Good morning. Thanks for reading the Best of the West. Today we spotlight Frederick the Great, read Milton, and think about nature vs. norms.
Spotlight: Frederick the Great
Frederick the Great on Horseback by D. Nickolaus Chodowiecki, oil on canvas, c. 1770s
When you start looking into every ruler who’s had the appellative ‘Great’ added after his name — you realise how much they genuinely earned it. Just think how many monarchs have lived and reigned? Only a few are remembered today as magnus.
Frederick the Great was born in 1712, and ruled Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. Today, he stands among the most remarkable rulers in European history, and his reign transformed Prussia into a major power, leaving a lasting mark on the political and intellectual development of the West. His greatness rested on an unusual combination of military genius, intellectual ambition, administrative ability, and an intense sense of duty toward the state.
Perhaps surprisingly, Frederick was something of a wayward youth. Yet despite earlier attempts to evade his responsibilities, he matured significantly and grew to embrace his role as king after ascending the Prussian throne in 1740.
Frederick inherited a relatively small kingdom and turned it into one of Europe’s great powers. His campaigns in the Silesian Wars and, above all, the Seven Years’ War demonstrated extraordinary strategic skill. He repeatedly faced larger and more powerful enemies, yet through speed, discipline, boldness, and careful use of his limited resources, he preserved Prussia’s position among the major European powers. His victories established the reputation of the Prussian army and fundamentally changed the balance of power in Europe.
Yet Frederick understood that lasting power depended on more than armies. He famously described himself as the ‘first servant of the state,’ reflecting his belief that kingship was a responsibility rather than simply a privilege. He worked to make Prussian government more efficient and professional, strengthened its bureaucracy, promoted agricultural development, encouraged immigration and economic activity, expanded education, and pursued reforms to the administration of justice. He understood that a strong state required competent institutions, productive citizens, and a government capable of acting decisively.
Frederick was equally remarkable as an intellectual. Deeply influenced by the Enlightenment, he corresponded with Voltaire and other leading thinkers, wrote history and political philosophy, composed music, and cultivated the arts and sciences. Under his rule, Prussia became an important centre of European intellectual life. His reign demonstrated that political power, military excellence, and intellectual culture could reinforce one another.
His contribution to Western civilisation was therefore both practical and intellectual. He helped establish a model of professional, rational state administration while embodying the Enlightenment ideal of a ruler who governed through reason, merit, education, and public service. The powerful Prussian state he built would become a central force in the subsequent development of Germany and European politics.
Frederick the Great’s enduring significance lies in the sheer range of his achievements: he was a soldier, strategist, administrator, patron of culture, philosopher, and statesman: a true Renaissance man. Few rulers have combined so many qualities so successfully or left such a durable imprint on the political and intellectual history of the West.
Verse: 'Paradise Lost’ by John Milton (1674)
OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,
In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth
Rose out of Chaos: or if Sion Hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd
Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventrous Song,
That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th' Aonian Mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.
And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss
And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark
Illumin, what is low raise and support;
That to the highth of this great Argument
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justifie the wayes of God to men.
Book I of Milton’s epic, Paradise Lost, opens with Milton invoking the help of the muses, a tradition as old as poetry itself. Paradise Lost is a magnificent creative re-telling of man’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden.
Pensées
Physis vs. Nomos – The Greek words physis and nomos roughly translate to ‘nature’ and ‘custom’, respectively. For the ancients, parsing out how each of the two concepts influenced mankind was a thorny question: do humans behave the way they do because of custom or convention? Or do they behave a certain way because it’s in their nature to do so?
The Sophists of Ancient Athens attacked convention as an impediment to freedom, while Aristotle, by contrast, gave nature a purposive character: human beings have a natural end (telos), and our institutions and customs can cultivate the virtues necessary for achieving human flourishing. The greatest synthesis of this ancient debate between nature and norms is found in the expression of natural law, especially the formulation articulated by St. Thomas Aquinas.
Q ~ Despite the many minds which have lent their talents to various sides of this debate, no answer remains universally accepted. What do you think? How important is convention to the structuring of our society?
Diversions
Listen: Sir Ian McKellan plays John Milton in this dramatised (abridged) version of Paradise Lost, produced as a podcast (you may need a VPN to listen, or you can find it on Audible).
Watch: The Lord of the Rings is inestimably superior to Dune, according to Tolkien (he might be biased, but this editor agrees).
Read: Was Henry VIII really a Protestant?
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