Philosophical Thought in Russia in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century: A Contemporary View from Russia and Abroad

by Vladislav A. Lektorsky (Editor), Marina F. Bykova (Editor)

Overview

Philosophical Thought in Russia in the Second Half of the 20th Century is the first book of its kind that offers a systematic overview of an often misrepresented period in Russia's philosophy. Focusing on philosophical ideas produced during the late 1950s – early 1990s, it reconstructs the development of genuine philosophical thought in the Soviet period and introduces those non-dogmatic Russian thinkers who saw in philosophy a means of reforming social and intellectual life.

Covering such areas of philosophical inquiry as philosophy of science, philosophical anthropology, the history of philosophy, activity approach as well as communication and dialogue studies, the volume presents and thoroughly discusses central topics and concepts developed by Soviet thinkers in that particular fields. Written by a team of internationally recognized scholars from Russia and abroad, it examines the work of well-known Soviet philosophers (such as Mikhail Bakhtin, Evald Ilyenkov and Merab Mamardashvili) as well as those important figures (such as Vladimir Bibler, Alexander Zinoviev, Yury Lotman, Georgy Shchedrovitsky, Genrich Batishchev, Sergey Rubinstein, and others) who have often been overlooked. By introducing and examining original philosophical ideas that evolved in the Soviet period, the book confirms that not all Soviet philosophy was dogmatic and tied to orthodox Marxism and the ideology of Marxism-Leninism. It shows Russian philosophical development of the Soviet period in a new light, as a philosophy defined by a genuine discourse of exploration and intellectual progress, rather than stagnation and dogmatism.

In addition to providing the historical and cultural background that explains the development of the 20th-century Russian philosophy, the book also puts the discussed ideas and theories in the context of contemporary philosophical discussions showing their relevance to nowadays debates in Western philosophy. With short biographies of key thinkers, an extensive current bibliography and a detailed chronology of Soviet philosophy, this research resource provides a new understanding of the Soviet period and its intellectual legacy 100 years after the Russian Revolution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350040588
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/10/2019
Pages:	440
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Vladislav A. Lektorsky is: Professor and Principle Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia; full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia; titular member of the International Institute of Philosophy, Paris, France; and full member of the International Academy of Philosophy of Science, Brussels, Belgium. His research interests lie in Epistemology, philosophy of consciousness and philosophy of cognitive science. He has authored 6 books and over 500 articles. His works have been published in English, German, French, Chinese, Turkish, Bulgarian, Polish, and Czech.

Marina F. Bykova is Professor of Philosophy at North Carolina State University, USA and the Editor of the jourbanal Russian Studies in Philosophy. Her research interests lay in the history of nineteenth century continental philosophy, with a special focus on German idealism and theories of subject and subjectivity developed by Kant, Fichte, and Hegel. She has authored three books and numerous articles on classic German philosophy and edited a new Russian edition of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (2000) with a new commentary. Her works have been published in Russian, German, and English.

Table of Contents

On Russian Philosophical Thought in the Soviet Period
Editors' Introduction

PART I: RUSSIAN PHILOSOPHY OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20th CENTURY IN THE CONTEXT OF CULTURE AND SCIENCE
1. The Philosophy of the Russian Sixtyers Generation in the Humanist Context, Abdusalam A. Guseynov (Institute of Philosophy, RAS Moscow, Russia)
2. The Russian Philosophy of the Second Half of the 20th Century as a Socio-Cultural Phenomenon, Vladislav A. Lektorsky (Institute of Philosophy, RAS Moscow, Russia)
3. Philosophy from the period of “thaw” to the period of “stagnation”, Vadim M. Mezhuyev (Institute of Philosophy, RAS Moscow, Russia)
4. On Soviet Philosophy, Karen A. Swassjan (Forum fur Geisteswissenschaft, Basel, Switzerland)
5. Main configurations of Russian thought in the post-Stalin epoch, Mikhail N. Epstein (Emory University, USA)

PART II: PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
6. The Russian Philosophy of Science in the 2nd half of the 20th Century, Vyacheslav S. Styopin (Institute of Philosophy, RAS Moscow, Russia)
7. Soviet Philosophy and Methodology of Science in the 1960s and 80s: from ideology to science, Boris I. Pruzhinin (Inst. of Philosophy, RAS / Jourbanal Voprosy Filosofii, Moscow, Russia)
8. Systemic Analysis of Science: Ideas of Equifinality and Anthropo-Measurement, Alexander P. Ogurtsov (1936-2014; before - Institute of Philosophy, RAS Moscow, Russia)

