Abstract: Present paper attempts to scrutinize the 18th-century interpretational debates between the Slovak and Hungarian proto-nationalist circles and persons about the Great Moravian past and about the Cyrillo-Methodian tradition. The article does not intend to introduce the contradicting historical narratives in detail, or analyse the righteousness of stances in light of later research results, but to focus on a special dimension of these disputes: i.e. how emotional and intellectual motives could play a role in the evolvement (elongation and deepening) of identity debates. Saying in other words: how participants of disputes were driven by a truth-seeking intellectual motive and a truth-sensitive emotional motive. The conceptual framework of the research is that beside clear interest-motives (including personal or collective interests, as struggle for prestige or position), the feeling of being hurt by “untrue” statements could also bolster personal identification processes and inter-ethnic boundary-making processes. The paper’s general contribution to identity studies and conflict studies is that – beside interest-based motives, like struggle for power and (personal or collective) domination – emotional and cognitive motives are also relevant in nation-building, while their strong interrelatedness seems to be also evident. Methodologically, the early Slovak-Hungarian debates on Great Moravia, Svatopluk or on the Cyrillo-Methodian tradition – despite the scarcity of sources – seems to be a suitable research terrain due to the lack of institutionalized structures of nationalization; hence, bottom-up identification and boundary-making processes might be easier to detect than in later ages.

Authors: Kollai, István

DOI: 10.17846/CL.2023.16.2.102-111

Publication order reference: István Kollai; Marie Curie Fellow; Comenius University Bratislava, Mlynské luhy 4, 821 05 Bratislava, Slovakia; email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3086-0840

Source: Konštatínove listy, 2023, vol.: 16, issue: 2, pages: 102-111 (PDF file)

Keywords: MIHÁLY (MICHAL, MICHAELIS) BENCSIK, JÁN BALTAZÁR MAGIN, SAMUEL TIMON, JURAJ PAPÁNEK, JURAJ SKLENÁR, ISTVÁN (STEPHANUS) KATONA, MATEJ BEL, EMOTIONS, INTELLECT

Language: ENGLISH

Recommended Citation:
Kollai, István. 2023. Early Slovak-Hungarian Debates About the Moravian Pristine States. Intellectual and Emotional Motives in Forming National Habits. In Konštantínove listy [Constantine’s Letters] 16/2, 102-111.