Slavophiles-Westernizers discourse on education in Russia in the mid-nineteenth century – mapping the research field

Abstract

An indispensable stage in research in the field of pedagogy is mapping the research field, i.e. drawing a map of directions of development of pedagogical thought and their characteristics, as well as ordering events and initiatives of educational practice. Due to the fact that the great majority of contemporary pedagogical phenomena have their historical antecedents, the analysis of the current educational reality, on which forecasting and designing activities for the future significantly depends, cannot do without indicating their sources, genesis and factors that influenced their course. The undertaking of such endeavors is all the more necessary when it concerns directions, phenomena and facts that are hardly or even completely unknown, the reception of which still influences the theory and practice of education. Such a little-known area of research as Russian pedagogy, which, despite its geographical proximity, is currently not of interest in Poland when dealing with detailed pedagogical explorations. The main goal of the article is to draw attention to the important dimension of such research. In the light of conducted explorations, it will be possible to understand what ideas and their pedagogical implementations have an impact on the formation of mental maps of contemporary Russians. This turns out to be extremely important, especially in the context of the current war situation in Ukraine, which is one of the elements of the implementation of the ideology of the Russian World (or russkij mir). The subject of research mapping will be the ideological Slavophiles-Westernizers discourse in Russia in the mid-nineteenth century and the exploration of the possibilities of its philosophical and pedagogical reconstruction. Admirers of education of the Russian World (ie. russkij mir) when explaining their educational proposals often refer to the views of its main participants. These include the Slavophiles such as Ivan Kireyevsky and Alexei Khomiakov, as well as representatives of the pro-Western option: Pyotr Chaadaev, Vissarion Belinsky, Alexander Herzen, Nikolai Chernyshevsky and Nikolai Dobrolyubov. The article will provide research questions, specific goals of exploration and its methodology, the essence of which is pedagogical hermeneutics and biography.

Keywords

• Slavophiles pedagogy
• Westernizers pedagogy
• history of education in Russia
• Russian pedagogy in 19th century