Rethinking Soviet Marxism: The Case of Evald Ilyenkov

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-195
Author(s):  
Giuliano Andrea Vivaldi
Keyword(s):  
Review Essay ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Soviet Marxism ◽  
European Philosophy ◽  
The Ideal

This review-essay explores approaches to the thought of the creative Soviet Marxist thinker Evald Ilyenkov as discussed in a recent book edited by Alex Levant and Vesa Oittinen, Dialectics of the Ideal: Evald Ilyenkov and Creative Soviet Marxism. The book consists of a series of commentaries and contextual essays which centre on the translated text of Ilyenkov’s Dialectics of the Ideal. The approach the authors take to Ilyenkov’s work differs from previous ones of exploring the totality of Ilyenkov’s thought or eclectic aspects of it. By commenting on and contextualising Ilyenkov’s major text on the Ideal they locate the contribution of Ilyenkov in dialogue with traditions of classical European philosophy, and Western and Soviet Marxism, and in his importance to contemporary issues in philosophy and other disciplines. A deep analysis of Ilyenkov’s dense and often complex text is also given. By doing so the authors highlight the immense contribution of Ilyenkov to contemporary thought.

Islamic Law in Action: A Historical Discussion

2013 ◽  
Vol 38 (04) ◽  
pp. 1041-1057
Author(s):  
Boğaç A. Ergene
Keyword(s):  
Review Essay ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Everyday Experiences ◽  
Made In

This review essay engages Kristen Stilt's recent book, Islamic Law in Action: Authority, Discretion, and Everyday Experiences in Mamluk Egypt (2011), in a fashion that highlights its contributions to the study of Islamic law. In particular, it underlines the methodological arguments made in the book that might help us think about Islamic legal practice in sophisticated and historically grounded ways. As elaborated in the article, these arguments have important implications for modern as well historical settings. Specifically, Stilt's discussion of “Islamic law in action” reveals the inherent flexibility of Islamic legal practice to accommodate political change. The article also discusses how further research on the topic could benefit from specific approaches and orientations.

The Abusive Society: A Review Essay

2002 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Pratt
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Abuse Case ◽  
The Social ◽  
English Speaking

This essay reviews a recent book on a New Zealand child abuse case which has become well-known in that country. It uses the review to explore broader issues associated with the differing and controversial forms of child sexual abuse that have come into focus in some English speaking societies over the last 20 years and the social context which has made their emergence possible.

scholarly journals Some of the philosophical sources of N. Minsky’s “meonism” (treatise With the Light of Conscience: thoughts and dreams about the purpose of life)

2019 ◽  
pp. 20-33
Author(s):  
D. A. Batalova ◽  
S. V. Sapozhkov
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Thinking ◽  
Philosophical Concept ◽  
Philosophical System ◽  
Direct Indication ◽  
European Philosophy ◽  
The Ideal

The article analyzes some sources of the philosophical concept of the founder of the religious and philosophical course of domestic symbolism – Nikolai M. Minsky (1855/1856–1937), author of the famous treatise „With the light of conscience: thoughts and dreams about the purpose of life” (1890). „Meonism” – so the author himself called his philosophical system, referring this name to Plato as one of the most important sources of his ontology. The problem of the philosophical genesis of „meonism” remained relevant at all stages of the study and comments on „With the light of conscience”. However, so far, the attention of reviewers and commentators has been focused mainly on representatives of European philosophy, A. Schopenhauer and I. Kant, but Plato and other antique philosophers, despite the direct indication of the author of the treatise, remained unstudied. The article fills this gap by introducing into the circle the philosophical sources of the treatise of the Minsky concepts of Plato and Plotin as the most representative for understanding the antique genesis of „meonism”. The article compares the interpretation of Minsky and ancient philosophers of such central categories as „meon”, “single”, „nothingness”, “anamnesis”, etc. Turning to the circle of European philosophy, the authors of the article, as a topical source of „meonism,” highlight a number of maxim philosophical teachings of F. Nietzsche as a figure who in many ways defined the vector of developing philosophy in Russia at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries. In particular, there is a transformation in the philosophical thinking of Minsky of such category as „love for fate” („amor fati”), which in many ways defined the moral pathos „With the light of conscience”, the ideal of selfless attitude to sufferings and death.

scholarly journals The state and personality in the works of N.A. Berdyaev

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 02006
Author(s):  
Stepan Yaichny
Keyword(s):  
Social Preferences ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Philosophy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Types ◽  
European Philosophy ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Ideal

This article discusses the basic concepts of Berdyaev’s philosophy, traces the relationship of his philosophical view and political convictions. This relationship is revealed through the concept of personality, which is the central concept of Berdyaev’s philosophy. Through the attitude to the personality, we can reveal the attitude of N. A. Berdyaev to the institution of the state, understand the social preferences of the Russian philosopher, who has come a long way from the representative of Russian Marxism to Russian religious philosophy. Having understood his ideas about the ideal structure of society, we can understand the attitude of N. A. Berdyaev to the Soviet state. The article distinguishes between two different types of relationships: the individual and society - collectivism and communitarianism. Berdyaev’s view is shown in the origins of Russian communism, which, in the opinion of the philosopher, are found not only in Western European philosophy, but also in the historical mentality of Russian people.

