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Institute of Philosophy
of the Russian Academy of Sciences




  Department of the History of Western Philosophy
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Department of the History of Western Philosophy

Acting Head of the Department – Ekatherina Marchukova, PhD in Philosophy, Reserch Fellow.

 

The sector was established in 1968 (under the name: Sector for the History of Philosophy in Western Europe and America). Its first head was Professor Mikhail Alexandrovich Dynnik (1896–1971). From April 1971 to July 1987, the sector was headed by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Teodor Ilyich Oizerman. From 1987 to 2013, the sector was led by Professor Nelly Vasilyevna Motroshilova. From 2013 to 2023, it was headed by Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yulia Vadimovna Sineokaya (added to the register of foreign agents by decision of the Ministry of Justice of Russia dated 16.02.2024). From 2023 to 2024, the duties of the head of the sector were assigned to PhD in Philosophy, Senior Researcher Olga Igorevna Kusenko. From 2024 to 2025, the sector was headed by DSc in Philosophy, Leading Researcher Aleksandr Arnol'dovich Stolyarov.

 

At various times, the sector's staff included such well-known domestic scholars as V.M. Boguslavsky, F.Kh. Kessidi, Z.A. Kamensky, R.K. Lukanin, D.V. Dzokhadze, T.V. Vasilyeva, V.P. Gaidenko, V.A. Zhuchkov, M.F. Bykova, V.V. Lazarev.

 

For more details, see the section History Pages.

 

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STAFF

 

Currently, 11 researchers work in the sector, including 1 doctor of science, 5 candidates of science (PhD in Philosophy equivalent degree).

 

 

 

MAIN RESEARCH AREAS

  • History of Ancient Greek and Hellenistic Philosophy;
  • History of Philosophy of the European Middle Ages; 
  • History of Renessaince Philosophy;
  • History of Modern Philosophy;
  • History of German Classical Philosophy;
  • History of Western Philosophy of the XIX–XXI centuries;
  • History of Analytic Philosophy of the XX–XXI centuries;
  • Mutual influences, receptions and connections between different philosophical trends and traditions; 
  • The roll call of the philosophical ideas of Russia and the West; 
  • Theoretical and methodological problems of the history of philosophy as a discipline; 
  • Correlation of the history of philosophy with other philosophical disciplines.


Research subject (within the state scientific program)

  • in 2025–2027: The History of Philosophy as Philosophy: The Experience of the Great Cultures of Mankind.
  • in 2020–2022: Diversity of philosophical and religious-worldview systems in an age of globalizing humanity.
  • in 2017–2019: The History of Philosophy in the West and in Russia: Originality, Similitude, and Interaction.

 

 

RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS

 

  • «SCHOLARIUM», colloquium of the History of Western Philosophy sector (in Russian).

  


NEW BOOKS AND JOURNALS

 


 

 

Historical-Philosophical Yearbook. 2024. Vol. 39. – Moscow: Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2024. – 519 p. – ISSN: 0134-8655. (in Russian)

 

The new issue of the "Historical-Philosophical Yearbook" introduces readers to new works by domestic authors on the history of philosophy: classical Western, Eastern, and Russian.

 

Details

 

 

 Historical-Philosophical Yearbook. 2023. Vol. 38. – Moscow: Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2023. – 471 p. – ISSN: 0134-8655. (in Russian)

 

The new issue of the "Historical-Philosophical Yearbook" introduces readers to new works by domestic authors on the history of philosophy: classical Western, Eastern, and Russian.

 

Details

 

 

«"The New Mysterianism" of Colin McGinn: Why Can't We Solve the Mind-Body Problem?» No. 15. Moscow: URSS. 2023. 200 p. ISBN 978-5-9710-3719-4. Series: Philosophy of Mind. (in Russian)

 

