Anti-Machiavel

Antimachiavellismus is a counter flow to Machiavellianism, which goes back to the font Il Principe by Niccolò Machiavelli.

In the book, it's like Machiavelli to the acquisition, development and maintenance of power in principalities. But the political objective for Machiavelli is a republic. The Antimachiavellisten (followers of Antimachiavellismus ) criticize, among other things, the ruthlessness that outputs Machiavelli to action.

As the first Antimachiavellisten the Jesuits can be understood that for a papal indexing ( by Paul IV, even Jesuit ) Scripture Il Principe attended 1557.

The term Antimachiavellismus goes back to Frederick the Great. This authored Anti- Machiavel, or attempt a critique on Nic. Machiavels art of government of a prince [sic ], which was published in 1740 by Voltaire. There, the Freemasons is a critical look at Machiavelli's theory of power. The target formulated the Crown Prince "I take the defense of humanity against this monster [ Machiavelli ] who wants to destroy it; I use reason and justice the fraud and the vice contrary, and I dared to put my observations on Machiavels book from chapter to chapter, so that the antidote follow immediately after the poisoning. "

In his political wills and already in the Anti- Machiavelli, Frederick II admitted that this well in some parts 'm right, revised Machiavelli's theses, however, at any time and put them against a moral counterpart.

The Antimachiavellist proceeds from a fundamentally different world and of man. While Machiavelli starts from a fundamentally bad, power-hungry, imperfect people, represents a Antimachiavellist an optimistic humanist perspective.

Dirk Höges assumes that criticism misses Machiavelli. " This applies to the reception through the centuries, by reconnaissance aircraft such as Voltaire and Frederick the Great, who lost the literary sense of sheer morality and self-righteousness; this applies to fascism in the person of Mussolini and for some self-righteous Democrats. Zeal, drooling, narrow-minded moralizing, cheap outrage, Textgestocher, usurpation and anthology on all sides; there is no mention by the writer, poet and virtuoso in language and style. From Machiavelli's suffering at his time to mention. The story of his work is the story of his exploitation. Above all, the Commission of the respective prevailing morality. "

" Anti- Machiavel "

Anti- Machiavel is, a work that had the II developed from the correspondence between Frederick of Prussia and Voltaire 1736-1740 out. The then Crown Prince had taken at the age of 24 years with the philosopher and writer by a letter from the August 8, 1736 Contact. With his reply he Voltaire had then sent a few chapters from his Siècle de Louis XIV for a preliminary reading. The Crown Prince praised it overall the design, but criticized that in Voltaire Machiavelli was ranked among the great men of his time.

The Crown Prince refers to the bad reputation that Machiavelli had already been purchased, and the wide developed Antimachiavellismus who sought to stand out from that applied in the current political Machiavellianism. When the Crown Prince expressed a vague plan in the letter of 22 March 1739 to compose a work against Machiavelli's Prince, Voltaire encouraged him in this project, because he hoped a positive effect on the current policy by such a work of a future monarch.

The Crown Prince sent to the first chapter, which he had designed, Voltaire, from which he language proofing tools expected primarily because the work was written in French. The crown prince studied Machiavelli in a bad French translation. Voltaire, however, proposed the not prefix each chapter a résumé of the embodiments of Machiavelli, but accompanied by a complete translation of the prince by Amelot de la Housssaye the book. After the work was in a print-ready form was initially unclear whether the Crown Prince publish it in its present form by Voltaire and wanted to publish. But suddenly turns out that the father of Frederick the II seriously ill and the latter must rapidly begin the government. The Crown Prince has in this political situation no longer a clear head for book publications; He also feared more and more that critical passages of his text over other rulers or the church could provoke diplomatic complications. So he transfers Voltaire the task to have printed his work in Holland, and leaves him at the other out lative tasks more or less free hand. Voltaire hurries to fulfill this desire. But the zeal turns out to be premature out, as it quickly comes to a break with the publisher Jean van Duren in The Hague, who does not show himself inclined, subsequent changes, in particular arise due to political concerns of the Prussian king to change in the printed version. Voltaire finally is forced to degrade the publisher handed out manuscript later, and he entitled exam du Prince de Machiavel, avec des notes can still say they released because of the stubborn resistance of the publisher not prevent extending therefrom to publicly distance and a reprint of an adjusted and revised to host Pierre Paupie, this time under the title: Anti- Machiavel ou Essai de critique sur le Prince de Machiavel. Publié par Mr. de Voltaire. It is immediately announced by Voltaire as the only authentic version of the work.

After Frederick II had entered national politics as King of Prussia, he immediately regretted that the work was ever published, and thus his person or his own political role could be assigned. But this was everywhere an open secret; yet it was Voltaire later that you could buy in Europe the anti - Machiavel everywhere except in Prussia. There you could, at least officially, get only the Prince of Machiavelli.