Filosofia e vita in Lessing

Researching on “Philosophy and life in classical German thought”, I have chosen to reflect on the practical meaning that Gotthold Ephraim Lessing has given to philosophy. Thinking correctly is already in itself a virtuous action. Practical action must be directed to the realization of human rights, to the fulfillment of a humanity unharmed by abuse and injustice. Philosophy emerges as a practice culminating in the union of thought and action. But what does practice mean here? To answer this question, three different and interrelated meanings of philosophy as practice will be delineated: a. Philosophy is a maieutic practice; b. it is a practice of transformation, since it is structured as a cathartic of one’s own prejudices and errors and as a fermenta cognitionis; c. philosophy is a transforming practice because it translates thought into action or, even better, because it must spread freedom of thought, “acting” for freedom.