Gottfried Achenwall (20 October 1719 – 1 May 1772) was a German philosopher, historian, economist,
jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
and statistician. He is counted among the inventors of statistics.
Biography
Achenwall was born in
Elbing (
Elbląg
Elbląg (; german: Elbing, Old Prussian: ''Elbings'') is a city in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, located in the eastern edge of the Żuławy region with 117,390 inhabitants, as of December 2021. It is the capital of Elbląg County.
...
) in the
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
province of
Royal Prussia
Royal Prussia ( pl, Prusy Królewskie; german: Königlich-Preußen or , csb, Królewsczé Prësë) or Polish PrussiaAnton Friedrich Büsching, Patrick Murdoch. ''A New System of Geography'', London 1762p. 588/ref> (Polish: ; German: ) was a ...
. Beginning in 1738 he studied in the
Jena
Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...
,
Halle, again Jena and
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
. In the years 1743 to 1746, he worked as controller in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
. He was awarded his master's degree in 1746 by the philosophical faculty of Leipzig and went in the following to
Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...
to work as assistant professor lecturing history, statistics, natural and international law. In 1748 he was called to the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
to become
extraordinary professor
Academic ranks in Germany are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia.
Overview
Appointment grades
* (Pay grade: ''W3'' or ''W2'')
* (''W3'')
* (''W2'')
* (''W2'', ...
of philosophy, and in 1753 he became an extraordinary professor of law and regular professor of philosophy. In 1761 he again shifted fields, becoming a professor of natural law and politics, and in 1762 he became a doctor of both laws.
In 1765, Achenwall became court counsellor of the Royal British and the Electoral court of
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
. With financial support from King
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
he travelled to
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and France in 1751 and to
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
and England in 1759. He died in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
, aged 52.
In economics, he belonged to the school of "moderate
mercantilists
Mercantilism is an economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports for an economy. It promotes imperialism, colonialism, tariffs and subsidies on traded goods to achieve that goal. The policy aims to reduce ...
"; but it is in statistics that he holds his greatest renown. The work by which he is best known is his ''Staatsverfassung der Europäischen Reiche im Grundrisse'' (Constitution of the Present Leading European States, 1752). In this work, he gave a comprehensive view of the constitutions of the various countries, described the condition of their agriculture, manufactures and commerce, and frequently supplied statistics in relation to these subjects. German economists claimed for him the title of "Father of Statistics"; but English writers disputed this, asserting that it ignored the prior claims of
William Petty
Sir William Petty FRS (26 May 1623 – 16 December 1687) was an English economist, physician, scientist and philosopher. He first became prominent serving Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth in Ireland. He developed efficient methods to su ...
and other earlier writers on the subject. Achenwall gave currency to the term ''Staatswissenschaft'' (politics), which he proposed should mean all the knowledge necessary to statecraft or statesmanship.
Publications
* ''Abriß der neuen Staatswissenschaft der vornehmen Europäischen Reiche und Republiken'', 1749, in the following editions titled ''Staatsverfassung der Europäischen Reiche im Grundrisse'', 1752 ff.
* (with
Johann Stephan Pütter
Johann Stephan Pütter (25 June 1725, Iserlohn – 12 August 1807, Göttingen) was a German law lecturer and publicist. He was professor of law at the university of Göttingen from 1746 until his death. He exerted great influence on the law insti ...
:) ''Naturrecht'', 1750, 1753
*
Jus Naturae', 2 vol., 1755–56 ff, edition VII in 1781 with a preface from
Johann Henrick Christian de Selchow
Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...
.
* ''Grundsätze der Europäischen Geschichte, zur politischen Kenntnis der heutigen vornehmsten Staaten'', 1754, 2nd edition 1759 titled ''Die Geschichte der heutigen vornehmsten Staaten im Grundrisse'', 5th edition 1779
* ''Entwurf der Europäischen Staatshändel des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts'', 1756, 4th edition 1759
* ''Staatsklugheit nach ihren ersten Grundsätzen'', 1761, 4th edition 1759
* ''Juris gentium Europaei practici primae lineae'', 1775, unfinished.
Translations
* Gottfried Achenwall, ''Natural Law: A Translation of the Textbook for Kant’s Lectures on Legal and Political Philosophy'', edited by Pauline KLeingeld, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2020.
References
Sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Achenwall, Gottfried
1719 births
1772 deaths
People from Elbląg
People from Royal Prussia
German statisticians
German economists
18th-century German lawyers
University of Jena alumni
Leipzig University alumni
University of Halle alumni
University of Göttingen faculty
University of Marburg faculty
Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences
18th-century jurists
Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities