Academic literature on the topic 'Enlightenment – Lithuania – Influence'

This article aims to identify and reconstruct a few main elements of political theory upon which the works of Simonas Daukantas, the founding father of the national Lithuanian written history, are based. Daukantas’s major works on Lithuanian history were researched while identifying and closely analyzing the passages where Daukantas specifically speaks about natural law and civilizational progress. Daukantas’s history works were considerably influenced by authors of Neostoic natural law theory, such as Hugo Grotius, Samuel Pufendorf, and Antoine-Yves Goguet. This influence shows in the adopted conceptions of natural needs, natural sociability, and a characterization of the emergence of private property rights in Lithuania with the help of conjectural history methods. Daukantas traces natural law elements in the oldest customs of the people and therefore gives most attention to reconstructing and describing the mores of the ancient Lithuanians. In describing historical evolution, he applied in his works the concepts of bright and dark periods as well as the distinctions of other separate stages of civilizational progress as discussed in Enlightenment historiography and conjectural history in particular.

In the mid-18th century, with the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment, fundamental reforms of the state’s governance were introduced in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Part of the state’s modernisation concerned the reform of the court system, considered by 18th-century political theorists to be one of the composite branches of the state administration (alongside the treasury, the police and the army). During the reign of Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski, the work of the courts of first instance underwent reform on several occasions in Poland and Lithuania: with the passing of laws in 1764, 1792 and 1793 on the structure and organisation of the activities of the castle and land courts, the existing court system was changed, as was the procedure for electing judges, also defining the scope of competency of the courts, regulating court activities and the duties of judges, introducing new requirements for the handling of court procedural documents, and the calculation of judges’ working hours. During the course of the introduction of these reforms, principles reflecting the administrative ideas of the Enlightenment were gradually entrenched in the court system of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which concerned the election of judges and other court officials, the acceptance of collegial decisions, the elimination of the influence of any blood and marital ties, and the principles for remuneration, seeking to introduce stricter requirements for the qualification of judges. In this article, based on legislation on the organisation of court activities passed at the diets (Sejm) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and documents from the dietines (sejmiki) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the author seeks to analyse changes to the activities of the courts and the regulation of judges’ duties, and reforms made in the court chanceries between 1764 and 1793.

Straipsnis skiriamas šviesiam profesoriaus Romano Plečkaičio atminimui. Straipsnyje analizuojamas Plečkaičio mokslinis palikimas, profesoriaus indėlis į Lietuvos ir visos Vakarų filosofijos istoriją, vertinama teorinis ir asmeninis Plečkaičio vaidmuo Lietuvos filosofijos akademiniame gyvenime ir kultūroje. Straipsnyje teigiama, kad Plečkaitis visų pirma laikytinas filosofijos istorijos kaip solidžios akademinės disciplinos pradininku Lietuvoje, ypač išskirtini jo Viduramžių ir Apšvietos epochos filosfijos istorijos tyrinėjimai. Kita reikšminga Plečkaičio įnašo į lietuviškąjį filosofijos lobyną kryptis – klasikinių tekstų vertimai, ypač pabrėžiant Kanto, Spinozos ir Tomo Akviniečio veikalų pristatymą lietuvių kalba. Atsakomybė, su kuria profesorius vertė Vakarų filosofijos klasikus, formavo akademinio vertimo tradiciją Lietuvoje ir darė įtaką visai Lietuvos kultūrai.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: Romanas Plečkaitis, Vakarų filosofijos istorija, Lietuvos filosofijos istorija.Lithuanian Philosophy – as History, Present and Vision of the FutureNaglis Kardelis AbstractThe article is devoted to the memory of the late Professor Romanas Plečkaitis. The author presents an evaluation of the extraordinary scholarly achievements of Plečkaitis in the field of the history of philosophy, both Lithuanian and Western in general, discusses the unique force and influence of his professional and personal authority in the context of academic life at the Faculty of Philosophy at Vilnius University, underscores the Professor’s role as one of the most prominent figures in the cultural life of contemporary Lithuania, shares with the reader some private reminiscences from personal communication with the Professor.It is argued that Romanas Plečkaitis was the sole true initiator of the history of philosophy in Lithuania as a solid, scientifically grounded academic discipline. His achievements in various branches of the history of Western philosophy, especially Medieval philosophy and the philosophy of the Enlightenment, are brought to the fore. The superbly conducted translations of the works of various thinkers representing almost all periods of Western philosophy, but especially the translations of the writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Immanuel Kant, prominently stand out as an acknowledged classic in the context of Lithuanian philosophical translations. The translations of Plečkaitis with adjacent commentaries as well as precise textual and philosophical analyses are mentioned by the author of this article as being of particular importance to contemporary philosophical discourse in Lithuania and Lithuanian cultural life in general.The achievements of Plečkaitis in the field of the history of Lithuanian philosophy are arguably even more important. In the author’s opinion, the discovery, textual research and philosophical analysis of the extant manuscripts of the philosophy courses taught at various academic institutions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at university- and school-level constitute the most valuable part of the Professor’s work in the field of the history of Lithuanian philosophy. The singular role of Romanas Plečkaitis as an informal ambassador of Lithuanian philosophy to other European countries, especially Poland, is also briefly touched upon.Keywords: Romanas Plečkaitis, history of Western philosophy, history of Lithuanian philosophy.

