German philosopher and progressive educator, who established the academic reputation of the newly founded University of Halle (Halle-Wittenberg, Martin Luther University of) (1694) as one of the first modern universities. He departed from the traditional Scholastic curriculum of medieval institutions, made philosophy independent of theology, and lectured in vernacular German rather than in the customary Latin, thus influencing Halle to become during the 18th century the leading centre for the new cultural thought in Protestant Germany.