ABSTRACT
According to the existing scholarship, cameralists were generally in favour of a closed protectionist state. This was often conceptualised with reference either to Spartan or Chinese virtues. This so-called “philosophical way” or “isolated way”, so they argued, would lead the German states into long-lasting happiness. However, closer scrutiny of the thoughts of late cameralists, particularly Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi, reveals a counter approach to international order and trade that challenges current understandings of a cameralist penchant for autarky. This chapter argues that Justi did not consider an exit from interstate competition feasible for Prussia nor for any European state. The “philosophical way” had become impossible in Europe because of the depth of ties created by interstate trade. Justi instead contended that the only way for European states to go was that of the “man of the world”. The chapter reveals that Justi, often heralded as late cameralism’s greatest theoretician, in fact suggested the emulation of British practices of international trade by Prussia. The principle advocate of “cameral sciences”, which have been considered as a landlocked discipline, was, in fact, deeply embedded in his transnational world.
