Petre Paul Negulescu (October 18, 1870 – September 28, 1951) was a
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n philosopher and conservative politician, known as a disciple and continuator of
Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu (; 15 February 1840 – 18 June 1917) was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the ''Junimea'' Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of ...
. Affiliated with Maiorescu's ''
Junimea
''Junimea'' was a Romanian literary society founded in Iași in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi. The foremost personali ...
'' society from his early twenties, he debuted as a
positivist and
monist
Monism attributes oneness or singleness (Greek: μόνος) to a concept e.g., existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished:
* Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., i ...
, attempting to reconcile
art for art's sake
Art for art's sake—the usual English rendering of ''l'art pour l'art'' (), a French slogan from the latter part of the 19th century—is a phrase that expresses the philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only 'true' art, is divorce ...
with an
evolutionist
Evolutionism is a term used (often derogatorily) to denote the theory of evolution. Its exact meaning has changed over time as the study of evolution has progressed. In the 19th century, it was used to describe the belief that organisms deliberate ...
philosophy of culture. He was a lecturer and tenured professor at the
University of Iași
The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mih ...
, where he promoted the ''Junimist'' lobby against left-wing competitors, and formalized his links with the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
in 1901. From 1910, he taught at the
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...
, publishing works on
Renaissance philosophy
The designation "Renaissance philosophy" is used by scholars of intellectual history to refer to the thought of the period running in Europe roughly between 1400 and 1600 (the dates shift forward for central and northern Europe and for areas such ...
and other historical retrospectives.
After World War I, Negulescu was an affiliate (later president) of the radical-conservative
People's Party, and an advocate of labor and education reform. Serving several terms in
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, he was twice the
Public Education Minister in the 1920s, but failed to enact his project for
vocational
A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. People can be given information about a new occupation through student orientation. Though now often used in non-religious co ...
-centered schooling.
By 1934, as an adversary of the nationalist far-right, he wrote tracts rejecting
biological determinism
Biological determinism, also known as genetic determinism, is the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by an individual's genes or some component of their physiology, generally at the expense of the role of the environment, whether i ...
of all sorts, and
scientific racism
Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism (racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies ...
in particular. Pushed in the minority by supporters of
statism
In political science, statism is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation and the means of production.
While in use sinc ...
, Negulescu supported
meritocracy
Meritocracy (''merit'', from Latin , and ''-cracy'', from Ancient Greek 'strength, power') is the notion of a political system in which economic goods and/or political power are vested in individual people based on talent, effort, and achiev ...
within the framework of
classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is a political tradition
Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system is embedded in a particular political culture.
Definition
Gabriel Almond defines it as "the particular patt ...
. He was sidelined by right-wing totalitarian regimes after 1940, and ultimately banned, shortly before his death, by the
communist regime
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
.
Biography
Early years and debut
Petre Negulescu is widely believed to have been born in
Ploiești
Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest.
The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commu ...
in October 1872. However, his early papers give his birth date as October 18, 1870, a date he probably concealed and replaced for vanity reasons.
[ Cronicar]
"Actualitatea"
in ''România Literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared on ...
'', Nr. 32/2000 As a youth, he attended
Saints Peter and Paul High School in his native city,
and subsequently enrolled in the sciences faculty of the University of Bucharest, being especially interested in mathematics. After hearing several lectures on the history of philosophy delivered by
Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu (; 15 February 1840 – 18 June 1917) was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the ''Junimea'' Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of ...
, he transferred to the literature and philosophy faculty, graduating in 1892.
[Stan Stoica, Dinu C. Giurescu, ''Dicționar biografic de istorie a României'', pp. 400-401. Bucharest: Editura Meronia, 2008. ] In March 1891, by that time a student of Maiorescu's, he began attending meetings of ''Junimea'' literary society, where he met
Simion Mehedinți
Simion Mehedinți (; October 19, 1868 – December 14, 1962) was a Romanian geographer, the founding father of modern Romanian geography, and a titular member of the Romanian Academy. A figure of importance in the ''Junimea'' literary club, ...
and
Mihail Dragomirescu
Mihail Dragomirescu (March 22, 1868 – November 25, 1942) was a Romanian aesthetician, literary theorist and critic.
Born in Plătărești, Călărași County, he completed primary school in his native village in 1881, followed by Bucharest's G ...
.
From his student days, Negulescu supported the patriotic activism of Romanians in
Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
-ruled
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
. In 1890, together with Mehedinți, he edited ''Memoriul studenților universitari români privitor la situația românilor din Transilvania și Ungaria'' ("A Memorandum of Romanian University Students Regarding the Situation of Romanians in Transylvania and Hungary"), a document that also appeared in French and was meant to draw European public attention to the
Magyarization
Magyarization ( , also ''Hungarization'', ''Hungarianization''; hu, magyarosítás), after "Magyar"—the Hungarian autonym—was an assimilation or acculturation process by which non-Hungarian nationals living in Austro-Hungarian Transleithan ...
policy of the
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
government. He belonged to the leadership committee of the
Cultural League for the Unity of All Romanians
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
, founded in Bucharest the same year.
Encouraged by his mentor, he completed his theoretical preparation at the universities of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
,
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. He became an associate professor in 1894, aged 22, in the history of modern philosophy and logic department of the
University of Iași
The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mih ...
.
[Bagdasar ''et al.'', p. 114] Both Negulescu and
Teohari Antonescu Teohari is a Romanian name that may refer to: Surname
* Claudiu Teohari (born 1981), Romanian stand up-comedian, writer, and actor
* Maria Teohari (1885–1975), Romanian astronomer Given name
* (1866–1910), archaeologist
* Teohari Georgescu ( ...
, the archaeologist, were moved there in a bid to ensure ''Junimea'' control over the university, and to consolidate the conservative circles of
Iași
Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...
, against a rising tide of socialist influence. Although he found the city "repulsive" and a "place of exile", Negulescu accepted his appointment as a political and cultural mission. He was soon disappointed by the local ''Junimea'' branch and its president,
N. Volenti, asking Maiorescu to send them better cultural material. In these early years, Negulescu was heavily indebted to Maiorescu's influence, down to oratory: he was known (and ridiculed) for copying Maiorescu's speech mannerisms. Also like Maiorescu, he was an atheist and a
positivist, who read religion in
functionalist terms.
