The Content Analysis of Reception of Hegel’s Philosophy in Dialectical Materialism (the Late 19th – the First Half of the 20th Century)

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study devoted to the attitudes towards Hegel’s philosophy in Russian and Soviet Marxist philosophy (Dialectical materialism) of the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. The research is based on the collection of nearly 200 works, in which 1,766 interpretative theses were identified by the method of content analysis. On the basis of quantitative parameters, the paper demonstrates the development of attitudes towards Hegel’s philosophy in pre-Soviet and Soviet Marxism. The main directions of interpretation of Hegel’s philosophy are also described and the internal inconsistency as well as the diversity of the interpretations, are presented. The main influences on Hegelian themes in the USSR are mentioned in the article and the problem of Stalinist repressions among Soviet philosophers working on Hegelian issues is also touched upon.