The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Eberhard, Johann August

EBERHARD, Johann August, a German philosopher, born in Halberstadt, Aug. 31, 1739, died Jan. 6, 1809. He was first a teacher, and then a pastor. In a work entitled Neue Apologie des Sokrates (3d ed., Berlin, 1788), he opposed the opinion which had been lately advanced that the virtues of the pagans were only splendid vices. A religious romance entitled Amyntor did not, as it was designed to do, cause the bold assertions of this apology to be forgotten. In 1778 he was appointed professor of philosophy in the university of Halle, and soon after a member of the academy of Berlin. He was attached to the philosophy of Leibnitz and Wolf, and combated the systems of Kant and Fichte. His writings on philosophical and æsthetical subjects are numerous.