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$.

*ditor+s ote ,hapter ,hapter -,hapter --,hapter -V ,hapter V ,hapter V,hapter V-,hapter V---

Editor s !ote

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 1ell 2no1n abroad 34ush2in, Gogol, 5ussorgs2y, et/.6, but the .ussian pioneers in the field of thought are 0irtually un2no1n, espe/ially in our /ountry. This is true in parti/ular of V.G. 7elins2i 31811)18$86 and .G. ,hernishe0s2i 318!8)18896. These t1o great .ussian s/holars, /riti/s and thin2ers 1ere, li2e 'ran8ois 'ourier in 'ran/e 3177!) 18"76, true dis/iples of 9egel 3177:)18"16. They headed the gala;y of intelle/tuals 1ho pa0ed the 1ay 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 1ith ,hernishe0s2i, 1riting a boo2 as 1ell as essays about his life and 1or2. 4le2hano0 held 7elins2i in e<ually great estee&, /onsidering hi& =the &ost re&ar2able philosophi/ organis& e0er to appear in .ussian literature.> 7elins2i+s /hief &erit in 4le2hano0+s opinion 1as that he 1as the first =by the genius flight of thought to pose before us those proble&s of theory 1hose /orre/t solution led dire/tly to s/ientifi/ so/ialis&.> 4le2hano0 intended to present 7elins2i to the 5ar;ist &o0e&ent in a syste&ati/ 1ay, but ne0er got around to 1riting his pro?e/ted boo2, lea0ing only arti/les 1hi/h ne0ertheless /onstitute a si@able 0olu&e. The finest of these essays, Belinski and Rational Reality, he 1rote in 1897 at the pinna/le of his brilliant 5ar;ist /areer, years before he deserted the /ause to 1hi/h he o1es his fa&e. *0en for 4le2hano0+s leisurely epo/h and his leisurely 1ay of 1riting, this 1as a lengthy arti/le. -t had to be published in t1o install&ents in the re0olutionary periodi/al !ovoye "lovo 3!e# $ord, 1897, os.7 # 86. 4le2hano0 begins his treat&ent of 7elins2i 1ith the fourth /hapter of the eight he 1rote. 9e thought this lengthy beginning ne/essary, be/ause he de/ided first to e;pound the real &eaning of 9egel, &ore a//urately, the &eaning of 9egel+s general state&ent of the diale/ti/A Bll that is real is rationalC all that is rational is real. -t 1as little understood in .ussia at the ti&e. The study of 7elins2i that follo1s further de0elops the basi/ ideas of 9egel+s s/hool of thought. This essay on 7elins2i and 9egel thus supple&ents 4le2hano0+s earlier arti/le in 1891, The Meaning of Hegel, 1ritten on the si;tieth anni0ersary of 9egel+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 1ithout studying, really studying, e0erything that 4le2hano0 has 1ritten on philosophy, as this is the best of the 1hole 1orld literature of 5ar;is&.> -n 19!! Deon Trots2y 1roteA =The great 4le2hano0, the true one, belongs 1holly and e;/lusi0ely to us. -t is our duty to restore to the young generations his spiritual figure in all its stature.> This translation 1as &ade fro& the original .ussian te;t by John G. Wright.

(Part 1)

%u&i'er( Was not thy <uest for 2no1ledgeE )ain( Fes, as being the road to happiness. G 7yron, Cain, a Mystery.

)ha*ter I
=T9* .OOT <uestion of 9egel+s influen/e upon 7elins2i+s 1orld outloo2 has been posed by &ost .ussian /riti/s, but it has been analy@ed by none 1ith the ne/essary thoroughness Hthrough a /o&parison of 7elins2i+s 1ell)2no1n 0ie1s 1ith their original sour/es,> says 5r. Volyns2iA = o one has analy@ed attenti0ely enough 7elins2i+s estheti/ ideas in their original /ontent, nor sub?e/ted the& to i&partial ?udg&ent on the basis of a definite theoreti/al /riterion.> 3B. Volyns2i, Russian )riti&s, p."8.6 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 1as there any =real /riti/is&.> -f so&e of us did happen to 2no1 so&ething, 1e 2ne1 it &erely in a /onfused, disorderly 1ay. 7y 1ay of /o&pensation, as of no1, than2s to 5r. Volyns2i, 1e shall all rapidly set oursel0es in order and enri/h our &eager %to/2 of learning. Bs a guide 5r. Volyns2i is <uite reliable. Obser0e, for instan/e, ho1 neatly he sol0es =the root <uestion of 9egel+s influen/e upon 7elins2i+s 1orld outloo2.> =5aturing and de0eloping, in part under the influen/e of %tan2e0i/h+s /ir/le, in part independently by digesting his i&pressions of ade@hdin+s arti/les, 7elins2i+s thought s1iftly attained its pea2, and its highest pit/h of enthusias&, 'or 7elins2i, the %/helling period had already /on/luded by 18"7C and 9egel+s philosophy, as it rea/hed hi& through tal2s 1ith friends, through &aga@ine arti/les and translations, o//upied a /entral pla/e in his literary and intelle/tual pursuits. Bnd so it is pre/isely here, and &ost stri2ingly, that there e&erges 7elins2i+s inability to dra1 independent logi/al /on/lusions /on/erning politi/al and /i0il <uestions in 1hi/h philosophi/ theore&s are in0ol0edC syste&ati/ thought 1as beyond 7elins2i+s po1ers. 9e 1as astounded by 9egel+s do/trine, but he la/2ed the strength to thin2 this do/trine through, in all its se0eral parts and se0eral /on/lusions. =9egel /har&ed his i&agination, but pro0ided no i&petus to 7elins2i+s &ental /reati0eness. 'or the /o&plete analysis of the basi/ propositions of idealis&, one had to ar& oneself 1ith patien/e. -t 1as ne/essary to /all a halt for a 1hile to flights of fan/y and of e&otion, so as to gi0e the& ne1 1ings later on. 7ut 7elins2i 1as in/apable of /al&ly po2ing and prying into the truth G and his 1hole 9egelianis&, together 1ith his infatuation 1ith %/helling, as e;pounded by ade@hdin, 1as bound in the end to degenerate into thought that 1as inhar&onious, shot through 1ith logi/al &ista2es, ad&i;ed 1ith <ueer drea&s of a /on/iliationist)/onser0ati0e bent.> 3i+id., p.9:.6 5r. Volyns2i 1as thus greatly sho/2ed by 7elins2i+s te&porary /on/iliation 1ith realityC and he is able to e;plain it in one 1ay only, na&ely, 7elins2i grasped 9egel poorly. To tell the truth, this e;planation is not e;a/tly ne1. -t &ay be found in the &e&oirs 3,y Past and -hou.hts6 of B.-. 9er@en, as 1ell as in the re/olle/tions of -.%. Turgene0 and e0en in a letter by .V. %tan2e0i/h to e0ero0, 1ritten al&ost i&&ediately after the publi/ation of 7elins2i+s fa&ous arti/les on the 7attle of 7orodino and on Menzel, Critic of Goethe. What is 5r. Volyns2i+s o1n is /o&posed of snide /o&&ents /on/erning the ignoran/e of 7elins2i /oupled 1ith subtle hints anent the un<uestionable and in/o&parable superiority of his own 35r. Volyns2i+s6 Pro/etheus o' 0ur -i/es. Bt first glan/e the abo0e e;planation reprodu/ed by 5r. Volyns2i G and it /ir/ulates in se0eral 0ersions G appears <uite plausible. 9egel pro/lai&edA Was wirklich ist, das ist vernnftig 31hat is real

is rational6C and on this basis 7elins2i rushed to pro/lai& as rational, and by this to2en, sa/red and untou/hable, the 1hole rather unpretty .ussian reality of his ti&esC and he started passionately to atta/2 e0erybody 1ho 1as not satisfied 1ith it. The arti/les in 1hi/h 7elins2i e;pressed these /on/iliationist 0ie1s 1ere =nasty> arti/les, as the liberal Grano0s2i said &oderately and a//urately at the ti&e. 7ut 9egel 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 7elins2i 1ho neither 2ne1 the Ger&an language nor had the /apa/ity for =pure thought.> Dater on, and espe/ially under the influen/e of his &o0ing to 4etersburg, he sa1 ho1 /ruelly 1rong 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, ho1e0er, 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 patres 3honor)laden so/iologists in/luded6 loo2 upon 7elins2i+s arti/les on 7orodino 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&, in a//ordan/e 1ith the fol2)saying, =Whosoe0er re/alls the past, stands to lose an eye.> 7ut this does not deter the& fro& hinting, rele0antly or irrele0antly, that they, the =ad0an/ed> persons, 1ho 1hile still 0irtually in diapers grasped all the philosophi/ and so/iologi/al truthsC they hint, - say, that they understand perfe/tly the 1hole profundity of those strayings into error and the 1hole horror of that =fall> into 1hi/h 7elins2i 1as led by his &ispla/ed and i&prudent G but happily, only te&porary G passion for =&etaphysi/s.> 7eti&es young 1riters are also re&inded of this =fall,> parti/ularly those 1ho tend to be disrespe/tful to1ard the ,ro1ned Ones of literature, those 1ho dare doubt the /orre/tness of our =ad0an/ed> /ate/his&, and 1ho turn to sour/es abroad in order better to /larify for the&sel0es the proble&s 1hi/h are agitating &odern /i0ili@ed hu&anity. These young 1riters are toldA =Wat/h outI 9ere+s an e;a&ple for you ...> Bnd in so&e instan/es, young 1riters 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 1ith our ho&e)de0eloped =re/ipes of progress.> -n this 1ay, 7elins2i+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, 7elins2i 1as nothing all his life but a &artyr to the truth. Bs an art /riti/ he 1as 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 7elins2i shall re&ain in full for/e. 7ut in return only in the field of estheti/s 1as 7elins2i able to find for hi&self a 0irtually uninterrupted se<uen/e of delights. o sooner did an estheti/ pheno&enon be/o&e /o&pli/ated by philosophi/ and politi/o)&oral prin/iples than his flair for truth betrayed hi& to a greater or lesser e;tent, 1hile his thirst 3for truth6 re&ained unsla2ed as before, and it is ?ust this 1hi/h &ade of hi& a &artyr to the truth, the &artyr that e&erges in his /orresponden/e.> 3%ee the arti/le ro!dhon and Belinski, 1ith 1hi/h 5r. 4a0len2o0 sa1 fit to adorn his edition of 7elins2i+s 1or2s.6 %in/e the flair for truth generally betrayed 7elins2i ea/h ti&e an estheti/ pheno&enon be/a&e /o&pli/ated by philosophi/ and politi/o)&oral prin/iples, it goes 1ithout saying that the period of 7elins2i+s infatuation 1ith 9egel+s philosophy falls under this sa&e general la1. This entire period in 7elins2i+s life ob0iously rouses nothing in 5r. 5i2hailo0s2i+s breast e;/ept a feeling of /o&passionate sy&pathy to1ard the =&artyr to the truth,> /oupled, perhaps, 1ith a feeling of

indignation to1ard =&etaphysi/s.> ,o&passionate sy&pathy 1al2s here ar& in ar& 1ith great respe/t. 7ut this respe/t pertains e"cl!sively to 7elins2i+s truthfulness 1ith 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 0ie1 on 7elins2i+s period of te&porary /on/iliation is identi/al 1ith the 0ie1 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 9egel,> 1hereas in 5r. Volyns2i+s opinion, borro1ed by hi& fro& %tan2e0i/h, 9er@en, Grano0s2i, Turgene0 and others, 9egel had nothing 1hate0er to do 1ith it. 7ut both 5r. Volyns2i and 5r. 5i2hailo0s2i are fir&ly /on0in/ed that 7elins2i+s /on/iliationist 0ie1s are erroneous fro& top to botto&. 9o1e0er authoritati0e are the opinions of these t1o stout fello1s G of 1ho& the one is as potent in so/iology as the other is in philosophy G - ta2e the liberty of not agreeing 1ith the&. - thin2 that pre/isely during this /on/iliationist period of his de0elop&ent, 7elins2i e;pressed &any ideas 1hi/h are not only fully 1orthy of a thin2ing being 3as 7yron on/e so&e1here said6, but 1hi/h &erit to this day the ut&ost attention of all 1ho see2 a /orre/t standpoint in order to e0aluate the reality around us. To pro0e this theoreti/al approa/h, - &ust begin fro& so&e1hat afar.

)ha*ter II
-n 176$, in a letter to 5ar<uis de ,hau0elin, Voltaire predi/ted the i&pending do1nfall of the old so/ial order in 'ran/e. =-t 1ill be a beautiful tapage Ja 'ren/h 1ord &eaning both a sho1 and an uproarK,> he added. =The youth are lu/2yC good things are in store for the&.> Voltaire+s predi/tion 1as fulfilled in the sense that the =tapage> really turned out a thing of beauty. 7ut it &ay be said 1ith assuran/e that it did not turn out to the li2ing of those 1ho li0ed to see it and 1ho belonged to the sa&e tenden/y as did the sage of 'erney. This sage ne0er spared the =&ob>C yet, to1ard the end of the *ighteenth ,entury, it 1as pri&arily the =&ob> that staged the =tapage> and /arried it through. True enough, for a 1hile the /ondu/t of the &ob /orresponded fully to the 0ie1s of =respe/table people,> i.e., the enlightened, liberal bourgeoisie. 7ut little by little the &ob fle1 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<uered by the 1ret/hed, unenlightened &ob, they sin/erely started to doubt the po1ers of reason, in 1hose na&e Voltaire and the *n/y/lopedists had 1or2edC that sa&e reason 1hi/h, it see&ed, ought to ha0e pla/ed at the head of e0ents none but its o1n tor/h)bearers and representati0es, i.e., the self)sa&e enlightened bourgeoisie. 7eginning 1ith 179" faith in the po1ers of reason de/lined noti/eably a&ong all those 1ho felt the&sel0es dri0en fro& their positions and o0er1hel&ed by the une;pe/ted and fearso&e triu&ph of the =&ob.> The ensuing e0ents brought a train of inter&inable 1ars and o0erturns, 1herein na2ed &ilitary for/e triu&phed .&ore than on/e o0er 1hat all enlightened people had held the &ost indisputable of rights. This /ould only feed the disillusion&ent that had set in. -t 1as as if the e0ents 1ere &o/2ing the de&ands of reason. Bnd so 1e obser0e, to1ard the /lose of the *ighteenth ,entury, that faith in reason falls a1ay /o&pletelyC and although in the days of the ,onsulate and the Lire/tory, the so)/alled ideologists /ontinue, out of habit, to e;tol reason and truth 3la raison and la verit#6, they no longer do so 1ith the

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, no1 1ants to know, =Bnd 1hat is truthE> 5ada&e de %tael, 1ho 2ne1 inti&ately the 'ren/h intelligentsia of that era, states that the &a?ority 3la pl!part des ho$$es6, ta2ing fright at the terrible &ar/h of e0ents, lost all in/lination to1ard self) perfe/tion and =o0er1hel&ed by the &ight of the a//idental, /eased to belie0e altogether in 3the po1er of hu&an /apabilities.> 31e la %itterature &onsider2e dans ses ra**orts ave& les institutions so&iales, 18::, -ntro, p.;0iii.6 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<uently lose all interest in the sear/h for truth. %o &any e0ents are de/ided by for/e, so &any /ri&es are absol0ed by su//ess, so &any 0irtues stig&ati@ed 1ith oblo<uy, so &any unfortunates abused by those in po1er, so &any generous senti&ents sub?e/ted to &o/2ery, so &any s1inish a/ts of selfishness philosophi/ally glossed o0er, that all of this drains a1ay the hopes and /onfiden/e of people 1ho re&ained &ost loyal to the /ult of reason.>6 This disillusion 1ith the po1ers of reason, far fro& /onfining itself 1ithin 'ran/e+s borders, found its e;pression else1here as 1ell. -n 7yron, for instan/e. 7yron+s Manfred thus de/lares philosophyA To be of all our 0anities the &otliest, The &erest 1ord that e0er fool+d the ear 'ro& out the s/hool&an+s ?argon ... 7yron regards /onte&porary so/io)politi/al e0ents as the senseless and /ruel 1hi&s of = e&esis,> a goddess ini&i/al to hu&ans. = e&esis> is ?ust another na&e for a//ident. 7ut at the sa&e ti&e 7yron+s pride is roused against the s1ay of this blind for/e. The pathos of 5anfred, as 7elins2i 1ould ha0e 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 G a bourgeoisie that 1as stri0ing to free itself fro&, the yo2e of the old order G 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. 7ut 1hile indi0iduals, e0en though in /onsiderable nu&bers, /ould rest /ontent 1ith su/h disillusion&ent and e0en flaunt it, su/h a state of &ind 1as absolutely ruled out for the /lass as a 1hole, for the entire ci%devant Third *state, in the histori/al situation at the ti&e. 7y their s1iftness, by the large)s/ale and /apri/ious /hanges they 1rought, 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 po1ers of reason. These sa&e e0ents, in their subse<uent &o0e&ent, 1ere bound to gi0e a ne1 i&pulse to the gro1th of so/ial thought, bound to e0o2e ne1 atte&pts by thin2ing people to dis/o0er the hidden fountainheads of so/ial pheno&ena. -n 'ran/e, during the period of the .estoration, the age)long tug of 1ar bet1een the bourgeoisie and the aristo/ra/y 3lay and /leri/al6 1as resu&ed 1ith ne1 0igor and under ne1 so/io)politi/al /onditions. -n this struggle ea/h side found itself in need of at least so&e ability to foresee e0ents. Bnd although the huge &a?ority of the /o&batants pinned their trust, as is the /usto&, on their =good horse sense,> and =the s/hool of hard 2no/2s,> ne0ertheless, a&ong the bourgeoisie, then still full of

youthful 0igor, there appeared, already at the beginning of the 18!:+s, not a fe1 gifted indi0iduals 1ho sought by &eans of scientific foresight 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. Di2e1ise these atte&pts ga0e rise to &any re&ar2able figures in the field of histori/al s/ien/e. 7ut a s/ientifi/ in0estigation of pheno&ena is the pro0in/e of nothing else but G reason. -n this 1ay, the 0ery /ourse of so/ial e0olution a/ted to resurre/t the faith in reason, e0en if it did pose ne1 tas2s before reason, tas2s un2no1n, or at any rate, little 2no1n to the =philosophers> of the *ighteenth ,entury. That /entury+s reason 1as 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 ne1 ideas to 1hi/h the ne1 so/ial needs and so/ial relations had gi0en birth. The urgent need at the ti&e 1as to separate as <ui/2ly as possible the sheep fro& the goats, =truth> fro& =error.> There1ith it Was i&&aterial to learn 1hen/e a gi0en =error> /a&e, or ho1 it originated and gre1 in history. The i&portant thing 1as to pro0e it 1as an =error,> and nothing &ore. Mnder the heading of error e0erything 1as in/luded that /ontradi/ted the ne1 ideas, ?ust as e0erything that /orresponded to the ne1 ideas 1as a/2no1ledged 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 o1n 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 ne1 ideas, 1hi/h are held to be eternal truths, independent of any =a//idental> histori/al /onditions 1hatsoe0er. The reason of the *nlighteners is nothing else but the level of !nderstanding of an innovator 1ho shuts his eyes to the histori/al /ourse of &an2ind+s e0olution, and 1ho pro/lai&s his o1n nature to be hu&an nature generallyC and his o1n philosophy G the one and only true philosophy for all ti&es and all peoples. -t 1as ?ust this abstra/t !nderstanding that suffered ship1re/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, 1ithout /o&prehending, the irresistible a/tion of so&e sort of hidden for/es 1hi/h ruthlessly /rush the po1ers of =reason> 3i.e., the po1ers of abstra/t understanding6 ea/h ti&e =reason> runs /ounter to these hidden for/es. The study of these hidden for/es G 1hi/h first appear in the guise of blind for/es of =a//ident> G hen/eforth be/a&e a &ore or less /ons/ious ai& of e0ery s/holar and thin2er 1ho 1as o//upied 1ith 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& - 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 l ho//e6. The *ighteenth ,entury ignored history. 9en/eforth e0erybody is sei@ed 1ith history. 7ut to study a pheno&enon historically &eans to study it in its evol!tion. The standpoint of evol!tion be/o&es gradually do&inant in philosophy and in the so/ial s/ien/es of the ineteenth ,entury. Bs is 1ell)2no1n, the e0olutionary 0ie1point produ/ed espe/ially ri/h fruits in Ger&an philosophy, that is, in the philosophy of a /ountry 1hi/h 1as a /onte&porary of the ad0an/ed *uropean states only in point of theory 3in the person of its thin2ers6. Ger&any 1as therefore then able, free fro& the distra/tions of pra/ti/al struggle, to assi&ilate in tran<uility all of the a/<uisitions of s/ientifi/ thought,

and painsta2ingly to in0estigate the /auses and /onse<uen/es of so/ial &o0e&ents ta2ing pla/e in the West. 3&n den Westlichen '(ndern, as Ger&ans often used to say in those days.6 The e0ents that o//urred in 4ran/e to1ard the end of the *ighteenth ,entury &et 1ith strong sy&pathy on the part of ad0an/ed Ger&ans right up to the year 179". That year s/ared out of their 1its the o0er1hel&ing &a?ority of these people and dro0e the& into doubts about the po1ers of reason, ?ust as 1as the /ase 1ith the enlightened 'ren/h bourgeoisie. 7ut Ger&an philosophy, then flo1ering lu;uriantly, 1as <ui/2 to see the 1ays in 1hi/h it 1as possible to gain 0i/tory o0er the blind for/es of a//ident. =-n freedo& there &ust be ne/essity,> 1rote %/helling in his "yste/ des -rans&endetalen Idealis/us. %/helling+s boo2 1as published e;a/tly at the beginning of the ineteenth ,entury 3in the year 18::6. %/helling+s for&ula &eans that freedo& /an &anifest itself only. as the produ/t of a /ertain, necessary, i.e., la1ful, histori/al de0elop&entC and it therefore follo1s that the study of the /ourse of this la1ful de0elop&ent &ust be/o&e the first duty of all true friends of freedo&. The ineteenth ,entury is ri/h in all sorts of dis/o0eries. B&ong the greatest is this 0ie1 on freedo& as the produ/t of ne/essity. What %/helling started, 9egel finished, doing it in his syste& 1herein Ger&an idealist philosophy found its &ost brilliant /onsu&&ation. 'or 9egel 1orld history 1as the progress of the /ons/iousness of freedo&, but a progress that $!st )e !nderstood in all of its necessity. To those 1ho held this point of 0ie1 =the history of &an2ind no longer appeared as a /onfused 1hirl of senseless deeds of 0iolen/e, all e<ually /onde&nable before the ?udg&ent seat of the no1 &atured philosophi/ reason, and best forgotten as <ui/2ly as possible, but as the pro/ess of de0elop&ent of hu&anity itself. -t no1 be/a&e the tas2 of thought to follo1 the gradual stages of this pro/ess through all its de0ious 1ays and to tra/e out the inner regularities running through all its apparent a//idents.> 3*ngels.6 To dis/o0er the la1s go0erning &an2ind+s histori/al de0elop&ent &eans to assure oneself the possibility of /ons/iously inter0ening in this pro/ess of de0elop&entC and fro& being a po1erless plaything of =a//ident,> be/o&ing its &aster. -n this 1ay Ger&an idealis& opened up for thin2ing people e;/eptionally broad, and in the highest degree pleasant, hori@ons. The po1er of a//ident 1as bound to be supplanted by the triu&ph of reasonC ne/essity 1as bound to be/o&e the fir&est foundation of freedo&. -t is not hard to i&agine ho1 enthusiasti/ally these pleasant hori@ons 1ere greeted by all those laden do1n by sterile disillusion, and 1ho do1n deep in their tor&ented hearts pro)ser0ed an interest in both so/ial life and in =the stri0ing to1ard self)perfe/tion.> 9egel+s philosophy re0i0ed the& to ne1 &ental a/ti0ity and in the transports of initial infatuation it see&ed to the& that this philosophy 1ould s1iftly supply ans1ers to e0ery single great <uestion of 2no1ledge and of lifeC 1ould pro0ide solutions to all /ontradi/tions, and inaugurate a ne1 era of /ons/ious life for hu&anity. ,arried a1ay by this philosophy 1as e0erything youthful and fresh, all 1ho 1ere thin2ing in the Ger&any of that dayC and, yes, as is generally 2no1n, not in Ger&any alone.

