Vita Communis Taking a More Secular Shape: Samuel Pufendorf’s Concept of Community Applied by Ernst König to Civic Education in West (Royal) Prussia

Abstract The concept of community formulated by Samuel Pufendorf, Protestant philosopher and civil servant, in the 17th century, on the one hand, drew upon the Reformation legacy, and on the other hand, explored a more secular and less confessional approach to this issue. The present paper examines how Ernst König, Protestant scholar and President of the Academic Gymnasia in Thorn and in Elbing, applied Pufendorf’s concept of community to civic education in West Prussia (Royal Prussia). König was diligent in applying Pufendorf’s concept of community to civic education (philosophia / doctrina civilis) as cultivated at the Academic Gymnasia in Thorn and in Elbing where he served as President. He also promoted the idea of civic education in all his ethical writings and made use of Pufendorf’s De officio hominis et civis , working with his students. Likewise, supervising works submitted by his students, König made them familiar with Pufendorf’s thought.