orig. Salomon ben Joshua
born с 1754, Nieswiez, grand duchy of Lithuania
died Nov. 22, 1800, Nieder-Siegersdorf, Silesia
Polish Jewish philosopher.
As a young man, he pursued Hebrew and rabbinic studies, adopting the name Maimon out of admiration for Moses Maimonides . His unorthodox commentaries on Maimonides earned him the enmity of other Jews, and he left Poland at age 25 to wander through Europe as a scholar and tutor. A skeptic who emphasized the limits of pure thought, he is best known for his Search for the Transcendental Philosophy (1790), a major critique of Kantian philosophy. His other writings include Philosophical Dictionary (1791) and Critical Investigations of the Human Spirit (1797).