Volksaufklarung - Ausgewahlte Schriften

Die Reihe Volksaufklarung will schwer zugangliche und oft nur noch in wenigen Exemplaren vorhandene Texte neu zur Verfugung stellen, die das fur die deutsche Aufklarung charakteristische Bemuhen dokumentieren, aufklarerisches Gedankengut bis hinunter zum 'Volk' zu tragen. Berucksichtigt werden Schriften fur das 'Volk' selbst, aber auch solche Texte, in denen die Volksaufklarer Ziele, Mittel und Wege ihres Engagements diskutieren. Die Texte sind ebenso bedeutsam fur die Philosophiegeschichte wie fur die Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte; der Kirchen- und Religionshistoriker findet den Wandel des geistlichen Selbstverstandnisses dokumentiert, der Literatur- und Pressehistoriker das Bemuhen um Popularitat, durch das neue Formen der Gebrauchsliteratur entstehen. The goal of this series is to make those texts accessible which document the efforts made during the German Enlightenment to bring the philosophy of the Enlightenment to the public. Many of these texts are difficult to obtain or there are only very few copies of them in existence, and they are now available once again. Included are those works which are directed towards the public, but also texts in which those committed to the Enlightenment discuss the goals, ways and means of their commitment. The texts are significant for the history of philosophy as well as for economic and social history. Historians of church and religion will find evidence of the transition in religions self-image, historians of literature and the press evidence of the struggles for popularity which led to the creation of new forms of functional literature.