Salomon Maimon Quotes

Salomon Maimon was a Polish-born Jewish philosopher of the German Enlightenment, born in Lithuania to a poor Hasidic family, who escaped his early circumstances to become one of the most important critics and continuators of Kant's critical philosophy. His Essay on Transcendental Philosophy, which Kant himself acknowledged as the most penetrating critical work directed at his own system, drew on his earlier study of Maimonides and the Kabbalah to argue that Kant's distinction between sensibility and understanding could be sustained only by recourse to an infinite intellect within the finite knower. The quotes below are attributed to Salomon Maimon, organized by topic.

Salomon Maimon on Knowledge

Attributed to Salomon Maimon:

“Kant has shown us where the boundary of knowledge lies; the question that remains is whether we can stand at the boundary at all.”
Attributed to Salomon Maimon:

“Maimonides taught me to read with care; Kant taught me what was worth reading.”
Attributed to Salomon Maimon:

“A philosophy that has not first asked whether it is even possible is not yet philosophy.”

Salomon Maimon on Mind

Attributed to Salomon Maimon:

“The infinite intellect is not a separate being beyond the finite mind; it is the unattainable limit of the finite mind itself.”
Attributed to Salomon Maimon:

“I did not leave the shtetl; the shtetl is the texture of my thought.”