Zvonova, E. E. Philosophical and Anthropological Aspects of Chizhevsky’s Metaphysical Works

Abstract: The subject under review of the present research article is Chizhevsky’s philosophical and anthropological views that are presented in his two metaphysical works ‘The First Principles of the Universe. The Cosmic System.The Problems’ and ‘ElectronicTheoryandGenesisofForms.TheProblem’.Much attention is paid not only to the general description of the aforesaid works and reconstruction of Alexander Chizhevsky’s philosophical concept of human but also to touching upon questions that may arise in understanding these theories. Philosophical and anthropological views of Alexander Chizhevsky are studied taking into account the fact that his scientific research was conducted according to the tradition of the Russian cosmism. This allows to demonstrate how the ideas of ‘Leonardo da Vinci of the 20th century’ contribute to the particular philosophical tradition as well as to describe their singularity. The following methods were used in the research: analysis of text- based sources (including materials from the funds of the 1703 Archive of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation), comparison, analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction, classification, generalization and historical method. The scientific novelty of the research is in reconstruction of Chizhevsky’s philosophical and anthropological views presented in his works as well as pointing out the problems and contradictions of these views. Based on the statement that Alexander Chizhevsky’s metaphysical concept of human is the part of his world view, the latter influencing Chizhevksy’s creative work in general, the author emphasizes the need for studying Chizhevsky’s metaphysical views in order to adequately evaluate and describe the heuristic potential of the cultural heritage of Leonardo da Vinci of the 20th century’.

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