This book is the first systematic study of mysterianism in Analytic Philosophy of Mind in the Russian language. Colin McGinn (b. 1950) is a contemporary American philosopher. His bibliography is extensive and includes works on the Philosophy of Language, Metaphysics, Ethics, Philosophy of Physics, Philosophy of Film, and more. Nevertheless, he gained worldwide fame for his development of the mysterian approach to solving the mind-body problem. The core idea of mysterianism is that the question of the relationship between the brain and the conscious experience it generates is simply beyond the grasp of human intellect. According to McGinn, consciousness is a standard biological phenomenon and, as such, must possess certain cognitive limitations. By comparing human consciousness with the consciousness of other species, the thinker concludes that human cognitive abilities are not suited for solving all theoretical problems that can, in principle, be formulated by them. He believes an example of such an unsolvable problem is precisely the Mind–Body Problem. The monograph traces the key milestones of Colin McGinn's "intellectual biography"; identifies the fundamental methodological and philosophical principles of Mysterianism; analyzes the specifics and content of mysterian arguments; and draws conclusions about the prospects of this concept and its place in Analytic Philosophy. Intended for philosophers, psychologists, students of humanities, and anyone interested in contemporary discussions around the problem of consciousness in Analytic Philosophy.

 

Details

 

 

 

 

Historical-Philosophical Yearbook. 2022. Volume 37. – Moscow: Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2022. – 512 p. – ISSN: 0134-865. (in Russian)

 

The new issue of the Historical-Philosophical Yearbook introduces readers to new works by domestic authors on the history of philosophy: classical Western, Eastern, and Russian.


Details

 

 

Philosophical Generations. Compiled and edited by Yulia V. Sineokaya (designated as a foreign agent by the Russian Ministry of Justice on February 16, 2024). Moscow: LRC Publishing House Moscow, 2022. – 1232 pages. – ISBN 978-5-907290-83-9 (in Russian)

 

This book is a special document in the history of philosophy in Russia, a group self-portrait of Russian philosophers of the mid-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, a first-person chronicle of the Moscow philosophical community, narrated by the participants of the events described. The study of philosophical generations is important for the restoration of the human context of the development of philosophy, outside of which much will remain incomprehensible. The path from generational type to texts is no less important than the familiar path from texts. The notion of the ‘philosophical generation’ is used as a key to interpreting the history of philosophy. The generational approach allows us to change the usual optics, to focus the attention of researchers on existential, personal ties within the professional community, which clarifies the mutual influences of scholars that determine the birth and development of philosophical ideas. The publication is timed to the centenary of the Institute of Philosophy, RAS, whose creation marked the beginning of the institutionalization of philosophical research in Russia, and illustrated with photographic portraits of the authors from the time of their entering the profession.

 

Details

 


PERIODICALS

  

 

 

OUR POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS

 

 

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS


  • A. Simonyan: from October 2018 to September 2020, she completed an internship at the University of Augsburg (Germany) as part of the scholarship program of the Bavarian Academic Center BAYHOST. The purpose of the internship is to work on the research and publishing project “Anonymous Treatise “on the Mass” (BSB, Cgm 89)”, as well as to prepare the text of a dissertation research on the topic “Philosophical Doctrine of the Soul in the Context of German Spiritual Literature of the Late Middle Ages”. The work on the project is carried out under the scientific supervision of prof. Freimut Löser, Head of the Department of German Language and Literature of the Middle Ages of the Faculty of Philology and History of the University of Augsburg, as well as Associate Professor Mikhail Lvovich Khorkov, Senior Researcher from the Department of the History of Western Philosophy of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Along with the historical-philosophical, philological and linguistic analysis of selected passages of the anonymous treatise, a paleographic and codicological study of the original manuscripts containing this text is carried out.
  • O. Kusenko: in May-June 2019, she took part in a scholarship program organized by the Istituto Sangalli (Florence, Italy) as a research fellow.


International Coordination and Orgnazational Research Activities

 

Mikhail Khorkov:

  • Member of the Bureau (Assessor, since August 2012) of the International Society for the Study of Medieval Philosophy / Société Internationale pour l’Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale (SIEPM), Germany: https://www.siepm.uni-freiburg.de/
  • Member of the Scientific advisory board (since May 2013) of the Max-Scheler-Gesellschaft (MSG), Germany: https://www.max-scheler.de/

 

Editorial-Boards Memberships

 

Mikhail Khorkov:

  • «Bulletin de Philosophie Médiévale» (Brepols Publishers, Turnhout, Belgium).
  • «Studia Antyczne i Mediewistyczne» (Warsaw, Poland).

 


CONTACTS


Goncharnaya 12/1, Moscow, off. 413, 109240, Russian Federation, Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Department of the History of Western Philosophy.


 izf@iphras.ru

 

 +7 (495) 697–91–98

 
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Russian Academy of Sciences
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