Johann Gottlieb Buhle

Johann Gottlieb Buhle (29 September 1763 – 11 August 1821), German scholar and philosopher, was born at Brunswick and educated at Göttingen. He became professor of philosophy at Göttingen, Moscow (in 1804), and Brunswick. Of his numerous publications, the most important are the Lehrbuch der Geschichte der Philosophie und einer kritischen Literatur derselben (8 volumes, 1796–1804), and Geschichte der neuern Philosophie seit der Epoche der Wiederherstellung der Wissenschaften (6 volumes, 1800–1804). The latter, elaborate and well written, is lacking in critical appreciation and proportion; there are French and Italian translations. He edited Aratus (2 volumes, 1793, 1801) and part of Aristotle (Bipontine edition, vols. I–V, 1791–1804).

In 1804 he argued that speculative Freemasonry arose in England between 1629 and 1635 through the work of Robert Fludd, who had earlier been introduced to Rosicrucianism by Michael Maier.

Buhle died at Brunswick.