Abstract
Even though some histories of Russian philosophy mention Speranskii,’s name, it would be wrong to pretend that he was a creative and original philosopher in any formal sense of the word. He was only a thoughtful individual with a keen analytical mind, interested in philosophy, who felt the need for understanding and explicitly clarifying to himself the metaphysical and logical bases of his thinking. Unluckily for his biographers, he had never the opportunity of formulating his philosophical ideas as consistently and as systematically as his administrative schemes. In most cases, random reflections and comments jotted down in the course of his readings, are all that has been preserved. They are fragments that have to be pieced together without the guidance of precise chronology or even certainty as to their completeness. But as a son of the 18th century, Speransky had an “esprit systématique” and he always tried to determine the first principles of the problems he had to face. From an attentive and close reading of all the accessible evidence, therefore, there emerges a clear and rather consistent philosophical Weltanschauung which may help us in better understanding his political and administrative work.
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References
See El’chaninov “Mistitsizm Speranskogo” and Katetov, “Graf M. M. Speranskii kak religioznyi myslitel’”cited in the bibliography to the chapter.
“The second benefit which the science of nature gives us consists in that it alone can give us a conception of the distinctive creation of the Almighty.” M. Speranskii, “Fizika vybrannaia iz luchshikh avtorov, raspolozhennaia i dopolnennaia Nevskoi Seminarii filosofii i fiziki uchitelem M. M. Speranskim 1797—go g. v Sankt Peterburge,” Chteniia, (Moscow 1871), kniga 3, otdel 2, p. 4. Hereafter, Speransky’s course of physics will be referred to as Fizika.
Fizika, p.
“If physics were only the science of looking at nature with pleasure, this in itself would be enough to give it the first place in our [intellectual] activities and count among the truly useful activities of man. The sight of nature is splendid, touching to the eyes of those who know, but it is dead and mute for the ignorant.” Fizika, p. 1.
“And thus let us leave Leibniz with his monads, in their dark and involved ways; we shall follow Newton (Principia Philosoph. Natur.) and Euler (Physical Letters), on the simple and straight road to find the true principle of the composition of bodies.” Fizika, p. 8. See also, ibid., pp. 7 and v.
Fizika, pp. 10-11.
Fizika, pp. 135-96 passim, in particular p. 168.
El’chaninov, op. cit., p. 210.
Speranskii, “O poriadke,” Druzheskie pis’ma G. Masal’skomu, p. 138 and “O prostranstve,” ibid., p. 137.
“Only the weakness of the mind has forced men to split up bodies into parts, and we have already noted that for the all-embracing Eye there is neither time nor space nor complexity.” Speranskii, “O slozhnosti,” Druzheskie pis’ma G. Masal’skomu, p. 140.
We find this idea already in a sermon given by Speransky in 1791: “Think, solve, divide, combine, penetrate in the course of your whole life; be a transformer of the systems of human knowledge; withstand all the thunders of prejudice; affirm the throne of justice among men, and call yourself its first defender; but without purity of soul your hell will always be with you, it will be in your heart, your wonderful mind will only light up the abyss over which you stand.” Speranskii, “Propoved’ 1791-go g.”, Russkaia Starina 109 (Febr. 1902), p. 289.
Speranskii, “O vremeni,” Druzheskie pis’ma G. Masal’skomu, p. 136.
“O slozhnosti,” loc. cit., p. 140.
El’chaninov, op. cit., pp. 119-120. For a description of Speransky’s state of mind after the death of his wife, see his letter to Karazin in M. N. Longinov, “Graf Speranskii,” Russkii Vestnik, XXIII (Oct. 1859), pp. 353-354.
Speranskii, “Sistema Kanta, Fikhte, Shellinga,” in Pamiati, pp. 844-845.
“Therefrom the uninterrupted similarity and uniformity even in that which we call diverse.” Speranskii, “Dosugi — sentiabr’ 1795” Druzheskie pis’ma G. Masai’-skomu, p. 127.
“Dosugi,” loc. cit., p. 126. Also: “Aforizmy,” Pamiati, p. 852.
Speranskii, “Filosofiia,” Pamiati, p. 773.
“… everywhere and in all corners of the earth there is a general movement from the material to the spiritual.” Speranskii, letter to S. S. Uvarov, 18 Sept. 1819 (from Irkutsk), in Pamiati, p. 232.
Speranskii, “Vremia i prostranstvo,” Pamiati, p. 777.
Cf. Speranskii, letters to P. A. Slovtsov, 6 Aug. 1813 and 3 Oct. 1829, in Pamiati, pp. 46-51 and 431, respectively; see also his letter to his daughter, 21 Nov. 1816, Russkii Arkhiv, (1868), pp. 1114-1115.
Speranskii, “Tsel’ obshchezhitiia,” Pamiati, p. 828.
Speranskii, “O nachale obshchestv,” Pamiati, p. 793.
“Justice is a form of truth. One cannot be just in union with God alone or in union with oneself, one can be just only in union with others.” Speranskii, “O vliianii razuma i sovesti na zhelaniia i namereniia,” Pamiati, p. 838.
