  Back in Germany in 1762, Jacobi continued his philosophical studies. He eagerly read the essays submitted by Moses Mendelssohn and Kant in response to the competition sponsored that year by the Berlin Academy on the theme, ‘Concerning Evidence in the Metaphysical Sciences’. According to his own account, Jacobi found Kant’s essay much more convincing than Mendelssohn’s, though first prize was awarded to the latter (Jacobi, 1787: 74–75). He apparently also engaged in the study of Spinoza, and was impressed by Kant’s essay on ‘The Only Possible Ground for a Proof of God’s Existence’ (Jacobi, 1787: 78–88). In 1764 he took charge of his father’s business and — after an affair with a housemaid with whom he conceived a son, both of whom (housemaid and son) he treated very shabbily by modern standards (Booy/Mortier, 1966) — married the richly endowed Betty von Clermont. Together with her, he established the already mentioned literary salon at Pempelfort.