Budde, Johann Franz (1667–1729)

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BUDDE, JOHANN FRANZ
(1667–1729)

The German philosopher, theologian, and historian Johann Franz Budde, or Buddeus, was born in Anklam, Pomerania. He entered the University of Wittenberg in 1685 and became an assistant there in 1689. Budde was appointed professor of moral philosophy at Halle in 1693, full professor of theology at Jena in 1705, and church councilor at Gotha in 1715. Although he insisted on his independence from all schools and considered himself an eclectic, he was close to Pietist thought and to the philosophy of Christian Thomasius, his colleague at Halle.

Budde's most significant work in theoretical philosophy was his Institutiones Philosophiae Eclecticae (2 Teile, Halle, 1703). In the first section, in which he expounded his logical doctrines and the intent was chiefly methodological, the influences of John Locke and Thomasius are apparent. Budde derived error from original sin and prescribed means for restoring the "good health" of the mind. He regarded ontology as a part of logic and as consisting in a simple explanation of basic metaphysical terms. According to Budde, these terms had a purely instrumental value because he refused to confer upon metaphysics the rank of independent and universal science. Rather, he interpreted it as the science of the most general nouns used in theology and philosophy.

In the second section of the Institutiones, Budde first discussed natural philosophy in a phenomenalistic manner, holding that we cannot know the real nature of things, but only their appearances and effects. He attempted to reconcile the physical animism or spiritualism typical of Pietist natural philosophy with mechanism. He frequently appealed to the Bible and gave an important place to final causes. At the end of this section he discussed spirits and God, whose existence he demonstrated by rational proofs.

In practical philosophy (Elementae Philosophiae Practicae, Halle, 1697) Budde followed Hugo Grotius, Samuel von Pufendorf, and Thomasius. He completely denied human freedom, referring the possibility of good actions to God's grace and restricting accountability to a narrow and extrinsic sphere of material liberty. He devoted much space to discussions of practical psychology and prudence, for he believed that such practical psychology was a better means than abstract instruction of healing the human will from sin. However, revelation is essential to this healing process.

As with the Pietists, practical philosophy is central to Budde's thought. He also agreed with the Pietists in stressing the will's independence of the intellect, in his emphasis on psychology in practical philosophy and on spiritualism in cosmology, and in the importance he placed on revelation. However, Budde was much more systematic than Thomasius, who was likewise very much influenced by Pietism. Budde joined the Pietists in their fight against Christian Wolff, and in 1723 he wrote a pamphlet attacking Wolff.

Although in practical philosophy Budde agreed with the Pietists, in theology he tried to reconcile the views of orthodoxy and Pietism. Because he held that man has an original religious impulse, he gave an important position to natural religion. He presented cosmological, physicotheological, and historical proofs of God's existence, and tried to refute atheism by argument.

Budde was one of the most learned men of his time. His writings on the history of Jewish philosophy (Introductio ad Philosophiam Ebraeorum, Halle, 1707), on general history of philosophy, and on the history of theology (Historia Theologiae Dogmaticae et Moralis, Frankfurt, 1725) were excellent in their time and are still valuable for the information they contain.