Koncepcja filomatyzmu w latach osiemdziesiątych i dziewięćdziesiątych XIX wieku

Abstract

The paper presents the reception of the Wilno students' movement by the „Warsaw positivists", who formed their own conception of the objectives and activities of the Wilno organization, based on the sources available in th eir time. The conception differed from the patriotic legend functioning in the social conscioussness, which included the movement under discussion to the tradition of national struggle for independence. The positivists maintained th a t the Wilno Univers ity organization had been of non-political character. Therefore, both in their studies regarding the- origins of the organization and in their characterization of the objectives of the Wilno students' activities the positivists indicated chiefly those values which could be included in the positivistic legalism. They emphasized the students' interest in the social issues, their eagerness for self-improvement, and their belief in gradual remodelling of the social conscioussness. The positivists — who believed in political realism — neglected the reasons of the secrecy of the Wilno oi'ganization, and they belittled the role of the movement and its consequences. Their opinions illustrated the tendency to demythicize the „national ma r tyrdom''. This attitude was the expression of opposition to the national legend and also to the opinions contained in Nowosilcow's report, and the judgements of some Russian historians who shared his attitude. While approving of the movement — in accordance with the spirit of the epoch the positivists at the same time aimed at shaping a model that could be materialized in the sphere of the current social experience. They created a model member of the Wilno^ secret organization, who would realize the principles of the positivistic pedagogics, as well as those of the ethics which was a continuation of the Enlightenment theories. The p attern had two aspects, according to whether it was formulated by conservatists or liberals. It, was Bolesław Prus who suggested the most coherent conception of the movement, after J. Kallenbach had edited Adam Mickiewicz's Unknown Works (1817— 1823). In the essay The Poet as the Nation's Teacher, published in 1910, Prus emphasized mainly the utilitarian character of the movement.