)ha*ter II
-n 176$, in a letter to 5ar<uis de ,hau0elin, Voltaire predi/ted the i&pending do1nfall of the old so/ial order in 'ran/e. =-t 1ill be a beautiful tapage Ja 'ren/h 1ord &eaning both a sho1 and an uproarK,> he added. =The youth are lu/2yC good things are in store for the&.> Voltaire+s predi/tion 1as fulfilled in the sense that the =tapage> really turned out a thing of beauty. 7ut it &ay be said 1ith assuran/e that it did not turn out to the li2ing of those 1ho li0ed to see it and 1ho belonged to the sa&e tenden/y as did the sage of 'erney. This sage ne0er spared the =&ob>C yet, to1ard the end of the *ighteenth ,entury, it 1as pri&arily the =&ob> that staged the =tapage> and /arried it through. True enough, for a 1hile the /ondu/t of the &ob /orresponded fully to the 0ie1s of =respe/table people,> i.e., the enlightened, liberal bourgeoisie. 7ut little by little the &ob fle1 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<uered by the 1ret/hed, unenlightened &ob, they sin/erely started to doubt the po1ers of reason, in 1hose na&e Voltaire and the *n/y/lopedists had 1or2edC that sa&e reason 1hi/h, it see&ed, ought to ha0e pla/ed at the head of e0ents none but its o1n tor/h)bearers and representati0es, i.e., the self)sa&e enlightened bourgeoisie. 7eginning 1ith 179" faith in the po1ers of reason de/lined noti/eably a&ong all those 1ho felt the&sel0es dri0en fro& their positions and o0er1hel&ed by the une;pe/ted and fearso&e triu&ph of the =&ob.> The ensuing e0ents brought a train of inter&inable 1ars and o0erturns, 1herein na2ed &ilitary for/e triu&phed .&ore than on/e o0er 1hat all enlightened people had held the &ost indisputable of rights. This /ould only feed the disillusion&ent that had set in. -t 1as as if the e0ents 1ere &o/2ing the de&ands of reason. Bnd so 1e obser0e, to1ard the /lose of the *ighteenth ,entury, that faith in reason falls a1ay /o&pletelyC and although in the days of the ,onsulate and the Lire/tory, the so)/alled ideologists /ontinue, out of habit, to e;tol reason and truth 3la raison and la verit#6, they no longer do so 1ith the 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, no1 1ants to know, =Bnd 1hat is truthE> 5ada&e de %tael, 1ho 2ne1 inti&ately the 'ren/h intelligentsia of that era, states that the &a?ority 3la pl!part des ho$$es6, ta2ing fright at the terrible &ar/h of e0ents, lost all in/lination to1ard self) perfe/tion and =o0er1hel&ed by the &ight of the a//idental, /eased to belie0e altogether in 3the po1er of hu&an /apabilities.> 31e la %itterature &onsider2e dans ses ra**orts ave& les institutions so&iales, 18::, -ntro, p.;0iii.6 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<uently lose all interest in the sear/h for truth. %o &any e0ents are de/ided by for/e, so &any /ri&es are absol0ed by su//ess, so &any 0irtues stig&ati@ed 1ith oblo<uy, so &any unfortunates abused by those in po1er, so &any generous senti&ents sub?e/ted to &o/2ery, so &any s1inish a/ts of selfishness philosophi/ally glossed o0er, that all of this drains a1ay the hopes and /onfiden/e of people 1ho re&ained &ost loyal to the /ult of reason.>6 This disillusion 1ith the po1ers of reason, far fro& /onfining itself 1ithin 'ran/e+s borders, found its e;pression else1here as 1ell. -n 7yron, for instan/e. 7yron+s Manfred thus de/lares philosophyA To be of all our 0anities the &otliest, The &erest 1ord that e0er fool+d the ear

'ro& out the s/hool&an+s ?argon ... 7yron regards /onte&porary so/io)politi/al e0ents as the senseless and /ruel 1hi&s of = e&esis,> a goddess ini&i/al to hu&ans. = e&esis> is ?ust another na&e for a//ident. 7ut at the sa&e ti&e 7yron+s pride is roused against the s1ay of this blind for/e. The pathos of 5anfred, as 7elins2i 1ould ha0e 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 G a bourgeoisie that 1as stri0ing to free itself fro&, the yo2e of the old order G 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. 7ut 1hile indi0iduals, e0en though in /onsiderable nu&bers, /ould rest /ontent 1ith su/h disillusion&ent and e0en flaunt it, su/h a state of &ind 1as absolutely ruled out for the /lass as a 1hole, for the entire ci%devant Third *state, in the histori/al situation at the ti&e. 7y their s1iftness, by the large)s/ale and /apri/ious /hanges they 1rought, 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 po1ers of reason. These sa&e e0ents, in their subse<uent &o0e&ent, 1ere bound to gi0e a ne1 i&pulse to the gro1th of so/ial thought, bound to e0o2e ne1 atte&pts by thin2ing people to dis/o0er the hidden fountainheads of so/ial pheno&ena. -n 'ran/e, during the period of the .estoration, the age)long tug of 1ar bet1een the bourgeoisie and the aristo/ra/y 3lay and /leri/al6 1as resu&ed 1ith ne1 0igor and under ne1 so/io)politi/al /onditions. -n this struggle ea/h side found itself in need of at least so&e ability to foresee e0ents. Bnd although the huge &a?ority of the /o&batants pinned their trust, as is the /usto&, on their =good horse sense,> and =the s/hool of hard 2no/2s,> ne0ertheless, a&ong the bourgeoisie, then still full of youthful 0igor, there appeared, already at the beginning of the 18!:+s, not a fe1 gifted indi0iduals 1ho sought by &eans of scientific foresight 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. Di2e1ise these atte&pts ga0e rise to &any re&ar2able figures in the field of histori/al s/ien/e. 7ut a s/ientifi/ in0estigation of pheno&ena is the pro0in/e of nothing else but G reason. -n this 1ay, the 0ery /ourse of so/ial e0olution a/ted to resurre/t the faith in reason, e0en if it did pose ne1 tas2s before reason, tas2s un2no1n, or at any rate, little 2no1n to the =philosophers> of the *ighteenth ,entury. That /entury+s reason 1as 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 ne1 ideas to 1hi/h the ne1 so/ial needs and so/ial relations had gi0en birth. The urgent need at the ti&e 1as to separate as <ui/2ly as possible the sheep fro& the goats, =truth> fro& =error.> There1ith it Was i&&aterial to learn 1hen/e a gi0en =error> /a&e, or ho1 it originated and gre1 in history. The i&portant thing 1as to pro0e it 1as an =error,> and nothing &ore. Mnder the heading of error e0erything 1as in/luded that /ontradi/ted the ne1 ideas, ?ust as e0erything that /orresponded to the ne1 ideas 1as a/2no1ledged 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 o1n 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 ne1 ideas, 1hi/h are held to be eternal truths, independent of any =a//idental> histori/al /onditions 1hatsoe0er. The reason of the *nlighteners is nothing else but the level of !nderstanding of an innovator 1ho shuts his eyes to the histori/al /ourse of &an2ind+s e0olution, and 1ho pro/lai&s his o1n nature to be hu&an nature generallyC and his o1n philosophy G the one and only true philosophy for all ti&es and all peoples. -t 1as ?ust this abstra/t !nderstanding that suffered ship1re/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, 1ithout /o&prehending, the irresistible a/tion of so&e sort of hidden for/es 1hi/h ruthlessly /rush the po1ers of =reason> 3i.e., the po1ers of abstra/t understanding6 ea/h ti&e =reason> runs /ounter to these hidden for/es. The study of these hidden for/es G 1hi/h first appear in the guise of blind for/es of =a//ident> G hen/eforth be/a&e a &ore or less /ons/ious ai& of e0ery s/holar and thin2er 1ho 1as o//upied 1ith 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& - 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 l ho//e6. The *ighteenth ,entury ignored history. 9en/eforth e0erybody is sei@ed 1ith history. 7ut to study a pheno&enon historically &eans to study it in its evol!tion. The standpoint of evol!tion be/o&es gradually do&inant in philosophy and in the so/ial s/ien/es of the ineteenth ,entury. Bs is 1ell)2no1n, the e0olutionary 0ie1point produ/ed espe/ially ri/h fruits in Ger&an philosophy, that is, in the philosophy of a /ountry 1hi/h 1as a /onte&porary of the ad0an/ed *uropean states only in point of theory 3in the person of its thin2ers6. Ger&any 1as therefore then able, free fro& the distra/tions of pra/ti/al struggle, to assi&ilate in tran<uility all of the a/<uisitions of s/ientifi/ thought, and painsta2ingly to in0estigate the /auses and /onse<uen/es of so/ial &o0e&ents ta2ing pla/e in the West. 3&n den Westlichen '(ndern, as Ger&ans often used to say in those days.6 The e0ents that o//urred in 4ran/e to1ard the end of the *ighteenth ,entury &et 1ith strong sy&pathy on the part of ad0an/ed Ger&ans right up to the year 179". That year s/ared out of their 1its the o0er1hel&ing &a?ority of these people and dro0e the& into doubts about the po1ers of reason, ?ust as 1as the /ase 1ith the enlightened 'ren/h bourgeoisie. 7ut Ger&an philosophy, then flo1ering lu;uriantly, 1as <ui/2 to see the 1ays in 1hi/h it 1as possible to gain 0i/tory o0er the blind for/es of a//ident. =-n freedo& there &ust be ne/essity,> 1rote %/helling in his "yste/ des -rans&endetalen Idealis/us. %/helling+s boo2 1as published e;a/tly at the beginning of the ineteenth ,entury 3in the year 18::6. %/helling+s for&ula &eans that freedo& /an &anifest itself only. as the produ/t of a /ertain, necessary, i.e., la1ful, histori/al de0elop&entC and it therefore follo1s that the study of the /ourse of this la1ful de0elop&ent &ust be/o&e the first duty of all true friends of freedo&. The ineteenth ,entury is ri/h in all sorts of dis/o0eries. B&ong the greatest is this 0ie1 on freedo& as the produ/t of ne/essity. What %/helling started, 9egel finished, doing it in his syste& 1herein Ger&an idealist philosophy found its &ost brilliant /onsu&&ation. 'or 9egel 1orld history 1as the progress of the /ons/iousness

of freedo&, but a progress that $!st )e !nderstood in all of its necessity. To those 1ho held this point of 0ie1 =the history of &an2ind no longer appeared as a /onfused 1hirl of senseless deeds of 0iolen/e, all e<ually /onde&nable before the ?udg&ent seat of the no1 &atured philosophi/ reason, and best forgotten as <ui/2ly as possible, but as the pro/ess of de0elop&ent of hu&anity itself. -t no1 be/a&e the tas2 of thought to follo1 the gradual stages of this pro/ess through all its de0ious 1ays and to tra/e out the inner regularities running through all its apparent a//idents.> 3*ngels.6 To dis/o0er the la1s go0erning &an2ind+s histori/al de0elop&ent &eans to assure oneself the possibility of /ons/iously inter0ening in this pro/ess of de0elop&entC and fro& being a po1erless plaything of =a//ident,> be/o&ing its &aster. -n this 1ay Ger&an idealis& opened up for thin2ing people e;/eptionally broad, and in the highest degree pleasant, hori@ons. The po1er of a//ident 1as bound to be supplanted by the triu&ph of reasonC ne/essity 1as bound to be/o&e the fir&est foundation of freedo&. -t is not hard to i&agine ho1 enthusiasti/ally these pleasant hori@ons 1ere greeted by all those laden do1n by sterile disillusion, and 1ho do1n deep in their tor&ented hearts pro)ser0ed an interest in both so/ial life and in =the stri0ing to1ard self)perfe/tion.> 9egel+s philosophy re0i0ed the& to ne1 &ental a/ti0ity and in the transports of initial infatuation it see&ed to the& that this philosophy 1ould s1iftly supply ans1ers to e0ery single great <uestion of 2no1ledge and of lifeC 1ould pro0ide solutions to all /ontradi/tions, and inaugurate a ne1 era of /ons/ious life for hu&anity. ,arried a1ay by this philosophy 1as e0erything youthful and fresh, all 1ho 1ere thin2ing in the Ger&any of that dayC and, yes, as is generally 2no1n, not in Ger&any alone.

(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 9egel in /on/luding his le/tures on the history of philosophy. =7efore /onte&porary philosophy /ould arise, &u/h ti&e had to pass ... What 1e are able <ui/2ly to sur0ey in our re/olle/tion, too2 pla/e a/tually at a slo1 pa/e ... 7ut the 1orld)spirit does not stand stillC it /onstantly strides for1ard pre/isely be/ause this for1ard &o0e&ent /onstitutes its nature. %o&eti&es it see&s as if it is halted, as if it has lost its eternal urge to self)/ognition. B/tually, all the 1hile, there is deep internal 1or2 ta2ing pla/e, not to be noti/ed until the results /o&e to the surfa/e until the shell of old outli0ed 0ie1s falls apart into dust and the 1orld)spirit strides ahead in se0en) league boots. 9a&let, turning to the ghost of his father, e;/lai&ed, HWell dug, old &oleI+ The sa&e /an also be said of the 1orld)spirit, H-t digs 1ell+.> The author of ,y Past and -hou.hts /alled 9egel+s philosophy the algebra of progress. The /orre/tness of this appre/iation is a&ply /onfir&ed by the abo0e)/ited 0ie1s of the great thin2er. The idealist philosophy, 1hi/h sole&nly pro/lai&ed eternal for1ard &o0e&ent as the nature of the 1orld) spirit, /ould not be a philosophy of stagnation. On o//asion 9egel e;pressed hi&self e0en &ore /ategori/ally. Det us /ite that se/tion of his le/tures on the history of philosophy 1here he dis/usses the trial of %o/rates. -n 9egel+s opinion the spread of %o/rates+ 0ie1s threatened to destroy the old Bthenian 1ay of life /o&pletely. 'or this reason one /annot bla&e the Bthenians for /onde&ning to death the thin2er 1ho& they pla/ed on trial and in 1ho& they sensed a &ortal ene&y of their /herished so/ial order. ay &ore, it is ne/essary to say flatly that they 1ere o)liged to defend their so/ial order. 7ut it is li2e1ise ne/essary to affir& that there 1as right on the side of %o/rates. 9e 1as the /ons/ious representati0e of a new and higher prin/ipleC he 1as a hero 1ho possessed for hi&self the absolute right of the spirit. =-n 1orld history 1e find that this is the position of the heroes through 1ho& a ne1 1orld /o&&en/es, and 1hose prin/iple stands in /ontradi/tion to 1hat has gone before and disintegrates the old orderA they appear to be 0iolently destroying the old la1s. 9en/e indi0idually they perish, but it is only the indi0idual, and not the prin/iple, 1hi/h is annihilated in punish&ent ... The prin/iple itself 1ill triu&ph toiler, if in another for&.> 9istori/al &o0e&ent offers not infre<uently the dra&a of t1o opposed rights /o&ing into /ollision. The one po1er is the di0ine right of the e;isting so/ial order and of the established relationsC the other is the e<ually di0ine right of /ons/iousness 3self)/ognition6, of s/ien/e, of sub?e/ti0e freedo&. The /ollision bet1een the t1o is a tragedy in the full sense of the ter& G a tragedy in 1hi/h there are those 1ho perish but in 1hi/h there are no guilty onesC ea/h side being right in its o1n 1ay. Thus spa2e 9egel.

