STAHL, FRIEDERICH JULIUS. - Jurist and politician, a Jew converted to Lutheranism, b. in Munich on 16 Jan. 1802, d. at Bad-Brückenau on 10 Aug. 1861.

He wrote various works, among them: Das monarchische Prinzip (1845), Was ist Revolution? (1852), Der christliche Staat (1858), Die gegenwärtige Parteien in Staat und Kirche (1863), and, most importantly, Die Philosophie des Rechts in geschichtlicher Aussicht (1830-37; Italian trans., Storia della filosofia del diritto, 2 vols., Turin 1853). In this last work, having demonstrated the unacceptability of the Kantian and idealist philosophical theories on the essence of law and of the State, Stahl takes up the traditional conception: authority has its foundation in God, and therefore in a norm superior both to the prince and to the people. The prince, therefore, responsible only before God, and even while identifying himself with the very power of the State, must exercise that power, conditioned as it is upon the moral good of the members of the community, with the collaboration of the representatives of the aristocracy, of the national Church and of the local autonomies.

This conception was adopted by the Prussian conservative party, which he led.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: essential: R. Michniewicz, S. und Bismark, Berlin 1913; H. Schmidt, F. J. Stahl über die deutsche Nationalstaatsidee, Breslau 1914; K. Guggenberger, s. v., in LThK, IX, col. 769 (with further bibl.).

Michele Lecce

@incollection{ec11_stahl_friederich_julius, author = {Lecce, Michele}, title = {Stahl, friederich julius}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {1188--1189}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/stahl-friederich-julius} }

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Stahl, Friederich Julius

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