Iosipos Moisiodax

Iosipos (Josephus) Moisiodax or Moesiodax (Greek: Ιώσηπος Μοισιόδαξ, 1725–1800) was an 18th-century philosopher and professor and one of the greatest exponents of the modern Greek Enlightenment. He also became director of the Princely Academy of Iaşi.

Biography

Moisiodax was born in the town of Cernavodă in Western Dobrudja, at the time part of the Ottoman Empire. His real name was Ioannis, "Joseph" being his monk name. Some authors consider that his surname, Moisodax/Moesiodax ("Dacian from Moesia"), indicate Romanian origins.^[1] His ethnic origin is contested with various sources presenting him as Greek^[2] Romanian or Vlach.^[3][4] On the other hand, Moisiodax in his work presents himself as Greek.^[5] Little is known about his youth, but it is assumed he received elementary education and learned Greek from a clergyman in Wallachia or Thrace.^[6]

In 1753–1754 Moisiodax went to the Greek schools in Salonica and Smyrna, where he was influenced by the Neo-Aristotelianism, prominent in those centres. In 1754–1755 he went for several years to the Athonite Academy, which was back then under the direction of Eugenios Voulgaris, another prominent exponent of the Neohellenic Enlightenment. Between 1759 and 1762 Moisiodax studied at the University of Padua, under Giovanni Poleni. During this period he was ordained a deacon.^[6]

In 1765, during the reign of Grigore III Ghica, Moisiodax came to Moldavia where he became the Director of the Princely Academy of Iaşi, and its professor of philosophy. His philosophy teachings, influenced by John Locke, brought him into conflict with the exponents of traditional order, leading to his resignation in 1766. In 1766, becoming sick, possibly of tuberculosis, he retired from this professorship and went to Walachia, where he passed the next 10 years. Having recovered from his illness, he returns to Iaşi, where he accepted for the second time the direction of the Academy. After only several months, he was forced to resign again, due to the boyars 'opposition to his way of teaching.^[7] He went first to Braşov (1777), and after that to Wien, where he published his most important work, The Apology. In 1797 he was briefly a professor at the Princely Academy of Bucharest. He died in Bucharest, in 1800.

The Apology (1780) is remarkable in many respects. Among other things, it is the first essay of Neohellenic literature. But its greatest importance resides in the concept of "sound philosophy" proposed there. This philosophy is the Occidental natural philosophy, as opposed to the Corydalean Neo-Aristotelianism that was taught everywhere in the Greek-speaking world. Moisiodax admired Descartes, Galilei, Wolff, Locke, but most of all he admired Newton. He thought that philosophical instruction must begin with the study of mathematics (Angelo Nicolaides), and that good philosophy is mathematical philosophy. Also, Moisiodax banned the Aristotelian logic from the academic curricula, replacing it with the theory of knowledge, and proposed that the Ancient Greek be replaced in classrooms by Modern Greek, in order to increase the clarity of the lessons taught.

Selected writings

• Ηθική Φιλοσοφία, Ethical Philosophy, translation of Lodovico Muratori's Filosofia Morale, Venice, 1761, 2 vol.^[8]
• Περί Παίδων Αγωγής ή Παιδαγωγία Treatise on the Education of the Youth, adaptation after Locke and Fénelon with several original chapters, Venice, 1779
• Aπολογία Apology, Wien, 1780
• Θεωρία της Γεωγραφίας, The Theory of Geography, Wien, 1781 (written in 1767)
• Σημειώσεις Φυσιολογικαί, Philological notes, Bucharest, 1784

Translations to Greek:

• Οδός Μαθηματική, by Alain Caillé
• Στοιχεία Μαθηματικών, by André Tacquet

Unpublished works:

• Οδοί Φυσικής
• Επιτομή Αστρονομίας κατά τους Νεωτέρους

References

Sources

• Paschalis M. Kitromilides, The Enlightenment as Social Criticism: Iosipos Moisiodax and Greek Culture in the Eighteenth Century, 1992. ISBN 0-691-07383-X.
• Paschalis M. Kitromilides, "Cultural change and social criticism: the case of Iossipos Moisiodax," in Idem, Enlightenment, Nationalism, Orthodoxy: Studies in the Culture and Political Thought of Southeastern Europe (Aldershot, Ashgate Variorum, 1994) (Variorum Collected Studies, CS453),
• Balázs Trencsényi, Michal Kopeček, Discourses of collective identity in Central and Southeast Europe (1770–1945), Central European University Press, 2006, ISBN 963-7326-52-9

External links

• A number of Moisiodax's works in Greek, including The Apology and The Theory of Geography

Modern Greek Enlightenment Publications Geographia Neoteriki Hellenic Nomarchy Ephimeris Hermes o Logios Academies Ottoman Empire: Athonite Academy Evangelical School Kaplaneios Maroutsaia New Academy Phanar Greek Orthodox College Phrontisterion of Trapezous Diaspora: Flanginian School Princely Academy of Bucharest Princely Academy of Iaşi Representatives Cosmas of Aetolia Methodios Anthrakites Kosmas Balanos Athanasios Christopoulos Neophytos Doukas Theoklitos Farmakidis Rigas Feraios Anthimos Gazis Theophilos Kairis Dimitrios Katartzis Theodore Kavalliotis Grigorios Konstantas Adamantios Korais Veniamin Lesvios Iosipos Moisiodax Daniel Philippidis Athanasios Psalidas Athanasios Stageiritis Nikephoros Theotokis Balanos Vasilopoulos Eugenios Voulgaris