View source for Gottfried Achenwall

{{Short description|German philosopher and historian}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
   |name              = Gottfried Achenwall
   |image             = 
   |caption           = 
   |birth_date        = {{Birth date|df=yes|1719|10|20}}
   |birth_place       = [[Elbląg|Elbing]], [[Royal Prussia]]
   |death_date        = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1772|05|01|1719|10|20}}
   |death_place       = [[Göttingen]]
   |nationality       = German
   |residence         =
   |citizenship       = 
   |field             = Mathematics
   |work_institution  = [[University of Göttingen]], [[Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities]]
   |alma_mater        = 
   |doctoral_advisor  =
   |doctoral_students =
   |known_for         = Statistics
   |prizes            = 
}}

'''Gottfried Achenwall''' (20 October 1719 – 1 May 1772) was a German philosopher, historian, economist, [[jurist]] and statistician. He is counted among the inventors of statistics.

==Biography==
Achenwall was born in [[Elbing]] ([[Elbląg]])<ref>Friedrich Gottlob Leonhardi, ''Erdbeschreibung der preußischen Monarchie'', 1791, p. 757. [https://books.google.com/books?id=JgMBAAAAcAAJ&dq=elblag+date:1000-1800&pg=RA1-PA757 Google Books]</ref><ref>Franciszek Paprocki, ''Domowe wiadomosci o wielkim xiestwie Litewskim z przylaczeniem historyi tegoż narodu. Przedrukowane'' 1771, p. 82. [https://books.google.com/books?id=8H42AAAAMAAJ&dq=elblag+date:1000-1800&pg=RA2-PA82 Google Books]</ref> in the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish]] province of [[Royal Prussia]].<ref>Daniel Stone,''A History of East Central Europe'', University of Washington Press, 2001, p. 30, {{ISBN|0-295-98093-1}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=LFgB_l4SdHAC&dq=%22Royal+prussia%22+Poland+1466+Elbl%C4%85g&pg=PA30 Google Books]</ref> Beginning in 1738 he studied in the [[University of Jena|Jena]], [[Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg|Halle]], again Jena and [[Leipzig University|Leipzig]]. In the years 1743 to 1746, he worked as controller in [[Dresden]]. He was awarded his master's degree in 1746 by the philosophical faculty of Leipzig and went in the following to [[University of Marburg|Marburg]] to work as assistant professor lecturing history, statistics, natural and international law. In 1748 he was called to the [[University of Göttingen]] to become [[extraordinary professor]] 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 [[Electorate of Hanover|Hanover]]. With financial support from King [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]] he travelled to [[Switzerland]] and France in 1751 and to [[Holland]] and England in 1759.  He died in [[Göttingen]], aged 52.

In economics, he belonged to the school of "moderate [[mercantilism|mercantilists]]"; 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]] 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.<ref>{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Achenwall, Gottfried}}</ref>

==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]]:) ''Naturrecht'', 1750, 1753
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=KeIAAAAAcAAJ Jus Naturae]'', 2 vol., 1755–56 ff, edition VII in 1781 with a preface from [[Johann Henrick Christian de Selchow]].
* ''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==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{de-ADB|1|30|30|Achenwall, Gottfried|Emil Steffenhagen|ADB:Achenwall, Gottfried}}

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author |id=26715| name=Gottfried Achenwall}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Gottfried Achenwall}}
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Achenwall, Gottfried|year=1905 |short=x}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Achenwall, Gottfried}}
[[Category:1719 births]]
[[Category:1772 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Elbląg]]
[[Category:People from Royal Prussia]]
[[Category:German statisticians]]
[[Category:German economists]]
[[Category:18th-century German lawyers]]
[[Category:University of Jena alumni]]
[[Category:Leipzig University alumni]]
[[Category:University of Halle alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Göttingen]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Marburg]]
[[Category:Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:18th-century German jurists]]
[[Category:18th-century German historians]]
[[Category:18th-century German philosophers]]