What is the origin of the word moralpolitik, particulairly in
reference to foreign policy.  When was it first used?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 10 Mar 2005 20:03 PST

Peter,


I found mention of it in a 1983 review of a book on foreign policy:
Colin Gray's "Strategic Studies and Public Policy".  The reviewer
wrote:

"Of particular note is his failure to give adequate emphasis to the
political and teleological dimensions of strategy and policy.  This
must partly explain the surprising absence of reference to peace
studies as a legitimate element of strategic theory...  Because they
do not share his Weltanschauung or Moralpolitik does not mean...that
they should be put to one side."


There's nothing in the above to suggest it's a newly-coined term,
however.  As scriptor-ga noted, it also was used in a book title in
1981.  However, I could find no online references to the term earlier
than these dates.

Let me know if you would like the full citation for the 1983 reference
as an answer to your question.


pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by peter4u-ga on 12 Mar 2005 17:26 PST

for pafalafa:  Thanks full citation not needed.

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Clarification of Question by peter4u-ga on 12 Mar 2005 17:36 PST

for fp-ga.  I am interested in the 1789 book you mentioned with the
title Moralpolitik. Where do I find the details "on line."  I
apologize if my question is naieve, but this is the first time I have
used this service.  1789 would be the earliest reference I have heard
of moralpolitik being used.I have a feeling the book is in German, but
that is OK, I can read German. The term in English refers to a moral
based foreign policy as it does in German. I am writing a book on
moralpolitik and am interested when the term originated.
Thanks for your help.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 12 Mar 2005 18:04 PST

Peter,

If I may offer some information on the question you posed to fp-ga (a
frequent commenter here at Google Answers), the citation for the book
you asked about can be seen through the WorldCat database of library
holdings, available at most libraries.

The record, in part, looks like this:

-----
Moralpolitik / 
Nikolaus Paulsen
1789 
German  
Deutschland [i.e. Wien] 

Contents: Vorrede -- Einleitung -- Abhandlung -- Beantwortete
Preissschriften: 1. Ueber unsern freyen Willen und der bürgerlichen
Freyheit. 2. Ueber unsern Widerspruch in der Aufklärung. 3. Ueber
unsern Widerspruch im Handel. 4. Ueber den Widerspruch der geistlichen
Staaten im Reich. 5. Ueber die fürstliche Herablassung. 6. Ueber eine
Leihbank und Hülfskasse. 7. Ueber die Zulässigkeit der
Schrankenhäuser.
-----


Hope that helps.

paf

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Clarification of Question by peter4u-ga on 13 Mar 2005 09:11 PST

I have just read the citation from Kant that myoarin sent and it is
most helpful. Certainly a true concept of moral politics even if not
related directly to foreign policy.  Kant had ample opportunity to
witness how war weakened nations and tore the moral fabric of society,
he lived in eighteenth century Prussia after all. One sentence from
Perpetual Peace rings true in the contect of the Bush administration's
war of choice in Iraq.  Kant wrote: "No state at war with another
shall permit such acts of hostility as would make mutual confidence
impossible during a future time of peace." I sent those words of Kant
to Rumsfeld and company through a letter to the Washington Post. Doubt
he understood it if he read it.  Peter
Peter

A brief note: The earliest mention of the term "Moralpolitik" I could
locate dates from 1981, in the title of the Swiss book:
"Untertanenverhalten und obrigkeitliche Moralpolitik", by Christian
Simon. However, that was not a book on foreign policy, but on
historical Swiss domestic policy.

Scriptor

Are you trying to find the origin of this word as used in German or in English?

The term "Moralpolitik" appears in the title of a German language
publication in 1795 (referring to the then current events in Europe).
Further details are available online.

A book published in 1789: "Moralpolitik". 

