Moral and Educational Problems in the Ideological Heritage of the Philomath Society

The article considers the moral and educational aspect of the activity of the Philomath society, organized by students of the Vilna University. The most important task of the society's activity was initially the moral improvement of its members, and subsequently of the entire society. One of the main moral norms in the hierarchy of the association's members was considered to be service to the common good, the desire to benefit society. On the way of improving man and society, the method of personal example was recognized by philomaths as the most effective method of moral education. Philomaths named work as the main virtue of a morally perfect person. The understanding of labor as a virtue in the ideological heritage of the Philomath society was inseparable from criticism of existing social relations and the need to liberate peasants from serfdom.