139
The Genealogy of Civilization
Boštjan Marko Turk
Abstract
Civilization is a concept that ontologically defines the individual and the communities in 
which it develops. The most global civilization is the one that has emerged in the West. 
Civilization is not something static, but an organism that draws its roots from the distant 
past. In this sense, it is fundamental to answer the question of what are the constitutive 
elements that define Western civilization. This question only makes sense if it is asked in a 
historical perspective. In this direction the Freemasonry, A Very Short Introduction is a cru-
cial one. It presents the analysis revealing how the history of freemasonry is related to the 
evolution of Western identity. It has to be read in the light of Niall Ferguson’s monograph 
The West and the Rest. The present text does so. The book then brings to light the contri-
bution of the brotherhood to the intellectual habitus of what is called the Judeo-Christian 
civilization, at the present time still predominant on the Planet. 
The intellectual apparatus of the Freemasonry, A Very Short Introduction permits to elu-
cidate the history of the masonic movement and its influence on events that seem uncon-
nected and coincidental. Thus, this article tries to explain certain historical turning points 
in South-Eastern Europe, precisely in the light of the masonic alliances, in particular the 
case of the Illyrian Provinces and the first Slovenian poet, Valentin Vodnik, and secondly, 
what concerns the emergence of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which the author of the 
article defines as the result of the masonic strategy (the Grand Lodge of France and the 
Grand Orient of France).
Keywords: Andreas Önnerfors, freemasonry, Western Civilization, Southeast Europe, 
Illyrian Provinces, Valentin Vodnik, Charles Nodier, Napoleon, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
ACTA NEOPHILOLOGICA  UDK: 930.85
DOI: 10.4312/an.54.1-2.139-152
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140 Boštjan Marko turk
A key question that arises in postmodernity, and especially in the 21st century, is 
that of civilizations. This question implies  the question of the genesis, identity and 
persistence of Western civilization. The last one appears as a cultural factor.  This in-
cludes arts, sciences, the use of technology, ethics and morals. Throughout its history, 
the culture of the West has co-shaped the social and political entities on the planet, 
with few exceptions. Western civilization is thus, in historical terms, the most global 
civilization we know. The question of its genealogy is therefore of primary impor-
tance, since it answers the question of its ontology and its viability.
Trying to understand what has shaped our cultural milieu, we cannot ignore the 
influence of the various associations of masonic orientation. Freemasonry: A Very 
Short Introduction is a work that synthetises the question of masonic groups and 
the genealogy of Western civilization. Namely, there is a thread running through 
the entire book that would be perceived by an attentive reader as the focal mes-
sage. This is the analysis, which reveals how profound the history of Freemasonry 
is related to the evolution of Western identity. The book brings to light by way of 
explanation the contribution of the “brotherhood” to the intellectual, moral and 
political habitus of what is called the Judeo-Christian civilization, at present pre-
dominant on the Planet. 
In fact, during the High Middle Ages, the Freemasons, while building secu-
lar and sacred buildings, were noted for the use of architectural elements that are 
indicative of the Western civilization. The starting point is Gothic architecture, 
which was built according to the principles of stonework combined with some 
specific knowledge, which was relayed to future generations. The architectural in-
spiration goes hand in hand with the idea of its transcendental foundation. 
The Temple of Solomon, based on the Word (1 Kings 7:1-5), is crystallized in 
the syntax of the “Word of the Master”. It constitutes the spiritual basis of the 
thought that shapes the architecture of the buildings. The hand that chisels the 
stone is in harmony with both. There is also the narrator who transmits knowl-
edge. In the absence of print, this skill is crucial. One of the roots of modern ped-
agogics was born with the buildings that pierced the sky for the first time since 
the time of the pharaohs. 
Another important feature of medieval craft guilds was that, in a time of 
widespread illiteracy and an absence of printed books, practical and applied 
know-how was orally transmitted and treated as privileged insider knowledge, 
constituting the secrets of a trade. Medieval society was organised into strict 
hierarchies and thus knowledge within the guilds was transferred vertically 
from master to journeyman to apprentice. The craft guild was a professional, 
social and religious fraternity, as well as representing a community of knowl-
edge. (Önnerfors 38)
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141The Genealogy of Civilization
The two elements of civilization, the sense of the divine, transmitted through 
speech, and the dissemination of knowledge coincide in the focal intentions of 
the first brothers. 
