The Zinoviev Phenomenon. Notes and Memoirs on the Personality of the Philosopher

In: Voprosy Filosofii, Heft 10, S. 5-17

Abstract

The article was written in connection with the centenary of our outstanding con­temporary Russian philosopher Alexander Zinoviev. The author, relying on the en­tire corpus of Zinoviev's own works, considered with special emphasis on their autobiographical content, on studies of his life and work, and also partly using his personal memories, aims to understand the phenomenon of Zinoviev. The life for­mula expressed by his hero himself is taken as a basis: "I am a sovereign state of one person". The article shows that the accentuated individualism of this state­ment is in fact an expression of personal sociality and a deep connection with the life of one's country and era. This is not about the originality of Zinoviev's per­sonality, but about its uniqueness, which expresses and at the same time affirms the uniqueness of the society, country and era that fell to his lot. Parallels are also drawn between Zinoviev's sociology and his psychology and ethics.