Philosophia synthetica

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Andreas Rüdiger, a significant pupil of Christian Thomasius, is often labeled an Eclectic in 18th-century philosophy. His influences extend beyond Thomasius to English thinkers like John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, as well as physicist Henry Moore. In his 1707 work, Rüdiger presents a comprehensive overview of his philosophy, emphasizing a Thomasian and Eclectic approach to truth discovery and judgment. He argues that the role of philosophy is to uncover truths that may not be immediately evident but are nonetheless valuable. Rüdiger is notable for being the first in German academic philosophy to frame philosophy, particularly metaphysics, as an "empirical science." His initial presentation prioritizes epistemological inquiries as the foundation for all philosophical understanding and methodology, a departure from previous norms. Although his reconceptualization of philosophy based on internal and external experience, culminating in his Philosophia pragmatica, faced rejection from contemporary critics and the Wolff school, it marked a pioneering moment in defining metaphysics as an empirical discipline. Rüdiger's influence extended through his students, including August Friedrich Müller and Adolph Friedrich Hoffmann, impacting the early thought of Kant, who remained indebted to Rüdiger’s empirical philosophy even during his critical period.