belinski and rational reality

8/13/2019 Belinski and Rational Reality

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G.V. Plekhanov

Belinski and Rational Reality(1897)

Originally published in 1897.

Translated by John G. Wright.

This translation first published in Fourth International, Vol.16, os.!, " # $, %pring, %u&&er # 'all

19((, pp.!9)"", 87)9! # 1"$)1"9, # Vol.17, o.!, %pring 19(6, pp.(9)6$.


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*ditor+s ote

hapter -

hapter --

hapter ---

hapter -V

hapter V

hapter V-

hapter V--

hapter V---

Editors !ote
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The ussian intelle/tuals, the only re0olutionary intelligentsia in &odern Western history, ha0e left us

a great heritage of theory. Their literary and artisti/ produ/tions are relati0ely ell 2non abroad

34ush2in, Gogol, 5ussorgs2y, et/., but the ussian pioneers in the field of thought are 0irtually

un2non, espe/ially in our /ountry. This is true in parti/ular of V.G. elins2i 31811)18$8 and .G.

hernishe0s2i 318!8)1889.

These to great ussian s/holars, /riti/s and thin2ers ere, li2e 'ranois 'ourier in 'ran/e 3177!)

18"7, true dis/iples of egel 3177:)18"1. They headed the gala;y of intelle/tuals ho pa0ed the

ay for 5ar;ist thought in ussia.

G.V. 4le2hano0, founder of ussian 5ar;is&, a profound student of philosophy and best trained

5ar;ist of his day, dealt syste&ati/ally ith hernishe0s2i, riting a boo2 as ell as essays about his

life and or2. 4le2hano0 held elins2i in e

elins2i+s /hief &erit in 4le2hano0+s opinion as that he as the first =by the genius flight of thought

to pose before us those proble&s of theory hose /orre/t solution led dire/tly to s/ientifi/ so/ialis&.>4le2hano0 intended to present elins2i to the 5ar;ist &o0e&ent in a syste&ati/ ay, but ne0er got

around to riting his pro?e/ted boo2, lea0ing only arti/les hi/h ne0ertheless /onstitute a si@able

0olu&e.

The finest of these essays,Belinski and Rational Reality, he rote in 1897 at the pinna/le of his

brilliant 5ar;ist /areer, years before he deserted the /ause to hi/h he oes his fa&e. *0en for

4le2hano0+s leisurely epo/h and his leisurely ay of riting, this as a lengthy arti/le. -t had to be

published in to install&ents in the re0olutionary periodi/al !ovoye "lovo3!e# $ord, 1897, os.7

# 8. 4le2hano0 begins his treat&ent of elins2i ith the fourth /hapter of the eight he rote.

e thought this lengthy beginning ne/essary, be/ause he de/ided first to e;pound the real &eaning of

egel, &ore a//urately, the &eaning of egel+s general state&ent of the diale/ti/A Bll that is real is

rationalC all that is rational is real. -t as little understood in ussia at the ti&e. The study of elins2i

that follos further de0elops the basi/ ideas of egel+s s/hool of thought.

This essay on elins2i and egel thus supple&ents 4le2hano0+s earlier arti/le in 1891,The Meaning

of Hegel, ritten on the si;tieth anni0ersary of egel+s death and published in our &aga@ine, Bpril

and 5ay 19$9.

V.-. Denin said

=it is i&possible to be/o&e a real /o&&unist ithout studying, really studying, e0erything that

4le2hano0 has ritten on philosophy, as this is the best of the hole orld literature of 5ar;is&.>

-n 19!! Deon Trots2y roteA

=The great 4le2hano0, the true one, belongs holly and e;/lusi0ely to us. -t is our duty to restore to

the young generations his spiritual figure in all its stature.>

This translation as &ade fro& the original ussian te;t by John G. Wright.

(Part 1)
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%u&i'erWas not thy 3B. Volyns2i, Russian riti&s,

p."8.

Bll of this is by no &eans surprising be/ause prior to 5r. Volyns2i+s appearan/e a&ong us, there

e;isted no =real> philosophy, nor as there any =real /riti/is&.> -f so&e of us did happen to 2no

so&ething, e 2ne it &erely in a /onfused, disorderly ay. y ay of /o&pensation, as of no,

than2s to 5r. Volyns2i, e shall all rapidly set oursel0es in order and enri/h our &eager %to/2 of

learning. Bs a guide 5r. Volyns2i is


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is rationalC and on this basis elins2i rushed to pro/lai& as rational, and by this to2en, sa/red and

untou/hable, the hole rather unpretty ussian reality of his ti&esC and he started passionately to

atta/2 e0erybody ho as not satisfied ith it. The arti/les in hi/h elins2i e;pressed these

/on/iliationist 0ies ere =nasty> arti/les, as the liberal Grano0s2i said &oderately and a//urately at

the ti&e. ut egel bears no responsibility for the&C he put a spe/ial &eaning into his do/trine of

rational reality and this spe/ial &eaning es/aped elins2i ho neither 2ne the Ger&an language norhad the /apa/ity for =pure thought.>

Dater on, and espe/ially under the influen/e of his &o0ing to 4etersburg, he sa ho /ruelly rong he

had beenC he per/ei0ed the true attributes of our reality and /ursed his fatal straying into error. What

/an be &ore si&ple than all of thisE %ad to say, hoe0er, this e;planation si&ply e;plains nothing.

Without entering into an e;a&ination of all the different 0ariants of the foregoing e;planation, let us

ta2e note here that our present)day =ad0an/ed>patriae patres3honor)laden so/iologists in/luded loo2

upon elins2i+s arti/les on orodino and on 5en@el through the sa&e eyes as the bibli/al patriar/h

&ust ha0e regarded the =youthful errors> of his prodigal son. 5agnani&ously forgi0ing the /riti/)

genius his =&etaphysi/al> strayings, these =ad0an/ed> persons are loath to refer to the&, ina//ordan/e ith the fol2)saying, =Whosoe0er re/alls the past, stands to lose an eye.> ut this does not

deter the& fro& hinting, rele0antly or irrele0antly, that they, the =ad0an/ed> persons, ho hile still

0irtually in diapers grasped all the philosophi/ and so/iologi/al truthsC they hint, - say, that they

understand perfe/tly the hole profundity of those strayings into error and the hole horror of that

=fall> into hi/h elins2i as led by his &ispla/ed and i&prudent but happily, only te&porary

passion for =&etaphysi/s.>

eti&es young riters are also re&inded of this =fall,> parti/ularly those ho tend to be disrespe/tful

toard the roned Ones of literature, those ho dare doubt the /orre/tness of our =ad0an/ed>

/ate/his&, and ho turn to sour/es abroad in order better to /larify for the&sel0es the proble&s hi/h

are agitating &odern /i0ili@ed hu&anity. These young riters are toldA =Wat/h outI ere+s an e;a&ple

for you ...>

Bnd in so&e instan/es, young riters do ta2e fright at this e;a&ple, and fro& being disrespe/tful turn

into being respe/tfulC and they &o/2ingly pay their respe/ts to =foreign philosopher /aps> and

prudently =&a2e progress> in a//ordan/e ith our ho&e)de0eloped =re/ipes of progress.> -n this ay,

elins2i+s e;a&ple ser0es to shore up the authority of our =honor)laden so/iologists.>

B//ording to one su/h so/iologist, na&ely 5r. 5i2hailo0s2i, elins2i as nothing all his life but a

&artyr to the truth. Bs an art /riti/ he as re&ar2ably gifted. =5any years shall pass, &any /riti/s

shall be repla/ed, and e0en &ethods of /riti/is&, but /ertain estheti/ 0erdi/ts of elins2i shall re&ainin full for/e. ut in return only in the field of estheti/s as elins2i able to find for hi&self a 0irtually

uninterrupted se 3%ee the arti/lero!dhon and

Belinski, ith hi/h 5r. 4a0len2o0 sa fit to adorn his edition of elins2i+s or2s.

%in/e the flair for truth generally betrayed elins2i ea/h ti&e an estheti/ pheno&enon be/a&e

/o&pli/ated by philosophi/ and politi/o)&oral prin/iples, it goes ithout saying that the period of

elins2i+s infatuation ith egel+s philosophy falls under this sa&e general la. This entire period in

elins2i+s life ob0iously rouses nothing in 5r. 5i2hailo0s2i+s breast e;/ept a feeling of/o&passionate sy&pathy toard the =&artyr to the truth,> /oupled, perhaps, ith a feeling of


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indignation toard =&etaphysi/s.> o&passionate sy&pathy al2s here ar& in ar& ith great respe/t.

ut this respe/t pertains e"cl!sivelyto elins2i+s truthfulness ith regard to the philosophi/ and

=politi/o)&oral> ideas e;pressed by hi& at the ti&eC 5r. 5i2hailo0s2i sees nothing in the& e;/ept

=rubbish.>

%ubstantially this 0ie on elins2i+s period of te&porary /on/iliation is identi/al ith the 0ie of 5r.Volyns2i /ited pre0iously. The differen/e is this, that in 5r. 5i2hailo0s2i+s opinion the /on/iliation

=/a&e fro& under the spell of egel,> hereas in 5r. Volyns2i+s opinion, borroed by hi& fro&

%tan2e0i/h, er@en, Grano0s2i, Turgene0 and others, egel had nothing hate0er to do ith it. ut

both 5r. Volyns2i and 5r. 5i2hailo0s2i are fir&ly /on0in/ed that elins2i+s /on/iliationist 0ies are

erroneous fro& top to botto&.

oe0er authoritati0e are the opinions of these to stout fellos of ho& the one is as potent in

so/iology as the other is in philosophy - ta2e the liberty of not agreeing ith the&. - thin2 that

pre/isely during this /on/iliationist period of his de0elop&ent, elins2i e;pressed &any ideas hi/h

are not only fully orthy of a thin2ing being 3as yron on/e so&ehere said, but hi/h &erit to this

day the ut&ost attention of all ho see2 a /orre/t standpoint in order to e0aluate the reality around us.To pro0e this theoreti/al approa/h, - &ust begin fro& so&ehat afar.

ha*ter II

-n 176$, in a letter to 5ar he added. =The youth are lu/2yC good things are in store for the&.> Voltaire+s predi/tion asfulfilled in the sense that the =tapage> really turned out a thing of beauty. ut it &ay be said ith

assuran/e that it did not turn out to the li2ing of those ho li0ed to see it and ho belonged to the

sa&e tenden/y as did the sage of 'erney. This sage ne0er spared the =&ob>C yet, toard the end of the

*ighteenth entury, it as pri&arily the =&ob> that staged the =tapage> and /arried it through.

