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Evald Ilyenkov

Evald Vassilievich Ilyenkov (Russian: ; 18 February 1924 21 March 1979)


was a Marxist author and Soviet philosopher.
An abridged version of his article, Marx and the Western
World, was published in English in a book of the same
name in 1967, but this work is little known.

Biography

On the other hand, Ilyenkovs work (especially his masterpiece, the study on Dialectics of the Abstract and the
Concrete in Marxs Capital from 1960, and the collection
of essays entitled Dialectical Logic from 1974) deeply inuenced the reception of Marx' economic writings from
the 1960s onwards, in the Soviet Union and the GDR as
well as in the West. His inuence can be witnessed in
the international research eort concerned with the publication of Marx' economic manuscripts (in Marx/Engels:
Gesamtausgabe, or MEGA, section II, 1976 .). His inuence is also evident in the intense debates on economic
reform that was going on in the Soviet Union in the 1970s
(e.g., in the works of A. K. Pokrytan).

Evald Ilyenkov did original work on the materialist development of Hegel's dialectics, notable for his account
of concrete universals. His works include Dialectical
Logic (Russian, 1974; English trans. 1977), Leninist Dialectics and the Metaphysics of Positivism (Russian, 1980
(posthum.); English trans. 1982) and The Dialectics of the
Abstract and Concrete in Marxs Capital (Russian, 1960;
English trans. 1982). Ilyenkov committed suicide in
1979.
David Bakhurst wrote in his article; Meaning, Normativity and the Life of Mind":

Ilyenkovs works have been published in about 20 languages. His Dialectical Logic (1974) was published in
English by Progress Publishers in Moscow in 1977. A
German translation of his Dialectics of the Abstract and
the Concrete in Marxs Capital (1960), was published by
the same publisher in 1979 (and simultaneously by Das
europische Buch, West Berlin); an English translation
of the book was published by Progress Publishers in
Moscow in 1982. Leninist Dialectics and the Metaphysics
of Positivism (rst published in Russian in 1980) was published by New Park Publications in 1982.

Ilyenkov was important in the revival of


Russian Marxist philosophy after the dark days
of Stalinism. In the early 1960s, he produced
signicant work in two main areas. First he
wrote at length on Marxs dialectical method
(the method of ascent from the abstract to concrete). This work, though it now seems obscure, has an important political sub-text: its
critique of empiricism is aimed at the positivism and scientism that Ilyenkov thought
prevalent in Soviet political and intellectual
culture.
Second, Ilyenkov developed a distinct solution to what he called the problem of the
ideal; that is, the problem of the place of the
non-material in the natural world. The latter
involves a resolute defence of the objectivity
of ideal phenomena, which are said to exist
as aspects of our spiritual culture, embodied
in our environment. ... there are important
continuities between Ilyenkovs ideas and controversies in Soviet philosophy and psychology in the 1920s and 30s, particularly ... with
Vygotskys socio-historical psychology... After the insightful writings of the early 1960s,
his inspiration diminished as the political climate became more oppressive. ... He died in
1979, by his own hand.
David Bakhurst, Language and Communication, 17 (1), 3351

2 Bibliography (English translations)


Books:
1960. Dialectics of the Abstract & the Concrete in
Marxs Capital
1974. Dialectical Logic, Essays on its History and
Theory
1979. Leninist Dialectics and the Metaphysics of
Positivism
Articles:
1974. Activity and Knowledge
1

5
1974. From the Marxist-Leninist Point of View
1974. The Universal
1974. A Contribution to a Conversation About Esthetic Education
1975. A Contribution to a Conversation About
Meshcheriakov
1975. Humanism and Science
1976. Dialectics of the Ideal
1977. Concept of the Ideal
1979. The problem of contradiction in logic (fragment)
1979. Materialism Is Militant and Therefore Dialectical
Date unknown. Psychology
Date unknown. Our Schools Must Teach How to
Think!
Date unknown. A Contribution to the Discussion on
School Education
Date unknown. On the Nature of Ability
Date unknown. The Biological and the Social in
Man
Date unknown. A Contribution on the Question of
the Concept of Activity and Its Signicance for
Pedagogy
Date unknown. Knowledge and Thinking

REFERENCES

Spinoza, Ilyenkov & Western Marxism meeting


the challenges of the global crisis, by Corinna Lotz
and Penny Cole (2012).
On trends in the status of dialectical logic: A brief
study of Lefebvre, Ilyenkov and Wald, by Claude M.
J. Braun (1989)
A philosopher under suspicion, by Sergey Mareev
(1990)
Review of E.V. Ilyenkov, The Ideal in Human Activity, by Alex Levant (2011)
Symbols, tools, and ideality in Ilyenkov, by Peter
Jones (1998)
Ideality, Symbols, and the Mind(Response to David
Bakhurst), by Peter Jones (1998?)
Re-reading Soviet philosophy:
Bakhurst on
Ilyenkov, by Brendan Larvor (1992)
Lessons from Ilyenkov, by David Bakhurst (1995)
Review-essay: From the History of Soviet Philosophy: Lukacs-Vygotsky-Ilyenkov, by Alex Levant
(2011)
From the History of Soviet Philosophy: Lukcs
Vygotsky Ilyenkov, by Sergey Mareev, Moscow:
Kulturnaia revoliutsiia, 2008 [Russian]
About the Last Soviet Marxist, by Aleksey Tsvetkov
(2013) [Russian]
E.V. Ilyenkov and Creative Soviet Theory: An Introduction to Dialectics of the Ideal, by Alex Levant
(2012)

Date unknown. Ideals (Social, Esthetic, Moral)


Date unknown. Mind and Brain (An Answer to D.
I. Dubrovskii)
Date unknown. The Question of the Identity of
Thought and Being in Pre-Marxist Philosophy

About Ilyenkov
Dialectics of the Ideal: Evald Ilyenkov and Creative
Soviet Marxism (Historical Materialism Book Series) by Alex Levant
Evald Ilyenkovs Philosophy Revisited, (Kikimora
publications) by Vesa Oittinen (Dec 2000)
Consciousness and Revolution in Soviet Philosophy:
From the Bolsheviks to Evald Ilyenkov, by David
Bakhurst (Jun 28, 1991)
E. Ilyenkov and the Deaf-Blind Children:Soviet
Psychologists Show Pavlov the Door, by Susan
Welsh (1977).

4 See also
Philosophy in the Soviet Union
Aleksandr Zinovyev
Merab Mamardashvili
Gyrgy Lukcs
Lev Vygotsky
Bertell Ollman

5 References
Ilyenkov, E.V., The Ideal in Human Activity, includes Dialectical Logic and essays on the ideal
and activity, such as The Universal, Activity
and Knowledge and The Concept of the Ideal,
published by Erythrospress, see Erythrospress.com/
Ilyenkov

External links
Evald Ilyenkov Archive at Marxist Internet Archive
Biography including Archive of Writings in English/Russian
Evald Ilyenkov in the Gallery of Russian Thinkers
A Philosopher Under Suspicion by Sergei Mareyev

7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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