The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Schäffle, Albert Eberhard Friedrich

SCHÄFFLE, shā'flĕ, Albert Eberhard Friedrich, German political economist and sociologist: b. Nurtingen, Würtemberg, 24 Feb. 1831; d. Stuttgart, 24 Dec. 1903. He was educated for the ministry at Tübingen but adopted a journalistic career. In 1861 he was called to the University of Tübingen as professor of political economy, and in 1868 to Vienna. His principal contributions to the literature of political science are his ‘National Economy’ (1861-73); ‘Capital and Socialism’ (1870); ‘The Fundamental Principles of Taxation’ (1880); and ‘Quintessence of Socialism’ (1884, 8th ed., 1885). In 1895 he began to write upon sociological questions and to develop the biological theory of society. His ‘Bau und Leben des socialen Körpers’ is a more detailed attempt to explain society as a living organism than that essayed by any previous writer. This book, completed in 1896, placed him in the ranks of modern sociologists.