“O nachale obshchestv,” loc. cit., p. 789 (sic).
Speranskii, “Svoboda,” Pamiati, p. 788 (sic).
Ibid.
Speranskii, “Volia,” Pamiati. p. 780; “Svoboda,” loc. cit., p. 830.
Speranskii, “Tsel’ obshchezhitiia,” Pamiati, p. 828.
I have attempted to trace the sources of Speransky’s thought in Part 3 of my article: “The Philosophical Views of Count M. M. Speransky,” Slavonic & East Europ. Review, XXXI, No. 77 (June 1953) pp. 446-451 passim.
“Propoved’ 1791—go g.,” loc. cit., p. 287.
Ibid., pp. 289-290.
V. I. Semevskii, “Iz istorii obshchestvennykh techenii v Rossii v XVIII i pervoi polovine XIX vv.,” Istoricheskoe Obozrenie, IX, (1897), p. 270.
Speranskii, “O sile pravitel’stva (chitano imperatoru 3 dek. 1811)”, Russkaia Starina, (Dec. 1902), pp. 495–499.
O. Hintze, “Monarchisches Prinzip und Konstitutionelle Verfassung,” Staat und Verfassung, pp. 349–379 passim.
Plan 1809, in Plan gosudarstvennogo preobrazovaniia grafa Speranskogo (Moscow 1905), pp. 46-47 (note).
“Pervyi politicheskii traktat,” loc. at. Russkoe Bogatstvo, (1907), No. 1, p. 54.
Zapiska 1803, in Plan gosudarstvennogo preobrazovaniia grafa Speranskogo, p. 124.
Zapiska 1803, pp. 128-129.
Plan 1809, p. 46.
Zapiska 1803, p. 129 (note).
Plan 1809, pp. 3, 4.
“Pervyi politicheskii traktat,” p. 67 and Plan 1809, pp. 4, 5.
“Pervyi politicheskii traktat,” pp. 53-54; Zapiska 1803, p. 185.
“Pervyi politicheskii traktat,” pp. 54, 56; Plan 1809, p. 16.
Plan 1809, pp. 27-28.
Zapiska 1803, pp. 175-176; “Pervyi politicheskii traktat,” p.,54.
“Pervyi politicheskii traktat,” p. 54.
Stein, “Politisches Testament,” Briefwechsel, Denkschriften und Aufzeichnungen, II, p. 583 (cited in modernized spelling from Altmann, Ausgewählte Urkunden, II—1, p. 62).
Ibid., p. 584 (in Altmann, p. 63).
“Sec. 30. Auch meine Diensterfahrung überzeugt mich innig, und lebhaft von der Vortrefflichkeit zweckmässig gebildeter Stände, und ich sehe sie als ein kräftiges Mittel an, die Regierung durch die Kenntnisse und das Ansehen aller gebildeten Klassen zu verstärken, sie alle durch Überzeugung, Teilnahme und Mitwirkung bei den Nationalangelegenheiten an den Staat zu knüpfen, den Kräften der Nation eine freie Tätigkeit und eine Richtung auf das Gemeinnützige zu geben, sie vom müssigen, sinnlichen Genuss oder von leeren Hirngespinnsten der Metaphysik oder von Verfolgung bloss eigennütziger Zwecke abzulenken, die man jetzt als Âusserungen der einzelnen Männer oder der einzelnen Gesellschaften vergeblich zu erraten bemüht ist. Sec. 38. An die Stelle der Bürokratie muss nicht eine auf kümmerlichen und schwachen Fundamenten beruhende Herrschaft weniger Gutsbesitzer errichtet werden, sondern es kommt die Teilnahme an der Verwaltung der Provinzialangelegenheiten sämtlichen Besitzern eines bedeutenden Eigentums jeder Art damit sie alle mit gleichen Verpflichtungen und Befugnissen an den Staat gebunden sind. Sec. 46. Die Regierung verfielfältigt die Quellen ihrer Erkenntnis von den Bedürfnissen der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft und gewinnt an Stärke in den Mitteln der Ausführung. Alle Kräfte der Nation werden in Anspruch genommen, und sinken die höheren Klassen derselben durch Weichlichkeit und Gewinnsucht, so treten die folgenden mit der verjüngten Kraft auf, erringen sich Einfluss, Ansehen, und Vermögen und erhalten das ehrwürdige Gebäude einer freien, selbständigen, unabhängigen Verfassung.” Freiherr vom Stein, “Denkschrift über die zweckmässige Bildung der obersten Behörden und der Provinzial-, Finanz-und Polizei-behörden in der Preussischen Monarchie (Nassau, Juni 1807),” Briefwechsel, Denkschriften und Aufzeichnungen, II, pp. 219-228 passim (cited in modernized spelling in Altmann, Ausgewählte Urkunden, II—1, pp. 19-23 passim).
