W OKOWACH „SŁASTOLUBIA”. MICHAIŁ SZCZERBATOW JAKO KRYTYK ROSYJSKICH PRZEMIAN OBYCZAJOWYCH PO REFORMACH PIOTRA WIELKIEGO
IN THE CHAINS OF “SLASTOLUBIE”. MIKHAIL SHCHERBATOV AS A CRITIC OF CHANGES IN RUSSIAN CUSTOMS AFTER THE REFORMS OF PETER THE GREAT

Summary/Abstract: Background: In this article, the author deals with the analysis of Russian thinker Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Shcherbatov’s (1733–1790) views on the moral changes that took place in Russia after opening to the West as a result of Peter the Great’s reforms. Research purpose: The issues of the then profound revaluation in the sphere of Russians’ collective psyche that resulted from top-down Europeanization by the first Russian emperor, are little known in Poland, if at all. Therefore, it appears to be cognitively advantageous to attempt to try to bring them closer and systematize them. Methods: The article is based on the critical analysis of the 1786 political pamphlet O povreždenii nravov v Rossii, which was not published until 1858 in an émigré publication. The text cited comes from the second volume of Shcherbatov’s Works, published in 1898. Conclusions: Shcherbatov, often cited as the “crown” critic of Peter the Great’s reforms, is in fact only a harsh reviewer of the first Russian emperor’s doings to a limited extent, as he appreciated his modernization efforts. However, he condemned the long-term effects that Peter the Great may have not foreseen.

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