Q in Matthew: A Review Essay

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 169-191
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Rollens
Keyword(s):  
Review Essay ◽  
Gospel Of Matthew ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Memory Theory

This essay reviews Alan Kirk’s recent book Q in Matthew: Ancient Media, Memory, and Early Scribal Transmissions of the Jesus Tbrradition, which analyzes the techniques of ancient scribal composition alongside memory theory to better understand how the author of the Gospel of Matthew used his sources.

Advancing the Aristotelian Project in Contemporary Metaphysics: A Review Essay

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 435-442
Author(s):  
Robert C. Koons ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Review Essay ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Philosophy Of Physics ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Ontological Status ◽  
Philosophy Of Nature ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Central Focus

In a recent book, Substance and the Fundamentality of the Familiar, Ross Inman demonstrates the contemporary relevance of an Aristotelian approach to metaphysics and the philosophy of nature. Inman successfully applies the Aristotelian framework to a number of outstanding problems in metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of physics. Inman tackles some intriguing questions about the ontological status of proper parts, questions which constitute a central focus of ongoing debate and investigation.

scholarly journals More Than Just Guide Tones: Steve Larson's Analyzing Jazz—A Schenkerian Approach

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Henry Martin
Keyword(s):  
Review Essay ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Jazz Studies ◽  
Rutgers University ◽  
Music Theorist

<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Adobe Caslon Pro&quot;;">Henry Martin, a composer, music theorist, professor of music at Rutgers University–Newark, and co-editor of the <em>Journal of Jazz Studies</em></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Adobe Caslon Pro&quot;;">, contributes a review-essay about Steve Larson’s recent book, <em>Analyzing Jazz: A Schenkerian Approach </em></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &quot;Adobe Caslon Pro&quot;;">(Pendragon Press, 2009).</span>

From the History of Soviet Philosophy: Lukács - Vygotsky - Ilyenkov

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 176-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Levant
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Soviet Philosophy ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Georg Lukacs ◽  
Soviet Marxism ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
Georg Lukács

AbstractThis review-essay explores the subterranean tradition of ‘creative Soviet Marxism’1 through a recent book by the Russian philosopher Sergey Mareev, From the History of Soviet Philosophy: Lukács - Vygotsky - Ilyenkov (2008). It provides a brief overview of the history of Soviet philosophy so as to orient the reader to a set of debates that continue to be largely unexplored in the Western-Marxist tradition. Mareev offers a new account of the development of Soviet philosophy that not only explodes the myth that Soviet philosophy was simply state-sanctioned dogma, but also reinterprets the relationship between the key creative theorists so as to offer a new way of understanding its development that challenges several key-aspects of the dominant Western scholarship on this subject. He argues that alongside official Marxist philosophy in the Soviet Union - the crude materialism of Diamat and Istmat - there existed another line, which counterposed the central rôle of social activity in the development of human consciousness. He traces this line of anti-positivist theory from V.I. Lenin through Georg Lukács and Lev Vygotsky to Evald Ilyenkov - a pivotal figure in the ‘Marxian renaissance’2 of the 1960s, but who ‘has to this day remained a Soviet phenomenon without much international influence’.3 Specifically, Mareev disputes the rôle of A.M. Deborin as a precursor of the Ilyenkov school, and instead introduces Georg Lukács - a figure primarily recognised in the West as one of the founders of Western Marxism - into the line of development of creative Soviet Marxism. Furthermore, he reconsiders the rôle of V.I. Lenin and G.V. Plekhanov - the so-called father of Russian social democracy - in the development of Soviet philosophy. In the process, the author provides a detailed history of the emergence of Diamat and Istmat, and shines a spotlight on a figure widely recognised as the most important Soviet philosopher in the post-Stalin period - E.V. Ilyenkov.

scholarly journals Hegel's aesthetics and Soviet Marxism: Mikhail Lifshits's Communist ideal

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-284
Author(s):  
Angela Harutyunyan
Keyword(s):  
Dialectical Materialism ◽  
Aesthetic Theory ◽  
Soviet Marxism ◽  
Soviet Philosopher ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Aesthetic Ideal ◽  
The Ideal

This paper discusses the materialist reading of Hegel's Aesthetics by Soviet philosopher Mikhail Lifshits in his writings in the 1930s. Engaged in the development of Soviet Marxian aesthetic theory, Lifshits adapted the Hegelian conception of art as a form of truth and actualisation of the Idea in a sensible form as ideal. However, he rejected Hegel's tragic fatalism regarding the historical fate of arts and their sublation in a new supra-sensual stage of the Spirit's development. Lifshits sought the only answer to the historical destiny of arts in the Marxian dialectic of history. Here, he identified the aesthetic ideal with the realisation of communism. It is on this basis that throughout the 1930s Soviet aesthetic theory combined readings of Hegel, Marx, Engels and Lenin in order to develop its own version of art's autonomy, one that was anchored in the concept of the ideal. The ideal in its historical and trans-historical dimension was seen as bridging between sensuousness and truth, and pointing towards the Communist ideal. The paper argues that this concept of the ideal pointed towards a dialectical futurity that could not succumb to the official Stalinist formulations of dialectical materialism. Unlike the Stalinist victory of "socialism in one country" as the consummation of the historical dialectic, the question of the historical destiny of arts pointed at communism as an incomplete and yet historically actualisable ideal.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document