Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-81), thinker, dramatist and controversialist of many-sided interests, is the most representative figure of the German Enlightenment. His defence of Spinoza, who had traditionally been condemned as an atheist, provoked a major controversy in philosophy, and his publication of H. S. Reimarus' radical assault on Christianity led to fundamental changes in Protestant theology. This volume presents the most comprehensive collection to date in English of Lessing's philosophical and theological writings, several of which are here translated for the first time. They are edited and translated by H. B. Nisbet, who also provides an introduction that sets them in their historical and philosophical contexts.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-81), thinker, dramatist and controversialist of many-sided interests, is the most representative figure of the German Enlightenment. His defence of Spinoza, who had traditionally been condemned as an atheist, provoked a major controversy in philosophy, and his publication of H. S. Reimarus' radical assault on Christianity led to fundamental changes in Protestant theology. This volume presents the most comprehensive collection to date in English of Lessing's philosophical and theological writings, several of which are here translated for the first time. They are edited and translated by H. B. Nisbet, who also provides an introduction that sets them in their historical and philosophical contexts.

After an interval of over 100 years, this is a new historical-critical edition of the tragedy -Emilia Galotti- by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), a work of significance in the history of the German language. It is based on the first edition of 1772 and is the first to contain an in-depth analysis of all manuscripts and printed editions. This analysis extends to the manuscript for the original printed edition, which was discovered as recently as 1948 and is important for the genesis of the text. The edition provides new insights into the history of the work's origination and impact and also assembles over 500 documents on the contemporary reception accorded to it."

Originally published in 1766, the "Laocoon" has been called the first modern attempt to define the distinctive spheres of art and poetry, and its author, Lessing, the first modern esthetician. Lessing invented the modern concept of the artistic medium and modernist assumptions of the uniqueness of the individual arts. A new Foreword by Michael Fried emphasizes Lessing's current importance regarding trends in art history and literary theory. (Philosophy)