Drinks and customs related to their consumption play a special role in the social history (essentially, that of the human community). However, research of the customs of alcohol consumption in Lithuania (along with the history of daily life in general and the culture of the nobility’s daily life in particular) is rather sporadic so far. The article presents a research work in cultural anthropology on the alcohol consumption as means (or prerequisite) of achieving more important aims of religious, social, economic or other kind. Because of the big scope of research and low level of prior investigation, the subject of this article is limited to a single aspect – namely, the custom of drinking from the same glass; to the culture of only one social layer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) – the nobility; and to a distinct period – the 17th–18th centuries. The aim of analysis is revealing sources of this custom, its development and meaning in the social community of the given period.According to the research, the GDL presented a sphere of interaction between the local pre-Christian Lithuanian culture, which had been developing for an incredibly long period – even until the end of the 15th century, and the Western European cultural tradition. The Western European culture, formed in the course of joining together elements of the antique heritage, the Christian worldview and the inculturized “Northern barbarism”, acquired in the 14th–16th century Lithuania one of its essential constituents – namely, the culture of the “Northern barbarism” still alive and functioning. On the other hand, the nobility of the GDL, raised in pre-Christian Lithuanian culture, had no trouble recognizing elements of its local heritage in the Western Christian culture. The local custom of drinking from the same glass characteristic to the higher social layers supposedly stemmed from the drinking horns. Along with Christianity and spread of the wine culture, the local pre-Christian custom of drinking from the same glass should have been abandoned by the nobility, surviving instead solely in the lower social classes. The western custom of drinking from the same glass spread in Lithuania along with Christianity and the wine consumption. However, its influence on the nobility was rather limited. In the 15th–16th centuries, when this custom was still rather widespread in Europe, the Lithuanian nobility was just beginning its acquaintance with the wine culture, while in the 17th–18th centuries, when the wine culture grew popular in Lithuania, the western-like custom of drinking from the same glass had already waned in other European countries. Therefore, the western custom of drinking from the same glass was rather a marginal phenomenon among the Lithuanian nobility, affected by the cultural exchange with the Polish nobility (which grew especially intense following the union of Lublin) and the ideology of Sarmatianism. The custom of drinking from the same glass disappeared in the culture of the Lithuanian nobility at the turn of the 18th–19th century due to the ideas of Enlightenment and the altered notions of healthy lifestyle and hygiene. However, drinking from the same glass, as a distant echo of the ancient customs representing social community was quite popular in the peasant culture as late as the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st centuries.

The specific political culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and its changes, leading to state reforms by the end of the 18th century, require a methodological approach, which would allow understanding the flow and interconnectedness of the ideas between wider European and smaller local contexts. Arguing that entangled history approach allows understanding peripheral contexts better, the article presents specific aspects of the Polish-Lithuanian Enlightenment creating the context for conceptual change in political thinking. The context specific details are presented with the analysis of Vilnius University related discourse showing that the Enlightenment ideas were used to achieve certain goals of local improvement.

Many changes took place in the upper echelons of Lithuanian society at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries: a divide began to emerge between the conservative aristocracy and the supporters of Enlightenment ideas. The latter sought reforms, the independence of the state and progress in society. The former did not support the changes, and sought to preserve the former structure of society, often seeking the support of politicians in the Russian Empire. It is important to study not only the actions of the elite of that period in the field of politics, but also their households and lifestyles. The paper explains what can be learnt about factors that may have influenced the health of Ludwik Skumin Tyszkiewicz (1751–1808), one of the most prominent Lithuanian political figures at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The main character in the article is regarded in historiography as a noble with conservative views, who focused on the accumulation of material goods. The paper investigates what is known about the health problems of the count. It also explains what products were used in his kitchen, and what the stresses were in his life that could have affected his health. The circumstances of his death and funeral are also mentioned.

The paper is dedicated to the issues of how Ukrainian and Polish liturgical translation progressed in the early modern time, what functions it performed in the social life of the two nations and which mutual influences might have occurred in the historical perspective. The choice of comparing and contrasting these two nations is defined by the very fact that during this period, they co-existed in the same state: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The main factors which determined the advancement of this translation field were the reactions to historical challenges (the expansion of neighbouring countries; the necessity to preserve one’s own identity; the response to the Protestant movement) as well as the development of book-printing (the rise of new book types containing and popularising various texts for liturgical use). Despite the restrained use of the vernacular (Polish was not allowed according to the rulings of the Council of Trent and Ukrainian was overshadowed by Church Slavonic), liturgical translation took its place in the cultural life of the Commonwealth, though the Renaissance is the period of great expectations, experiments and attempts, while the Enlightenment look like the time of spiritual inertia with modest results. The material of the study covers all print types covering liturgical texts, even when they were not aimed at public use (e.g. primers and manuals).