Implicitly the book Freemasonry: A Very Short Introduction is the revelation that 
the communities of the masonic guilds presupposed the necessary use of skills 
which, in later centuries, helped to articulate Western civilization in such a way 
that it became the dominant model of the world. In this sense, another source can 
be drawn upon. This is Civilization, The West and the Rest. (Ferguson 2011) It of-
fers an interesting parallel: 
In 1500 the future imperial powers of Europe accounted for about 10 per cent 
of the world's land surface and at most 16 per cent of its population. By 1913, 
eleven Western empires controlled nearly three-fifths of all territory and pop-
ulation and more than three-quarters (a staggering 79 per cent) of global eco-
nomic output. (Ferguson 5) 
This phenomenon can be explained by the introduction of methodological ele-
ments that other civilizations did not know. The West in the morphological sense 
is not different from China, India, Turkey and other similar great empires. The 
difference is a matter of methodology: competitiveness, the scientific method, the 
ethics (of work), respect for the rule of law, medicine and consumerism are the six 
elements that Niall Ferguson calls the “killerapps”, by analogy with software. We 
consider that only the first four are crucial: the other two are either embedded in 
them (consumerism) or came later and are derived from the first four, being cre-
ated as a result.1 If we take into account Niall Ferguson’s analysis, we can see that 
the contribution of Freemasons, especially from the time when the industrial age 
began, is more than notable: 
The scientific image of freemasonry gave it a central place in the Enlightenment 
ideas of the period. Freemasonry is saturated with key Enlightenment concepts 
such as progress, perfectibility, and cosmopolitanism. On an individual level, 
freemasonry aims to promote a morality of autonomy, responsibility for the 
self, and moral example. These ideas are heavily influenced by classical stoicism: 
attaining a strong control of the passions and a mastery of the emotions while 
facing personal fate and any unforeseen challenges. (Önnerfors 46)
The excerpt bears noteworthy similarities with Fergusons’s apprehension of large 
issues that assured the triumph of the West. The Knowledge and its transfer within 
the group are essential to increase competitiveness. In addition, a positive attitude 
1 See the case of medicine. 
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142 Boštjan Marko turk
towards science and its promotion is also of paramount importance. Freemasonry 
doesn’t lack a spiritual platform that accompanies and gives meaning to the devel-
opment of science. We have mentioned three of them. In addition to spirituality, 
we should indicate moral autonomy, which is the innate concept of the so-called 
rule of law in every human being. Besides: ethics is the punctum saliens of the fra-
ternity. It is the irreducible common denominator of masonic orientation, defend-
ing and recommending the concepts of good behavior. It is not a philosophical 
belief, but a practice that exists only incarnated in action: 
There is no coherent ideology or doctrine of freemasonry. Rather, the fraternity 
is characterized by a considerable conceptual inclusiveness promoting an ethics 
of action; that is, an ethics of application rather than theory. (34)
Furthermore, Niall Ferguson identifies Isaac Newton as one of the key figures 
in the expansion of the West. But he was more than just a scholar. Aristotle, Py-
thagoras, René Descartes, Blaise Pascal (and others) were scientists who explored 
both the spiritual and material worlds and had a widely developed sense of the 
transcendent. It was not until the 19th century that science began to be separat-
ed from faith. In this sense, there are masonic temples dedicated to Newton; it 
cannot be said with certainty that he belonged to the masonic fraternity. But his 
views were similar to those of Freemasonry, which explains why so many ceremo-
nial buildings have been dedicated to his name. 
It is known, however, that Isaac Newton belonged to the Rosicrucian move-
ment. It had a profound influence on his philosophical thinking. For this reason, 
he should have been close to Freemasonry, by logic: 
Under the surface of Protestantism, mystical currents of religiosity emerged, 
such as Rosicrucianism, which radically individualized the spiritual and per-
sonal encounter with the divine and charged it with strong symbolism. One of 
the master themes of the period was the search for secret and revealed analogies 
and correspondences between microcosm and macrocosm, heaven and earth, 
visible and invisible, divine and human. (Önnerfors 43)
Like thinkers and scientists, Newton was open to the immaterial dimension of 
the visible world. Just as he was aware of the general correlation between “heaven 
and earth, visible and invisible, and divine and human”,2 he was aware of the com-
plexity of the universe in its true grandeur. Newton was a part of the era that saw 
the greatest expansion of science in the modern sense of the word. Freemasonry 
followed the same path: 
