In 1813, by now living in Jena, with a fresh outbreak of fighting, Lindner was officially entrusted with the billeting of francophone troops, partly because he had mastered the French language. As calm returned to the streets he was rewarded for his hitherto unacknowledged teaching work when he was given a post as a university professor of philosophy. Although little is known of his attitude to the respective belligerents in the 25-year "world war" that provided the backdrop for much of his life, it does appear that the successive reverses suffered by the French as their armies were rolled back after October 1813 left him unmoved. However, in 1814 he surrendered his professorship at Jena and returned initially to Weimar and then, with Elise, moved back to his father's home in Courland. He stayed and ran his father's affairs till the latter's death in May 1816.