[Ornea (1998, II), pp. 81–82]
Negulescu's publishing debut came in 1892, with a metaphysical essay, ''Critica apriorismului și a empirismului'' ("A Critique of
Apriorism
("from the earlier") and ("from the later") are Latin phrases used in philosophy to distinguish types of knowledge, justification, or argument by their reliance on empirical evidence or experience. knowledge is independent from current ex ...
and
Empiricism
In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empir ...
"), earning him the
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life.
According to its byl ...
award in philosophy.
The title indicates the two main philosophical currents rejected by Negulescu, who sought a middle road between
transcendental idealism
Transcendental idealism is a philosophical system founded by German philosopher Immanuel Kant in the 18th century. Kant's epistemological program is found throughout his '' Critique of Pure Reason'' (1781). By ''transcendental'' (a term that des ...
and resurgent
anti-realism
In analytic philosophy, anti-realism is a position which encompasses many varieties such as metaphysical, mathematical, semantic, scientific, moral and epistemic. The term was first articulated by British philosopher Michael Dummett in an argume ...
,
finalism
Teleology (from and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology" In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...
, and
theism
Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a supreme being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred to ...
. He found it in "realistic empiricism", a brand of
monism
Monism attributes oneness or singleness (Greek: μόνος) to a concept e.g., existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished:
* Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., i ...
,
evolutionism
Evolutionism is a term used (often derogatorily) to denote the theory of evolution. Its exact meaning has changed over time as the study of evolution has progressed. In the 19th century, it was used to describe the belief that organisms deliberate ...
and
scientism
Scientism is the opinion that science and the scientific method are the best or only way to render truth about the world and reality.
While the term was defined originally to mean "methods and attitudes typical of or attributed to natural scientis ...
that quoted heavily from
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest" ...
. His monistic outlook fell short of classical positivism and
historical materialism
Historical materialism is the term used to describe Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx locates historical change in the rise of class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. For Marx and his lifetime collaborat ...
, since it rehabilitated metaphysical inquiry as a legitimate pursuit. Various authors have regretfully noted that Negulescu never truly developed his tentative metaphysical system, which appeared to them inconclusive.
Against didacticism and historicism
Negulescu followed up with works of aesthetics, including: ''Psihologia stilului'' ("The Psychology of Style", 1892), ''Impersonalitatea și morala în artă'' ("Impersonality and Morality in Art", 1893), ''Religiunea și arta'' ("Religion and Art", 1894), ''Socialismul și arta'' ("Socialism and Art", 1895). Later, he published works of applied philosophy: ''Filosofia în viața practică'' ("Philosophy in Practical Life", 1896), and ''Rolul ideilor în progresul social'' ("The Role of Ideas in Social Progress", 1900).
The latter works, of which ''Psihologia stilului'' was serialized in Maiorescu's ''
Convorbiri Literare
''Convorbiri Literare'' ( Romanian: ''Literary Talks'') is a Romanian literary magazine published in Romania. It is among the most important journals of the nineteenth-century Romania.
History and profile
''Convorbiri Literare'' was founded by ...
'' journal, were also attacks against the socialist literary critic,
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea (born Solomon Katz; 1855, village of Slavyanka near Yekaterinoslav (modern Dnipro), then in Imperial Russia – 1920, Bucharest) was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and jour ...
, who had tackled ''Junimea''s
art for art's sake
Art for art's sake—the usual English rendering of ''l'art pour l'art'' (), a French slogan from the latter part of the 19th century—is a phrase that expresses the philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only 'true' art, is divorce ...
ideology with calls for
didacticism
Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is an emerging conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to ...
.
Dragomirescu and Negulescu remained the only two Maiorescu disciples who carried on his work in pure aesthetics; others, such as
Alexandru Philippide
Alexandru I. Philippide (; May 1, 1859 – August 12, 1933) was a Romanian linguist and philologist. Educated in Iași and Halle, he taught high school for several years until 1893, when he secured a professorship at the University of Iași tha ...
and
Constantin Rădulescu-Motru
Constantin Rădulescu-Motru (; born Constantin Rădulescu, he added the surname ''Motru'' in 1892; February 15, 1868 – March 6, 1957) was a Romanian philosopher, psychologist, sociologist, logician, academic, dramatist, as well as left-nat ...
, began as aestheticists, but later veered into more applied science. According to historian
Z. Ornea
Zigu Ornea (; born Zigu Orenstein Andrei Vasilescu"La ceas aniversar – Cornel Popa la 75 de ani: 'Am refuzat numeroase demnități pentru a rămâne credincios logicii și filosofiei analitice.' ", in Revista de Filosofie Analitică', Vol. II, N ...
, Negulescu stood further apart from Maiorescu not just because he questioned the more detailed aspects of his agenda, but also because he was a moderate, whereas Dragomirescu was a man of "rigid convictions" and "systematic dogmatism".
His polemic with the socialists, inaugurated in ''Psihologia stilului'', was largely tributary to the theories of Spencer,
Frédéric Paulhan, and
Jean-Marie Guyau
Jean-Marie Guyau (28 October 1854 – 31 March 1888) was a French philosopher and poet.
Guyau was inspired by the philosophies of Epicurus, Epictetus, Plato, Immanuel Kant, Herbert Spencer, and Alfred Fouillée, and the poetry and literature of ...
, trying to show that ''Junimism'' was more in tune with modern literary criticism. The implicit target was Dobrogeanu-Gherea, depicted by Negulescu as a pale imitator of
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...
and his "social destination" of art. However, with ''Religiunea și arta'', Negulescu went beyond Maiorescu's theories, and closer to Dobrogeanu-Gherea's, proposing that poetic art was not just a luxury of advanced societies, but also a functional entity that contributed to social progress.
He also proposed interpreting style and tastefulness as variables emerging from objective psychological criteria, such as the "economy of attention" and "nervous excitement". On this basis, he proposed a general hierarchy of art by appeal and subject matter, ranking
old Egyptian murals below
Italian Renaissance painting
Italian Renaissance painting is the painting of the period beginning in the late 13th century and flourishing from the early 15th to late 16th centuries, occurring in the Italian Peninsula, which was at that time divided into many political stat ...