2 Quotation supra. 
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143The Genealogy of Civilization
Modern freemasonry (which throughout this book will also be referred to as 
the ‘brotherhood’ or ‘craft’) became a global movement in the 18th century 
and its ideas have since created a considerable social, cultural, and political im-
pact. Since its official inception in 1717, without any formal governing body, 
it spread throughout the world as a prominent feature of associational life. It 
became one of the largest non-governmental secular organizations. (8)
The architect of the universe is also the architect of the civilization. Science, reli-
gion and art are inseparable parts of the complex historical structure. The diachro-
ny of creation is synchronously actualized. Their interaction constitutes the build-
ing blocks of civilization. As it reflects the meaning that transcends all experience, 
it can only be conceived on an a priori, transcendental text: consequently from one 
of the sacred books. Freemasonry: A Very Short Introduction cites the movement’s 
essential bibliographical reference, its canonical fundus. More importantly, James 
Anderson’s book is based on an older text, the Gothic Constitutions.3 At the begin-
ning of Anderson’s Constitutions is the argument that man’s creation as the image of 
God is related to the major skills the origin of which is contemporary with man’s: 
Adam, our first Parent, created after the Image of God, the great Architect 
of the Universe, must have had the Liberal Sciences, particularly Geometry, 
written on his Heart; for even since the Fall, we find the Principles of it in the 
Hearts of his Offspring, and which, in process of time, have been drawn forth 
into a convenient Method of Propositions, by observing the Laws of Propor-
tion taken Year of the World 1. 4003 before Christ from Mechanism: So that 
as the Mechanical Arts gave Occasion to the Learned to reduce the Elements 
of Geometry into Method, this noble Science thus reduced, is the Foundation 
of all those Arts, (particularly of Masonry and Architecture) and the Rule by 
which they are conducted and performed. (Anderson 7-8) 
Canonical texts have the advantage of offering several levels of reading: in the 
case of the Bible, there are four levels of interpretation, which Augustine of Dacia 
describes as follows: “Littera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria, Moralis quid agas, quo 
tendas anagogia.” 
Mutatis mutandis, the myth of Solomon’s Temple is based on the Word and on 
the tradition. It is one of the most eminent buildings in the Bible whose symbol-
ism can be grasped at several layers of interpretation. And again: on a literal level 
the temple was built, demolished and then rebuilt. The challenge is all the greater 
because from the point of view of symbolic meaning the building is constantly 
under construction. To build the Temple is to establish the civilization, through 
3 Cf: https://www.masoniclibrary.org.au/research/list-lectures/86-gothic-constitutions.html, re-
trieved May 10, 2021.
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144 Boštjan Marko turk
the knowledge entrusted to man at the moment of creation. In this context, the 
field of symbolic interpretation is as wide as possible, since its point of reference 
is at the limit of the ineffable, it is what is expressed by a structure typical of He-
brew: “Sanctum Sanctorum”. (Önnerfors 72) Thus: 
The art of building, architecture, and geometry are all represented as exemplify-
ing divine power and interference in human conditions exercised by the ‘Great 
Architect of the Universe’ (GAOTU). All important buildings mentioned in 
the Bible or known to the editor through classical literature and existent his-
torical remains are linked to the science of masonry. Construction and re-con-
struction are used as powerful metaphors, not as an abstract philosophy, but 
as an ethics of action in the service of humanity. Geometry and architecture 
occupy a civilizing function as expressions of divine order, providing a potential 
pattern ‘for all nations’ to follow and disseminate to distant cultures as far as 
Africa or India. (49-50) 
In this sense, Freemasons present themselves as one of the builders of Western 
civilization. The history of the movement begins with the text of civilization, the 
Bible (the creation of Adam, Genesis 3). This is the transition from the transcend-
ent to the rescendent order: it was realized once and for all. The mandate of the 
movement was born at this precious moment. The Constitutions of James An-
derson provide the proof of this by placing the movement at the very heart of 
Judeo-Christian civilization. 