True enough, for a hile the /ondu/t of the &ob /orresponded fully to the 0ies of =respe/table

people,> i.e., the enlightened, liberal bourgeoisie. ut little by little the &ob fle into su/h a te&per,

be/a&e so disrespe/tful, i&pertinent and full of 0igor that =respe/table people> fell into despair. Bnd

per/ei0ing the&sel0es /on


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sa&e 0er0e as beforeC the for&er enthusias& is gone, and so is their influen/e. The publi/ refuses to

listen to the&. The publi/, li2e 4ontius 4ilate, s&iling s2epti/ally, no ants to know, =Bnd hat is

truthE>

5ada&e de %tael, ho 2ne inti&ately the 'ren/h intelligentsia of that era, states that the &a?ority 3 la

pl!part des ho$$es, ta2ing fright at the terrible &ar/h of e0ents, lost all in/lination toard self)perfe/tion and =o0erhel&ed by the &ight of the a//idental, /eased to belie0e altogether in 3the poer

of hu&an /apabilities.> 3e la %itterature &onsider2e dans ses ra**orts ave& les institutions

so&iales, 18::, -ntro, p.;0iii. 3On page i0 of the sa&e introdu/tion she e;presses herself e0en &ore

/ategori/allyA =The /onte&poraries of a re0olution,> she says, =fre a

goddess ini&i/al to hu&ans. =e&esis> is ?ust another na&e for a//ident. ut at the sa&e ti&e

yron+s pride is roused against the say of this blind for/e. The pathos of 5anfred, as elins2i ouldha0e phrased it, /onsists pre/isely of the &utiny of a proud hu&an spirit against blind =fate,> of his

urge to bring under his /ontrol the blind for/es of nature and history. 5anfred sol0es this tas2 in part

by &eans of &agi/. Ob0iously su/h a solution is attainable only in the real& of poeti/ fan/y.

The Third *state+s reason, or &ore a//urately the bourgeoisie+s le0el of understanding a bourgeoisie

that as stri0ing to free itself fro&, the yo2e of the old order failed to pass the harsh histori/al test

that fell to its lot. -t pro0ed ban2rupt. The bourgeoisie itself be/a&e disillusioned in reason.

ut hile indi0iduals, e0en though in /onsiderable nu&bers, /ould rest /ontent ith su/h

disillusion&ent and e0en flaunt it, su/h a state of &ind as absolutely ruled out for the /lass as a

hole, for the entire ci%devantThird *state, in the histori/al situation at the ti&e.

y their siftness, by the large)s/ale and /apri/ious /hanges they rought, the politi/al e0ents

i&pelled the so/ial a/ti0ists at the /lose of the *ighteenth and the start of the ineteenth /enturies to

doubt the poers of reason. These sa&e e0ents, in their subse


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youthful 0igor, there appeared, already at the beginning of the 18!:+s, not a fe gifted indi0iduals ho

sought by &eans ofscientificforesight to triu&ph o0er the blind for/es of a//ident.

These atte&pts e0o2ed debates o0er the need to /reate so/ial s/ien/es. Di2eise these atte&pts ga0e

rise to &any re&ar2able figures in the field of histori/al s/ien/e. ut a s/ientifi/ in0estigation of

pheno&ena is the pro0in/e of nothing else but reason. -n this ay, the 0ery /ourse of so/iale0olution a/ted to resurre/t the faith in reason, e0en if it did pose ne tas2s before reason, tas2s

un2non, or at any rate, little 2non to the =philosophers> of the *ighteenth entury. That /entury+s

reason as the reason of the =*nlighteners.>

The histori/al tas2s of the *nlighteners /onsisted in e0aluating the gi0en, then e;isting, histori/ally

inherited set of so/ial relations, institutions, and /on/epts. This e0aluation had to be &ade fro& the

standpoint of those ne ideas to hi/h the ne so/ial needs and so/ial relations had gi0en birth. The

urgent need at the ti&e as to separate as fro&

=error.> Thereith it Was i&&aterial to learn hen/e a gi0en =error> /a&e, or ho it originated and

gre in history. The i&portant thing as to pro0e it as an =error,> and nothing &ore.

Mnder the heading of error e0erything as in/luded that /ontradi/ted the ne ideas, ?ust as e0erything

that /orresponded to the ne ideas as a/2noledged to be the truth, eternal, i&&utable truth.

i0ili@ed &an2ind has already tra0ersed &ore than one epo/h of enlighten&ent. *a/h epo/h possesses,

of /ourse, its on spe/ifi/ pe/uliarities, but they all ha0e one fa&ily trait in /o&&on, na&elyA Bn

intensified struggle against old /on/epts in the na&e of ne ideas, hi/h are held to be eternal truths,

independent of any =a//idental> histori/al /onditions hatsoe0er. The reasonof the *nlighteners is

nothing else but the level of !nderstanding of an innovatorho shuts his eyes to the histori/al /ourse

of &an2ind+s e0olution, and ho pro/lai&s his on nature to be hu&an nature generallyC and his on

philosophy the one and only true philosophy for all ti&es and all peoples.

-t as ?ust this abstra/t !nderstandingthat suffered shipre/2 than2s to the =tapage> at the /lose of

the *ighteenth entury. This =tapage> dis/losed that in its histori/al &o0e&ent &an2ind obeys,

ithout /o&prehending, the irresistible a/tion of so&e sort of hidden for/es hi/h ruthlessly /rush the

poers of =reason> 3i.e., the poers of abstra/t understanding ea/h ti&e =reason> runs /ounter to

these hidden for/es.

The study of these hidden for/es hi/h first appear in the guise of blind for/es of =a//ident>

hen/eforth be/a&e a &ore or less /ons/ious ai& of e0ery s/holar and thin2er ho as o//upied ith

the so)/alled &oral and politi/al s/ien/es. %aint)%i&on ga0e this the /learest e;pression. =The s/ien/e

of &an, to the present day, has ne0er been &ore than a /on?e/tural s/ien/e,> he says. =The ai& - ha0eset &yself in this &e&oir is to affi; to this s/ien/e the seal of the s/ien/e of obser0ation.> 3,e/oire

sur la s&ien&e de lho//e.

The *ighteenth entury ignored history. en/eforth e0erybody is sei@ed ith history. ut to study a

pheno&enon historically&eans to study it in its evol!tion. The standpoint of evol!tionbe/o&es

gradually do&inant in philosophy and in the so/ial s/ien/es of the ineteenth entury.

Bs is ell)2non, the e0olutionary 0iepoint produ/ed espe/ially ri/h fruits in Ger&an philosophy,

that is, in the philosophy of a /ountry hi/h as a /onte&porary of the ad0an/ed *uropean states only

in point of theory3in the person of its thin2ers. Ger&any as therefore then able, free fro& the

distra/tions of pra/ti/al struggle, to assi&ilate in tran


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and painsta2ingly to in0estigate the /auses and /onse


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ha*ter II

-n 176$, in a letter to 5ar he added. =The youth are lu/2yC good things are in store for the&.> Voltaire+s predi/tion as

fulfilled in the sense that the =tapage> really turned out a thing of beauty. ut it &ay be said ithassuran/e that it did not turn out to the li2ing of those ho li0ed to see it and ho belonged to the

sa&e tenden/y as did the sage of 'erney. This sage ne0er spared the =&ob>C yet, toard the end of the

*ighteenth entury, it as pri&arily the =&ob> that staged the =tapage> and /arried it through.

True enough, for a hile the /ondu/t of the &ob /orresponded fully to the 0ies of =respe/table

people,> i.e., the enlightened, liberal bourgeoisie. ut little by little the &ob fle into su/h a te&per,

be/a&e so disrespe/tful, i&pertinent and full of 0igor that =respe/table people> fell into despair. Bnd

per/ei0ing the&sel0es /on


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'ro& out the s/hool&an+s ?argon ...

yron regards /onte&porary so/io)politi/al e0ents as the senseless and /ruel hi&s of =e&esis,> a

goddess ini&i/al to hu&ans. =e&esis> is ?ust another na&e for a//ident. ut at the sa&e ti&e

yron+s pride is roused against the say of this blind for/e. The pathos of 5anfred, as elins2i ouldha0e phrased it, /onsists pre/isely of the &utiny of a proud hu&an spirit against blind =fate,> of his

urge to bring under his /ontrol the blind for/es of nature and history. 5anfred sol0es this tas2 in part

by &eans of &agi/. Ob0iously su/h a solution is attainable only in the real& of poeti/ fan/y.

The Third *state+s reason, or &ore a//urately the bourgeoisie+s le0el of understanding a bourgeoisie

that as stri0ing to free itself fro&, the yo2e of the old order failed to pass the harsh histori/al test

that fell to its lot. -t pro0ed ban2rupt. The bourgeoisie itself be/a&e disillusioned in reason.

ut hile indi0iduals, e0en though in /onsiderable nu&bers, /ould rest /ontent ith su/h

disillusion&ent and e0en flaunt it, su/h a state of &ind as absolutely ruled out for the /lass as a

hole, for the entire ci%devantThird *state, in the histori/al situation at the ti&e.

y their siftness, by the large)s/ale and /apri/ious /hanges they rought, the politi/al e0ents

i&pelled the so/ial a/ti0ists at the /lose of the *ighteenth and the start of the ineteenth /enturies to

doubt the poers of reason. These sa&e e0ents, in their subse


12/50

i0ili@ed &an2ind has already tra0ersed &ore than one epo/h of enlighten&ent. *a/h epo/h possesses,

of /ourse, its on spe/ifi/ pe/uliarities, but they all ha0e one fa&ily trait in /o&&on, na&elyA Bn

intensified struggle against old /on/epts in the na&e of ne ideas, hi/h are held to be eternal truths,

independent of any =a//idental> histori/al /onditions hatsoe0er. The reasonof the *nlighteners is

nothing else but the level of !nderstanding of an innovatorho shuts his eyes to the histori/al /ourse

of &an2ind+s e0olution, and ho pro/lai&s his on nature to be hu&an nature generallyC and his onphilosophy the one and only true philosophy for all ti&es and all peoples.