, but above the minor art of medieval goldsmiths. He believed that art and religion served similar purposes in stirring up vital emotions, and amended the art for art's sake theory with his ideas on "impersonality", implying objectivity for the artist, but also a subjective, self-absorbed, relevancy for his artistic creation.
Negulescu spent those years traveling extensively in Europe, cementing his friendship with Maiorescu and with fellow ''Junimists''. In 1894, he and
Dumitru Evolceanu Dumitru Evolceanu (October 1, 1865–July 28, 1938) was a Romanian literary critic.
Born in Botoșani, he attended high school in his native city, followed by the literature faculty of Iași University, from which he graduated in 1889. He then ...
were in
Gräfenberg, where the latter was curing his "sexual neurasthenia". It was in that context that Negulescu discovered and promoted Evolceanu as a storyteller, the literary hope of ''Junimea''. Later, Maiorescu took Negulescu along on vacations to
Abbázia. In Romania and abroad, Negulescu spent much time with Antonescu, who left notes about Negulescu's eccentric habits, including his
asceticism
Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...
, complete sexual abstinence, and social awkwardness.
In 1894, Maiorescu wrote confidently that the stage now belonged to "the second-generation ''Junimea''", comprising Negulescu, Evolceanu, Antonescu, and Dragomirescu. While preparing for print ''Religiunea și arta'', Negulescu found himself caught in a conflict with
Nicolae Basilescu and other non-orthodox ''Junimists'', who rejected his theories from a
historicist
Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely u ...
perspective. In resisting Basilescu, he reaffirmed his purist reading of Maiorescu's credo, namely that "truth" was the universal artistic criterion, and formal perfection an objective trait. He restated these tenets in an extended polemic with the anti-''Junimist'' ideologue
N. Petrașcu
Nicolae Petrovici (; December 5, 1859 – May 24, 1944), known as Nicolae Petrașcu () and commonly rendered as N. Petrașcu or Pĕtrașcu,Garabet Ibrăileanu, "Edițiile poeziilor lui Eminescu (continuare)", in ''Viața Românească'', Nr. 3/1928, ...
, the bulk of which became a standalone essay, ''Lucruri vechi'' ("Old Things", 1898). However, by then, he himself had embraced some of Basilescu's historicist views about art as an expression of civilization, trying to bring them into agreement with arguments picked up from
Hippolyte Taine
Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (, 21 April 1828 – 5 March 1893) was a French historian, critic and philosopher. He was the chief theoretical influence on French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practition ...
. Negulescu still argued that subjectivity was the main driver of cultural accomplishment, citing extreme (and, according to Ornea, flawed) examples of artists and intellectuals who withstood all immersion in contemporary life, from
Galilei Galilei is a surname, and may refer to:
*Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), astronomer, philosopher, and physicist.
*Vincenzo Galilei
Vincenzo Galilei (born 3 April 1520, Santa Maria a Monte, Italy died 2 July 1591, Florence, Italy) was an Italian l ...
to
Ingres
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( , ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...
.
Rise to prominence
Negulescu rose to full professor in 1896, in spite of not having a doctorate; he benefited from Maiorescu's influence and intrigues.
Maiorescu preferred him over Rădulescu-Motru, who had parted with mainline ''Junimism''. Counteracting the anti-''Junimists'', Negulescu and Antonescu gave full support to Dragomirescu, when the latter presented his candidature for a professorship in Bucharest. Meanwhile, Negulescu had a personal conflict with philologist
Ilie Bărbulescu, intervening to have him denied employment at Iași. His teaching and research were supplemented by articles he wrote for various magazines, including ''Convorbiri Literare'' (of which he became an editor in 1895), ''Arhiva Societății Științifice și Literare'', and ''Revista Română Politică și Literară''.
The latter review was largely under his control, and marked his distancing from the Cultural League, publishing critical articles by
Ovid Densusianu
Ovid Densusianu (; also known under his pen name Ervin; 29 December 1873, Făgăraș – 9 June 1938, Bucharest) was a Romanian poet, philologist, linguist, folklorist, literary historian and critic, chief of a poetry school, university professor ...
.
According to biographer
Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu (; 31 October 1881 – 16 July 1943) was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the ''Sburătorul'' literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the u ...
, Negulescu was a monotonous intellectual, among the handful of students who lived up to Maiorescu's demand for "absolute fidelity" and "moral servitude". Eventually, Maiorescu even persuaded his pupil to consider marrying into a better-off family, and to renounce his "sickly romanticism". For a while in 1898, he was engaged to Mariette Dabija, the owner of a large country estate. Abandoning such plans, Negulescu remained a recluse and "pedantic"
teetotaler
Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or i ...
, also noted for his aversion to smoking.
Negulescu entered politics in 1901,
as a member of Maiorescu's
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
. He was seen by Maiorescu as a good minister in training,
[Lovinescu, p. 73] but, in his own account, he only rallied because his teacher had asked him to; overall, he resented political life and disliked the political class. In effect, he followed the ''Junimist'' or "constitutionalist" inner-Conservative faction, which was quasi-independent from the main party. The year 1902 also marked his split with the Cultural League, after the latter no longer invited him and other ''Junimea'' men to attend its congresses.
According to a note by their former student Ioan Lupu, before 1910 Antonescu and Negulescu were the most popular professors at Iași, their courses attended by more people than the halls could fit. In December 1910, upon Maiorescu's retirement,
Negulescu was finally transferred to the history and encyclopedia of philosophy department at Bucharest; his professorship in Iași was assigned in 1915 to another ''Junimea'' favorite,
Ion Petrovici
Ion (Ioan) Petrovici (June 14, 1882 – February 17, 1972) was a Romanian professor of philosophy at the University of Iași and titular member of the Romanian Academy. He served as Minister of National Education in the Goga cabinet and Ministe ...
. In Bucharest, his assistant was a
docent
The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...
