Просветителският идеал на един възрожденец
The Enlightenment Ideal of a Revival Activist

Marko Balabanov and His Idea of a Bulgarian Higher School before the Liberation

Summary/Abstract: The article argues the historical relevance of a non-trivial Enlightenment view – that of Marko Balabanov regarding higher education in Bulgaria as an urgent historical necessity even under the conditions of lack of political freedom, and regarding the creation of a Bulgarian higher school as a public institution within the boundaries of the Turkish Empire. The author claims that Marko Balabanov's view attests to an enlightened and sound reasoning in the context of his socially responsible political philosophy; the idea in question was much more adequate to the historical needs of Bulgarian society in the second half of the 19th century than was the revolutionary and democratic ideal of political independence, an ideal that assigned a subordinate place to education. The article dwells in particular 1) on Balabanov’s more general view about education as the vital component of human development and 2) as the unavoidable precondition of political freedom; on 3) his idea regarding the catch-up role of a “purely“ Bulgarian higher school in the context of the rather low educational level of the mass of people; and on 4) his understanding of the autonomous value of scientific knowledge.

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