"Boris Porshnev's Dialectic of History" - Prof Artemy Magun (European University at St. Petersburg)
Date and Time
Location
The talk will address the legacy of Boris Porshnev, a remarkable Soviet Marxist thinker who contributed to history, psychology, physiology, and philosophy, from a particular dialectical perspective. Porshnev elaborated an innovative hypothesis of the origin of human species. He saw this origin in the emergence of language as (1) a means to mutual subjection and (2) means to resist subjection. A vivid, almost mythical picture of early human history is at the same time made rigorous through a consistent use of dialectical argument. This argument, in contrast with the Soviet doxa of “dialectical materialism,” privileges negativity as a special force and moment of development, and negativity takes the form of contrariness. We will speak of the value of Porshnev’s theory in the international context, and puts it into the broader context of Soviet unorthodox philosophy, all the while contributing to a general theory of negativity.
Artemy Magun is a Professor at the European University at Saint-Petersburg. He is the author of "Negative Revolution" (Bloomsbury 2013), and of articles on a variety of issues ranging from Mandelshtam, Platonov, and Bibikhin to negativity, populism, and Russian foreign policy. His Russian publications include "Edinstvo i Odinochestvo" ("Unity and Solitude") and "Demokratia. Demon i Gegemon" ("Democracy. The Demon and The Hegemon").
Dr. Magun served as editor of "Politics of the One" (Bloomsbury 2013) and of the journal "Stasis" (www.stasisjournal.net). He is holding the appointment of Visiting Professor and Hannah Arendt fellow at Bard College during Fall 2017.
