The Struggle against Kant’s Natural Law in Russia in the 20s of the 19th Century and the Russian Political Situation in the 20s of the 21st Century

The reception of Kant’s transcendental philosophy in Russia over two and a half centuries was characterised by various criticisms with the aim of supplementing, extending, correcting or refuting it. In addition to this academic dispute, there were several episodes of rude government interference in philosophical polemics. It entailed administrative restrictions ranging from the expulsion from Russia of J. W.L. Mellmann to the deprivation of the Stalin Prize for the third volume of the “History of Philosophy” accompanied this interference. The first significant administrative intervention with political consequences was a fierce struggle against Kantian natural law. The campaign began under the influence of M. L. Magnitsky and D.P. Runich in Russian universities and other educational institutions in the twenties of the 19th century. The Kantian-oriented natural law, endowed with “devilish attributes”, was accused of refusing to derive the legal foundation from Revelation, inconsistency with the Evangelical teaching, consideration of fallen reason as an independent source of legislation, and immorality of law and undermining autocracy and Orthodoxy. Although the natural law was not completely abandoned, many of his proponents, such as A.P. Kunitsyn, G.I. Solntsev, P.D. Lodi, etc., were expelled from universities or persecuted. The struggle to ban the natural law was a prologue to prohibit the teaching of philosophy in Russian universities, which occurred in 1850. Today, there are senior Russian military officers and officials who give similar ignorant assessments of Kantian philosophy as being invaded by “evil force” and offered militaristic interpretations of the categorical imperative. They follow the same sad path that is already well-known in Russian philosophy. Their statements do not yet entail administrative restrictions, but they already have undoubted political consequences.