But what is the civilization? We are aware of the arbitrary nature of the choice: 
however, the most academically noteworthy opinions in this regard were given by 
Paul Valéry (Valéry 1960) and André Malraux. (Malraux 1971) For the purpose 
of this discussion, we would rather quote Michel Onfray: his thought seems closer 
to the present moment: “Civilization is everything that crystallizes around a fic-
tion that is itself rooted in a spiritual text. It is sacred, transcendent: it can be the 
Talmud, the Koran, the New Testament or the Bhagavat-Gita. There is no civili-
zation without religion, which is its constitutive factor.” 4
The civilization cannot survive without the transmission of the genealogy, based 
on a sacred text: this task has been entrusted to the masonic movement in primis.
In Constitutions, genealogy is placed at the heart of the matter. It is the su-
preme modus operandi of the guild: 
Freemasonry claims to possess privileged secrets and to transmit them internally. 
According to the narrative of The Constitutions, knowledge (transcending that of 
the average person) has been handed down via an uninterrupted chain of initiates 
4 Onfray, Michel - LGL - Michel Onfray présente son nouveau livre : Décadence. Youtube. January 21, 
2017.
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145The Genealogy of Civilization
from biblical times. These initiates have each then had to endure pressure both 
externally from others in their society and internally from their own human need 
to communicate with others and share these secrets. (Önnerfors 57)
Evoking the ancient masonic texts, the Freemasonry: A Very Short Introduction ex-
ploits the apparatus of analogy to open it up to the very sources of masonic tra-
dition and identity, sources synonymous with the first paragraph of Anderson’s 
work, cited above: 
Anderson’s mythological account of freemasonry establishes a grandiose genealo-
gy throughout the entire spectrum of intellectual history, encompassing the secu-
lar, Christian, and pagan. Thus, he constructs a narrative in which freemasonry is 
in possession of eternal ancient wisdom and uncorrupted knowledge of religion 
(‘philosophia perennis’ or ‘prisca theologia’), handed down by generations of sage 
men united over the centuries and millennia in a privileged chain of initiates from 
almost every important religious and philosophical tradition. (51)
If this transmission is cut off, the civilization begins to collapse. Assuming that 
the genealogy is no longer in place; that the transmission of knowledge, skills and 
secret protocols is lacking, we enter the zone that represents the negation of the 
civilization as it has developed from the initial moment. Michel Onfray notes in 
this regard: 
As soon as we cease to have the memory of our ancestors, as soon as we no 
longer know how to recount our genealogy, as soon as we are lost as to what 
made us or constituted us, civilization sinks. We no longer care about the histo-
ry we no longer care about the past. In this hatred of the past, in this impossible 
present and in the configuration of a future for which we don’t know what it 
will lead to, we are in the situation of a civilization that is collapsing. 5
This would lead to a logical conclusion which can be uttered as a syllogism. We 
shall formulate it in the form of a question. If Freemasons have been a consti-
tutive element of the civilization since its beginning, will the end of civilization 
herald the end of freemasonry? The significance of Freemasonry: A Very Short In-
troduction lies in the fact that it indicates the genealogy of the movement and, 
in this way, implicitly warns of the dangers facing the movement if this geneal-
ogy is ever lost. 
