Bogdan Kistyakovski

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Bogdan Kistyakovski

Bogdan Aleksandrovich Kistyakovski (16 November 1869 – 16 April 1920) (Russian: Богдан Александрович Кистяковский) was a Russian philosopher, jurist, and sociologist. He reached prominence with his Gesellschaft und Einzelwesen (Society and Individuals) published in Berlin in 1899. Philosophically he defended transcendental idealism.[1] In 1902 he contributed to (Problemy Idealizma), edited by Pavel Novgorodtsev.[2] In 1909 he contributed the essay "In Defense of Law" to the anthology Vekhi (Landmarks).

Biography[]

Early life[]

Bogdan Kistyakovski was born in Kiev, Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire on 16 November 1869. His father, Aleksandr Fedorovich Kistyakovski, was a professor of criminal law at the University of Kiev and the president of the Legal Society of Kiev. Kistyakovski later remarked that he felt he had always struggled for his Ukrainian national identity and that he had been 'Russianized'.[3]

Education[]

Between 1888 and 1892, Kistyakovski was expelled from the history and philology departments of the University of Kiev and the University of Kharkov as well as the law school of the University of Dorpat due to his participation in underground Ukrainian nationalist groups. He was arrested in connection to nationalist groups in 1892, and when he was released in 1895, Kistyakovski decided to continue his studies abroad. He attended the University of Berlin, the Sorbonne, and the University of Strasbourg. In 1898 he defended a philosophy doctoral dissertation entitled 'On Society and the Individual', which was published in Berlin the following year and received acclaim from German thinkers.

Family[]

Kistyakovski married Maria Vilyamovna Kistakovskaya (née Berenshtam) (Russian: Мария Вильямовна Кистяковская), who taught at workers' schools in St. Petersburg with Nadezhda Krupskaya. They had two sons, George and Alexander.

Philosophy and Law Career[]

Upon return to Russia, Kistyakovski became a lecturer in state and administrative law at the Moscow Commercial Institute and later worked at the University of Moscow

In 1902, he contributed an article to the Problems of Idealism (Problemy Idealizma) (Russian: Проблемы идеализма) on the revival of natural law doctrine. The ideas expressed in the collection were critical of the core beliefs of the radical intelligentsia, but they were expressed in a sufficiently academic way so as not to cause controversy. It included essays criticizing the historical theories of Marx and Engels and critiques of Comte and Mikhaylovsky.[4]

In 1905, Kistyakovski published an article in the first issue of the literary-social journal Voprosy zhizni, which was edited by Nikolai Losskii. The article called for the recognition of the significance of the individual and their rights and argued that civil rights are absolute and inalienable.[5]

In 1909, Kistyakovski contributed an article entitled 'In Defense of Law: The Intelligentsia and Legal Consciousness' to Vekhi. The article argued that the intelligentsia have no interest in the law and no legal consciousness. He criticizes the intelligentsia for ignoring the idea of 'intuitive law' and viewing legal systems as only something external. He also directly connected the lack of legal consciousness to the intelligentsia's rejection of a constitutional system, which he argues is the only system of government that can guarantee freedom and individual rights.[6]

In 1917, he became a professor at the University of Kiev and also was involved in organising the Ukrainian Federal Democratic Party. In 1919, he was elected a full member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Kistyakovski fell ill traveling in 1919 and died in Yekaterinodar in 1920.

References[]

  1. ^ Zenkovsky, V. V. (2003). A History of Russian Philosophy. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-30306-4.
  2. ^ Dahm, Helmut (2012). Vladimir Solovyev and Max Scheler: Attempt at a Comparative Interpretation: A Contribution to the History of Phenomenology. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9789401017480. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  3. ^ Walicki, Andrzej (1987). Legal Philosophies of Russian Liberalism. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 342–347. ISBN 0268012989.
  4. ^ Schapiro, Leonard (1955). "The 'Vekhi' Group and the Mystique of Revolution". The Slavonic and East European Review. 34: 56–76 – via JSTOR.
  5. ^ Tumonova, Anastasiya (2016). "The Liberal Doctrine of Civil Rights in Late Imperial Russia". Cahiers Du Monde Russe. 57: 791–818 – via JSTOR.
  6. ^ Kistiakovskii, Bogdan, ‘In Defence of Law: The Intelligentsia and Legal Consciousness’ in Marshall S. Shatz and Judith E. Zimmerman (trans. and eds.), Vekhi=Landmarks: A Collection of Articles about the Russian Intelligentsia (London, 1994)


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