,
Mircea Florian
Mircea Florian (; April 1, 1888 – October 31, 1960) was a Romanian philosopher and translator. Active mainly during the interwar period, he was noted as one of the leading proponents of rationalism, opposing it to the '' Trăirist'' philosophy o ...
, for whom Negulescu created a lecture-master's position in 1924. Negulescu became Florian's friend and godfather, but blocked his academic advancement, refusing to award him a full professorship. Reportedly, this was because he feared that Petrovici, whom he deeply resented, would use the opportunity and place a claim on a Bucharest chair.
Negulescu returned to philosophy with a two volumes of ''Filosofia Renașterii'' ("Renaissance Philosophy"), respectively published in 1910 and 1914.
He continued to maneuver in support of ''Junimea'' favorites, working to find
Mihai Ralea
Mihai Dumitru Ralea (also known as Mihail Ralea, Michel Raléa, or Mihai Rale;Straje, p. 586 May 1, 1896 – August 17, 1964) was a Romanian social scientist, cultural journalist, and political figure. He debuted as an affiliate of Poporanism, th ...
a professor's chair in Iași, and supporting
Dimitrie Gusti
Dimitrie Gusti (; 13 February 1880 – 30 October 1955) was a Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and voluntarist philosopher; a professor at the University of Iaşi and the University of Bucharest, he served as Romania's Minister of ...
,
Vasile Pârvan
Vasile Pârvan (; 28 September 1882, Huruiești, Perchiu, Huruiești, Bacău County – 26 June 1927, Bucharest) was a Romanian historian and archaeologist.
Biography
Vasile Pârvan came from a modest family, being the first child of the teach ...
and
Ion A. Rădulescu-Pogoneanu when they placed similar bids in Bucharest. He also tried (and failed) to rebuild trust between Maiorescu and the former ''Junimist'' playwright
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale (; commonly referred to as I. L. Caragiale; According to his birth certificate, published and discussed by Constantin Popescu-Cadem in ''Manuscriptum'', Vol. VIII, Nr. 2, 1977, pp. 179-184 – 9 June 1912) was a Romanian playw ...
. During that stage of his career, Negulescu exercised his influence on a new generation of philosophers, including
Eugeniu Sperantia Eugeniu Sperantia ( – January 11/12, 1972) was a Romanian poet, aesthetician, essayist, sociologist and philosopher.
He was born in Bucharest to folklorist Theodor Speranția and his wife Elena (''née'' Cruceanu), a relative of poet Mihail ...
,
Camil Petrescu
Camil Petrescu (; 9/21 April 1894 – 14 May 1957) was a Romanian playwright, novelist, philosopher and poet. He marked the end of the traditional novel era and laid the foundation of the modern novel era in Romania.
Life
Petrescu was born in Bu ...
, and
Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu (; January 8, 1898 – May 21, 1964) was a Romanian literary criticism, literary critic, art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, and translator. He had a major role on the reception and development of Modernism in Literature of Roma ...
. Petrescu was reportedly his favorite, considered an intellectual equal. Although better known as a novelist, Petrescu always credited Negulescu as an influence on his own work in philosophy and political theory.
World War I and People's Party
Negulescu was elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 1915.
A year later, Romania entered World War I, and suffered a
German invasion German invasion may refer to:
Pre-1900s
* German invasion of Hungary (1063)
World War I
* German invasion of Belgium (1914)
* German invasion of Luxembourg (1914)
World War II
* Invasion of Poland
* German invasion of Belgium (1940)
* G ...
. Negulescu fled occupied Bucharest, and in early 1917, took refuge in the
Russian Republic
The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federal Republic. in the Decree on the system of government of Russia (1918), 1918 Constitution, was a short-lived state (polity), state which controlled, ''de jure'', the territ ...
, at
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
. It was there that he came up with the idea of creating a new party "of National Renaissance", to challenge both the dominant
National Liberal Party (PNL) and the pro-German Conservatives, and to promote a functional
electoral democracy
Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a types of democracy, type of democracy where elected people Representation (politics), represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern liberal democr ...
. Over the following months, he co-opted members of the old establishment: the ''Junimist'' Gusti, the Conservative
Constantin Argetoianu
Constantin Argetoianu ( – 6 February 1955) was a Romanian politician, one of the best-known personalities of interwar Greater Romania, who served as the Prime Minister between 28 September and 23 November 1939. His memoirs, ''Memorii. Pentru ...
, and the PNL's
Constantin Angelescu
Constantin Angelescu (10 June 1869 – 14 September 1948) was a Romanian politician who served as ad interim/ acting Prime Minister of Romania for five days, between 30 December 1933 and 3 January 1934.
He was: Doctor of Medicine in Paris, Pleni ...
.
In April 1918, he entered the
Alexandru Averescu
Alexandru Averescu (; 9 March 1859 – 2 October 1938) was a Romanian marshal, diplomat and populist politician. A Romanian Armed Forces Commander during World War I, he served as Prime Minister of three separate cabinets (as well as being ''inter ...
-led People's League upon its establishment in Iași; in 1920, this would become the
People's Party (PP), for a while the main opposition force to the PNL.
Its mission, according to Negulescu, was to give legal expression to the revolutionary anti-PNL grievances. In November 1918, right after the
Armistice with Germany
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...
and at the height of
European revolutions, Negulescu's Bucharest home hosted negotiations between the radicalized PP and the
Socialist Party of Romania
The Socialist Party of Romania ( ro, Partidul Socialist din România, commonly known as ''Partidul Socialist'', PS) was a Romanian socialist political party, created on December 11, 1918 by members of the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PSDR) ...
(PS), during which it was proposed to turn Romania into a republic, in exchange for socialist participation in government.
Early in 1919, Negulescu presided over a Bucharest faculty of philosophy "review commission", tasked with investigating colleagues accused of having collaborated with the occupation authorities—such cases included Florian, Rădulescu-Motru, and Rădulescu-Pogoneanu. Negulescu was unenthusiastic about this assignment, and the investigations were cut short when he fell ill (or feigned illness), then resigned. This was the era of
Transylvania's union with Romania, which Negulescu fully endorsed, signing at least one petition addressed to the
Paris Peace Conference, pleading for the union's recognition.
