The education of the Christian prince

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The education of the Christian prince ( Latin : Institutio Principis Christiani ) is one of the main educational works of Erasmus of Rotterdam . He wrote this " Fürstenspiegel " in Leuven when he was court advisor to the later Emperor Charles V there from 1516 . It is a guideline for a peaceful policy based on Christian moral principles, in which the state-political intentions of Erasmus can be found, which can also be seen almost congruently in the utopia of his friend Thomas More .

content

Erasmus recommends that a ruler should not pick up said book to "entertain" himself, but rather to "get better". The table of contents is already a "guide":

  • 1. Birth and education of the Christian prince
  • 2. Defense against the flatterers
  • 3. Tasks in peacetime
  • 4. Taxes and duties
  • 5. The Prince's Charity
  • 6. Creation and improvement of laws
  • 7. Authorities and offices
  • 8. Covenants
  • 9. Marriage Policy
  • 10. Duties of the ruler in peace
  • 11. The burden of war

During this time, Erasmus was firmly convinced (later he saw it much more critically) that a good state can only be ruled by a capable, exemplary prince: “What God is in the order of heavenly things is the bishop in the church and the prince in the state ”. And because there is no possibility of choosing the prince, and one cannot assume that an ideal ruler will automatically be born, writes Erasmus in the introduction, the tutor of a future prince must be chosen with the greatest care, because where the principality is hereditary , the greatest challenge arises in the education of the heir to the throne ; this task is incumbent on the parents or the princely educators. Neither a strict nor an anti-authoritarian education is appropriate, but an education with a sense of proportion:

The educator of the future ruler must be able, as Seneca so aptly puts it, to blame without insulting, to praise without flattering, so that he may adore him for the strictness of his way of life and at the same time love him for the amiability of his character.

According to Erasmus, the primary goal of every prince should / must be to serve the common good. The prince should care for the well-being of every single citizen in every one of his actions and always base his decisions on the needs of all. He himself has to put his wishes aside and be undemanding.

Erasmus and Il Principe

Erasmus' work can be seen as an antithesis to Niccoló Machiavelli's Il Principe , written around 1513 . During this namely tyrannical behavior is a prerequisite for maintaining power of a prince, insists Erasmus - in antithesis of Machiavelli - on ethical values: in the justice , temperance and zeal for the common good , he sees the main attributes of a good prince.

Erasmus explains that a prince should represent a “worldly god” - in terms of his good-natured behavior - than he resembles a human being in his political actions. This is where the two points of view of Machiavelli and Erasmus differ most, as Machiavelli compares the prince with an animal rather than a god in terms of behavior. Machiavelli considered moral principles such as justice and honesty to be freely available to the prince in his government when the business of government so required. Since Erasmus criticizes precisely the examples given in Machiavelli's "Il Principe" (behavior of the ruler compared to that of a wolf, a snake or a lion) and gives them the umbrella term "tyrant", Erasmus' work can be seen as a direct attempt to refute the interpret moral principles set out in "Il Principe" .

While Machiavellianism regards violence as inevitable, Erasmus of Rotterdam only accepts war if the whole people see it as the only option and the prince has really exhausted all peaceful options. This excludes any wars of conquest and only allows a war for defense in extreme cases. In doing so, he represents the generally accepted theological doctrine of just war .

See also

literature

  • Collected works of Erasmus. Literary and educational writings. Part 5: Panegyricus, Moria, Julius exclusus, Institutio principis christiani, Querela pacis. Ed. AHT Levi. Univ. of Toronto, Toronto a. a. 1986, ISBN 0-8020-5602-4
  • Dialogus, Iulius exclusus e coelis = Julius in front of the closed heavenly door, a dialogue. Institutio principis Christiani = The education of the Christian prince. Querela pacis = The lament for peace. Trans., Included. u. with note vers. by Gertraud Christian. 2nd edition WBG, Darmstadt 1990, ISBN 3-534-05946-8 (Selected writings / Erasmus von Rotterdam 5)
  • Education for princes / Institutio Principis Christiani. Einf., Übers. U. Edit v. Anton J. Gail. Schöningh, Paderborn 1968 (Schöningh Collection on past and present) - digitized .
Secondary literature
  • Lester K. Born: Erasmus on Political Ethics. The Institutio Principis Christiani. In: Polit. Science Quarterly (43), pp. 520-543.
  • AW De Jong: Erasmus' Denkbeelden over Staat en Regeering. Phil. Diss. HJ Paris, Amsterdam 1927.
  • Werner Welzig (ed.): Erasmus von Rotterdam, selected writings in eight volumes . Darmstadt 1967-1975.

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