On the Way to Free Thought: A.V. Golovnin’s Educational Reforms and the Formation of Professional Philosophy in Russia

Abstract

In the history of Russian philosophy there is no key figure of intellectual culture of the second half of the XIX century, which is associated with the development of academic philosophy in universities. A.V. Golovnin (1821–1886) is not in­cluded in the historiographical canon of Russian thoughtThe paper shows that Golovnin's intellectual heritage is still beyond the interests of historians of Rus­sian thought. Golovnin’s activity as Minister of Public Education of the govern­ment of Alexander II is considered in the national social and humanitarian sci­ence “in the department” of history, political science, history of pedagogy in the context of the Great Reforms studies, but is not included in the subject area of the history of philosophy. In my opinion, the increment of knowledge in Russian thought history will be associated with the inclusion of A.V. Golovnin in the narrative not only as the author of the education reform who changed the position of philosophy in Russia and who gave a powerful impetus to the in­tellectual process, but also as an independent Christian liberal thinker and a par­ticipant in ideological discussions in the mid-1850s–1870s determining their di­rection and content.