Negulescu continued to take up anti-establishment causes, and, against Argetoianu's advice, convinced the People's League to abstain in protest from participating in the
November 1919 election. Although the negotiations of 1918 had failed, Negulescu supported a rapprochement with the PS. After the latter's leadership was arrested for its role in the
general strike of 1920, he appeared as a defense witness, arguing that striking was a legitimate tool within capitalist competition.
Elected to the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
in 1920,
he won a seat for
Prahova in the
Assembly of Deputies in 1926. After successfully competing with Petrovici for the position, he was twice
Public Education Minister under Averescu: March–December 1921 and March–June 1926.
His first term saw tensions inside the PP: Negulescu claimed to have exposed embezzlement by his Transylvanian subordinate,
Ioan Lupaș
Ioan Lupaș (9 August 1880 – 3 July 1967) was a Romanian historian, academic, politician, Orthodox theologian and priest. He was a member of the Romanian Academy.
Biography
Lupaș was born in Szelistye, now Săliște, Sibiu County (at the time ...
, but that such finds were covered by up on Averescu's order.
During his first term, Negulescu tried to implement a law on reforming
education in Romania
Education in Romania is based on a free-tuition, egalitarian system. Access to free education is guaranteed by Article 32 in the Constitution of Romania. Education is regulated and enforced by the Ministry of National Education. Each step has its ...
, that would undercut the PNL's project. However, as noted at the time by
Gheorghe Vlădescu-Răcoasa
Gheorghe Vlădescu-Răcoasa (October 22, 1895–December 17, 1989) was a Romanian sociologist, journalist, left-wing politician, and diplomat.
Biography Origins and work with Gusti
Born in Răcoasa, Vrancea County, his parents were Constanti ...
, "everything stood in his way". Writing at the time, social theorist
Ștefan Zeletin suggested that Negulescu's plan was daring and innovative, if heavily indebted to Germanic models and not fully responsive to actual social needs. Concluding that
intellectualism
Intellectualism is the mental perspective that emphasizes the use, the development, and the exercise of the intellect; and also identifies the life of the mind of the intellectual person. (Definition) In the field of philosophy, the term ''intell ...
had failed, Negulescu favored an 11-year pre-university education, with the introduction of unitary
vocational education
Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...
, the upgrading of
normal school
A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...
s, and the development of secondary education around "citizen schools". Another part of his program, on which he could agree with the PNL shadow minister, Angelescu, was the
Romanianization
Romanianization is the series of policies aimed toward ethnic assimilation implemented by the Romanian authorities during the 20th and 21st century. The most noteworthy policies were those aimed at the Hungarian minority in Romania, Jews and as ...
of Transylvanian schools, particularly those catering to
Hungarians
Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...
, and the secularization of
faith school
A faith school is a school in the United Kingdom that teaches a general curriculum but which has a particular religious character or formal links with a religious or faith-based organisation. The term is most commonly applied to state-funded fait ...
s. Negulescu wrote that he considered the measure imperative, because of the schools' alleged role in spreading
Hungarian irredentism
Hungarian irredentism or Greater Hungary ( hu, Nagy-Magyarország) are irredentist political ideas concerning redemption of territories of the historical Kingdom of Hungary. Targeting at least to regain control over Hungarian-populated areas in H ...
. However, he was lenient toward expressions of Hungarian resentment, vetoing a government clampdown on Hungarian nationalist protesters, and speaking out in Senate in favor of political tolerance; he suggested that Hungarians had reason to view the
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in ...
as a collective shock.
His party was ousted from power before he could enact the reform, and Angelescu overturned his conservative policies. His second term cut short by the political power shifts,
Negulescu was appointed
President of the Assembly, serving from July 1926, when Petrovici took over as Education Minister, and being reelected on November 14, before ultimately stepping down in June 1927. This period was one of political uncertainty: Negulescu's term coincided with revelations that
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
Ferdinand I was terminally ill with cancer, which renewed calls for a
national unity government
A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...
. His time in office also saw the adoption of labor legislation in April 1927.
He remained a vocal critic of Angelescu, noting the "dizzying" and "chaotic" opening of new schools under his mandate, arguing that the whole effort was low-quality and therefore deceptive.
Against racism
Over those years, Negulescu focused his research on the history of philosophy, as well as one practical and political issues. As noted by
Traian Herseni
Traian Herseni (February 18, 1907 – July 17, 1980) was a Romanian social scientist, journalist, and political figure. First noted as a favorite disciple of Dimitrie Gusti, he helped establish the Romanian school of rural sociology in the 1920s a ...
, this new interest was "related", albeit not in fact identical, to the
sociology of culture
The sociology of culture, and the related cultural sociology, concerns the systematic analysis of culture, usually understood as the ensemble of symbolic codes used by a member of a society, as it is manifested in the society. For Georg Simmel, ...
. Such works include: ''Reforma învățământului'' ("Education Reform", 1922), ''Partidele politice'' ("The Political Parties", 1926), ''Geneza formelor culturii'' ("The Genesis of Cultural Forms", 1934), ''Academia platonică din Florența'' ("The
Platonic Academy
The Academy (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαδημία) was founded by Plato in c. 387 BC in Classical Athens, Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum. The Academy ...
in Florence", 1936), ''
Nicolaus Cusanus'' (1937) and ''Destinul Omenirii'' ("The Destiny of Mankind", Vol. I, 1938; Vol. II, 1939).
With his new work in aesthetics, Negulescu expanded his system into
psychological determinism, from
personality type
In psychology, personality type refers to the psychological classification of different types of individuals. Personality types are sometimes distinguished from personality traits, with the latter embodying a smaller grouping of behavioral tendenc ...
s; he also proposed that art history was a continuous dialogue between "critical analysis" and "imagination", which succeeded and tempered each other. Scholar
Dan Grigorescu
Dan or DAN may refer to:
People
* Dan (name), including a list of people with the name
** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark
* Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa
**Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...
views ''Geneza formelor culturii'' as Negulescu's masterpiece, but notes that its system of references, comprising
Georges Dumas,
Joseph Jastrow
Joseph Jastrow (January 30, 1863 – January 8, 1944) was a Polish-born American psychologist, noted for inventions in experimental psychology, design of experiments, and psychophysics. He also worked on the phenomena of optical illusions, ...
