Thomasius, Christian

Thomasius, Christian

(krĭs`tyän tōmä`zyo͝os), 1655–1728, German jurist and philosopher. A lawyer, he lectured on natural law at Leipzig; he broke with the traditional custom of lecturing in Latin and from 1687 taught in German. This and other liberal stands forced him to move to Halle in 1690, where he helped establish (1694) the Univ. of Halle, in which he became a professor. In the practical philosophy of Thomasius every question was considered without prejudice and submitted to the judgment of common sense. He was a reformer who sought to liberate politics from religious domination, and within religion he strove for freedom and toleration. He was influential in pointing the way to the philosophy of the EnlightenmentEnlightenment,
term applied to the mainstream of thought of 18th-century Europe and America. Background and Basic Tenets

The scientific and intellectual developments of the 17th cent.
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. His chief work is Institutionum jurisprudentiae divinae (1688).

Thomasius, Christian

 

Born Jan. 1, 1655, in Leipzig; died Sept. 23, 1728, in Halle. German jurist, Enlightenment philosopher, and educator; proponent of natural law.

Thomasius taught at the universities of Leipzig and Halle. In 1688 he founded the first scientific journal in the German language. Thomasius believed that the law’s immediate task was to free the state from the influence of religion and to render secular knowledge independent of theology and medieval Scholasticism. He was among the first to point out the distinction between morality and law and held that the observance of law should be ensured by the state. His principal work was Fundamenta iuris naturae et gentium (1705).