Friedrich August Carus

Life & Legacy

Friedrich August Carus (26 April 1770, Bautzen – 6 February 1807, Leipzig) was a German philosopher. He was the father of surgeon Ernst August Carus (1797–1854).
From 1788 to 1793 he studied philosophy and theology at the universities of Leipzig and Göttingen. In 1796 he became an associate professor of philosophy at Leipzig, where in 1805 he attained a full professorship. In Leipzig he also served as a preacher (Frühprediger) at the University Church. As a philosopher he was influenced by the writings of Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi. After his death, his principal philosophical, psychological, theological and historical works were edited and published in seven volumes by Ferdinand Gotthelf Hand and Johann David Goldhorn with the title "Nachgelassene Werke" (1808–10).