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16 The Teaching of Philosophy at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy at the End of the Seventeenth to Eighteenth Century

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Eighteenth-Century Ukraine
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The question of how strongly various factors influenced the teaching of phi-losophy at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Kyievo-Mohylians'ka Akademiia) has re-peatedly drawn the attention of researchers.1 However, the hypotheses theyproposed were based for the most part on a general impression of the contentof the philosophy courses and not on a textual comparison with the probableinfluencing texts. By contrast, in this article, I will try to trace these influencestextually, as well as the turning point that clearly occurred in the middle of theeighteenth century.It is worth to begin with the singular discussion that took place in Kyiv in 1755.The discussion started with the decree issued on 31 August 1755 by MetropolitanTymofii Shcherbats'kyi, in which the prefect of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy DavydNashchyns'kyi was forbidden to read philosophy according to Johann HeinrichWinkler’s textbook Institutiones philosophiae universae2 (which he had been doingfor the preceding two years), “inasmuch, as attested by the reverend prefect Davydhimself, conducting a dispute appropriately based on this author is in no waypossible.”3 To improve the situation, the metropolitan “pastorally ordered”him to teach philosophy according to the textbook by Edmund Purchotius,4 “who,upon our examination, is understandable with respect to all his precepts, as wellas suited to exercises.”5 However, the prefect did not accept this “recommendation”and in his message of 2 September 1755 addressed to the metropolitan asked thathe be permitted not to teach philosophy according to Purchotius, “which to besure is more worthwhile than the old Jesuit ones (italics mine – M.S.), except thattoday Wolffian philosophy, which is accepted and interpreted throughout Europe,16The Teaching of Philosophy at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy at the End of the Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centurymykola symchychsysyn interior.qxp_Layout 1 2023-02-08 10:41 AM Page 455
© McGill-Queen's University Press

The question of how strongly various factors influenced the teaching of phi-losophy at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Kyievo-Mohylians'ka Akademiia) has re-peatedly drawn the attention of researchers.1 However, the hypotheses theyproposed were based for the most part on a general impression of the contentof the philosophy courses and not on a textual comparison with the probableinfluencing texts. By contrast, in this article, I will try to trace these influencestextually, as well as the turning point that clearly occurred in the middle of theeighteenth century.It is worth to begin with the singular discussion that took place in Kyiv in 1755.The discussion started with the decree issued on 31 August 1755 by MetropolitanTymofii Shcherbats'kyi, in which the prefect of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy DavydNashchyns'kyi was forbidden to read philosophy according to Johann HeinrichWinkler’s textbook Institutiones philosophiae universae2 (which he had been doingfor the preceding two years), “inasmuch, as attested by the reverend prefect Davydhimself, conducting a dispute appropriately based on this author is in no waypossible.”3 To improve the situation, the metropolitan “pastorally ordered”him to teach philosophy according to the textbook by Edmund Purchotius,4 “who,upon our examination, is understandable with respect to all his precepts, as wellas suited to exercises.”5 However, the prefect did not accept this “recommendation”and in his message of 2 September 1755 addressed to the metropolitan asked thathe be permitted not to teach philosophy according to Purchotius, “which to besure is more worthwhile than the old Jesuit ones (italics mine – M.S.), except thattoday Wolffian philosophy, which is accepted and interpreted throughout Europe,16The Teaching of Philosophy at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy at the End of the Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centurymykola symchychsysyn interior.qxp_Layout 1 2023-02-08 10:41 AM Page 455
© McGill-Queen's University Press

