Thomasius, CHRISTIAN

Thomasius, CHRISTIAN, a German philosopher and jurist, was born at Leipzig, 1st January 1655, studied at Frankfort-on-the-Oder (1675-79), and returning to his native town commenced to lecture on law in a style perfectly free from the pedantry of the schools. In 1687, to the astonishment of his Latin-speaking colleagues, he adopted the German language as the vehicle of his expositions, published his programme for the following year in the same tongue, and commenced an unconventional monthly journal. But this work and his advanced views on theological subjects excited so much opposition that he was forced to leave Leipzig, and went first to Berlin, and afterwards (1690) to Halle, where, under the patronage of the Brandenburg court, his lectures were the means of establishing a university, since famous. In this university Thomasius became professor of Jurisprudence, and here he died, 23d September 1728. It is to his credit that he broke away completely from traditional pedantry and mediæval terminology, and introduced better methods into the scientific treatment of various departments of study; and he honourably signalled himself as a courageous opponent of trial for witchcraft and the use of torture. The characteristic features of his mode of thought are contained in his Gedanken und Erinnerungen (3 vols. Halle, 1723-26) and in his Geschichte der Weisheit und Thorheit (1693). His specialty was international law (ius naturale) and ethics. See works on him by Lnden (1805), Dernburg (1865), Wagner (1872), and Nicoladini (Berlin, 1887).