tony Page comments:

"Weishaupt’s plan was to educate Illuminati followers in the highest levels of humanity and morality (basing his teachings on the supremacy of Reason, allied with the spirit of the Golden Rule of not doing to others what one would not wish done to oneself), so that if Illuminati alumni subsequently attained positions of significance and power (such as in the fields of education and politics), they could exert a benevolent and uplifting influence upon society at large. His project was utopian and naively optimistic, and he himself was certainly not without flaws of character – but neither he nor his plan was evil or violent in and of themselves. It is one of the deplorable and tragic ironies of history that a man who tried to inculcate virtue, philanthropy, social justice and morality has become one of the great hate-figures of 21st-century 'conspiracy' thinking."

Works

Philosophical works

  • (1775) De Lapsu Academiarum Commentatio Politica.
  • (1786) Über die Schrecken des Todes – eine philosophische Rede.
    • (in 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.

Works relating to the Illuminati

  • (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.

Source

Works by Adam Weishaupt in English translation

  • (2008) Diogenes' Lamp, or an Examination of Our Present Day Morality and Enlightenment, translated by Amelia Gill, The Masonic Book Club. Internet Archive
  • (2015) The Secret School of Wisdom: The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati, translated by Jeva Singh-Anand, edited by Josef Wäges and Reinhard Markner, London: Lewis Masonic, 447 pp., ISBN 978-0853184935
  • (2014) A Brief Justification of My Intentions: Casting Light on the Latest Original Writings, translated by Dr. Tony Page, Justice Publications, Amazon Kindle.
  • (2014) Supplement to the Justification of My Intentions, translated by Dr. Tony Page, Justice Publications, Amazon Kindle.

Notes

  1. ^ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Vol. 41, p. 539.
  2. ^ Engel, Leopold. Geschichte des Illuminaten-ordens. Berlin: H. Bermühler Verlag, 1906.
  3. ^ van Dülmen, Richard. Der Geheimbund der Illuminaten. Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog, 1975.
  4. ^ Stauffer, Vernon. and the Bavarian Illuminati. Columbia University, 1918.
  5. ^ Engel 22.
  6. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Vol. 13, pp. 740–741.
  7. Freninger, Franz Xaver, ed. Das Matrikelbuch der Universitaet Ingolstadt-Landshut-München. München: A. Eichleiter, 1872. 31.
  8. Hartmann, Peter Claus. Bayerns Weg in die Gegenwart. Regensburg: Pustet, 1989. 262. Also, Bauerreiss, Romuald. Kirchengeschichte Bayerns. Vol. 7. St. Ottilien: EOS Verlag, 1970. 405.
  9. Freninger 47.
  10. Engel 25–28.
  11. Freninger 32.
  12. Ben-Menahem, A. (2009). Historical Encyclopedia of Natural and Mathematical Sciences. Springer. p. 2057. ISBN 978-3-540-68831-0. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  13. Engel 31.
  14. Engel 33. Also, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Vol. 41, p. 540.
  15. Engel 61–62.
  16. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Vol. 6, pp. 595–597.
  17. Beiser, Frederick C. The Fate of Reason. Harvard University Press, 1987. 186–88.
  18. Schneider, Heinrich (2005) . Quest for Mysteries: The Masonic Background for Literature in 18th Century Germany. Kessinger Publishing. p. 24 n.49. ISBN 1419182145.
  19. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Illuminati,
  20. Couch, William (1956). Collier's Encyclopedia, Volume 10. Crowell-Collier Publishing Company. p. 370.
  21. "illuminati | Facts, History, Suppression, & Conspiracy | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  22. Dr. Wolfgang Riedel, 'Aufklaerung und Macht', in Die Weimarer Klassik und ihre Geheimbuende, ed. by W. Mueller-Seidel and W. Riedel, Koenigshausen und Neumann, 2002, p. 112
  23. Dr. Wolfgang Riedel, Die Weimarer Klassik und ihre Geheimbuende, 2001, p. 112
  24. Dr. Eberhard Weis in Die Weimarer Klassik und ihre Geheimbünde, edited by Professor Walter Müller-Seidel and Professor Wolfgang Riedel (Königshausen und Neumann, 2003), 100–101.
  25. "Code of the Illuminati, Part III of: Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism - Abbé Barreul". www.sacred-texts.com.
  26. "From Thomas Jefferson to Bishop James Madison, 31 January 1800".
  27. Weishaupt, Adam (1787). "Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten - Adam Weishaupt".
  28. Tony Page (translator and editor), Supplement to the Justification of My Intentions by Adam Weishaupt, Justice Publications, Bangkok, Amazon Kindle, 2014, p. 1
  29. Weishaupt, Adam (2018). The Collected Works of Adam Weishaupt. Malta Minerval Editions. ISBN 978-1-946829-20-7.

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