Seite 189 [189]
THE INTELLECTUAL RESOURCES OF MODERN GOVERNANCE
Just as in the hereditary Austrian Lands, the writings of the Göttingen profes¬
sor Gottfried Achenwall (1719-1772) were compulsory reading at the university
and at the law academies in the Kingdom of Hungary, so an account of his
understanding of the discipline is essential for the use of further adaptations.
Achenwall made Staatenkunde the empirical study of the structure of one or
several states in a historical perspective.’° This was to be differentiated from
the philosophical (one would say today “scientific” or “theoretical”) sciences of
state, the latter including state law and the discipline of Staatsklugheit (pruden¬
tia civilis), the discipline of political decision-making. The goal of the discipline
of Staatenkunde was claimed to be a contribution to informed decision-making
in the administrative process.
Central to the understanding of Achenwall was the concept of the state,
which the Göttingen scholar described as follows: “Ein Staat ist eine Gesells¬
chaft von Familien, welche zu Beforderung ihrer gemeinsamen Gliickseeligkeit
unter einem Oberhaupte mit einander vereiniget leben.”!! The state is also de¬
fined here as the sum total of Land und Leute, the first designating the habitat
of the latter. The definition of Land in a human geographic sense involved a
detailed description of its geographical, topographic and chorographic details,
complete with the products of the soil and its natural riches. In the case of the
inhabitants, it was their numerical extension and their characteristics that
played an important role:
“Die natiirlichen Eigenschaften einer Nation, wodurch sie sich von anderen unter¬
scheidet, nennet man ihren Character. Er zeigt sich im Körper, noch mehr aber im
Gemüthe. Wie verschieden sind nicht die Völker in der Farbe, Länge und Stärke! Es
gibt so gar Krankheiten, die gewissen Nationen eigen sind. Hier denkt man mehr
witzig, dort mehr tiefsinning. Die Neigungen sind eben so wenig überall einerley.
Aus deren verschiedenheit erwachen die verschiedene gewohnheiten der Völker,
welche man ihre Tugenden und Laster zu nennen pfleget. Man suche diejenigen aus,
die durch ihren Einfluss in die Verfassung und das Wohl des Staates merkwürdig
machen.”
The population was regarded as relevant in a twofold sense, both as the sum
total of “natural men” in their private surroundings, and also as the assembly
of families, who constituted the so-called “civil society,” linked to the “most
1° ACHENWALL, Gottfried, Staatsverfassung der heutigen vornehmsten Reiche in Grundriße, Gött¬
tingen, Vandenhoeck, 1762, 3rd ed. 3.
1° Ibid. 2.
* 187 +