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

political economist Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of status or resources. The branch of social science that studies poli ...

, 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 editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held account ...

Biography

Early years

Albert Schäffle was born at

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

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 Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

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 (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

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 German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, 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 (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

. In 1871 Schäffle resigned his professorship to join the cabinet of Count Karl Sigmund von Hohenwart as minister of commerce for

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. The government fell in that same year, however, and Schäffle took up residence in Stuttgart, where he devoted himself entirely to literary work. 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 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 (; ; September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was an Austrian-American political economist and philosopher of the Austrian school. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the social contributions of classical l ...

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 Academic staff of the University of Tübingen Academic staff of the University of Vienna Politicians from Austria-Hungary Members of the Württembergian Chamber of Deputies German sociologists German male non-fiction writers Regional economists