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Figures and Tables ix
  4. Acknowledgments xi
  5. Abbreviations xiii
  6. Introduction 3
  7. Cossack Autonomies and Their Demise
  8. Ukraine on Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Maps: From the “Wild Field” to the “Country of the Cossacks” 27
  9. In Search of “Ukraine” in the Russian Empire (End of Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries) 57
  10. From the “Russian Jerusalem” to the “Slavic Pompeii” 97
  11. Catherine II, Evdokim Shcherbinin, and the Abolition of Sloboda Ukraine’s Autonomy 115
  12. “A Plague on Your Borders”: Disease Control and Administrative Reforms in Late Eighteenth-Century Ukraine 144
  13. Formation of the Imperial Russia Bureaucratic Class in Steppe Ukraine in the Late Eighteenth Century 173
  14. Identities of Little Russian Society through the Prism of Napoleon’s Russian Campaign 202
  15. Society, Economy, and Demographics
  16. Colonel of the Zaporozhian Host: The Right to Free Elections in Light of Cossack Traditions, Prescribed Regulations, and Political Realities 219
  17. Military Reforms during the Hetmancy of Kyrylo Rozumovs'kyi, 1750–64 247
  18. “For Deliveries to Tsargrad and Other Neighboring States” (Kyiv Reiters in the Eighteenth Century) 277
  19. The Cossack Starshyna of Sloboda Ukraine in the Seventeenth–Eighteenth Centuries: The “Family Clan” and Attainment of Social Status 298
  20. Regimental Cities of the Hetmanate in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century: Governance, Economy, Demography 325
  21. Population Distribution of the City of Poltava in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century by Age, Sex, and Marital Status 361
  22. Church, Culture, and Education
  23. The Challenges of Unification and Disciplining Facing the Kyiv Orthodox Metropolitanate in the Eighteenth Century: The Case of Book Publishing 395
  24. The Uniate Church in Right-Bank Ukraine in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century: Paradoxes of Regional Adaptation 424
  25. The Teaching of Philosophy at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy at the End of the Seventeenth to Eighteenth Century 455
  26. Orthodox Colleges in the Russian Empire (Second Half of the Eighteenth to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century): Between Traditions and Innovations 471
  27. Political and Historical Thought
  28. “Rulers of the Fatherland”: The Hetmanate’s Cossack and Church Elite’s Concepts of the Nature, Representation, and Obligations of Authority (Up to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century) 499
  29. Fatherland in Early Eighteenth-Century Ukrainian Political Culture 528
  30. The Development of a Little Russian Identity and Ukrainian Nation-Building 542
  31. Constitutio Medievalis: The Politics of Language and the Language of Politics in the 1710 Constitution 560
  32. “In the Name of the Beloved Fatherland”: The Loyalty and Treason of Ivan Mazepa 579
  33. Cossack Historiography: A Vision of the Past and the Construction of Identities in the Hetmanate in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 598
  34. Contributors 629
  35. Index 637
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9780228017431-020

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Figures and Tables ix
  4. Acknowledgments xi
  5. Abbreviations xiii
  6. Introduction 3
  7. Cossack Autonomies and Their Demise
  8. Ukraine on Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Maps: From the “Wild Field” to the “Country of the Cossacks” 27
  9. In Search of “Ukraine” in the Russian Empire (End of Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries) 57
  10. From the “Russian Jerusalem” to the “Slavic Pompeii” 97
  11. Catherine II, Evdokim Shcherbinin, and the Abolition of Sloboda Ukraine’s Autonomy 115
  12. “A Plague on Your Borders”: Disease Control and Administrative Reforms in Late Eighteenth-Century Ukraine 144
  13. Formation of the Imperial Russia Bureaucratic Class in Steppe Ukraine in the Late Eighteenth Century 173
  14. Identities of Little Russian Society through the Prism of Napoleon’s Russian Campaign 202
  15. Society, Economy, and Demographics
  16. Colonel of the Zaporozhian Host: The Right to Free Elections in Light of Cossack Traditions, Prescribed Regulations, and Political Realities 219
  17. Military Reforms during the Hetmancy of Kyrylo Rozumovs'kyi, 1750–64 247
  18. “For Deliveries to Tsargrad and Other Neighboring States” (Kyiv Reiters in the Eighteenth Century) 277
  19. The Cossack Starshyna of Sloboda Ukraine in the Seventeenth–Eighteenth Centuries: The “Family Clan” and Attainment of Social Status 298
  20. Regimental Cities of the Hetmanate in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century: Governance, Economy, Demography 325
  21. Population Distribution of the City of Poltava in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century by Age, Sex, and Marital Status 361
  22. Church, Culture, and Education
  23. The Challenges of Unification and Disciplining Facing the Kyiv Orthodox Metropolitanate in the Eighteenth Century: The Case of Book Publishing 395
  24. The Uniate Church in Right-Bank Ukraine in the First Half of the Eighteenth Century: Paradoxes of Regional Adaptation 424
  25. The Teaching of Philosophy at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy at the End of the Seventeenth to Eighteenth Century 455
  26. Orthodox Colleges in the Russian Empire (Second Half of the Eighteenth to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century): Between Traditions and Innovations 471
  27. Political and Historical Thought
  28. “Rulers of the Fatherland”: The Hetmanate’s Cossack and Church Elite’s Concepts of the Nature, Representation, and Obligations of Authority (Up to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century) 499
  29. Fatherland in Early Eighteenth-Century Ukrainian Political Culture 528
  30. The Development of a Little Russian Identity and Ukrainian Nation-Building 542
  31. Constitutio Medievalis: The Politics of Language and the Language of Politics in the 1710 Constitution 560
  32. “In the Name of the Beloved Fatherland”: The Loyalty and Treason of Ivan Mazepa 579
  33. Cossack Historiography: A Vision of the Past and the Construction of Identities in the Hetmanate in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 598
  34. Contributors 629
  35. Index 637
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