Baumgarten, Alexander Gottlieb (1714–1762)

German philosopher who established aesthetics as a distinct branch of philosophy. Originally a follower of Gottfried Leibniz, he departed from his rationalist approach to enquire into the importance of ‘sense-perception’.

Baumgarten was born in Berlin. He held the post of professor of philosophy at the universities of Halle and Frankfurt. His chief works are Disputationes de Nonnullis ad Poema Pertinentibus, 1735, and Aesthetica, 1750.