Introduction: The fate of marxism

The text introduces a translation of Ilyenkov's famous text "On the State of Philosophy," which was meant as a letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU and expressed his exasperation with the development of Soviet philosophy. In our introduction, we describe the historical context of the emergence of the letter, including the main changes in Soviet philosophy in the 1960s (esp. rise in popularity of cybernetics), and the institutional details of Ilyenkov's biography. We point to the contemporary relevance of the letter by emphasizing how Ilyenkov's dialectical account of science can enrich contemporary discussions in the sociology of science and STS.

2023

Soviet philosophy frequently carried with it a note of apology. I. Luppol observed in the third edition of his widely known "Lenin and Philosophy" that Lenin was "not the author of many philosophical treatises" as he was not an "armchair academic who forever and exclusively buried himself in books, finding his own little world in them" (Luppol 1930: 12). This was because for Luppol (discussed by Mikhail Minakov in this volume), Lenin was "not a theoretician for the sake of theory"(Luppol: ibid.). At the same time, as was equally well-known, Marx had a high claim for philosophy. Marx wrote in the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right: Introduction that not only did philosophy become concrete in the proletariat, but also that philosophy itself was the spiritual weapon of the proletariat. Philosophy, rather highly and abstractly, is part and whole, end and beginning. Likewise, as Hannah Arendt underscored in her brilliant, though sadly unfinished analyses of Marx and Marxism, that both were revolutionary and immensely important. She wrote that the real break of Marx was in his denial of the tradition, which ranked thinking higher than action-a position that stretched back to Plato. As Arendt noted, thinkers prior to Marx had firmly committed to the idea that the only function of politics was to "make possible" and "safeguard" the life of contemplation, which viewed the withdrawal from the world as the summum bonum (Arendt 2009: 76). Philosophy, though of dire importance to Marxist and Soviet thought, was at the same time undernourished due to the emphasis on politics, and on action more broadly, its own praxis.

Concepts of Philosophy in Asia and the Islamic World, 2018

During the first half of the social history ХХ century of European countries and the Soviet Union as a reaction to world events: the First World War, the revolutionary outbreaks in many European countries, the political, economic and cultural crisis, the disappointment of various segments of the population in the existing political regimes − in the European countries were born national-socialist parties that in some states formed totalitarian political regimes on the basis of a single party headed by a leader. From the side of state power, the replacement of the system of government led to the need for the formation of the urban environment as a carrier of a new state ideology, from the side of society there was a birth of a new social consciousness, which inevitably reflected in new directions of development of culture and architecture During the 1930s, the Soviet Union, both theoretically and practically, consolidated itself in positions of totalitarianism of the authorities with corresponding changes in architecture. Due to the common features in the system of governance, European states and the USSR certainly had common directions in architecture − axial symmetry, which as an architectural means always proclaims the order in the state, the large scale of buildings − a sign of strength and invincibility, composition based on the subordination of parts as a whole, reflecting the need for praise of power. But the differences in social stratification, which is natural in European countries, created on the basis of taking into account the property status of the owner, and artificial, adopted in the USSR, on the basis of the rise of the social role of the worker as a social hegemonic, led to the embodiment to the architecture a different state-ideological goal: in European countries − the ideal of strength, power, order, national superiority over other peoples; in the Soviet Union − equality, reliability of the protection of the state, a bright future in the life of the people.

Studies in East European Thought

This paper seeks to reconstruct philosopher Aleksandr Bogdanov’s approach to the philosophy of Spinoza in the context of the debate against Plekhanov. I demonstrate that the Soviet interest in Spinoza’s theory has never been purely historical, but rather, it served an important function in developing the theoretical foundations for Marxist philosophy. However, Bogdanov was one of only a very few who objected strongly to Plekhanov’s attempt to relate Spinoza’s philosophy to Marxism in a direct way. Two principles underlie Bogdanov’s critique: one being methodological, the other—systematic. The methodological principle has a hermeneutical character, since it demands that we treat historical concepts by taking into account their context and their changes during the time. According to Bogdanov, failing to fulfil this principle results in the dogmatization and instrumentalization of philosophy, and transforms it into political doctrine. The systematic principle concerns Bogdanov’s radica...

