Johann Jakob Müller (philosopher)

Johann Jakob Müller was born at Jena in 1650. His father, another Johann Müller (1615-1688), was the deputy head of the city school. Johann Jakob Müller attended the school, then under the rectorship of Johann Martin Ringler. Recognising an exceptional talent, his parents also arranged for him to receive private tutoring at home from Anton Mosnern, a churchman from nearby Saalfeld. Aged only 15 Müller started attending lectures at the university. At the Philosophy faculty his teachers included Johann Frischmuth, Erhard Weigel, Caspar Posner [de], Johann Andreas Bose [de], Valentin Veltheim [de], Johannes Musaeus, Johann Wilhelm Baier and Friedemann Bechmann.^[2]

In 1677 Müller received his degree, becoming a Master of Philosophy. At the university he became an Adjunct in the Philosophy faculty, supplementing his income with an appointment as a domestic tutor further to north.^[2] For the next thirty years he published a succession of disputations on a range of ethical topics.

On 12 April 1692 he was appointed Visiting Professor in Philosophy at Jena. On 8 January 1695 he was appointed full Professor of Poetry and on 14 September 1698 he received the teaching chair in Logic. After receiving a licentiate in Laws on 23 October 1699, on 18 February 1700 he received his Doctorate of laws. On 5 September 1705 he took on the professorship of Ethical Moral Philosophy and Politics.

Müller also took his turn at administrative duties, serving several times as dean of the Philosophy faculty. During the Winter Term of 1704/05 he served as Rector at the University of Jena.^[3]