Heinrich Velstein the Younger

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Heinrich Velstein the Younger (also: Heinrich Velsten, Henricus Velstenius ; * around 1580 in Lauenstein , † April 29, 1611 in Wittenberg ) was a German philosopher.

Life

Heinrich Velstein the Younger was the son of pastor Heinrich Velstein (* 1536 in Osnabrück, † 1598 in Lauenstein) and his wife Margaretha, the daughter of Heinrich Stein. He attended school in Hameln , then Hanover and Lemgo . He then went to Dresden , where he made the acquaintance of Polykarp Leyser the Elder and became a private tutor to his sons. With these he went four years later in 1599 to the University of Wittenberg , where he acquired the academic degree of a master’s degree in 1601 and in 1605 on the recommendation of Leyser became professor of ethics. His lectures, which were especially attended by nobles and budding lawyers, dealt with political systems and political upheavals, their causes and antidotes.

One of the prerequisites for political science was the practice common at Protestant universities of reading about politics in connection with ethics, namely in the context of an interpretation of the moral-philosophical writings of Philipp Melanchthon and ancient authors. After the physician and philosopher Henning Arnisaeus from Helmstedt tried to establish a modern political science, Velstein supported these efforts with his works Centuria Quaestionum Politicarum and Systema Politicum .

Velstein married on January 12, 1608 Elisabeth Müller (born December 3, 1587 in Wittenberg, † February 8, 1611 in Wittenberg), the daughter of the Wittenberg citizen Andreas Müller and Elisabeth Sider. The daughters Elisabeth Velstein and Margaretha Velstein emerged from this marriage. Velstein, who was in poor health, had taken over the deanery of the philosophical faculty in 1611 . After the death of his daughter Margaretha and his wife at the beginning of 1611, Velstein also died at the end of April. He was buried on Ascension Day (May 2nd) in Wittenberg.

Selection of works

  • Centuria Quaestionum Politicarum, Wittenberg 1610, Giessen 1620
  • Collegium Acroamaticum, s. Disputationes Physiologicas, Wittenberg 1610, 1620
  • Systema Politicum, Giessen 1618
  • Sententiam Quaestionum Ethicarum, Wittenberg 1610
  • Epicedia in Obitum Johann. Zanger, Wittenberg 1607

literature

personal data
SURNAME Velstein, Heinrich the Younger
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Velsten, Heinrich; Velstenius, Henricus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH around 1580
PLACE OF BIRTH Lauenstein
DATE OF DEATH April 29, 1611
Place of death Wittenberg