Bs the reader /an see, his philosophy 1as truly in its nature an algebra of progress, although this 1as not al1ays understood by those progressi0es 1ho 1ere /onte&poraries of 9egel. %o&e 1ere /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, 1as ta2en by so&e as a philosophi/ e;pression of the /rassest 2ind of /onser0atis&. Generally spea2ing, this 1as a &ista2e. 'or, a//ording to 9egel+s logi/, far fro& e0erything that e;ists is real. The real stands higher than &ere e;isten/e 3=die Wirklichkeit steht h+her als die ,"istent>6. B//idental e;isten/e is real e;isten/eC reality is necessaryA =reality un1inds as ne/essity.> 7ut as 1e ha0e already seen, a//ording to 9egel, not only 1hat already e;ists is ne/essary. 7y its uninterrupted &ole+s 1or2, the 1orld)spirit under&ines 1hat e;ists, /on0erts it into a &ere for&, 0oid of any real &eaning, and &a2es ne/essary the appearan/e of the ne1, tragi/ally destined to /ollide 1ith the old. The nature of the 1orld)spirit is to stride for1ard eternally. 9en/e in so/ial life, too, 1hat 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 9egelian philosophy as a diale/ti/al syste&. 9egel+s philosophy, ho1e0er, 1as not -!st a dialectical syste&C it also pro/lai&ed itself to be the syste$ of a)sol!te tr!th. 7ut if absolute truth has already )een fo!nd, then it follo1s that the goal of the 1orld)spirit G self)/ognition G has already )een attained, and its for1ard &o0e&ent loses all &eaning. This /lai& of possessing the absolute truth 1as thus bound to bring 9egel into /ontradi/tion 1ith his o1n diale/ti/C and put hi& in a posture hostile to further su//esses of philosophy. 5ore than this, it 1as bound to &a2e hi& a /onser0ati0e in relation to so/ial life as 1ell. 7y his do/trine, e0ery philosophy is ideally the e;pression of its ti&es 3=ihre .eit in Gedanken erfasst>6. %in/e 9egel had found the absolute truth, it therefore follo1s that he li0ed at a ti&e 1hi/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 1ould be a rude sa/rilege, an i&pertinent uprising against the 1orld)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. 7ut on the 1hole this order &ust re&ain as eternal and i&&utable as the eternal, i&&utable truth of 1hi/h it 1as the ob?e/ti0e e;pression. B profound thin2er, the greatest genius)intelle/t of the first half of the 19th /entury, 9egel 1as still a /hild of his ti&es and /ountry. Ger&any+s so/ial position 1as fa0orable for a /al&, theoreti/al study of the &ar/h of 1orld e0entsC but it 1as <uite unfa0orable for the practical appli/ation of results gained by theory. Bs tou/hes pra/ti/e, the bold Ger&an theoreti/ians re&ained not infre<uently the &ee2est of philistines. There 1as not a little philistinis& in e0en su/h great &en as Goethe and 9egel. -n his youth 9egel sy&pathi@ed 1ar&ly 1ith the 'ren/h .e0olutionC but 1ith the passage of years, his lo0e for freedo& 1aned, 1hile the urge 1a;ed to li0e in pea/e 1ith the e;isting order, so that the July 18": re0olution depressed 9egel 0ery &u/h. One of the =left> 9egelians, the 1ell)2no1n Brnold .uge, later /riti/i@ed the philosophy of his tea/her for al1ays li&iting itself to a /onte&plation of pheno&ena and ne0er stri0ing to pass o0er to actionC for /ohabiting pea/efully 1ith sla0ery in pra/ti/e, 1hile pro/lai&ing freedo& as the great goal of histori/al de0elop&ent. These /riti/is&+s, one &ust ad&it, are ?ustifiedC 9egel+s philosophy did suffer fro& the indi/ated short/o&ings. These short/o&ings G 1hi/h, by the 1ay, 1ere e;pressed in the /lai& to absolute truth G are to be noted in the le/tures on the history of philosophy 1hi/h 1e ha0e already /ited and 1hi/h are filled

1ith /ourageous and 0igorous stri0ing for1ard. -n these sa&e le/tures 9egel 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 1orld,> the 1orld of ideas, be/ause the =outer 1orld> 3so/ial relations had arri0ed no1adays at a /ertain rational order, =has /o&posed itself> and =has be/o&e re/on/iled 1ith itself> 3=ist so $it sich vers+hnt worden>6. The /onser0ati0e side of 9egel+s 0ie1s 1as e;pressed &ost graphi/ally in his Philoso*hy o' Ri.ht. Whoe0er reads this 1or2 attenti0ely 1ill be stru/2 by the genial profundity of &any thoughts 9egel e;presses. 7ut at the sa&e ti&e it is readily to be noted that 9egel here, &ore than anything else, tries to re/on/ile his philosophy 1ith 4russian /onser0atis&. 4arti/ularly instru/ti0e in this /onne/tion is the fa&ous introdu/tion in 1hi/h the do/trine of rational reality is gi0en a &eaning not at all the sa&e as in the %o.i&. Whatsoe0er e;ists, does so by reason of ne/essity. To 2no1 the ne/essity of a gi0en pheno&enon is to dis/o0er its rationality. The pro/ess of s/ientifi/ 2no1ledge /onsists in this, that the spirit stri0ing to1ard self)/ognition re/ogni@es itself in 1hat e;ists, re/ogni@es its o1n reason. 4hilosophy &ust grasp 1hat is. -n parti/ular the s/ien/e of right &ust grasp the rationality of the state. 'ar fro& 9egel 1as any intention =to /onstru/t a state su/h as it ought to be.> ,onstru/tions of this sort are sillyC a 1orld =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 1ay to personal 1hi&, and fre<uently /hanging under the influen/e of /apri/e or 0anity. Whoe0er understands reality, 1hoe0er has dis/o0ered the reason hidden in it 1ill not rise up against it, but 1ill re/on/ile hi&self 1ith it and ta2e ?oy in it. 3We as2 the reader to note that the e;pression, =re/on/iliation 1ith reality> G =die /ers+hn!ng $it der Wirklichkeit> G is used by 9egel hi&self.6 %u/h a person doesn+t renoun/e his sub?e/ti0e freedo&C but this freedo& &anifests itself not in discord but har$ony 1ith the e;isting state. -n general, dis/ord 1ith 1hat e;ists, dis/repan/ies bet1een /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 1ho regard as free only that thought 1hi/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 1hi& of their personal ?udg&ent. -n la1 1hi/h sub?e/ts &an to /ertain o)ligation they per/ei0e only the dead, cold letter, only fetters pla/ed upon sub?e/ti0e /on0i/tion. They pride the&sel0es on their negati0e attitude to realityC but their attitude testifies only to a 1ea2ness 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 1as long ago said that 1hile half)2no1ledge 1ea2ens belief in God, true 2no1ledge, on the /ontrary, strengthens it. The sa&e &ay also be said /on/erning people+s attitude to the reality about the&A 9alf)2no1ledge rouses the& against realityC true 2no1ledge re/on/iles the& 1ith it. That+s ho1 9egel reasons here. -t is interesting to ?u;tapose this 0ie1 of the greatest Ger&an idealist 1ith the 0ie1s of a /onte&porary, the 'ren/h genius %aint)%i&on. =The philosopher,> 1rote the 'ren/h&an, =is not only an obser0erC he is an a/ti0ist of the first order in the 1orld of &orals be/ause 1hat go0ern hu&an so/iety are his 0ie1s on 1hat the 1orld should be/o&e.> 3-ravail sur la .ravitation universelle6 -t is perfe/tly /orre/t that the s/ien/e of right need not at all o//upy itself 1ith =the state as it ought to be>C its tas2 is to /o&prehend 1hat is and 1hat 1as, and to elu/idate the histori/al de0elop&ent of

state institutions. 9egel is fully ?ustified in atta/2ing those superfi/ial liberals 3today 1e 1ould /all the& sub?e/ti0ists6 1ho, in/apable of lin2ing HHideals> 1ith the reality about the&, re&ain per&anently in the real& of i&potent and unreali@able sub?e/ti0e drea&s. 7ut 9egel doesn+t atta/2 only liberalis& of this sort. 9e rises up against e0ery progressi0e tenden/y 1hi/h does not ste& fro& offi/ial sour/es. 5oreo0er, =1hat e;ists> by the &ere fa/t of its e;isten/e is already re/ogni@ed by hi& here as ne/essary, and hen/e =rational.> Bn uprising against 1hat 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 1ho attenti0ely probes into the so/ial de0elop&ent of &an2ind and 1ho arri0es at the /on/lusion that &o0e&ent for1ard /onstitutes the reason of the 1orld)spirit, 9egel be/o&es /on0erted into an irritable and suspi/ious /ustodian, ready to shout, =9elpI 4oli/eI> at e0ery ne1 e;ertion of the &ighty and eternal =&ole> 1ho under&ines the stru/ture of old /on/epts and institutions. -t follo1s fro& this that if 9egel+s do/trine that e0erything real is rational 1as understood by &any in a /o&pletely 1rong 1ay, then he 1as hi&self pri&arily to bla&e for this, for he in0ested his do/trine 1ith a 0ery pe/uliar and not at all dialectical interpretation 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 9egel+s philosophy did not lose its influen/e o0er the thin2ing people of those days. 7ut strange as it &ay see&, the fa/t is that the uprising against the /onser0ati0e /on/lusions dra1n by 9egel fro& his essentially 1holly progressi0e philosophy did not /o&e until &u/h later. -n the epo/h of the publi/ation of the Philoso*hy o' Ri.ht, opposed to 9egel 1ere only a fe1 superfi/ial liberals, 1hile e0erybody 1ho 1as serious, e0erything young and energeti/ follo1ed hi& 1ith enthusias&, despite his self)/ontradi/tions, and 1ithout 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. 7ut in the pre0ious /entury, in Dessing+s epo/h, this life 1as e0en less de0eloped, and yet the then do&inant philosophi/ /on/epts bore no rese&blan/e 1hate0er to those of 9egel. 9ad it been possible for 9egel to ha0e appeared at the ti&e, no one, assuredly, 1ould ha0e follo1ed hi&. Why is thisE 7e/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 1hi/h 9egel+s philosophy pro&ised to pro0ide the ans1er, 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 1e 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 e0ery1here, 1here0er the underground 1or2 of the =1orld)spirit> 1as being a//o&plished e0en onI a tiny s/ale and 1here0er the =&ole> 1as preparing the soil for ne1 so/ial &o0e&ents, 1ere bound to thro1, the&sel0es eagerly into the study of 9egelian philosophy. Bnd the &ore serious the de&ands of theoreti/al thought 1ere in the young &inds, and the stronger the urge 1as 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 1as, the infatuation 1ith 9egelianis&. The uprising that /a&e later against the /onser0ati0e /on/lusions 9egel dre1 1as absolutely ?ustified. 7ut it ought not to be forgotten that in the theoreti/al sense it 1as ?ustified only to the e;tent that it based itself on 9egel+s diale/ti/, i.e., pri&arily on the interpretation of history as a la1ful pro/essC and on 3the understanding of freedo& as the produ/t of ne/essity.

)ha*ter IV
Det us no1 return to 7elins2i. -n approa/hing the history of his intelle/tual de0elop&ent, 1e &ust note first of all that in his early youth he rose up indignantly against the .ussian reality of those days. Bs is 1ell 2no1n, the tragedy 1hi/h he 1rote during his stay in the Mni0ersity and 1hi/h /aused hi& so &u/h unpleasantness 1as a passionate, if s/ar/ely artisti/, protest against serfdo&s. 7elins2i 1as 1holly on the side of the serfs. =,an it be that these hu&ans 1ere born into this 1orld only to ser0e the 1hi&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 1ill the 1ill of others, other beings ?ust li2e the& and to ta2e a1ay fro& the& the sa/red treasure of freedo&E ... 5er/iful God, 'ather of 5en, tell &e, 1as it Four all)1ise hand that /reated on earth these serpents, /ro/odiles and tigers 1ho feed on &arro1 and &eat of their 2in and 1ho drin2 li2e 1ater their blood and tearsE> This tirade 1ould ha0e done /redit, in its passion, to Narl 5oor hi&self. Bnd a/tually 7dins2i 1as under the strongest influen/e of %/hiller+s early 1or2s, The Ro))ers, Ca)al and 'ove, 2iasco. Bs he put it, these dra&as &ade hi& =1ildly 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, 1as not e;erted on hi& only by the 1or2s of %/hiller 1e listed abo0e. =3on Carlos> said 7elins2i, =thre1 &e into an abstra/t herois&, 1hi/h &ade &e s/orn e0erything elseC and in this /ondition, despite &y unnatural and intense e/stasy, - 1as <uite /ons/ious of &yself as a /ipher. The Maid of 4rleans plunged &e into the sa&e abstra/t herois&, into the sa&e so/ial and general abstra/tion, e&pty, fa/eless, of the substan/e but 1ith nothing indi0idual about it.> We as2 the reader to note this interesting testi&ony of the fa&ous /riti/ about hi&self. 9is youthful infatuation 1ith =an abstra/t ideal of so/iety> is a &ost i&portant page in the history of his intelle/tual de0elop&ent. Mp to no1 the attention it &erits has not been paid to it. %o far as 1e 2no1, no one has stressed this /ir/u&stan/e that a gifted and passionate youth filled 1ith =abstra/t herois&> 1as 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<ually painful doubts o0er the 1or2ability of the abstra/t idealC and, on the other, atte&pts to find a concrete soil for his so/ial in/linations. This tor&enting /ognition of oneself as a =/ipher> 1as not pe/uliar at the ti&e to 7elins2i alone. The aspirations of the ad0an/ed intelligentsia of the 18!:+s had shortly before suffered a /ruel ship1re/2, and sorro1 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 7elins2i+s 0ie1s, at all e0ents in the first period of 7elins2i+s de0elop&ent. 7ut 1as there &u/h sola/e in the 0ie1s 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.> 9e e0en doubted that there 1as any real li0ing in the /ourse of .ussia+s thousand years of e;isten/e. 5ental life started in our /ountry only 1ith 4eter the GreatC up till then e0erything *uropean /a&e to our /ountry =by 1ay of ri/o/hets, through thousands of leaps and tangents and therefore rea/hed us in 1ea2, dying out re0erberations.>

=Mp to no1 our literature has been, if - &ay use the e;pression, a corv#e of the *uropeanC it has been 1or2ed o0er by .ussian hands but not in a .ussian 1ayC 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. 3 ot ha0ing ade@hdin+s arti/les at hand, 1e are /o&pelled to <uote fro& 5r. 4ypin+s boo2, Belinski4 5is %i'e and )orres*onden&eC 0ol.-, p.9(. eedless to add 1e ha0e borro1ed fro& the sa&e 1or2 &ost of the fa/ts relating to 7elins2i+s intelle/tual de0elop&ent, but 1e ha0e grouped these fa/ts differently.6 -n his fa&ous first arti/le, 'iterary 3rea$s, 7elins2i ob0iously e;pressed a rather rosy outloo2 about our future, if not our past or present. 4ointing out that 1hat 1e need is not literature, 1hi/h 1ill &a2e its appearan/e in its o1n due ti&e, but enlighten&ent, he /ries outA =Bnd this enlighten&ent 1ill not be/o&e ossified, than2s to the sleepless soli/itude of the 1ise go0ern&ent. The .ussian people are /le0er and a&enable, diligent and @ealous about e0erything that is good and beautiful, on/e the hand of ,@ar)'ather points out the goal to the&, on/e his so0ereign 0oi/e su&&ons the people to this goalI> The single institution of do&esti/ tutors 1as bound, as he put it, to perfor& genuine &ira/les in the sense of enlighten&ent. 7esides, our nobility has finally be/o&e /on0in/ed about gi0ing their /hildren a solid edu/ation, 1hile our &er/antile estate =is rapidly ta2ing shape and in this /onne/tion is not far behind the highest estates.> -n a 1ord, the /ause of enlighten&ent prospers a&ong usA =The seeds of the future are ripening today.> Bll this 1as, of /ourse, 1ritten in perfe/t sin/erity. Bt the ti&e 7elins2i 1rote this arti/le he 1anted to belie0e, and /arried a1ay by enthusias& 1hile 1riting, he did belie0e that enlighten&ent 1ould s1iftly engulf Old 5other .ussia. 7ut in /al&er &o&ents, 1hen the fla&e of enthusias& had /ooled, he /ould not fail to see that the foundations on 1hi/h his faith rested in a s1ift gro1th of enlighten&ent in .ussia 1ere so&e1hat sha2y. 7esides, /ould e0en the su//esses of enlight&ent G ho1e0er =s1ift> they &ight be G satisfy a &an =hostile to the so/ial order> in the na&e of an ideal, and per&eated 1ith =abstra/t herois&>E %u/h perspe/ti0es 1ere not needed by su/h a &an. -n brief, the rapturous tone of 'iterary 3rea$s 1as the produ/t of a &o&entary flash)fire and did not at all e;/lude a depressed &ood on the author+s part, a &ood resulting fro& the tou/hy re/ognition of hi&self as a /ipher, and fro& the unresol0ed /ontradi/tion bet1een the abstra/t ideal, on the one side, and the /on/rete .ussian reality on the other. -n July 18"6 7elins2i ?ourneyed to the 0illage of 7O2h in T0ers2 pro0in/e, and there 1ith the aid of a hospitable host, a 1ell)2no1n =dilettante of philosophy> or =friend of philosophy,> 5.7. 37a2unin6 be/a&e a/<uainted 1ith the philosophy of 'i/hte, for the first ti&e if 1e are not &ista2en. =- sei@ed hold of the 'i/htean outloo2 1ith 0igor and fanati/is&,> he says. Bnd this is understandable. Bs 7elins2i put it, his eyes al1ays sa1 doubleA there 1as life ideal and there 1as life real. 'i/hte /on0in/ed hi& that =life ideal 1as nothing else but life real, positi0e and /on/rete, 1hereas the so) /alled real life is a negation, a phanto&, a nullity, a 0oid.> -n this 1ay the 0e;ing /ontradi/tion bet1een the abstra/t ideal and /on/rete reality found the sought)for philosophi/ solution. -t 1as sol0ed by redu/ing to @ero one of the sides of the antino&y. Having proclai$ed reality a phanto$, 7elins2i 1as able to 1age 1ar against it all the &ore 0igorously in the na&e of the ideal 1hi/h no1 turned out to be the only reality 1orthy of the na&e. -n this ='i/htean> period, 7elins2i sy&pathi@ed strongly 1ith the 'ren/h. =We 2no1 of an episode in 7elins2i+s life at the ti&e,> says 5r. 4ypin. =Bt a big gathering, /o&pletely unfa&iliar to hi&, in tal2ing about the 'ren/h e0ents of the 18th /entury, he e;pressed an opinion 1hi/h e&barrassed his

host by its e;tre&e bluntness.> 3lo&. &it., 0ol.-, p.17(6. Dater on, re/alling this episode in a letter to an inti&ate friend, 7elins2i 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 1ith 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 1hi/h of necessity - had to pass.> -t 1ould see& that 7elins2i /ould no1 rest fro& the doubts that tor&ented hi&. B/tually he no1 suffered al&ost &ore than before. -n the first pla/e he /a&e to doubt his o1n /apa/ity for philosophi/ thought. =Bnd - learned about the e;isten/e of this /on/rete life only to /o&e to 2no1 &y i&poten/e, to fa&iliari@e &yself 1ith it. /a&e to 2no1 paradise only to be/o&e /on0in/ed that the only possible life for &e 1as 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 1as pro/lai&ed a phanto&, a nullity and a 0oid. 7ut there are phanto&s and phanto&s. 'ro& 7elins2i+s ne1 standpoint, 'ren/h reality 1as no less a phanto& than any either, in/luding the .ussian. Fet there 1ere &anifestations in 'ren/h so/ial life 1ith 1hi/h he 1ar&ly sy&pathi@ed, as 1e 2no1, 1hile in .ussia there 1as nothing of the sort. Why then 1ere the 'ren/h =phanto&s> so unli2e our nati0e onesE ='i/hteanis&> had no ans1er to this <uestion. Bnd yet it 1as a si&ple 0ariant of the old 0e;ing <uestionA Why did /on/rete reality /ontradi/t the abstra/t idealE and ho1 to re&o0e this /ontradi/tionE -t turned out that pro/lai&ing reality a phanto& a0ailed in essen/e e;a/tly nothingC and, as a /onse<uen/e, the ne1 philosophi/ outloo2 pro0ed dubious, if not altogether a =phanto&.> Bfter all, 7elins2i had /herished it pre/isely to the e;tent to 1hi/h it apparently pro&ised to supply si&ple and /on0in/ing ans1ers to the <uestions that beleaguered hi&. Dater, in one of his letters 3June !:, 18"86 7elins2i e;pressed a /on0i/tion that he =hated thought.> =Fes, - hate it as an abstra/tion,> he 1rote. =7ut /an thought then be a/<uired 1ithout being an abstra/tionE %hould one al1ays thin2 only in &o&ents of /andor, and the rest of the ti&e thin2 nothing at allE - understand ho1 silly su/h a proposition is, but - a& by nature an ene&y of thought.> These si&ple)hearted and tou/hing lines /hara/teri@e best of all 7elins2i+s attitude to philosophy. 9e /ould not rest /ontent 1ith =abstra/tions.> 9e /ould be satisfied only 1ith a syste&, 1hi/h itself ste&&ing fro& so/ial life and e;plainable by this life, 1ould, in its turn, e;plain life and offer the possibility for broad and fruitful a/tion upon life. 9is supposed hatred of thought /onsisted pre/isely of this. 9e hated, understandably enough, not philosophi/ thought in generail, but only su/h thought as, /ontented 1ith philosophi/ =/onte&plation,> turned its ba/2 upon life. =Bt that ti&e 1e sought in philosophy e0erything in the uni0erse, e;/ept pure thought,> says Turgene0. This is absolutely /orre/t, espe/ially in relation to 7elins2i. 9e sought in philosophy the 1ay to happiness, =the road to happiness,> as 7yron+s ,ain put it. ot to personal happiness, of /ourse, but the happiness of his near and dear ones, the 1eal of his nati0e land. 7e/ause of this &any ha0e i&agined that 7elins2i did indeed la/2 =philosophi/ talent,> and it be/a&e /usto&ary to loo2 do1n upon hi& 1ith a /ertain patroni@ing air by people 1ho, so far as ability for philosophi/ thought is /on/erned, are not fit to untie his shoela/es. These s&ug fello1s forgot or ne0er 2ne1 that in 7elins2i+s day the road to so/ial happiness 1as sought in philosophy by 0irtually all of the intelle/tuals in *urope. That is 1hy philosophy then had su/h enor&ous so/ial signifi/an/e.

