Abstract

T he writings of Frederick the Great, in addition to historical and military works, also contain philosophical works, poetry and letters. This article deals with the ethics of sexual passions to the extent they can be found in these philosophical and poetic works. First, the philosophical discussion on the ethics of sexual passions in Freder ick’s time is briefly described, after which the methodological principles of Avi Lif schitz are used to examine Frederick’s philosophical texts “A Moral Dialogue for the Use of the Young Nobility”, “Letter on Education and Essay on Self Love Considered as a Principle of Morality”. Three of Frederick’s “Epistles” in verse and his play “The Tem ple of Love”, in which sexual passions are analyzed in more depth, are also explored. Frederick’s ethics of sexual passions are based on self-love (amour-propre), which pro tects the desirer from the seduction of a married woman, the lying of a single woman and the danger of a disease that can be caught from a prostitute. Marriage is deter mined to be the only space for satisfying sexual desires. However, the poetic work contains more: in it, Frederick notices the characteristics of passions that do not have to lead to marriage. It is above all about the different view of desires before and after gratification from the perspective of the desirer and other people.