Empiriocriticism

Aleksandr Aleksandrovic Malinovskij (1873-1928), noto come Bogdanov, è stato medico specializzato in psichiatria, economista, scienziato, filosofo e scrittore russo. La sua figura e il suo pensiero rivoluzionario sono rimasti per decenni nell'ombra, intenzionalmente oscurati dalla storiografia sovietica, quando non adottati strumentalmente dal regime staliniano nel suo processo di normalizzazione della cultura. Fino agli anni Settanta, quando avvenne una prima apertura degli archivi sovietici, il nome di Bogdanov era pressoché sconosciuto in Occidente. Gli studi storici da lì intrapresi hanno mostrato come il pensatore fosse stato, negli anni precedenti al 1917, il vero avversario di Lenin nella definizione degli obiettivi e degli ideali del percorso rivoluzionario.

Theodor Ziehen was a well-known German psychiatrist and experimental
psychologist of the first half of the twentieth century. But he was also an obscure philosopher who developed a very sophisticated and radical form of panpsychism. While Ziehen’s work left few traces within the history of philosophy itself, his epistemology enjoyed significant influence within German evolutionary biology.
Most prominently, Ziehen had a great impact on the “co-architect” of the German evolutionary synthesis, the zoologist Bernhard Rensch. Our paper has two major objectives: first, to sketch Ziehen’s distinctive contribution to philosophy and, second, to explain his importance for Rensch. Our hypothesis is that Ziehen’s monism and nomotheism constituted the philosophical foundation of Rensch’s evolutionary universalism. Monism was a prominent philosophical position within
the German tradition of evolutionary biology beginning with Ernst Haeckel and remained influential thereafter due to Rensch and some other of his contemporaries. Nomotheism, the idea of elevating biological regularities to the level of universal laws also became prominent in biology due to Ernst Haeckel and, in a modified form, was promoted by Rensch as well. For Rensch, universal selectionism best satisfied the philosophical requirements of monism and nomotheism. Furthermore, Rensch’s monism and his version of determinism (polynomic determination) turned out to be a selectionist interpretation of the idea of directionality in evolution.

Aleksandr Aleksándrovich Malinovski (1873-1928), conocido como Bogdánov, fue un médico especialista en psiquiatría, economista, científico, filósofo y escritor ruso. Su figura y su pensamiento revolucionario quedaron en la sombra por decenios, intencionalmente oscurecido por la historiografía soviética, cuando no adaptado instrumentalmente por el régimen stalinista en su proceso de normalización de la cultura. Hasta los años Sesenta, cuando se dio una primera apertura de los archivos soviéticos, el nombre de Bogdánov era prácticamente desconocido en Occidente. Los estudios históricos emprendidos por él muestran cómo el pensador habría sido, en los años anteriores a 1917, el verdadero adversario de Lenin respecto a la definición de los objetivos y a los ideales del transitar revolucionario.

Traducido del italiano por Mauricio Lucio Maldonado.