Johann Heinrich Samuel Formey Explained

Johann Heinrich Samuel Formey (French: Jean Henri Samuel Formey; 31 May 1711– 7 March 1797) was a German churchman, educator, author, and journalist. The son of an immigrant French family, he preached, taught, and wrote in French. A founding member of the Berlin Academy, he wrote thousands of letters, popularized scientific and philosophical ideas, and also contributed to Diderot's Encyclopédie.[1]

Life

Formey was born in Berlin, Brandenburg, as the son of refugee Huguenots. His mother died when he was three years old, and Samuel was brought up by two of his aunts. He was educated for the ministry, and at the age of twenty became pastor of the French Protestant church at Brandenburg.[2] Having in 1736 accepted the invitation of a congregation in Berlin, he was in the following year chosen professor of rhetoric in the Collège Français there, and in 1739 professor of philosophy.[2] His pupils included Louis de Beausobre, who was to become a philosopher and political economist of some standing in his own right.

On the reorganisation of the Academy of Berlin in 1744, during Frederick the Great's reign, Formey was named a member, and in 1748 its perpetual secretary.[3] The language between the scientists of the Academy, Latin, was changed into French. In 1750 he was appointed as a member of the Royal Society.

Between 1741 and 1753, successive publishers in The Hague brought out the six volumes of Formey's La belle Wolfienne, which was his effort to explain the philosophy of Christian Wolff to women. This series began as a popularisation of Wolff's philosophy in the form of a philosophical romance, but by the end of the 4th volume, Formey abandoned fiction for a paraphrase and abridgement of Wolff's metaphysical works. These books made Wolff more known in France.

Formey wrote during his life more than 17,000 letters, and corresponded several years with Francesco Algarotti, who in 1737 had published a book on Newtonianism for ladies.L'Anti-Sans-Souci, où la folie des Nouveaux philosophes (1760), which denied Frederick's authorship of the Oeuvres and stressed the king's piety[4] is attributed to Formey, who did write the preface.[5]

Works

Formey's principal works are La belle Wolfienne (1741–1753); Le Philosophe chrétien (1740); L'Emile chrétien (1764), intended as an answer to the Emile of Rousseau; and Souvenirs d'un citoyen (Berlin, 1789). He also published an immense number of contemporary memoirs in the transactions of the Berlin Academy. His correspondence with Prosper Marchand was published in 2012.[6]

Publications

An extensive and detailed list of Formey's works can be found in the corresponding article on Formey in the French Wikipedia.

References

Notes and References

  1. http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rde_0769-0886_1989_num_7_1_1036 Frank A. Kafker: Notices sur les auteurs des dix-sept volumes de « discours » de l'Encyclopédie. Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie. 1989, Volume 7, Numéro 7, p. 140
  2. Web site: Boswell. James. Johann Heinrich Samuel Formey. James Boswell.info. 19 February 2012.
  3. Book: Nadler, Steven. A Companion to Early Modern Philosophy. 2008. John Wiley & Sons. 978-0-470-99883-0. 557.
  4. MacDonogh, G. (1999) Frederick the Great, p. 293. New York: St. Martin's Griffin.
  5. Web site: Marquis d'Argens - Bilder - Titelblätter. 19 February 2012. 6 August 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110806042820/http://ub-dok.uni-trier.de/argens/pic/titel/antisanssouci.php. dead.
  6. Jan Schillings, 'La correspondance entre Formey et Marchand (1736–1749)', Lias 39:2 (2012), pp. 231–320.

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