Karl Philipp Moritz

Karl Philipp Moritz (1756–1793) was a German writer, philosopher, and art theorist associated with the Berlin Enlightenment. Born in Hamelin, he worked among other things as a hatmaker’s apprentice before becoming a teacher and later a professor at the Graues Kloster grammar school in Berlin. In 1789, he was appointed professor at the Berlin Academy of Arts. His best-known works include the autobiographical novel “Anton Reiser” and the “Magazin zur Erfahrungsseelenkunde,” an early journal devoted to psychology. During a stay in Italy with Goethe, Moritz developed his influential theory of the autonomy of art.