The essay examines the intellectual relationship between Frederick II (‘the Great’) of Prussia and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which has been overshadowed by the much-advertised collaboration between Voltaire and the self-styled ‘philosopher-king’. Though in this case one cannot find a close alliance, Frederick’s works and his correspondence betray a long-lasting fascination with the themes raised by Rousseau in his Discourses of the 1750s. Their mutual fascination reached its peak in 1762 when Rousseau sought refuge in the Prussian enclave of Neuchâtel following the outcry prompted by Emile and the Social Contract. The essay investigates the notion of self-love or amour propre in letters exchanged between Frederick and Rousseau through George Keith, the governor of Neuchâtel, as well as in Frederick’s poems and treatises. While both Rousseau and Frederick used an amalgam of Stoic and Epicurean elements in their discussions of self-love, the king identified Rousseau as a modern champion of virtue as self-denial. It is argued that despite such disagreements, there was much common ground between Frederick’s notion of self-love and Rousseau’s modified views, especially as elaborated in Émile.
https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/history-ideas-and...