International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 2007

This paper outlines the distinctive contribution of marxism to science studies. It traces the trajectory of marxist ideas through the decades from the origins of marxism to the present conjuncture. It looks at certain key episodes, such as the arrival of a Soviet delegation at the International History of Science Congress in London in 1931 as well as subsequent interactions between marxists and exponents of other positions at later international congresses. It focuses on the impact of several generations of marxists who have engaged with science in different ways. It examines the influence of marxism on contemporary trends in science studies. It concludes that marxism survives in circuitous and complex ways. It argues not only for a positive interpretation of its contribution in the past but for its explanatory and ethical power in the present and future.

Tato publikace vych<'izl za podpory Vzdelavacl nadace Jana Husa v r<'imci projektu Cursus lnnovati (111/13 (Filosofie V podzemr-Filosofie V zazemf: Podoby filosofie v Cesk)lch zemrch v obdobl normalizace a po sametove revoluci) feSeneho na Filozoficke fakulte Univerzity Karlovy v Praze, Marketa Bendova, Johana Borovanska, Daniela Vejvodova (eds.) Filosofie v podzemf-Filosofie v z<'izeml Podoby filosofie v Cesk)lch zemrch v obdobl normalizace a po sametove revoluci Praha: Nom<'ida, 2013

Europe-asia Studies, 1994

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Stasis, 2017

The article presents an analysis of the policy of totalitarianism by the Communist Party and its leaders, namely the methods of struggle against the scientific intelligentsia. Much attention is paid to the ideological component of the struggle against the scientific intelligentsia, methods of ideological pressure against individual freedom and propaganda of the ideological justification of political repression are shown in terms of ideology and politics of that time, examples of philosophical interpretation of terror, which reached its apogee in the 1930s in Ukraine, are provided. Problem statement. The problem of totalitarianism is deep, existential, it concerns the nature of human existence. After all, human inner desire for a comprehensive order around oneself, systematization of all forms and events, attaching meaning to the world, anxiety about future major changes, human conservatism, rejection of the responsibility for decisions, "escape from freedom" (E. Fromm), etc.-all this becomes an important prerequisite for the formation of a specific system of state and political power that regulates and controls all public and private spheres of human life. With the victory of Soviet power and the establishment of the Communist Party's monopoly on public life, the Ukrainian intelligentsia lost the right to independent political thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly. This led to a sharp separation of views in its environment. Part of the Ukrainian elite believed the Bolsheviks' promises to recognize the sovereign USSR. It accepted this as a reality, not as a strategic political maneuver, and chose the tactic of adapting to Soviet power. The rest of the intelligentsia expressed their open disapproval of Soviet power and Bolshevik policy. It was this intelligentsia that suffered the most. In essence, the intelligentsia sought universal principles. As a result, confrontation between the Party and the intelligentsia, both in ideology and politics,

