Honesty as a Trait of Non-Civilized Man in the French Image of Southern Slavs at the Turn of the 18th and 19th Centuries
Honesty as a Trait of Non-Civilized Man in the French Image of Southern Slavs at the Turn of the 18th and 19th Centuries

Author(s): Wojciech Sajkowski
Subject(s): Philosophy, Psychology, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Morlachs; Montenegrins; sincerity; falseness; Enlightenment; Dalmatia; Illyrian Provinces
Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the French view on the morality of peoples considered uncivilized, specifically Southern Slavs inhabiting the territories of today’s Croatia and Montenegro. The problem of morality is analyzed first of all in the context of natural honesty, which was attributed to peoples considered uncivilized. The analysis uses not only the testimonies of French authors, but also French-language descriptions that were popular in France during the Enlightenment, especially the works of Alberto Fortis and Stefano Zannowich. These sources shaping the image of the Morlachs (Slavic shepherds living in provincial Dalmatia) or Montenegrins, which were popular in the second half of the 18th century, are compared with documents related to French rule in Dalmatia (1806–1813). The analysis has allowed to show what place the Slavic communities living in the peripheries of Europe at the time had in the Enlightenment’s discussions on the morality of civilized and savage people.

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