-t as ?ust this abstra/t !nderstandingthat suffered shipre/2 than2s to the =tapage> at the /lose of

the *ighteenth entury. This =tapage> dis/losed that in its histori/al &o0e&ent &an2ind obeys,

ithout /o&prehending, the irresistible a/tion of so&e sort of hidden for/es hi/h ruthlessly /rush the

poers of =reason> 3i.e., the poers of abstra/t understanding ea/h ti&e =reason> runs /ounter to

these hidden for/es.

The study of these hidden for/es hi/h first appear in the guise of blind for/es of =a//ident>

hen/eforth be/a&e a &ore or less /ons/ious ai& of e0ery s/holar and thin2er ho as o//upied ith

the so)/alled &oral and politi/al s/ien/es. %aint)%i&on ga0e this the /learest e;pression. =The s/ien/eof &an, to the present day, has ne0er been &ore than a /on?e/tural s/ien/e,> he says. =The ai& - ha0e

set &yself in this &e&oir is to affi; to this s/ien/e the seal of the s/ien/e of obser0ation.> 3,e/oire

sur la s&ien&e de lho//e.

The *ighteenth entury ignored history. en/eforth e0erybody is sei@ed ith history. ut to study a

pheno&enon historically&eans to study it in its evol!tion. The standpoint of evol!tionbe/o&es

gradually do&inant in philosophy and in the so/ial s/ien/es of the ineteenth entury.

Bs is ell)2non, the e0olutionary 0iepoint produ/ed espe/ially ri/h fruits in Ger&an philosophy,

that is, in the philosophy of a /ountry hi/h as a /onte&porary of the ad0an/ed *uropean states only

in point of theory3in the person of its thin2ers. Ger&any as therefore then able, free fro& the

distra/tions of pra/ti/al struggle, to assi&ilate in tran


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of freedo&, but a progress that $!st )e !nderstood in all of its necessity. To those ho held this point

of 0ie

=the history of &an2ind no longer appeared as a /onfused hirl of senseless deeds of 0iolen/e, all

e be/o&ing its &aster. -n this ay Ger&an idealis& opened up for thin2ing

people e;/eptionally broad, and in the highest degree pleasant, hori@ons. The poer of a//ident as

bound to be supplanted by the triu&ph of reasonC ne/essity as bound to be/o&e the fir&est

foundation of freedo&.

-t is not hard to i&agine ho enthusiasti/ally these pleasant hori@ons ere greeted by all those ladendon by sterile disillusion, and ho don deep in their tor&ented hearts pro)ser0ed an interest in both

so/ial life and in =the stri0ing toard self)perfe/tion.> egel+s philosophy re0i0ed the& to ne &ental

a/ti0ity and in the transports of initial infatuation it see&ed to the& that this philosophy ould siftly

supply ansers to e0ery single great


14/50

(Part 3)

ha*ter III

=The latest philosophy is the produ/t of all the pre/eding philosophiesC nothing has been lostC all the

prin/iples ha0e been preser0ed,> said egel in /on/luding his le/tures on the history of philosophy.

=efore /onte&porary philosophy /ould arise, &u/h ti&e had to pass ... What e are able

The author of ,y Past and -houhts/alled egel+s philosophy the algebra of progress. The

/orre/tness of this appre/iation is a&ply /onfir&ed by the abo0e)/ited 0ies of the great thin2er. The

idealist philosophy, hi/h sole&nly pro/lai&ed eternal forard &o0e&ent as the nature of the orld)

spirit, /ould not be a philosophy of stagnation. On o//asion egel e;pressed hi&self e0en &ore

/ategori/ally. Det us /ite that se/tion of his le/tures on the history of philosophy here he dis/usses

the trial of %o/rates.

-n egel+s opinion the spread of %o/rates+ 0ies threatened to destroy the old Bthenian ay of life

/o&pletely. 'or this reason one /annot bla&e the Bthenians for /onde&ning to death the thin2er

ho& they pla/ed on trial and in ho& they sensed a &ortal ene&y of their /herished so/ial order.

ay &ore, it is ne/essary to say flatly that they ere o)ligedto defend their so/ial order. ut it is

li2eise ne/essary to affir& that there as right on the side of %o/rates. e as the /ons/ious

representati0e of a new and higherprin/ipleC he as a hero ho possessed for hi&self the absolute

right of the spirit.

=-n orld history e find that this is the position of the heroes through ho& a ne orld

/o&&en/es, and hose prin/iple stands in /ontradi/tion to hat has gone before and disintegrates theold orderA they appear to be 0iolently destroying the old las. en/e indi0idually they perish, but it is

only the indi0idual, and not the prin/iple, hi/h is annihilated in punish&ent ... The prin/iple itself

ill triu&ph toiler, if in another for&.>

istori/al &o0e&ent offers not infre


15/50

Bs the reader /an see, his philosophy as truly in its nature an algebra of progress, although this as

not alays understood by those progressi0es ho ere /onte&poraries of egel. %o&e ere /onfused

by his ter&inology, beyond lay&en+s /o&prehension. The fa&ous propositionA What is real is

rational* what is rational is real, as ta2en by so&e as a philosophi/ e;pression of the /rassest 2ind of

/onser0atis&. Generally spea2ing, this as a &ista2e. 'or, a//ording to egel+s logi/, far fro&

e0erything that e;ists is real. The real stands higher than &ere e;isten/e 3=die Wirklichkeit steht h+herals die "istent>. B//idental e;isten/e is real e;isten/eC reality is necessaryA =reality uninds as

ne/essity.> ut as e ha0e already seen, a//ording to egel, not only hat already e;ists is ne/essary.

y its uninterrupted &ole+s or2, the orld)spirit under&ines hat e;ists, /on0erts it into a &ere

for&, 0oid of any real &eaning, and &a2es ne/essary the appearan/e of the ne, tragi/ally destined to

/ollide ith the old.

The nature of the orld)spirit is to stride forard eternally. en/e in so/ial life, too, hat is ne/essary

and rational, in the final analysis, is only uninterrupted progressi0e &o0e&ent, only the /onstant

foundering &ore or less rapidly, of e0erything old, e0erything outli0ed. This /on/lusion is ines/apably

suggested by the entire /hara/ter and &eaning of egelian philosophy as a diale/ti/al syste&.

egel+s philosophy, hoe0er, as not -!st a dialecticalsyste&C it also pro/lai&ed itself to be the

syste$ of a)sol!te tr!th. ut if absolute truth has already )een fo!nd, then it follos that the goal of

the orld)spirit self)/ognition has already )een attained, and its forard &o0e&ent loses all

&eaning. This /lai& of possessing the absolute truth as thus bound to bring egel into /ontradi/tion

ith his on diale/ti/C and put hi& in a posture hostile to further su//esses of philosophy. 5ore than

this, it as bound to &a2e hi& a /onser0ati0e in relation to so/ial life as ell. y his do/trine, e0ery

philosophy is ideally the e;pression of its ti&es 3=ihre .eit in Gedanken erfasst>. %in/e egel had

found the absolute truth, it therefore follos that he li0ed at a ti&e hi/h /orresponded to the

=absolute> so/ial order, i.e., a so/ial order e;pressing the absolute truth, dis/o0ered by theory. Bnd

inas&u/h as absolute truth doesn+t age and thereby turn into error, it is therefore e0ident that e0ery

in/lination to /hange a so/ial order that e;pressed the absolute truth ould be a rude sa/rilege, an

i&pertinent uprising against the orld)spirit. -n this =absolute> order there are, to be sure, so&e partial

i&pro0e&ents to be &ade, re&o0ing partial i&perfe/tions inherited fro& the past. ut on the hole

this order &ust re&ain as eternal and i&&utable as the eternal, i&&utable truth of hi/h it as the

ob?e/ti0e e;pression.

B profound thin2er, the greatest genius)intelle/t of the first half of the 19th /entury, egel as still a

/hild of his ti&es and /ountry. Ger&any+s so/ial position as fa0orable for a /al&, theoreti/al study

of the &ar/h of orld e0entsC but it as


16/50

ith /ourageous and 0igorous stri0ing forard. -n these sa&e le/tures egel tries to pro0e that in

&odern so/iety, in /ontrast to the an/ient, philosophi/ a/ti0ity /an and should be li&ited to the =inner

orld,> the orld of ideas, be/ause the =outer orld> 3so/ial relations had arri0ed noadays at a

/ertain rational order, =has /o&posed itself> and =has be/o&e re/on/iled ith itself> 3=ist so $it sich

vers+hnt worden>.

The /onser0ati0e side of egel+s 0ies as e;pressed &ost graphi/ally in his Philoso*hy o' Riht.

Whoe0er reads this or2 attenti0ely ill be stru/2 by the genial profundity of &any thoughts egel

e;presses. ut at the sa&e ti&e it is readily to be noted that egel here, &ore than anything else, tries

to re/on/ile his philosophy ith 4russian /onser0atis&. 4arti/ularly instru/ti0e in this /onne/tion is

the fa&ous introdu/tion in hi/h the do/trine of rational reality is gi0en a &eaning not at all the sa&e

as in the %oi&.

Whatsoe0er e;ists, does so by reason of ne/essity. To 2no the ne/essity of a gi0en pheno&enon is to

dis/o0er its rationality. The pro/ess of s/ientifi/ 2noledge /onsists in this, that the spirit stri0ing

toard self)/ognition re/ogni@es itself in hat e;ists, re/ogni@es its on reason. 4hilosophy &ust

grasp hat is. -n parti/ular the s/ien/e of right &ust grasp the rationality of the state. 'ar fro& egelas any intention =to /onstru/t a state su/h as it ought to be.> onstru/tions of this sort are sillyC a

orld =as it ought to be> does not e;istC &ore a//urately, it e;ists only as a parti/ular, personal

opinion, and personal opinion is a =soft ele&ent,> easily gi0ing ay to personal hi&, and fre =die /ers+hn!ng $it der Wirklichkeit> is used by egel hi&self.