,
Ernst Kretschmer
Ernst Kretschmer (8 October 18888 February 1964) was a German psychiatrist who researched the human constitution and established a typology.
Life
Kretschmer was born in Wüstenrot near Heilbronn. He attended Cannstatt Gymnasium, one of the ol ...
,
Theodor Lipps
Theodor Lipps (; 28 July 1851 – 17 October 1914) was a Germans, German philosopher, famed for his theory regarding aesthetics, creating the framework for the concept of ''Einfühlung'' (empathy)'','' defined as, "projecting oneself onto the ob ...
and
Paulin Malapert, was quickly outdated. At core, Grigorescu proposes, ''Geneza'' was a Renaissance idea, but also similar to contemporary musings by
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
and
Leslie White
Leslie Alvin White (January 19, 1900, Salida, Colorado – March 31, 1975, Lone Pine, California) was an American anthropologist known for his advocacy of the theories on cultural evolution, sociocultural evolution, and especially neoevoluti ...
.
At the university, Negulescu held a series of courses that were later also published: ''Enciclopedia filosofiei'' ("The Encyclopedia of Philosophy", 1924–1926), ''Istoria filosofiei. Pozitivismul francez contemporan'' ("A History of Philosophy. Contemporary French Positivism", 1924–1925), ''Problema ontologică'' ("The Ontological Issue", 1927–1928), ''Problema epistemologiei'' ("The Epistemological Issue", 1930–1932) and ''Enciclopedia filosofiei. Problema cosmologică'' ("The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Cosmological Issue", 1935–1937).
His work was carried in interwar newspapers and magazines, primarily the PP's ''
Îndreptarea'', ''
Ideea Europeană'', and ''Revista de Filosofie''.
Negulescu advanced to the rank of titular member of the Romanian Academy in 1936.
By then, he was an increasingly isolated critic of the prevailing cultural and political tendencies. Against the
protectionism
Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...
favored by the intellectual class, who felt threatened by the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, he developed a
meritocratic
Meritocracy (''merit'', from Latin , and ''-cracy'', from Ancient Greek 'strength, power') is the notion of a political system in which economic goods and/or political power are vested in individual people based on talent, effort, and achieve ...
and
classically liberal
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econom ...
scheme, outlined in ''Destinul Omenirii''. He suggested that intellectuals were clients of the state, who expected secure jobs in the bureaucracy, but who took no personal responsibility for their fate; he favored
deregulation
Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
and saw the crisis as an opportunity for advancement. Such ideas were expressly rejected by the young right-wing radicals
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanians, Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who establ ...
and
Mihail Polihroniade
Mihail Polihroniade (September 17, 1906 – September 22–23, 1939) was a Romanian historian and journalist.
Born in Brăila, he graduated from the law faculty of the University of Bucharest and worked as a lawyer. Initially a communist sympathiz ...
, who noted that, in his day, Negulescu had had an irreplicable chance at social advancement. Criticism also came in from the left: the communist philosopher
Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu
Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu (; November 4, 1900 – April 17, 1954) was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania (PCR), also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he w ...
argued that ''Destinul Omenirii'' was no longer in keeping with Negulescu's earlier materialistic monism, but "finalistic" and borderline "mystical".
''Geneza formelor culturii'', which sought to discover the natural preconditions of individual philosophical stances, was primarily a critique of popular
biological determinism
Biological determinism, also known as genetic determinism, is the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by an individual's genes or some component of their physiology, generally at the expense of the role of the environment, whether i ...
, including
degeneration theory
Social degeneration was a widely influential concept at the interface of the social and biological sciences in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century, scientific thinkers including Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, Johann Fr ...
and
psychoanalytic theory
Psychoanalytic theory is the theory of personality organization and the dynamics of personality development that guides psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology. First laid out by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century, psyc ...
. To these, he opposed a combination of functionalism,
mutationism
Mutationism is one of several alternatives to evolution by natural selection that have existed both before and after the publication of Charles Darwin's 1859 book ''On the Origin of Species''. In the theory, mutation was the source of novelty, cr ...
, and
environmental determinism
Environmental determinism (also known as climatic determinism or geographical determinism) is the study of how the physical environment predisposes societies and states towards particular development trajectories. Jared Diamond, Jeffrey Herbst, ...
. In ''Geneza'', but also in his public pronouncements, Negulescu stood out as a vocal antifascist and a critic of
scientific racism
Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism (racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies ...
. He had a polemic with the staff of the far-right ''
Gândirea
''Gândirea'' ("The Thinking"), known during its early years as ''Gândirea Literară - Artistică - Socială'' ("The Literary - Artistic - Social Thinking"), was a Romanian literary, political and art magazine.
Overview
Founded by Cezar Pet ...
'', arguing against them that neither biology, nor the
Romanian Orthodox
The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates i ...
ethos, made for concrete realities in grounding national identity and a "national philosophy"; in his view, "nation" was a
social construct
Social constructionism is a theory in sociology, social ontology, and communication theory which proposes that certain ideas about reality, physical reality arise from collaborative consensus, instead of pure observation of said reality. The ...
with no biological basis. Moreover, Negulescu separated "peaceful and productive"
liberal nationalism
Civic nationalism, also known as liberal nationalism, is a form of nationalism identified by political philosophers who believe in an inclusive form of nationalism that adheres to traditional liberal values of freedom, tolerance, equality, in ...
from its
ethnic
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
counterpart. Implicitly and explicitly, Negulescu also took a stand against the radically fascist and antisemitic
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard ( ro, Garda de Fier) was a Romanian militant revolutionary fascist movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel Michael () or the Legionnaire Movement (). It was strongly ...
.
His work upheld the notion that
miscegenation
Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
was inescapable and observable in
Romanian ethnogenesis, and expressed skepticism toward racial
serology
Serology is the scientific study of Serum (blood), serum and other body fluids. In practice, the term usually refers to the medical diagnosis, diagnostic identification of Antibody, antibodies in the serum. Such antibodies are typically formed in r ...
studies, taken up locally by
Sabin Manuilă
Sabin Manuilă (or Mănuilă; February 19, 1894 – November 20, 1964) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian statistician, demographer and physician. A nationalist activist during World War I, he became noted for his pioneering research into the ...
