Caspar Neumann (theologian)

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Caspar Neumann

Caspar Neumann or Kaspar Neumann (born September 14, 1648 in Breslau ; † January 27, 1715 there ) he was a Protestant pastor , church inspector and hymn writer . In addition, he is considered one of the first important German representatives of political arithmetic and a pioneer of population statistics .

His work falls into a period of rapid development in the natural sciences and the early Enlightenment at the end of the 17th century.

Family and education

Neumann came from a Lutheran family. His father was a council tax collector in Breslau. At first he received private lessons in his parents' house.

After the death of his father (1660) he completed an apprenticeship as a pharmacist and from 1661 to 1667 attended the Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium in Breslau. In 1667 he participated in the University of Jena , a theology on -Studies. His important teachers included the mathematician and philosopher Erhard Weigel as well as the theologians Johann Musäus and Johann Ernst Gerhard and the orientalist Frischmuth. Weigel in particular, whose students included the famous Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , drew Neumann's attention to the philosophers Francis Bacon and René Descartes . Their ideas influenced his rejection of pietism and mysticism and made him apply the method of natural research to theology, so that he was the first in Silesia to represent mathematical theology and rationalistic early enlightenment. In 1670 he received his doctorate in philosophy and gave lectures on politics, rhetoric and homiletics. Early on, Neumann distinguished himself with excellent speaking skills. In his speeches he repeatedly referred to scientific topics, for example in his funeral speech for the important doctor and natural scientist Werner Rolfinck in Jena (1673).

Act

After completing his university days, Neumann entered the service of Duke Ernst the Pious and accompanied his Hereditary Prince on a journey through Germany and Switzerland. A few years as court preacher in Altenburg followed. During this time he married the daughter of the personal physician of the Prince of Saxony-Friedenstein, J. J. Rabe. Soon thereafter, in 1678, Neumann received a call to work as a deacon at the Maria Magdalenen Church in Breslau. He returned to his hometown and remained closely connected to it until his death on January 27, 1715. He also refused an appointment as superintendent in Lüneburg in 1692. In Breslau he was pastor at the Magdalenenkirche (1689), and from 1697 he held the position of inspector of the Protestant churches and schools and a pastor of the Elisabeth church, as well as the associated first professorship for theology at both municipal high schools. Among his students in Breslau was u. a. the philosopher Christian Wolff , the well-known, "Neumann in Breslau is the one from whom he learned the most and whose advice and example provided him the greatest benefit" . Another pupil of Neumann was the physician Johann Friedrich Bachstrom , who advocated popular education, women's emancipation and overcoming denominational differences in the course of a radical early enlightenment.

Services

One of Neumann's most significant achievements in the theological field is the prayer book he wrote, Kern all prayers , which first appeared in Jena in 1680, was translated into all major European languages ​​and published 22 times before his death.

Furthermore, Neumann wrote a number of hymns and initiated the publication of the first Silesian church hymn book (1703). His interest in the natural sciences is already repeatedly expressed in his sermons. He consistently took a stand against the superstitions that were still widespread at the time , especially in the field of astrology . On the occasion of a commemorative speech for his deceased friend, the Breslau physician and naturalist Gottfried Schulz , Neumann emphasized the importance of knowledge of nature for a correct knowledge of God and, referring to the contemporary discovery of the microscope by Leeuwenhoek, emphasized: “What miracles can Leuenhock or another of his peers with place in a small magnifying glass. Columbus and Americus did not do so much because, at the risk of their lives, they invented a New World. For here, with the help of a small cut glass, I find a new world in the middle of the old, new creatures, of which our ancestors knew nothing, and always one creature of God in the other, and on that which no one saw before when it was him right in front of the eyes. "

Nature research

Neumann not only closely followed the latest scientific discoveries and discussed astronomical, meteorological and physical observations in his letters, but he was also active in the field of botany, in particular by adding the plants of the Bible to his garden in addition to other botanical rarities cultivating sought. Based on his theological education and his scientific interests, Neumann tried to link the methods of natural research with theology. The mathematical-experimental method of investigation, which was successfully practiced in many areas of natural science in the 17th century, also served Neumann as a model for investigating the movements in the life and death of people.

Beginnings of Statistics

On this basis, he collected, arranged and compared the news about births and deaths recorded in the church registers of his home country and tried to obtain information from other places as well.

Collection of data

At the end of 1689 Neumann sent his reflections on life and death among those born and died in Breslau to Leibniz and continued in the letter: “At the moment, of course, one cannot see what the real benefit will be from it. But if God should eke out life so long that one could bring together accounts of the last years, or that someone in another city wanted to make similar observations and communicate, then would be beautiful remarks of divine providence about our life and death, maintenance and increase the world, and the like, can be made, and many superstitions the better can be refuted from experience. I very often complain that it and almost the whole learned world in regno naturae lays down on Experimenta and writes Observationes, but no one thinks of doing such in regno gratiae or in theologia, since we are also in this government of our God, if one just wanted to pay attention to the work of his hands, every moment there would be an opportunity to speak to Petro: now I experience the truth, and thus our whole Christianity would be able to demonstrate with sheer experimentation. It is this one work in which I have often undertaken to start with, but also always wished that a number of such friends would like to be among whom each one would like to take a certain share of this work. "

Evaluation of the changes

This document, which is important for the history of the genesis of population statistics in Germany, shows that Neumann was one of the first in Germany, like Graunt and Petty in England, to consciously set himself the task of “the changes that occur in the respective status of the population through the births and Deaths occur, and which until then had been accepted as the coincidences of inexplicable omnipotence, can be investigated by means of the 'in regio naturae' previously used realistic method and according to the laws that are expressed in them. "

Return to divine influences

Neumann's first attempt to find legitimate connections between life and death based on the empirical analysis of mass statistical data and to refute superstitious ideas about them is aimed at proving the effectiveness of God in this area as well. In this sense of a “biometric proof of God” he can be regarded as the legitimate forerunner of the founder of population statistics in Germany, JP Süßmilch (1707–1767), who tried in his main work The divine order in the changes of the human sex (1741), “through to provide proof of the constancy of mass statistical characteristics of the population as an expression of God's will and proof of its existence ” . In his work, Süßmilch himself refers to Neumann's work: "In the same (sc. Years 1687–1691) the famous doctor issued a monthly list of the dead in the Neumann Church in Breslau, in which he noted each age."