%u/h a person doesn+t renoun/e his sub?e/ti0e freedo&C but this freedo& &anifests itself not in

discordbut har$onyith the e;isting state. -n general, dis/ord ith hat e;ists, dis/repan/ies

beteen /ogniti0e reason and the reason that is e&bodied in reality are e0o2ed only by an in/o&plete

/o&prehension of this reality, by lapses of abstra/t thought. 5an is a thin2ing beingC his freedo&, his

right, the foundation of all his &orality are lodged in his thought. ut there are persons ho regard as

free only that thought hi/h di0erges fro& e0erything /o&&only a//epted. B&ong su/h people the

highest and &ost di0ine right, of thought is /on0erted into rightlessness. These people are ready to

sa/rifi/e e0erything to the hi& of their personal ?udg&ent. -n la hi/h sub?e/ts &an to /ertain

o)ligationthey per/ei0e only the dead, cold letter, onlyfetterspla/ed upon sub?e/ti0e /on0i/tion.

They pride the&sel0es on their negati0e attitude to realityC but their attitude testifies only to a

ea2ness of thought and to an utter inability to sa/rifi/e the /apri/e of personal ?udg&ent for the sa2e

of so/ial interests. -t as long ago said that hile half)2noledge ea2ens belief in God, true

2noledge, on the /ontrary, strengthens it. The sa&e &ay also be said /on/erning people+s attitude tothe reality about the&A alf)2noledge rouses the& against realityC true 2noledge re/on/iles the&

ith it. That+s ho egel reasons here.

-t is interesting to ?u;tapose this 0ie of the greatest Ger&an idealist ith the 0ies of a

/onte&porary, the 'ren/h genius %aint)%i&on.

=The philosopher,> rote the 'ren/h&an, =is not only an obser0erC he is an a/ti0ist of the first order in

the orld of &orals be/ause hat go0ern hu&an so/iety are his 0ies on hat the orld should

be/o&e.> 3-ravail sur la ravitation universelle

-t is perfe/tly /orre/t that the s/ien/e of right need not at all o//upy itself ith =the state as it ought tobe>C its tas2 is to /o&prehend hat is and hat as, and to elu/idate the histori/al de0elop&ent of


17/50

state institutions. egel is fully ?ustified in atta/2ing those superfi/ial liberals 3today e ould /all

the& sub?e/ti0ists ho, in/apable of lin2ing HHideals> ith the reality about the&, re&ain per&anently

in the real& of i&potent and unreali@able sub?e/ti0e drea&s. ut egel doesn+t atta/2 only liberalis&

of this sort. e rises up against e0ery progressi0e tenden/y hi/h does not ste& fro& offi/ial sour/es.

5oreo0er, =hat e;ists> by the &ere fa/t of its e;isten/e is already re/ogni@ed by hi& here asne/essary, and hen/e =rational.> Bn uprising against hat e;ists is pro/lai&ed to be an uprising

against reason. Bnd all of this is bolstered by argu&ents as far re&o0ed as hea0en is fro& earth fro&

the abo0e)addu/ed argu&ents /on/erning the fate of %o/rates and the right of self)/ognition and of

sub?e/ti0e freedo&. 'ro& a thin2er ho attenti0ely probes into the so/ial de0elop&ent of &an2ind and

ho arri0es at the /on/lusion that &o0e&ent forard /onstitutes the reason of the orld)spirit, egel

be/o&es /on0erted into an irritable and suspi/ious /ustodian, ready to shout, =elpI 4oli/eI> at e0ery

ne e;ertion of the &ighty and eternal =&ole> ho under&ines the stru/ture of old /on/epts and

institutions.

-t follos fro& this that if egel+s do/trine that e0erything real is rational as understood by &any in

a /o&pletely rong ay, then he as hi&self pri&arily to bla&e for this, for he in0ested his do/trineith a 0ery pe/uliar and not at all dialecticalinterpretation of the 4russian so/ial order of his day and

pro/lai&ed it as the e&bodi&ent of reason. -t &ay therefore see& strange that egel+s philosophy did

not lose its influen/e o0er the thin2ing people of those days. ut strange as it &ay see&, the fa/t is that

the uprising against the /onser0ati0e /on/lusions dran by egel fro& his essentially holly

progressi0e philosophy did not /o&e until &u/h later. -n the epo/h of the publi/ation of the

Philoso*hy o' Riht, opposed to egel ere only a fe superfi/ial liberals, hile e0erybody ho as

serious, e0erything young and energeti/ folloed hi& ith enthusias&, despite his self)/ontradi/tions,

and ithout e0en noti/ing the&. The e;planation for this is, of /ourse, to be found in the i&&ature

de0elop&ent of so/ial life in Ger&any of that day.

ut in the pre0ious /entury, in Dessing+s epo/h, this life as e0en less de0eloped, and yet the then

do&inant philosophi/ /on/epts bore no rese&blan/e hate0er to those of egel. ad it been possible

for egel to ha0e appeared at the ti&e, no one, assuredly, ould ha0e folloed hi&. Why is thisE

e/ause =suffi/ient unto the day is the e0il thereof,> and be/ause only the 19th /entury posed before

thin2ingC &an2ind the great tas2 to hi/h egel+s philosophy pro&ised to pro0ide the anser,

na&elyA

The scientific st!dy of reality, the scientific el!cidation of $ankind0s historical develop$ent, in social,

political and intellect!al relations as a necessary and therefore lawf!l process1

Bs e ha0e already stated, only su/h an interpretation of history /ould eli&inate the pessi&isti/outloo2 on history as the 2ingdo& of blind a//ident. Foung &inds e0eryhere, here0er the

underground or2 of the =orld)spirit> as being a//o&plished e0en onI a tiny s/ale and here0er

the =&ole> as preparing the soil for ne so/ial &o0e&ents, ere bound to thro, the&sel0es eagerly

into the study of egelian philosophy. Bnd the &ore serious the de&ands of theoreti/al thought ere

in the young &inds, and the stronger the urge as in the young hearts to sa/rifi/e personally for the

sa2e of /o&&on interests, all the &ore /o&plete should ha0e been, as it a/tually as, the infatuation

ith egelianis&.

The uprising that /a&e later against the /onser0ati0e /on/lusions egel dre as absolutely ?ustified.

ut it ought not to be forgotten that in the theoreti/al sense it as ?ustified only to the e;tent that it

based itself on egel+s diale/ti/, i.e., pri&arily on the interpretation of history as a laful pro/essC andon 3the understanding of freedo& as the produ/t of ne/essity.


18/50

ha*ter IV

Det us no return to elins2i.

-n approa/hing the history of his intelle/tual de0elop&ent, e &ust note first of all that in his early

youth he rose up indignantly against the ussian reality of those days. Bs is ell 2non, the tragedy

hi/h he rote during his stay in the Mni0ersity and hi/h /aused hi& so &u/h unpleasantness as a

passionate, if s/ar/ely artisti/, protest against serfdo&s. elins2i as holly on the side of the serfs.

=an it be that these hu&ans ere born into this orld only to ser0e the hi&s of other hu&ans, the

sa&e as the&sel0esI> e;/lai&s one of his heroes. =Who ga0e this fatal right to so&e people to ensla0e

to their ill the ill of others, other beings ?ust li2e the& and to ta2e aay fro& the& the sa/red

treasure of freedo&E ... 5er/iful God, 'ather of 5en, tell &e, as it Four all)ise hand that /reated

on earth these serpents, /ro/odiles and tigers ho feed on &arro and &eat of their 2in and ho drin2

li2e ater their blood and tearsE>

This tirade ould ha0e done /redit, in its passion, to Narl 5oor hi&self. Bnd a/tually dins2i as

under the strongest influen/e of %/hiller+s early or2s, The Ro))ers, Ca)al and 'ove,2iasco. Bs he

put it, these dra&as &ade hi& =ildly hostile to the so/ial order, in the na&e of an abstra/t ideal of

so/iety, torn out of geographi/ and histori/al /onditions of de0elop&ent, and ere/ted in &id)air.> This

influen/e, in/identally, as not e;erted on hi& only by the or2s of %/hiller e listed abo0e.

=3on Carlos> said elins2i, =thre &e into an abstra/t herois&, hi/h &ade &e s/orn e0erything

elseC and in this /ondition, despite &y unnatural and intense e/stasy, - as

We as2 the reader to note this interesting testi&ony of the fa&ous /riti/ about hi&self. is youthful

infatuation ith =an abstra/t ideal of so/iety> is a &ost i&portant page in the history of his intelle/tual

de0elop&ent. Mp to no the attention it &erits has not been paid to it. %o far as e 2no, no one has

stressed this /ir/u&stan/e that a gifted and passionate youth filled ith =abstra/t herois&> as at the

sa&e ti&e =conscio!s of hi$self as a cipher.> %u/h /ons/iousness is e;tre&ely painful. -t &ust ha0e

e0o2ed, on the one side, e as not pe/uliar at the ti&e to elins2i alone. The

aspirations of the ad0an/ed intelligentsia of the 18!:+s had shortly before suffered a /ruel shipre/2,

and sorro and despair reigned a&ong the thin2ers. -t is /usto&ary in our /ountry to repeat that

ade@hdin had a strong influen/e on the de0elop&ent of elins2i+s 0ies, at all e0ents in the first

period of elins2i+s de0elop&ent. ut as there &u/h sola/e in the 0ies of ade@hdin hi&selfE

*arly ussian life appeared to hi& as a =sleeping forest of fa/eless na&es /olliding in a 0oid of lifeless

/haos.> e e0en doubted that there as any real li0ing in the /ourse of ussia+s thousand years of

e;isten/e. 5ental life started in our /ountry only ith 4eter the GreatC up till then e0erything *uropean

/a&e to our /ountry =by ay of ri/o/hets, through thousands of leaps and tangents and thereforerea/hed us in ea2, dying out re0erberations.>


19/50

=Mp to no our literature has been, if - &ay use the e;pression, a corv#eof the *uropeanC it has been

or2ed o0er by ussian hands but not in a ussian ayC it e;hausted the fresh, ine;haustible ?ui/es of

the young ussian spirit in order to edu/ate foreigners and not oursel0es.> The notes to be heard here

are al&ost those of haadaye0. 3ot ha0ing ade@hdin+s arti/les at hand, e are /o&pelled to


20/50

host by its e;tre&e bluntness.> 3lo&. &it., 0ol.-, p.17(. Dater on, re/alling this episode in a letter to an

inti&ate friend, elins2i addedA

=- do not at all repent of this phrase, and - a& not at all e&barrassed by it. -t e;pressed, in good

/ons/ien/e and ith the fullness of &y 0iolent nature, the state of &y &ind at the ti&e. Fes, that is

how&y thoughts ran then ... %in/erely and in good /ons/ien/e - e;pressed in this phrase the tense/ondition of &y spirit through hi/h of necessity- had to pass.>

-t ould see& that elins2i /ould no rest fro& the doubts that tor&ented hi&. B/tually he no

suffered al&ost &ore than before.

