The Peasant And Modern Man In Vasile Băncilă’s Sociology
The Peasant And Modern Man In Vasile Băncilă’s Sociology

Summary/Abstract: The Romanian philosopher, sociologist, and ethicist Vasile Băncilă (1897-1979) distinguished himself during his lifetime by studying the phenomenon of celebration. The problem of celebration, however, was not the only one that concerned him, as the philosopher analyzed the difference between the Romanian peasant and modern man through his own sociological approach, which he called “spiritual organicism.” Băncilă dealt with this problem at an ideal-typical level. The Romanian peasant “in his ideation,” “uncontaminated by the city,” is characterized by his “patriarchal ethnicity,” “cosmic Christianity,” “providential thinking,” community spirit, and inclination to achieve “maximum festivity” through his “customs.” Băncilă opposes the peasant uncontaminated by the city to the modern man, whose birth certificate is the Renaissance. Thus, the modern man, not fully harmonized with the “fundamental reality,” is a “moral and metaphysical orphan” who tries, by putting his own person first (individualism), to subordinate general reality (the underlying reality, but also the nature that surrounds him) to his own will, aided by technology and erudition, in order to increase material well-being (epicureanism) and power, believing that he can bring heaven to earth by acting Faustian and pursuing unceasing progress.

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