Markus Herz

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German philosopher (1747–1803)

title: "Markus Herz" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1747-births", "1803-deaths", "physicians-from-the-kingdom-of-prussia", "18th-century-german-physicians", "18th-century-german-jews", "18th-century-german-philosophers", "jewish-philosophers", "people-from-the-margraviate-of-brandenburg", "writers-from-berlin", "university-of-königsberg-alumni", "university-of-halle-alumni", "german-male-writers", "19th-century-german-philosophers"] description: "German philosopher (1747–1803)" topic_path: "people/1740s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markus_Herz" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary German philosopher (1747–1803) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox philosopher"]

Field	Value
name	Markus Herz
image	Marcus Herz2.jpg
caption	Portrait by Friedrich Georg Weitsch
birth_date
birth_place	Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
death_date
death_place	Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
education	University of Königsberg
::

Markus Herz (; Berlin, 17 January 1747 – Berlin, 19 January 1803) was a German Jewish physician and lecturer on philosophy.

Biography

Born in Berlin to very poor parents, Herz was destined for a mercantile career, and in 1762 went to Königsberg, Prussia. He soon gave up his position as clerk and attended the University of Königsberg, becoming a pupil of Immanuel Kant, but was obliged to discontinue his studies for want of means. He thereupon became secretary to the wealthy Russian Ephraim, travelling with him through the Baltic Provinces.

On 21 August 1770, he travelled from Berlin and acted as respondent when Kant presented his Inaugural dissertation at the University of Königsberg for the post of ordinary professor. In 1770 he had returned to Germany and studied medicine in Halle, where he became a Doctor of Medicine in 1774, in which year he established himself in Berlin, being appointed physician at the Jewish hospital. Beginning in 1777, he delivered public lectures on medicine and philosophy, which were well attended by the students and the principal personages of the Prussian capital. At some of them even members of the royal family were present.

Herz married Henriette de Lemos in 1779 and their house was for a long time the meeting place of Berlin's political, artistic, scientific, and literary intellectuals such as Friedrich Schleiermacher, Friedrich Schlegel, In 1782 he became ill through overstudy, and had to give up his lectures until 1785, when a sojourn in Bad Pyrmont restored his health.

In 1791, he received the title of Professor of Philosophy at the academy and that of "Hofrath", but lectured only for a few years, giving most of his time to his medical practice. Herz was a friend and pupil of Moses Mendelssohn, and was also well acquainted with Lessing. For many years, Herz corresponded with Kant and their letters are considered to be of great philosophical importance. He died in Berlin.

Views

Compulsory vaccination was strongly condemned by Herz, and in 1801 he wrote an open letter on the subject to Dr. D. Dohmeyer, under the heading "Ueber die Brutalimpfung" ("About Brutal Vaccination").

Works

Herz was the author of:

Betrachtungen aus der Spekulativen Weltweisheit, Königsberg, 1771;
Freimüthige Kaffeegespräche Zweier Jüdischer Zuschauerinnen über den Juden Pinkus, Berlin, 1772, a satirical essay;
Versuch über die Ursachen der Verschiedenheit des Geschmacks (or Versuch über den Geschmack), Mitau, 1776;
Briefe an Aerzte, Berlin, 1777–84;
Grundriss der Medizinischen Wissenschaften, ib. 1782;
Versuch über den Schwindel, ib. 1786, 2d ed. 1791, an important study;
Grundlage zu den Vorlesungen über die Experimental-Physik, ib. 1787;
Ein Sendschreiben an die Redaktion der Meassefim über das zu Frühe Beerdigen der Todten bei den Juden, ib. 1789.

Sources

R.J. Wunderbar, in Der Orient, Leipzig, 30 June 1849, pp. 408 et seq
Ludwig Geiger, in Allg. Deutsche Biographie, 1880, xii. 261 et seq.;
Oesterreichische Wochenschrift, 23 January 1903, pg. 59

References

[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=660&letter=H Profile], Jewish encyclopedia.com. Accessed 5 August 5, 2022.
[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/kants-critique-of-pure-reason/marcus-herz/A361AD19BF45C67F1528CCB1773EE83B Cambridge University Press website, ''Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, Chapter 7 - Marcus Herz'']
[https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095933656 Oxford Reference website, ''Marcus Herz'']
[https://muse.jhu.edu/article/472805/pdf Johns Hopkins University website, Project Muse section, ''Identity or History? Marcus Herz and the End of the Enlightenment (review)'' by Manfred Kuehn (2000)]
Daum, Andreas W.. (2024). "Alexander von Humboldt: A Concise Biography". Princeton University Press.
[https://books.google.com/books?id=bGcXyAEACAAJ Google Books website, ''Markus Herz an den D. Dohmeyer, Leibarzt des Prinzen August von England über die Brutalimpfung und deren Vergleichung mit der humanen'']
[https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/receive/jportal_jparticle_00019810 University of Jena website, ''Herz, M.: An den D. Dohmeyer über die Brutal Impfung und deren Vergleichung mit der humanen. Berlin: Unger 1801'']

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