Consciousness and Revolution in Soviet Philosophy
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CONSCIOUSNESS AND REVOLUTION IN SOVIET PHILOSOPHY This is the first critical history of the philosophical culture of the USSR, and the first substantial treatment of a modern Sovi- et philosopher's work by a Western author. The book identi- fies a significant tradition within Soviet Marxism that has pro- duced powerful theories exploring the origins of meaning and value, the relation of thought and language, and the nature of the self. The tradition is presented through the work of Evald Ilyen- kov (1924—79), the thinker who did most to rejuvenate Soviet philosophy after its suppression under Stalin. Professor Bak- hurst sets Ilyenkov's contribution against the background of the bitter debates that divided Soviet philosophers in the 1920s, the "sociohistorical psychology" of Vygotsky, the controver- sies over Lenin's legacy, and the philosophy of Stalinism. He traces Ilyenkov's tense relationship with the Soviet philosophi- cal establishment and his passionate polemics with Soviet op- ponents. This book offers a unique insight into the world of Soviet philosophy, the place of politics within it, and its prospects in the age of glasnost' and perestrdka. MODERN EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY Executive editor RAYMOND GEUSS, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Editorial board HIDE ISHIGURO, KEIO UNIVERSITY, JAPAN ALAN MONTEFIORE, BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD MARY TILES, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII Other books in the series R. M. Chisholm, Brentano and Intrinsic Value Raymond Geuss, The Idea of a Critical Theory: Habermas and the Frankfurt School Karel Lambert, Meinong and the Principle of Independence Charles Taylor, Hegel and Modern Society Mary Tiles, Bachelard: Science and Objectivity Robert S. Tragesser, Husserl and Realism in Logic and Mathematics Peter Winch, Simone Weil: The Just Balance Gary Gutting, Michel FoucaulVs Archaeology of Scientific Reason Frederick Neuhouser, Fichte's Theory of Subjectivity Maudmarie Clark, Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy CONSCIOUSNESS AND REVOLUTION IN SOVIET PHILOSOPHY From the Bolsheviks to Evald Ilyenkov DAVID BAKHURST Department of Philosophy Queen's University, Ontario, Canada The right of the University of Cambridge to print and sell all manner of books was granted by henry VIII in 1534. The University has printed and published continuously since 1584. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE NEW YORK PORT CHESTER MELBOURNE SYDNEY Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1991 First published 1991 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bakhurst, David. Consciousness and revolution in Soviet philosophy : From the Bolsheviks to Evald Ilyenkov / David Bakhurst. p. cm. - (Modern European philosophy) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-521-38534-2. - ISBN 0-521-40710-9 (pbk.) 1. Philosophy, Russian - 20th century. 2. Consciousness. 3. Revolutions - Philosophy. 4. Il'enkov, Eval'd Vasil'evich. I. Title. II. Series. B4231.B35 1991 197-dc20 90-21015 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Bakhurst, David Consciousness and revolution in Soviet philosophy : From the Bolsheviks to Evald Ilyenkov 1. Russian philosophy I. Title II. Series 197 ISBN 0-521-38534-2 (hardback) ISBN 0-521-40710-9 (paperback) Transferred to digital printing 2003 An earlier version of Chapter 3 appeared in Studies in Soviet Thought, 31 (1986), 103-29, © 1986 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, and reprinted by permission of Kluwer Academic Publishers. FOR MY PARENTS CONTENTS Acknowledgments pageix A note on translation, transliteration, and references xi 1 Introduction 1 Introducing Ilyenkov 5 Orthodoxy and history 11 Ilyenkov and the Anglo-American tradition 17 Ilyenkov's legacy in the age of glasnost' and perestroika 21 2 Deborinites, Mechanists, and Bolshevizers 25 The beginnings of Soviet philosophy 2V The composition of the two camps 31 The substance of the debate 33 The defeat of the Mechanists 45 The aftermath of the debate: The defeat of the Deborinites 47 How were the Bolshevizers possible? 50 The philosophical significance of the controversy 52 Conclusion 56 3 Vygotsky 59 The critique of the prevailing climate 61 Vygotsky's functionalism 66 Thought, speech, and "unit analysis'* 68 The independence thesis 72 Internalization and the convergence of thought and speech 76 viii CONTENTS Internalization and the critique of Piaget 81 Inner speech and thought 84 Conclusion 86 4 Lenin and the Leninist stage in Soviet philosophy 91 The Leninist stage in Soviet philosophy 92 Lenin's critique of Empiriocriticism 99 Lenin's materialism 108 Ambiguity in Lenin's materialism 111 Lenin's philosophy as politics 123 Conclusion 134 5 Ilyenkov and dialectical method 135 The method of ascent from the abstract to the concrete: A synopsis 138 Ilyenkov versus the empiricist 144 Concrete totality and materialism 154 Concrete universals, historicism, and particularism 157 