Johann Adam Weishaupt (
February 6,
1748 in
Ingolstadt –
November 18,
1830[Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie .][Engel, Leopold. Geschichte des Illuminaten-ordens. Berlin: H. Bermühler Verlag, 1906.][van Dülmen, Richard. Der Geheimbund der Illuminaten. Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog, 1975.][Stauffer, Vernon. New England and the Bavarian Illuminati. Columbia University, 1918.] in
Gotha) was a
German philosopher and founder of the
Order of Illuminati, a secret society with origins in
Bavaria.
Early life
Adam Weishaupt was born on February 6, 1748 in
Ingolstadt[Engel .] in the
Electorate of
Bavaria. Weishaupt's father Johann Georg Weishaupt (1717–1753) died
when he was five years old. After his father's death he came under the tutelage of his
godfather Johann Adam Freiherr von Ickstatt who, like his father, was a professor of law at the
University of Ingolstadt. Ickstatt was a proponent of the philosophy of
Christian Wolff and of the
Enlightenment, and he influenced the young Weishaupt with his
rationalism. Weishaupt began his formal education at age seven
at a
Jesuit school. He later enrolled at the University of Ingolstadt and graduated in 1768 at age 20 with a
doctorate of law. In 1772 he became a professor of law. The following year he married Afra Sausenhofer of
Eichstätt.
After
Pope Clement XIV’s
suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773, Weishaupt became a professor of
canon law, a position that was held exclusively by the
Jesuits until that time. In 1775 Weishaupt was introduced to the
empirical philosophy of
Johann Georg Heinrich Feder of the
University of Göttingen. Both Feder and Weishaupt would later become opponents of
Kantian idealism.
Founder of the Illuminati
On May 1, 1776 Weishaupt formed the "Order of Perfectibilists", He adopted the name of "Brother Spartacus" within the order. Though the Order was not
egalitarian or democratic, its mission was the abolition of all monarchical governments and state religions in Europe and its colonies.
Weishaupt wrote: "the ends justified the means." The actual character of the society was modeled on the
Jesuits, and was an elaborate network of spies and counter-spies. Each isolated cell of initiates reported to a superior, whom they did not know, a party structure that was effectively adopted by some later groups.
Weishaupt was initiated into the
Masonic Lodge "Theodor zum guten Rath", at Munich in 1777. His project of "illumination, enlightening the understanding by the sun of reason, which will dispel the clouds of superstition and of prejudice" was an unwelcome reform. Soon however he had developed
gnostic mysteries of his own, with the goal of "perfecting human" nature through re-education to achieve a communal state with nature, freed of government and organized religion. He began working towards incorporating his system of Illuminism with that of Freemasonry.
He wrote: "I did not bring
Deism into Bavaria more than into Rome. I found it here, in great vigour, more abounding than in any of the neighboring
Protestant States. I am proud to be known to the world as the founder of the Illuminati."
Weishaupt's radical rationalism and vocabulary was not likely to succeed. Writings that were intercepted in 1784 were interpreted as seditious, and the Society was banned by the government of
Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria, in 1784. Weishaupt lost his position at the University of Ingolstadt and fled Bavaria.
Activities in exile
He received the assistance of
Duke Ernest II of
Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1745–1804), and lived in
Gotha writing a series of works on Illuminism, including
A Complete History of the Persecutions of the Illuminati in Bavaria (1785),
A Picture of Illuminism (1786),
An Apology for the Illuminati (1786), and
An Improved System of Illuminism (1787). Adam Weishaupt died in Gotha on 18 November,
1830.
He was survived by his second wife, Anna Maria (née Sausenhofer), and his children Nanette, Charlotte, Ernst,
Karl,
Eduard, and Alfred.
Weishaupt was buried next to his son Wilhelm who preceded him in death in 1802.
John Robison, a professor of
natural philosophy at
Edinburgh University in
Scotland and a member of a Freemason Lodge there, said he had been asked to join the Illuminati. After consideration he concluded that the Illuminati were not for him. In 1798 he published a book called
Proofs of a Conspiracy in which he wrote: "An association has been formed for the express purposes of rooting out all the religious establishments and overturning all existing governments ... the leaders would rule the World with uncontrollable power, while all the rest would be employed as tools of the ambition of their unknown superiors." This book was sent to
George Washington, who replied:
It was not my intention to doubt that, the Doctrines of the Illuminati, and principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more truly satisfied of this fact than I am. The idea that I meant to convey, was, that I did not believe that the Lodges of Free Masons in this Country had, as Societies, endeavoured to propagate the diabolical tenets of the first, or pernicious principles of the latter (if they are susceptible of separation).