. Such observations may have contributed to curbing the influence of
Nazi racialism on Romanian
eugenicists
Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...
such as Ovidiu Comșia. However,
Nichifor Crainic
Nichifor Crainic (; pseudonym of Ion Dobre ; 22 December 1889, Bulbucata, Giurgiu County – 20 August 1972, Mogoșoaia) was a Romanian writer, editor, philosopher, poet and theology, theologian famed for his traditionalist activities. Crai ...
of ''Gândirea'' restated the racialist argument in 1934, in a brochure which referred to Negulescu as an "old philosopher shaped by the ideological school of the bygone century".
Although celebrated at an official level, Negulescu was losing the respect of his students, who visited him in his salon and heard him speak for hours. One of them, the diarist
Jeni Acterian, complained that the Negulescu home was "sinister". The professor himself, she argued, was "smart" but "dry to the bone", his voice "raucous and monotonous". By his own standards, Negulescu insisted that a professor's job was not primarily about transmitting information, but about "advancing the science." Also a student of his, Eliade recalled him as an "honest" man of great "self-discipline", but generally "colorless". The target of his jibes against metaphysics, he argued that Negulescu's scientism was most of all shaped by
popular science
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
. They quarreled most bitterly about Eliade's study of
Indian philosophy
Indian philosophy refers to philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. A traditional Hindu classification divides āstika and nāstika schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Veda ...
, which Negulescu refused to allow in his university.
Persecution and final years
While speaking out against fascism, Negulescu was also critical of the authoritarian King
Carol II
Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. The eldest son of Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I in 1914. He was the first of th ...
who, from 1934, used the
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
against both the Iron Guard and liberal democrats. In March 1935, alongside envoys from other groups, he participated in negotiations with
Grigore Filipescu
Grigore N. Filipescu (also known as Griguță Filipescu, Francization, Francized as ''Grégoire Filipesco''; October 1, 1886 – August 25, 1938) was a Romanian politician, journalist and engineer, the chief editor of ''Epoca (Romania), Epoca'' da ...
's new
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, seeking a common platform against censorship and repression. Shortly before the start of World War II, Negulescu and Filipescu's political vision was defeated by the rise of successive fascist regimes. The first of these was the
National Renaissance Front
The National Renaissance Front ( ro, Frontul Renașterii Naționale, FRN; also translated as ''Front of National Regeneration'', ''Front of National Rebirth'', ''Front of National Resurrection'', or ''Front of National Renaissance'') was a Romani ...
(FRN), established by Carol. As noted by scholar
Maria Bucur
Maria Bucur (born 2 September 1968 in Bucharest, Romania) is an American-Romanian historian of modern Eastern Europe and gender in the twentieth century. She has written on the history of eugenics in Eastern Europe, memory and war in twentieth-cent ...
, it formalized the clientele system that Negulescu had spoken out against. In February 1938, Averescu resigned the PP presidency and joined the king's supporters; Negulescu replaced him as the head of the moribund party, which survived until the
authoritarian constitution came into force later that year, and possibly dissolved itself voluntarily.
In 1940, aged 70, Negulescu was forced to retire by the Iron Guard's
National Legionary State
The National Legionary State was a Totalitarianism, totalitarian Fascism, fascist regime which governed Kingdom of Romania, Romania for five months, from 14 September 1940 until its official dissolution on 14 February 1941. The regime was led by ...
regime, the onset of a political purge.
Partly recovered by the regime of
Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II.
A Romanian Army career officer who made ...
, in March 1941 he worked with Gusti,
Mihai Ciucă
Mihai Ciucă (18 August 1883–20 February 1969) was a Romanian bacteriologist and parasitologist.
Biography
He was born into a family of teachers in Săveni, Dorohoi County, in the Moldavia region, and spent his childhood in his native vil ...
,
Radu R. Rosetti
Radu R. Rosetti ( – June 2, 1949) was a Romanian brigadier general, military historian, librarian, and a titular member of the Romanian Academy.
Biography Early years
Born in Căiuți, Bacău County, he was part of the old ''boyar'' Rosetti fam ...
, and
Liviu Rebreanu
Liviu Rebreanu (; November 27, 1885 – September 1, 1944) was a Romanian novelist, playwright, short story writer, and journalist.
Life
Born in Felsőilosva (now Târlișua, Bistrița-Năsăud County, Transylvania), then part of the Kingd ...
on an Academy reform project. It called for increased national propaganda in the Romanian rump state, to compensate for the losses of
Bessarabia
Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...
and
Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania ( ro, Transilvania de Nord, hu, Észak-Erdély) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of ...
during the previous year. His inaugural speech at the Academy, held that May, dealt with generational conflict and the factor of progress.
In 1942, during Petrovici's term as Education Minister, Vasile Netea of ''
Vremea'' magazine interviewed him on the topic of education policies.
Negulescu had a brief return to cultural prominence in 1945, during a democratic interlude that came after the
fall of Antonescu. His political stances were probed by
Ion Biberi, in an interview that was published in ''Democrația'' weekly. In June 1948, the new
communist regime
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
stripped him of membership in the Academy.
In his late years, he was persecuted and branded a "decadent" philosopher by the official ideologist,
Constantin Ionescu Gulian.
Negulescu died in obscurity, aged 80, and was buried in Plot 92 of
Bellu cemetery
Șerban Vodă Cemetery (commonly known as Bellu Cemetery) is the largest and most famous cemetery in Bucharest, Romania.
It is located on a plot of land donated to the local administration by Baron Barbu Bellu. It has been in use since 1858. T ...
. In the 1960s,
communist censorship of his work became more lenient, and, by 1979, he was effectively
rehabilitated. From 1969 to 1977, volumes of his unpublished works (including university lectures) were put out by the Academy, under the care of Al. Posescu and N. Gogoneață.
[Nastasă (2007), p. 463]
Notes
References
*
Nicolae Bagdasar,
Traian Herseni
Traian Herseni (February 18, 1907 – July 17, 1980) was a Romanian social scientist, journalist, and political figure. First noted as a favorite disciple of Dimitrie Gusti, he helped establish the Romanian school of rural sociology in the 1920s a ...