-n the first pla/e he /a&e to doubt his on /apa/ity for philosophi/ thought. =Bnd - learned about the

e;isten/e of this /on/rete life only to /o&e to 2no &y i&poten/e, to fa&iliari@e &yself ith it. -

/a&e to 2no paradise only to be/o&e /on0in/ed that the only possible life for &e as an approa/h to

its gates, not the delights of its har&ony and s/ents, but only pre)per/eptions.> %e/ondly, the denial of

reality, as is e0ident, did not long rid hi& of old theoretical do!)ts, either. eal life as pro/lai&ed a

phanto&, a nullity and a 0oid. ut there are phanto&s and phanto&s. 'ro& elins2i+s ne standpoint,'ren/h reality as no less a phanto& than any either, in/luding the ussian. Fet there ere

&anifestations in 'ren/h so/ial life ith hi/h he ar&ly sy&pathi@ed, as e 2no, hile in ussia

there as nothing of the sort. Why then ere the 'ren/h =phanto&s> so unli2e our nati0e onesE

='i/hteanis&> had no anser to this


21/50

Today hen the road to happiness is no longerpointed out )y philosophy, its progressi0e &eaning has

been redu/ed to @eroC and noadays the lo0ers of =pure thought> /an tran We thin2 that he had an e"traordinary instinct for

theoretical tr!th, left unfortunately unde0eloped by syste&ati/ philosophi/ edu/ation, but an instin/t

hi/h, nonetheless, indi/ated to hi& said one of the

best edu/ated ussians of that era, 4rin/e Odoye0s2i. Our /on/lusion is that elins2i as one of the

highest =philosophi/ organis&s> e0er to appear on our literary s/ene.

'or better or for orse, the 0e;ing


22/50

&ood at the ti&e is illu&inated


23/50

=/ustodial> point of 0ie. elins2i &ade pea/e not ith reality but ith the sorry destiny of his

abstra/t ideal.

Only a short hile before he as tor&ented by the reali@ation that this ideal /ould find no appli/ation

to life. o he renoun/es it, /on0in/ed that it /an lead to nothing e;/ept =abstra/t herois&,> a barren

hostility toard reality. ut this doesn+t &ean that elins2i turned his ba/2 on progress. ot at all. -tsi&ply &eans that he as no prepared to ser0e progress in a different ay fro& that in hi/h he had

prepared to ser0e before.

=Det us e&ulate the apostles of hrist,> he e;/lai&s. =They entered into no /onspira/ies, and founded

no open or /landestine politi/al so/ieties in spreading the tea/hings of their Li0ine Tea/her. ut they

refused to renoun/e i& before /@ars and ?udgesC and feared neither fire nor the sord. 5eddle not in

things that do not /on/ern you, but re&ain true to your /auseC and your /ause is the lo0e of truth ...

To hell ith politi/s, long li0e s/ien/eI>


24/50

ha*ter IV

Det us no return to elins2i.

-n approa/hing the history of his intelle/tual de0elop&ent, e &ust note first of all that in his early

youth he rose up indignantly against the ussian reality of those days. Bs is ell 2non, the tragedy

hi/h he rote during his stay in the Mni0ersity and hi/h /aused hi& so &u/h unpleasantness as a

passionate, if s/ar/ely artisti/, protest against serfdo&s. elins2i as holly on the side of the serfs.

=an it be that these hu&ans ere born into this orld only to ser0e the hi&s of other hu&ans, the

sa&e as the&sel0esI> e;/lai&s one of his heroes. =Who ga0e this fatal right to so&e people to ensla0e

to their ill the ill of others, other beings ?ust li2e the& and to ta2e aay fro& the& the sa/red

treasure of freedo&E ... 5er/iful God, 'ather of 5en, tell &e, as it Four all)ise hand that /reated

on earth these serpents, /ro/odiles and tigers ho feed on &arro and &eat of their 2in and ho drin2

li2e ater their blood and tearsE>

This tirade ould ha0e done /redit, in its passion, to Narl 5oor hi&self. Bnd a/tually dins2i as

under the strongest influen/e of %/hiller+s early or2s, The Ro))ers, Ca)al and 'ove,2iasco. Bs he

put it, these dra&as &ade hi& =ildly hostile to the so/ial order, in the na&e of an abstra/t ideal of

so/iety, torn out of geographi/ and histori/al /onditions of de0elop&ent, and ere/ted in &id)air.> This

influen/e, in/identally, as not e;erted on hi& only by the or2s of %/hiller e listed abo0e.

=3on Carlos> said elins2i, =thre &e into an abstra/t herois&, hi/h &ade &e s/orn e0erythingelseC and in this /ondition, despite &y unnatural and intense e/stasy, - as

We as2 the reader to note this interesting testi&ony of the fa&ous /riti/ about hi&self. is youthful

infatuation ith =an abstra/t ideal of so/iety> is a &ost i&portant page in the history of his intelle/tual

de0elop&ent. Mp to no the attention it &erits has not been paid to it. %o far as e 2no, no one has

stressed this /ir/u&stan/e that a gifted and passionate youth filled ith =abstra/t herois&> as at the

sa&e ti&e =conscio!s of hi$self as a cipher.> %u/h /ons/iousness is e;tre&ely painful. -t &ust ha0e

e0o2ed, on the one side, e as not pe/uliar at the ti&e to elins2i alone. The

aspirations of the ad0an/ed intelligentsia of the 18!:+s had shortly before suffered a /ruel shipre/2,

and sorro and despair reigned a&ong the thin2ers. -t is /usto&ary in our /ountry to repeat that

ade@hdin had a strong influen/e on the de0elop&ent of elins2i+s 0ies, at all e0ents in the first

period of elins2i+s de0elop&ent. ut as there &u/h sola/e in the 0ies of ade@hdin hi&selfE

*arly ussian life appeared to hi& as a =sleeping forest of fa/eless na&es /olliding in a 0oid of lifeless

/haos.> e e0en doubted that there as any real li0ing in the /ourse of ussia+s thousand years of

e;isten/e. 5ental life started in our /ountry only ith 4eter the GreatC up till then e0erything *uropean

/a&e to our /ountry =by ay of ri/o/hets, through thousands of leaps and tangents and therefore

rea/hed us in ea2, dying out re0erberations.>


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=Mp to no our literature has been, if - &ay use the e;pression, a corv#eof the *uropeanC it has been

or2ed o0er by ussian hands but not in a ussian ayC it e;hausted the fresh, ine;haustible ?ui/es of

the young ussian spirit in order to edu/ate foreigners and not oursel0es.> The notes to be heard here

are al&ost those of haadaye0. 3ot ha0ing ade@hdin+s arti/les at hand, e are /o&pelled to


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host by its e;tre&e bluntness.> 3lo&. &it., 0ol.-, p.17(. Dater on, re/alling this episode in a letter to an

inti&ate friend, elins2i addedA

=- do not at all repent of this phrase, and - a& not at all e&barrassed by it. -t e;pressed, in good

/ons/ien/e and ith the fullness of &y 0iolent nature, the state of &y &ind at the ti&e. Fes, that is

how&y thoughts ran then ... %in/erely and in good /ons/ien/e - e;pressed in this phrase the tense/ondition of &y spirit through hi/h of necessity- had to pass.>

-t ould see& that elins2i /ould no rest fro& the doubts that tor&ented hi&. B/tually he no

suffered al&ost &ore than before.

-n the first pla/e he /a&e to doubt his on /apa/ity for philosophi/ thought. =Bnd - learned about the

e;isten/e of this /on/rete life only to /o&e to 2no &y i&poten/e, to fa&iliari@e &yself ith it. -

/a&e to 2no paradise only to be/o&e /on0in/ed that the only possible life for &e as an approa/h to

its gates, not the delights of its har&ony and s/ents, but only pre)per/eptions.> %e/ondly, the denial of

reality, as is e0ident, did not long rid hi& of old theoretical do!)ts, either. eal life as pro/lai&ed a

phanto&, a nullity and a 0oid. ut there are phanto&s and phanto&s. 'ro& elins2i+s ne standpoint,'ren/h reality as no less a phanto& than any either, in/luding the ussian. Fet there ere

&anifestations in 'ren/h so/ial life ith hi/h he ar&ly sy&pathi@ed, as e 2no, hile in ussia

there as nothing of the sort. Why then ere the 'ren/h =phanto&s> so unli2e our nati0e onesE

='i/hteanis&> had no anser to this


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Today hen the road to happiness is no longerpointed out )y philosophy, its progressi0e &eaning has

been redu/ed to @eroC and noadays the lo0ers of =pure thought> /an tran We thin2 that he had an e"traordinary instinct for

theoretical tr!th, left unfortunately unde0eloped by syste&ati/ philosophi/ edu/ation, but an instin/t

hi/h, nonetheless, indi/ated to hi& said one of the

best edu/ated ussians of that era, 4rin/e Odoye0s2i. Our /on/lusion is that elins2i as one of the

highest =philosophi/ organis&s> e0er to appear on our literary s/ene.

'or better or for orse, the 0e;ing


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&ood at the ti&e is illu&inated


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=/ustodial> point of 0ie. elins2i &ade pea/e not ith reality but ith the sorry destiny of his

abstra/t ideal.

Only a short hile before he as tor&ented by the reali@ation that this ideal /ould find no appli/ation

to life. o he renoun/es it, /on0in/ed that it /an lead to nothing e;/ept =abstra/t herois&,> a barren

hostility toard reality. ut this doesn+t &ean that elins2i turned his ba/2 on progress. ot at all. -tsi&ply &eans that he as no prepared to ser0e progress in a different ay fro& that in hi/h he had

prepared to ser0e before.

=Det us e&ulate the apostles of hrist,> he e;/lai&s. =They entered into no /onspira/ies, and founded

no open or /landestine politi/al so/ieties in spreading the tea/hings of their Li0ine Tea/her. ut they

refused to renoun/e i& before /@ars and ?udgesC and feared neither fire nor the sord. 5eddle not in

things that do not /on/ern you, but re&ain true to your /auseC and your /ause is the lo0e of truth ...

