LASSON, ADOLF

LASSON, ADOLF (originally Aaron Lazarussohn; 1832–1917), German philosopher. Born at Alt-Strelitz, he studied at Berlin and Leipzig. He became a Christian in 1853. Lasson taught at the University of Berlin. One of the few advocates of Hegelianism, he was concerned with Hegel's philosophy of law and of religion. (His son, GEORG (1862–1932), edited Hegel's works.) Lasson's philosophy was also influenced by Aristotle, St. Paul, and Luther. Lasson was an orthodox Lutheran, who saw Luther as the bridge between Pauline Christianity and metaphysical idealism. In Lasson's view, religion and philosophy are both trying through freedom to grasp the absolute. He was a 19th-century liberal, opposing Socialist and secularist tendencies. His main works were J.H. Fichte im Verhaeltnis zu Kirche und Staat (1863), Meister Eckhart, der Mystiker (1868), System der Rechtsphilosophie (1882), and Die Entwickelung des religioesen Bewusstseins der Menschheit (1883). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Schmidt and Liebert, in: Kant-Studien, 23 (1918), 101–23; Wininger, Biog, 3 (1928), 599–600 (includes bibliography). (Richard H. Popkin)