Freemasonry - A Very Short Introduction not only raises general issues, but also 
addresses more specific ones. The book provides a framework for understanding 
cultural-political developments in countries that were not part of the European 
5 Onfray, Michel - Interdit d’inerdire - Le Naufrage de notre civilisation. Youtube. March 3, 2021. 
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146 Boštjan Marko turk
alliance. The entry into modernity, through the Enlightenment, is an essential 
step, especially from the point of view of peoples who were still searching for their 
identity. Le Compte-rendu de la Loge serbo-française Général Peigné, written for the 
fiftieth anniversary of Yugoslav freemasonry, mentions the first Slovenian poet, 
Valentin Vodnik, among the Freemasons of this region. Thus, “Among the Slovenes, 
let us revive the memory of B.6 Valentin Vodnik, the great poet of the Illyrian period, so 
that the Slovenes understand the decisive role played by French freemasonry in the res-
urrection of their nation.” (Spalaikovitch 17)7 Until now, Valentin Vodnik’s mem-
bership in freemasonry has been questioned, if not denied.8 His case is revealing 
in the sense of the coincidence of two characteristics that Fremasonry: A Very Short 
Introduction highlights as essential features of the movement. Firstly, Vodnik’s po-
etry is oriented towards peaceful contentment with oneself and the universe. It 
expresses self-confidence, the joy of living and working without concern for ma-
jor social, political or spiritual issues. Its values are Epicurean, happiness is within 
reach, man is intrinsically content with himself. In this sense, the title of his most 
important poem is The Satisfied Carniolan. 9 The poet’s worldview can be explained 
by the following quotation: 
However, there is also an epicurean element, with the philosophical terms of 
‘felicity’ and ‘happiness’ (derived from the Greek concept of ‘Eudaimonia’) oc-
cupying a prominent place in masonic ideology and symbolism, such as the 
omnipresent ‘Temple of Felicity’. (Önnerfors 46) 
To communicate his inner form to the whole nation, another moment was crucial 
for Vodnik: if the first moment was comparable, in terms of Roman mythology, to 
the goddess of happiness, Felicitas, the second moment bears the mark of a deity 
whose actions are unpredictable. Her name is Fortuna.* Valentin Vodnik was at 
his best during the time of the Illyrian provinces, established by Napoleon. They 
covered the territory of Slovenia, Istria, Kraina and Dalmatia. Again, Vodnik’s en-
gagement can be considered in accordance with the following: 
At the turn of the century, Napoleon revived freemasonry in France and aligned 
the brotherhood closely with the ruling establishment. Thus, he created the 
ideological basis forging an elite in service to the universalist (and expansive) 
project of the French Republic and later Empire. This patriotic enthusiasm, 
6 The letter B stands for brother. 
7 All translations from French to English have been made by the author of the following article. 
8 Cf: Binder, Dieter et al. The history and symbolism of the free masons. Celje: MD, 2008 and Resman, 
Gregor. Freemasonry and politics in Slovenia: a historical rewiev. Ljubljana: FDV, 2021. 
9 Cf: https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zadovoljni_Kranjec, retrieved May 10, 2021. 
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147The Genealogy of Civilization
where humanist values of the Enlightenment were married with ideas of na-
tional independence and self-assertion, spilled over into a number of typically 
mid- and late-19th-century national freemasonries (…). (17-18) 
Valentin Vodnik’s intellectual activity, id est, that which influenced the genesis of 
Slovenian cultural identity, could emerge in the context of the revitalization of the 
Freemasonic movement under Napoleon. The peak of the poet’s work can be traced 
back to the years 1809-1812, when the Austrian monarchy no longer interfered 
with Slovenian territory. The French authorities made it possible to use Slovene 
in public: Vodnik’s native language became the language of education. Primary 
and secondary schools were established. Valentin Vodnik thanked Napoleon with 
the ode Illyria revived.10 Illyria is personified as a woman who wakes up and tells 
Napoleon her glorious but forgotten history. The poet gleefully notes that Napo-
leon has revived an old heritage and that Illyria will become the heart of Europe. 
In this context, one should not overlook the fact that Charles Nodier, who edited 
the newspaper Le Télégraphe Officiel, was active in Ljubljana during the same peri-
od. Nodier, one of the most influential Frenchmen in the region, belonged to the 
Grand Orient de France.11 Le Télégraphe Officiel also published Illyria revived: “No-
dier’s note was printed next to the text, drawing attention to the merits of the poem 
itself, as well as to Vodník as an already renowned poet.” (Kos 115)
After the restoration of the Austrian monarchy, Vodnik’s situation deteriorated 
considerably. He was banned from public service. Until the second half of the 19th 
century, Slovene was removed from schools and offices and relegated to the status 
of an auxiliary language. The available sources do not yet allow us to classify Vod-
nik within the concrete masonic obedience. However, it is highly probable that he 
belonged to one of the French lodges established in Ljubljana during the Illyri-
an provinces. The extrait from the Compte-rendu shows that the Grand Lodge of 
France was well aware of Vodnik’s activities: therefore, the most likely explanation 
is that Vodnik was a member of this Lodge or of one of its obediences. 
