Philosophical roots of the slovak national revival movement in mid-19th century: A case study on the Memorandum events of 1861 in Turciansky Sv. Martin
Michal Valco – Pavol Dancak – Evgeniya V. Shikh – Marina V. Polevaya – Liudmila V. Shukshina
DOI: 10.18355/XL.2020.13.03.19
Abstract
The Memorandum events from June 1861 constitute an important milestone in the development and shaping of the Slovak nation, its culture, political self-awareness, and national self-determination. Formulated and approved by the First Slovak National Gathering on June 6-7, 1861 in Martin, the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation to the upper chamber of the Hungarian parliament, containing the Petitions of the Slovak Nation which ask for a just enactment of the law with regard to equality of the nations in Hungary, reflected not only the political ambitions but also philosophical and religious convictions (and presuppositions) of the leading figures of the third phase of the Slovak National Revival Movement in mid-19th century. Jozef Miloslav Hurban, Karol Kuzmany, Michal Miloslav Hodza, Andrej Braxatoris Sladkovic and others belonging to the “Sturovci Circle,” the circle of German-educated Slovak Lutheran pastors surrounding their leader Ludovít Stur, brought to Slovakia the new trends of national awakening coming out of the right-wing Hegelian philosophy. In their national awakening efforts, Sturovci also incorporated Romanticism’s interest in language as a medium of thought, which made them strong proponents of education and cultural emancipation of the Slovaks. The paper provides an analysis of the philosophical roots of the governing ideas of the main leaders from the “Sturovci Generation” with the focus on the Memorandum Events of 1861 and Andrej Sladkovic.
Key words: Slovak National Revival, Memorandum of the Slovak Nation, Hegel, the Sturovci Generation
Pages: 228 - 240
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