To hell ith politi/s, long li0e s/ien/eI>


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(Part 6)

ha*ter V

B negati0e attitude toard politi/s, hoe0er, as no solution to the proble& of hy e0il so often

triu&phs o0er good, for/e o0er right, lie o0er truth. Bnd so long as this proble& re&ained unsol0ed,

the &oral gains fro& =/on/iliation> ere not substantial. elins2i re&ained, as before, beset by

doubts. ut he as no /onfident that egel+s syste& ould help hi& get rid of doubt fore0er. is

further a/ ho had

e;pounded 'i/hte+s do/trine to hi&. o poerfully egelianis& rea/ted upon elins2i and e;a/tly

hi/h of his ants it filled, is shon by the folloing lines fro& his letter to %tan2e0i/hA

=- /a&e to 5os/o fro& Georgia, there /a&e . 3Hdilettante of philosophy+C e are li0ing together. -n

the su&&er he ent through egel+s philosophy of religion and the philosophy of right. B ne orld

opened before us. 'or/e is rightC right is for/e. o, - /an+t des/ribe &y feelings hen - heard these

ords. This as e&an/ipation. - sei@ed the idea of the donfall of e&pires, the lafulness of

/on he said, =under stress, sorrofully and ith diffi/ulty, &y spirit a//epts both lo0e

and hate, and 2noledge, and e0ery idea and feeling, but on/e ha0ing a//epted, it be/o&es saturated

ith the& don to its &ost se/ret, inner&ost bends and indings. Thus in &y spirit+s forge has

or2ed out independently the &eaning of the great ord, reality ... - loo2 on reality so s/orned by &e

before, and tre&ble ith a &ysterious ?oy, /o&prehending its rationality, seeing that nothing /an be

/ast out of it, nothing sullied or re?e/ted ... HealityI+ - repeat as - arise or go to sleep, night and dayC in

this ne &utation hi/h be/o&es &ore and &ore noti/eable ith e0ery passing day, reality en0elops

&e and - feel it e0eryhere and in e0erything, e0en in &yself.>


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This =&ysterious> ?oy fa/e to fa/e ith rational reality rese&bles the ?oy so&e of us e;perien/e hen

/o&&uning ith nature, those ho are able si&ultaneously to en?oy nature+s beauty and the

/ons/iousness of being indi0isible fro& nature. B &an ho lo0es nature ith su/h a lo0e,

si&ultaneously philosophi/ and poeti/, ill obser0e all of life+s &anifestations ith e he e;/lai&s. =Vieing e0eryone not fro& a pre/on/ei0ed theory,

but in a//ordan/e ith the fa/ts ea/h indi0idual hi&self supplies, - a& beginning to gain the ability to

enter into real relations ith hi&, and for this reason e0erybody is satisfied ith &e, and - a& satisfied

ith e0erybody. - a& beginning to find interests in /o&&on in dis/ussions ith people ith ho& -

ne0er drea&ed - had anything in /o&&on.>

B//epting a post in a sur0eyors+ institute, he as inordinately satisfied by his a/ti0ities as tea/her, not

high)sounding but useful.

=With insatiable /uriosity - loo2 into the &eans, so /rude, so tedious and prosai/ on the surfa/e, by

hi/h this la/2lustre and i&per/eptible usefulness is /reated, i&per/eptible unless one follos itsde0elop&ent in ti&e, in0isible, fro& a superfi/ial standpoint, but great and bountiful in its

/onse

ot a tra/e is left of =abstra/t herois&.> Worn out by pre0ious &ental effort, elins2i see&s to ha0e

lost e0en theoreti/al interest in great so/ial he said, =of a 2ind of instin/t, or ta/t by reason of hi/h ea/h step a

&an ta2es is a sure step, ea/h proposition rings true, all relations ith people irreproa/hable,

unstrained. aturally, he ho through his thought adds the /ons/ious to this penetrati0e &ental

fa/ulty, is doubly able to possess realityC but the &ain thing is to 2no reality, no &atter ho.>

-n the pre0ious period of his de0elop&ent elins2i tried, as e ha0e seen, to sol0e the /ontradi/tion

that tor&ented hi&, the /ontradi/tion beteen abstra/t ideal and /on/rete reality, by e


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peopleC nor did it ta2e pla/e in a//ordan/e ith anyone+s idea, not e0en the idea of a genius. Det us

ta2e, say, the origin of &onar/hi/al poer. B liberal babbler ould say that it arose as a produ/t of the

depra0ity of the people ho, upon be/o&ing /on0in/ed of their in/apa/ity for self)rule, found

the&sel0es in bitter need of sub&itting to the ill of a single indi0idual, /hosen by the&, and in0ested

by the& ith unli&ited poer. 'or superfi/ial attitudes and abstra/t &inds in hose eyes ideas and

e0ents do not /ontain ithin the&sel0es their on /ausality and their on ne/essity, but sprout li2e&ushroo&s after a rain, not only ithout soil and roots but suspended in &id)air for su/h &inds

there is nothing si&pler or &ore satisfa/tory than su/h an e;planationC but to those to ho& the

profundity and inner essen/e of things lies open by 0irtue of the spiritual /larity of their 0ision there

/annot be anything &ore foolish, laughable or senseless. *0erything that la/2s /ause ithin its on

self and appears only than2s to so&e Hother,+ so&ething Houter+ and not Hinner+ to it, so&ething alien to

it, all su/h things are bereft of rationality and therefore also of san/tity. asi/ state de/rees are

san/tified be/ause they are the basi/ ideas not &erely of a /ertain people, but of e0ery peopleC and also

be/ause, by passing o0er into pheno&enal, by be/o&ing fa/ts, they obtained their diale/ti/

de0elop&ent through the histori/al &o0e&ent. %o that the 0ery /hanges they ha0e undergone

/onstitute &o&ents of their on idea. Bnd for this reason the basi/ de/rees are not las pro&ulgated

by &an but appear, so to spea2, before their ti&e and are si&ply e;pressed and /ogni@ed by &an.>

*0ident here is a /ertain inde;terity in the use of philosophi/ ter&s. 'or e;a&ple, fro& the foregoing

lines it ould see& that, in elins2i+s opinion, the inner essence of things&ay lie open to a

philosopher. ut hat is this inneressen/eE Bs e see it, Goethe as absolutely /orre/t hen he saidA

5ichts ist innen, nichts ist a!ssen

Was ist drinnen,, das ist dra!ssen1

3There is nothing inner, nothing outer.

Whate0er is fro& ithin, is also fro& ithout.

ut let us not dell on details. Det us instead re/all the general /hara/ter of elins2i+s 0ies at the

ti&e.

'ro& his ne standpoint, hat is the role of an indi0idual in the diale/ti/ pro/ess of so/ial

de0elop&entE

=With regard to indi0iduality, a hu&an being is parti/tular and a//idental, but ith regard to the spirit,

to hi/h this indi0idual gi0es e;pression, he is general and ne/essary,> says elins2i. =en/e flos

the duality of his position and of his stri0ingsC the duality of the struggle beteen the - and hate0er

lies beyond the -, and /onstitutes the not)- ... To be real and not illusory, a hu&an being &ust be aparti/ular e;pression of the general, or a finite &anifestation of the infinite. e &ust therefore

renoun/e his sub?e/ti0e indi0iduality, re/ogni@ing it as a lie and a phanto&C he &ust sub&it to the

orld, to the general, re/ogni@ing it as truth and reality. ut sin/e the orld, or the general, is lo/ated

not ithin hi& but in the ob?e/ti0e orld outside, he &ust gro a2in to it, &erge ith it, in order ane

to be/o&e a sub?e/ti0e indi0iduality but, this ti&e, already real, already e;pressing not so&e

a//idental parti/ular, but the general, the uni0ersal, in a ord, be/o&e spirit in the flesh.>

To a0oid re&aining ?ust an illusion, a hu&an being &ust stri0e to be/o&e a parti/ular e;pression of

the general. The &ost progressi0e orld outloo2 is /o&patible ith this 0ie of indi0iduality. When

%o/rates atta/2ed the out&oded /on/eptions of the Bthenians, he as ser0ing nothing else but =the

general, the uni0ersal>C his philosophi/ do/trine as ideally the e;pression of a ne step forard bythe Bthenians in their histori/al de0elop&ent. That+s hy %o/rates as a heroas egel /alled hi&. -n


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this ay, dis/ord beteen an indi0idual and the reality about hi& is holly 0alid hene0er the

indi0idual, as apartic!lar e"pression of the general, prepares by his negation the histori/al soil for the

ne reality, the reality of to&orro.

ut that is not ho elins2i reasons. e prea/hes =sub&ission> to the e;isting order of things. -n the

arti/le on orodino and espe/ially in the arti/le on 5en@el, elins2i falls ith indignation upon the=little, great &en,> for ho& history is an in/oherent fairy tale, full of a//idental and /ontradi/tory

/ollisions of /ir/u&stan/es. B//ording to elins2i, su/h an interpretation of history is the sorry

produ/t of the hu&an understanding. u&an understanding in0ariably grasps only one side of an

ob?e/t, hereas reason sur0eys the ob?e/t fro& all sides, e0en if these sides see&ingly /ontradi/t one

another. Bnd on this a//ount, reason does not /reate reality but /ogni@es it, ta2ing in ad0an/e as its

di/tu& that =hate0er is, is ne/essary, laful and rational.>

=eality /onstitutes the positi0e in life,> says elins2i in another arti/le, =illusion is its negati0e.> -f

e grant this, then his atta/2s on the =little, great &en> ho deny reality be/o&e perfe/tly

/o&prehensible. 4ersonalities ho deny reality are sheer phanto&s. -t is li2eise /o&prehensible hy

elins2i should fall into an e;tre&e opti&is&. -f e0ery denial of reality is illusory then reality isfaultless. -t is instru/ti0e to follo elins2i+s atte&pts to pro0e by histori/al e;a&ples that the

=destinies of the earthborn> are not left to blind a//ident.

