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{{Short description|Baltic German theologian}}
[[File:Alexander von Oettingen.jpg|thumb|Alexander von Oettingen.]]

'''Alexander von Oettingen''' ({{osd|24 December|1827|12 December}} – {{osd|21 August|1905|8 August}}) was a [[Baltic German]] [[Lutheran]] [[theology|theologian]] and [[statistician]].
[[File:Alexander von Oettingen.jpg|thumb|Alexander von Oettingen]]
'''Alexander Konstantin von<ref>{{German title von}}</ref> Oettingen''' ({{osd|24 December|1827|12 December}}, Wissust Manor, [[Visusti|Wissust]] ({{lang|et|Visusti}}) – {{osd|21 August|1905|8 August}} [[Tartu|Yuryev]] ({{lang|et|Tartu}})) was a [[Baltic German]] [[Lutheran]] [[theology|theologian]] and [[statistician]].


==Biography==
==Biography==
Oettingen was born at [[Visusti]], near [[Tartu|Dorpat]], the member of a [[Livonia]]n [[Baltic German]] [[Nobility|noble]] family that produced many scholars, including his brothers [[Georg von Oettingen]], professor of medicine at the [[University of Tartu]] (then Dorpat), and [[Arthur von Oettingen]], professor of physique in Dorpat and Leipzig. Alexander von Oettingen studied at Erlangen, Bonn, and Berlin.
Oettingen was born at [[Visusti|Wissust]] (now in [[Jõgeva Parish]]) in the [[Kreis Dorpat]] of the [[Governorate of Livonia]], the member of a [[Baltic German]] [[Nobility|noble]] family that produced many scholars, including his brothers [[Georg von Oettingen]], professor of medicine at the [[University of Dorpat]] ({{lang|et|Tartu}}), and [[Arthur von Oettingen]], professor of physique in Dorpat and [[Leipzig University|Leipzig]]. Alexander von Oettingen studied at [[University of Erlangen-Nuremberg|Erlangen]], [[University of Bonn|Bonn]], and [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Berlin]].


From 1854 to 1891, Oettingen was [[professor]] of [[dogmatics]] at the University of Dorpat and, theologically, a typical representative of this ultra-orthodox and [[Conservatism|conservative]] Lutheran department. While his theological works are forgotten, his side-interest in statistics (and the then-very fashionable view that statistical [[predictability]] of [[social behavior]] left no space for [[ethics]] or [[God]]), and discussions with the then-very deterministically-minded great economist [[Adolph Wagner]] let him write a very important work, the ''Moralstatistik'' ("Moral Statistics"), in 1868. Oettingen makes the point that there is regularity in human [[Action (philosophy)|action]] because of human societal living together but that there is [[Free will|freedom]] of action of the [[individual]] "because the regularity of moral statistical numbers is never absolute". (R. v. Engelhardt)
From 1854 to 1891, Oettingen was [[professor]] of [[dogmatics]] at the University of Dorpat and, theologically, a typical representative of this ultra-orthodox and [[Conservatism|conservative]] Lutheran department. While his theological works are forgotten, his side-interest in statistics (and the then-very fashionable view that statistical [[predictability]] of [[social behavior]] left no space for [[ethics]] or [[God]]), and discussions with the then-very deterministically-minded great economist [[Adolph Wagner]] let him write a very important work, the ''Moralstatistik'' ("Moral Statistics"), in 1868. Oettingen makes the point that there is regularity in human [[Action (philosophy)|action]] because of human societal living together but that there is [[Free will|freedom]] of action of the [[individual]] "because the regularity of moral statistical numbers is never absolute". (R. v. Engelhardt)
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* ''Die Moralstatistik. Inductiver Nachweis der Gesetzmäßigkeit sittlicher Lebensbewegung im Organismus der Menschheit''. 1868.
* ''Die Moralstatistik. Inductiver Nachweis der Gesetzmäßigkeit sittlicher Lebensbewegung im Organismus der Menschheit''. 1868.
* ''Die Moralstatistik und die christliche Sittenlehre. Versuch einer Socialethik auf empirischer Grundlage'', vol. 1. Erlangen: Deichert. 1868.
* ''Die Moralstatistik und die christliche Sittenlehre. Versuch einer Socialethik auf empirischer Grundlage'', vol. 1. Erlangen: Deichert. 1868.

==References==
{{Reflist}}


==External links==
==External links==
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[[Category:1827 births]]
[[Category:1827 births]]
[[Category:1905 deaths]]
[[Category:1905 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Jõgeva County]]
[[Category:People from Jõgeva Parish]]
[[Category:People from the Governorate of Livonia]]
[[Category:People from Kreis Dorpat]]
[[Category:Baltic-German people]]
[[Category:Oettingen family (Westphalia)|Alexander]]
[[Category:Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:German Lutheran theologians]]
[[Category:German Lutheran theologians]]
[[Category:19th-century German Protestant theologians]]
[[Category:19th-century German Protestant theologians]]
[[Category:University of Tartu faculty]]
[[Category:19th-century German male writers]]
[[Category:German male writers]]
[[Category:German male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:19th-century male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Lutherans]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Tartu]]

Latest revision as of 13:21, 12 July 2024

Alexander von Oettingen

Alexander Konstantin von[1] Oettingen (24 December [O.S. 12 December] 1827, Wissust Manor, Wissust (Visusti) – 21 August [O.S. 8 August] 1905 Yuryev (Tartu)) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and statistician.

Biography

[edit]

Oettingen was born at Wissust (now in Jõgeva Parish) in the Kreis Dorpat of the Governorate of Livonia, the member of a Baltic German noble family that produced many scholars, including his brothers Georg von Oettingen, professor of medicine at the University of Dorpat (Tartu), and Arthur von Oettingen, professor of physique in Dorpat and Leipzig. Alexander von Oettingen studied at Erlangen, Bonn, and Berlin.

From 1854 to 1891, Oettingen was professor of dogmatics at the University of Dorpat and, theologically, a typical representative of this ultra-orthodox and conservative Lutheran department. While his theological works are forgotten, his side-interest in statistics (and the then-very fashionable view that statistical predictability of social behavior left no space for ethics or God), and discussions with the then-very deterministically-minded great economist Adolph Wagner let him write a very important work, the Moralstatistik ("Moral Statistics"), in 1868. Oettingen makes the point that there is regularity in human action because of human societal living together but that there is freedom of action of the individual "because the regularity of moral statistical numbers is never absolute". (R. v. Engelhardt)

With the book, and in its subtitle, Oettingen also coined the word, and established the concept, of Sozialethik ("Social Ethics"), meant as a counter to Auguste Comte's "social physics" concept and as the establishment of a non-personal, non-individualistic ethics; this is what Protestant ethics as taught in German universities is still called.

Works

[edit]
  • Die Moralstatistik. Inductiver Nachweis der Gesetzmäßigkeit sittlicher Lebensbewegung im Organismus der Menschheit. 1868.
  • Die Moralstatistik und die christliche Sittenlehre. Versuch einer Socialethik auf empirischer Grundlage, vol. 1. Erlangen: Deichert. 1868.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ In German personal names, von is a preposition which approximately means 'of' or 'from' and usually denotes some sort of nobility. While von (always lower case) is part of the family name or territorial designation, not a first or middle name, if the noble is referred to by their last name, use Schiller, Clausewitz or Goethe, not von Schiller, etc.
[edit]
  • Estonian Manors Portal at www.mois.ee. See in particular the Visusti (in German: Wissust) manor page. Alexander von Oetiingen was born there.
  • "Oettingen, Alexander von" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.