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1049Leibniz’s Doctrine of Reincarnation as MetamorphosisSophia 59 (4): 755-766. 2020.The Russian philosopher Nikolai Onufrievich Lossky considered himself a Leibnizian of sorts. He accepted parts of Leibniz’s doctrine of monads, although he preferred to call them ‘substantival agents’ and rejected the thesis that they have neither doors nor windows. In Lossky’s own doctrine, monads have existed since the beginning of time, they are immortal, and can evolve or devolve depending on the goodness or badness of their behavior. Such evolution requires the possibility for monads to rei…Read more
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771Nikolai Lossky’s Evolutionary Metaphysics of ReincarnationSophia 59 (4): 733-753. 2020.The Russian philosopher Nikolai Onufrievich Lossky adhered to an evolutionary metaphysics of reincarnation according to which the world is constituted of immortal souls or monads, which he calls ‘substantival agents.’ These substantival agents can evolve or devolve depending on the goodness or badness of their behavior. Such evolution requires the possibility for monads to reincarnate into the bodies of creatures of a higher or of a lower level on the scala perfectionis. According to this theory…Read more
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626Nicolai Hartmann and the Metaphysical Foundation of Phylogenetic SystematicsBiological Theory 7 (1): 56-68. 2013.When developing phylogenetic systematics, the entomologist Willi Hennig adopted elements from Nicolai Hartmann’s ontology. In this historical essay I take on the task of documenting this adoption. I argue that in order to build a metaphysical foundation for phylogenetic systematics, Hennig adopted from Hartmann four main metaphysical theses. These are (1) that what is real is what is temporal; (2) that the criterion of individuality is to have duration; (3) that species are supra-individuals; an…Read more
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441The Metaphysics of the Early Vladimir Solov’ëv (review)Quaestio: Yearbook of the History of Metaphysics 13 391-394. 2013.
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402David Patterson, Anti-Semitism and Its Metaphysical Origins (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015) (review)European Journal of Jewish Studies 11 (2): 203-209. 2017.This is a critical review of David Patterson's book Anti-Semitism and Its Metaphysical Origins (2015). In this review, I present the author's new explanation of the roots of anti-Semitism, which he finds in the anti-Semite's desire to become like God himself. Patterson's explanation makes an anti-Semite of all those who partake in the "Western rationalist project," especially philosophers (including Jewish philosophers such as Spinoza, Hermann Cohen, and Marx), but also Islamists and anti-Zionis…Read more
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308Alain de Libera, La référence vide. Théories de la proposition, Paris, PUF, coll. « Chaire Étienne Gilson », 2002, 357 pages (review)Philosophiques 32 (1): 282-284. 2005.
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303Rescher, Nicholas. Essais sur les fondements de l’ontologie du procès, traduction et introduction par Michel Weber, Ontos-Verlag, 2006 (review)Philosophiques 34 (2): 419-421. 2007.
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292Pierre-Marie Morel, Aristote : une philosophie de l'activité. Paris, Éditions Flammarion, 2003, 306 p. (review)Laval Théologique et Philosophique 62 (2): 412-418. 2006.
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262Nicolai Hartmann's Definition of Biological SpeciesIn Roberto Poli, Carlo Scognamiglio & Frederic Tremblay (eds.), The Philosophy of Nicolai Hartmann, Walter De Gruyter. pp. 125--139. 2011.Before the Darwinian revolution species were thought to be universals. Since then, numerous attempts have been made to propose new definitions. The twentieth-century German philosopher Nicolai Hartmann defined 'species' as an individual system of processes and a process of life of a higher-order. To provide a clear understanding of Hartmann's conception of species, I first present his method of definition. Then I look at Hartmann's Philosophie der Natur (1950) to present his concepts of "organis…Read more
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260On Cicovacki’s Introduction to Nicolai Hartmann’s Philosophy (review)Quaestio 14 348-350. 2014.Review of P. Cicovacki, The Analysis of Wonder: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Nicolai Hartmann, Bloomsbury, New York- London-New Delhi-Sydney 2014
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227Nicholas Rescher, Metaphysics: The Key Issues From A Realistic Perspective, Amherst (NY): Prometheus Books, 2006, 352 pages. (review)Philosophiques 34 (1): 217-219. 2007.
