Johann Heinrich Zopf was born in Gera on 16 April 1691. He studied in Gera and at the University of Jena. In 1714 he became a Magister and in 1715 received the venia legendi. In 1716 he took a position at the Waisenhaus in Halle, while auditing the lectures of the theologians. In 1719 he was appointed the director of Evangelical Lutheran Gymnasium in Essen, and in 1721 he was ordained there preacher of the Gertrudskirche. He died in Essen on 1 February 1774. Besides being a theologian, Zopf was an historian and a logician. His Erläuterte Grundlegung der Universalhistorie bis gegen das Ende des Jahres 1769 (Halle, 1729) defines history as the ‘science of relevant facts that have taken place in the world. The term comes from historein, having seen, know’ (p.3). In his Logica enucleata (Halle, 1731), he understood logic in a very eclectic sense not only as the doctrine of truth but also of the conduct of the understanding, thereby attributing to its domain also hermeneutics, pedagogy, and their applications. He defines logic as dealing with the quest ‘for truth of a healthy reason’, the instrument of empowering the understanding ‘in distinguishing what is true and false’. In its narrow definition, logic provides the rules ‘an ingenious human being has to follow to find out truth on his own’. In its wide definition, however, logic includes hermeneutics and didactic, i.e., logic is the ‘doctrine of healthy reason that directs the understanding in the investigation of truth either by means of its own meditation or by finding it out writings of other people or by communicating it to others’ (pp. 2-3). The goal of logic is to provide means for quickening the understanding’s natural weakness.
Zopf, Johann Heinrich
POZZO, Riccardo
2010-01-01
Abstract
Johann Heinrich Zopf was born in Gera on 16 April 1691. He studied in Gera and at the University of Jena. In 1714 he became a Magister and in 1715 received the venia legendi. In 1716 he took a position at the Waisenhaus in Halle, while auditing the lectures of the theologians. In 1719 he was appointed the director of Evangelical Lutheran Gymnasium in Essen, and in 1721 he was ordained there preacher of the Gertrudskirche. He died in Essen on 1 February 1774. Besides being a theologian, Zopf was an historian and a logician. His Erläuterte Grundlegung der Universalhistorie bis gegen das Ende des Jahres 1769 (Halle, 1729) defines history as the ‘science of relevant facts that have taken place in the world. The term comes from historein, having seen, know’ (p.3). In his Logica enucleata (Halle, 1731), he understood logic in a very eclectic sense not only as the doctrine of truth but also of the conduct of the understanding, thereby attributing to its domain also hermeneutics, pedagogy, and their applications. He defines logic as dealing with the quest ‘for truth of a healthy reason’, the instrument of empowering the understanding ‘in distinguishing what is true and false’. In its narrow definition, logic provides the rules ‘an ingenious human being has to follow to find out truth on his own’. In its wide definition, however, logic includes hermeneutics and didactic, i.e., logic is the ‘doctrine of healthy reason that directs the understanding in the investigation of truth either by means of its own meditation or by finding it out writings of other people or by communicating it to others’ (pp. 2-3). The goal of logic is to provide means for quickening the understanding’s natural weakness.
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