Jens Schielderup Sneedorff
Jens Schielderup Sneedorff (22 August 1724 – 5 June 1764) was a Danish writer, professor of political science and royal teacher and a central figure in Denmark in the Age of Enlightenment.
Jens Schielderup Sneedorff

Johannes Samuel Lymann (1742-1769). · Provided by The Royal Library. Uploaded to Danish Wikipedia by Anders Hassing as Jens Schielderup Sneedorff.jpg · Public domain
- Name
- Jens Schielderup Sneedorff
- Occupation
- Danish writer
- Birthplace
- Sorø, Denmark
- Born
- 22 August 1724
- Died
- 5 June 1764
- Nationality
- Kingdom of Denmark
- Languages
- Danish · French
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Jens Schielderup Sneedorff (22 August 1724 – 5 June 1764) was a Danish writer, professor of political science and royal teacher and a central figure in Denmark in the Age of Enlightenment.
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In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Jens Schielderup Sneedorff • Occupation — Danish writer • Birthplace — Sorø, Denmark • Born — 22 August 1724 • Died — 5 June 1764
Biography
Biography
Sneedorff was born in Sorø, the son of the last headmaster of Sorø Academy. He studied at University of Copenhagen and University of Göttingen where he was influenced by British and French Enlightenment thinking as well as German cameralism. From his position as professor at the Sorø Academy for young noblemen and later teacher to the prince, Sneedorff played a key role in formulating the political content of "Enlightenment" in his native Denmark.
Political views
Political views
Sneedorff defended absolutism in a model that applied liberal thinking, primarily that of Locke and Montesquieu. A well-functioning polity rested according to Sneedorff on its "police", i.e. a subject and regent mentality of civic virtue, “true honour" and religion. Civic virtue was associated with patriotism. To Sneedorff it meant industrious conduct and the will and desire to let self-interest yield to the common good. True honour had the same end, but operated through exploiting people's self-interest by connecting social status to conduct that promoted the common good. In Sneedorff's conception, each of the four estates, nobility, clergy, bourgeoisie, and peasantry had their own honour that resembled four different kinds of patriotic behaviour. Should all others fail, Sneedorff reserved religion as the last bond of social order. In general, it was Sneedorff's view that passions like self-interest should not be subdued, but sublimated into forms that are useful to the state. Instilling the right mentality in subjects thus became a vital political undertaking, a task that made the art of government a pedagogic discipline - a project of Enlightenment. Sneedorff considered the polity he outlined far from the one experienced in his native state of Denmark-Norway. He coined his educational method “the spirit of Socrates”, which implies making people “fall in love” with virtue. Virtue should become a passion itself in order to unite duty-loving subjects and government in emotional harmony. Sneedorff's absolutist project of enlightenment excluded everyone but the regent from formal political influence. It nevertheless placed enlighteners like Sneedorff himself in a privileged position as those in power to define the contents of virtue and honourable self-management. His enlightenment attitudes also illustrate the mentality behind the centralising reform policy pursued by the absolutist government of his country.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1724
Jens Schielderup Sneedorff born at Sorø.
1764
Jens Schielderup Sneedorff died at Copenhagen.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Sorø.
Birth place
Copenhagen.
Death place
Selected writings
• Om den borgerlige Regiering (On civil government) (1757) • Den patriotiske Tilskuer (The Patriotic Spectator) (1761–1763)
References
Citations
References
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Further particulars
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Further particulars
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His recorded languages were Danish and French. He was the child of Anna Margrete Jensdatter Schielderup. 2 children are recorded: Frederik Sneedorff and Hans Christian Sneedorff. Recorded as writer, historian, professor, civil servant and philologist.
Identity and origins
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 21 August 2026.
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