Resonant publication of the correspondence of Merab Mamardashvili and Louis Altusser

MOSCOW. Correspondence of Merab Mamardashvili and Louis Altusser has been published.

The growing interest in the works of the creator of structuralist Marxism, Louis Pierre Althusser, and the legacy of the Georgian philosopher Merab Mamardashvili predetermined the resonance caused by the publication of their correspondence. A considerable part of the work of the French neo-Marxist saw the light of day only in recent years and has attracted increasing attention. Although even his main works on Karl Marx and the interpretation of his writings would be enough for a significant contribution to the development of philosophical science and the emergence of a considerable number of like-minded people.

An insurmountable obstacle to the publication of the works of Merab Konstantinovich in the USSR was his free-thinking, unwillingness to compromise for the sake of doubtful benefits. The entry of Soviet tanks into Czechoslovakia in 1968 meant for him the collapse of many hopes born of the thaw. Hence his silent protest and unwillingness to cooperate with the official authorities. The world-class thinker is deprived of access to print media and is actually expelled from Moscow. He is forced to bitterly note the renaissance of totalitarianism in the country, which he does not find possible to leave out of self-esteem. As a legacy to those who hunger for wisdom, not tarnished by conformism and hypocrisy, sincere and lively thoughts, there were records of his lectures and reports. The ideas of the “wandering philosopher”, as his friends called him, are worthy of understanding by new generations for the impossibility of reviving totalitarianism during their lifetime.

Acquaintance with the correspondence of these very talented and highly dissimilar people will help to better understand the personality of each of them and the reason for their powerful intellectual attraction. Merab Mamardashvili, a handsome and wise man who reminded his students of his responsibility first of all to himself (refuting the slogan that sank his teeth), of the efforts necessary for continuous improvement. Died on take-off, on the verge of radical changes. And Louis Altreusser (Louis Pierre Althusser), one of the most controversial and authoritative Western philosophers, whose life was overshadowed by constant depression and a progressive mental disorder. They led to the tragic end: the murder of a wife, isolation, loneliness, public censure, death in a psychiatric clinic.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru