Page - 190 - in Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 - A Social History of a Multilingual Space

190 ♦  Universities in Imperial Austria, 1848–1918 general. The Czech university and technical academies offered more schol- arships to study at other universities than did the German university in Prague and German technical academies; thus, the issue of internationality was not merely a rhetorical strategy but led to a search for practical solu- tions as well.60 In the discussions about the need to open Czech culture to exchange, Albert, Masaryk, and Goll took leading roles, questioning the absolute value of Czech culture (as claimed by the older generation) and warning that cul- tural isolation would hinder scientific productivity. Dependence on, or close interdependence with, German culture was publicly criticized in the conflict over the anonymous publication of Hubert Gordon Schauer’s “Naše dvě otázky” (“Our Two Questions,” 1886). In this article, the author formulated a provocative thesis, foreseeing a crisis of Czech culture if it enclosed itself in a linguistic ghetto. Bohemian intellectuals strongly opposed this view but only at an emotional level (i.e., without an analytical discussion).61 It is clear from the debate surrounding this work that the issue of cul- tural exchange was a pressing problem for scholars. Masaryk, building on Purkyně’s ideas, cautioned against not staying in touch with recent devel- opments in scholarship outside of Bohemia; in the 1880s he envisioned an internationalization of academic institutions that would help achieve this aim. He was, however, severely criticized by the conservatives as a follower of German (i.e., foreign and not native) philosophy.62 Goll wrote more di- rectly that Czech scholars had a strong tradition of exchange with “German” universities, which they should not abandon because of political tensions. In particular, he felt that historians should spend time at the IAHR: “As we were to prepare for academic careers, our old teachers advised us to visit a German university abroad. . . . At our faculty this tradition is still alive.”63 While Czech scholars saw interdependence as positive,64 some German articles claimed that the Czechs’ dependency on Germans was responsible for the existence and prospering of Czech culture. The prestigious journal Hochschulnachrichten (Higher-education news), which concerned itself with academic issues, wrote, for instance, that, “divided into two universities, this coexistence and thus an always visible competition with German science secures the Czechs from sliding down from the current level, and Czech science and art have the possibility to be seen internationally only through German intermediation.”65 The fierce debate on the interdependence of the two cultures was, however, almost exclusively conducted from the stand- point of asserting cultural hegemony, questioning why Czech scholars were