Merab Mamardashvili ( ka, მერაბ მამარდაშვილი, russian: Мера́б Константи́нович Мамардашви́ли; September 15, 1930 – November 25, 1990) was a Georgian

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

Biography

He was born in Gori (Eastern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

). In 1955 he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of the

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

. From 1968 to 1987 he was a deputy editor of the scientific journal "Voprosi Filosofii" ("Questions of Philosophy"). He became a professor of the Moscow State University and a senior research fellow of the

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 ...

Institute of Philosophy of the

Russian Academy of Science The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

. From 1987-1990 Mamardashvili was head of the Department of the Tsereteli Institute of Philosophy of the Georgian Academy of Sciences and Professor of the Tbilisi State University. In his life only a few books were published, his lectures (for his style of lecturing he and others called them "dialogues" or "conversations" and he was called "Russian (or Georgian)

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no t ...

") were taped and published after his death by his disciple Yuri Senokosov, co-founder with Elena Nemirovskaya of the former Moscow School of Political Studie

Lecturing abroad, Mamardashvili gave talks in

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 ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and other countries. He died from a heart attack at Moscow Vnukovo airport on November 25, 1990 and was buried in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

in a family grave on the Saburtalo cemetery. Influenced by

René Descartes René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Ma ...

and classical

German philosophy German philosophy, here taken to mean either (1) philosophy in the German language or (2) philosophy by Germans, has been extremely diverse, and central to both the analytic and continental traditions in philosophy for centuries, from Gottfried ...

(especially

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 ...

), Mamardashvili contributed to rationalist theory of perception. His main research fields were: general gnoseological notion of processes of analysis and synthesis, the

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for br ...

of science and of the historic-philosophical studies, the role of consciousness in social being, the relationship between consciousness and the aesthetics, the overall meta-theory of language and consciousness. He considered the consciousness the ultimate subject of philosophy. Some of the most famous phrases, coined by Mamardashvili are: "consciousness is paradoxicalness impossible to get used to", "consciousness is an experience of inexperiensible experiences", "phenomenology is the accompanying feature of all the philosophy", "loneliness is my profession" and so on. In the preview to the edition of the major compilation of his works by St. Petersburg publishing house "Azbooka-classica" in 2002 he has been introduced "one of the most interesting contemporary philosophers, a man of impeccable style, magical fascination and rare kindness". It was also noted there, that all of his interests were concentrated around the human

personality Personality is the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that are formed from biological and environmental factors, and which change over time. While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of personality, ...

, its

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving one ...

and responsibility, on the role of philosophy in life and its place in the culture. In May 2001 a monument to him was unveiled in

Bibliography

* ''The process of analysis and synthesis'' (1958)("Процессы анализа и синтеза") * ''Forms and Contents of Thinking'' (1968) (''Формы и содержание мышления'') * ''Converted form''

970 Year 970 ( CMLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 970th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' designations, the 970th year of the 1st millennium, the 70th year ...

( "Форма превращенная" - article for the Encyclopedia of Philosophy) * ''Symbol and Consciousness'' (''Символ и сознание''), (1974), together with A. Piatigorsky (published 1982) * ''The Problem of Objective Method in Psychology'' (1977) * ''The Arrow of Cognition'' (1978) * ''Classic and Non-classic Ideals of Rationality'' (1984) (''Классические и неклассические идеалы рациональности'') * ''Phenomenology and its Role in Contemporary Philosophy'' (1988) * ''How Do I Understand Philosophy?'' (1990) (''Как я понимаю философию'') * ''Kantian Themes'' (1990) ("Кантианские вариации", published 1991 in the philosophical almanac "Quintessence" p. 120-158) * ''Conscious and the Philosophical Calling'' (1988) * ''Cartesian Meditations'' 986(published 1993) (''Картезианские размышления'') * ''Aesthetics of Thinking'' 987published 1993) ("Эстетика мышления") * ''Psychological Topology of Path (Lectures on

Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous ...

)

981 Year 981 ( CMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events Births * Abu'l-Qasim al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Maghribi, Arab statesman (d. 1027) * Giovanni Orseolo, Venetian ...

(published 1997) (''Психологическая топология пути'' (''Лекции о Прусте''))

Documentaries

* ''Socrates in a duel'' (dir. Tamara Dularidze) * ''Georgian Kant'' (dir. Olga Rolengoff) * ''The way home'' (dir. Nikolai Drozdov) * ''Time of Merab'' (dir. Olesya Fokina) * ''Merab Mamardashvili'' (dir. Valery Balayan)

References

External links

A 1989 Interview
from ''The Civic Arts Review'' journal of

Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consorti ...

About the monument

Merab Mamardashvili’s Philosophy of Consciousness
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mamardashvili, Merab 1930 births 1990 deaths 20th-century Russian philosophers Exophonic writers Philosophers from Georgia (country) Moscow State University alumni People from Gori, Georgia Soviet philosophers Tbilisi State University faculty High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors faculty

Biography

Bibliography

Documentaries

See also

References

External links