Aleksandr Bogdanov and Lenin on “Things-In-Themselves”

Questions on the theory of cognition formed one of the focal points in the dispute between orthodox Russian Marxists and Aleksandr Bogdanov and his followers. Bogdanov was an adherent of Mach’s theory, which abandoned Kant’s concept of “things-in-themselves” (Ding an sich) outside the cognizing subj...

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Main Author: Oittinen Vesa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sciendo 2021-12-01
Series:Cultural Science
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.2478/csj-2021-0014
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author Oittinen Vesa
author_facet Oittinen Vesa
author_sort Oittinen Vesa
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description Questions on the theory of cognition formed one of the focal points in the dispute between orthodox Russian Marxists and Aleksandr Bogdanov and his followers. Bogdanov was an adherent of Mach’s theory, which abandoned Kant’s concept of “things-in-themselves” (Ding an sich) outside the cognizing subject. According to Mach and Bogdanov, there is no need to duplicate human experience in appearances given in the senses and things behind these appearances. The orthodox Marxists, Lenin as well as Plekhanov, insisted that Kant’s concept of things-in-themselves should be retained, but in a modified form: the things-in-themselves do not form a limit to our knowledge, as Kant (allegedly) thought, but turn into “things-for-us” in the everyday processes of material and scientific production. Both solutions, the Machian and the orthodox Marxist, have their problems. In the Soviet era, Lenin was depicted as the winner of the dispute. But a closer examination of Bogdanov’s arguments shows that he actually found some weak points in Lenin’s conception. However, this does not mean that Lenin’s critique of Bogdanov as a subjectivist in his theory of cognition was groundless.
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spelling doaj-art-820bced730c946f18781d2684f8d8d912025-02-10T13:25:36ZengSciendoCultural Science1836-04162021-12-0113117719010.2478/csj-2021-0014Aleksandr Bogdanov and Lenin on “Things-In-Themselves”Oittinen Vesa0Aleksanteri Institute, University of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinlandQuestions on the theory of cognition formed one of the focal points in the dispute between orthodox Russian Marxists and Aleksandr Bogdanov and his followers. Bogdanov was an adherent of Mach’s theory, which abandoned Kant’s concept of “things-in-themselves” (Ding an sich) outside the cognizing subject. According to Mach and Bogdanov, there is no need to duplicate human experience in appearances given in the senses and things behind these appearances. The orthodox Marxists, Lenin as well as Plekhanov, insisted that Kant’s concept of things-in-themselves should be retained, but in a modified form: the things-in-themselves do not form a limit to our knowledge, as Kant (allegedly) thought, but turn into “things-for-us” in the everyday processes of material and scientific production. Both solutions, the Machian and the orthodox Marxist, have their problems. In the Soviet era, Lenin was depicted as the winner of the dispute. But a closer examination of Bogdanov’s arguments shows that he actually found some weak points in Lenin’s conception. However, this does not mean that Lenin’s critique of Bogdanov as a subjectivist in his theory of cognition was groundless.https://doi.org/10.2478/csj-2021-0014aleksandr bogdanov, leninthings-in-themselvesmaterialismempirio-criticismrealismnaturalistic epistemology
spellingShingle Oittinen Vesa
Aleksandr Bogdanov and Lenin on “Things-In-Themselves”
Cultural Science
aleksandr bogdanov, lenin
things-in-themselves
materialism
empirio-criticism
realism
naturalistic epistemology
title Aleksandr Bogdanov and Lenin on “Things-In-Themselves”
title_full Aleksandr Bogdanov and Lenin on “Things-In-Themselves”
title_fullStr Aleksandr Bogdanov and Lenin on “Things-In-Themselves”
title_full_unstemmed Aleksandr Bogdanov and Lenin on “Things-In-Themselves”
title_short Aleksandr Bogdanov and Lenin on “Things-In-Themselves”
title_sort aleksandr bogdanov and lenin on things in themselves
topic aleksandr bogdanov, lenin
things-in-themselves
materialism
empirio-criticism
realism
naturalistic epistemology
url https://doi.org/10.2478/csj-2021-0014
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