The German philosopher, theologian, and historian Johann Franz Budde, or Buddeus, was born in Anklam, Pomerania. He entered the University of Wittenberg in 1685 and became an assistant there in 1689. Budde was appointed professor of moral philosophy at Halle in 1693, full professor of theology at Jena in 1705, and church councilor at Gotha in 1715. Although he insisted on his independence from all schools and considered himself an eclectic, he was close to Pietist thought and to the philosophy of Christian Thomasius, his colleague at Halle.

Budde's most significant work in theoretical philosophy was his Institutiones Philosophiae Eclecticae (2 Teile, Halle, 1703). In the first section, in which he expounded his logical doctrines and the intent was chiefly methodological, the influences of John Locke and Thomasius are apparent. Budde derived error from original sin and prescribed means for restoring the "good health" of the mind. He regarded...