A wonderful weekend for all of you.

Today I will post the slides that describe the profile of 4 rulers of Europe that have been considered by historians as enlightened monarchs in the absolutism age. These are called “enlightened despots”.

An enlightened despot is a conflictive dialectic term. But the phrase was coined by moderate enlightenment philosophes in the 18th century. Voltaire, Turgot, Beccaria, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot, Lessing, Herder, D´Alembert, Goethe, and even Hume, acknowledged the situation of an enlightened ruler. An enlightened despot (king or queen) was one in which the absolute monarch was leading a nation, but at the same time, he/she was trying to build and manage the establishment and growth of his/her empire with an enlightened value proposition or attitude. In addition, these corporate strategists of the 18th century, not only were open to the moderate enlightenment representatives in Europe, but encouraged their employees (the court members, military officials, public servers, and administrators of the government) to become enlightened (studious and academically specialists) under a specific framework of boundaries, with the best knowledge possible available in the European system.

The majority of moderate enlightenment philosophes and authors were in favor of these enlightened rulers, at least at the beginning and before the French Revolution. For them, “enlightenment despotism often seemed the best or only corrective available possibility for change in the prevailing harsh and oppressive circumstances” (1).

Enlightened despots.
These have been defined as a group whose most prominent members were:

1. Peter I the Great of Russia
2. Catherine II of Russia
3. Joseph II of Austria
4. Frederick II the Great of Prussia
5. Leopold II of Austria and Tuscany
6. Gustavus III of Sweden
7. Charles III of Spain

The common characteristics shared by all these monarchs were: strong monastic reforms to the Catholic church, acceptance of religious toleration, legal codification, legal reforms, abolition of torture and tyranny in punishment, and a strong interest in educational reforms. All these enlightenment despots were trying to change their policies between 1760 to 1789, except Peter I of Russia who started by the end of the 17th century.

Let´s proceed to learn about the main enlightened despots. Look at the slides, download them, and print them for your future reference. Each slide of this saga is a page of a book that is gifted to you.

Every single of the Enlightenment despotic rulers was guided by the enormous desire to correct (at least partially) a system that was not working well. All these rulers were having trouble in their domestic domains. All these rulers were fighting wars in between and losing tons of money. All these rulers were affected by the mercantilist model and the colonies established by Spain, France, Portugal, and Britain in the new world. All these rulers faithfully believed that their power was imposed from the paternalistic thinking of God, who chose them by divine right, to secure their land dominion through military and political strategies. None of these enlightened despots was guided by helping others to reach economic progress for the majorities, and none of them considered themselves responsible citizens for the environment, or the well-being of the members of their societies. However, they also were aware of the revolts, riots, and implacable insurrections. And consciously they also perceived that they needed to change, at least a little, in some way or another, if they wished to perpetuate their lineage in power.

Explaining the correlation between Enlightened despotism and business modeling.
Many of the CEOs and Board of Directors representatives have the right to choose their own corporate strategy decision-making. But once we focus on maximizing shareholder value (only), we tend to act and make decisions as enlightened despots. We have lost our capacity to say no to inappropriate businesses, for the sake of earning money, at the expense of the health-well being of the users of those products and services. Numerous examples abound coming out of Silicon Valley, consumer popular products such as deodorants, hygienic articles, medicines, food with artificial additives, etc. So many available goods and services that are causing us cancer, or are affecting our equilibrium within our communities and with other species on the planet.

None of what I am mentioning in today´s publication is political. We are trying to illustrate that 250 years ago, Enlightenment Philosophy came to shake the rulers of Europe. Nowadays, we are still living under Enlightened despotism with our products and services, under a completely different set of circumstances. The enlightened despots’ phase of our 18th century occurred before the arrival of capitalism or socialism. So there is no political implication in my heart when I write these publications for you. There is no religious judgment either. You already know that I hold Christianity as my flag.

The moderate enlightenment was sharing common ground, hand by hand, with the Enlightened despotism. However, there was a mistake in the moderate philosophes: the lack of instruction to all their readers about timing. It takes decades, if not centuries to change appropriately. It takes a long process to do things correctly. By trying to make superficial reforms, the Enlightened despots only triggered more anger in those who desperately wanted immediate results. We are still trying to fix all the mess that the French Revolution caused. When God is not at the center of our corporate strategy decision-making, don´t expect anything good out of fast and furious radical solutions. Good things always take time. Patience, please.

Announcement. Our next publication will be next Friday 18^th of August. We will continue our journey with Frederick II the Great and with the Counter-Enlightenment. Blessings and thank you for reading our episodes.  

Musical Section
We have decided to continue sharing classical music that was composed, released, or performed between the 17^th and 18^th centuries, to accompany your readings.
Today´s video is from Halidon Music. Classical Music for reading.

Thank you for reading http://www.eleonoraescalantestrategy.com

 Sources of reference are utilized today. All are listed on the slides. Disclaimer: Illustrations in Watercolor are painted by Eleonora Escalante. Other types of illustrations or videos (which are not mine) are used for educational purposes ONLY.  All are used as Illustrative and non-commercial images. Utilized only informatively for the public good. Nevertheless, most of this blog’s pictures, images, or videos are not mine. I do not own any of the lovely photos or images posted unless otherwise stated.