Alexander Ivanovich Galich (russian: Александр Иванович Галич; 1783–1848) was a Russian teacher, philosopher, and writer. Galich was a teacher of Latin and Russian literature at the German Saint Peter's School (Petrischule) in St. Petersburg, a professor at

St. Petersburg University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter t ...

, a teacher of

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

, and a writer and philosopher who was one of the first followers of the German philosopher

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (; 27 January 1775 – 20 August 1854), later (after 1812) von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him b ...

in Russia.

Life

Galich was born as Alexander Ivanovich Govorov in 1783 into the family of a deacon in

Trubchevsk Trubchevsk (russian: Трубче́вск, pl, Trubczewsk) is a town and the administrative center of Trubchevsky District in Bryansk Oblast, Russia, located about south of the city of Bryansk, the administrative center of the oblast. Population ...

Bryansk Oblast Bryansk Oblast (russian: Бря́нская о́бласть, ''Bryanskaya oblast''), also known as Bryanshchina (russian: Брянщина, ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Bryansk. As of th ...

. From 1793 to 1803 he studied at Sevsk Theological Seminary. He then entered the St. Petersburg Teacher's Seminary, which in 1804 was renamed to Main Pedagogical Institute. Here he changed his surname to "Galich" (before that he had once changed it to "Nikiforov"). In 1808, he went to study at the

University of Helmstedt The University of Helmstedt (german: Universität Helmstedt; official Latin name: ''Academia Julia'', "Julius University"), was a university in Helmstedt in the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel that existed from 1576 until 1810. History Found ...

and the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. In 1813, he defended his thesis at the Department of Philosophy of the St. Petersburg State Pedagogical Institute. From 1814 to 1818 Galich taught at the Petrischule, the Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum, and the Main Teacher's College. In 1819, the Main Teacher's College was reorganized as

, and Galich was the first member of the Faculty of Philosophy. From 1818 to 1819, Galich published ''A History of Philosophical Systems'' in two volumes, compiled on the basis of German works by Sacher, Ast, Tenneman, and other German philosophers, and ending with an essay on the philosophical exposition of Schelling. Shortly thereafter, charges were instituted against Galich and three other professors of impiety and revolutionary designs. In 1837, Galich, accused of

freethinking Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other method ...

, was laid off from St. Petersburg University. However, in the same year, he obtained a position in the Department of Archives. In spite of his career problems, Galich continued to write and publish. His ''Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (1845) was one of Russia's first philosophical reference works. Most significant and broad in scope were two of his later works: ''Universal Rights'' and the ''Philosophy of Human History''. However, ill fortune did not abandon Galich: as soon as he had completed these works, they were destroyed in an accidental fire. Unable to survive this loss, Galich became ill and died in 1848. {{DEFAULTSORT:Galich, Alexander Ivanovich 1783 births 1848 deaths People from Bryansk Oblast 19th-century philosophers Russian philosophers Translators from the Russian Empire Writers from Saint Petersburg Historians of philosophy 19th-century translators from the Russian Empire