Page 79 - Beholding Liberty!

Ι.2
From Enlightenment to Patriotism
« [...] to stimulate the young people to have a zeal for their ancestral glory, seeing, that the first seeds and elements of the sciences, which enlighten Europe today, were born in their own country [...]»
increase in the production of Greek books, as we advance towards
the end of the 18th century and
the beginning of the 19th.
The distribution map of publications is broadened: Venice, Vienna, Constantinople, but also Corfu,
with Italian publications, Danubian Principalities (Jassy, Bucharest), Kydonies and Chios function
as centres of the Enlightenment
of the East. The circulation of books through pre-registration of subscribers counterbalances objective difficulties, such as long distances from
the printing centres. The book emerges as a tool for the dissemination
of enlightening messages.
Integrated in the wider context of
the renaissance in education is also
the discussion about language, in search of that linguistic form which will be more suitable for the education of the «many». Renowned is the dispute between supporters of the archaistic variety,
who thought that the spoken language
is inadequate for the expression and educational transmission of high
A. Korais, Preface to the translation of C. Beccaria’s treatise On crimes and punishments, 1802
concepts, and, on the other hand, followers of the demotic, which they considered as a vital prerequisite
for the awakening of the enslaved. Between the two ends of the meta-linguisitc continuum, stands Adamantios Korais, who advocated
the «middle ground» as a compromissing solution. Through this intellectual mobility and the «metakenosis/ dissemination» (the Greek term belongs to Korais) of European ideas, the Greeks acquire an all increasing consciousness that in their ancient ancestors and their civilization, which enjoyed high prestige in the West, they will find the symbolic grounds for their spiritual regeneration and pursuit of their freedom. Thus,
the historical identity of the Greeks begins to be shaped on the basis of their connection with the glorious ancient Greek past, simultaneously with
a strong sense of «co-existence»
within the European reality.
Thus, Enlightenment gradually
evolves into settled patriotism.