Albert Eberhard Friedrich Schäffle (24 February 183125 December 1903) was a German sociologist,

political economist Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour m ...

, and

newspaper editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

Biography

Early years

Albert Schäffle was born at

Nürtingen Nürtingen () is a town on the river Neckar in the district of Esslingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. History The following events occurred, by year: *1046: First mention of ''Niuritingin'' in the document of Speyer ...

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

on 24 February 1831. In 1848 he became a student at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

Career

He had studied for the ministry, but started out in journalism as his career. From 1850 to 1860 he was attached to the editorial staff of the ''Schwäbische Merkur'' in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, and in the latter year accepted a call to the chair of political economy at the University of Tübingen. From 1862 to 1864 Schäffle was a member of the Württemberg diet, and in 1868 he received a mandate to the German ''Zollparlament.'' During this year he was appointed professor of political science at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

. In 1871 Schäffle resigned his professorship to join the cabinet of Count

Karl Sigmund von Hohenwart Count Karl Sigmund von Hohenwart (german: Karl Graf von Hohenwart; 12 February 1824 in Vienna – 26 April 1899) was an Austrian politician who served as Minister-President of Austria in 1871. Hohenwart’s government attempted to implement a Fede ...

as minister of commerce for

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. The government fell in that same year, however, and Schäffle took up residence in Stuttgart, where he devoted himself entirely to literary work. Stuttgart Pragfriedhof Albert Schäffle

Schäffle's ''magnum opus,'' a treatise called ''Bau und Leben des sozialen Körpers'' (Construction and Life of the Social Body) was published in four volumes from 1875 to 1878. The work was a grandiose attempt to create a unified system combining the natural and social sciences.Fritz Karl Mann, "Albert Eberhard Friedrich Schäffle", in Edwin R. A. Seilgman (ed.), ''Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences: Volume 13.'' New York: Macmillan, 1937; pp. 562–563. Schäffle attempted to show a unity between human social behavior and the biological processes observed by natural science, while retaining a spiritual aspect in the tradition of German

idealist philosophy In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...

. In a second edition of this work, published in two volumes in 1896, Schäffle emphasized the state-interventionist implications of his work, describing the economy of the "rational social state" in fine detail. In his ''Quintessence of Socialism'' (1875) and ''The Impossibility of Social Democracy'' (1885) Schäffle developed a critique of socialism which focused on the problem of incentives in large-scale collectives. His conclusion was that classical socialism and democracy were incompatible. Schäffle thus foreshadowed some of the criticisms of socialism by

Ludwig von Mises Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (; 29 September 1881 – 10 October 1973) was an Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and Sociology, sociologist. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the societal contributions of classical liberali ...

and Freidrich Hayek. From 1892 to 1901 Schäffle was the sole editor of the ''Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft.''

Death and legacy

Albert Schäffle died at Stuttgart on 25 December 1903.

Works

* ''Die nationalökonomische Theorie der ausschließenden Absatzverhältnisse'' (1867) * ''Kapitalismus und Sozialismus'' (1870) * ''Das gesellschaftliche System der menschlichen Wirtschaft'' (1873; 2 Bände) * ''Die Quintessenz des Sozialismus'' (1874
Digitalisat auf archive.org
(PDF; 14 MB) **
"The Quintessence of Socialism"
' (translated to English by B. Bosanquet) 1890. * ''Bau und Leben des sozialen Körpers'' (1875–78; 4 Bände) * ''Encyklopädie der Staatslehre'' (1878) * ''Grundsätze der Steuerpolitik'' (1880) * ''Die Aussichtslosigkeit der Sozialdemokratie'' (1885). English translation excerpted in https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-institutional-economics/article/the-impossibility-of-social-democracy-by-albert-e-f-schaffle/C3812F00382ECCFC3948CF37CCA684F8 * ''Gesammelte Aufsätze'' (1885–87; 2 Bände) * ''Zum Kartellwesen und zur Kartellpolitik'', in: ''Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft'', 54 (1898), S. 467-528. * ''Aus meinem Leben'' (1905) * ''Abriss der Soziologie'' (1906)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schaffle, Albert 1831 births 1903 deaths People from Nürtingen German economists People from the Kingdom of Württemberg University of Tübingen alumni University of Tübingen faculty Academics of the University of Vienna Austro-Hungarian politicians Members of the Württembergian Chamber of Deputies German sociologists German male non-fiction writers Regional economists