=O&ar burned don the Ble;andria library. ursed be O&ar, for he re/2ed enlighten&ent in the

an/ient orld for ages to /o&eI 4ause, gentle&en, before you /urse O&arI *nlighten&ent is a

onder)or2ing thing. Were it an o/ean and so&e O&ar dried it up, there ould still re&ain beneath

the earth an unseen and se/ret spring of li0ing ater that ould not long tarry before brea2ing out in

/lear fountains and be/o&e /on0erted into an o/ean ...>

aturally, this argu&ent is and he ill be stru/2 by the 0irtually /o&plete

identity. The sole differen/e is this, that =furious Vissarion> be/a&e &u/h &ore heated than the /al&

Ger&an thin2er and therefore ent to e;tre&es egel a0oided.

elins2i said that Voltaire

=rese&bles a %atan, freed by the ighest Will fro& ada&antine /hains by hi/h he had been held in

the+fiery habitation in eternal dar2ness and ho used his brief span of freedo& to the ruination of

&an2ind.>

egel said nothing of the 2ind and ould ha0e ne0er said it. ot a fe si&ilar e;a&ples /ould be

addu/ed, but all of these are details hi/h do not alter the gist of the &atter hi/h is this, that in

e;pressing his 0ies elins2i re&ained holly, true to the spirit of egel+s a)sol!tephilosophy.


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Bnd if these /on/iliationist 0ies appear =strange> to 5r. Volyns2i, then it shos ho poorly

a/ i.e., egel. True enough, 5r.

Volyns2i happens to be repeating on this o//asion only hat had been pre0iously said by .

%tan2e0i/h, by er@en, Turgene0 and others. ut he had pro&ised to re0ie the and =through a /o&parison

of elins2i+s ell)2non 0ies ith their original sour/es.> Why then did 5r. Volyns2i /onfinehi&self to repeating the errors of othersE ould it beC perhaps, that the =original sour/e> is rather

poorly 2non by hi&E

5ore fully than any of his friends, say, 5.. or . %tan2e0i/h, elins2i had assi&ilated the

/onser0ati0e spirit of the egelian philosophy hi/h /lai&ed to be a)sol!te, tr!th. The li2elihood is

that he felt this hi&self be/ause friendly ad&onitions designed to /ool his =/on/iliationist> ardor did

not sit ell ith hi& at all. Bfter all, these friends held the sa&e standpoint of alleged absolute truth

hi/h elins2i as no, in egel+s footsteps, ad0o/ating, and fro& this standpoint any /on/ession to,

=liberal babblers> as only a sad in/onsisten/y. 3-n a letter to D.5. e0ero0, Grano0s2i says that

a2unin as the first to rise up against elins2i+s arti/les on orodino, et/. -t is unfortunately un/lear

fro& Grano0s2i+s letter ?ust hat a2unin+s uprising /onsisted of. Bnyho, it /ould not ha0e beenbased on an understanding of the progressi0e side of egel+s philosophy to hi/h 5.. as to arri0e

&u/h later.

Of /ourse, it &ay be argued that hile egel in the days of the publi/ation of the Philoso*hy o' Riht

did &a2e his pea/e ith 4russian reality, it doesn+t therefore follo that egel ould ha0e /on/iliated

ith ussian reality. That is so. ut there are negations and negations. egel ould ha0e pronoun/ed

ussian reality to be se&i)Bsiati/C he generally held that the %la0 orld /onstituted an entity &iday

beteen *urope and Bsia. ut Bsian reality is li2eise =reason e&bodied> and egel not egel, the

diale/ti/ian, but egel, the herald of =absolute truth> ould ha0e s/ar/ely appro0ed of an uprising

against reality tin the part of finite reason of indi0iduals.

ha*ter VI

Det us no approa/h elins2i+s /on/iliationist 0ies fro& another side.

%o/ial theories of =liberal babblers> 2indled his ire by their superfi/ial, anti)s/ientifi/ /hara/ter.

=abblers> i&agine that so/ial relations /an be /hanged by popular hi&s, hereas, a/tually, so/ial

life and de0elop&ent are regulated by =i&&utable las, lodged in the essen/e of so/iety.> abblerssee arbitrariness and a//ident there here in reality an inelu/table pro/ess of de0elop&ent is ta2ing

pla/e. %o/ial pheno&ena unind diale/ti/ally, fro& ithin the&sel0es, by inner ne/essity. Whate0er

bears no /ause ithin itself but appears on a//ount of so&ething alien to it, so&ething fro& =ithout,>

is de0oid of rationality, and hate0er is irrational is nothing &ore than an illusion, a phanto&. %u/h

are the 0ies elins2i /ounterposes to the rationalist outloo2 on so/ial life, inherited fro& the 18th

/entury. Bnd his 0ies are in/o&parably &ore profound and &ore serious than the rationalisti/

outloo2, hi/h lea0es no roo& for a s/ientifi/ e;planation of so/ial e0ents. One has to be 0ery &u/h

an honor)laden ussian so/iologist to be able to dis/ern nothing e;/ept philosophi/ =rubbish> in

elins2i+s /on/iliationist 0ies. %i&ilarly, only a 0ery honor)laden ussian so/iologist /ould, in 0ie

of elins2i+s foregoing outloo2 on life and the e0olution of hu&an so/iety, &a2e the re&ar2able

dis/o0ery that his =flair for truth> &ore or less betrayed our genius)/riti/ ea/h ti&e an =estheti/pheno&enon be/a&e /o&pli/ated by philosophi/ and politi/o)&oral prin/iples.> -f by flair for truth is


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&eant an instin/t for theoreti/al truth and in That

is ho 5r. 5i2hailoys2y philosophi@es. elins2i ould ha0e re/ogni@ed in this ratio/ination the

rationalisti/ outloo2 he despised so &u/h and he ould ha0e li2ened it by its inner orth to the

light)&inded pronoun/e&ents of li)eral a))ots.

=eality as the &anifestation of e&bodied reason,> he rote, =alays /o&es prior to /ognition,

be/ause it is ne/essary to ha0e the ob?e/t for /ognition, before the a/t of /ognition /an ta2e pla/e.>

'or this reason, a s/ien/e =in /harge of> a gi0en e/ono&i/ order /ould &a2e its appearan/e only aftersu/h an order had ta2en shapeC but to elu/idate by its later appearan/e one or another positi0e or

negati0e


36/50

people, turning their ba/2s on all =nonsensi/al> ideas, are =/on/erned> only about the prosperity of the

business)li2e little &ou@hi2 in hose hands the o)shchinahas be/o&e a fearso&e eapon for

e;ploiting the rural proletariat. -t is undeniable that =/on/erns> of this sort ha0e nothing =illusory>

about the& nor ha0e anything in /o&&on ith the =abstra/t ideal>

asi/ state de/rees =are not las pro&ulgated by &an but they appear, so to spea2, before their ti&eand are only e;pressed by &an.> -s this so, or notE elins2i+s reasoning on this sub?e/t is /onsiderably

obs/ured by his /ustodial ardor at the ti&e, oing to hi/h he so&eti&es e;pressed hi&self ith

foggy po&posity. oe0er, in these reasonings, too, it is not hard to find a perfe/tly healthy 2ernel.

'ro& the standpoint of &odern so/ial s/ien/e 5ar;is&K there is no doubt hate0er that not only basi/

state de/rees but ?uridi/al institutions generally are an e;pression of a/tual relations into hi/h people

enter, not arbitrarily but by dint of ne/essity -n this sense all legal institutions in general are only

=e;pressed by &an.> Bnd to the e;tent that elins2i+s ords /arry this &eaning they &ust be

re/ogni@ed as absolutely /orre/t.

-t ouild not hurt to re/all the& repeatedly e0en no to those bearers of the =abstra/t ideal> a&ong us

ho i&agine that ?uridi/al nor&s are /reated by popular /rot/hets and that a people /an &a2e of theirlegal institutions any e/le/ti/ hash they please. 3Thus, for e;a&ple, there are &any a&ong us ho

belie0e, on the one side, that ussia /ould ith /o&fort =strengthen the o)shchina> and, on the other,

transplant on this =strengthened> soil, that is, on the soil of Bsian landonership, /ertain institutions of

West *uropean so/ial la.

ussian so/ial thought, in the person of our genius)/riti/, let us repeat, for the first ti&e and

auda/iously, undertoo2 the solution of that great tas2 hi/h the 19th /entury had posed before all the

thin2ing &inds of *urope. o&prehending the /olossal i&portan/e of this tas2 elins2i suddenly felt

fir&, soil beneath his feetC and, enthused by the boundless hori@ons opened before hi&, he, as e sa,

sur0eyed for a hile the reality about hi& through the eyes of an *pi/urean, anti/ipating the bliss of

philosophi/ /ognition. Bnd, after all, ho /ould one not get angry at the =s&all, great people> ho

ith their idle tal2 and it is ti$e to recognise this their absolutely groundless tal2 in point of

theory, hindered the tran ho not heap ridi/ule upon the& hen

elins2i, fro& his on e;perien/e, 2ne its utter pra/ti/al orthlessnessC hen he still re&e&bered

that grie0ous /ognition of self as a HH/ipher> hi/h /onstantly a//o&panied the intense ?oy this ideal

had arousedE o not despise those ho, although they anted happiness for their near and dear

ones, ne0ertheless, out of &yopia, /onsidered har&ful the only philosophy hi/h elins2i as

/on0in/ed /ould &a2e &an2ind happyE

ut this &ood did not last longC /on/iliation ith reality pro0ed sha2y. y O/tober 18"9, departing for4etersburg and /arrying ith hi& the still unpublished arti/le on The 6ketches of the Battle of

Borodino, elins2i as already far re&o0ed fro& the radiant and /heerful 0ie of e0erything about

hi&, hi/h /a&e upon hi& in the first period of his infatuation ith egelian philosophy.

=5y inner sufferings ha0e burned into a sort of dry e&bitter&ent,> he said. ='or &e no one e;isted,

be/ause - &yself as dead.>

True enough, this ne oppressi0e &ood as /onditioned to a /onsiderable degree by la/2 of personal

happiness, but 2noing elins2i+s /hara/ter it /an be said ith /ertainty that he ould not e0en ha0e

noti/ed this la/2 had egel+s philosophy gi0en hi& so &u/h as a fra/tion of hat it had pro&ised.


