It's true that Germans enjoyed quite a few civil liberties at the time, and that it's constituent states has at times been very progressive in certain respects. That said, there seems to have been very little emphasis on individual liberalism ideologically in the same way that you'd see in England, France or the US. Rather, public discourse was dominated by conservatism, nationalism and social democrats, none of whom puts primacy to classic liberalism.
I interpreted the comment I replied to as saying that it was liberal values in its own right that created a good scientific climate for discovery. It can be argued that even though the German states tended toward a liberal trajectory well before unification, and continued to make headway afterwards, it was largely driven by pragmatic policy rather than any such ideology. Bismarck in particular was no liberal, but nevertheless enacted several reforms towards such end.
What Germany did have, though, was an ancient academic tradition going back hundreds of years, with significantly more universities than other countries. This was largely due to the fragmented nature of states pre-unification, and the many different denominations of Christianity. I'd argue that it was this tradition that came to fruition, and that it was despite of the nationalistic elements of German society.
An interesting insight into science in this era is "The dilemmas of an upright man" about Max Planck.
I interpreted the comment I replied to as saying that it was liberal values in its own right that created a good scientific climate for discovery. It can be argued that even though the German states tended toward a liberal trajectory well before unification, and continued to make headway afterwards, it was largely driven by pragmatic policy rather than any such ideology. Bismarck in particular was no liberal, but nevertheless enacted several reforms towards such end.
What Germany did have, though, was an ancient academic tradition going back hundreds of years, with significantly more universities than other countries. This was largely due to the fragmented nature of states pre-unification, and the many different denominations of Christianity. I'd argue that it was this tradition that came to fruition, and that it was despite of the nationalistic elements of German society.
An interesting insight into science in this era is "The dilemmas of an upright man" about Max Planck.