Aleksei Aleksandrovich Kozlov (russian: Алексей Александрович Козлов; 20 February 1831 – 12 March 1901) was a Russian philosopher known for his contributions to Russian

idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...

. He is recognized as the founder of the " neo-Leibnizian" movement in Russia, which involved updating the ideas of philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, as well as the works of R.H. Lotze and

Gustav Teichmüller Gustav Teichmüller (November 19, 1832 – May 22, 1888) was a German philosopher. His works, particularly his notion of perspectivism, influenced Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. Biography Teichmüller was born in Braunschweig in the Duchy ...

. Kozlov's philosophy is also considered a precursor to Russian

personalist Personalism is an intellectual stance that emphasizes the importance of human persons. Personalism exists in many different versions, and this makes it somewhat difficult to define as a philosophical and theological movement. Friedrich Schleierm ...

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

.Poole, R. (2002). "Kozlov, Aleksei Aleksandrovich (1831–1901)". In ''The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy''. Taylor and Francis. Retrieved 23 Mar. 2023
Online article
Kozlov's influence on

Russian philosophy Russian philosophy is a collective name for the philosophical heritage of Russian thinkers. Historiography In historiography, there is no consensus regarding the origins of Russian philosophy, its periodization and its cultural significance. The ...

extended beyond his own ideas. He played a crucial role in defending speculative philosophy against the dominant

positivism Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...

of his time. Kozlov's legacy is significant due to his contributions to the development of Russian philosophy at the end of the 19th century and the ongoing impact of his philosophical ideas in the 20th century.Scanlan, J.P. (1967). "Kozlov, Aleksei Aleksandrovich (1831–1901)". In ''Encyclopedia.com''
Online article

Biography

Aleksei Kozlov was born in 1831 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Initially, he studied physics and mathematics, but later obtained a degree in literature in 1854.Avdeïeva, L.R. (2010). "Alexeï Kozlov". In F. Lesourd (dir.). ''Dictionnaire de la philosophie russe'' (1995, 2007). Lausanne: L'Âge d'Homme. pp. 456–459. Kozlov was drawn to the ideas of

Ludwig Feuerbach Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach (; 28 July 1804 – 13 September 1872) was a German anthropologist and philosopher, best known for his book ''The Essence of Christianity'', which provided a critique of Christianity that strongly influenced gener ...

and

Charles Fourier François Marie Charles Fourier (;; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical in ...

, which led him to develop

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

views. His beliefs resulted in a brief prison term in 1866 and the loss of his teaching position at a Moscow secondary school. Kozlov delved into philosophy in the 1870s, influenced successively by

Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...

Eduard von Hartmann Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, was a German philosopher, independent scholar and author of ''Philosophy of the Unconscious'' (1869). His notable ideas include the theory of the Unconscious and a pessimistic interpretation of the "best of all ...

, and

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

. He became a professor of philosophy at

Kyiv University Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...

in 1876, where he founded the first Russian philosophical journal, ''Filosofskii trekhmesiachnik'' (''Philosophical Quarterly''). During this time, he developed his own mature position under the influence of

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathema ...

and his followers, such as

Hermann Lotze Rudolf Hermann Lotze (; ; 21 May 1817 – 1 July 1881) was a German philosopher and logician. He also had a medical degree and was well versed in biology. He argued that if the physical world is governed by mechanical laws and relations, then dev ...

and

. After retiring due to illness in 1887, Kozlov moved to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and published his views systematically in a private journal called ''Svoe slovo'' (''A Personal Wor''), which was occasionally published from 1888 to 1898. He died in Saint Petersburg in the spring of 1901.

Philosophy

Kozlov was an advocate for a panpsychist

and developed a form of monadology, in which

monad Monad may refer to: Philosophy * Monad (philosophy), a term meaning "unit" **Monism, the concept of "one essence" in the metaphysical and theological theory ** Monad (Gnosticism), the most primal aspect of God in Gnosticism * ''Great Monad'', an ...

s were capable of essential interaction, unlike

's theory of

pre-established harmony Gottfried Leibniz's theory of pre-established harmony (french: harmonie préétablie) is a philosophical theory about causation under which every " substance" affects only itself, but all the substances (both bodies and minds) in the world never ...

.Skrbina, D. (2005). ''Panpsychism in the West''. Cambridge (Massachusetts)/London: MIT Press, p.168. Kozlov conceptualized these monads as spiritual and conscious, serving as the basis for all reality. They formed a closed totality grounded in a Supreme Substance, God, within which each monad was connected to the others. Kozlov viewed the human body as a collection of less conscious spiritual substances, which the ego interacted with until death. He suggested that after death, the ego is reincarnated through the interaction with other spiritual substances to form a new body. The Russian philosopher

Nikolay Lossky Nikolay Onufriyevich Lossky. (; – 24 January 1965), also known as N. O. Lossky, was a Russian philosopher, representative of Russian idealism, intuitionist epistemology, personalism, libertarianism, ethics and axiology (value theory). He gave ...

was highly influenced by Kozlov's ideas, and in a 1901 article entitled "Kozlov: His Panpsychism", Lossky expounded upon Kozlov's system.

References

External links

* Poole, R.A., "Aleksei Aleksandrovich Kozlov", in ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy''
Online.
* Scanlan, J.P., "Aleksei Aleksandrovich Kozlov" in ''Encyclopdia.com''
Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alekei, Kozlov 1831 births 1901 deaths 19th-century philosophers from the Russian Empire Writers from Moscow

Biography

Philosophy

See also

References

External links