Georg Bernhard Bilfinger

Who was Georg Bernhard Bilfinger?

Georg Bernhard Bilfinger, German philosopher, mathematician and statesman, son of a Lutheran minister, was born at Cannstatt in the Duchy of Württemberg.

As a boy he showed great aptitude for study, and at first devoted himself to theology, but under the influence of Christian Wolff's writings he took up mathematics and philosophy on the lines of Wolff and Gottfried Leibniz. Returning to theology, he attempted to connect it with philosophy in a treatise, Dilucidationes philosophicae, de deo, anima humana, mundo. This work contains nothing original but giving a clear representation of Wolff's philosophy. It met with great success, and the author was appointed to the office of preacher at the castle of Tübingen and of reader in the school of theology.

In 1721, after two years study under Wolff, he became professor of philosophy at Halle, and in 1724 professor of mathematics. His friends at Tübingen disapproved of his new views, and in 1725, on Wolff's recommendation, he was invited by Peter I of Russia to lecture in Saint Petersburg, where he was well received.