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Christian Thomasius: Enlightenment and Bureaucracy1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Frederick M. Barnard
Frederick M. Barnard
Affiliation:
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
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Extract

The Thirty Years War, though essentially religious in origin, assumed towards its end a distinctly political complexion. It became a trial of strength between the major powers of Europe, resulting in the unquestioned supremacy of France and Austria, the establishment of Switzerland as a fully fledged sovereign state, and the extension of the dominion of Sweden and Denmark. Most, if not all, of these changes occurred at the expense of the territorial unity of the German Empire. At the same time the disruption of German Imperial unity brought in its wake the effective assertion of sovereignty on the part of some 360 German principalities. The political unity of ‘Germany’ became a legal fiction.

Under these changed circumstances the generally prevalent Roman Law, based as it was on the idea of strong central administration, was no longer in accordance with the political realities of Germany.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 59 , Issue 2 , June 1965 , pp. 430 - 438
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1965

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Footnotes

1

I wish to acknowledge my gratitude to the German Academic Exchange Service for two research fellowships which enabled me to spend extended periods of study in Germany in preparation of this article. I would also like to record my debt to Professor Isaiah Berlin (Oxford) for encouraging me to undertake this research as a follow-up to my studies on Herder's political thought, and to Professors Kurt Berger (Marburg) and Max Horkheimer (Frankfurt) for their help in making source material accessible to me.

References

2 Benedict Carpzov (1595–1666) and Hermann Conring (1606–81) are two outstanding names arming political jurists of this period anxious to formulate si theory of positive law in Germany.

3 Christian Thomasius (1655–1728) was born in Leipzig, the son of a university professor. His father first introduced him to the writings of Grotius.

4 The letter is dated Berlin, February 25, 1688. See Gigas, Emil, Briefe Samuel Pufendorfs an Christian Thomasius, 1687–1693 (München and Leipzig, 1897), p. 14 Google Scholar.

5 Cited in Luden, H., Christian Thomasius, nach seinen Schicksalen und Schriften (Berlin, 1805), p. 300 Google Scholar.

6 Werke, ed. Suphan (33 vols., Berlin, 1877–1913), VIII, 234; see also V, 413; IX, 425; XIV, 323; XVI, 594; XVII, 205 and 274; XVIII, 128; and XXIII, 70, 466 and 493.

7 See Danzel, Th. W., Gottsched und seine Zeit (Leipzig, 1848), p. 330 Google Scholar; Lessing, , Werke, ed. Lachmann, (Leipzig, 1900), vol. XV, pp. 292 and 382 Google Scholar and vol. XXII, p. 278; Gräf, and Leitzmann, , ed., Der Briefwechsel zwischen Schiller und Goethe (Leipzig, 1912), vol. II, p. 215 Google Scholar.

8 For an interesting study of the points of contact and divergence between Leibniz and Thomasius, see Biedermann, Karl, “Zwei berühmte Leipziger,” Westermann's Monatshefte, Vol. 56 (1884), pp. 363–70Google Scholar.

9 Thomasius, Christian, Ausübung der Vernunfft-Lehre (Halle, 1705), p. 16 Google Scholar. (The translation of cited passages is mine.) In his own lectures Thomasius urged his students to think independently and not to accept anything blindly. “I ask you to give me a fair hearing, but I do not mean by this blind trust. I do not want you to believe everything I am telling you; … you will not displease me in the slightest by disagreeing with me. On the contrary, the stronger your doubts, the sharper your opposition, the more I shall like it. No one need to fear that he will thus cause me to become impatient.” He also encouraged them to attend other lectures to hear diverse views. “Thus you will learn to doubt, and I shall feel indebted to you if as a result you will find errors in what I teach and thus help me to correct them.” Summarischer Entwurff derer Grundlehren (Halle, 1699)Google Scholar, paras. 34 and 48–56.

10 Thomasius, , Einleitung zu der Vernunfft-Lehre (Halle, 1691), p. 82 Google Scholar.

11 Ibid., pp. 84–8.

12 Ibid., p. 2.

13 Thomasius, , Historie der Weiszheit und Thorheit (Halle, 1693), pp. 1–59 Google Scholar.

14 Thomasius, Einleitung zu der Vernunfft-Lehre, op. cit., p. 16.

15 See Bienert, Walther, Der Anbruch der christlichen deutschen Neuzeit dargestellt an Wissenschaft und Glauben des Christian Thomasius (Halle, 1934), p. 353 Google Scholar; and the bibliography in Lieberwirth, Rolf, Christian Thomasius, sein wissenschaftliches Lebenswerk (Weimar 1955)Google Scholar.

16 Boehn, Max v., Modes and Manners (The Eighteenth Century), transt. Joshua, Joan (London, 1935), vol. IV, p. 38 Google Scholar.

17 Thomasius, , Kleine Teutsche Schriften (Halle, 1701)Google Scholar, “Christian Thomasius eröffnet der studierenden Jugend zu Leipzig in einem Discours, welcher Gestalt man denen Frantzosen in gemeinem Leben und Wandel nachahmen solle,” p. 3.

18 Thomasius, Kleine Teutsche Schriften, op. cit., pp. 19–35.

19 Thomasius, , Freymüthige Lustige und Ernsthaffle jedoch Vernunfft- und Gesetz-Mäßige Gedancken oder Monatsgespräche (Halle, 1690)Google Scholar See also Thomasius, , Ernsthaffte, aber doch Muntere und Vernünfftige Thomasische Gedancken und Erinnerungen über allerhand auserlesene Juristische Händel (where many of the monthly articles are reprinted), (4 vols., Halle, 1720–1721); see esp. I, 105–118 Google Scholar (on superstition and libel), 125 ff. (on torture), 223–5 (on suspecting Jews of ritual murder), and 197–206, as also II, 300–39, and III, 221–33 (on witch trials). See further Chr. Thomasius Erinnerung wegen seiner künfftigen Winter Lectionen (Halle, 1702), pp. 14–18 Google Scholar (on superstition, witch-trials and torture).

