Politics and Technology in Eighteenth-Century Russia
The Argument The question posed by this paper is why the Russian autocracy failed to pursue successfully Peter the Great's conscious policy of creating a society dominated by technique and competitive with technological levels achieved by Western Europe. The brief answer is that Peter's id...
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1995
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0269889700002052 2024-03-03T08:46:31+00:00 Politics and Technology in Eighteenth-Century Russia Rieber, Alfred J. 1995 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0269889700002052 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0269889700002052 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Science in Context volume 8, issue 2, page 341-368 ISSN 0269-8897 1474-0664 History and Philosophy of Science General Social Sciences journal-article 1995 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0269889700002052 2024-02-08T08:42:36Z The Argument The question posed by this paper is why the Russian autocracy failed to pursue successfully Peter the Great's conscious policy of creating a society dominated by technique and competitive with technological levels achieved by Western Europe. The brief answer is that Peter's idea of a cultural revolution that would create new values and institutions hospitable to the introduction of technology clashed with powerful interests within society. The political opposition centered around three groups which were indispensable to the state in fulfilling his vision: the nobility, the clergy, and the scientific establishment. Peter's original intention was to combine theoretical models and technology transfer from the West with educational reforms in Russia to produce new cadres of technical specialists. He attempted to adapt the Leibniz-Wolff cosmology to Russian conditions in order to reconcile ideological conflicts between military service and technical training, science and religion, theory and practice. The embodiment of his ideas in Russian science and religion were Mikhail Lomonosov and Feofan Prokopovich. Under his successors Peter's supporters encountered increased resistance: from the nobility to technical education, from the clergy to the scientific outlook, and from the Academy of Sciences to practical work. All three interest groups were willing to sacrifice real political rights for a recognition by the states of their autonomy to define their social roles. In the end the compromise was effected at the expense of Peter's ideal of the society dominated by technique. Article in Journal/Newspaper Mikhail Lomonosov Cambridge University Press Science in Context 8 2 341 368 |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
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English |
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History and Philosophy of Science General Social Sciences |
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History and Philosophy of Science General Social Sciences Rieber, Alfred J. Politics and Technology in Eighteenth-Century Russia |
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History and Philosophy of Science General Social Sciences |
description |
The Argument The question posed by this paper is why the Russian autocracy failed to pursue successfully Peter the Great's conscious policy of creating a society dominated by technique and competitive with technological levels achieved by Western Europe. The brief answer is that Peter's idea of a cultural revolution that would create new values and institutions hospitable to the introduction of technology clashed with powerful interests within society. The political opposition centered around three groups which were indispensable to the state in fulfilling his vision: the nobility, the clergy, and the scientific establishment. Peter's original intention was to combine theoretical models and technology transfer from the West with educational reforms in Russia to produce new cadres of technical specialists. He attempted to adapt the Leibniz-Wolff cosmology to Russian conditions in order to reconcile ideological conflicts between military service and technical training, science and religion, theory and practice. The embodiment of his ideas in Russian science and religion were Mikhail Lomonosov and Feofan Prokopovich. Under his successors Peter's supporters encountered increased resistance: from the nobility to technical education, from the clergy to the scientific outlook, and from the Academy of Sciences to practical work. All three interest groups were willing to sacrifice real political rights for a recognition by the states of their autonomy to define their social roles. In the end the compromise was effected at the expense of Peter's ideal of the society dominated by technique. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rieber, Alfred J. |
author_facet |
Rieber, Alfred J. |
author_sort |
Rieber, Alfred J. |
title |
Politics and Technology in Eighteenth-Century Russia |
title_short |
Politics and Technology in Eighteenth-Century Russia |
title_full |
Politics and Technology in Eighteenth-Century Russia |
title_fullStr |
Politics and Technology in Eighteenth-Century Russia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Politics and Technology in Eighteenth-Century Russia |
title_sort |
politics and technology in eighteenth-century russia |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1995 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0269889700002052 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0269889700002052 |
genre |
Mikhail Lomonosov |
genre_facet |
Mikhail Lomonosov |
op_source |
Science in Context volume 8, issue 2, page 341-368 ISSN 0269-8897 1474-0664 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0269889700002052 |
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Science in Context |
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8 |
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2 |
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341 |
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368 |
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