Mendelssohn: common sense, rational metaphysics, and skepticism -- Salomon Maimon: the radical alternative to Mendelssohn -- The truth of religion -- The language of action in biblical times -- Idolatry: Egyptian and Jewish -- The "ceremonial law" of Judaism: transitory hieroglyphics -- Idolatry in contemporary Judaism -- Philosophy of enlightened Judaism -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Mirror images: Moses Mendelssohn and Alexander Altmann -- Mendelssohn's messianic allusions -- The title Jerusalem
Summary
Gideon Freudenthal offers a novel interpretation of Mendelssohn's general philosophy and discusses Mendelssohn's semiotic interpretation of idolatry in his Jerusalem and in his Hebrew biblical commentary