The Apparatus of Freemasonry: A Very Short History can also be used to explain 
more important political changes that freemasonry triggered in the 19th century 
and the first half of the 20th century. We shall consider the following part: 
At the outset of the 20th century, freemasonry changed from its original and 
dynamic 18th-century global network to an integrated phenomenon of elite 
sociability confined within individual national states and empires. Masonic 
universalism of the earlier period had changed into diverging and mutually 
10 Cf: https://sl.wikisource.org/wiki/Ilirija_o%C5%BEivljena, retrieved May 10, 2021.
11 Cf: https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/bourgogne-franche-comte/doubs/besancon/liberte-con-
science-250-ans-franc-maconnerie-besancon-633078.html, retrieved May 10, 2021. 
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148 Boštjan Marko turk
exclusive national definitions of what constituted universal civilization. The 
British, French, and German empires all competed for their specific versions of 
world culture. (Önnerfors 25)
The text allows to understand the development of events in the southwestern part 
of the Balkan Peninsula during and after the Great War. It permits furthermore 
to place them in relation to the general development of the masonic paradigm. 
The less known documents could be used to apply the thesis to concrete historical 
material. It is about the transfer of the culture, identity and political will of France 
to the territory of the rising Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The Grand Master of the 
Grand Lodge of France, General Paul Peigné, played an essential role. When the 
Franco-Yugoslav Atelier bearing his name was founded in 1925, it was announced: 
Our ideal in founding this Atelier was to strengthen our relations with the 
Balkan nations in order to fortify the state of peace, by bringing the Balkan 
peoples a little closer each day to the intellectual and moral centre which France 
represents in their eyes. (Spalaikovitch 6) 
But the French went further: they wanted to transmit French culture to the Yu-
goslav youth: they wanted to educate it in its own spirit, Freemasonry being one 
of the necessary elements of cultural and general identity. It is striking that the 
introduction to the world of French cultural identity and the introduction to free-
masonry are almost synonymous: 
We propose to recruit from among the Yugoslav university youth in Paris, wise 
minds who would complete their university education with a masonic educa-
tion. The young students who are with us, even those who are more active in 
their studies, do not satisfy them enjoying our restaurants, cafés and bistros. 
When they return to their country, they have admired our monuments, our 
gardens, our capital, but the essence seemed to be out of grasp for them. We 
want them to be able to enter freemasonry, to follow our work, to get to know 
our masonic spirit and even to create family relationships among our masonic 
brothers. (6-7) 
The goal was to become French at the same time as a freemason. 
Over the course of the decades, representatives of the Grand Lodge of France 
and the Grand Orient have convincingly succeeded in recruiting Yugoslav youth. 
The document in question gives an account of the history of the masonic move-
ment in Serbia. In this regard, the First Master of the Serbian-French Lodge, 
Venerable Gabriel Scellier, provides an analysis of Serbian freemasonry. He re-
veals the extent to which Freemasons are involved in the upper echelons of Serbi-
an politics, science, art and literature: 
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149The Genealogy of Civilization
Almost all your scientists, writers and statesmen have belonged or still belong 
to freemasonry. In every government, several ministers are freemasons. This is 
also the case in the present Cabinet, chaired by the great statesman Pašić. Af-
fection for freemasonry is one of the strong guarantees that Yugoslavia will 
follow the path of progress and strive to establish justice and peace, as well as 
the general welfare of the people, wherever they may be in the world. (6-7)
Aa soon as in the second half of the 19th century, Paris had serious ambitions 
in the southwestern Balkans. The path to realization passed through the Grand 
Lodge of France, and more precisely through a chance meeting, as Compte-rendu 
testifies: 
In the tragic hours of the 1870-71 war Paul Peigné had under his direct orders a 
young officer, Prince Pierre Karađorđević, who had also graduated from Saint-
Cyr. They have formed a lively friendship. This officer, thirty years later, was 
King of Serbia. (6-7) 
When the royal house of Karađorđević came to power in Serbia (1904) and Peter 
became king, cooperation intensified. Peter Karađorđević turned Serbia away from 
Austria-Hungary and towards France. Freemasons played a key role in this, “orches-
trating radical political changes.” (Önnerfors 122) At the end of the First World 
War, the Grand Lodge of France and the Grand Orient supported the creation of a 
new state, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, with Peter Karađorđević becoming its mon-
arch. This completely transformed political relations in South Eastern Europe. 