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=o laughable it is and ho e;asperating,> he e;/lai&s in a long letter to ot2in, ritten fro&

Le/e&ber 16, 18"9 to early 'ebruary 18$:. =The lo0e of o&eo and Juliet is lo0e in generalC but the

need of lo0e, or the reader+s lo0e is an illusion, a parti/ular lo0e. Dife in boo2s, that there isC but in life

itself there is nothing.>

ote these ords. They sho that elins2i as already /ohabiting poorly ith egel+s =absolute>/on/lusions. -n fa/t, if the tas2 of a thin2ing &an is li&ited to /ognition of reality about hi&C if e0ery

atte&pt on his part toard a =/reati0e> attitude to reality is =illusory,> and /onde&ned to failure in

ad0an/e, then for hi& nothing really re&ains e;/ept =life in boo2s.>

'urther&ore, a thin2ing &an is under obligation to re/on/ile hi&self ith hate0er is. ut li0ing is

not =hate0er is.> Whate0er is, has already ossified, the breath of life has already sped fro& it. That

li0es hi/h is in the pro/ess Of be/o&ing 3wird, hi/h is being or2ed out by the pro/ess of

de0elop&ent. What is Hlife if not de0elop&entE Bnd in the pro/ess of de0elop&ent the ele&ent of

negation is indispensable. Whoe0er in his outloo2 fails to assign ade be/ause in his /on/iliation ith

=hate0er is> he engages in transa/tions not ith life but ith hat used to be life, but had /easedli0ing in the interi&.

egel+s absolute philosophy, by pro/lai&ing /onte&porary reality to be i&&une fro& negation,

thereby also pro/lai&ed that life /an e;ist only in boo2s, but outside of boo2s there as to be no life.

-t /orre/tly taught that an indi0idual ought not pla/e his personal /rot/hets and e0en his 0ital personal

interests abo0e the interests of the =general.> ut to this philosophy of the general, the interests ere

the interests of stagnation.

elins2i sensed this instin/ti0ely &u/h earlier than he as able to be/o&e /ogni@ant of it through

reason. e e;pe/ted philosophy to point out the road to hu&an happiness. The general hi/h signifies a /essation of all &o0e&ent.


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'ro& the standpoint of absolute truth, the right of histori/al &o0e&ent be/a&e /on0erted into the

san/tified and i&&utable right of the 4russian Jun2erdo& to e;ploit the peasantry dependent on the&C

and all of the oppressed ere /onde&ned to eternal ser0itude solely be/ause =absolute truth,> on

&a2ing its appearan/e in the real& of /ognition, found the peasants ea2 and hen/e ithout any rights

as ell. C0etait !n pe! fort, as the 'ren/h say. Bnd elins2i as bound to noti/e it, too, as soon as he

started to ta2e sto/2 of his ne orld outloo2.

'ro& his /orresponden/e it is e0ident that his so)/alled brea2 ith egel, &entioned so often in our

literature, as pro0o2ed by the inability of egel+s =absolute> philosophy to anser so/ial and

politi/al


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/ontradi/tion beteen the diale/ti/ nature of this philosophy and its pretensions to the title of

=absolute truth.> 5r. Volyns2i apparently doesn+t e0en suspe/t the e;isten/e of this /ontradi/tion.

This does his =philosophi/ talent> no honor. elins2i, in /ontrast, already sensed as early as the end of

the 18":+s that this /ontradi/tion e;isted.

=- ha0e long suspe/ted,> he says in the abo0e)/ited letter,> that egel+s philosophy is only a &o&ent,e0en though a great one, but that the absoluteness of his results isn+t orth anythingPC that it is better

to die than re/on/ile oneself ith it.>

3P B footnote of 5r. 4ypin a//o&panies this phraseC it readsA =B sharp e;pression used in the te;t of

the letter has been altered by us.>

B ussian ho =suspe/ted> su/h things, and this, &oreo0er, toard the end of the 18":+s had truly to

possess a high =philosophi/ organis&.> Bnd feeble indeed are =philosophi/ organis&s> ho to this

day fail to understand elins2i. What they deser0e is not a =/ondes/ending> but the &ost s/athing

s&ile that /an be s&iled.

elins2i, naturally, doesn+t hold egel responsible for the e;ploits of the -n in the ussia of his

day.

This &ost perfe/t state rested on the e;ploitation 3through e;tre&ely anti philosophy,

elins2i understood this perfe/tly. e ent o0er holly to the side of the oppressed. ut these

oppressed did not appear in his eyes as produ/ers, li0ing under gi0en histori/al /onditions. e

regarded the& as people in general, as oppressed hu&an indi0iduals. 'or this reason he protested in

the na&e of indi0iduality.

=-t is high ti&e,> he e;/lai&s, =for hu&an indi0iduality, unfortunate enough as it is, to free itself fro&

the ignoble sha/2les of irrational reality, fro& the opinions of the &ob and fro& traditions be

On this a//ount there are so&e ho ould not be a0erse to pi/ture elins2i as so&ething a2in to a

liberal indi0idualist. ut this is absolutely groundless. elins2i hi&self /larifies his state of &ind at the

ti&e


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in 5arat+s ayA to &a2e a tiniest fra/tion of it happy, - ould, it see&s, destroy the rest ith fire and

the sord.>

Diberal indi0idualis& this does not represent in any /ase. or has the folloing /ategori/al de/laration

anything in /o&&on ith itA

=- ha0e no fallen into a ne e;tre&e it is the idea of so/ialis& hi/h has be/a&e for &e the idea of

ideas ... the alpha and o&ega of faith and 2noledge ... 'or &e, it has salloed up history and

religion and philosophy. Bnd therefore - no e;plain by it &y life, your life and the li0es of all those

ho& - ha0e &et on life+s highroad> 3letter to ot2in, %epte&ber 8, 18$:.

5r. 4ypin hastens to assure us that elins2i+s so/ialis& as at botto& perfe/tly har&less. The honor)

laden s/holar, in this /ase, labors in 0ain. Who doesn+t 2no that the so/ialis& of elins2i+s day

generally /ontained nothing dangerous to the so/ial order of the ti&eE ut elins2i+s infatuation ith

so/ialis&, hile /ontaining nothing dangerous, happens to ha0e been a 0ery i&portant e0ent in his

&ental life. Bnd for this reason it ought not be left in the shados but &ust be brought out into the

/learest possible light.


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ut this state&ent in no ay hindered er@en fro& re&aining an idealist of purest ater both in his

0ies on nature 3herein he is holly egelian as ell as in his 0ies on the philosophy of history.

e thought that =in &aterialis& there is nohere to go beyond obbes.> e said that the &aterialists

in history ere those to ho& =the entire orld history see&ed to be a &atter of personal in0entions

and a strange /onfluen/e of a//idents.> 3-t is an interesting sidelight to /o&pare this 0ie ith the

/harges le0elled noadays, fro& all sides, against the e/ono&i/ &aterialists. Mp to the &iddle of18$$, er@en spo2e throughout as an idealist in his iary. Only in July 18$$ did he refer

/o&&endingly to an arti/le by Jordan in $iands uarterly. ut this /o&&ent, too, did not at all

signify any de/isi0e turn in er@en+s 0ies.

5r. 4ypin also re&ar2s that elins2i+s =last philosophi/ interest> as the positi0is& of Buguste

o&te and 5a;i&ilien Dittre =as the /ategori/al re?e/tion of &etaphysi/s.> 5r. 4ypin has

unfortunately failed to print in full the letter in hi/h elins2i, a//ording to 5r. 4ypin, dells at

length on positi0is&. Judging solely by the passage /ited fro& this letter by 5r. 4ypin, our great

/riti/+s opinion of o&te as not o0erly fa0orable, as 5r. 4ypin hi&self /on/edes. =o&te is a

re&ar2able &an,> says elins2i, =but the /han/es are rather sli&, that he shall pro0e to be the founder

of a ne philosophy. 'or this genius is re This leads usto /on/lude that elins2i ould not ha0e in/lined toard positi0is&, if death had not /arried hi& off

so pre&aturely.

-f spe/ulations are in order, then e shall ta2e the liberty to spe/ulate that elins2i ould ha0e

be/o&e ulti&ately a @ealous partisan of diale/ti/ &aterialis& hi/h, in the se/ond half of the 19th

/entury, /a&e to repla/e outli0ed idealist philosophy. istori/al de0elop&ent, hi/h absorbed

elins2i+s philosophi/ thought, led pre/isely in this dire/tionC and it as not for nothing that he read

ith so &u/h satisfa/tion the euts&h:Fran;&herin hi/h the future founders of

diale/ti/ &aterialis& ere then riting. -f elins2i found nothing ob?e/tionable in their 0ies in 18$(,

then hy should he ha0e risen up against the& later on, after these 0ies had been de0eloped and

gi0en a fir& foundationE

Det us note here, by the ay, that the logi/al affinity of philosophi/ ideas spea2s in fa0or of our

spe/ulation. Bnd against it, one &ay say that elins2i, re&o0ed as he as so terribly far fro&, the

/enters of West *uropean intelle/tual life and loaded perpetually ith pressing or2, ould ha0e

found it hard not to lag behind the best &inds of *urope. The greatest of geniuses re


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assistan/e toard de0eloping diale/ti/ 0ies on so/ial e0ents. er@en and the diale/ti/ got along

poorly. Bs is ell 2non, to the end of his days he sa in 4roudhon+s ontradi&tions e&ono/i?uesa

&ost su//essful appli/ation of the diale/ti/ &ethod to e/ono&i/ life. er@en sa that, /orre/tly

understood, egel+s philosophy /ould not be a philosophy of stagnation 3egel to the /ontrary

notithstanding. ut if there as any one in ussia ho understood poorly the egelian affir&ation

of the rationality of hate0er e;ists, then it as surely none other than the brilliant but superfi/ialer@en. -n ,y Past and -houhtshe saysA

=The philosophi/ phrase hi/h has done the greatest har& and on the basis of hi/h Ger&an

/onser0ati0es ha0e sought to re/on/ile philosophy ith Ger&any+s politi/al life, na&ely, the phrase to

the effe/t that Hhate0er is real is rational,+ as &erely another ay of stating the prin/iple of

s!fficient reasonand of the /orresponden/e beteen logi/ and fa/ts.>

ut su/h a /o&&onpla/e as =the prin/iple of suffi/ient reason> ould ha0e ne0er satisfied egel. The

18th /entury philosophers li2eise re/ogni@ed this prin/iple but they re&ained 0ery far re&o0ed fro&

the egelian 0ie of history as a laful pro/ess. The hole point is thisA Where and ho does a gi0en

theory of so/iety see2 the suffi/ient reason for so/ial e0entsE Why did the old order in 'ran/e fallEWas it be/ause 5irabeau as so elo elins2i anted thereby to say that he

needed to negate the histori/al ne/essity of the indi/ated ele&ents in e0ery gi0en so/ial order. -n

o0erloo2ing this i&portant side of the &atter, he ha

belinski and rational reality

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