Adam Mller

For other people named Adam Mller, see Adam Mller In 1813, he entered the Austrian service, and was ap(disambiguation).
pointed imperial commissioner and major of the rie
corps in Tyrol. He took part in the wars for liberty, and
Adam Heinrich Mller (30 June 1779 17 January later on, as counsellor of the government, in the reorganization of the country. In 1815 he was called to Vienna,
1829; after 1827 Ritter von Nitterdorf) was a German
publicist, literary critic, political economist, theorist of and went to Paris with the imperial sta.
the state and forerunner of economic romanticism.

1
1.1

On the conclusion of peace, he became Austrian consulgeneral for Saxony at Leipzig, and agent for Anhalt and
Schwarzburg. He edited here the periodicals Deutscher
Staatsanzeiger (18161818) and Unparteiischer Literaturund Kirchenkorrespondent. He attended the ministerial
conferences at Carlsbad and Vienna (18191820), where,
being one of the principal literary instruments of the
reaction, he took part in framing the Carlsbad resolutions. In 1826, at the instance of Prince von Metternich,
he was ennobled as Ritter von Nittersdorf, was recalled
to Vienna (1827), appointed imperial counsellor, and employed in the service of the chancellery. He died in Vienna in 1829, aged 49.

Biography
Early life

Mller was born in Berlin. It was intended that he should

study Protestant theology, but from 1798 he devoted himself in Gttingen to the study of law, philosophy, and natural science. He was a student of Gustav Hugo. Returning to Berlin, he was persuaded by his friend Friedrich
Gentz to take up political science. He had early formed
a close intimacy with Gentz, his elder by 15 years; and
this connection exercised an important inuence both on
his material circumstances and his mental development
in after life. The two men diered widely in character
and in their fundamental principles, but agreed, at least
in their later period, in their practical political aims, and
the friendship was only terminated by death.

2 Positions and theories

Mller worked for some time as referendary in the Kurmrkische Kammer in Berlin. Mllers relations with the
Junker party and his co-operation with them in their opposition to Hardenberg's reforms made any public employment in Prussia impossible for him. He travelled in
Sweden and Denmark, spent about two years in Poland,
and then went to Vienna, where he was converted to the
Catholic faith on 30 April 1805.[1] Through Gentz he became acquainted with Metternich, to whom he was useful
in the preparation of state papers.

1.2

Career

From 1806 to 1809, he lived at Dresden occupied in the

political education of Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar
and lecturer on German literature, dramatic art, and political science. In 1808 he edited with Heinrich von Kleist
the periodical Phoebus.[1] In 1809, he returned to Berlin,
and in 1811 to Vienna, where he lived in the house of
Archduke Maximilian of AustriaEste and became the
Adam Heinrich Mller c. 1810
friend of Clemens Maria Hofbauer.
1

Mller was distinguished as a writer not only on politics and economics, but on literature and aesthetics. His
chief work is the Elemente der Staatskunst (Elements of
Statecraft), originating in lectures delivered before Prince
Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar and an assembly of politicians
and diplomats at Dresden in the winter, 1808-09. It treats
in six books of the state, of right, of the spirit of legislation in antiquity and in the Middle Ages, of money
and national wealth, of the economical factors of the state
and trade, of the relation between the state and religion.
Mller endeavoured to comprehend the connexion between political and social science, and, while using the
historical method, to base them upon philosophy and religion. (Cf. the preface to the rst volume of the Elemente,
where he treats exhaustively the dierences between his
work and Montesquieu's De l'esprit des lois; cf. also the
sixth book of this work, and the above-mentioned work
of 1820.) With Edmund Burke, Friedrich von Gentz,
Joseph de Maistre, and Karl Ludwig von Haller, he must
be reckoned among the chief opponents of revolutionary
ideas in politics.

WRITINGS

Mller is thus also an adversary of free trade. In contrast

with the economical individualism of Adam Smith, he
emphasizes the ethical element in national economy, the
duty of the state toward the individual, and the religious
basis which is also necessary in this eld. Mllers importance in the history of political economy is acknowledged
even by the opponents of his religious and political point
of view. His reaction against Adam Smith, says Roscher
(Geschichte der National-konomik, p. 763), is not blind
or hostile, but is important, and often truly helpful. Some
of his ideas, freed from much of their alloy, are reproduced in the writings of the historical school of German
economists.

The reactionary and feudalistic thought in Mllers writings, which agreed so little with the spirit of the times,
prevented his political ideas from exerting a more notable and lasting inuence on his age, while their religious
character prevented them from being justly appreciated.
However, Mllers teachings had long-term eects in that
they were taken up again by 20th century theorists of
corporatism and the corporate state, for example Othmar
In his work, Von der Notwendigkeit einer theologi- Spann (Der wahre Staat. Vorlesungen ber Abbruch und
schen Grundlage der gesamten Staatswissenschaften (On Neubau der Gesellschaft, Vienna, 1921).
the necessity of a comprehensive theological foundation
for political science, 1820), Mller rejects, like Haller
(Restauration der Staatswissenschaften, 1816), the dis- 3 Writings
tinction between constitutional and civil law (common
law), which rests entirely on the idea of the states omMller was a man of great and versatile talents, an excelnipotence. His ideal is medieval feudalism, on which the
lent orator, and a suggestive writer. Several of his works
reorganization of modern political institutions should be
were based upon his own lectures; the most important
modelled.
(besides the above-mentioned periodicals) are:

2.1

Romanticist

In the eld of literature and aesthetics, Mller belongs

to the Romantic school. He is a Romanticist even in his
specialty, politics and political economy. As Eichendor
says in his Geschichte der poetischen Literatur Deutschlands (new ed., by W. Kosch, Kempten, 1906, p. 352),
Mller mapped out a domain of his own, the application
of Romanticism to the social and political conditions of
life. Carl Schmitt presented the view that it is impossible to judge Mllers theory of the state as anything but
a matter of aesthetics and style.[2] Mller himself declares: The reconciliation of science and art and of their
noblest ideas with serious political life was the purpose
of my larger works (Vermischte Schriften, I, p. iii).