However, the short title does not indicate if this book (156 pages) is
about foreign policy.

pafalafa-ga 's answer seems very good, and it also predates Kant's
discussion of Moral und Politik  (1795:
http://www.textlog.de/3675.html ) by a few years, which suggests that
the subject was of broader interest.  Apparently Kant did not use the
combined term, but this work, "Zum ewigen Frieden", does seem to
include foreign affairs, which does not seem to be a subject of
Paulsen's book.
If the subject was of broader interest at the time, it would seem
unlikely that the expression "Moralpolitik" had not been used before
Paulsen used it as a book title.
But how to find it??
For your context, Peter4u-ga, is the actual first "Moralpolitik"
recorded so important, or could it be just as/more interesting to
trace it back to Kant  - and/or others  (Mill?) - as the philosophical
origin of the concept/contrast/contradiction/combination of the two
terms?

For Myoarin: I agree with you that the actual date is not as important
as the context in which it was used and when.  I do not see the term
"moralpolitik" used by Kant, but I do credit him as being the modern
father of the concept, especially in his well known "Perpetual Peace"
essay (1795.) The concept of a moral foreign policy is imbeded in the
Vedic texts that mirror the Golden Rule, for example "do not do to
others that which wold cause harm to you." Mahbharata 3000BC. Thanks
for your very helpful input.  Peter

This is a review of the 1795 publication 

"Vorlesungen, über die wichtigsten Gegenstände der Moralpolitik, mit
besonderer Hinsicht auf die deutsche Konstitution, und die jetzige
große Volksgährung in Europa"

as mentioned in my first comment:

http://129.70.12.33/cgi-bin/neubutton.cgi?pfad=/diglib/aufkl/nadb/255966&seite=00000456.TIF
(pp. 435-446)

http://www.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/diglib/aufkl/browse/nadb/61796.html

The author of the publication mentioned in my previous comment is
"Heinrich Stephani" acoording to "Bibliotheksverbund Bayern"
http://bvba2.bib-bvb.de/

I'm not quite sure if this is the author in question:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Stephani

More on Heinrich Stephani (mentioning his Moralpolitik Vorlesungen on p. 91):

http://mdz.bib-bvb.de/digbib/lexika/adb/images/adb036/@ebt-link?target=idmatch(entityref,adb0360092)

For Fp-ga and myoarin:  You have both been most helpful and I
appreciate all you have done.  Finding original 18th century texts
from the State Library of Bayern was more than I ever expected.  A
great introduction to this service.  Now to complete my book:
Moralpolitik: Pathway to a Moral Foreign Policy.  Thanks again for
your help. Peter

PS. How do I officially rate your service?

Thank you, Peter!

There is no way of officially rating the service provided by
commenters (their names are not clickable). Only a final answer by a
GA Researcher (such as pafalafa-ga or scriptor-ga) can be rated.


By the way, the 1795 text 
http://www.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/diglib/aufklaerung/index.htm

was from Bielefeld University Library
http://www.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/english/index.htm


The Munich (and Bayreuth) copy of the Vorlesungen was published in 1810:

Vorlesungen über die wichtigsten Gegenstände der Moralpolitik mit
besonderer Hinsicht auf die deutsche Konstituzion und die iezzige
grosse Völkergährung in Europa / [Heinrich Stephani]
Verfasser   Stephani, Heinrich  
Jahr  1795 [erschienen 1810]  
Impressum  [Danzig] : [Troschel], 1795 [erschienen 1810].  



Hope you will be able to complete your book soon.

Regards,
Freddy

And from me:  Thank you Peter!
fp-ga really did the searching that led me to think of Kant.  (John
Stuart Mill was born after Kant died, as I just discovered.)
It was a pleasure to be able to help.
Good luck with finishin the book.
Myoarin

I should add that I could not have provided the details of the 1789
publication. This was pafalafa-ga's work.

FP-ga,  you're too self-effacing.  Pafalafa-ga only found the book
after you said that references to it could be found online, as you
later demonstrated, but only after letting Pafalafa "do his stuff". 
Good work.  Next year, maybe we can see if Amazon has Peter's book. ;)