PART III: PHILOSOPHY AS HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
9. Spinoza in Western and Soviet Philosophy: New Perspectives after Postmodernism, Vesa Oittinen (Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland)
10. On the Perception of German Idealism, Marina F. Bykova (North Carolina State University, USA)
11. Punks versus Zombies: Evald Ilyenkov and the Battle for Soviet Philosophy, David Bakhurst (Queen's University, Canada)
12. Ilyenkov's Hegelian Marxism and Marxian Constructivism, Tom Rockmore (Beijing State University, China)
13. Reception of Alexei Losev's philosophical conception in the West in the late 20th and early 21st century, Maryse Dennes (Universite Bordeaux Montaigne, France)

PART IV: THE PROBLEM OF ACTIVITY IN PHILOSOPHY, METHODOLOGY AND HUMAN SCIENCES
14. The Activity Approach in Soviet Philosophy and Contemporary Cognitive Studies, Vladislav A. Lektorsky (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Moscow, Russia)
15. The Activity Theory in Soviet Philosophy and psychology in the 1960s-1980s, Peter G. Schedrovitsky (Moscow Engineering and Physical Institute, Russia)
16. Activity and the Formation of Reason, David Bakhurst (Queen's University, Canada)
17. G.P. Shchedrovitsky's Concept of Activity and Thought-Activity, Vadim M. Rozin (Institute of Philosophy, RAS, Moscow, Russia)

PART V: DIALOGUE AND COMMUNICATION
18. Between “Voice” and 'Code”: Encounters and Clashes in the Communication Space, Natalia S. Avtonomova (Institute of Philosophy, RAS/ Russian University of Humanities, Moscow, Russia)
19. “And what if all only begins?” On world outlook sense of the theme of communication in discussions of the 80-90's, Victor A. Malakhov (freelance philosopher, Nahariya, Israel)
20. From Historical Materialism to the Theory of Culture: The Philosophy of Michail Bahtin as a Cultural Phenomenon, Maya Soboleva (Phillips-University of Marburg, Germany)
21. A Belated Conversation, Vitaly L. Makhlin (Moscow State Pedagogical University, Russia)

PART VI: PHILOSOPHICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
22. Human Ontology: On Discussion in the Soviet Philosophy in the late 20th Century, Alexander A. Khamidov (Biisk Pedagogical University, Biisk, Russia)
23. The Problem of Morality in Soviet-Era Philosophy, Yuri V. Pushchayev (Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences, RAN, Moscow)
24. Alexander Zinoviev's Teaching on Life, Abdusalam A. Guseynov (Institute of Philosophy, RAS Moscow, Russia)
25. The individual and the problem of responsibility: M.K.Mamardashvili and A.A.Zinoviev, Daniela Steila (University of Turin, Italy)

A Chronicle of Main Events
Short Biographies of Thinkers
Selected Bibliography
Index of Terms
Index of Names

Editorial Reviews

[A] ground-breaking book combining recent Russian archival research with inspiring contributions from key thinkers from around the world. Lektorsky and Bykova’s volume has a Tolstoyan breadth of action. This, together with Dostoevskian reflection, makes the volume an epic and absorbing account of philosophy in the Soviet era and beyond.” – Marx and Philosophy Review of Books

“Three decades ago, the edifice of “Soviet philosophy” crumbled: the Marxist-Leninist ideology that it was supposedly underpinned and its alleged philosophical basis, historical and dialectical materialism, disappeared almost overnight. The result was a major crisis of academic philosophy in (post-)Soviet Russia. This volume, jointly written by some of the best scholars in the field, both Russian and non-Russian, could hardly be more timely: finally, we can look at what really happened in the field of philosophy in the former USSR.” —Evert van der Zweerde, Professor of Social and Political Philosophy, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands

“This comprehensive and wide-ranging volume makes available in English translation important work originally published in Russian in 2014. The editors' introduction and their decision to include Evald Ilyenkov and Valentin Korovikov's theses, as well as other seminal research material, render this collection even more valuable; it should become a major reference point in the field.” —Galin Tihanov, George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature, Queen Mary University of London, UK

“Those Western philosophers who attempted to investigate the state of philosophy in the USSR in any detail, often came away with a lingering suspicion that something more, and different, might be going on beneath the surface of officially promoted or tolerated publications. Such suspicions were usually based on no more than occasional hints in published works of a thinking that seemed potentially orthogonal to the accepted orthodoxy, or from personal conversations clearly intended to be “off the record.” Now, in the present volume, we have before us a serious effort to bring to light the central themes of significant philosophical conversations that were indeed underway during the latter part of the Soviet period, but until now not readily available for proper appreciation. The editors are to be thanked for their energetic efforts to rectify the historical record.” —Philip T. Grier, Thomas Bowman Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Religion, Dickinson College, USA

From the Publisher