Matthias Knutzen: - den første sønderjydske atheist

Resumé

Matthias Knutzen, bom around 1646 in Slesvig, was the first outspoken atheist in what has later to be called the ”Gesamtstaat” (Slesvig-Holsten-Denmark). The article presents his life and his viewpoints as expressed in his three (now lost) pamphlets that caused a lot of stir, especially in the university-town of Jena and were later republished several times during the Enlightenment. His possible connections with the Davidjorites of the first half of the 16th Century are examined and parallels are drawn to Kant’s Categorical Imperative and to Habermas’ Discourse ethics.