This article proposes a reassessment of the development of Ḥaredism, that is, the application of strict, maximalist, commandment-oriented Judaism to increasingly large lay publics, in light of confessionalization processes in Europe. Whereas historiographical and sociological convention locates the sources of Ḥaredism within the development of 19th century orthodox Jewish responses to the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah), Reform, and secular Zionism, this article argues that Ḥaredi structures and practices preceded these movements, and, in some cases, influenced their development. The basis for the priority of Ḥaredi identities to Jewish secular identities is rooted in the social disciplining and religious engineering of Jewish societies in the early modern era, until just before the Haskalah, and beyond. This disciplining was predicated on the imposition of religious, social, and ascetic education systems on growing segments of the population. Ḥaredism as a concept and as a phenomenon emerged in 16th century Safed (Ottoman Palestine); there, previous Jewish ascetic patterns were reworked, reorganized and structured under the aegis of the print era, and became a basis for mass, super-regional education. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Ḥaredi religiosity steadily percolated through European Jewish societies by means of works of personal ethic and conduct that were written, printed, and reprinted many times, in Hebrew and Yiddish, through works that enumerate the commandments, and through popular works that make the Jewish halakhic code, Shulḥan Arukh, accessible to the masses by abridging or reworking it. Starting in the early 19th century, with the mediation of the Ḥasidic and Lithuanian religious movements, this process massively penetrated broad strata of society.

At the beginning of 19th century Vilnius and Polock were the only towns on the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania in which Polish publications, newspapers, theatres and high schools existed. Enlightenment ideas and liberal trends played an important part in the Vilnius community. On the contrary, ideological climate in Polock was created by Jesuits – the order dissolved by the Pope, but existing in the Russian territory. The Author indicates the differences between these two communities and also draws attention to Lithuanian poems written in Vilnius by Antanas Strazdas and Byelorussian poems written there in the Philomaths community by Jan Czeczot. He also considers how big was the influence of Polock environment on the literary activities and attitude of Jan Barszczewski, a student of Polock college and future leading representative of Polish-Byelorussian literary borderland.

A significant part of the 20th century film and theatre posters preserved and stored in the Lithuanian archives of literature and art are related to the Nahum Lipowski Jewish Folk Theatre. The research focuses on the analysis of Lipowski and his works. It indicates that little attention has been devoted to the influence of Lipowski as a director and scriptwriter on silent film industry. The data yielded by this study prove convincing evidence that the beginning of silent film in Lithuania, film making tendencies and the history of Jewish theatre are related. The works of Nahum Lipowski and his biographical facts are a great illustrative example of the cultural life in the late 19th and early 20th century. This study can also clarify some aspects and fill the knowledge gap of the Jewish enlightenment movement followers.

Defence date: 19 September 2017
Examining Board: Professor Pavel Kolář, European University Institute; Professor Ann Thomson, European University Institute; Associate Professor Kateryna Dysa, National University of 'Kyiv-Mohyla Academy'; Dr. Bernhard Struck, University of St Andrews
This thesis explores how the szlachta and residents of the geographically, socially, and politically distinctive regions of Volhynia and Podole reflected on and made representations of the Enlightenment in the 1790s – 1860s. By focusing primarily on the memoirs of the local actors in Volhynia and Podole, this dissertation addresses the ways they experienced and responded to changes in social practices and intellectual communication within their local context and environment. The chapters of this dissertation tackle issues such as education, reading habits, the practice of translation, scientific exploration, emancipation, toleration, and the role of religion in society. By building on these topics, this thesis argues for the importance of peripheral areas in order to uncover the geographical diversity of the Enlightenment. It also contributes to the discussions on cultural superiority/inferiority that were prevalent during the age of Enlightenment, and elucidates the new vocabulary that the residents adopted in their works between the 1790s and 1860s. By focusing on the narratives offered by the landed nobility and residents, this study makes a case for the transfer of ideas and their cultural (dis)placement. The ambition of this work is to trace the full spectrum of changes that occurred within this provincial community, in order to provide a fresh perspective on blending and transformation of ideas in a specific context. Simultaneously, the local actors’ works are also examined as indicators of identity formation in the face of foreign imperial domination.

This chapter describes the early years of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg's (1884–1966) life amid the backdrop of the final decades of the nineteenth century. Within this milieu, the Jews in Russia, Poland, and Lithuania were coming to grips with a number of new movements and philosophies. Although the apostles of Jewish enlightenment (Haskalah), through their propagation of new ideals, had some influence in bringing about a modernization and acculturation, there were other important factors which were independent of Haskalah, although often indirectly nourished by it. It was into this east European Jewish society in transition that Weinberg was born in 1884, in Ciechanowiec, Poland. From there, the chapter describes Weinberg's early childhood and schooling. The latter in particular occurred during a controversy over the musar movement, founded upon the ideologies of Rabbi Israel Salanter.