Today 1hen the road to happiness is no longer pointed out )y philosophy, its progressi0e &eaning has been redu/ed to @eroC and no1adays the lo0ers of =pure thought> /an tran<uilly o//upy the&sel0es 1ith it. We 1ish the& su//ess 1ith all our heart, but this does not pre0ent us fro& ha0ing our o1n opinion /on/erning 7elins2i+s =philosophi/ talent.> 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 1hi/h, nonetheless, indi/ated to hi& <uite /orre/tly the &ost i&portant tas2s of so/ial s/ien/e of his day. =7elins2i 1as one of the highest philosophi/ organis&s - e0er &et in &y life,> said one of the best edu/ated .ussians of that era, 4rin/e Odoye0s2i. Our /on/lusion is that 7elins2i 1as one of the highest =philosophi/ organis&s> e0er to appear on our literary s/ene. 'or better or for 1orse, the 0e;ing <uestions ga0e 7elins2i no rest throughout the ='i/hte period.> These <uestions 1ere e;a/tly the ones to 1hi/h the Ger&an poet de&ands an ans1er in his beautiful poe& 1here he as2sA =Why is the ?ust &an fore0er doo&ed to bear the /rossE Bnd 1hy is the ri/h &an e0ery1here &et 1ith honor and a//lai&E Who is responsibleE Or is it that the po1er of truth /annot attain e0erything on earthE Or are 1e ?ust its playthingsE> 5odern so/ial s/ien/e has definitely sol0ed these <uestions. -t re/ogni@ed that =not e0erything as yet is attainable to the po1er of truth,> and it e;plained 1hy =truth> still 1eighs so little 1hen it /o&es to so/ial relations, espe/ially the relations bet1een /lasses. 'ro& the standpoint of &odern so/ial s/ien/e the <uestions that e;/ited and tor&ented 7elins2i &ay see& <uite nai0e. 7ut for his ti&es they 1ere not at all nai0eC the best &inds of his day 1ere o//upied 1ith the&. These <uestions flo1 logi/ally fro& the root <uestion of 1hy a//ident pro0es so often stronger than reason. Bnd it is not hard to understand that 7elins2i /ould be satisfied only 1ith a philosophy that 1ould gi0e hi& plain and fir& ans1ers to pre/isely these <uestions. Why /an /rude physi/al for/e &o/2 1ith i&punity the finest, the noblest aspirations of hu&an beingsE Why do so&e nations flourish, 1hile others perish, falling under the rule of harsh /on<uerorsE -s it be/ause the /on<uerors are al1ays better than and superior to the /on<ueredE 9ardly so. Often this happens for the sole reason that the /on<uerors possess &ore troops than the /on<uered. 7ut in that /ase by 1hat is the triu&ph of for/e ?ustifiedE Bnd 1hat &eaning /an =ideals> ha0e, 1hi/h ne0er lea0e their supra)gala/ti/ pro0in/e 1hile lea0ing our poor, pra/ti/al life a prey to all sorts of horrorsE ,all these ideals a)stract, and reality concrete, or 0i/e 0ersa, pro/lai& reality an abstra/tion, and ideals the reality G you 1ill in either /ase be /o&pelled to grapple 1ith these <uestions, pro0ided, of /ourse, you are not gifted 1ith Wagner+s =philosophi/ talent,> i.e., are not bathed in =pure thought,> and pro0ided you do not belong to a /oterie of decadents /apable of a&using the&sel0es 1ith 1ret/hed =for&ulas of progress> 1hi/h sol0e nothing and disturb nobody. Bs is 1ell 2no1n, 7elins2i 1as neither a Wagner nor a de/adent. Bnd this, of /ourse, does hi& great honorC but for this honor he paid dearly. The ='i/htean period> he after1ards /alled the period of =disintegration.> Mnderstandably, he had to stri0e to free hi&self fro& this onerous /onditionC and it is e<ually understandable that this struggle had to lead to a brea2 1ith 'i/hte+s philosophy. 'or la/2 of data, the history of this brea2 unfortunately re&ains little 2no1n. 7ut it is 2no1n that by the &iddle of 18"8 7elins2i 1as already strongly under the influen/e of 9egel, although he had as yet be/o&e a/<uainted only 1ith /ertain parts of 9egel+s syste&. -t is also 2no1n that during this period he 1as already /on/iliating 1ith that reality against, 1hi/h he had 1arred so resolutely before. 9is

&ood at the ti&e is illu&inated <uite /learly by a letter fro& 4iatigors2 he 1rote on Bugust 7, 18"7 to one of his young friends. 9e hotly urges his friend to ta2e up philosophy. =Only in it 1ill you find ans1ers to the <uestions of your soulC only philosophy 1ill bring pea/e and har&ony to your soul and &a2e you a gift of happiness beyond anything the &ob suspe/tsC a happiness 1hi/h e;ternal life /an neither gi0e you nor depri0e you of.> 4oliti/s has no &eaning in .ussia be/ause =.ussia is destined to a fate entirely different fro& that of 'ran/e, 1here the politi/al bent of the s/ien/es and of the arts, as 1ell as the /hara/ter of the /iti@ens has its &eaning, its la1fulness and its good side.> .ussia+s entire hope lies in the spread of enlighten&ent and in the &oral self)perfe/tion of her /iti@ens. =-f ea/h of the indi0iduals 1ho &a2e up .ussia 1ere to attain perfe/tion by 1ay of lo0e, then .ussia 1ould, 1ithout any politi/s, be/o&e the happiest /ountry in the 1orld.> This 0ie1 is, of /ourse, perfe/tly non)9egelian, but, as 1e ha0e already said, 7elins2i+s a/<uaintan/e 1ith 9egel 1as <uite in/o&plete at the ti&e. What is i&portant to us is this, that 7elins2i /a&e to conciliate with R!ssian reality by 1ay of el!cidating her historical develop$ent, e0en if he did so in/orre/tly, and, in general, 0ery superfi/ially. Why does our so/ial life bear no rese&blan/e to that of 'ran/eE 7e/ause .ussia+s histori/al destiny bears no rese&blan/e to 'ran/e+s histori/al destiny. %u/h an ans1er &ade i&possible any parallels 1hate0er bet1een .ussia and 'ran/e. Bnd yet these parallels, only a short 1hile before, 1ere bound to bring 7elins2i to depressing and al&ost hopeless /on/lusions. Bt the sa&e ti&e, su/h an ans1er &ade possible /on/iliation not only 1ith .ussia+s so/ial life but also that of 'ran/e, for instan/e, those e0ents to1ard the end of the 18th /entury 1hi/h 7elins2i <uite re/ently had regarded 1ith su/h passionate sy&pathy. *0erything is good in its pla/e. Bnd as 1e sa1, he ?ustified the =politi/al bent> of the 'ren/h. -n/identally, his infatuation 1ith the =absolute> truth of Ger&an philosophy /auses hi& no longer to respe/t this bent. The 'ren/h possess =no eternal truths, but daily truths, i.e., ne1 truths for ea/h day. They 1ant to deri0e e0erything not fro& the eternal la1s of hu&an reason, but fro& e;peri&ent, fro& history.> This &ade 7elins2i so indignant that he sent the 'ren/h to =the de0il.> 'ren/h influen/e, a//ording to hi&, ne0er brought anything but har&C and he pro/lai&ed Ger&any as the e1 Jerusale& of /onte&porary &an2ind, urging the thin2ing .ussian youth to turn their eyes to Ger&any 1ith hope and trust. 7ut it 1ould be a gross &ista2e to present as a c!stodian the 7elins2i 1ho had =/on/iliated> 1ith .ussian reality. Bt that ti&e, too, he 1as far re&o0ed fro& /onser0atis&. 9e li2es 4ester the Great pre/isely be/ause of his resolute brea2 1ith the state of affairs that e;isted in his day. =The e&perors of all nations de0eloped their people by resting on the past, on traditionC 4eter tore .ussia loose fro& the past, destroying her tradition.> Det us agree that su/h tal2 1ould sound strange on the lips of a /ustodian of the old order. either 1as 7elins2i at all in/lined to ideali@e /onte&porary .ussian lifeC he finds &any i&perfe/tions in it, but he e;plains these i&perfe/tions by the youth of .ussia. =.ussia is still an infant, 1ho still needs a nurse 1hose heart is filled 1ith lo0e for her foster)/hild and 1hose hands hold a rod, ready to punish pran2s.> 9e no1 /on/iliates e0en 1ith serfdo&C but does so only up to a gi0en point. 9e /on/iliates only be/ause he /onsiders the .ussian people not &ature enough as yet for freedo&. Bs he 1rote, =the go0ern&ent is e&an/ipating little by little.> Bnd this /ir/u&stan/e gladdens hi& as &u/h as the fa/t that o1ing to the absen/e of pri&ogeniture in our /ountry, our nobility HHis dying out by itself, 1ithout any re0olutions, 1ithout do&esti/ /on0ulsions.> Genuine /ustodians of the old order 0ie1ed &atters through entirely different eyesC and had one of the& read the foregoing letter of 7elins2i, he 1ould ha0e found it full of the &ost =nonsensi/al ideas,> 7elins2i+s negati0e attitude to politi/s not1ithstanding. Bnd this 1ould be entirely /orre/t fro& the

=/ustodial> point of 0ie1. 7elins2i &ade pea/e not 1ith reality but 1ith the sorry destiny of his abstra/t ideal. Only a short 1hile before he 1as tor&ented by the reali@ation that this ideal /ould find no appli/ation to life. o1 he renoun/es it, /on0in/ed that it /an lead to nothing e;/ept =abstra/t herois&,> a barren hostility to1ard reality. 7ut this doesn+t &ean that 7elins2i turned his ba/2 on progress. ot at all. -t si&ply &eans that he 1as no1 prepared to ser0e progress in a different 1ay fro& that in 1hi/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. 7ut they refused to renoun/e 9i& before /@ars and ?udgesC and feared neither fire nor the s1ord. 5eddle not in things that do not /on/ern you, but re&ain true to your /auseC and your /ause is G the lo0e of truth ... To hell 1ith politi/s, long li0e s/ien/eI>

)ha*ter IV
Det us no1 return to 7elins2i. -n approa/hing the history of his intelle/tual de0elop&ent, 1e &ust note first of all that in his early youth he rose up indignantly against the .ussian reality of those days. Bs is 1ell 2no1n, the tragedy 1hi/h he 1rote during his stay in the Mni0ersity and 1hi/h /aused hi& so &u/h unpleasantness 1as a passionate, if s/ar/ely artisti/, protest against serfdo&s. 7elins2i 1as 1holly on the side of the serfs. =,an it be that these hu&ans 1ere born into this 1orld only to ser0e the 1hi&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 1ill the 1ill of others, other beings ?ust li2e the& and to ta2e a1ay fro& the& the sa/red treasure of freedo&E ... 5er/iful God, 'ather of 5en, tell &e, 1as it Four all)1ise hand that /reated on earth these serpents, /ro/odiles and tigers 1ho feed on &arro1 and &eat of their 2in and 1ho drin2 li2e 1ater their blood and tearsE> This tirade 1ould ha0e done /redit, in its passion, to Narl 5oor hi&self. Bnd a/tually 7dins2i 1as under the strongest influen/e of %/hiller+s early 1or2s, The Ro))ers, Ca)al and 'ove, 2iasco. Bs he put it, these dra&as &ade hi& =1ildly 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, 1as not e;erted on hi& only by the 1or2s of %/hiller 1e listed abo0e. =3on Carlos> said 7elins2i, =thre1 &e into an abstra/t herois&, 1hi/h &ade &e s/orn e0erything elseC and in this /ondition, despite &y unnatural and intense e/stasy, - 1as <uite /ons/ious of &yself as a /ipher. The Maid of 4rleans plunged &e into the sa&e abstra/t herois&, into the sa&e so/ial and general abstra/tion, e&pty, fa/eless, of the substan/e but 1ith nothing indi0idual about it.> We as2 the reader to note this interesting testi&ony of the fa&ous /riti/ about hi&self. 9is youthful infatuation 1ith =an abstra/t ideal of so/iety> is a &ost i&portant page in the history of his intelle/tual de0elop&ent. Mp to no1 the attention it &erits has not been paid to it. %o far as 1e 2no1, no one has stressed this /ir/u&stan/e that a gifted and passionate youth filled 1ith =abstra/t herois&> 1as 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<ually painful doubts o0er the 1or2ability of the abstra/t idealC and, on the other, atte&pts to find a concrete soil for his so/ial in/linations. This tor&enting /ognition of oneself as a =/ipher> 1as not pe/uliar at the ti&e to 7elins2i alone. The aspirations of the ad0an/ed intelligentsia of the 18!:+s had shortly before suffered a /ruel ship1re/2, and sorro1 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 7elins2i+s 0ie1s, at all e0ents in the first period of 7elins2i+s de0elop&ent. 7ut 1as there &u/h sola/e in the 0ie1s 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.> 9e e0en doubted that there 1as any real li0ing in the /ourse of .ussia+s thousand years of e;isten/e. 5ental life started in our /ountry only 1ith 4eter the GreatC up till then e0erything *uropean /a&e to our /ountry =by 1ay of ri/o/hets, through thousands of leaps and tangents and therefore rea/hed us in 1ea2, dying out re0erberations.>

=Mp to no1 our literature has been, if - &ay use the e;pression, a corv#e of the *uropeanC it has been 1or2ed o0er by .ussian hands but not in a .ussian 1ayC 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. 3 ot ha0ing ade@hdin+s arti/les at hand, 1e are /o&pelled to <uote fro& 5r. 4ypin+s boo2, Belinski4 5is %i'e and )orres*onden&eC 0ol.-, p.9(. eedless to add 1e ha0e borro1ed fro& the sa&e 1or2 &ost of the fa/ts relating to 7elins2i+s intelle/tual de0elop&ent, but 1e ha0e grouped these fa/ts differently.6 -n his fa&ous first arti/le, 'iterary 3rea$s, 7elins2i ob0iously e;pressed a rather rosy outloo2 about our future, if not our past or present. 4ointing out that 1hat 1e need is not literature, 1hi/h 1ill &a2e its appearan/e in its o1n due ti&e, but enlighten&ent, he /ries outA =Bnd this enlighten&ent 1ill not be/o&e ossified, than2s to the sleepless soli/itude of the 1ise go0ern&ent. The .ussian people are /le0er and a&enable, diligent and @ealous about e0erything that is good and beautiful, on/e the hand of ,@ar)'ather points out the goal to the&, on/e his so0ereign 0oi/e su&&ons the people to this goalI> The single institution of do&esti/ tutors 1as bound, as he put it, to perfor& genuine &ira/les in the sense of enlighten&ent. 7esides, our nobility has finally be/o&e /on0in/ed about gi0ing their /hildren a solid edu/ation, 1hile our &er/antile estate =is rapidly ta2ing shape and in this /onne/tion is not far behind the highest estates.> -n a 1ord, the /ause of enlighten&ent prospers a&ong usA =The seeds of the future are ripening today.> Bll this 1as, of /ourse, 1ritten in perfe/t sin/erity. Bt the ti&e 7elins2i 1rote this arti/le he 1anted to belie0e, and /arried a1ay by enthusias& 1hile 1riting, he did belie0e that enlighten&ent 1ould s1iftly engulf Old 5other .ussia. 7ut in /al&er &o&ents, 1hen the fla&e of enthusias& had /ooled, he /ould not fail to see that the foundations on 1hi/h his faith rested in a s1ift gro1th of enlighten&ent in .ussia 1ere so&e1hat sha2y. 7esides, /ould e0en the su//esses of enlight&ent G ho1e0er =s1ift> they &ight be G satisfy a &an =hostile to the so/ial order> in the na&e of an ideal, and per&eated 1ith =abstra/t herois&>E %u/h perspe/ti0es 1ere not needed by su/h a &an. -n brief, the rapturous tone of 'iterary 3rea$s 1as the produ/t of a &o&entary flash)fire and did not at all e;/lude a depressed &ood on the author+s part, a &ood resulting fro& the tou/hy re/ognition of hi&self as a /ipher, and fro& the unresol0ed /ontradi/tion bet1een the abstra/t ideal, on the one side, and the /on/rete .ussian reality on the other. -n July 18"6 7elins2i ?ourneyed to the 0illage of 7O2h in T0ers2 pro0in/e, and there 1ith the aid of a hospitable host, a 1ell)2no1n =dilettante of philosophy> or =friend of philosophy,> 5.7. 37a2unin6 be/a&e a/<uainted 1ith the philosophy of 'i/hte, for the first ti&e if 1e are not &ista2en. =- sei@ed hold of the 'i/htean outloo2 1ith 0igor and fanati/is&,> he says. Bnd this is understandable. Bs 7elins2i put it, his eyes al1ays sa1 doubleA there 1as life ideal and there 1as life real. 'i/hte /on0in/ed hi& that =life ideal 1as nothing else but life real, positi0e and /on/rete, 1hereas the so) /alled real life is a negation, a phanto&, a nullity, a 0oid.> -n this 1ay the 0e;ing /ontradi/tion bet1een the abstra/t ideal and /on/rete reality found the sought)for philosophi/ solution. -t 1as sol0ed by redu/ing to @ero one of the sides of the antino&y. Having proclai$ed reality a phanto$, 7elins2i 1as able to 1age 1ar against it all the &ore 0igorously in the na&e of the ideal 1hi/h no1 turned out to be the only reality 1orthy of the na&e. -n this ='i/htean> period, 7elins2i sy&pathi@ed strongly 1ith the 'ren/h. =We 2no1 of an episode in 7elins2i+s life at the ti&e,> says 5r. 4ypin. =Bt a big gathering, /o&pletely unfa&iliar to hi&, in tal2ing about the 'ren/h e0ents of the 18th /entury, he e;pressed an opinion 1hi/h e&barrassed his

host by its e;tre&e bluntness.> 3lo&. &it., 0ol.-, p.17(6. Dater on, re/alling this episode in a letter to an inti&ate friend, 7elins2i 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 1ith 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 1hi/h of necessity - had to pass.> -t 1ould see& that 7elins2i /ould no1 rest fro& the doubts that tor&ented hi&. B/tually he no1 suffered al&ost &ore than before. -n the first pla/e he /a&e to doubt his o1n /apa/ity for philosophi/ thought. =Bnd - learned about the e;isten/e of this /on/rete life only to /o&e to 2no1 &y i&poten/e, to fa&iliari@e &yself 1ith it. /a&e to 2no1 paradise only to be/o&e /on0in/ed that the only possible life for &e 1as 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 1as pro/lai&ed a phanto&, a nullity and a 0oid. 7ut there are phanto&s and phanto&s. 'ro& 7elins2i+s ne1 standpoint, 'ren/h reality 1as no less a phanto& than any either, in/luding the .ussian. Fet there 1ere &anifestations in 'ren/h so/ial life 1ith 1hi/h he 1ar&ly sy&pathi@ed, as 1e 2no1, 1hile in .ussia there 1as nothing of the sort. Why then 1ere the 'ren/h =phanto&s> so unli2e our nati0e onesE ='i/hteanis&> had no ans1er to this <uestion. Bnd yet it 1as a si&ple 0ariant of the old 0e;ing <uestionA Why did /on/rete reality /ontradi/t the abstra/t idealE and ho1 to re&o0e this /ontradi/tionE -t turned out that pro/lai&ing reality a phanto& a0ailed in essen/e e;a/tly nothingC and, as a /onse<uen/e, the ne1 philosophi/ outloo2 pro0ed dubious, if not altogether a =phanto&.> Bfter all, 7elins2i had /herished it pre/isely to the e;tent to 1hi/h it apparently pro&ised to supply si&ple and /on0in/ing ans1ers to the <uestions that beleaguered hi&. Dater, in one of his letters 3June !:, 18"86 7elins2i e;pressed a /on0i/tion that he =hated thought.> =Fes, - hate it as an abstra/tion,> he 1rote. =7ut /an thought then be a/<uired 1ithout being an abstra/tionE %hould one al1ays thin2 only in &o&ents of /andor, and the rest of the ti&e thin2 nothing at allE - understand ho1 silly su/h a proposition is, but - a& by nature an ene&y of thought.> These si&ple)hearted and tou/hing lines /hara/teri@e best of all 7elins2i+s attitude to philosophy. 9e /ould not rest /ontent 1ith =abstra/tions.> 9e /ould be satisfied only 1ith a syste&, 1hi/h itself ste&&ing fro& so/ial life and e;plainable by this life, 1ould, in its turn, e;plain life and offer the possibility for broad and fruitful a/tion upon life. 9is supposed hatred of thought /onsisted pre/isely of this. 9e hated, understandably enough, not philosophi/ thought in generail, but only su/h thought as, /ontented 1ith philosophi/ =/onte&plation,> turned its ba/2 upon life. =Bt that ti&e 1e sought in philosophy e0erything in the uni0erse, e;/ept pure thought,> says Turgene0. This is absolutely /orre/t, espe/ially in relation to 7elins2i. 9e sought in philosophy the 1ay to happiness, =the road to happiness,> as 7yron+s ,ain put it. ot to personal happiness, of /ourse, but the happiness of his near and dear ones, the 1eal of his nati0e land. 7e/ause of this &any ha0e i&agined that 7elins2i did indeed la/2 =philosophi/ talent,> and it be/a&e /usto&ary to loo2 do1n upon hi& 1ith a /ertain patroni@ing air by people 1ho, so far as ability for philosophi/ thought is /on/erned, are not fit to untie his shoela/es. These s&ug fello1s forgot or ne0er 2ne1 that in 7elins2i+s day the road to so/ial happiness 1as sought in philosophy by 0irtually all of the intelle/tuals in *urope. That is 1hy philosophy then had su/h enor&ous so/ial signifi/an/e.

