Philosophers played an important part in the realm of enlightened rulers. What is the name of the philosopher who influenced Frederick the Great?

Machiavelli

Voltaire

Plato

Rene Descartes

Voltaire

Explanation:

At a time when Machiavelli's text 'The Ruler' was regarded as the definitive manual of every ruler, Frederick rejected the real-political approach of the Italian author and wrote his own text called Anti-Machiavelli. This idealistic rejection of Machiavelli's work was published anonymously in 1740, but with the interest of the French philosopher Voltaire, the work is gaining popularity. Two of them were exchanging a number of letters and the period when Voltaire was welcomed into his court is known in history. This period of life, when Frederick paid more attention to art than politics, ends with the death of his father in 1740.