ABSTRACT
This is clearly a very broad subject. I shall therefore assume that we agree in general on the use of the word ‘Enlightenment’ to describe an intellectual movement in which reason was winning the battle over revelation in the field of ideas, the validity of many traditional institutions was being questioned, the authority of the Church was being disputed and, as the eighteenth century wore on, the legitimacy of the dominant form of government on the continent of Europe, namely royal absolutism, was being increasingly undermined. 1 In addition, rulers open to these influences were moved to embark on what was perceived at the time to be programmes of reform, political, social or economic as the case might be, in order to maximize in the most rational way the resources of their respective states. In attempting to analyse the influence of the Enlightenment in Russia, however, one must face the problem of detaching this one particular broad current of ideas from the general cultural life of the country as it was remodelled as a result of Peter I’s reforms.