Today 1hen the road to happiness is no longer pointed out )y philosophy, its progressi0e &eaning has been redu/ed to @eroC and no1adays the lo0ers of =pure thought> /an tran<uilly o//upy the&sel0es 1ith it. We 1ish the& su//ess 1ith all our heart, but this does not pre0ent us fro& ha0ing our o1n opinion /on/erning 7elins2i+s =philosophi/ talent.> 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 1hi/h, nonetheless, indi/ated to hi& <uite /orre/tly the &ost i&portant tas2s of so/ial s/ien/e of his day. =7elins2i 1as one of the highest philosophi/ organis&s - e0er &et in &y life,> said one of the best edu/ated .ussians of that era, 4rin/e Odoye0s2i. Our /on/lusion is that 7elins2i 1as one of the highest =philosophi/ organis&s> e0er to appear on our literary s/ene. 'or better or for 1orse, the 0e;ing <uestions ga0e 7elins2i no rest throughout the ='i/hte period.> These <uestions 1ere e;a/tly the ones to 1hi/h the Ger&an poet de&ands an ans1er in his beautiful poe& 1here he as2sA =Why is the ?ust &an fore0er doo&ed to bear the /rossE Bnd 1hy is the ri/h &an e0ery1here &et 1ith honor and a//lai&E Who is responsibleE Or is it that the po1er of truth /annot attain e0erything on earthE Or are 1e ?ust its playthingsE> 5odern so/ial s/ien/e has definitely sol0ed these <uestions. -t re/ogni@ed that =not e0erything as yet is attainable to the po1er of truth,> and it e;plained 1hy =truth> still 1eighs so little 1hen it /o&es to so/ial relations, espe/ially the relations bet1een /lasses. 'ro& the standpoint of &odern so/ial s/ien/e the <uestions that e;/ited and tor&ented 7elins2i &ay see& <uite nai0e. 7ut for his ti&es they 1ere not at all nai0eC the best &inds of his day 1ere o//upied 1ith the&. These <uestions flo1 logi/ally fro& the root <uestion of 1hy a//ident pro0es so often stronger than reason. Bnd it is not hard to understand that 7elins2i /ould be satisfied only 1ith a philosophy that 1ould gi0e hi& plain and fir& ans1ers to pre/isely these <uestions. Why /an /rude physi/al for/e &o/2 1ith i&punity the finest, the noblest aspirations of hu&an beingsE Why do so&e nations flourish, 1hile others perish, falling under the rule of harsh /on<uerorsE -s it be/ause the /on<uerors are al1ays better than and superior to the /on<ueredE 9ardly so. Often this happens for the sole reason that the /on<uerors possess &ore troops than the /on<uered. 7ut in that /ase by 1hat is the triu&ph of for/e ?ustifiedE Bnd 1hat &eaning /an =ideals> ha0e, 1hi/h ne0er lea0e their supra)gala/ti/ pro0in/e 1hile lea0ing our poor, pra/ti/al life a prey to all sorts of horrorsE ,all these ideals a)stract, and reality concrete, or 0i/e 0ersa, pro/lai& reality an abstra/tion, and ideals the reality G you 1ill in either /ase be /o&pelled to grapple 1ith these <uestions, pro0ided, of /ourse, you are not gifted 1ith Wagner+s =philosophi/ talent,> i.e., are not bathed in =pure thought,> and pro0ided you do not belong to a /oterie of decadents /apable of a&using the&sel0es 1ith 1ret/hed =for&ulas of progress> 1hi/h sol0e nothing and disturb nobody. Bs is 1ell 2no1n, 7elins2i 1as neither a Wagner nor a de/adent. Bnd this, of /ourse, does hi& great honorC but for this honor he paid dearly. The ='i/htean period> he after1ards /alled the period of =disintegration.> Mnderstandably, he had to stri0e to free hi&self fro& this onerous /onditionC and it is e<ually understandable that this struggle had to lead to a brea2 1ith 'i/hte+s philosophy. 'or la/2 of data, the history of this brea2 unfortunately re&ains little 2no1n. 7ut it is 2no1n that by the &iddle of 18"8 7elins2i 1as already strongly under the influen/e of 9egel, although he had as yet be/o&e a/<uainted only 1ith /ertain parts of 9egel+s syste&. -t is also 2no1n that during this period he 1as already /on/iliating 1ith that reality against, 1hi/h he had 1arred so resolutely before. 9is

&ood at the ti&e is illu&inated <uite /learly by a letter fro& 4iatigors2 he 1rote on Bugust 7, 18"7 to one of his young friends. 9e hotly urges his friend to ta2e up philosophy. =Only in it 1ill you find ans1ers to the <uestions of your soulC only philosophy 1ill bring pea/e and har&ony to your soul and &a2e you a gift of happiness beyond anything the &ob suspe/tsC a happiness 1hi/h e;ternal life /an neither gi0e you nor depri0e you of.> 4oliti/s has no &eaning in .ussia be/ause =.ussia is destined to a fate entirely different fro& that of 'ran/e, 1here the politi/al bent of the s/ien/es and of the arts, as 1ell as the /hara/ter of the /iti@ens has its &eaning, its la1fulness and its good side.> .ussia+s entire hope lies in the spread of enlighten&ent and in the &oral self)perfe/tion of her /iti@ens. =-f ea/h of the indi0iduals 1ho &a2e up .ussia 1ere to attain perfe/tion by 1ay of lo0e, then .ussia 1ould, 1ithout any politi/s, be/o&e the happiest /ountry in the 1orld.> This 0ie1 is, of /ourse, perfe/tly non)9egelian, but, as 1e ha0e already said, 7elins2i+s a/<uaintan/e 1ith 9egel 1as <uite in/o&plete at the ti&e. What is i&portant to us is this, that 7elins2i /a&e to conciliate with R!ssian reality by 1ay of el!cidating her historical develop$ent, e0en if he did so in/orre/tly, and, in general, 0ery superfi/ially. Why does our so/ial life bear no rese&blan/e to that of 'ran/eE 7e/ause .ussia+s histori/al destiny bears no rese&blan/e to 'ran/e+s histori/al destiny. %u/h an ans1er &ade i&possible any parallels 1hate0er bet1een .ussia and 'ran/e. Bnd yet these parallels, only a short 1hile before, 1ere bound to bring 7elins2i to depressing and al&ost hopeless /on/lusions. Bt the sa&e ti&e, su/h an ans1er &ade possible /on/iliation not only 1ith .ussia+s so/ial life but also that of 'ran/e, for instan/e, those e0ents to1ard the end of the 18th /entury 1hi/h 7elins2i <uite re/ently had regarded 1ith su/h passionate sy&pathy. *0erything is good in its pla/e. Bnd as 1e sa1, he ?ustified the =politi/al bent> of the 'ren/h. -n/identally, his infatuation 1ith the =absolute> truth of Ger&an philosophy /auses hi& no longer to respe/t this bent. The 'ren/h possess =no eternal truths, but daily truths, i.e., ne1 truths for ea/h day. They 1ant to deri0e e0erything not fro& the eternal la1s of hu&an reason, but fro& e;peri&ent, fro& history.> This &ade 7elins2i so indignant that he sent the 'ren/h to =the de0il.> 'ren/h influen/e, a//ording to hi&, ne0er brought anything but har&C and he pro/lai&ed Ger&any as the e1 Jerusale& of /onte&porary &an2ind, urging the thin2ing .ussian youth to turn their eyes to Ger&any 1ith hope and trust. 7ut it 1ould be a gross &ista2e to present as a c!stodian the 7elins2i 1ho had =/on/iliated> 1ith .ussian reality. Bt that ti&e, too, he 1as far re&o0ed fro& /onser0atis&. 9e li2es 4ester the Great pre/isely be/ause of his resolute brea2 1ith the state of affairs that e;isted in his day. =The e&perors of all nations de0eloped their people by resting on the past, on traditionC 4eter tore .ussia loose fro& the past, destroying her tradition.> Det us agree that su/h tal2 1ould sound strange on the lips of a /ustodian of the old order. either 1as 7elins2i at all in/lined to ideali@e /onte&porary .ussian lifeC he finds &any i&perfe/tions in it, but he e;plains these i&perfe/tions by the youth of .ussia. =.ussia is still an infant, 1ho still needs a nurse 1hose heart is filled 1ith lo0e for her foster)/hild and 1hose hands hold a rod, ready to punish pran2s.> 9e no1 /on/iliates e0en 1ith serfdo&C but does so only up to a gi0en point. 9e /on/iliates only be/ause he /onsiders the .ussian people not &ature enough as yet for freedo&. Bs he 1rote, =the go0ern&ent is e&an/ipating little by little.> Bnd this /ir/u&stan/e gladdens hi& as &u/h as the fa/t that o1ing to the absen/e of pri&ogeniture in our /ountry, our nobility HHis dying out by itself, 1ithout any re0olutions, 1ithout do&esti/ /on0ulsions.> Genuine /ustodians of the old order 0ie1ed &atters through entirely different eyesC and had one of the& read the foregoing letter of 7elins2i, he 1ould ha0e found it full of the &ost =nonsensi/al ideas,> 7elins2i+s negati0e attitude to politi/s not1ithstanding. Bnd this 1ould be entirely /orre/t fro& the

=/ustodial> point of 0ie1. 7elins2i &ade pea/e not 1ith reality but 1ith the sorry destiny of his abstra/t ideal. Only a short 1hile before he 1as tor&ented by the reali@ation that this ideal /ould find no appli/ation to life. o1 he renoun/es it, /on0in/ed that it /an lead to nothing e;/ept =abstra/t herois&,> a barren hostility to1ard reality. 7ut this doesn+t &ean that 7elins2i turned his ba/2 on progress. ot at all. -t si&ply &eans that he 1as no1 prepared to ser0e progress in a different 1ay fro& that in 1hi/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. 7ut they refused to renoun/e 9i& before /@ars and ?udgesC and feared neither fire nor the s1ord. 5eddle not in things that do not /on/ern you, but re&ain true to your /auseC and your /ause is G the lo0e of truth ... To hell 1ith politi/s, long li0e s/ien/eI>

(Part 6)
)ha*ter V
B negati0e attitude to1ard politi/s, ho1e0er, 1as no solution to the proble& of 1hy 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> 1ere not substantial. 7elins2i re&ained, as before, beset by doubts. 7ut he 1as no1 /onfident that 9egel+s syste& 1ould help hi& get rid of doubt fore0er. 9is further a/<uaintan/e 1ith this syste& 1as aided by the sa&e =dilettante of philosophy> 1ho had e;pounded 'i/hte+s do/trine to hi&. 9o1 po1erfully 9egelianis& rea/ted upon 7elins2i and e;a/tly 1hi/h of his 1ants it filled, is sho1n by the follo1ing lines fro& his letter to %tan2e0i/hA =- /a&e to 5os/o1 fro& Georgia, there /a&e 7. 3Hdilettante of philosophy+6C 1e are li0ing together. -n the su&&er he 1ent through 9egel+s philosophy of religion and the philosophy of right. B ne1 1orld opened before us. 'or/e is rightC right is for/e. o, - /an+t des/ribe &y feelings 1hen - heard these 1ords. This 1as e&an/ipation. - sei@ed the idea of the do1nfall of e&pires, the la1fulness of /on<uerors. - understood that there is no reign of sa0age &aterial for/eC that there is no s1ay of bayonet and the s1ordC there is no /lub)la1, no arbitrariness, no a//ident. Bnd &y guardianship o0er &an2ind ter&inated, and the &eaning of &y nati0e land rose before &e in a ne1 /ast ... 4re0iously, N O0 JNat2o0K, too, had passed on to &e and - a//epted, as best - /ould, a fe1 results of J9egel+sK estheti/s. Good GodI What a ne1, lu&inous, boundless uni0erseI ... The 1ord, Hreality+ has be/o&e for &e the synony& for the 1ord, HGod.+ Bnd you needlessly ad0ise &e to loo2 &ore often up into the blue s2y, into the sta&p of infinity, so as not to stu&ble into s/ullery reality. 5y friend, blessed is he 1ho sees infinity sy&boli@ed in the sta&p of s2y, but, after all, the s2y is fre<uently /ast o0er by greyish /louds, therefore &ore blessed is he 1ho is able to illu&inate a s/ullery, too, 1ith the idea of the infinite.> There no1 follo1ed a genuine /on/iliation by 7elins2i 1ith reality. B &an 1ho tries to illu&inate e0en a 2it/hen 1ith the thought of infinity, 1ill not bother, naturally, to re/onstru/t anything in the life about hi&. 9e 1ill en?oy the /ons/iousness and /onte&plation of life+s rationality and the &ore he 0enerates reason, all the &ore is he bound to be irritated by any /riti/is& of reality. Mnderstandably, 7elins2i+s passionate nature 1as bound to lead hi& far in this dire/tion. -t is hard e0en to belie0e today that he used to en?oy the /onte&plation of reality about hi& in the sa&e 1ay an artist en?oys loo2ing at a great 1or2 of art. =%u/h is &y nature,> he said, =under stress, sorro1fully and 1ith diffi/ulty, &y spirit a//epts both lo0e and hate, and 2no1ledge, and e0ery idea and feeling, but on/e ha0ing a//epted, it be/o&es saturated 1ith the& do1n to its &ost se/ret, inner&ost bends and 1indings. Thus in &y spirit+s forge has 1or2ed out independently the &eaning of the great 1ord, reality ... - loo2 on reality so s/orned by &e before, and tre&ble 1ith a &ysterious ?oy, /o&prehending its rationality, seeing that nothing /an be /ast out of it, nothing sullied or re?e/ted ... H.ealityI+ - repeat as - arise or go to sleep, night and dayC in this ne1 &utation 1hi/h be/o&es &ore and &ore noti/eable 1ith e0ery passing day, reality en0elops &e and - feel it e0ery1here and in e0erything, e0en in &yself.>

This =&ysterious> ?oy fa/e to fa/e 1ith rational reality rese&bles the ?oy so&e of us e;perien/e 1hen /o&&uning 1ith nature, those 1ho are able si&ultaneously to en?oy nature+s beauty and the /ons/iousness of being indi0isible fro& nature. B &an 1ho lo0es nature 1ith su/h a lo0e, si&ultaneously philosophi/ and poeti/, 1ill obser0e all of life+s &anifestations 1ith e<ual satisfa/tion. Just so 7elins2i no1 follo1ed e0erything about hi& 1ith the sa&e lo0ing interest. =Fes, reality ushers one into reality,> he e;/lai&s. =Vie1ing e0eryone not fro& a pre/on/ei0ed theory, but in a//ordan/e 1ith the fa/ts ea/h indi0idual hi&self supplies, - a& beginning to gain the ability to enter into real relations 1ith hi&, and for this reason e0erybody is satisfied 1ith &e, and - a& satisfied 1ith e0erybody. - a& beginning to find interests in /o&&on in dis/ussions 1ith people 1ith 1ho& ne0er drea&ed - had anything in /o&&on.> B//epting a post in a sur0eyors+ institute, he 1as 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 1hi/h this la/2lustre and i&per/eptible usefulness is /reated, i&per/eptible unless one follo1s its de0elop&ent in ti&e, in0isible, fro& a superfi/ial standpoint, but great and bountiful in its /onse<uen/es for so/iety. %o long as &y strength endures - a& deter&ined at all /ost to bring &y offering to the altar of so/ial 1elfare.> ot a tra/e is left of =abstra/t herois&.> Worn out by pre0ious &ental effort, 7elins2i see&s to ha0e lost e0en theoreti/al interest in great so/ial <uestions. 9e is ready to be /ontent 1ith an instin/ti0e /onte&plation of ho1 rational is life about hi&. =Nno1ledge of reality /onsists,> he said, =of a 2ind of instin/t, or ta/t by reason of 1hi/h ea/h step a &an ta2es is a sure step, ea/h proposition rings true, all relations 1ith people irreproa/hable, unstrained. aturally, he 1ho 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 2no1 reality, no &atter ho1.> -n the pre0ious period of his de0elop&ent 7elins2i tried, as 1e ha0e seen, to sol0e the /ontradi/tion that tor&ented hi&, the /ontradi/tion bet1een abstra/t ideal and /on/rete reality, by e<uating to @ero one side of this antino&y. 9e pro/lai&ed as a phanto$ all reality that /ontradi/ted the ideal. o1 he does ?ust the opposite. o1 he e<uates to @ero the opposite side of the antino&y, that is, he pro/lai&s as a phanto$, as an illusion, e0ery ideal that /ontradi/ts reality. -n point of theory this ne1 solution is, naturally, ?ust as 1rong as the first one. -n the se/ond instan/e, as in the first, there is no suffi/ient ground for redu/ing either side of the antino&y to @ero. onetheless, the ne1 phase of 7elins2i+s philosophi/ de0elop&ent represents a giant step for1ard fro& the prior phase. To /larify fully the &eaning of this ne1 phase it is ne/essary to pause a 1hile on his arti/le on the battle of 7orodino. Of /hief interest in this arti/le is 7elins2i+s atta/2 on the rationalisti/ interpretation of so/ial life and its elu/idation of relations bet1een indi0iduals and so/iety as a 1hole. The rationalisti/ 0ie1 1ith 1hi/h 7elins2i li0ed in ob0ious har&ony during the 'i/htean period, no1 see&s to hi& the a/&e of absurdity, fit only for 'ren/h babblers and liberal abbots. ='ro& the days of old, /on/erning 1hi/h 1e 2no1 only fro& history do1n to the present, there has not been and there is not a single people 1hi/h 1as /onsolidated and shaped through a &utual, /ons/ious /o&pa/t of a /ertain nu&ber of indi0iduals, desirous of be/o&ing a /o&ponent part of this

peopleC nor did it ta2e pla/e in a//ordan/e 1ith anyone+s idea, not e0en the idea of a genius. Det us ta2e, say, the origin of &onar/hi/al po1er. B liberal babbler 1ould say that it arose as a produ/t of the depra0ity of the people 1ho, 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 1ill of a single indi0idual, /hosen by the&, and in0ested by the& 1ith unli&ited po1er. 'or superfi/ial attitudes and abstra/t &inds in 1hose eyes ideas and e0ents do not /ontain 1ithin the&sel0es their o1n /ausality and their o1n ne/essity, but sprout li2e &ushroo&s after a rain, not only 1ithout soil and roots but suspended in &id)air G for su/h &inds there is nothing si&pler or &ore satisfa/tory than su/h an e;planationC but to those to 1ho& 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 1ithin its o1n 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. 7asi/ 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 o1n idea. Bnd for this reason the basi/ de/rees are not la1s 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 1ould see& that, in 7elins2i+s opinion, the inner essence of things &ay lie open to a philosopher. 7ut 1hat is this inner essen/eE Bs 1e see it, Goethe 1as absolutely /orre/t 1hen 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& 1ithin, is also fro& 1ithout.6 7ut let us not d1ell on details. Det us instead re/all the general /hara/ter of 7elins2i+s 0ie1s at the ti&e. 'ro& his ne1 standpoint, 1hat 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 1ith regard to the spirit, to 1hi/h this indi0idual gi0es e;pression, he is general and ne/essary,> says 7elins2i. =9en/e flo1s the duality of his position and of his stri0ingsC the duality of the struggle bet1een the - and 1hate0er lies beyond the -, and /onstitutes the not)- ... To be real and not illusory, a hu&an being &ust be a parti/ular e;pression of the general, or a finite &anifestation of the infinite. 9e &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 1orld, to the general, re/ogni@ing it as truth and reality. 7ut sin/e the 1orld, or the general, is lo/ated not 1ithin hi& but in the ob?e/ti0e 1orld outside, he &ust gro1 a2in to it, &erge 1ith it, in order ane1 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 1ord, 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 1orld outloo2 is /o&patible 1ith this 0ie1 of indi0iduality. When %o/rates atta/2ed the out&oded /on/eptions of the Bthenians, he 1as ser0ing nothing else but =the general, the uni0ersal>C his philosophi/ do/trine 1as ideally the e;pression of a ne1 step for1ard by the Bthenians in their histori/al de0elop&ent. That+s 1hy %o/rates 1as a hero as 9egel /alled hi&. -n

this 1ay, dis/ord bet1een an indi0idual and the reality about hi& is 1holly 0alid 1hene0er the indi0idual, as a partic!lar e"pression of the general, prepares by his negation the histori/al soil for the ne1 reality, the reality of to&orro1. 7ut that is not ho1 7elins2i reasons. 9e prea/hes =sub&ission> to the e;isting order of things. -n the arti/le on 7orodino and espe/ially in the arti/le on 5en@el, 7elins2i falls 1ith indignation upon the =little, great &en,> for 1ho& history is an in/oherent fairy tale, full of a//idental and /ontradi/tory /ollisions of /ir/u&stan/es. B//ording to 7elins2i, su/h an interpretation of history is the sorry produ/t of the hu&an understanding. 9u&an understanding in0ariably grasps only one side of an ob?e/t, 1hereas 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 =1hate0er is, is ne/essary, la1ful and rational.> =.eality /onstitutes the positi0e in life,> says 7elins2i in another arti/le, =illusion is its negati0e.> -f 1e grant this, then his atta/2s on the =little, great &en> 1ho deny reality be/o&e perfe/tly /o&prehensible. 4ersonalities 1ho deny reality are sheer phanto&s. -t is li2e1ise /o&prehensible 1hy 7elins2i should fall into an e;tre&e opti&is&. -f e0ery denial of reality is illusory then reality is faultless. -t is instru/ti0e to follo1 7elins2i+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 do1n the Ble;andria library. ,ursed be O&ar, for he 1re/2ed enlighten&ent in the an/ient 1orld for ages to /o&eI 4ause, gentle&en, before you /urse O&arI *nlighten&ent is a 1onder)1or2ing thing. Were it an o/ean and so&e O&ar dried it up, there 1ould still re&ain beneath the earth an unseen and se/ret spring of li0ing 1ater that 1ould not long tarry before brea2ing out in /lear fountains and be/o&e /on0erted into an o/ean ...> aturally, this argu&ent is <uite strange. 'ro& the fa/t that the =O&ars> /annot su//eed in drying up all the sour/es of enlighten&ent, it by no &eans follo1s that their a/ti0ities are har&less and that 1e should pause =before /ursing the&.> On his opti&is& 7elins2i rea/hes the e;tre&e of nai0ete. 7ut 1e ha0e seen that this opti&is& ste&s inelu/tably fro& his ne1 outloo2 on reality. Brid this ne1 outloo2 o1ed its origin not to the fa/t that 7elins2i had understood 9egel poorly, but rather to this, that he had fully assi&ilated, the spirit of 9egelian philosophy, a spirit 1hi/h found its e;pression in the introdu/tion to the Philoso*hy o' Ri.ht. The 0ie1s 9egel set do1n in this introdu/tion ha0e already been dealt 1ith in detail. Det the reader /o&pare the& 1ith 7elins2i+s =/on/iliationist 0ie1s,> and he 1ill 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 1ent to e;tre&es 9egel a0oided. 7elins2i said that Voltaire =rese&bles a %atan, freed by the 9ighest Will fro& ada&antine /hains by 1hi/h he had been held in the+fiery habitation in eternal dar2ness and 1ho used his brief span of freedo& to the ruination of &an2ind.> 9egel said nothing of the 2ind and 1ould ha0e ne0er said it. ot a fe1 si&ilar e;a&ples /ould be addu/ed, but all of these are details 1hi/h do not alter the gist of the &atter 1hi/h is this, that in e;pressing his 0ie1s 7elins2i re&ained 1holly, true to the spirit of 9egel+s a)sol!te philosophy.

