The Meaning of Life and National Philosophy: on the Publication of A.L. Nikiforov’s Selected Philosophical Works

Abstract

Review of: Nikiforov A.L. Selected Philosophical Works, Vol. 1, Veche, Mos­cow, 2023, 736 p.; Vol. 2, Veche, Moscow, 2023, 634 p. (in Russian).

The review is devoted to the collection of selected works of A.L. Nikiforov, a Russian logician, philosopher, and methodologist of science. The collection was published in 2023 shortly before the author’s death. The collection includes works published in the form of books and scientific monographs in different years (1983–2021). These books range from specialized studies in philosophy of natural science and philosophy of history to popular introductions to logic, theories of argumentation, and philosophy. Special attention in this review is paid to the concept of the meaning of individual human life presented by A.L. Nikiforov in the book of the same name (Moscow, 2012). The author of the review points out that this work by Nikiforov is the least known to the general public and by outlining its main points, he aims to attract more attention to it. Within the framework of the proposed reasoning, with the reliance on quotations from Nikiforov’s original work, the author seeks to show how exactly Nikiforov, as a philosopher, manages to present the meaning of an individual human life in a way that is clearly justified, from a philosophical point of view, but at the same time also addresses any person, even those without special training in philoso­phy, regardless of their occupation and life circumstances. The conclusion dis­cusses Nikiforov’s contribution to the project of a national philosophy, which he considered one of the main aspects of his philosophical program. In A.L. Niki­forov’s later works, philosophy, its goals and tasks, are discussed exclusively in terms of a national intellectual project. This general attitude, which was al­most always realized in the considerable attention Nikiforov paid to the discus­sion of the theories of Russian philosophers, was matched by his unique literary style, which combined humor, irony, and simplicity with depth and the highest level of professionalism.