Quotes about Weishaupt
(In Jefferson's day, "enthusiastic" did not mean
eagerly interested or
excited, as it does today. It meant
frenzied, or less frequently,
inspired or
possessed by a spirit.)
References in pop culture
Adam Weishaupt is referred to repeatedly in
The Illuminatus! Trilogy, written by
Robert Shea and
Robert Anton Wilson, as the founder of the
Bavarian Illuminati and as an imposter who killed George Washington and took his place as the first president of the
United States. Washington's portrait on the
one-dollar bill is said to actually be Weishaupt's.
Another version of Adam Weishaupt appears in the extensive comic book-cum-novel
Cerebus the Aardvark by
Dave Sim, as a combination of Weishaupt and George Washington. He appears primarily in the
Cerebus and
Church & State I volumes. His motives are
republican confederalizing of city-states in Estarcion (a pseudo-Europe) and the accumulation of capital unencumbered by government or church.
Weishaupt is also mentioned among the mish-mash of complicated conspiracies in the PC game
Deus Ex. During JC Denton's escape from Versalife labs in Hong Kong, he recovers a virus engineered with the molecular structure in multiples of
17 and 23. Tracer Tong notes "1723... the birthdate of Adam Weishaupt" Weishaupt was in fact born in 1748. However 1723 was the year that Weishaupt's freemasonry lodge, "Theodor zum guten Rath", was founded.
Adam Weishaupt is also mentioned ("
Bush got a
ouija to talk to Adam Weishaupt") by the New York rapper Cage in
El-P's "Accidents Don't Happen", the 9th track on his album
Fantastic Damage (2002).
Seclorum magazine, based out of
Detroit, Michigan, cites Adam Weishaupt as its
Patron Saint.
Works
On the Illuminati
- (1786) Apologie der Illuminaten.
- (1786) Vollständige Geschichte der Verfolgung der Illuminaten in Bayern.
- (1786) Schilderung der Illuminaten.
- (1787) Einleitung zu meiner Apologie.
- (1787) [Einige Originalschriften des Illuminatenordens...]
- (1787) [Nachtrage von weitern Originalschriften...]
- (1787) Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten.
- (1787) Nachtrag zur Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten.
- (1787) Apologie des Mißvergnügens und des Übels.
- (1787) Das Verbesserte System der Illuminaten.
- (1788) Der ächte Illuminat, oder die wahren, unverbesserten Rituale der Illuminaten.
- (1795) Pythagoras, oder Betrachtungen über die geheime Welt- und Regierungskunst.
Philosophical works
- (1775) De Lapsu Academiarum Commentatio Politica.
- (1786) Über die Schrecken des Todes – eine philosophische Rede.
- * Discours Philosophique sur les Frayeurs de la Mort (1788).
- (1786) Über Materialismus und Idealismus.
- (1788) Geschichte der Vervollkommnung des menschlichen Geschlechts.
- (1788) Über die Gründe und Gewißheit der Menschlichen Erkenntniß.
- (1788) Über die Kantischen Anschauungen und Erscheinungen.
- (1788) Zweifel über die Kantischen Begriffe von Zeit und Raum.
- (1793) Über Wahrheit und sittliche Vollkommenheit.
- (1794) Über die Lehre von den Gründen und Ursachen aller Dinge.
- (1794) Über die Selbsterkenntnis, ihre Hindernisse und Vorteile.
- (1797) Über die Zwecke oder Finalursachen.
- (1802) Über die Hindernisse der baierischen Industrie und Bevölkerung.
- (1804) Die Leuchte des Diogenes.
- * Diogenes Lamp (Tr. Amelia Gill) introduced by Sir Mark Bruback chosen by the Masonic Book Club to be its published work for 2008. (Ed. Andrew Swanlund).
- (1817) Über die Staats-Ausgaben und Auflagen.
- (1818) Über das Besteuerungs-System.
