A debate between N.I. Kareev and L.Z. Slonimsky: The anthropological turn

Abstract

This article examines an intellectual debate between N.I. Kareev and L.Z. Slonimsky, which unfolded in Russian journals in 1883, following the publication of N.I. Kareev’s monograph “Key Issues in the Philosophy of History” based on his doctoral dissertation, which introduced his original but controversial perspective of the hierarchy of sciences, the nature of the laws of history, and the “progress” formula. New, previously unexplored anthropological contexts of the polemical exchange between the two scholars are explored that help uncover the reasons behind the sharp differences in how they understood the structure of the historical process and the place of the human being in it. The results show that, with respect to the idea and theory of the nation perceived as the central theoretical components of intellectual pursuits at that time, N.I. Kareev and L.Z. Slonimsky’s views reflect their fundamentally different personal experiences, as well as the alternative analytical and rhetorical traditions they accepted. Because they pursued different goals in their theorizing, their reasonings developed at different levels of meta-reflection.