Intellectual Life

The 18th Century saw fundamental changes in most European countries. Production and manufacturing grew, and trade flourished. Closely linked with these changes, was the evolution of a new philosophy and the establishing of the foundations of modern science. The old schools of thought were eventually succeeded by rationalism and enlightenment as the reigning intellectual ways of thinking. It was these conditions in the 18th century that allowed the development of modern science in Russia, in particular the development of the natural sciences. As most of the intellectuals of Russia in the Age of Enlightenment were concerned with a more complete understanding of the world around them, disciplines such as medicine, philosophy, physics, mathematics, poetry, politics and other natural and intellectual scientific disciplines flourished.

Russia before Peter the Great was essentially in the Dark Ages. Science and technology in Russia was minimal, and pre-Petrine Russia did not produce any great intellects or representatives of the world sciences of the same caliber as Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Leibniz, or others who emerged in Central and Western Europe. However, with the ascendance of Peter the Great, with his drive to modernize Russia, and carried on by the following tsars and tsarinas, a great effort was made to modernize Russia. Two crucial players in the modernizing of Russia were Leibniz and Wolff. These two were first commissioned by Peter the Great to work on the founding of an Academy of Sciences in Russia. Leibniz was more than happy to help, as he had a great fascination with Russia, and believed that Russia would one day help drive the Turks out of Europe.

Neither Leibniz nor Peter I lived to see the fruits of their labor. The St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences was opened shortly after Peter I's death, in December 7, 1725, under the reign of Catherine I. This academy included prominent scholars from all over Europe, including Germans, Frenchmen, Italians, Englishmen, Danes and Swedes. Their fields of study ranged from history to law, to physics and mathematics, astronomers to surgeons, geography to zoology. In accordance with the plans drawn up in Peter I's time, the teachers at the Academy taught in a manner which was as clear and comp rehensible to all, and it was not long after, that printed introductions to astronomy, geography and physics appeared. Of these the geographical and car tographical works attracted the greatest interest as it was now that Russia was finally systematically mapped out.

In the following years, the Academy led Russia in its modernization. Historians brought awareness and patriotism to Russia's inhabitants by teaching them about their rich history. Also, the Academy brought and enriched Russia's knowledge as needed. For example, in the early 1730s, when Russia was lacking in mineralogy and metallurgy skills, it was the Academy who brought in foreign scholars, and increased Russia's knowledge in these two fields. With the Academy, educated Russians began to appear. One scientist of particular note, Mikhail Vasiilievich Lomonosov, the son of a state peasant was one of the most prominent of the Russian scholars. Lomonosov and his colleagues focused not only on research and intellectual pursuits, but also on improving the social, economic and political states of Russia. The Age of Enlightenment brought Russia out of its status as a backward country, and into the modern society of Western Europe.


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