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222Filatov, Vladimir P. (ed.). Nikolai Onufrievich Losskii. Filosofiia Rossii pervoi poloviny XX veka. Rosspen, Moscow, 2016 (review)Slavonic and East European Review 96 (3): 551-553. 2018.This is a review of: Николай Онуфриевич Лосский, под редакцией В. П. Филатова, Москва: Росспэн (Серия "Философия России первой половины ХХ века"), 2016. It describes and appraises the content of this collection of nineteen articles on the life and thought of the prominent twentieth century Russian philosopher Nikolai Lossky. The volume, edited by Vladimir Filatov, presents the reader with an analysis of Lossky's philosophical legacy, including such aspects of his thought as his intuitivism, his …Read more
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205George M. Young, The Russian Cosmists (review)Slavonic and East European Review 94 (1): 155-158. 2016.
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175Alyssa DeBlasio, The End of Russian Philosophy: Tradition and Transition at the Turn of the 21st Century, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014 (review)Slavonic and East European Review 94 (4): 745-749. 2015.
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156Michel Bastit, La substance: essai de métaphysique (review)Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 89 (1): 146-148. 2016.
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75Vladimir Solovyov, Nicolai Hartmann, and Levels of RealityAxiomathes 27 (2): 133-146. 2017.One of the trademarks of Nicolai Hartmann’s ontology is his theory of levels of reality. Hartmann drew from many sources to develop his version of the theory. His essay “Die Anfänge des Schichtungsgedankens in der alten Philosophie” testifies of the fact that he drew from Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus. But this text was written relatively late in Hartmann’s career, which suggests that his interest in the theories of levels of the ancients may have been retrospective. In “Nicolai Hartmann und se…Read more
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74Emerson’s Metaphysics: A Song of Laws and Causes (review)The Pluralist 12 (2): 120-124. 2017.This text is a review of Joseph Urbas's Emerson's Metaphysics: A Song of Laws and Causes (Lexington Books, 2016). In this book, Urbas proposes a reconstruction of the metaphysics of the American poet, essayist, and self-defined philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. According to Urbas, Emerson has a coherent metaphysics, the fundamental principle of which is the category of causation. Reacting to David Hume, Emerson would have deliberately emphasized causation, connection, relation, tie, link, and so …Read more
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71Ontological Axiology in Nikolai Lossky, Max Scheler, and Nicolai HartmannIn Moritz Kalckreuth, Gregor Schmieg & Friedrich Hausen (eds.), Nicolai Hartmanns Neue Ontologie und die Philosophische Anthropologie: Menschliches Leben in Natur und Geist. pp. 193-232. 2019.The prominent Russian philosopher Nikolai Lossky and his ex-student Nicolai Hartmann shared many metaphysical and epistemological views, and Lossky is likely to have influenced Hartmann in adopting several of them. But, in the case of axiological issues, it appears that Lossky also borrowed from the axiologies of Hartmann and the latter's Cologne colleague, Max Scheler. The links between the theories of values of Scheler and Hartmann have been studied abundantly, but never in relation to Lossky.…Read more
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65The Megarian and the Aristotelian Concept of Possibility: A Contribution to the History of the Ontological Problem of ModalityAxiomathes 27 (2): 209-223. 2017.This is a translation of Nicolai Hartmann’s article “Der Megarische und der Aristotelische Möglichkeitsbegriff: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des ontologischen Modalitätsproblems,” first published in 1937. In this article, Hartmann defends an interpretation of the Megarian conception of possibility, which found its clearest form in Diodorus Cronus’ expression of it and according to which “only what is actual is possible” or “something is possible only if it is actual.” Hartmann defends this interpr…Read more
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61Nikolai Lossky and Henri BergsonStudies in East European Thought 69 (1): 3-16. 2017.The twentieth century Russian philosopher Nikolai Lossky was one of the earliest and most important proponents—but also critics—of Bergson’s philosophy in Russia at a time when many Russian philosophers were preoccupied with the same complex of philosophical questions and answers that Bergson was addressing. Thus, if only from the standpoint of intellectual history, Lossky is central to the study of the reception of Bergson in Russia. In this article, I present the principal historical links, po…Read more
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54Husserl’s Transcendental-Phenomenological IdealismHusserl Studies 32 (2): 167-182. 2016.This is a translation from Russian to English of Nikolai Onufriyevich Lossky’s “Tpaнcцeндeнтaльнo-фeнoмeнoлoгичecкiй идeaлизмъ Гyccepля”, published in the émigré journal Пyть in 1939. In this article, Lossky presents and criticizes Husserl’s transcendental idealism. Like many successors of Husserl’s “Göttingen School,” Lossky interprets Husserl’s transcendental idealism as a Neo-Kantian idealism and he criticizes it on the ground that it leads to a form of solipsism. In light of his own epistemo…Read more
