Vasily Seseman (several other latinizations of his name exist, , ) (11 June 1884,

Vyborg Vyborg (; , ; , ; , ) is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, northwest of St. Petersburg, east of the Finnish capital H ...

— 23 March 1963,

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

) was a Russian and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n philosopher, a representative of Marburg school of

neo-Kantianism In late modern philosophy, neo-Kantianism () was a revival of the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant. The neo-Kantians sought to develop and clarify Kant's theories, particularly his concept of the thing-in-itself and his moral philosophy ...

. He is mostly remembered for his role in fostering philosophy in newly independent Lithuania and developing Lithuanian philosophical vocabulary (most remarkable are his translations of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

into Lithuanian and contributions to Lithuanian encyclopedias). A close associate of Viktor Zhirmunsky and Lev Karsavin, as a prisoner of

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

he was also an informal philosophy tutor and supporter of

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

writer Bidia Dandaron.

Biography

Born to the family of a medical doctor of Finnish Swedish descent and a

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

mother, he was initially named Wilhelm Sesemann and attended the Lutheran school (Katharinenschule) in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. As he grew up, he adopted a more Russian identity, changing Wilhelm to Wassilij (Vasily) and embracing

Russian Orthodox Christianity The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

. After two years of medical studies he turned to philosophy, fervently studying classical authors under Nikolay Lossky and classical languages under Tadeusz Stefan Zieliński at University of St. Petersburg. In 1909-1911 the university sent him to Germany to prepare him for a teaching career. In Berlin and Marburg, he took courses in philosophy, psychology, and pedagogics under

Hermann Cohen Hermann Cohen (; ; 4 July 1842 – 4 April 1918) was a German philosopher, one of the founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism, and he is often held to be "probably the most important Jewish philosopher of the nineteenth century". Bio ...

Paul Natorp Paul Gerhard Natorp (; ; 24 January 1854 – 17 August 1924) was a German philosopher and educationalist, considered one of the co-founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. He was known as an authority on Plato. Biography Paul Natorp ...

Ernst Cassirer Ernst Alfred Cassirer ( ; ; July 28, 1874 – April 13, 1945) was a German philosopher and historian of philosophy. Trained within the Neo-Kantian Marburg School, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic ...

Hermann Alexander Diels Hermann Alexander Diels (; 18 May 1848 – 4 June 1922) was a German classical scholar, who was influential in the area of early Greek philosophy and is known for his standard work ''Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker''. Diels helped to import the ...

, and

Heinrich Wölfflin Heinrich Wölfflin (; 21 June 1864 – 19 July 1945) was a Swiss art historian, esthetician and educator, whose objective classifying principles (" painterly" vs. "linear" and the like) were influential in the development of formal analysis in ...

. In Germany he also met

José Ortega y Gasset José Ortega y Gasset (; ; 9 May 1883 – 18 October 1955) was a Spanish philosopher and essayist. He worked during the first half of the 20th century while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. His philosoph ...

who made a great impression on him, and re-established a lifelong friendship with

Nicolai Hartmann Paul Nicolai Hartmann (; 20 February 1882 – 9 October 1950) was a German philosopher. He is regarded as a key representative of critical realism and as one of the most important twentieth-century metaphysicians. Biography Hartmann was born a ...

who in St Petersburg had influenced Vasily's decision to switch from medicine to philosophy. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, Seseman taught philosophy and classical languages until

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, when he enlisted as a volunteer in the Russian army. From 1915 to 1917 he taught philosophy as a

privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualifi ...

at the University of St. Petersburg, and from 1918 to 1919 at the Viatka Pedagogical Institute. He received a docentship in Saratov, where he worked (together with Viktor Zhirmunsky) until 1921. Later Seseman, as a Finnish citizen, emigrated to Finland and then to Berlin, where he finally found a teaching position at the Russian Institute. In 1923 Seseman was invited to become a professor at Kaunas University in Lithuania. When Vilnius was regained by Lithuania, he moved there and worked at the

University of Vilnius Vilnius University (Lithuanian language, Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a Public university, public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher e ...

