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This article compares the conception of 'die schönen Wissenschaften' of the Prague professor Karl Heinrich Seibt (1735-1806), which he introduced in his inaugural lecture 'Von dem Einflusse der schönen Wissenschaften auf die Ausbildung des Verstandes; und folglich von der Nothwendigkeit, sie mit den höhern und andern Wissenschaften zu verbinden' (1763), with similarly oriented essays of Georg Friedrich Meier, Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, and Johann Gottfried Gottsched. The comparison demonstrates that Seibt followed on from earlier defences of 'die schönen Wissenschaften' presented at the more advanced Protestant universities. Seibt's demand that the 'higher sciences' (höhere Wissenschaften) should be linked with 'die schönen Wissenschaften' was based on ideas that Gellert had touched upon in his inaugural lecture. An emphasis on the cognitive aspects links Seibt with Meier's conception. This conception differed from Meier's and Gottsched's, however, in that Seibt, unlike the two professors, discussed the topic rhetorically rather than as systematic scholarly discourse.