He was born in
Nikolsburg/Mikulov,
Moravia, a son of Perlin Lipmann (1705–1768), himself a son of the chief
rabbi of
Brandenburg. Perlin Lipmann and his children converted to Catholicism some time between 1735 and 1741. Joseph, who was
baptized in his early youth, received his elementary education at the
gymnasium of his native town Nikolsburg, and then studied
philosophy at the
University of Vienna. In 1749, he joined the Deutschmeister regiment as a private, advancing to the rank of corporal. On his discharge in 1754, he took a course in law at the University of Vienna and established himself as a counselor at law in the Austrian capital. From 1761 to 1763, he officiated as secretary of the Austrian
Arcierengarde. In 1763, he was appointed professor of
political science at the University of Vienna, twice acting as rector magnificus. In 1779, he received the title of
Wirklicher Hofrath, and was in 1810 elected
president of the
Academy of Sciences, a position which he held until his death in
Vienna. From 1765 to 1767 and from 1769 to 1775 Sonnenfels was editor of the paper
Der Mann ohne Vorurtheil, in which he defended the liberal tendencies in literature. He improved the Vienna stage especially through his critical work
Briefe über die Wienerische Schaubühne, in which he attacked the
harlequin of the Vienna theater, causing this figure to be eliminated from the personnel of the stage. He was chiefly instrumental in bringing about the abolition of
torture in Austria (1776). Sonnenfels' attitude toward
Lessing placed the former in a very unfavorable light, as it was due to his intrigues and jealousy that Lessing was not called to Vienna. Sonnenfels was severely condemned for his action in this affair. In 1817, Sonnenfels was elected a member of the
American Philosophical Society in
Philadelphia. Sonnenfels was an influential party in the debate over which written standard should become dominant and his backing of
Gottsched's position, thereby subverting the local "Gemeindeutsch" standard and
Popowitsch's compromise standard alike. He is considered as a "Key stakeholders of the Austrian elite [... who was] impressed with the East Central German standard and Sonnenfels would influence with his “taste reform the literary developments in a role as ‘Austrian Gottsched’ ” in Vienna (De Boor & Newald, 1967, p. VI/1:403)." Sonnenfels was also influential in the development of police studies; his ”Grundsätze der Polizey” (1763) defined police as responsible for maintaining state population and internal security and distinguished between public security and individual relations. Grundsätze der Polizey work served as a university manual and influenced police thinking across the Habsburg Empire. == Works ==