Dissertation committee:
Κωνσταντίνος Μαλαφάντης, Καθηγητής, ΠΤΔΕ,ΕΚΠΑ
Ιωάννης Βρεττός, Ομότιμος Καθηγητής ,ΠΤΔΕ,ΕΚΠΑ
Βασιλική Πάτσιου, Καθηγήτρια ,ΠΤΔΕ,ΕΚΠΑ
Θωμάς Μπαμπάλης, Καθηγητής, ΠΤΔΕ ,ΕΚΠΑ
Αικατερίνη Μητραλέξη, Καθηγήτρια του Τμήματος Γερμανικής Φιλολογίας του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών
Εύη Πετροπούλου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια του Τμήματος Γερμανικής Φιλολογίας του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών
Ιωάννα Καρβέλα, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια του Τμήματος Γερμανικής Φιλολογίας του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών
Summary:
Summary
The present thesis aims to highlight the intellectual interactions between the German and the Neo-hellenic Enlightenment and in particular their contribution to the formation of Modern Greek Education until the arrival of King Otto (1833) and the Regency period (1833-1835) and at the same time to answer the following specific questions: was there an influence of Greek antiquity and literature on the German Enlightenment? Did intellectual interactions between German philosophers-educators and modern Greek scholars arise during the Enlightenment period? Is there a relationship between the pedagogy of the German Enlightenment and the pedagogy of the years of the Neo-hellenic Enlightenment and in the years that followed? How does German philhellenism manifest itself and in which areas? How does spiritual interaction culminate and transform during the early Othonian period?
Reconnecting with the ancient classical ideal and at the same time reviving it was the vision of German classicism and the modern Greek Enlightenment largely embraced these models. In its early phase, dominated by the personality of Eugene Voulgaris (1716-1806), the influence of the descendants of German rationalism is noticeable, while a fruitful syncretism between ancient and modern Hellenism is noted. Antiquity in its various dimensions is revived in many narrative texts of the German Enlightenment. German writers and scholars compose a mythical world created with elements selected from various historical periods of the two famous cities, Athens and Sparta, which were the intellectual centres of Greek antiquity.
In the long period of the Neo-hellenic Enlightenment, which was, of course, an offshoot of the European Enlightenment, without however following it slavishly, as well as from the more specific interaction with the ideology of the corresponding German movement, the osmosis from the achievements of ancient Greek thought becomes obvious. This process presupposes the adoption of the philosophical and pedagogical values of Greek antiquity, through the Enlightenment in Germany, but also their reacquisition by the enslaved Hellenism, in a period of time characterised by the 'metacentesis' or 'metacoming' of German knowledge, but also the simultaneous recovery of the native heritage, i. e. classical education, by the younger Hellenism.
In particular, the 18th century saw the admission of German (and through it ancient Greek) philosophy into the broader framework of the education of the nation, with the aim of organically linking it to practical life. This practical orientation is manifested first of all by the promotion of Ethics, Law and social behaviour. It should be noted that around 1750-1770 the dominant trends of the Neo-hellenic Enlightenment were formed, while the introduction of modern philosophy by Eugene Voulgaris took place.
The study of the work of German scholars seems to be a safe route to progress and translation becomes a means of transferring and popularizing knowledge. The relevant treatises of the period, as they emerge from German eclecticism, project a set of values necessary for the formation of the new moral physiognomy of the individual. The bliss of the individual, expressed as a basic idea of philosophical and moral reflection in the 18th century, is presented in relation to the parameter of social equilibrium. The moral education of the Enlightenment period aims at the formation of the moral, average human type, encouraging the tendency to pleasure, which results from the practice of virtue, to lead ultimately to righteousness.
Particularly interesting is the turn to popular works of German Enlightenment pedagogy, which were channelled into Greek education through translations. The case of the Thessalian scholar and teacher Konstantinos M. Koumas (1777-1836), who was catalytically influenced by the German "philanthropy" and "idealism", is characteristic. The rules of special methodology of August Hermann Niemeyer (1754-1828), as perceived by K. Kouma, have an essential influence on the creation of his Pedagogy. Joachim Heinrich Campe (1746-1818) drew in his work on theories of education in the light of ancient Greek thought on the formation of the child's personality and his spiritual fulfilment. The educational novels of Christian Martin Wieland (1733-1813) are translated into Greek again by the scholar K. Koumas. Through his unique and pioneering contribution, a new type of textbook is created with a renewed hierarchy of pedagogical values, which bears the characteristics of a typical German "apprenticeship novel". At the same time, the pedagogue Dimitrios N. Darvaris (1757-1823) translated, heralded and wrote oracles and grammar manuals from German sources, intended for school use. Bliss is reduced to a common good. Morality is acquired through study and practice.
German philhellenism is examined in the thesis as an aesthetic and literary movement. The worship of Greek culture and art was expressed in enthusiastic manifestations of philhellenism by important philosophers and philologists of the German Enlightenment. German philhellenes reached the Greek question through ancient literature, poetry, language and art. At the same time, the adoption of German idealistic philosophy led to the conception of a unity of sciences and was the highest expression of universal knowledge.
At the same time, it investigates to what extent, during the years of the Neo-hellenic Enlightenment, the design of the lower schools followed the reasoning of the educational reform of the schools of the Habsburg Empire. For this reason, the relevant laws and Royal Decrees on education are studied and it is found that they have their origins in the laws of the German Prussian kingdom. But also the reception of the Philanthropists' pedagogy, with its emphasis on beneficial knowledge, is examined as a phenomenon of similarity in the educational affairs of the time.
According to the first school decrees (1833-1834), the German influence on Greek education and the adoption of its views by the representatives of the Neo-hellenic Enlightenment are examined. Fundamental legal provisions and regulations for the Greek Schools and Gymnasiums were based either on pedagogical proposals of Greek Enlightenment scholars, who had received German influences, or on translations of corresponding German decrees for the establishment of new pedagogical institutions. For the conditions of attendance at the University of Othonya (1837), the recruitment of provisions and institutions is considered, again based on the models of a Bavarian statute and Prussian academic laws, in the spirit of the ideas of the Pedagogy of the German Enlightenment.
From the above it can be concluded that during the period of the Neo-hellenic Enlightenment, very interesting and decisive intellectual interactions between leading scholars of the German intelligentsia and pioneering Modern Greek philosophers and teachers occurred. It is also understood that, as long as this intellectual interaction exists, the relationship between the pedagogy of the German Enlightenment and Modern Greek literature and education remains strong, functional and fruitful for a long period of time, crucial for the formation of the national identity of the new Hellenism.
Keywords: German Enlightenment, Neohellenic Enlightenment, intellectual interactions Neohellenic Education, philosophy of education, currents of education, German philhellenism, Neologisms.
