Kant in Russian Police Law: Unknown Pages

Outside the view of historians of Russian philosophy there are still unpublished materials that can illuminate unknown aspects of the reception of Kant’s philosophy in Russia. One piece of such material, which is published in the appendix to this article, was found in the archive of B. V. Nikolsky, where it is titled “Article by S.V. on the Occasion of the Centenary of Immanuel Kant’s Death. 1904”. It is devoted to Kant’s philosophy of law, the origins of which are traced back to the French Revolution. In addition, the author of the manuscript claims that Kant’s legal conception influenced the development of the science of police law and the reforms of Alexander II. Finally, it is interesting to note that its author describes Kant as “a nationalist in terms of personal qualities” and “a world genius in terms of his doctrine”, a doctrine whose ideas had not lost their relevance a hundred years after his death. Textological and historical-philosophical analysis has established the identity of its author. He was S. V. Vedrov, Professor of Police Law at St. Petersburg University, previously not known to be interested in Kant’s philosophy. To reconstruct Vedrov’s position on the Kantian philosophy of law in general I look at the views of his colleagues and mentors: B. V. Nikolsky, I. E. Andreyevsky and K. A. Nevolin, each of whom had in their own way exhibited an interest in Kant’s doctrine. This introduces into the history of philosophy new names and ideas previously ignored in the research of the reception of Kant’s philosophy in Russia.