Lessing

Article summary

Lessing is a German surname of Slavic origin. The original Sorbian form, Lěsnik, means either "forest dweller" or "woodman", lěs meaning "wood forest". People with the surname Lessing include a German family of writers, artists, musicians and politicians who can be traced back to a Michil Lessigk, mentioned in 1518 as being a linen weaver in Jahnsdorf, near Chemnitz. The family includes: * (1693–1770) pastor primarus in Kamenz, well respected, published theologian, translator and father of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) and Karl Gotthelf Lessing (1740–1812). Johann Gottfried's father Theophilus Lessing (1647–1735) was mayor of Kamenz and Robert Schumann's (the composer and pianist, 1810–1856) great-great-great-great-uncle, Johanne Sophie Susanna Lessing (1745–1818, daughter of Carl Heinrich Lessing 1713, a trumpeter) his grandmother. * Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), one of the most prominent philosophers of the Enlightenment era, recognised as the world's first dramaturg, Germany's first dramatist and comedy playwright, champion for religious tolerance, friend of Moses Mendelssohn, critic for the Vossische Zeitung, translator and Shakespearean scholar. Today his own works appear as prototypes of the later developed bourgeois German drama.…

Key claims

1. date of birth: 1961 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
2. date of birth: 1978 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
3. date of death: 1778 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
4. publication date: 1729 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the date of birth is "1961". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. The record states that the date of birth is "1978". What evidence would count against this claim?
4. The record states that the date of death is "1778". What evidence would count against this claim?
5. The record states that the publication date is "1729". What evidence would count against this claim?
6. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
7. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369437276