Bnd if these /on/iliationist 0ie1s appear =strange> to 5r. Volyns2i, then it sho1s ho1 poorly a/<uainted he is 1ith the 1or2s of =a &an 1ho thought eternity,> i.e., 9egel. True enough, 5r. Volyns2i happens to be repeating on this o//asion only 1hat had been pre0iously said by . %tan2e0i/h, by 9er@en, Turgene0 and others. 7ut he had pro&ised to re0ie1 the <uestion of 9egel+s influen/e on 7elins2i+s 1orld outloo2 =1ith the ne/essary thoroughness> and =through a /o&parison of 7elins2i+s 1ell)2no1n 0ie1s 1ith their original sour/es.> Why then did 5r. Volyns2i /onfine hi&self to repeating the errors of othersE ,ould it beC perhaps, that the =original sour/e> is rather poorly 2no1n by hi&E 5ore fully than any of his friends, say, 5.7. or . %tan2e0i/h, 7elins2i had assi&ilated the /onser0ati0e spirit of the 9egelian philosophy 1hi/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 1ell 1ith hi& at all. Bfter all, these friends held the sa&e standpoint of alleged absolute truth 1hi/h 7elins2i 1as no1, in 9egel+s footsteps, ad0o/ating, and fro& this standpoint any /on/ession to, =liberal babblers> 1as only a sad in/onsisten/y. 3-n a letter to D.5. e0ero0, Grano0s2i says that 7a2unin 1as the first to rise up against 7elins2i+s arti/les on 7orodino, et/. -t is unfortunately un/lear fro& Grano0s2i+s letter ?ust 1hat 7a2unin+s uprising /onsisted of. Bnyho1, it /ould not ha0e been based on an understanding of the progressi0e side of 9egel+s philosophy to 1hi/h 5.7. 1as to arri0e &u/h later.6 Of /ourse, it &ay be argued that 1hile 9egel in the days of the publi/ation of the Philoso*hy o' Ri.ht did &a2e his pea/e 1ith 4russian reality, it doesn+t therefore follo1 that 9egel 1ould ha0e /on/iliated 1ith .ussian reality. That is so. 7ut there are negations and negations. 9egel 1ould ha0e pronoun/ed .ussian reality to be se&i)Bsiati/C he generally held that the %la0 1orld /onstituted an entity &id1ay bet1een *urope and Bsia. 7ut Bsian reality is li2e1ise =reason e&bodied> and 9egel G not 9egel, the diale/ti/ian, but 9egel, the herald of =absolute truth> G 1ould ha0e s/ar/ely appro0ed of an uprising against reality tin the part of finite reason of indi0iduals.

)ha*ter VI
Det us no1 approa/h 7elins2i+s /on/iliationist 0ie1s fro& another side. %o/ial theories of =liberal babblers> 2indled his ire by their superfi/ial, anti)s/ientifi/ /hara/ter. =7abblers> i&agine that so/ial relations /an be /hanged by popular 1hi&s, 1hereas, a/tually, so/ial life and de0elop&ent are regulated by =i&&utable la1s, lodged in the essen/e of so/iety.> 7abblers see arbitrariness and a//ident there 1here in reality an inelu/table pro/ess of de0elop&ent is ta2ing pla/e. %o/ial pheno&ena un1ind diale/ti/ally, fro& 1ithin the&sel0es, by inner ne/essity. Whate0er bears no /ause 1ithin itself but appears on a//ount of so&ething alien to it, so&ething fro& =1ithout,> is de0oid of rationality, and 1hate0er is irrational is nothing &ore than an illusion, a phanto&. %u/h are the 0ie1s 7elins2i /ounterposes to the rationalist outloo2 on so/ial life, inherited fro& the 18th /entury. Bnd his 0ie1s are in/o&parably &ore profound and &ore serious than the rationalisti/ outloo2, 1hi/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 7elins2i+s /on/iliationist 0ie1s. %i&ilarly, only a 0ery honor)laden .ussian so/iologist /ould, in 0ie1 of 7elins2i+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

&eant an instin/t for theoreti/al truth G and in <uestions of this sort there /annot be tal2 of anything else G then it is ne/essary to ad&it that 7elins2i dis/losed a highly de0eloped instin/t for truth 1hen he hastened 1ith enthusias& to a/<uire and 1ith heat to propagate the interpretation of history as a ne/essary and therefore a la1ful pro/ess. -n this instan/e, .ussian so/ial thought in the person of 7elins2i grappled, for the first ti&e and 1ith the boldness of genius, 1ith the solution of the 0ery sa&e great proble& 1hi/h absorbed, as 1e ha0e seen, the best &inds of the 19th /entury. Why is the position of the 1or2ing /lass so badE 7e/ause the &odern e/ono&i/ order in *urope began to ta2e shape at a ti&e 1hen the s/ien/e =in /harge of> this /y/le of e0ents =didn+t as yet e;ist.> That is ho1 5r. 5i2hailoys2y philosophi@es. 7elins2i 1ould ha0e re/ogni@ed in this ratio/ination the rationalisti/ outloo2 he despised so &u/h and he 1ould ha0e li2ened it G by its inner 1orth G to the light)&inded pronoun/e&ents of li)eral a))ots. =.eality as the &anifestation of e&bodied reason,> he 1rote, =al1ays /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 after su/h an order had ta2en shapeC but to elu/idate by its later appearan/e one or another positi0e or negati0e <uality of this e/ono&y is as full of 1isdo& as it 1ould be to as/ribe the e;isten/e of /ontagious diseases to the /ir/u&stan/e that 1hen the 1orld 1as /reated there 1ere no physi/ians fro& 1ho& nature /ould ha0e a/<uired the /on/ept of hygiene. eedless to add, 7elins2i 1ould be perfe/tly right, fro& the standpoint, that is, of &odern ob?e/ti0e s/ien/e. Bnd it therefore follo1s that as far ba/2 as the end of the 18":+s 7elins2i+s instin/t for theoreti/al truth 1as &ore highly de0eloped than it is today in 5r. 5i2hailo0s2y and other honor)laden so/iologists li2e hi&. -t /annot be said that this is a /onsoling /on/lusion for all the friends of .ussian progress, but the truth &ust be ser0ed abo0e e0erything else and so 1e shan+t suppress it. Ta2e another e;a&ple. The 4opulists ha0e 1ritten a lot in .ussia about the agrarian /o&&une, the o)shchina. They 1ere often 1rong G erring &ore or less sin/erely G in tal2ing about its history, or its present)day /onditions. 7ut let us grant that they didn+t &a2e a single &ista2e and pose a si&ple <uestionA Weren+t they 1rong to /la&or that it 1as ne/essary to =strengthen> the o)shchina at all /ostE What 1ere they guided byE They 1ere guided by a /on0i/tion that the present day o)shchina is /apable of gro1ing o0er into the highest e/ono&i/ for&. 7ut 1hat are the e;isting e/ono&i/ relations 1ithin the o)shchinaE ,an their e0olution lead to the transition of a &odified, present)day o)shchina, to the highest for& of /o&&unal lifeE o. 7e/ause their e0olution leads, on the /ontraryC to the triu&ph of indi0idualis&. The 4opulists the&sel0es agreed &ore than on/e on thisC anyho1, the &ore sensible a&ong the& did. 7ut in that /ase 1hat did they /ount onE They /ounted on this, that the e;ternal influen/e e;er/ised on the o)shchina by the intelligentsia and the go0ern&ent 1ould o0er/o&e the inner logic of its de0elop&ent. 7elins2i 1ould ha0e dis&issed su/h hopes 1ith s/orn. 9e 1ould ha0e /orre/tly noted in the& a residue of the rationalisti/ outloo2 on so/ial life. 9e 1ould ha0e re?e/ted the& as illusory and abstra/t, sin/e e0erything is illusory 1hi/h bears no /ause 1ithin its o1n self and appears be/ause of so&ething else alien to it, so&ething fro& =1ithout> and not fro& =1ithin.> Bgain, this 1ould be perfe/tly /orre/t. Bnd again it is ne/essary to dra1 the /on/lusion, unflattering for .ussian progress, that to1ard the /lose of the 18":+s 7elins2i had already dra1n /loser to a s/ientifi/ understanding of so/ial pheno&ena than ha0e bur present)day /ha&pions of old prin/iples and institutions. 3-t is 1orth noting, ho1e0er, that only a fe1 4opulists /ontinue no1adays to drea& about the transition of the o)shchina into the highest for& of /o&&unal life. The &a?ority of these 1orthy

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 1hose hands the o)shchina has be/o&e a fearso&e 1eapon 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 1ith the =abstra/t ideal>6 7asi/ state de/rees =are not la1s pro&ulgated by &an but they appear, so to spea2, before their ti&e and are only e;pressed by &an.> -s this so, or notE 7elins2i+s reasoning on this sub?e/t is /onsiderably obs/ured by his /ustodial ardor at the ti&e, o1ing to 1hi/h he so&eti&es e;pressed hi&self 1ith foggy po&posity. 9o1e0er, 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 J5ar;is&K there is no doubt 1hate0er that not only basi/ state de/rees but ?uridi/al institutions generally are an e;pression of a/tual relations into 1hi/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 7elins2i+s 1ords /arry this &eaning they &ust be re/ogni@ed as absolutely /orre/t. -t 1ouild not hurt to re/all the& repeatedly e0en no1 to those bearers of the =abstra/t ideal> a&ong us 1ho i&agine that ?uridi/al nor&s are /reated by popular /rot/hets and that a people /an &a2e of their legal institutions any e/le/ti/ hash they please. 3Thus, for e;a&ple, there are &any a&ong us 1ho belie0e, on the one side, that .ussia /ould 1ith /o&fort =strengthen the o)shchina> and, on the other, transplant on this =strengthened> soil, that is, on the soil of Bsian lando1nership, /ertain institutions of West *uropean so/ial la1.6 .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 1hi/h the 19th /entury had posed before all the thin2ing &inds of *urope. ,o&prehending the /olossal i&portan/e of this tas2 7elins2i suddenly felt fir&, soil beneath his feetC and, enthused by the boundless hori@ons opened before hi&, he, as 1e sa1, sur0eyed for a 1hile the reality about hi& through the eyes of an *pi/urean, anti/ipating the bliss of philosophi/ /ognition. Bnd, after all, ho1 /ould one not get angry at the =s&all, great people> 1ho 1ith their idle tal2 G and it is ti$e to recognise this G their absolutely groundless tal2 in point of theory, hindered the tran<uil and happy en?oy&ent of the une;pe/tedly dis/o0ered treasure)tro0e of truthE 9o1 not atta/2 the bearers of the =abstra/t ideal,> ho1 not heap ridi/ule upon the& 1hen 7elins2i, fro& his o1n e;perien/e, 2ne1 its utter pra/ti/al 1orthlessnessC 1hen he still re&e&bered that grie0ous /ognition of self as a HH/ipher> 1hi/h /onstantly a//o&panied the intense ?oy this ideal had arousedE 9o1 not despise those 1ho, although they 1anted happiness for their near and dear ones, ne0ertheless, out of &yopia, /onsidered har&ful the only philosophy 1hi/h 7elins2i 1as /on0in/ed /ould &a2e &an2ind happyE 7ut this &ood did not last longC /on/iliation 1ith reality pro0ed sha2y. 7y O/tober 18"9, departing for 4etersburg and /arrying 1ith hi& the still unpublished arti/le on The 6ketches of the Battle of Borodino, 7elins2i 1as already far re&o0ed fro& the radiant and /heerful 0ie1 of e0erything about hi&, 1hi/h /a&e upon hi& in the first period of his infatuation 1ith 9egelian 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 1as dead.> True enough, this ne1 oppressi0e &ood 1as /onditioned to a /onsiderable degree by la/2 of personal happiness, but 2no1ing 7elins2i+s /hara/ter it /an be said 1ith /ertainty that he 1ould not e0en ha0e noti/ed this la/2 had 9egel+s philosophy gi0en hi& so &u/h as a fra/tion of 1hat it had pro&ised.

=9o1 laughable it is and ho1 e;asperating,> he e;/lai&s in a long letter to 7ot2in, 1ritten 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 1ords. They sho1 that 7elins2i 1as already /ohabiting poorly 1ith 9egel+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 to1ard 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 1ith 1hate0er is. 7ut li0ing is not =1hate0er is.> Whate0er is, has already ossified, the breath of life has already sped fro& it. That li0es 1hi/h is in the pro/ess Of be/o&ing 3wird6, 1hi/h is being 1or2ed 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<uate roo& for this ne/essary ele&ent, for that indi0idual life does a/tually turn into =nothingness,> be/ause in his /on/iliation 1ith =1hate0er is> he engages in transa/tions not 1ith life but 1ith 1hat used to be life, but had /eased li0ing in the interi&. 9egel+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 1as 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.> 7ut to this philosophy of the general, the interests 1ere the interests of stagnation. 7elins2i sensed this instin/ti0ely &u/h earlier than he 1as able to be/o&e /ogni@ant of it through reason. 9e e;pe/ted philosophy to point out the road to hu&an happiness. The general <uestion of the triu&ph of a//ident o0er hu&an reason often appeared to hi& in the shape of a parti/ular <uestion of why does force tri!$ph over rightE What 1as 9egel+s ans1erE We sa1 1hat it 1asA =There is no reign of sa0age &aterial for/eC there is no s1ay of bayonet and the s1ordC right is for/e and for/e is right.> Dea0ing aside the so&e1hat parado;i/al &anner of this ans1er 3the for&ulation is not 9egel+s but 7elins2i+s6, it is ne/essary to ad&it that it en/loses a profound truth, the sole prop for the hopes of the partisans of gradual progress. -t is strange, but it is so. 9ere is a graphi/ e;a&ple. =Our feudal rights are based on /on<uests,> shouted the defenders of the old order in 'ran/e to %ieyes. =-s that allE> he replied. =Very 1ell, it+s no1 our turn to be/o&e /on<uerors.> -n this proud ans1er 1as e;pressed the /ognition that the Third *state had already &atured for rulership. Bnd 1hen it be/a&e truly a =/on<ueror,> its rule 1as not e;/lusi0ely the rule of &aterial for/eC its for/e 1as li2e1ise its right, and its right 1as 0alidated by the histori/al needs of 'ran/e+s de0elop&ent. *0erything that does not /orrespond to the needs of so/iety, has behind it no right 1hate0erC but, /ontrari1ise, 1hate0er has behind it /orresponding right 1ill, sooner or later, ha0e for/e behind it as 1ell. What /an be &ore gratifying than su/h assuran/e to all the true friends of progressE Bnd su/h assuran/e is inelu/tably instilled by 9egel+s attitude on the interrelation of right and for/e, provided it is correctly !nderstood. 7ut in order to understand it /orre/tly, it 1as ne/essary to regard both history and present)day reality fro& the standpoint of dialectic develop$ent and not that of =absolute truth,> 1hi/h signifies a /essation of all &o0e&ent.

'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 1ere /onde&ned to eternal ser0itude solely be/ause =absolute truth,> on &a2ing its appearan/e in the real& of /ognition, found the peasants 1ea2 and hen/e 1ithout any rights as 1ell. C0etait !n pe! fort, as the 'ren/h say. Bnd 7elins2i 1as bound to noti/e it, too, as soon as he started to ta2e sto/2 of his ne1 1orld outloo2. 'ro& his /orresponden/e it is e0ident that his so)/alled brea2 1ith 9egel, &entioned so often in our literature, 1as pro0o2ed by the inability of 9egel+s =absolute> philosophy to ans1er so/ial and politi/al <uestions 1hi/h tor&ented 7elins2i. =- a& toldA Mnfold all the treasures of your spirit for the freest en?oy&ent thereofC 1eep so that you &ay be /onsoledC grie0e so that you &ay be ?oyfulC stri0e to1ard perfe/tion, s/ra&ble up to the top rung of the ladder of de0elop&ent, and should you stu&ble, then do1n you go, and the Le0il ta2e you ... Than2 you obediently, Fegor 'edoro0i/h. - bo1 to your philosophi/al /oni/al hatC but 1ith all due respe/t to your philosophi/ philistinis&, - ha0e the honor to infor& you that e0en if - did su//eed to /li&b the top&ost rung of the ladder of de0elop&ent, fro& there, too, - 1ould as2 you to gi0e an a//ounting for all the 0i/ti&s of life and history, for all the 0i/ti&s of a//ident, superstition, -n<uisition, 4hillip --, and so on. Or else - 1ould ?u&p head first fro& the ladder+s top&ost rung. don+t 1ant happiness e0en for free, unless - /an rest tran<uil about e0ery one of &y brothers in flesh, and blood ... -t is said that dis/ord is the pre&ise for har&ony. 5aybe so. This is <uite ad0antageous and delightful for &usi/ lo0ers, but, after all, it is not so for those 1hose li0es are destined to e;)press the idea of dis/ord ...> What does it &ean to get an a//ounting for the 0i/ti&s of a//ident, superstition, -n<uisition, et/E -n the opinion of 5r. Volyns2i it &eans e;a/tly nothing. =To these perple;ities,> he says, =1hi/h 7elinis2i set do1n, for 1it+s sa2e, in the for& of a depart&ental report, 1ith a &ali/ious <uestionnaire of a /o&pro&ising nature atta/hed, 9egel, 1ith a /ondes/ending s&ile, 1ould ha0e /ut his e;/ited opponent short and 1ould ha0e saidA HLe0elop&ent de&ands sa/rifi/es of &an, the onerous e;ploit of self)renun/iation, a &ighty grie0ing o0er the 1elfare of the people, failing 1hi/h there /an be no indi0idual 1elfare, but the philosophy of idealis& does not hallo1 a//idental 0i/ti&s, nor does it re/on/ile itself 1ith superstition, 1ith -n<uisition. The diale/ti/ pro/ess of de0elop&ent /ontains a &ighty 1eapon G negation, 1hi/h leads people out of the /a0es of in<uisitorial /ase&ates, out into the free air, into freedo&. B//ident is an ano&aly and that alone is rational 1hi/h beans the sta&p of di0ine ?usti/e and 1isdo& ...+> 3Russian )riti&s, page 1:!.6 -n these elo<uent lines there is, as usual, a la&entable lu&ping of undigested /on/epts, pe/uliar to the philosophi/ talent of 5r. Volyns2i. To begin 1ith, 9egel 1ould ha0e said e;a/tly nothing to 7elins2i anent the sa/rifi/es and self)renun/iation that are de&anded of an indi0idual by his o1n intelle/tual and &oral de0elop&ent. That+s for sure. 9egel 1ould ha0e understood that 7elins2i is not tal2ing about sa/rifi/es of this sort at all. To be sure, the Ger&an idealist 1ould ha0e thereby let slip a pre/ious opportunity to /oin elo<uent phrases in the rhetori/al style of 5r. Volyns2i but by 1ay of /o&pensation he 1ould ha0e /o&e sooner to the point. Bnd the point here tou/hes pre/isely the follo1ing <uestionA Wasn+t the ele&ent of negation, this truly =&ighty 1eapon,> redu/ed to @ero by the =absolute> /on/lusions 1hi/h 9egel dre1 and by the /on/iliation 1ith reality 1hi/h he prea/hed in the introdu/tion to his Philoso*hy o' Ri.htE We ha0e already seen that the ans1er is G yesC that su/h a /ontradi/tion did a/tually e;ist and that it flo1ed fro& the root /ontradi/tion, inherent in 9egel+s philosophy generally, i.e., the

/ontradi/tion bet1een 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. 7elins2i, 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 9egel+s philosophy is only a &o&ent, e0en though a great one, but that the absoluteness of his results isn+t 1orth anythingPC that it is better to die than re/on/ile oneself 1ith 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.>6 B .ussian 1ho =suspe/ted> su/h things, and this, &oreo0er, to1ard the end of the 18":+s had truly to possess a high =philosophi/ organis&.> Bnd feeble indeed are =philosophi/ organis&s> 1ho to this day fail to understand 7elins2i. What they deser0e is not a =/ondes/ending> but the &ost s/athing s&ile that /an be s&iled. 7elins2i, naturally, doesn+t hold 9egel responsible for the e;ploits of the -n<uisition, for the /ruelty of 4hillip --, and so on. When he as2s 9egel for an a//ounting of all the 0i/ti&s of &an2ind+s histori/al &o0e&ent, he /harges 9egel 1ith not re&aining true to his o1n philosophy. Bnd this /harge is as 0alid as any /harge /ould be. B//ording to 9egel freedo$ is the goal of histori/al de0elop&ent and necessity is the &eans leading to1ard this goal. B philosophy, 1hi/h interprets history fro& this ele0ated standpoint, /annot of /ourse be held responsible for 1hat has happened, independently of its 1ill and influen/e. 7ut one &ay ?ustifiably de&and fro& it that it point out the &eans 1here1ith reason shall triu&ph o0er blind a//ident. Bnd these &eans /an be supplied only by the pro/ess of de0elop&ent. 7y pro/lai&ing hi&self as the possessor of absolute truth and by re/on/iling hi&self 1ith the e;isting /onditions, 9egel turned his ba/2 on all de0elop&ent and re/ogni@ed as reason that necessity fro& 1hi/h &an2ind of his day suffered. This 1as tanta&ount to pro/lai&ing oneself a philosophi/ ban2rupt. Bnd it is e;a/tly this a/t of ban2rupt/y that aroused 7elins2i. 9e 1as 0e;ed that he, follo1ing in 9egel+s footsteps, had been able to per/ei0e =a &ost perfe/t state> in the .ussia of his day. This &ost perfe/t state rested on the e;ploitation 3through e;tre&ely anti<uated &ethods6 of the &a?ority for the benefit of a pri0ileged &inority. .ising up against 9egel+s =absolute> philosophy, 7elins2i understood this perfe/tly. 9e 1ent o0er 1holly to the side of the oppressed. 7ut these oppressed did not appear in his eyes as produ/ers, li0ing under gi0en histori/al /onditions. 9e 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<ueathed by barbarous ti&es.> On this a//ount there are so&e 1ho 1ould not be a0erse to pi/ture 7elins2i as so&ething a2in to a liberal indi0idualist. 7ut this is absolutely groundless. 7elins2i hi&self /larifies his state of &ind at the ti&e <uite e;/ellently. =Within &e has gro1n a sort of fantasti/ lo0e for freedo& and independen/e of the hu&an indi0iduality, 1hi/h is attainable only in a so/iety based on truth and /ourage ... 9u&an indi0iduality has be/o&e a fo/al point on 1hi/h - a& fearful of losing &y sanity. - a& beginning to lo0e hu&anity

in 5arat+s 1ayA to &a2e a tiniest fra/tion of it happy, - 1ould, it see&s, destroy the rest 1ith fire and the s1ord.> Diberal indi0idualis& this does not represent in any /ase. or has the follo1ing /ategori/al de/laration anything in /o&&on 1ith itA =- ha0e no1 fallen into a ne1 e;tre&e G it is the idea of so/ialis& 1hi/h has be/a&e for &e the idea of ideas ... the alpha and o&ega of faith and 2no1ledge ... 'or &e, it has s1allo1ed up history and religion and philosophy. Bnd therefore - no1 e;plain by it &y life, your life and the li0es of all those 1ho& - ha0e &et on life+s highroad> 3letter to 7ot2in, %epte&ber 8, 18$:6. 5r. 4ypin hastens to assure us that 7elins2i+s so/ialis& 1as at botto& perfe/tly har&less. The honor) laden s/holar, in this /ase, labors in 0ain. Who doesn+t 2no1 that the so/ialis& of 7elins2i+s day generally /ontained nothing dangerous to the so/ial order of the ti&eE 7ut 7elins2i+s infatuation 1ith so/ialis&, 1hile /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 shado1s but &ust be brought out into the /learest possible light.