Sovietica, 1997

Academic studies are not the mechanical result of library visits or archive research. They are also, one way or another, related to personal experience. When I first visited Moscow, capital of the USSR, in 1984, I could not foresee the many ways in which the encounter with Soviet philosophy would determine my life and academic career. The confrontation with the Soviet way of doing history of philosophy has proved to be a very fruitful experience. The desire to understand the difference with my own academic background without declaring the latter 'normal' , but at the same time evading the relativist temptation, has forced me to analyze Soviet philosophy in general, and Soviet historiography in particular, as a form of philosophical culture, one concrete answer to the question 'What is philosophy?' It has never been obvious, in Western academic philosophical culture, to study Soviet philosophy, and this research could never have been done without the lasting support and critical interest of teachers, colleagues and friends. I want to mention here the following persons: Ludwig Heyde, who made me struggle with Hegel; Edward Swiderski, whose confidence often kept me going; and Machiel Karskens, whose support in every respect has been indispensable. Also, I want to thank Tim Baerwaldt and Wilfried Simons for their professional help in the final preparation of the manuscript. A word of gratitude is due to the Soviet historians of philosophy, the aspiranty, the students, and others in Soviet Russia, esp. at the department of history of 'foreign philosophy' at Moscow State University and at the sector of history of Western philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences, who helped me conduct my research and patiently answered questions that must often have appeared very strange to them. When I first was their guest in 1984, at the height of 'stagnation', I was pleasantly surprised by the hospitality and helpfullness of the people working in my field of interest. The encounter with the complexity of Soviet philosophical culture as it actually existed has remained a source of inspiration, to which later changes, during perestrojka and thereafter, have added their impetus, rather than replacing the initial intuition that this was a topic of considerable interest. This book has served, in a longer version, as my Ph.D. thesis. The present version has been shortened, revised, and improved in many points, but I have seen no ground to make substantial changes to my analyses and conclusions. On the contrary: reactions, reviews, and recent publications have, in the main, confirmed them. In this respect, this book concludes my life as a student in philosophy, and therefore this is the place to express my gratitude to my dear parents, my mother and my late father, whose support made it possible to study philosophy to begin with. Finally, this book would have been unthinkable without the endurance and patience of three beloved ladies: my wife Vera, and my daughters, Judith and Tanja. A happy home is the basis of this work. vii The subject of this study is Soviet historiography of philosophy, istorikofilosofskaja nauka-IFN, as I shall abbreviate it-, which literally means 'historicophilosophical science' or 'scientific history of philosophy,' i.e. the account and interpretation of philosophy's past as produced by Soviet historians of philosophy, as well as the theories about the history of philosophy developed by Soviet specialists. IFN was both quantitatively and qualitatively an important part of Soviet philosophical culture, one of its many specialist branches, and not the least interesting one: it often served as a place where philosophical culture was preserved in an hostile environment, and it was, in building up considerable competence in the history of philosophy, one of the factors in the improvement of the level of Soviet philosophical culture as a whole. However, like the other disciplines within Soviet philosophical culture, IFNhad its specific nature and background. It is not only a Soviet philosophical discipline, but also an example of an historiography of philosophy, comparable in this respect to its Western counterpart, and it was, through its Marxist background, strongly influenced by the philosophy of Hegel. Therefore, the first chapter of this book briefly discusses, in the first place, history of philosophy as a specialist discipline, secondly, Hegel's conception of the history of philosophy, important for the discipline in general and for IFN in particular, and, in the third place, the theoretical impulses contained in the legacy of Marx, Engels, and Lenin, important for IFN as for any branch of Soviet philosophy. After this preparation of the ground, the second chapter is dedicated to a concise historical survey and philosophical analysis of Soviet philosophical culture as it existed and developed from 1920 to the late 1980s, and in doing so tries to assess its nature. To my knowledge, it is the first attempt to do so after the disappearance of the Soviet system and its philosophical culture. The next four chapters make up the central body of this monograph. The third chapter sketches the historical development of IFN, from its foundation in the 1930s to its mature stage in the 1980s, showing both the limitations and the possibilities of this discipline. The fourth chapter discusses the place, function, form, and content of IFN as a part of Soviet philosophical culture in the so-called period of 'stagnation', which was, for IFN, a period of unprecedented bloom. The next, fifth chapter, consists of a necessarily selective, but representative survey of the work done by Soviet historians of philosophy in six different fields, from Greek Antiquity to the 'history of the philosophy of the peoples of the USSR,' showing sometimes *Cf. the backside of several volumes of the Sovietica-series in which this book is appearing, too. x 'Hegelian roots' of Soviet philosophy, this means that the texts that form the source material of this study are often difficult to render in English. To tackle this problem, I have added, when this seemed useful, the original Russian word between square brackets, and sometimes the corresponding German word, too. The most notorious case in this respect is the typically Hegelian-and Marxist!concept of Aufhebung. 15 Having a twofold meaning in colloquial German, in philosophical terminology 'aufheben' acquires, as Kojeve pointed out, a triple meaning: to cancel [supprimer, annuler], to preserve [conserver, sauvegarder], and to bring to a higher level [sublimer, elever].16 Russian 'snjatie' preserves this threefold meaning, and like the German is related to a verb: snimat'-snjat'. While Hegel was pleased to find in the German language a word that fitted his speculative thinking, and Russian philosophers freely use 'snjatie', translators have a hard time finding an appropriate equivalent. The English equivalents 'to sublate' and 'sublation', seem to be widely accepted. 17 But they are also criticized for being artificial and, in fact, not even adequate.I 8 Therefore, I have employed 'sublation' in order to obtain a continuous text, but I have inserted the Russian or German equivalent between brackets. Russian words and names have been transliterated in accordance with the ISOtransscription system, which has the great advantages of a one-to-one correspondence with the Russian and of being equally difficult for speakers of all main European languages. The only concession to the standard English transliteration is the use of 'kh' for Russian 'X'. This procedure has also been applied to widely used personal names like Gorbacev or Dostoevskij-rather than Gorbachev and Dostoyevskibecause any line drawn between familiar and unfamiliar would be arbitrary. When a name is introduced for the first time, I give the full name, including Christian name and patronymic, indicating stress, as well as dates of birth and death. xv Chapter One Three Perspectives on IFN Continuation of the work of Hegel and Marx must consist in the dialectical elaboration of the history of human thought, science, and technology.