The Enlightened Nobleman as a Historical Type of Personality in Russia of Catherine's Time

The Age of Enlightenment in Russia led to the formation an enlightened nobleman as a representative of a special cultural and historical type.The purpose of the article is to comprehensively characterize the type of personality, to identify the peculiarities of such a person's perception of the culture of Enlightened, her attitude to the idea of freedom, which permeates the Enlightened, her own and peasant, to serfdom and to her serfs, to the ways of running her household.The article is bases on the analysis of narrative and documentary sources.The formation of this type was the result of the Russian nobility in the XVIII century and the influence of the European Enlightenment.The identification of this type is based primarily on its self-identification.The consciousness of this part of the nobility was characterized by an idea of its importance and criticism of the shortcomings of the surrounding life.They perceived the liberating principles on the Enlightenment in a limited from not opposing autocracy separating if from despotism.They did not doubt the need for serfdom they built a rational economy on forced labor.The type of the enlightened Russian nobleman of Catherine's time represents a complex and contradictory unity of the new culture of Enlightenment and traditional noble culture.