Finland marks bicentenary of birth of J.V. Snellman
Philosopher saw creation of national identity as interim phase en route to universal humanity
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By Pekka Wahlstedt
Johan Vilhem Snellman (1806-1881) is known as a man who promoted a national awakening in Finland, by fighting for national independence, promoting the Finnish language, and helping establish a national currency. The time of nationalism is getting to be a distant and fading memory in a globalised world, just like the 100 markka banknote adorned by Snellman's image.
A number of books published to mark the bicentenary of Snellman's birth reveal that the common perception, that Snellman was a mere nationalist, is one-sided and narrow.
Snellman was surprisingly versatile and modern both as a social figure and as a philosopher. He was not merely a local figure defending Finnishness, but rather a man who constantly travelled and looked toward Europe, and who supported both ideological and economic reforms.
Snellman lived at a time in which the old hierarchical society based on estates was beginning to crumble, and new liberal ideas were coming forward. He was a man of a transitional age, who was influenced in his work for a national awakening by that which was old, and that which was new. The goal was to place Finland on the world map as an equal to other nations.
The creation of cognitive civilisation was important, but just as important was the building of its material and economic prerequisites.
The most noticeable figure behind his philosophical thinking was Hegel, from whom Snellman absorbed the notion that world history is an expresseion of the "World Mind". This expresses itself in different national minds, each of which represents a certain stage of its development.
National Socialism was also based its worship of the state on the view of the nation as an organic whole. However, Snellman emphasised that civilised individuals must freely interpret and choose that which is the true will of the national mind and the common good of the country.
Snellmanin Suomi ("Snellman's Finland") by philosopher Mikko Lahtinen puts special emphasis on the idea that Snellman was to a great extent an heir to the philosophers of the enlightenment.
The ceaseless questioning of authority and the severe criticism of prevailing conditions is important - not the construction of massive systems.
All of the books published so far in the bicentenary year emphasise that for Snellman, philosophy was merely a practical tool which is tested and tried in the reality of activity.
Snellman's most important works were not his heavy philosophical volumes that were difficult to understand, but rather the newspapers Saima and later Literaturblad, with which he sought to spread civilisation to a wider audience. Also topical is the challenge that he threw to the universities, according to which university people should be outspoken in the press on social issues.
Snellman's criticism, according to which the press should develop and refine the taste of the nation, and not sink to the level of the nation, could apply to today's media as well. He mercilessly lashed out at the format entertainment, that was emerging at the time - imitation and copying of foreign journals in the hope of fast money.
Snellman, who eagerly travelled around Europe, certainly did not oppose absorbing influences from others - he merely felt that those influences needed to be given an original and inimitable form.
Snellman is also known for having wanted to raise the status of the Finnish language. In his day, the intelligentsia mainly spoke Swedish, and the common people, who were alienated from the intelligentsia, spoke Finnish.
Two books, J.V. Snellman by Marja Jalava and Valtioviisas vaikuttaja ("Influential Statesman") by Raija Majamaa and Leeni Tiirakari, stipulate that in Snellman's view, there are no thoughts without language, and that thought and language are tightly bound together. The Finnish language opens the road to the world and the ways of thinking of the population at large. A divided nation cannot be in the interests of the National Mind.
It was important to raise the material and spiritual well-being of the whole nation.
In France, Snellman had noticed that the common people read newspapers, visited art exhibitions, and were active in every way, whereas in Finland, the people had turned inward under Tsarist oppression, and turned passive.
The public school system, which he actively promoted, was for him a university for the common people. He felt that its teachers should also be recruited from amongst the same people.
Snellman put a great priority on economic entrepreneurship, and was in favour of free enterprise. However, for him, civilisation was the goal, and the economy and technology were mere means to that end. Through the increase in free time, they would create better prerequisites for unselfish cultivation of the spirit. For him, the state represented a power that balanced out economic selfishness and conflicts.
The possibilities for material well-being of the people were to be improved, not through handouts that made people passive, but rather by offering opportunities for work.
Snellman criticised land-owning farmers for oppressing the landless. Farmers would hire the latter for short-term jobs during the summer, and send them away in the winter to beg along the roads.
Snellman was stubborn and argumentative by nature. Although official censorship constantly blocked his projects, and although many friends who had been given comfortable jobs turned their backs on him in times of distress, he did not give up. Instead, he kept on more enthusiastically than ever.
He tried to live as he taught - rejecting charitable gifts. The father of the Finnish currency was in debt throughout his life.
Hellästi rakastettu puolisoni ("My Dearly Beloved Spouse"), a compilation of letters exchanged between Snellman and his wife, and Jalava's J.V. Snellman, bring out a different kind of man - one who was anguished and easily hurt. The man, who had been battered by the world, writes to his young and tender wife that a peaceful and secure home is ultimately the most important thing in the world.
Jalava notes that even though Snellman adhered to Hegel's idea of dialectics, according to which nothing is permanent except change, one factor did not change for him; women were to stay home to raise children and comfort their husbands, even though Snellman did allow women to be educated, and encouraged his wife to read.
Snellman's letters, in which he criticises his wife for her unwillingness to read, and the wife's self-recriminations for not having been able to meet the demands of her husband, is especially painful reading for feminists.
It is ironic, that a philosopher who questioned everything, never imagined that a wife who takes care of all housework, and who is burdened by repeated pregnancies, might not have the time to read. Not even the death of his wife after the birth of eight children woke him to this fact.
In his book Sivistyksen voimalla ("With the Strength of Education"), Raimo Savolainen gives a thorough examination of the heritage left by Snellman. This man of action would change his views whenever the situation required. The political left, and right, and all shades in between have found vindication for their ideas in Snellman.
When thinking about what Snellman might think of today's global world, it is worth noting that the Nation's Mind was seen by him to be a mere interim phase en route to the realisation of the World Mind - universal humanity.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 12.5.2006
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 16.5.2006 - THIS WEEK |
 Finland marks bicentenary of birth of J.V. Snellman |
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