Ilyenkov on contradiction 167 Conclusion 172 6 The problem of the ideal 175 Ideality, moral properties, and the "ban on anthropocentricity" 176 The insight about artifacts 181 Agency and the humanization of nature 186 Alienation and objectiflcation 189 Ideality and the possibility of thought and experience 195 Ilyenkov, radical realism, and the critique of "two-worlds epistemology" 200 Materialism and the final refutation of idealism 212 Conclusion 215 7 The socially constituted individual: Rethinking thought 217 Meshcheryakov and the blind-deaf 221 "Brain and Mind": Dubrovsky versus Ilyenkov 227 "Mind and Brain": Ilyenkov's reply to Dubrovsky 231 Ilyenkov on the ideal: The dismissal of Dubrovsky 236 The defence of the antireductionism and antiinnatism theses 244 Conclusion: The polemical and the political 253 8 In conclusion 259 References 267 Index 285 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book could not have been written had I not had the oppor- tunity to discuss the Soviet philosophical tradition with some of its living representatives. I am grateful to Keele University and the British Academy for funding a number of short visits to Russia, and to the British Council for granting me a schol- arship to study in Moscow for the whole academic year 1982- 3. I should like to thank Moscow University, the Institute of Philosophy, Moscow, and the Institute of General and Peda- gogical Psychology, Moscow, for receiving me so warmly on these occasions. Above all, I thank the philosophers and psy- chologists who made me welcome and who devoted so much time to helping my work. The book began its life as a doctoral dissertation, which I had the pleasure of writing in Oxford, first at Balliol College, where I was a graduate student for two years, and then at Exeter College, who did me the honour of electing me to a Junior Research Fellowship. Both colleges are splendid places in which to work. I am especially grateful to my colleagues at Exeter, Michael Hart and Gregory Hutchinson, for their friendship and support. John McDowell and Michael Inwood supervized the thesis, and Katherine Wilkes and Robert Ser- vice examined it. I thank them all for their criticisms and x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS suggestions. I am also grateful to Stephen Blacklocks, Andrew Chitty, Hanjo Glock, and Paul Snowdon, with whom I en- joyed many fruitful philosophical discussions in Oxford. And I must not forget to thank Mrs. Carol Menzies of the Bodleian Library for her expert help in locating obscure Russian sources, and for suppressing with her rule of steel the loqua- cious tendencies of the Slavonic Section. I completed this book during my time as an Assistant Pro- fessor in the Department of Communication at the University of California, San Diego. I am obliged to my former colleagues and students there for making the department such a conge- nial place, and particularly to Carol Padden, Michael Cole, and Ellen Watson for their helpful suggestions on my work. I am also indebted to Raymond Geuss and Mary Tiles, editors of the Modern European Philosophy series, for their useful comments on the original manuscript, and to Terence Moore of Cambridge University Press for his patience and advice. Finally, I should like to mention four people who have fol- lowed this project from its beginnings. I owe a great debt to Genia Lampert, whose masterly works on Russian intellectu- al history first prompted me to think about that country's phi- losophical culture. Had he not kindled my interest in Soviet philosophy while I was an undergraduate at Keele, I should never have begun this work. I was also fortunate to be taught at Keele by Jonathan Dancy, who first made me interested in philosophy, and who has been a constant source of ideas and encouragement ever since. Many of my philosophical in- sights, such as they are, have emerged in the course of con- versations with Jonathan. Another philosopher who has great- ly influenced me is my friend Felix Mikhailov, whom I first met in 1980, and who has since entertained me with his mar- vellous philosophical skills on so many occasions. Our con- versations in Moscow are among the most enjoyable I have known. Finally, Christine Sypnowich helped me define this project, and offered incisive criticisms and fruitful sugges- tions at every stage of its development. Thanks to her, the work is much better than it otherwise would have been. In composing these acknowledgments, I realize how many friends I have made in the course of my work on this book. I very much hope they will take pleasure in the result. A NOTE ON TRANSLATION, TRANSLITERATION, AND REFERENCES Except where I cite a published translation, quotations from Russian sources appear in my own translations. Where Rus- sian words are cited for clarification, nouns are given in the nominative singular, adjectives in the masculine nominative (except where cited with the noun they qualify, in which case they agree with the noun), and verbs in the imperfect infinitive. In quotations, words enclosed in square brackets are my own insertions, except where otherwise indicated.