Nikolai Hartmann and Vasily Sesemann: Intersections of Biographies and Creative Work

Annotation

The article is devoted to identifying details of the biographical and historical philosophe aspects in the lifes and work of two talented representatives of Russian youth of the early 20th century: a major German philosopher of Russian origin Nikolai Hartmann and a practically unknown Russian-Lithuanian philosopher Vasily Sesemann. The relevance of the study is determined by the significant increase in interest in the works of Vasily Sesemann among Russian and foreign researchers at the moment. The study of the system of philosophy of V. Sesemann requires a detailed study of the fundamental bases of the philosopher, the identification of professional connections and influences on his work. To achieve this goal, archival materials, published memoirs, philosophy works in Russian, English, German and Lithuanian were used. The analysis of the origin, educational trajectory and features of the career of V. Sesemann in comparison with the biography of his colleague and friend - N. Hartmann contributes to the most accurate identification of the fundamental attitudes that determine the specificity of the philosophical views of the thinker. In the course of the work, curious biographical details and professional connections of N. Hartmann and V. Sesemann were revealed. The study of the amazing parallels in the creative biographies of the two philosophers allows us to deepen our understanding of the features of their philosophical systems, and can also be useful in reconstructing the atmosphere of Russian intellectual life in the difficult period of the early 20th century.

Keywords

• system of philosophy
• neo-Kantianism
• Russian neo-Kantianism
• Hartmann
• Sesemann
• Marburg school
• new ontology
• aesthetics
• Baltic Germans
• Saint Petersburg University
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