, S. S. Bârsănescu, ''Istoria filosofiei moderne, V. Filosofia românească dela origini până astăzi''. Bucharest: Romanian Philosophical Society, 1941.
*
Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia (born 1 February 1944 in Bucharest) is a Romanian historian. He is mostly known for his debunking of historical myths about Romania, for purging mainstream Romanian history from the deformations due to ideological propaganda. I.e. as ...
,
**''"Germanofilii". Elita intelectuală românească în anii Primului Război Mondial''. Bucharest:
Humanitas
''Humanitas'' is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below.
Classical origins of term
The Latin word ''humanitas'' corresponded to the Greek concepts of '' philanthr ...
, 2010.
**''Capcanele istoriei. Elita intelectuală românească între 1930 și 1950''. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2012.
*
Maria Bucur
Maria Bucur (born 2 September 1968 in Bucharest, Romania) is an American-Romanian historian of modern Eastern Europe and gender in the twentieth century. She has written on the history of eugenics in Eastern Europe, memory and war in twentieth-cent ...
, ''Eugenics and Modernization in Interwar Romania''. Pittsburgh:
University of Pittsburgh Press
The University of Pittsburgh Press is a scholarly publishing house and a major American university press, part of the University of Pittsburgh. The university and the press are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States.
The press ...
, 2002.
*Lucian T. Butaru, ''Rasism românesc. Componenta rasială a discursului antisemit din România, până la Al Doilea Război Mondial''. Cluj-Napoca: EFES, Cluj-Napoca, 2010.
*Ion Constantinescu, "Din însemnările unui fost reporter parlamentar, 1919–1939. V. Madgearu: 'Rechinii așteaptă prada!'", in ''
Magazin Istoric
''Magazin Istoric'' ( en, The Historical Magazine) is a Romanian monthly magazine.
Overview
''Magazin Istoric'' was started in 1967. The first issue appeared in April 1967. The headquarters is in Bucharest. The monthly magazine contains articles ...
'', October 1971, pp. 77–87.
*
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanians, Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who establ ...
, ''Autobiography: 1907–1937, Journey East, Journey West''. Chicago & London:
University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...
, 1990.
*
Dan Grigorescu
Dan or DAN may refer to:
People
* Dan (name), including a list of people with the name
** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark
* Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa
**Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...
, ''Istoria culturii și neliniștile ei''. Bucharest:
Editura Eminescu, 1992.
*Cornel Grofșorean, ''Curentele social-politice contemporane. Critica materialismului istoric''. Timișoara: Atheneu, 1934.
*Bogdan Cristian Iacob, "Avatars of the Romanian Academy and the Historical Front: 1948 versus 1955", in
Vladimir Tismăneanu
Vladimir Tismăneanu (; born July 4, 1951) is a Romanian American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. A specialist in political systems and comparative politics, he is di ...
(ed.), ''Stalinism Revisited: The Establishment of Communist Regimes in East-Central Europe'', pp. 255–282. Budapest:
CEU Press.
*
Irina Livezeanu
Irina Livezeanu (born 1952) is a Romanian-American historian. Her research interests include Eastern Europe, Eastern European Jewry, the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, and modern nationalism. Several of her publications deal with the history of Roma ...
, ''Cultural Politics in Greater Romania''. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press
The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University; currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, making it the first university publishing enterprise in th ...
, 2000.
*
Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu (; 31 October 1881 – 16 July 1943) was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the ''Sburătorul'' literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the u ...
, ''T. Maiorescu și posteritatea lui critică''. Bucharest: Casa Școalelor, 1943.
*Lucian Nastasă,
**''"Suveranii" universităților românești. Mecanisme de selecție și promovare a elitei intelectuale'', Vol. I. Cluj-Napoca:
Editura Limes, 2007.
**''Intimitatea amfiteatrelor. Ipostaze din viața privată a universitarilor "literari" (1864–1948)''. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Limes, 2010.
*
Z. Ornea
Zigu Ornea (; born Zigu Orenstein Andrei Vasilescu"La ceas aniversar – Cornel Popa la 75 de ani: 'Am refuzat numeroase demnități pentru a rămâne credincios logicii și filosofiei analitice.' ", in Revista de Filosofie Analitică', Vol. II, N ...
,
**''Anii treizeci. Extrema dreaptă românească''. Bucharest:
Editura Fundației Culturale Române, 1995.
**''Junimea și junimismul'', Vols. I-II. Bucharest:
Editura Minerva
Editura Minerva is one of the largest publishing houses in Romania. Located in Bucharest, it is known, among other things, for publishing classic Romanian literature, children's books, and scientific books.
The company was founded in Bucharest in ...
, 1998.
*
Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu
Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu (; November 4, 1900 – April 17, 1954) was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania (PCR), also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he w ...
, ''Curente și tendințe în filozofia românească''. Bucharest:
Editura Socec, 1946.
*
Constantin Titel Petrescu
Constantin Titel Petrescu (5 February 1888 – 2 September 1957) was a Romanian politician and lawyer. He was the leader of the Romanian Social Democratic Party.
He was born in Craiova, the son of an employee of the National Bank in Buchare ...
, ''Socialismul în România. 1835 – 6 septembrie 1940''. Bucharest: Dacia Traiana,
. y.
*Eufrosina Popescu, "Crearea Ligii poporului și activitatea ei pînă în martie 1920", in ''Studii. Revistă de Istorie'', Nr. 2/1968, pp. 337–354.
*Szilárd Tóth, "Problema învățământului minorității maghiare în dezbaterile parlamentare din România interbelică", in Vasile Ciobanu, Sorin Radu (eds.), ''Partide politice și minorități naționale din România în secolul XX'', Vol. IV, pp. 109–130. Sibiu: TechnoMedia, 2009.
*
Ștefan Zeletin, "Noui principii de reformă a învățământului", in ''Arhiva pentru Știință și Reformă Socială'', Nr. 6/1923, pp. 718–730.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Negulescu, Petre P.
1870 births
1951 deaths
Romanian philosophers
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