Friedrich Ancillon
Jean Pierre Frédéric Ancillon ( called Friedrich and Johann Peter Friedrich, born April 30, 1767 in Berlin, † April 19, 1837 ) was a Prussian statesman, philosopher and tutor to the future King Frederick William IV of Prussia.
Life
Ancillon, great-grandson of Charles Huguenot Ancillon, studied Protestant theology in Geneva and in 1790 preacher at the Friedrichswerder church in Berlin. In 1792 he was appointed professor of history at the Prussian Academy militaire. 1803 Ancillon was appointed royal court historian and also a member of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin. His appointment to the State Council Culture Department in 1809 took place on June 23, 1810 Ancillon came -. Probably mainly at the instigation of the Queen - as the successor Friedrich Delbruck his post as tutor to the Crown Prince and gave the preacher Office, and the Department on.
As an educator of the Crown Prince Ancillon seemed very involved in his spiritual development. This influence Ancillons to Friedrich Wilhelm IV revealed itself not least in its brusque dismissive attitude towards the revolution of 1848.
After the majority of the Prince in 1814 Ancillon appeared as Privy Legation Councillor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1817 he was appointed member of the State Council and the Committee for editing and introduction of provinzialständischen Constitution and the supreme censorship college. Henceforth Ancillon played as a member of the court party and opponent Hardenbergs an important role in the debate over the introduction of a constitution in Prussia.
In May 1831 appointment to the real Ancillons Councillor and Chief of the Department of the Principality of Neuchâtel and on July 25, 1831 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs took place. 1832 Ancillon was appointed as Minister of State at the head of the Prussian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and designs included 1834 Metternich Vienna final protocol. The foreign policy Ancillons turned fully to the service of Metternich's restoration policy.
Ancillon died on 19 April 1837 in Berlin.
Philosophy
The philosophy of the state Ancillons moves between the poles of Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Here, Ancillon that uses an eclectic method, especially Edmund Burke and Charles de Montesquieu oriented. Was decisively influenced Ancillons political and philosophical development through the experience of the French Revolution as an eyewitness. Target Ancillons is always the domestic and foreign political harmony, avoidance of conflicts and the organic development of state and society.
Without developing a complete and systematic philosophy of the state, goes Ancillon of Enlightenment assumptions as of the perfectibility of man and of the extensive influence of intellect and reason on the human acting out. At the same time, but only that society is desirable, which is designed not only according to rational principles, but has grown over the course of history and the succession of generations organic. So Ancillon rejects both the radical Enlightenment, which he blames for the French Revolution, as well as mere romanticism, which he denies the ability of a viable development opportunities and the people issuing state construction from. The aim of the Ancillonschen political philosophy is thus the synthesis of Enlightenment and Romanticism among conservative sign, namely a sufficient reason claims corporate state.
Reception
The historical verdict on Ancillon is ambivalent. Leopold von Ranke looks in his article on Friedrich Wilhelm IV in the General German Biography with favor on his educator Ancillon: In Ancillon be represented once more meaning and nature of the French colony in Berlin; in the formation of an ever-present customer of the events of history and the history of dogma in philosophy, he sought his peers. However, finding themselves in the same work, namely in Ancillon treated articles, these words of an anonymous writer: It now seems inconceivable how the Ancillons writings could attract attention, where a sweet optimism with unctuous phrase and Kirchencanzellogik mix to form a slurry adequate at best for the need of effeminate Hofdamenseelen liked.
Even Heinrich von Treitschke expressed similarly: Ancillon was the fear of revolution in all limbs and was as revolutionary empire finally fallen, verily Ancillons without intervention, as the Tentative turned the views of Metternich and followed docile any hint of the Hofburg.
Even in the 20th century criticize historians like Reinhart Koselleck or Hans -Joachim Schoeps Ancillon for its conservative restorative foreign policy and its efforts to prevent the introduction of a constitution in Prussia.
Works
- Mélanges de littérature et de philosophie (Berlin 1801, 2 vols, 3rd edition 1823);
- Tableau of Révolutions you système politique de l'Europe depuis la fin du siècle XVème (Paris 1803-1805, 4 vols );
- Friedrich Ancillon 's representation of the most important changes in the state systems of Europe since the end of the fifteenth century (Berlin 1804-1806, 3 vols, translated by D. Frederick man);
- About Sovereignty and Constitution (Berlin 1816);
- About Political Science (Berlin 1819);
- About faith and knowledge in philosophy (Berlin 1824). ;
- Nouveaux Essais de politique et de philosophie (Berlin 1824, 2 vols );
- About the spirit of the constitutions and its influence on legislation ( Berlin1825, new ed in French language, Paris, 1850. );
- Pensées sur l' homme, ses rapports et interets (Berlin 1829, 2 vols );