A German philosopher, born at Dessau, of Jewish descent, a zealous monotheist, and wrote against Spinoza; was author of the "Phaedon, a Discourse on the Immortality of the Soul," and did a great deal in his day to do away with the prejudices of the Jews and the prejudices against them; he was the friend of Lessing, and is the prototype of his "Nathan" (1720-1786).