The first Russian textbook on logic: Historical, logical, and textual analysis

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the first Russian textbooks on logic written by Makariy Petrovich (1733–1765), a professor of the Moscow Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. The analysis of this work demonstrates that it was not a simple translation of some Latin textbook (such translations were published later, after the foundation of the Moscow University). The textbook is a result of Makariy’s (and his predecessors) years of teaching logic in Russian religious schools. It is, to some extent, an original work. The article explores the peculiarities of Makariy’s rendition of logic. For example, the chapters on syllogistics illustrate that Makariy was somewhat innovative: he replaced Latin names for the modes of the categorical syllogism with made-up Cyrillic words (while keeping to the rules defining the choice of Latin letters). It seems that he strived to make logic more practical and as a result, wrote the textbook entirely in Cyrillic. The article considers the historical context of Makariy’s work and its place in the history of logic. The authors make several assumptions as to why Mikhil Lomonosov did not publish the first Russian textbook on logic and also why Makariy’s book was not printed. The authors’ comparative study of XVIII century textbooks on logic makes it possible to specify some probable sources for “Logic”, both Latin and Greek. In addition, Makariy’s approach to the translation of logical terms (some of them he translated into Russian while others were transliterated) is considered. After thorough examination of all three surviving manuscripts of Makariy’s “Logic”, the authors conclude that this textbook is worthy of proper publication.