20 White, Andrew Dickson, Seven Great Statesmen in the Warfare of Humanity with Unreason (London, 1910), p. 113 Google Scholar. This is the only work that so far has appeared in English which devotes more than a passing mention to Thomasius.

21 It should be noted, however, that Thomasius, even before he became familiar with Locke's philosophy, evidences empiricist tendencies: see his Institutiones jurisprudentiae divinae (Francofurti et Lipsiae, 1688)Google Scholar, lib. I, cap. 1, para. 51, and cap. 2, para. 39.)

22 Thomasius, , Versuch vom Wesen des Geistes (Halle, 1699), pp. 7–8 Google Scholar; see also Einleitung zu der Vernunfft-Lehre, op. cit., pp. 139, 155 and 225f.

23 Einleitung zu der Vernunfft-Lehre, op. cit., pp. 168–72.

24 Leibniz's, Nouveaux Essais, which also transmitted Locke's ideas to Germany, were not published until 1765 Google Scholar.

25 Einleitung …, pp. 84–93, and 294.

26 Thomasius, Versuch vom Wesen des Geistes, op. cit., p. 183.

27 See his Fundamenta juris naturae el gentium (Halle, 1705)Google Scholar, lib. I, cap. 1, para. 37: “Voluntas semper movet intellectum.” See also Versuch, op. cit., p. 184.

28 Ibid., pp. 187–8.

29 Ibid., p. 189.

30 Thomasius, , Einleitung der Sitten-Lehre (Halle, 1692; edition here used, 1720), I, p. 8 Google Scholar; see also his Ausübung der Sitten-Lehre (Halle, 1696), p. 95 Google Scholar.

31 Thomasius, Summarischer Entwurff derer Grundlehren, op. cit., para. 61.

32 Thomasius, Einleitung der Sitten-Lehre, op. cit., IV, p. 187.

33 Ibid., IX, p. 369.

34 Thomasius, Ausübung der Sitten-Lehre, op. cit., p. 516.

35 Ibid., pp. 4–5.

36 Thomasius, Einleitung der Sitten-Lehre, op. cit., II, pp. 89–91.

37 See Wolff, Hans M., Die Weltanschauung der deutschen Aufklärung (2d ed., Bern and München, 1963)Google Scholar.

38 Thomasius, Institutiones jurisprudentiae divinae, op. cit., lib. II, cap. 2, para. 7; see also his Der Politische Philosophus (Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1724)Google Scholar, particularly the preface (Vorrede).

39 Institutiones, op. cit., lib. I, cap. 1, para. 30.

40 Fundamenta juris nalurae et gentium, op. cit., lib. I, cap. 6, para. 21.

41 Institutiones, op. cit., lib. I, cap. 1, para. 3.

42 Ibid., lib. II, cap. I, para. 35. For a fuller treatment of Thomasius's legal theories, see Wolf, Erik, Große Rechtsdenker (4th ed., Tübingen, 1963), pp. 379–414 Google Scholar to which I am in debt.

43 Thomasius, Institutiones, op. cit., lib. I, cap. 1, para. 109, and his Fundamenta, op. cit., lib. I, cap. 5, para. 11.

44 Institutiones, op. cit., lib. III, cap. 6, para. 63.

45 Ibid., lib. III, cap. 6, para. 12.

46 Ibid., lib. III, cap. 6, paras. 22–24.

47 Ibid., para. 29.

48 Ibid., para. 35.

49 Ibid., para. 31.

50 Ibid., para. 56.

51 Ibid., para. 23.

52 Ibid., para. 39.

53 Fundamenta, op. cit., lib. I, cap. 4, para. 77, and Institutiones, op. cit., lib. I, cap. 1, para. 104.

54 Institutiones, op. cit., lib. I, cap. 1, para. 104.

55 Der Politische Philosophus, op. cit., preface.

56 Thomasius, , Das Recht evangelischer Fürsten in theologischen Streitigkeiten (Halle, 1696, 4th ed., 1699), p. 12 Google Scholar.

57 Locke certainly nowhere suggests that he subscribes to a theory of universal suffrage. For discussion of this question, see Seliger, Martin, “Locke's Theory of Revolutionary Action,” The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 16 (1963), pp. 548–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

58 Thomasius, , Erinnerung wegen zweyer Collegiorum über den anderen Theil seiner Grund-Lehren (Halle, 1702), p. 32 Google Scholar. Thomasius considers it “one of the oldest errors in Christendom … that the zealots of good morals attempt to talk the Christian princes into enforcing Christianity by legislation.” (ibid.)

59 Ibid., pp. 34–5.

60 Gierke, O., Natural Law and the Theory of Society, transt. Barker, E. (Cambridge, 1934), vol. I, p. 144 Google Scholar.

61 For a detailed account of these administrative theories, see Small, Albion W., The Cameralists (Chicago, 1909)Google Scholar; see also Parry, Geraint, “Enlightened Government and its Critics in Eighteenth-Century Germany,” The Historical Journal, Vol. 6 (1963), pp. 178–192 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

62 See Dernburg, , Thomasius und die Stiftung der Universität Halle (Halle, 1865), p. 4 Google Scholar, and Schmoller, , “Preußischer Beamtenstand unter Friedrich Wilhelm I.”, Preußische Jahrbücher, Vol. 26 (1870), p. 148 f.Google Scholar

63 Frederic II, Oeuvres (Berlin, 1789), vol. I, p. 376 Google Scholar.

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