Effects on Other Researchers

The history of the effects of Neumann's investigations began much earlier, however, and gained its importance primarily from the fact that it was an essential basis for the study An Estimate of the Degrees of the Mortality of Mankind, drawn from curious Tables of the , published by Edmund Halley in 1693 Birth and Funerals at the city of Breslaw, with an Attempt to acscertain the Price of Annuities upon Lives . It can be assumed that Leibniz drew the attention of the Royal Society in London to Neumann's work.

Effects on the Royal Society

This explains why the Royal Society , which had the intention of investigating the lifespan of people in different places and the number of inhabitants in different cities through a “mathematical invention and by means of arithmetica” , turned to Wroclaw through its secretary Justell. A city in the interior of the country without major tourism was thought to be particularly suitable for such investigations. In 1691 Justell sent Neumann a letter of invitation to exchange letters with the request to send the register of the dead. This, as well as Neumann's reply in January 1692, in which he sent the desired tables for the years 1687 to 1690, are unfortunately not available, but the content can be substantiated from a reply from Justell dated October 7, 1692. It says: "Sir! - I received his letter from last January 1692. Its death registers have been found to be very good, they are very accurate, and everything you could want can be found in them. When the Royal Society will meet again, I will hand over some of them; the English have neither time nor patience to set up theirs in this way. "

In another letter dated December 9, 1692, Neumann also sent the death list for 1691 to the Royal Society. This material is the basis of Halley's treatise. The latter also drew practical conclusions in his investigation by including the use of the mortality table for the insurance industry and the purchase of annuities in his considerations. Neumann also refers to this in his correspondence with Halley and states: "In the meantime I urgently request that you continue your beginning and that you continue to use my observations practically in your further investigations."

Neumann's goals

Neumann himself sees the goal of his observations in "establishing a correspondence between belief and experience" . At the same time he emphasizes his interest in the continuation of his work and explains: “For the time being I am sending as much of my observations as I have finished, and if I stay alive, I will continue them in the future. Incidentally, I am currently trying to encourage similar observations in other places too, and since it is very important that the number of people whose births and deaths are to be observed is established, we shall try to find out what happens in one or the other Lets village do; there the number of inhabitants will also be easier to determine, since it remains constant. "

Effects on Leibniz

Neumann's work on population statistics was not only reflected in Halley's mortality tables, but also, as already mentioned, received great attention from the important philosopher and mathematician Leibniz. Leibniz himself a member of the Royal Society and familiar with a large number of the scientific endeavors of his time, also developed independent plans and ideas in the field of political arithmetic. So he wanted to combine this with a statistical office in a draft for the academy in Dresden and stated: “We are also determined to have such an institution based on the example of the English Bill of Mortality, since the number is not just at the end of the year of the born and deceased of every gender, as is common with schohn, experienced, but also differences and changes according to the age and type of people and the diseases and seasons can be observed; We have found what good and important conclusions to be made of it; so we have hereby also wanted to entrust the management of this work to our society with grace. "

Fonts (selection)

  • Core of all prayers and requests, prayer, intercession and thanksgiving for all people, to be used at all times, in all ages , Breslau 1680
  • Together with Johannes Hancke : Exercitatio catoptrica de idolo speculi . Wratislaviae 1685
  • Admonition sermon at the king's election of Josephi I , Breslau 1690
  • Guilty Andencken [...] Mrs. Agnes, married Countess von Schaffgotsch / bored Freyin von und zu Rackenitz. Baumann, Röhrer, Breslau 1693.
  • Martinalia christiana or Martini on the Gotthard Day celebrated , Breslau 1710

Member of the Berlin Academy

In view of these interests, it is not surprising that Leibniz , knowing Neumann's scientific work, particularly emphasized his services in the field of population statistics. Not least on this is his proposal to include Neumann in the Prussian Academy of Sciences founded in 1700 . In a letter to D. J. Jablonski he said in a letter: "Mr. Neumann zu Breslau, such good theologico-political proposals have been made, such as making observations in the manner of the English bills of mortality, etc., should also be up to us." Following Leibniz's suggestion, Neumann became on December 6, 1706, accepted as a foreign member of the Academy in Berlin. He felt this to be a great honor, which he owed only to Leibniz, and although he points out: “Besides, my office occupies me so much that I only ask Curiosa and Nova, as they will be such a society, as a minor side- Work is seldom able to take for granted, ”he offers the academy to edit some of his statistical work. However, it does not come to that and the only work he sent to the Berlin Academy was based on his meteorological observations.

This last aspect also proves the diversity of Neumann's scientific interests, of which his investigations into the birth and mortality statistics of the city of Wroclaw undoubtedly made a significant contribution to the development of scientific population statistics, as they were established in the 18th century primarily by Johann Peter Süßmilch , represent.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Exercitatio catoptrica de idolo speculi in the Central Directory of Digitized Prints
personal data
SURNAME Neumann, Caspar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Neumann, Kaspar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lutheran theologian, representative of political arithmetic and pioneer of population statistics
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1648
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 1715
Place of death Wroclaw