O “universal-particular": a relação entre povo e estado nos escritos dos escritos de Fichte sobre Maquiavel

This paper addresses Fichte’s theory of the relation between state and education in his writings on Machiavelli from 1807. The aim is to show that Fichte’s idea of the role of the educator is closely connected with his diagnosis of the Napoleonic epoch, with the role he assigns to the German people and with his theory of the mission of the state. Fichte sees himself as a new Machiavelli, addressing the people in a situation of historical disarray and distress, and seeking the means to rebuild the German Nation. Nevertheless, the writings on Machiavelli, although a piece of “Practical Philosophy”, stem from Fichte’s theoretical conceptions, namely, the versions of the Doctrine of Science after 1804. At the same time, they demonstrate a shift in his Political Philosophy, with a devaluation of the idea of “social contract” and of the necessity of legitimation of sovereignty. Although still a critic of the “authoritarian principle” that characterized the societies of the Ancien Régime, as well as of the idea of a hereditary monarchy, he departed from the principles of the “rule of law” (exemplified in Kant’s political writings) that are at the basis of a democratic state.