Publication Details

Abstract

The paper gives an account of Štěpan Launer’s conception od modernization as developed in his work The Nature of Slavdom. The theoretical background of the paper is the distinction between national-emancipatory project, based on ethnic identity, and the modernization project, which focused on education and shared political (civic) identity indifferent to the emancipatory agenda of the linguistic nationalism. The basis of Launer’s considerations is philosophy of history, deriving from Hegel’s thesis, according to which the subjects of progress are always nations, which create the history and represent the standard. Launer does not believe in romantic philosophy of revealing a specific common identity. Rather, he claims, that a civilization/historical achievment is possible only through adopting contemporary educational standard. In this sense, the contribution of Slavdom to the history is possible only through creative adopting of the contemporary English -French-Italian-German educational standards, rather than on the basis of a primordial constitution od national entity with its ideologically justified historical mission.