Schweizer, Johann Heinrich (* 1646.04.06 † 1705.09.23)
Basic Overview Data
Biographical and Intellectual Profile
Biography:
The son of a pastor and professor of Greek and Hebrew at the Zurich high school, the Collegium Carolinum, Johann Heinrich Schweizer was born on 6 April 1646 in Zurich. He studied in Berne, Geneva, Basel, Strassburg and Heidelberg. From 1665-67 he was professor of Greek and philosophy at the Hohe Landesschule Hanau, from 1667-84 pastor in Birmensdorf near Zurich. In 1684 he became professor of Greek at the Collegium Carolinum and (as successor of his father) canon at the Grossmünster, in 1692 professor of Hebrew. Due to the problems with censorship he experienced in his native city because of his interest in Cartesianism, he accepted an invitation to become main pastor in Heidelberg a few months before he died on 23 September 1705.
Comment on main natural law works:
Since 1689, or perhaps already earlier, Schweizer taught a private course on Grotius' De jure belli at pacis, based on the compendium he wrote of this work. The latter was first published in 1689 under the title Hugonis Grotii Jus belli et pacis, in Compendio Institutioni Scholasticae aptatum & subinde casigatum; another edition appeared under a different title in 1694. In 1718, the compendium was published in German translation. While Schweizer's compendium was rejected as manual (the first Swiss one) for legal training at the public school, the Collegium Carolinum, the law of nature and nations played an important role in the discussions by the three learned societies, or collegia privata, which existed in Zurich from 1679-1709. From 1724 onwards, the law of nature and nations was taught at the Collegium Carolinum by the professor of ethics on the basis of Pufendorf's De officio. The course was addressed to politicians, not to theologians.
Biographical Data
Academic Data
Studies
Professional Data
Career
Bibliographical Data
Printed Sources
Hugonis Grotii jus belli et pacis in Compendio institutioni scholasticae aptatum, & subinde castigatum (Zurich: [s.n.], 1689): Digital version
- Edition 1689 (Frankfurt: Zinner)
Jus naturae et gentium, ex Hugonis Grotii nobili, de bello et pace, Opere, methodo erotematicâ, in usum studiosae pubis, traditum (Zurich: David Gessner, 1694).
Hugo Grotius vom Kriegs- und Fridens-Recht/in welchem das Recht der Natur und der Völcker vorgestellet : Und zugleich der Haubt-Grund zum Civil- Stadt- und Erb-Recht einer Republiq oder Staats geleget wird (Zurich: Gessner, 1718): Digital version
Manuscript Sources
References and Acknowledgement
Profile References
Literature:Claudio Soliva: “Der kleine Grotius von Zürich. Zum Studienbuch des Johann Heinrich Schweizer über des Hugo Grotius De Jure Belli ac Pacis” in Festschriftfür Ferdinand Elsener zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Louis Carlen and Friedrich Ebel (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke, 1977), p. 233-243.
Zurbuchen, Simone: "Teaching the Law of Nature and Nations in the Swiss Context" in Etudes Lumières.Lausanne 6 (2018): http://lumieres.unil.ch/fiches/biblio/9472/
Sources:Wolf, Johann Rudolf: Historia vitae et obitus Johannis Henrici Sviceri, Joh. Caspari filii, s.s. theologiae doctoris, canonici, et professoris Tigurini, Antistis & Consiliarii Archipalatini Reformati, celeberrimi (Zurich: Heidegger et socios, 1745): Digital version
Online Resources:Moser, Christian: "Schweizer, Johann Heinrich" in Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), version 27.11.2012: https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/010843/2012-11-27/
"Schweizer, Johann Heinrich (1646-1705)" in Lumières.Lausanne: https://lumieres.unil.ch/fiches/bio/3141/?q=schweizer