Rostovtseva, Yu. A. Ivan Trevogin’s Utopian Project ‘Scienti􀏐ic Sphere’ and Catherine’s the Great Educational Policy

Abstract: The subject under review of the present research article is the project ‘Scientific Sphere’ (1783) as one of the utopian writings of a rather unknown writer of the Age of Enlightenment, editor of the Parnassian Vedomosti Journal Ivan Trevogin. Despite the fact that was the unique writing, so far only the autobiography of the ‘projector’ has been published. Trevogin’s projects have been mentioned only partly in the research literature. One of his least-known writings is ‘Scientific Sphere’ or ‘Branch of Knowledge’. Meanwhile, that was one of the earliest writings of Ivan Trevogin. Despite its utopianism, this is a very important writing because it reflects peculiarities of education and science of Russia during the ruling of Catherine the Great. The project is viewed in terms of legislative reforms of Catherine the Great which is quite an unusual approach for the humanities. Besides Ivan Trevogin’s writings, Rostovtseva has also analyzed a number of sources on the history of Russian law such as Nakaz (1767) and ‘Edict on Establishment of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ (1783). The novelty of the offered method has allowed to significantly change traditional views on Trevogin’s utopian projects and show their dependence on the legislative policy of the Enlightened Absolutism. In fact, the writing was devoted to Catherine the Great and it is no accident that the writing had the same date as the establishing of the Russian Academy of Sciences. These and other facts have allowed to conclude that the Imperial Majesty’s Edit of 1783 and activities performed by St. Petersburg Academy could have a significant influence on Ivan Trevogin’s writing.

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