Johannes Althusius facts for kids
Johannes Althusius (born 1563 – died August 12, 1638) was a German thinker. He was a jurist (someone who studies law) and a political philosopher (someone who thinks about how governments should work). He followed the Calvinist faith.
He is best known for his important book, Politica Methodice Digesta. It was first published in 1603, with new versions in 1610 and 1614. The ideas in this book helped shape early thoughts on federalism and subsidiarity in the 16th and 17th centuries. Federalism is about sharing power between different levels of government. Subsidiarity means decisions should be made at the lowest possible level.
Contents
Life Story of Johannes Althusius
Althusius was born in 1563 in a small town called Diedenshausen in Germany. His family was not wealthy. A local count helped him go to school in Marburg starting in 1577. He began studying law and philosophy in 1581.
He studied law in Basel, Switzerland, and earned his doctorate in law in 1586. While studying there, he also learned about theology.
Teaching and Early Career
After finishing his studies in 1586, Althusius became a law professor at the Herborn Academy. From 1592 to 1596, he taught at another academy in Burgsteinfurt.
In 1596, he married Margarethe Neurath and they had at least six children. In 1599, he became president of the Nassau College. He also started his political career by joining the Nassau county council.
Becoming a City Leader
In 1603, Althusius was chosen as a city trustee for Emden, a city in Germany. He became a city leader, called a Syndic, in 1604. This important role meant he was in charge of Emden's government until he died.
In 1617, Althusius published another major law book called Dicaeologicae. In this book, he explained that laws are either natural laws or positive laws. He believed natural law was "the will of God for men." He said that to understand natural law, people should study the Bible, traditions, and use their reason.
Johannes Althusius passed away on August 12, 1638, in Emden.
Althusius's Political Ideas
Althusius had very specific ideas about how governments should work. He believed in a system called federalism.
What is Federalism?
Althusius saw society as a "community of communities." He thought that different groups could work together and share power.
- A village was a group of families.
- A town was a group of guilds (like worker associations).
- A province was a group of towns.
- A state was a group of provinces.
- An empire was a group of states.
He called this idea consociatio symbiotica, which means a "symbiotic association." For Althusius, politics was about how people live together. He believed that federations were the best way to put this idea into practice. His federalism was not about giving up power, but about sharing it responsibly.
Sharing Power and Natural Law
Althusius lived during a time of many religious wars in Europe. He looked at the Holy Roman Empire as an example of a place where different communities could share power. He believed that power should be shared among smaller and larger communities that could govern themselves.
He also believed in natural law. According to Althusius, natural law gave citizens the right to resist a government that was unfair or tyrannical. He thought that true political power came from the smaller communities, not just from one ruler.
Why Althusius is Still Important
After he died, Althusius's ideas were debated. His book Politica was criticized by some who wanted strong, central governments. They didn't like his ideas about local groups having a lot of power. As time went on, his ideas were mostly forgotten.
Rediscovery of His Ideas
In the late 1800s, a German scholar named Otto von Gierke rediscovered Althusius's work. This happened when Germany was becoming a unified country. Gierke thought Althusius's ideas about political order, based on group decisions and agreements, were very useful.
After World War II, another German-American professor, Carl Joachim Friedrich, helped bring Althusius's ideas back into focus. Friedrich even helped write the German constitution. He praised Althusius for creating the first "full-bodied concept of federalism." This led to new interest in Althusius's work around the world. In 1968, Althusius was even called "the real father of modern federalism."
Main Books by Althusius
- Civilis conversationis libri duo, published in 1601.
- Politica, first finished in 1603. This book is seen as a very important work on Calvinist political ideas. It also helped explain the Dutch Revolt. Althusius used ideas from many other thinkers in this book.
- Dicaeologica libri tres, totum et universum Jus, published in 1618. Parts of this book have been translated into English as On Law and Power.
Sources
- Althusius, Johannes, On Law and Power. CLP Academic, 2013.
- Alvarado, Ruben. The Debate that Changed the West: Grotius versus Althusius (Aalten: Pantocrator Press, 2018).
- "Il lessico della Politica di Johannes Althusius", a cura di Francesco Ingravalle e Corrado Malandrino, Firenze, Olschki, 2005.
- Follesdal, Andres. "Survey Article: Subsidiarity." Journal of Political Philosophy 6 (June 1998): 190–219.
- Friedrich, Carl J. Constitutional Reason of State. Providence: Brown University Press, 1957.
- Hueglin, Thomas. "Covenant and Federalism in the Politics of Althusius." In The Covenant Connection: From Federal Theology to Modern Federalism, ed. Daniel J. Elazar and John Kincaid, 31–54. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2000.
- Hueglin, Thomas. Early Modern Concepts for a Late Modern World: Althusius on Community and Federalism. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1999.
- ________. "Federalism at the Crossroads: Old Meanings, New Significance." Canadian Journal of Political Science 36 (June 2003): 275–293.
- ________. "Have We Studied the Wrong Authors? On Johannes Althusius as a Political Theorist." Studies in Political Thought 1 (Winter 1992): 75–93.
- Kistenkas, Frederik Hendrik. European and domestic subsidiarity. An Althusian conceptionalist view, Tilb. Law Rev. 2000, p. 247 ev. https://brill.com/view/journals/tilr/8/3/article-p247_4.xml?crawler=true&lang=de&language=fr
- Lakoff, Sanford. "Althusius, Johannes." In Political Philosophy: Theories, Thinkers, and Concepts. Edited by Seymour Martin Lipset, 221–223. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2001.
- von Gierke, Otto. The Development of Political Theory. Translated by Bernard Freyd. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1939.