2.2

Economics

His position in political economy is dened by his strong

opposition to Adam Smith's system of materialisticliberal (so-called classical) political economy, or the socalled industry system. He censures Smith as presenting
a one-sidedly material and individualistic conception of
society, and as being too exclusively English in his views.

Die Lehre vom Gegensatz (Berlin, 1804)

Vorlesungen ber die deutsche Wissenschaft und Literatur (Dresden, 1806, 2nd ed., 1807)
Von der Idee der Schnheit (lectures; Berlin, 1809)
Die Elemente der Staatskunst (lectures; 3 parts,
Berlin, 1809)
ber Knig Friedrich II. und die Natur, Wrde und
Bestimmung der preuischen Monarchie (lectures;
Berlin, 1810)
Die Theorie der Staatshaushaltung und ihre
Forschritte in Deutschland und England seit Adam
Smith (2 vols., Vienna, 1812)
Vermischte Schriften ber Staat, Philosophie und
Kunst (2 vols., Vienna, 1812; 2nd ed., 1817)
Versuch einer neuen Theorie des Geldes, mit besonderer Rcksicht auf Grobritannien (Leipzig, 1816)
Zwlf Reden ber die Beredsamkeit und deren Verfall in Deutschland (Leipzig, 1817)
Die Fortschritte der nationalkonomischen Wissenschaft in England (Leipzig, 1817)

3
Von der Notwendigkeit einer theologischen Grundlage der gesamten Staatswissenschaften und der
Staatswirtschaft insbesondere (Leipzig, 1820; new
ed., Vienna, 1898)
Die Gewerbe-Polizei in Beziehung auf den Landbau
(Leipzig, 1824)
Vorschlag zu einem historischen Ferien-Cursus (Vienna, 1829)
A critical pamphlet, which was written in 1817 on the occasion of the Protestant jubilee of the Reformation and
entitled, Etwas, das Goethe gesagt hat. Beleuchtet von
Adam Mller. Leipzig, den 31 Oktober 1817, was printed
but not published (reprinted in Vienna, 1910). Nevertheless, Traugott Krug's reply, entitled Etwas, das Herr
Adam Mller gesagt hat ber etwas, das Goethe gesagt hat,
und noch etwas, das Luther gesagt hat (Leipzig, 1817),
appeared in two editions.

Notes

[1] Schmitt, Carl (2011). Political Romanticism. tr. Guy

Oakes. Transaction. pp. 4244. ISBN 9781412814720.
[2] Schmitt, Carl (2011). Political Romanticism. tr. Guy
Oakes. Transaction. p. 141. ISBN 9781412814720.

References
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed.
(1913). "Adam Heinrich Mller". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
This article incorporates text from a publication now
in the public domain: Rines, George Edwin, ed.
(1920). "Mller, Adam Heinrich". Encyclopedia
Americana. This work in turn cites:
Ernst Mischler (1885), "Mller, Adam Heinrich", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB)
(in German) 22, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 501511

External links
Correspondence between Mller and Gentz 1807/08
Works by or about Ritter von Nitterdorf at Internet
Archive
Works by or about Adam Mller at Internet Archive

7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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7.1

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Adam Mller Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_M%C3%BCller?oldid=662489395 Contributors: KF, JASpencer, MeltBanana, Bender235, Stemonitis, Woohookitty, Crackerbelly, Rjwilmsi, Lockley, AllyD, YurikBot, RussBot, Shell Kinney, Bluebot,
Jprg1966, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Hobitfromhell, Tonyzhangnan, Adam sk, CmdrObot, Cydebot, Vesiv, DuncanHill, Geneisner, Edward321, R'n'B, Johnpacklambert, Ipigott, Kolja21, DorganBot, Pastordavid, Kyle the bot, BOTijo, Monegasque, Rosiestep, ClueBot,
Alexbot, Yorkshirian, RogDel, King Willan Bot~enwiki, Tassedethe, Lightbot, Iawas, Yobot, Andreasmperu, Roltz, Bob Burkhardt, J04n,
Omnipaedista, Green Cardamom, Jun Nijo, Full-date unlinking bot, RjwilmsiBot, PBS-AWB, Szerentsich, Alf.laylah.wa.laylah, VIAFbot,
CsDix, Liz, KasparBot and Anonymous: 11

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File:AdamMueller.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/AdamMueller.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Hans Wahl, Anton Kippenberg: Goethe und seine Welt, Insel-Verlag, Leipzig 1932 S.201 Original artist: lgemlde von
G.Kgelgen in Privatbesitz (1932)
File:Adam_Heinrich_Mller.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Adam_Heinrich_M%C3%BCller.
jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Klaus Gnzel: Die deutschen Romantiker. Artemis, Zrich 1995, ISBN 3-7608-1119-1 Original artist: ?
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7.3

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