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4 - The Natural Relation of Things

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2009

Jonathan Karp
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Binghamton
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Summary

Of all the Enlightenment-era treatments of the Jewish political economy, it was the work of a young official in the Prussian foreign affairs ministry, Christian Wilhelm Dohm (1751–1820) that came to exert the most far-reaching influence. Dohm's 1781 On the Civic Improvement of the Jews (Ueber die bürgerliche Verbesserung der Juden) dominated discussions of Jewish civic status for decades. Any commentator – apologetic or denunciatory – who hoped to shift public opinion on the Jewish question was obligated to reckon with Dohm's analysis. By portraying Jewish economic life as profoundly distorted, while laying the blame on oppressive conditions imposed on Jews rather than their own natures or religion, Dohm formulated a new paradigm. At once sympathetic and critical, embracing economic freedom along with paternalistic state remediation, Dohm's approach suited an era of profound social reform. On the Civic Improvement of the Jews remained the touchstone of Jewish political economy through the early 1820s and retained its influence if not its vibrancy even well beyond that date.

What made the work so effective was its unusual mixture of sobriety and advocacy, its qualities of informed and incisive analysis, of perceptive criticism and humane sympathy. More empirical in approach than even a philosemitic treatment like Reasons for Naturalizing the Jews, Dohm's book eschewed the messianic utopianism of Toland's pamphlet, even though its conclusions were essentially optimistic.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Politics of Jewish Commerce
Economic Thought and Emancipation in Europe, 1638–1848
, pp. 94 - 134
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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  • The Natural Relation of Things
  • Jonathan Karp, State University of New York, Binghamton
  • Book: The Politics of Jewish Commerce
  • Online publication: 18 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499081.005
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  • The Natural Relation of Things
  • Jonathan Karp, State University of New York, Binghamton
  • Book: The Politics of Jewish Commerce
  • Online publication: 18 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499081.005
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Natural Relation of Things
  • Jonathan Karp, State University of New York, Binghamton
  • Book: The Politics of Jewish Commerce
  • Online publication: 18 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499081.005
Available formats
×