This article contains the last pages written by Adrian Marino before he died. The study presents the evolution of the idea of freedom in Transylvania in the first half of the 19-th century. Investigating the philosophical and political writings of scholars and thinkers like I. Budai-Deleanu, Moise Nicoara, D. Tichindeal, Petru Maior, Gh. Barit etc. and the several petitions addressed to the Habsburg emperors, Adrian Marino outlines the way in which the basic ideas of the Enlightenment and of the French Revolution were assimilated by the Romanian political-philosophical discourse.
Because of the absolutistic regime, civil and human rights (such as the right to resistance, revolt and revolution) could not be discussed and demanded in a way that would have threatened the socio-political status quo. Therefore the entire discussion about political and social freedom was projected into the abstract sphere of concepts, ideas and purely theoretical systems. However, the notions and ideas debated penetrated the Romanian political language and prepared the ground for concrete political actions.