Zapiska 1803, pp. 84-85. Also quoted in Istoriia Pravitel’stvuiushchego Senata, III (St. Pbg. 1911), p. 64. It is interesting to note that Speransky’s description of Napoleon’s “constitution” could be applied almost literally to his own: “Les principaux traits de cette organisation sont les suivants: 1. constituer un corps dépositaire en apparence d’un pouvoir législatif indépendant, mais qui dans le fait soit sous l’influence et entière dépendance du Pouvoir absolu. 2. Régler le pouvoir exécutif sur Ia base d’une loi dont Ia lettre le rende responsable, tandis que par l’esprit de cette même loi il se trouverait réellement indépendant. 3. Laisser au pouvoir judiciaire toutes les prérogatives d’une liberté apparente, mais le lier par des institutions qui le mettent à Ia disposition du Pouvoir absolu.” (Speransky’s statement to Alexander I in 1809 — manuscript in Repinskoe sobranie) quoted by S. Prut-chenko, Sibirskie okrainy: oblastnye ustanovleniia, sviazannye s Sibirskim Uchrezh-deniem 1822 g. v stroe upravleniia russkogo gosudarstva, vol. I, (St. Pbg. 1899), p. 176 (note 1).
K. Mannheim, Ideology and Utopia, (N. Y. 1951), p. 105.
Speranskii, “O vozraste obshchestv i o soobrazhenii s nim mer zakonodatel’nykh,” Pamiati, p. 800.
Ibid.
Ibid., p. 801.
In Burkian manner, Speransky said: “The former [government measures] are easy but not durable, for they do not have guarantees [of prescription]. The latter [legislation] are difficult but enduring, for they are founded not on the letter [of the law] but on the living, active moral force.” “Nuzhdy i zhelaniia,” Pamiati, p. 814.
“O sile pravitel’stva,” loc. cit., p. 496.
Speranskii, “Poniatie dobra i pol’zy,” Pravoslavnyi Sobesednik, (1889), part III, p. 564.
“The confusion of sovereign right with lower rights (i.e., that of individuals and groups) is actually called despotism. It is not a special form of right but a confusion of rights, a blending of the divine with the human (miscet divina humanae) of the sovereign and of the subject,” “Pravo verkhovnoe,” Pamiati p. 802 — see also, Pamiati p. 819.
“Pravo verkhovnoe,” Pamiati p. 802, also Semevskii, “Iz istorii obshchestvennykh techenii…,” loc. cit., p. 270.
“Poniatie dobra i pol’zy,” loc. cit., p. 565.
Speranskii, “Mysli, zhelaniia, strasti, deianiia,” Pamiati, p. 831.
Speranskii, “Kogda nadlezhit pristupat’ k vydumkam v zakonakh,” Pamiati, p. 805.
For a later view on serfdom, cf. Speranskii, “Istoricheskoe obozrenie izmenenii v prave pozemel’noi sobstvennosti i v sostoianii krest’ian,” Sbornik IRIO, XXX, (1881), pp. 450-460.
“Pravo gosudarstvennoe,” Pamiati, p. 855.
See letter of Speransky to Count Kochubei, 20 May 1820, Pamiati, p. 313 and letter to A. Stolypin, 4 Dec. 1817, Russkii Arkhiv, (1870), pp. 1147-1148.
As Meinecke has shown, a similar feeling, though for different reasons, was shared by the important political thinkers and leaders in Germany, as, for example, Stein, W. von Humboldt, Fichte. Weltbürgertum und Nationalstaat, pp. 164-205 passim.
“Enfin un grand trait de lumière m’éclaire et décide toutes mes incertitudes: c’est le manifeste du 25 décembre. Je puis donc me livrer à tout l’entraînement de mes idées, j’ose dire de mon inspiration, et entretenir l’Empereur sur le seul sujet digne de son attention. Malheur à moi si je me tais maintenant… Je me propose d’envoyer à l’Empereur un livre qui contient une prophétie complète du manifeste, avec des maximes étendues sur ce qu’on doit faire en vertu de cette union. Oh, union sacrée! Que toutes les bénédictions du Ciel descendent et s’attachent à toi. Longtemps ce livre (traduit en 1784 de l’allemand, un appel aux souverains de régner chrétiennement) a fait le fond de mes rêveries sur Ia perfectibilité des gouvernements et sur l’application de Ia doctrine de Notre Seigneur aux affaires publiques. Je conviens cependant, que je croyais l’époque de cette application bien éloignée… A Ia lecture de ce Manifeste, toutes ces idées se retracèrent dans mon esprit… je courus vite consulter mon visionnaire et le trouvant encore plus précis que je ne pensais, je me crus dès lors obligé d’en faire l’usage que j’en fis [i.e., send it to the Emperor].” Letters to F. Zeier, 31 Dec. 1815 and 11 Jan. 1816 in M. A. Korf, “Iz bumag o grafe Speranskom v dopolnenii k ego Zhizni izdannoi v 1861 g.” Russkii Arkhiv, V (1867), pp. 444-453 and 453-454, respectively.
Letter to Alexander I, 6 Jan. 1816, in Sbornik materialov 1-go otdeleniia E. I. V. Kantseliarii, II (St. Pbg. 1876), pp. 38-39.
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Raeff, M. (1957). Philosophical Views and Political Theory. In: Michael Speransky. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9304-7_7
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