Fifteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

At the end of the nineteenth century, an intense discussion emerged about Latin and Greek language as subjects in secondary school curriculum in the Nordic countries. German language had made an entrance in the academic life, and Latin was losing its position. National languages became a necessity as the education system expanded, including practical skills for people. Why was the Greek language still seen as important part of curriculum? Nordic countries had a state philosophy influenced by German New Humanism, leading philosophers being M.J. Monrad, J. W Snellman and C. J. Boström. G.W.F. Hegel’s intellectual legacy was stronger in Norway and Finland than in Sweden, while the concept ”Bildung”, and ideas of Immanuel Kant were essential constituents in all Nordic ethical theories. olitical emancipation, and widening of suffrage, became an important political issue first in Sweden, then in Norway and Finland. This meant that many institutions emphasizing church and science, which had emerged in the Middle Ages, no longer reflected contemporary period. In those circumstances German New Humanism built up a link between the classical Greece culture and societal turmoils in the end of the nineteenth century. In this study, some main arguments from Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish parliamentary debates concerning Greek language and Greece culture – echoing ideas of the leading philosophers, by themselves or by their disciples – are examined.