until the Nazis closed it down in 1943. He worked as a

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

teacher during the German occupation, and led a philosophy course in the Jewish ghetto. According to his stepdaughter's interview, while living in poverty, at his place in central Vilnius he also hid from the Nazis a Jewish girl (who later disappeared), and supplied ghetto Jews with false documents allowing emigration. He made a narrow escape from being burnt alive for being a supporter of the Jews while the Nazi troops were abandoning the city for the Soviet troops. His efforts on behalf of the Jews were posthumously recognized by the Lithuanian government awarding him a medal. He spent 1945-1950 teaching at the University of Vilnius again, but then was arrested by the Soviet authorities, accused of “anti-Soviet activities” and “relations with Zionist organizations” and sentenced to 15 years of labor camps. In Siberia he met a

Buddhist tantra ''Vajrayāna'' (; 'vajra vehicle'), also known as Mantrayāna ('mantra vehicle'), Guhyamantrayāna ('secret mantra vehicle'), Tantrayāna ('tantra vehicle'), Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition that emp ...

practitioner Bidia Dandaron who learned a lot from Seseman, as a result embracing Kantian ideas and developing his own synthesis of Tibetan Buddhist and European philosophical thought in his writings. Their friendship continued after they were released. In 1956 Seseman was released, in 1958 rehabilitated and resumed his professorship at Vilnius where he taught for the rest of his life.

Philosophy

Seseman liked to call his philosophy “gnoseological idealism”, trying to revive

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

through a re-evaluation of the metaphysical tradition of

ontology Ontology is the philosophical study of existence, being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of realit ...

. His other philosophical aim was to overcome the dichotomies between the subjective-psychological and the objective-realistic in the

theory of knowledge Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowledg ...

and metaphysics in general. Seseman’s concern for formal questions in linguistics and aesthetics may make him a precursor of modern

semiotics Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is a ...

Bibliography

Writings

* “Logik und Ontologie der Möglichkeit: August Faust. Der Möglichkeitsgedanke. 1. Teil: Antike Philosophie. 2. Teil: Chistliche Philosophie” in Blätter für deutsche Philosophie Bd. 10, Heft 2 (Heidelberg: 1932): 161-171. * “Die bolschewistische Philosophie in Sowiet Russland” in Der russische Gedanke Heft 2 (Bonn: 1931): 176-183. * “Die logischen Gesetze und das Sein: a) Die logischen Gesetze im Verhältnis zum subjektbezogenen und psychischen Sein. b) Die logischen Gesetze und das daseinsautonome Sein” in Eranus Vol 2 (Kaunas: 1931): 60-230. * “Zum Problem der logischen Paradoxien” in Eranus vol. 3 (Kaunas: 1935): 5-85. * “Zum Problem der Dialektik” in Blätter für deutsche Philosophie Bd. 9, Heft 1 (Berlin: 1935): 28-61. * Logika (Kaunas: Lietuvos universitetuo Humanitariniu mokslu fakultete, 1929), 304 p. * Paskaitos (Lectures) (Kaunas: Humanitariniu mokslu fakultetas, 1929) * Estetika (Vilnius: Mintis, 1970), 463 p. * Sesemann, Vasily, Aesthetics, Translated by Mykolas Drunga, Edited and introduced by Leonidas Donskis (Amsterdam - New York, NY: Rodopi, 2007), 279 p. * Sesemann, Vasily, Selected Papers, Translated by Mykolas Drunga, Edited by Mykolas Drunga and Leonidas Donskis, Introduced by Arūnas Sverdiolas (Amsterdam - New York, NY: Rodopi,2010), 88 p. The Lithuanian edition of Seseman’s works consists of two volumes: * Vol. 1: Gnoseologia (Vilnius: Mintis, 1987) * Vol. 2: Filosofijos istorija (Vilnius: Mintis, 1997)

Translations

* Lossky’s Logica (Petrograd: Nauka i shkola, 2 vol. 1922) as Handbuch der Logik (Leipzig: Teubner, 1927), 445 pages. * Aristotle’s De Anima as: Aristotelis: Apie siela (Vilnius: Valstybini politiais ir mokslinis literatûros leidykla, 1959) with a 60 pages long introduction into the philosophy of Aristotle.

References