Boris Petrovich Vysheslavtsev Papers, 1920-1954
Collection context
- Creator:
- Vysheslavt︠s︡ev, B. P. (Boris Petrovich), 1877-1954
- Extent:
- 1100 items 11 manuscript boxes
- Language:
- Russian .
- Scope and content:
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Correspondence, manuscripts and printed materials of Boris Petrovich Vysheslavtsev. There are letters from Nikolai Berdiaev, Carl Jung, Anton Kartashev, Konstantin Korovin, Jacques Maritain, Aleksei Remizov, Grigol Robakidze, Theodore Strawinsky, and Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams. The manuscripts include essays and lectures on various topics including the Orthodox church, Russian literature and culture, philosophy, and the hereafter. There are numerous diaries, primarily from the 1930's and 1940's. The printed materials include clippings, off-prints, and various journals and books.
- Biographical / historical:
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Boris Petrovich Vysheslavtsev (1877-1954), Russian émigré philosopher and religious thinker, was born in Moscow in 1877 into a family of a sworn attorney of the Moscow Court of Justice. He studied at the University of Moscow under the Russian jurist and philosopher P. I. Novgorodtsev and later at the University of Marburg under Hermann Cohen and Paul Natorp. Upon the publication in 1914 of his dissertation, Etika Fikhte (Fichte's ethics), he received a doctorate from the University of Moscow. Vysheslavtsev taught philosophy there until he was expelled from his homeland along with other Russian philosophers and intellectuals because of their anti-Marxism critique in 1922.
He first lived in Berlin, then in 1924, Vysheslavtsev moved to Paris, where he taught at the Orthodox Theological Institute and was associated with Nikolai Berdiaev. He soon became a leading figure in the Russian émigré philosophical community lecturing and writing on questions of metaphysics, ethics, philosophical psychology and social philosophy. Vysheslavtsev was particularly noted for his study (begun in an early work on the ethics of Fichte) of the irrational as the sphere of human contact with the Absolute. Subsequently he developed this theme through the application of concepts of depth psychology to ethics and to the interpretation of Christian doctrine.
From the time of the German occupation of France until his death in 1954 he lived in Switzerland.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
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This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
- Terms of access:
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Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
- Preferred citation:
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Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Boris Petrovich Vysheslavtsev Papers; Box and Folder; Bakhmeteff Archive, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
- Location of this collection:
- Before you visit:
- Researchers interested in viewing materials in the RBML reading room must must book an appointment at least 7 days in advance. To make the most of your visit, be sure to request your desired materials before booking your appointment, as researchers are limited to 5 items per day.
- Contact:
- rbml@library.columbia.edu