(Part 7)
)ha*ter VII
Why did 7elins2i pass so s1iftly and resolutely fro& =absolute> idealist philosophy to Mtopian so/ialis&E -n order to /larify this transition it is ne/essary on/e again to return to our great /riti/+s attitude to1ard 9egel. *0en after 7elins2i /onde&ned his o1n arti/le on 7orodino as foolish and un1orthy of an honest 1riter, he /ontinued to /onsider the period of his return fro&, Georgia, i.e., the period of his co$plete infat!ation with Hegelian philosophy, as the beginning of his spiritual life. To hi& this period see&s to ha0e been =the best, at any rate, the &ost re&ar2able period> of his life. Bnother arti/le on 7orodino he /onsidered foolish only be/ause of its /on/lusions and not at all be/ause of its basi/ propositions. 9e 1roteA =The idea - tried to de0elop in the arti/le about Glin2a+s boo2, 6ketches of the Battle of Borodino, is true in its essentials.> 9e had only failed to ta2e full ad0antage, as he should ha0e, of these true essentials. =-t 1as li2e1ise ne/essary to de0elop the idea of negation as a histori/ right no less san/tified than the other histori/ right and failing 1hi/h, &an2ind 1ould be /on0erted into a stagnant, stin2ing s1a&p.> The reader has perhaps not forgotten the passage 1hi/h 1e ha0e already /ited fro& 9egel+s le/tures on the 5istory o' Philoso*hy. This passage sho1s that to the e;tent that 9egel re&ained true to his diale/ti/, he fully re/ogni@ed the histori/ right of negation. 7elins2i thought that by ha0ing re?e/ted 9egel+s =absolute> /on/lusions, he had /o&pletely re?e/ted 9egel+s entire philosophy. B/tually, he 1as only passing o0er fro& 9egel, the herald of =Bbsolute Truth,> to 9egel, the diale/ti/ian. Lespite his ?ibes at 9egel+s philosopher /ap, 7elins2i still re&ained a pure 9egelian. 9is first arti/le on 4eter the Great is saturated 1ith the spirit of 9egelian philosophy. The sa&e spirit per0ades the se/ond arti/le, although here 7elins2i tried to ta2e a different standpoint in his ?udg&ents /on/erning the influen/e of geographi/ en0iron&ent on the spiritual <ualities of 0arious nations. 7ut his rather unsu//essful reasoning does not in the least /hange the general /hara/ter of his 1orld outloo2 at the ti&eC it re&ained thoroughly idealist. Bll of his /o)thin2ers li2e1ise re&ained idealists at the ti&e. 9is biographer has apparently failed to grasp this a//urately. 5r. 4ypin de/lares that in 9er@en+s 'etters on the 6t!dy of 5at!re G published in 0t&hestvennye 8a*iski, 18$" G =the tas2s of philosophy and s/ien/e 1ere posed in the sa&e 1ay that the best &inds pose the& today.> 3Belinski by 4ypin, Volu&e 1, page !!8.6 This is a &a?or blunder. 5r. 4ypin 1as e0idently &isled by the /ategori/al state&ent of the author of the 'etters to the effe/t that =9egel had raised thin2ing to so high a le0el as to &a2e it i&possible, after 9egel, to ta2e a single for1ard step 1ithout absolutely lea0ing idealis& behind.>

7ut this state&ent in no 1ay hindered 9er@en fro& re&aining an idealist of purest 1ater both in his 0ie1s on nature 31herein he is 1holly 9egelian6 as 1ell as in his 0ie1s on the philosophy of history. 9e thought that =in &aterialis& there is no1here to go beyond 9obbes.> 9e said that the &aterialists in history 1ere those to 1ho& =the entire 1orld 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 0ie1 1ith the /harges le0elled no1adays, fro& all sides, against the e/ono&i/ &aterialists.6 Mp to the &iddle of 18$$, 9er@en spo2e throughout as an idealist in his 1iary. Only in July 18$$ did he refer /o&&endingly to an arti/le by Jordan in $i.and s 9uarterly. 7ut this /o&&ent, too, did not at all signify any de/isi0e turn in 9er@en+s 0ie1s. 5r. 4ypin also re&ar2s that 7elins2i+s =last philosophi/ interest> 1as the positi0is& of Buguste ,o&te and 5a;i&ilien Dittre =as the /ategori/al re?e/tion of &etaphysi/s.> 5r. 4ypin has unfortunately failed to print in full the letter in 1hi/h 7elins2i, a//ording to 5r. 4ypin, d1ells at length on positi0is&. Judging solely by the passage /ited fro& this letter by 5r. 4ypin, our great /riti/+s opinion of ,o&te 1as not o0erly fa0orable, as 5r. 4ypin hi&self /on/edes. =,o&te is a re&ar2able &an,> says 7elins2i, =but the /han/es are rather sli&, that he shall pro0e to be the founder of a ne1 philosophy. 'or this genius is re<uired, and in ,o&te there is not a sign of it.> This leads us to /on/lude that 7elins2i 1ould not ha0e in/lined to1ard positi0is&, if death had not /arried hi& off so pre&aturely. -f spe/ulations are in order, then 1e shall ta2e the liberty to spe/ulate that 7elins2i 1ould ha0e be/o&e ulti&ately a @ealous partisan of diale/ti/ &aterialis& 1hi/h, in the se/ond half of the 19th /entury, /a&e to repla/e outli0ed idealist philosophy. 9istori/al de0elop&ent, 1hi/h absorbed 7elins2i+s philosophi/ thought, led pre/isely in this dire/tionC and it 1as not for nothing that he read 1ith so &u/h satisfa/tion the 1euts&h:Fran;<sis&he =ahr+>&her in 1hi/h the future founders of diale/ti/ &aterialis& 1ere then 1riting. -f 7elins2i found nothing ob?e/tionable in their 0ie1s in 18$(, then 1hy should he ha0e risen up against the& later on, after these 0ie1s had been de0eloped and gi0en a fir& foundationE Det us note here, by the 1ay, that the logi/al affinity of philosophi/ ideas spea2s in fa0or of our spe/ulation. Bnd against it, one &ay say that 7elins2i, re&o0ed as he 1as so terribly far fro&, the /enters of West *uropean intelle/tual life and loaded perpetually 1ith pressing 1or2, 1ould ha0e found it hard not to lag behind the best &inds of *urope. The greatest of geniuses re<uires for his de0elop&ent, the fa0orable influen/e of the surrounding &ilieu upon hi&C in .ussia this &ilieu 1as fearso&ely unde0eloped in e0ery respe/t. Therefore it is possible that 7elins2i &ight not ha0e been able to the end of his days to rea/h a full, definiti0e and har&onious 1orld outloo2 to1ard 1hi/h he stri0ed passionately and /onstantly. -t is also possible that the so/ial fer&ent 1hi/h began in the se/ond half of the 18(:+s 1ould ha0e &ade of hi& the leader of our enlighteners of those days. Bs 1e shall presently see, in the last years of his life, there 1ere not a fe1 ele&ents in his 0ie1s that /ould ha0e &ade /o&parati0ely easy su/h a transition to the 1holly ?ustifiable 0ie1s of the .ussian enlighteners at the ti&e. 7ut enough of spe/ulationC let us return to the fa/ts. 7elins2i felt the need of de0eloping the idea of negation. 'ollo1ing in the footsteps of the author of "ket&hes o' the Go.olian Period o' Russian %iterature, 5r. 4ypin thin2s that 7elins2i 1as greatly aided by 9er@en in this parti/ular de0elop&ent. 9e is of /ourse /orre/t in the sense that dis/ussions and debates 1ith so dyna&i/, /le0er and &any)sidedly edu/ated a &an as 9er@en 1ere not and /ould not ha0e been 1ithout so&e influen/e on 7elins2i+s 0ie1s. 7ut 1e thin2 that the &eetings 1ith 9er@en 1hile they ga0e a strong i&pulsion to 7elins2i+s intelle/tual a/ti0ity, offered hi& little in the 1ay of

assistan/e to1ard de0eloping diale/ti/ 0ie1s on so/ial e0ents. 9er@en and the diale/ti/ got along poorly. Bs is 1ell 2no1n, to the end of his days he sa1 in 4roudhon+s )ontradi&tions e&ono/i?ues a &ost su//essful appli/ation of the diale/ti/ &ethod to e/ono&i/ life. 9er@en sa1 that, /orre/tly understood, 9egel+s philosophy /ould not be a philosophy of stagnation 39egel to the /ontrary not1ithstanding6. 7ut if there 1as any one in .ussia 1ho understood poorly the 9egelian affir&ation of the rationality of 1hate0er e;ists, then it 1as surely none other than the brilliant but superfi/ial 9er@en. -n ,y Past and -hou.hts he saysA =The philosophi/ phrase 1hi/h has done the greatest har& and on the basis of 1hi/h Ger&an /onser0ati0es ha0e sought to re/on/ile philosophy 1ith Ger&any+s politi/al life, na&ely, the phrase to the effe/t that H1hate0er is real is rational,+ 1as &erely another 1ay of stating the prin/iple of s!fficient reason and of the /orresponden/e bet1een logi/ and fa/ts.> 7ut su/h a /o&&onpla/e as =the prin/iple of suffi/ient reason> 1ould ha0e ne0er satisfied 9egel. The 18th /entury philosophers li2e1ise re/ogni@ed this prin/iple but they re&ained 0ery far re&o0ed fro& the 9egelian 0ie1 of history as a la1ful pro/ess. The 1hole point is thisA Where and ho1 does a gi0en theory of so/iety see2 the suffi/ient reason for so/ial e0entsE Why did the old order in 'ran/e fallE Was it be/ause 5irabeau 1as so elo<uentE Or 1as it be/ause the 'ren/h /ustodians 3of the old order6 1ere so untalentedE Or 1as it be/ause the flight of the royal fa&ily failedE The =prin/iple> singled out by 9er@en 0ou/hes only for this, that there 1as so&e reason behind the do1nfall of the old order, but it offers no indi/ations 1hate0er as to the &ethod of in0estigating this reason. This is the 1oeful /ondition that 9egel+s philosophy sought to re&edy. -nterpreting &an+s histori/al de0elop&ent as a la1ful pro/ess this philosophy eli&inated there1ith the standpoint of accident. 3To be sure, 9egel said that there is an ele&ent of a//ident in e0erything that is finite G in alle$ ,ndlichen ist ein ,le$ent des .!f(lligen G but by the 1hole &eaning of his philosophy it is only at the point 1here se0eral ne/essary pro/esses interse/t that 1e &eet 1ith accident. That is 1hy the /on/ept of a//ident a//epted, and <uite /orre/tly so, by 9egel does not at all obstru/t a s/ientifi/ e;a&ination and e;planation of e0ents. 5oreo0er, to understand a gi0en a//ident, one &ust be able to find a satisfa/tory e;planation for at least two necessary pro/esses.6 Bnd necessity, too, 1as not at all understood by 9egel in the /o&&onpla/e &eaning of the 1ord. -f 1e say, for e;a&ple, that the old order in 'ran/e fell be/ause of an a//idental failure of the royal flight, then 1e i&&ediately re/ogni@e that the &o&ent this flight failed, the do1nfall of the old order be/a&e necessary. Mnderstood in this /rude and superfi/ial &anner, ne/essity is si&ply the other side of a//ident. With 9egel ne/essity has a different &eaning. When he says that a gi0en so/ial e0ent 1as ne/essary, he &eans that this so/ial e0ent had been prepared by the internal de0elop&ent of the /ountry 1here it had ta2en pla/e. 7ut e0en this is not all. 7y the &eaning of his philosophy ea/h e0ent /reates in the pro/ess of its de0elop&ent, fro& 1ithin itself, those for/es 1hi/h negate it later on. Bpplying this to so/ial life it &eans that e0ery gi0en so/ial order itself generates those negati0e ele&ents 1hi/h 1ill destroy it and 1ill repla/e it 1ith a ne1 order. On/e you understand the pro/ess 1hereby these negati0e ele&ents are generated, you li2e1ise understand the pro/ess that 1ill bring the old order to its death. 7y saying that he needed =to de0elop the idea of negation> 7elins2i 1anted 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 had /o&&itted a serious blunder at the ti&e. 7ut the

prin/iple of =suffi/ient reason> suggested by 9er@en 1as not at all suffi/ient to /orre/t 7elins2i+s logi/al error. -n this respe/t 7elins2i 1as left /o&pletely on his o1n resour/es. To de0elop the idea of negation &eant, a&ong other things, to re/ogni@e the right of the =ideal> 1hi/h in the heat of his infatuation 1ith 9egel he had sa/rifi/ed to reality. 7ut the ideal, la1ful fro& 7elins2i+s ne1 standpoint, /ould not be an =abstra/t ideal.> %in/e the histori/al negation of reality /o&es as the result of its o1n de0elop&ent it therefore follo1s that only that ideal can )e recognised as lawf!l which itself rests on this develop$ent. 6!ch an ideal 1ill not be =torn out of geographi/ and histori/al /onditions of de0elop&ent> and it /annot be said to ha0e been =ere/ted in &id)air.> -t only e;presses in i&age and thought the results of the pro/ess of de0elop&ent already taking place in reality. Bnd it is concrete to the sa&e e;tent as the unfolding de0elop&ent is itself /on/rete. -n the first phase of his de0elop&ent 7elins2i sa/rifi/ed reality for the sa2e of the idealC in the se/ond, he sa/rifi/ed the ideal for the sa2e of reality and finally in the third phase he sought to re/on/ile the ideal 1ith reality by &eans of the idea of develop$ent 1hi/h 1ould gi0e the ideal a fir& foundation and transfor&, it fro& the =abstra/t> into the /on/rete. This 1as no1 7elins2i+s tas2. -t 1as a great tas2. %o long as &en re&ain unable to sol0e su/h tas2s, they are unable to influen/e /ons/iously either their o1n de0elop&ent or that of so/iety and therefore re&ain playthings of a//ident. 7ut in order to pose oneself this tas2, it 1as ne/essary to brea2 1ith the a)stract ideal, to understand and feel thoroughly its utter i&poten/e. To put it differently, 7elins2i had to li0e through the phase of re/on/iliation 1ith reality. That is 1hy this phase does hi& the greatest honor. Bnd that is 1hy he hi&self /onsidered it later on as the start of his spiritual life. 7ut to set oneself a gi0en tas2 is one thingC to sol0e it, so&ething else again.. Whene0er a dispute arose o0er so&e diffi/ult <uestion, a&ong the yung people 1ho belonged to the %tan2e0i/h)7elins2i /ir/le, after tussling 1ith it, they so&eti&es /a&e to the /on/lusion that =only 9egel /ould sol0e it.> This is ?ust 1hat 7elins2i &ight ha0e said to hi&self no1 1hen it fell upon hi& to apply the diale/ti/al &ethod to the interpretation of .ussian histori/al de0elop&ent. 7ut 9egel 1ould not ha0e ?ustified his /onfiden/e, either. Liale/ti/ idealis& posed /orre/tly the great tas2 of so/ial s/ien/e in the 19th /entury, but it did not sol0e it, although, true enough, it did prepare this solution to a /onsiderable degree. To study an ob?e/t &eans to e;plain the de0elop&ent of this ob?e/t by all of the for/es it itself generates. Thus spa2e 9egel. -n his philosophy of history, he indi/ated 0ery a//urately in isolated instan/es the &otor for/es of histori/al de0elop&ent. 7ut generally his idealis& pushed hi& a1ay fro& the /orre/t path of in0estigation. -f the logi/al de0elop&ent of the =idea> supplies the basis of all other de0elop&ent, in/luding histori/al de0elop&ent, then history is to be e;plained in the final analysis by the logi/al properties of the =idea> and not by the diale/ti/ de0elop&ent of so/ial relations. Bnd 9egel a/tually appealed to these logi/al properties ea/h ti&e he ran up against this or another great histori/al <uestion. Bnd this &eant that he e;plained perfe/tly /on/rete e0ents by &eans of abstra/tions. 4re/isely herein lies the error of idealis&. -t as/ribes to abstra/tion a /reati0e, &oti0e for/e. That is 1hy, as so often happens 1ith idealists, arbitrary logi/al /onstru/tions ta2e the pla/e of the study of a/tual /ausal /onne/tions of e0ents. B /orre/t, a genuinely s/ientifi/ theory of histori/ de0elop&ent /ould &a2e its appearan/e only after diale/ti/ idealis& had been repla/ed by diale/ti/ &aterialis&. 7elins2i did not li0e to see this ne1 era. True, not a little 0ariegated &aterial had been /olle/ted in his day for the elaboration of a /orre/t interpretation of history. The Bpril 1897 issue of the &aga@ine !ovoye "lovo published /ertain 0ie1s of V.4. 7ot2in on the role of e/ono&i/ interests in the histori/al de0elop&ent of &an2ind. There is

nothing surprising in 7ot2in+s ha0ing held su/h 0ie1s. 7efore being attra/ted to 9egel+s philosophy, 7ot2in 1as a follo1er of %aint)%i&on, and %aint)%i&on e;plained the entire &odern history of *urope by the struggle of e/ono&i/ interests. 3%ee in parti/ular his )ate&his/e *oliti?ue des industriels, 1here this 0ie1 is e;pounded 1ith spe/ial /larity in /onne/tion 1ith 'ren/h historyC see also his letter to the editor of =ournal General de Fran&e, 5ay 1!, 1818 1here %aint)%i&on says that =The &ost i&portant of la1s is the la1 1hi/h organi@es property. -t is the la1 1hi/h ser0es as the foundation of the so/ial order.>6 There 1as not a little in this /onne/tion that 7ot2in /ould ha0e borro1ed fro& other Mtopian so/ialists, for instan/e, Vi/tor ,onsiderant and e0en Douis 7lan/ 3espe/ially 7lan/+s 5istoire de di@ ans6. 'inally there is a good deal he &ight ha0e obtained, fro& the 'ren/h historians, Gui@ot, 5ignet, de To/<ue0ille. -t is diffi/ult to assu&e that 7ot2in re&ained ignorant of To/<ue0ille+s fa&ous boo2, 1e la de/o&ratie en A/eri?ue, the first 0olu&e of 1hi/h 1as already out by 18"6. The dependen/e of so/ial de0elop&ent on e/ono&i/ relations, &ore a//urately, on property relations, is a//epted as an in/ontestable truth in this boo2. B//ording to To/<ue0ille, on/e property relations are gi0en they =&ay be regarded as the first /ause for la1s, /usto&s and ideas 1hi/h deter&ine the a/ti0ities of the people.> *0en that 1hi/h these relations do not engender, at any rate /hanges /orrespondingly 1ith the&. -n order to understand the la1s and &orals of a gi0en people it is therefore ne/essary to study the property relations do&inant a&ong the&. 3%ee, in parti/ular, To/<ue0ille+s 1estin2e so&iale.6 The last t1o 0olu&es of To/<ue0ille+s first 1or2 are 1holly de0oted to the. study of ho1 the e;isting property relations in the Mnited %tates influen/e the intelle/tual and estheti/ habits and needs of the B&eri/ans. Bs a /onse<uen/e of all this 7ot2in /ould ha0e arri0ed 1ithout too &u/h diffi/ulty at the /on0i/tion that spiritual de0elop&ent is deter&ined by the /ourse of so/ial de0elop&ent. This /on0i/tion of 7ot2in+s 1as assuredly 2no1n to 7elins2i. -t 1as e;pressed, for e;a&ple, in 7elins2i+s 0ie1s on the histori/al signifi/an/e of 4ush2in+s poetry. 7ut it /ould not ser0e hi& as a reliable guiding line in the elaboration of a concrete ideal. The point is this, that %aint)%i&on as 1ell as ,onsiderant and other Mtopian so/ialists, along 1ith the historians 1ho dis/erned in property relations the &ost i&portant basis of the so/ial stru/ture, re&ained ne0ertheless idealists 1ith regard to the e0olution of these relations, i.e., 1ith regard to the &ain /ause of so/ial &o0e&ent. They understood the so/ial signifi/an/e of e/ono&i/sC 1hat they failed to see 1as the root /ause upon the a/tion of 1hi/h depends the e/ono&i/ order of e0ery gi0en so/iety. -n their eyes the /ause 1as in part a//ident, fortunate or unfortunate, 3for e;a&ple, ad0antageous geographi/ position, /on<uest, and so forth6 and in part hu&an nature. That is 1hy all of the& appealed /hiefly to hu&an nature in support of so/ial institutions or plans they /herished. 7ut to appeal to hu&an nature &eans to ta2e your stand on the side of the a)stract ideal, and not on the 0antage point of the diale/ti/ de0elop&ent of so/ial relations. 4re/isely therein lies the essen/e of the 7topian o!tlook on so/iety. 4rior to the appearan/e of the histori/al theory of the author of )a*ital, all so/ially &inded publi/ figures 1ho 1ere not /o&pletely /arefree about theory, fro& the e;tre&e left to the e;tre&e right, 1ere Mtopians to one degree or another. -t is therefore understandable 1hy 7elins2i, too, on /on/luding his tru/e 1ith reality, had to ta2e the Mtopian standpoint, /ontrary to his o1n stri0ing to1ard the concrete ideal. This stri0ing /ould lea0e its sta&p only on a fe1 of his isolated 0ie1s, /onsiderations and ?udg&ents.

