RAŢIONALISM CULTURAL ŞI ROMÂNISM ÎN CONFERINŢELE LUI C. RĂDULESCU-MOTRU LA RADIO (1930-1941)
Cultural Rationalism and Romanian Spirit in the Radio Conferences of C. Rădulescu-Motru (1939-1941)

Summary/Abstract: Professor and cultural mentor for several generations of intellectuals, Constantin Rădulescu-Motru devised an original system of thinking through which he promoted a constructive scientific nationalism, stating the belonging of the Romanian people to the European family. His strong intellectual formation enabled him to reach a wide horizon towards large cultural spaces and various fields of activity, with special accomplishments in his academic, political la and cultural life. Through his entire activity, he sustained a Romanian culture of national specificity, in agreement with the value potential of the characteristics of the Romanian people and with the natural conditions of the country, in its process of synchronisation with the Western culture, connected with the new European spirituality. Amongst many cultural attitudes excessively polarysed in the direction of servitude as towards foreign cultures, the scholar engaged himself in the decisive battle for ’the local fulfillment of the European spirit’ and proved a balanced attitude, serving the desiderate of Europeanisation and universalisation of the Romanian culture. To the concept of Romanian spirit, he conferred the values of ethnicity integrated into the historical circumstances and the progress needs of the country, considering that the future of the nation could not be ensured but through the affirmation of the virtues of the national spirit. He thus promoted a type of nationalism outside the historical conditions of the Romanian people, focused on discipline and moral elevation, distanced from xenophobia and distinguished from orthodoxism. The identity signifiers of the Romanian spirit wove a strong fabric for the reiteration of several concepts widely debated in the Romanian interwar essay writing and press: creation and vocation, culture and civilisation, generation and spirituality, tradition and international cooperation. He was convinced that during his time, the nationalist credo could become a program of practical activity, ‘the catechism of our spirituality’, ‘a sacred depository of the past’ as well as ‘a guide destined to explore the future’. Defining the Romanian national interests, Constantin Rădulescu-Motru’s Romanian spirit presented itself as a political and cultural spirituality, with an ideology critical of the influence of foreign elements and constructive through the valorisation of the national values.

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