Maimon’s Enlightened Skepticism and the Problem of Natural Sciences

Abstract

Despite being a prominent and influential figure in the German and Jewish Enlightenment, Salomon Maimon’s skeptical standpoint seems to veer towards radical and unsustainable assertions, denying the validity of any knowledge—including natural science—except for mathematics. This paper seeks to demonstrate that Maimon’s skepticism concerning non-mathematical knowledge does not propose an incoherent skepticism nor contradict the enlightened perspective of developing natural sciences. To achieve this, I aim to show that (1) Maimon’s radical claim originates from the radical nature of the question he answers, and (2) the key to understanding it lies in grasping the concept of synthesis in his philosophy, from which different meanings of knowledge follow.