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53The Philosophy of Nicolai Hartmann (edited book)Walter de Gruyter. 2011.Nicolai Hartmann was one of the most prolific and original, yet sober, clear and rigorous, 20th century German philosophers. Hartmann was brought up as a Neo-Kantian, but soon turned his back on Kantianism to become one of the most important proponents of ontological realism. He developed what he calls the “new ontology”, on which relies a systematic opus dealing with all the main areas of philosophy. His work had major influences both in philosophy and in various scientific disciplines. The con…Read more
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51Nikolai Lossky’s Reception and Criticism of HusserlHusserl Studies 32 (2): 149-163. 2016.Nikolai Lossky is key to the history of the Husserl-Rezeption in Russia. He was the first to publish a review of the Russian translation of Husserl’s first volume of the Logische Untersuchungen that appeared in 1909. He also published a presentation and criticism of Husserl’s transcendental idealism in 1939. An English translation of both of Lossky’s publications is offered in this volume for the first time. The present paper, which is intended as an introduction to these documents, situates Los…Read more
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51Alexandre Kojève, The Religious Metaphysics of Vladimir Solovyov, translated by Ilya Merlin and Mikhail Pozdniakov, Palgrave Pivot, 2018 (review)Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions 59 181-183. 2020.This is a review of Alexandre Kojève, The Religious Metaphysics of Vladimir Solovyov, translated by Ilya Merlin and Mikhail Pozdniakov, Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2018. This slim book is a translation of Kojève’s essay “La métaphysique religieuse de Vladimir Soloviev,” which was first published in two installments in the Revue d’histoire et de philosophie religieuses in 1934. The French text was itself based on Kojève’s doctoral dissertation, Die religiöse Philosophie Wladimir Solo…Read more
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51Thomas Nemeth, Kant in Imperial Russia Cham: Springer, 2017 Pp. ix+389 ISBN 9783319529134 £92.00 (review)Kantian Review 23 (3): 510-513. 2018.This is a review of Thomas Nemeth's Kant in Imperial Russia, Cham: Springer, 2017. It gives a rundown of the contents of the book, which may be considered the definitive, comprehensive, and authoritative overview of the Kantrezeption in pre-Soviet Russia in the English language. The book proceeds chronologically, starting from Kant's days up to the Bolshevik Revolution, examining well-known and lesser-known Russian philosophers and thinkers as well as figures of other nationalities who contribut…Read more
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50This is a translation from Russian to English of Nikolai Onufriyevich Lossky’s review of the first Russian translation of volume one of Husserl’s Logische Untersuchungen, which was translated by E. A. Berstein and published in 1909 by a Petersburgian editor. The review appeared in the Muscovite philosophical journal Pyccкaя мыcль in 1909. In this short text, Lossky expresses his agreement with Husserl’s early anti-psychologism in logic. He also manifests his stance against logical and axiologica…Read more
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45Teresa Obolevitch, Faith and Science in Russian Religious Thought, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019 (review)Studies in East European Thought 72 (1): 83-87. 2020.This is a review of Teresa Obolevitch's Faith and Science in Russian Religious Thought, which provides an intellectual history of the collaboration between fides and ratio in the course of the development of Russian thought, from its Byzantine origins to the twenty-first century. Obolevitch examines various approaches to combining faith and science in such eighteenth-century thinkers as Mikhail Lomonosov and Gregory Skovoroda, the nineteenth-century thinkers Victor Kudryavtsev-Platonov, Dimitrii…Read more
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42Henri Bergson, Les deux sources de la morale et de la religion, Félix Alcan, Paris, 1932Studies in East European Thought 69 (1): 25-27. 2017.This is a translation from the Russian of Nikolai Lossky’s review of Henri Bergson, Les deux sources de la morale et de la religion (1932). The review was published in the Parisian émigré journal Новый Град (Cité nouvelle) in 1932. In this review, Lossky criticizes Bergson for leaving some key problems of the philosophy of religion unresolved, namely that of God’s relation to the world (theism vs. pantheism), that of immortality, as well as that of evil. He also criticizes Bergson’s “extreme bio…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics |
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics |
20th Century Philosophy |
Russian Philosophy |
German Philosophy |