Frederick The Great’s "Enlightened" Cultural Autocracy And Berlin Academy Of Sciences’s Rise And Fall(1740-1766)

Frederick the Great was one of the most influential enlightened despotism monarchies in Europe in the eighteenth century, during his reign, a series of cultural policies adopted which had a profound influence on Prussian culture. In this paper, the Berlin Academy of Sciences as the starting point, by discussing the formation and evolution of Frederick the Great’s "enlightened" cultural autocracy policy and the influence of the rise and fall of the Berlin Academy of Sciences from 1740 -1766 ,deeply analyzes under the enlightened despotism mode Prussian kingship has played role in the National Science cultural development.The first chapter of this thesis mainly discusses the Prussian cultural policy before Frederick the Great and the hard starting of Berlin Academy of sciences. Before Frederick the great, Prussia’s first two monarchs were not very keen on the development of culture and art. Although the Berlin Academy of Sciences early in 1701 was formally established, it didn’t achieve significant achievements and great development for lacking of Royal support, especially in the second Prussian monarch Frederick William I’s reign,the Berlin Academy of Sciences almost stagnated. In a certain sense,in the authoritarian Prussian, the monarch’s personal preferences have a significant impact on the development of national cultural undertakings.The second chapter of this article mainly discusses the Frederick the Great’s early stage "enlightened " cultural autocracy policy and the revival of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Frederick the Great’s attitude towards culture and art is completely different from the first two monarchs. After accession to the throne, he took a series of liberal measures, such as freedom of press, restoration of court music and the construction of the opera house, the most important of was the revival of the Berlin Academy of sciences.Due to the influence of the Silesian war, until 1744, by the court ministers spontaneous found of the new literary society and the existing Berlin Academy of Sciences merged into the Prussian Royal Institute of Science and Pure Literature,the Berlin Academy of Sciences revival plan finally completed. Although many of the statutes of the Prussian Royal Institute of Science and Pure Literature were formulated in accordance with the will of Frederick the Great, the king still felt that this was not the ideal academy in his mind. In fact, Frederick the Great took an open policy to the Berlin Academy of Sciences while want to firmly control it.The third chapter of this paper mainly discusses the governance and development of the Berlin Academy of Sciences from 1746 to 1756 under the Frederick the Great’s"enlightened" cultural autocracy policy. In 1746, the president of the Berlin Academy of Sciences - Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, under the authority of the Frederick the Great, rewritten the statutes of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, the power of the Berlin Academy of Sciences seemed to be concentrated in the hands of the president, in fact, the king still had a great authority of the Berlin Academy of Sciences ,any matter is decided by the president and the king, the other members can only obey orders. Under the 1746 statute,the Berlin Academy of Sciences in the period also made significant achievements such as the publication of the academic level of the volume set, in full swing essay activities,making the Berlin Academy of Sciences ’s international status greatly improved. But behind the vigorous development of the Berlin Academy of Sciences is also facing financial, internal disputes and the introduction of talent and other issues.The fourth part of this paper mainly discusses the strengthening of the Frederick the Great’s despotism and the decline of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. The outbreak of the seven-year war combining with the death of present Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis in 1759, the development of the Berlin Academy of Sciences suffered a major blow. After the end of the seven-year war, the king withdrew from the heavy military service to strengthen the control of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. But the king devoted himself to the post-war reconstruction, the focus on the Berlin Academy of Sciences greatly reduced, the Academy began to decline.The conclusion of the article, through the influence of Frederick the Great’s"enlightened" cultural autocracy of Berlin Academy of Sciences,summed up the characteristics of by compared the Frederick the Great’s "enlightened" cultural autocracy and autocratic monarchy period and with the same period of the implementation of "liberal autocracy" national cultural policy ,more in-depth understanding the important influence of Prussian kingship in the development of national culture cause.