)ha*ter VIII
=-n 5os/o1,> Na0elin notes in his &e&oirs, =7elins2i put for1ard, during a /on0ersation 1ith Grano0s2i ... the %la0ophile idea that .ussia 1ould perhaps be better able than *urope to sol0e the

so/ial <uestion and put an end to the hostility bet1een /apital, property and labor.> This is indeed a pure %la0ophile point of 0ie1, later adopted by .ussian populists and sub?e/ti0ists. 7elins2i, the irre/on/ilable ene&y of the %la0ophiles, /ould ha0e entertained, su/h an idea only by dint of his attra/tion to Mtopian so/ialis&. We ha0e already obser0ed that in his sy&pathy for the oppressed, 7elins2i regarded the& not as beings li0ing and 1or2ing under spe/ifi/ histori/al /onditions but as a su& total of =personalities> un?ustly depri0ed of rights 1hi/h are the natural rights of hu&an indi0iduals. 'ro& this abstra/t 0ie1point the future de0elop&ent of so/ial negations 1as bound to appear not so &u/h dependent on an inner logi/ of their o1n as, on the /ontrary, on the personal traits of a people, oppressed in one 1ay or another by these relations. The dialectic 1as bound to /ede pla/e to !topia. 7eti&es 7elins2i also approa/hed the future destiny of .ussia fro& the standpoint of the traits of the .ussian =personality.> -n the arti/le, 8 Glance at R!ssian 'iterat!re of 9:;<, he saysA =Fes, through us there pulses national lifeC 1e are /alled upon to spea2 our 1ord to the 1orld, to utter our thought.> What is this 1ordE 7elins2i refuses to engage in spe/ulations and guesses on this s/ore, =for fear &ost of all of /on/lusions that are arbitrary and &erely sub?e/ti0e in their i&port.> 39is attitude to1ard sub?e/ti0is&, as 1e see, re&ained un/hanged fro& the ti&e he 1rote the arti/le on the anni0ersary of 7orodino.6 7ut ?ust the sa&e it see&s to hi& that the &any)sidedness 1ith 1hi/h .ussians understand other foreign nationalities, per&its of /ertain ?udg&ents /on/erning .ussia+s future /ultural &ission. =We do not affir& it as inelu/table that the .ussian people are destined to e;press through their nationality the ri/hest and &ost &any)sided /ontentC and that this is 1hy a .ussian has a re&ar2able /apa/ity for assi&ilating and adapting e0erything foreign to hi&self,> says 7elins2i. =7ut 1e are so bold as to thin2 that a 2indred idea e;pressed as a supposition, 1ithout boastfulness and fanati/is&, 1ould not be found la/2ing in ?ustifi/ation.> 9e e;pressed hi&self <uite sharply in the sa&e 0ein in his 5ar/h 8, 18$7 letter to 7ot2inA =.ussian personality is still only an e&bryoC but 1hat breadth and strength there is in the nature of this e&bryoI 9o1 stifling and repulsi0e to it are all li&itations and narro1nessI -t fears the& and &ost of all it is intolerant of the&C and in &y opinion it does 1ell to be &ean1hile satisfied 1ith nothing rather than be/o&e ensla0ed by so&e shabby one)sidedness. The /ontention that 1e .ussians are all) e&bra/ing be/ause there is a/tually nothing 1e /an do G is a lie, the &ore - thin2 of it all the &ore /on0in/ed a& - that it is a lie ... Lon+t thin2 - a& an enthusiast on this <uestion. o, - /a&e to sol0e it 3for &yself6 along the hard road of doubts and negation.> B si&ilar =solution> opened 1ide the doors for the %la0ophile 0ie1 on the so/ial <uestion in .ussia. -t is /o&&only 2no1n that this 0ie1 1as based on a /o&pletely false /on/eption of the histori/al de0elop&ent of the .ussian o)shchina. -n/identally, the sort of /on/eption held by the &ost ad0an/ed thin2ers at the ti&e is graphi/ally sho1n by the follo1ing /o&&ent 9er@en &ade in his 1iaryA =The &odel of the highest de0elop&ent of the %la0 o)shchina is the 5ontenegrin.> 7ut the 5ontenegrin o)shchina is a /onsanguine /o&&unity /o&pletely unli2e the .ussian 0illage o)shchina 1hi/h has been /reated by the ,@arist go0ern&ent for the better se/ure&ent of its fis/al interests, long after the /onsanguine tribal /o&&unity disintegrated a&ong us. -n any /ase, our 0illage o)shchina /ould ne0er e0ol0e along the lines of the 5ontenegrin. 7ut at the ti&e our Westerners

regarded the o)shchina as abstra/tly as did the %la0ophiles. Bnd if a&ong the& a /on0i/tion o//asionally arose that there 1as a brilliant future for the o)shchina, then this /a&e about as a &ere a/t of faith, the produ/t of a pressing &oral need for an es/ape, e0en if through fi/tion, fro& the onerous i&pressions of surrounding reality. 9er@en says flatly in his 1iaryA =,haadaye0 on/e &ade the splendid re&ar2 that one of ,hristianity+s greatest traits is to raise the hope in 0irtue and pla/e it alongside of faith and lo0e. - agree /o&pletely 1ith hi&. This side of putting trust in sorro1, of fir& faith in an apparently hopeless situation &ust be reali@ed pri&arily by us.> Why did &en li2e 9er@en feel the&sel0es in a hopeless situationE 7e/ause they 1ere unable to 1or2 out for the&sel0es any 2ind of concrete ideal, i.e., an ideal indi/ated by the histori/al de0elop&ent of a reality they found so unpleasantC and failing to attain su/h an ideal they under1ent the sa&e &oods of oppression through 1hi/h 7elins2i had passed in the days of his youthful infatuation 1ith the a)stract ideal. They felt the&sel0es /o&pletely i&potent. =We fall outside the needs of the people,> /o&plained 9er@en. 9e 1ould not ha0e said this had he seen that the =idea of negation,> he had allegedly &ade his o1n, 1as the result of the inner de0elop&ent of a people+s life. 9e 1ould not ha0e then felt hi&self outside of the needs of the people. Just li2e 9er@en, 7elins2i e;/lai&sA =We are the unhappy an/horites of a ne1 %/ythiaC 1e are &en 1ithout a /ountry, nay, 1e are 1orse off than &en 1ithout a /ountryC 1e are &en 1hose /ountry is a phanto& and is it surprising that 1e oursel0es are phanto&sE that our friendships, our lo0e, our stri0ings, our a/ti0ities are phanto&s, tooE> O1ing to su/h &oods, a te&porary in/lination to1ard %la0ophile fantasies is <uite understandable e0en in a thin2er so strong in logi/ as 7elins2i. -t 1as a te&porary in/lination, 1e ?ust said. 'ro& all indi/ations 1ith 7elins2i, in /ontrast to 9er@en, it 1as not only te&porary but brief. ot in 0ain did 9er@en say of 7elins2i that he =/annot li0e in e;pe/tations of the life of a future age.> What the Ger&ans /all -enseits 3the beyond6 e;erted little attra/tion on 7elins2i. 9e needed the fir& soil of reality. -n the arti/le, 8 Glance at R!ssian 'iterat!re of 9:;<, fro& 1hi/h 1e ha0e e;tra/ted so&e dubious hypotheses about the future of .ussian /i0ili@ation, he refutes the atta/2s of %la0ophiles on the refor&s of 4eter the Great and notesA =%u/h e0ents in the life of a people are far too great to be a//idental and the life of a people is not a fli&sy little boat to 1hi/h anyone &ay i&part an arbitrary dire/tion by a slight &o0e&ent of an oar. -nstead of pondering the i&possible and &a2ing oneself a laughing sto/2 by inter0ening 1ith so &u/h /on/eit in histori/al destiny, it is &u/h preferable, re/ogni@ing the e;isten/e of irresistible and unalterable reality, to a/t upon the foundations of this reality, guiding oneself 1ith reason and ordinary sense, and not 1ith 5anilo0ist fantasies.> -n another passage, re/ogni@ing that a /ertain refor& had e;erted so&e unfa0orable influen/e on the .ussian national /hara/ter, he adds the follo1ing i&portant <ualifi/ationA =7ut it is i&per&issible to stop 1ith the re/ognition of the 0alidity of any fa/t 1hatsoe0erC it is ne/essary in addition to in0estigate its /auses, in the hopes of finding in the e0il itself the &eans for a 1ay out of this e0il.> The &eans of struggle against the unfa0orable /onse<uen/es of 4eter the Great+s refor& &ust be sought 1ithin the refor&, itself, 1ithin the ne1 ele&ents it introdu/ed into .ussian life. This is a

1holly diale/ti/al 0ie1 on the <uestionC and to the e;tent that 7elins2i upholds it in the dispute 1ith the %la0ophiles, to that e;tent his thoughts are alien to all utopianis&C to that e;tent his thoughts are concrete. lie feels this hi&self and deals in passing se0eral blo1s to his old, e0er)present ene&y G the a)stract ideal. =The un/onditional or absolute &ethod of thin2ing is the easiest one,> he says. =7ut, in return, it is the &ost unreliableC today it is /alled abstra/t thin2ing.> -n his opinion the &ain sour/e of %la0ophile errors is =that they arbitrarily anti/ipate ti&eC they ta2e the results independently of the pro/ess of de0elop&entC they de&and to see the fruit before the blosso&s, and finding the lea0es tasteless, they pronoun/e the fruit to be rottenC and they propose to transplant a great and 0ast forest to a different lo/ation and to ta2e /are of it in a different 1ay. -n their opinion this is not easy but it /an be done.> These lines /ontain so profound and serious a 0ie1 of so/ial life that 1e 1ar&ly re/o&&end it to the study of our present)day %la0ophiles, i.e., populists, sub?e/ti0ists, 5r. Oon and other =ene&ies of /apitalis&.> Whoe0er assi&ilates this 0ie1point 1ill not 0enture, li2e 5r. Oon, to try to i&pose on =so/iety> a re&ar2able tas2 1hi/h so/iety is not only in/apable of /arrying out but is not e0en in a /ondition to understandC nor 1ill he thin2, li2e 5r. 5i2hailo0s2i, that to follo1 in =4eter the Great+s footsteps> is to nurse MtopiasC in brief, he 1ill ne0er re/on/ile hi&self 1ith an =abstra/t ideal.> Three &onths before his death on 'ebruary 1(, 18$8, 7elins2i, then /ruelly ra0aged by illness, di/tated a letter to Bnnen2o0 in 4aris. -t /ontains &any interesting ideas 1hi/h ha0e only re/ently begun to attra/t the attention of thin2ing .ussians. =Whene0er - /alled you a /onser0ati0e during our debates o0er the bourgeoisie,> he said, =- 1as foolish and you 1ere 1ise. The 1hole future of 'ran/e is in the hands of the bourgeoisieC all progress depends e;/lusi0ely upon it and the people here /an only play a passi0e, au;iliary role fro& ti&e to ti&e. When - re&ar2ed in the presen/e of &y Hbelie0ing friend+ that .ussia no1 needed another 4eter the Great he atta/2ed &y idea as a heresy. 9e /lai&ed that the people ought to do e0erything for itself. What a nai0e, Br/adian notionI 'urther&ore, &y Hbelie0ing friend+ e;pounded to &e 1hy God 1as obliged to sa0e .ussia fro& the bourgeoisie 1hile today it is /learly e0ident that the inner pro/ess of /i0il de0elop&ent in .ussia 1ill not begin before the .ussian nobility be/o&es transfor&ed into a bourgeoisie ... What a strange fello1 - a&I *a/h ti&e a &ysti/al absurdity falls into &y head, those 1ho are /apable of rational thought rarely su//eed in 2no/2ing it out by argu&entsC for this to happen - &ust /ongregate 1ith &ysti/s, pietists and s/re1balls 1ho ha0e gone &ad on the sa&e idea G and then - shy a1ay. 5y Hbelie0ing friend+ and the %la0ophiles ha0e done &e a great ser0i/e. Lo not be surprised by the ?u;tapositionC the best of the %la0ophiles ta2e the sa&e attitude to1ard the people as &y Hbelie0ing friend+ doesC they ha0e i&bibed these /on/epts fro& the so/ialists ...> This 1as one of the results of 7elins2i+s trip abroad. -n 4aris so/ial life and thought 1ere 0ery 0igorous at the ti&e and the so/ialists of 0arious s/hools had a/<uired a /onsiderable, although unstable, influen/e on the 1orld outloo2 of the 'ren/h intelligentsia. -n 4aris there then li0ed not a fe1 .ussians 1ho 1ere passionately interested in so/ial <uestions, as is e0ident fro& Bnnen2o0+s &e&oirs. %trongly sti&ulated by the so/ial &ilieu, our fello1 .ussians be/a&e apparently bent on spe/ulating e0en &ore eagerly and 0ehe&ently than they did at ho&e on the the&e of .ussia+s future role in the solution of the so/ial <uestion. ,lashing 1ith e;tre&e 0ie1s of this sort, than2s to his po1erful instin/t for theoreti/al truth, 7elins2i instantly too2 note of their 1ea2 sideA /o&plete abstra/tion, /o&plete absen/e of any rational, /ons/ious /onne/tion 1ith the histori/al /ourse of .ussia+s de0elop&ent. The old 9egelian &ust ha0e felt again the long fa&iliar and long 0e;ing need to tieA up the ideal 1ith life, to gain fro& diale/ti/ the e;planation of today+s reality. Bnd so he &ade .ussia+s future destiny dependent on its e/ono&i/ de0elop&entC .ussia+s internal pro/ess of /i0il de0elop&ent 1ould not start until the .ussian nobility had turned into a bourgeoisie. There1ith the

histori/al /onditions for su/h a transfor&ation re&ained un/lear to hi&. 9e failed to see that the e/ono&i/ /onse<uen/es of 4eter the Great+s refor&s are <uite ade<uate for the de0elop&ent of /apitalis& in .ussia. Di2e1ise un/lear to hi& is the histori/ relation bet1een the bourgeoisie and the people of Western *urope. The people appear to hi& to be /onde&ned to a =passi0e, au;iliary role.> This is, of /ourse, an error. 7ut all of the so/ialist Mtopias assigned to the people a perfe/tly passi0e roleC 1ith this differen/e that the people, in a//ordan/e 1ith Mtopian 0ie1s, 1ere bound to play a =passi0e, au;iliary role> not in the pro/ess of the further de0elop&ent of the already e;isting so/ial order, but in respe/t to so/ial refor&. 9ere the initiati0e and the leading role belonged of ne/essity to the 1ell)&eaning and honorable intelligentsia, that is, essentially the offspring of the self)sa&e bourgeoisie. 7elins2i 1as /onte&ptuous of the so/ialists and 1as e0idently ready to denoun/e the&, too, as pietists and &ysti/s. 9e 1as by and large /orre/tC in their 0ie1s there a/tually 1as a lot that 1as /o&pletely fantasti/ and uns/ientifi/. Bnd their /hief error, ?ust as in the /ase of the %la0ophiles, 1as G as 7elins2i noted G that they sa1 nothing but e0il in e0il and failed to note the other side of this e0il, na&ely the drasti/ alteration effe/ted by it in so/iety+s foundations. 37elins2i, by the 1ay, e;pressed a negati0e attitude to1ard the so/ialists e0en before his trip abroad. 9e appro0ed of the 'ren/h philosopher Dittre, for e;a&ple, be/ause Dittre did not adhere to the Mtopian so/ialists. %ee his letter to 7ot2in, January !9, 18$7.6 7elins2i unsu//essfully tried to /orre/t the error of the Mtopian so/ialists by /onde&ning the =people> to an eternal, passi0e role. 7ut his /orre/t understanding of the error is pro0ed pre/isely by his e;tolling the signifi/an/e of the bourgeoisie, i.e., of /apitalis&. -n his eyes /apitalis& no1 represented the idea of de0elop&ent 1hi/h had failed to find a suffi/ient pla/e in the tea/hings of the so/ialists. This attitude to1ard the Mtopians in0oluntarily re/alls 7elins2i+s /onte&ptuous attitude to1ard the =little, great people,> 1ho& he had so sa0agely lashed in the days of his /on/iliationist &oods. 9is ire 1as aroused against the =little, great people> 1ho approa/hed so/ial life fro& a rationalist standpoint, 1ithout e0en suspe/ting the e;isten/e of the inner diale/ti/ pe/uliar to this so/ial life. 7elins2i+s attitude to1ard the Mtopians 1as &u/h &ilder, although he did /all the& &ysti/s. 9e understood that their enthusias&s 1ere not guided by /apri/e or 0anity but by a stri0ing to1ard the so/ial good, 1hereas the =little, great people> see&ed to hi& 0ainglorious phrase&ongers, and nothing &ore. 7ut his dissatisfa/tion 1ith the Mtopians ste&&ed fro& the 0ery sa&e reasons that had pre0iously led hi& to s/orn the =little, great people,> na&elyA the a)stract character of their ideal. -.%. Turgene0 designated 7elins2i as a central fig!re. Our designation is the sa&e, but in a different sense. -n our 0ie1 7elins2i is the /entral figure in the 1hole /ourse of de0elop&ent of .ussian so/ial thought. 9e posed to hi&self, and therefore to others as 1ell, the great proble&, failing 1hose solution 1e /an ne0er 2no1 1hat the 1ays are /i0ili@ed &an2ind &ust tra0el to attain happiness and the triu&ph of reason o0er the blind, ele&ental for/e of ne/essityC failing 1hose solution 1e 1ould ha0e fore0er re&ained in the sterile do&ain of =5anilo0ist> fantasies, the do&ain of the ideal =torn out of geographi/ and histori/al /onditions of de0elop&ent and ere/ted in &id)air.> B &ore or less /orre/t solution of this proble& &ust ser0e as the /riterion for e0aluating the entire future de0elop&ent of our so/ial /on/epts. Of his /o)thin2ers 7elins2i saidA =Our generation are -sraelites, a tribe 1andering in the desert and not destined to see the pro&ised land. Bnd all of the leaders are 5oseses and not Joshuas.> 7elins2i 1as pre/isely our 5oses, 1ho, e0en though he failed to rid hi&self of the *gyptian yo2e of the a)stract ideal, ne0ertheless tried 1ith all his &ight to free hi&self and those near hi& fro& it. This is the great, inesti&able &erit of 7elins2i. Bnd this is 1hy the history of his intelle/tual de0elop&ent should ha0e been long ago analy@ed fro& the standpoint of the concrete 0ie1s of our

ti&e. The &ore attenti0ely 1e study this history, all the &ore deeply are 1e /on0in/ed that 7elins2i 1as the &ost re&ar2able philosophi/ organis& that e0er /a&e forth in .ussian literature.