Moral society
The Moral Society was a non-profit educational society founded by Salomon Hirzel in Zurich in 1764 . Unlike the somewhat older Helvetic Society , the Moral Society devoted itself less to political and more practical-social goals, in particular to improving the education of the rural population. The Moral Society has evolved over the years into the largest non-profit organization in Zurich. It existed until 1862.
history
The first meeting was held on October 10, 1764. Members were Hirzel (then city clerk of Zurich), Johann Rudolf Ulrich (from 1769 Antistes of Zurich), Johann Kaspar Lavater , the historian Johann Heinrich Füssli , Felix Hess and his brother Heinrich Hess (1741–1770), Johann Martin Usteri (1738 –1790) and the pedagogue Leonhard Usteri . In 1770 Johann Jakob Hess joined. Through these members of an urban elite, the Moral Society was intertwined in many ways with the other contemporary politically and socially oriented Swiss societies .
The original plan goes back to the Bernese patrician Niklaus Anton Kirchberger and envisaged a federal societé morale , for which local societies would then be founded in the individual cantons. In addition to Lavater, Leonhard Usteri, Hirzel and Ulrich, the Basel council clerk Isaak Iselin was involved in this plan from 1762 . Kirchberger also presented the plan to Jean-Jacques Rousseau , whom he admired . This original plan was subsequently heavily modified, more practical and more targeted, above all the prominent element in Kirchberger's plan of promoting good deeds through awarding of prizes to active philanthropists was removed.
activities
The aim was to promote and carry out good and virtuous deeds, whereby these actions should remain secret, on the one hand because such a clandestine working philanthropism would undermine vanity as a motive for action, on the other hand because the work of the societies at that time was dependent on the Governments in Bern, Zurich and elsewhere were persecuted with considerable suspicion. Therefore, one met secretly "as inconspicuously as possible in private apartments", later in a permanent place, since that caused "less attention than the constant change".
Efforts were made in particular to improve the educational misery in rural areas, tried to provide the population and especially the youth with suitable literature, including the publication of the Biblical Stories , and plans for an educational reform were discussed.
According to the statutes of 1770, the objectives can be summarized as follows:
Propagation and reproduction of the good.
a) Through charitable suggestions. Promotion of moral and religious principles, or wholesome truths.
b) Through special charitable acts, which affect the mind, the heart, health, domestic, etc. civil welfare special u. individual people.
c) Through narration and Reward good u. laudable acts.
The special benefits listed under b) include:
a) information.
b) Crafts learning
c) Caring for poor children
d) Gifts.
e) Help with establishments.
f) Charités od Allmosen.
One of the more remarkable initiatives of the Moral Society was the Zurich School Quête of 1771/1772. Originally, the "moral condition" of the rural population was to be assessed. Against the background of the discussion about a reform of the rural schools and at the request of the rural pastors, a survey sheet comprising 81 questions about school instruction was finally drafted and sent via the Antistitium to the pastors of all parishes in the Zurich countryside, from where they were sent back and in the context of the Antistitium and the Examinatorenkonvent for the rural school reform of 1778 were evaluated.
literature
- Esther Berner: Under the sign of reason and Christianity: the Zurich rural school reform at the end of the 18th century. Volume 40 of contributions to historical educational research. Böhlau, Köln / Weimar 2010, ISBN 3-412-20388-2 , p. 294 ff.
- Thomas Bürger : Enlightenment in Zurich. The Orell, Gessner, Füssli & Comp. in the second half of the 18th century. With a bibliography of the publishing works 1761–1798. Volume 48 of Archives for the History of the Book Industry - Reprints. De Gruyter, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-11-096813-4 , p. 23.
- Emil Erne : The Swiss law firms. Lexical representation of the reform societies of the 18th century in Switzerland. Chronos, Zurich 1988, also dissertation Bern 1986, ISBN 3-905278-27-8 , p. 130 f.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Erne: The Swiss law firms. Zurich 1988, p. 130 f.
- ^ Johann Jakob Hess : Biblical stories for the youth: Old and New Testament. Orell, Geßner et al. Fueßli u. Comp., Zurich 1774, digitized .
- ↑ Berner: In the sign of reason and Christianity. Cologne / Weimar 2010, p. 302.
- ↑ Electronic edition of the Zurich school survey 1771/1772 (project page)