Nikolay Konstantinovich Mikhaylovsky (; – ) was a Russian literary critic, sociologist, writer on public affairs, and one of the theoreticians of the

Narodniki The Narodniks were members of a movement of the Russian Empire intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, Narodnism or ,; , similar to the ...

movement.

Biography

The school of thinkers he belonged to became famous in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in the 1870s and 1880s as exponents of political and economic reforms. He contributed to ''

Otechestvennye Zapiski ''Otechestvennye Zapiski'' ( rus, Отечественные записки, p=ɐˈtʲetɕɪstvʲɪnːɨjɪ zɐˈpʲiskʲɪ, variously translated as "Annals of the Fatherland", "Patriotic Notes", "Notes of the Fatherland", etc.) was a Russian lit ...

'' from 1869 until its suppression in 1884. He became co-editor of ''

Severny Vestnik ''Severny Vestnik'' (, ) was an influential Russian literary magazine founded in Saint Petersburg in 1885 by Anna Yevreinova, who stayed with it until 1889. History In the early years ''Severny Vestnik'' was the Narodnik's stable; after ''Otech ...

'' in 1873, and from 1890 until his death in 1904 served as co-editor of ''Russkoye Bogatstvo'' ("Russian Treasure") with Vladimir Korolenko. His collected writings were published in 1913.

Thought

Social philosophy

In his works, Mikhaylovsky developed the idea of the relationship between the

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

and the masses (

crowd A crowd is as a group of people that have gathered for a common purpose or intent. Examples are a Demonstration (people), demonstration, a Sport, sports event, or a looting (classified in sociology as an acting crowd). A crowd may also simply ...

). Contrary to the ideas popular among revolutionary-minded people of the late 19th-early 20th centuries that an

individual An individual is one that exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of living as an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) as a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or g ...

having strong character or talent is able to fulfil incredible things and even change of the course of

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, in the articles "Heroes and Crowd" (1882) and others, Mikhaylovsky presents a new theory and shows that an individual does not necessarily mean an outstanding individual, but any individual who by chance finds himself within certain circumstances in the lead or just ahead of the crowd. Mikhaylovsky emphasizes that at definite moments an individual can give substantial strength to a crowd (through his emotions and actions), and so the whole event can acquire a special power. Thus, the role of an individual depends on its psychological influence is reinforced by mass perception. Mikhaylovsky was one of the radical thinkers who were 'acutely conscious of their wealth and privilege', as the psychological inspiration of the revolution was guilt, writing: 'We have come to realise that our awareness of the universal truth could only have been reached at the cost of the age-old suffering of the people. We are the people's debtors and this debt weighs down on our conscience.' Mikhaylovsky regarded the historical process as a progression of social environment differentiation, eventually leading to the emergence of individuality. The struggle for individuality was seen as a matter of environment adapting to personality, in contrast to the Darwinist notion of struggle for existence, in which an individual adapts to the environment. Criticizing Darwinists for the transference of biological laws onto societal development, Mikhailovsky thought it necessary to expand Darwinism with 1)

Karl Ernst von Baer Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer Edler von Huthorn (; – ) was a Baltic German scientist and explorer. Baer was a naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, and is considered a, or the, founding father of embryology. He was a m ...

's law, in compliance with which organisms develop from the simple to the complex, and 2) the solidarity principle, at the base of which lies simple cooperation. Mikhaylovsky saw the utmost criterion of social progress in obtaining the ideal of a perfect, harmoniously developed person. If simple cooperation is a social union of equals with similar interests and functions and "solidarity" as the main attribute of the society in question, in the case of complex cooperation there exists a highly developed division of labor whose major attribute is the "struggle" of interrelated groups. In his view, a society might reach an advanced stage of development and yet belong to the lower type of organization, as, for instance, was the case with European capitalism based on division of labor and complex cooperation. Hence Mikhaylovsky concluded that peasant Russia lagged behind the capitalist West according to the stage of development, but surpassed it if judged by the type of organization. Furthermore, like the majority of nineteenth-century Russian thinkers, he attached particular significance to the ''

obshchina An (, ; rus, община, p=ɐpˈɕːinə) or (, ; rus, мир, p=mʲir), also officially termed as a rural community (; ) between the 19th and 20th centuries, was a peasant village community (as opposed to an individual farmstead), or a ...

'' (traditional peasant community), a unique trait distinguishing Russia from other countries.Минувшее. Ру
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mikhaylovsky, Nikolay 1842 births 1904 deaths Philosophers from the Russian Empire Sociologists from the Russian Empire Literary critics from the Russian Empire Socialists from the Russian Empire People from Meshchovsk People from Meshchovsky District

Biography

Thought

Social philosophy

See also

References

Further reading

External links