Referring to the Resolution (Lebey 1917) passed by the Congress of Freema-
sons of the Allied Countries between 28th and 30th June 1917, based on Wilson’s 
theses on the self-determination of peoples, the two Lodges prepared a special 
document for the Paris Peace Conference (1919), demanding that the Confer-
ence establishes a State of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. (Peigné 1919) They have 
also drawn borders on the map. The first proposal was respected, the second one, 
especially in the southwest of the new state, was not. 
The state survived until the Second World War. It was during the reign of King 
Peter and his successor, Alexander, that the Kingdom of Yugoslavia made signifi-
cant cultural and economic progress. It was a step towards civilization: Serbia, the 
backbone of the Kingdom, was irreversibly transformed. From a rural Eyalet inte-
grated into the declining Ottoman Empire, it became a power that, as part of the 
Entente, successfully confronted the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1914-1918. 
All this would not have been possible if the French Republic had not invested 
Serbia (the Yugoslav Kingdom) with the civilizational achievements, synonymous 
with the cultural and economic infrastructure. As the historical documents reveal, 
the role of freemasonry, and in particular of the Grand Lodge of France and the 
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150 Boštjan Marko turk
Grand Orient de France, was of fundamental importance. 
Freemasonry – A Very Short Introduction is an effective tool for confronting the 
mortgage imposed to the movement, as it itself diagnoses it in the final chapter: 
From the margins of public debate, the issue of freemasonry has moved into 
mainstream media and governmental decision-making processes, where ste-
reotyped images have been recycled, images that are likely to remain for the 
foreseeable future. (Önnerfors 123)
The book allows us to place the brotherhood in the precise historical contexts 
in which it has taken shape, in time, refuting the prejudices. Its main advantage 
is therefore providing a starting point for understanding the real nature of the 
movement and, above all, its contribution to the formation of civilization, in dif-
ferent historical contexts, however implausible they may seem.12 
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Kos, Janko. 1990. Valentin Vodnik. Ljubljana: PZ.
Lebey, André. 1917. Congress of the Masonic Societies of the Allied and Neutral Na-
tions on June 28th, 29th and 30th, 1917: Grand Orient de France: Grande Loge de 
France. Paris: Mangeot
Malraux, André. 1971. Les Chênes qu’on abat. Paris: Gallimard.
Önnerfors, Andreas. 2017. Freemasonry - A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Ox-
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Peigné, Paul. 1919. Les revendications nationales des serbes, croates et slovènes 
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12 The case of Serbia and the Balkans at the end of 19th century, for example. 
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151The Genealogy of Civilization
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Boštjan Marko Turk
University of Ljubljana
Bostjan-marko.turk@guest.arnes.si
Genealogija civilizacije
Ključno vprašanje, ki se zastavlja v postmoderni, še posebej pa v 21. stoletju, je vprašanje 
soočenja civilizacij. To vprašanje nujno implicira vprašanje o genezi, identiteti ter obsto-
jnosti zahodne civilizacije. Ta se identificira kot kulturni dejavnik, v najširšem pomenu 
besede. Kultura se namreč na splošno nanaša na oblike človeške dejavnosti in simbolične 
strukture, ki dajejo taki aktivnosti pomen. V najširšem pomenu označuje izraz  kultu-
ra vse produkte posameznika, skupine ali družbe inteligentnih bitij. Sem spadajo umet-
nost, znanost, raba tehnologij ter etika in morala. V tem smislu je kultura zahoda skozi 
zgodovino sooblikovala družbene in politične entitete na planetu, z redkimi izjemami. 
Acta_Neophilologica_2021_FINAL.indd   151 6. 12. 2021   11:36:14
152 Boštjan Marko turk
Zahodna civilizacija je tako v zgodovinskem smislu najbolj globalna civilizacija, kar jo 
poznamo. Vprašanje o njeni genealogiji je tako prvenstvenega pomena, saj odgovarja tudi 
na vprašanje o njeni ontologiji in o njenih sposobnostih preživetja. 
Ključne besede: Andreas Önnerfors, prostozidarstvo, zahodna civilizacija, jugovzhod-
na Evropa, Ilirske province, Valentin Vodnik, Charles Nodier, Napoleon, Kraljevina 
Jugoslavija
Acta_Neophilologica_2021_FINAL.indd   152 6. 12. 2021   11:36:14