J.M. Bocheński’s Accomplishments as Philosophical Sovietologist

Abstract

J.M. Bochenski’s contributions to philosophic Sovietology began long after his path-finding work in the fields of logic1 and the history of philosophy.2 It is intriguing to ask Bochenski the historian of philosophy for an assessment of Bochenski the founder of a school of interpretation of contemporary Soviet philosophy. So, let us first look at the general principles of the Bochenskian views on central themes in the history of philosophy. These will include, of course, his interpretation of Marx, Marxism and Marxism-Leninism (III), but begin with his own account of himself (I), and of major philosophers and trends in the history of philosophy (II). Then, we ask the Soviets themselves - who have sometimes expressed an appreciation for the Bochenskian view on contemporary philosophy - for a reaction to the philosophic Sovietology of Bochenski and his school (IV), and end with some reflections on scientific Sovietology (V).