Nikolai Vasilyev’s litigation about non-being

Abstract

This article analyzes and reassesses the ideas of the outstanding Russian philosopher and logician, professor at Kazan University, N.A. Vasiliev (1880–1940). After reviewing the main interpretations of his work in the historical and philosophical literature, the author of the article argues that Vasiliev’s theoretical legacy should be considered not only in terms of the justification and development of non-Aristotelian logic, but also in a broader context, emphasizing the profound philosophical, primarily ontological, content of his concept. The article demonstrates that Vasiliev’s interpretation of contradiction as the basis of logical negation allowed him to develop a fundamentally new perspective on the ontological content of the concept of “non-being”. As a result, non-being began to be understood as a supplement to being, taken as a subject-contra¬diction. Vasiliev proposed an original interpretation of the dialectical form of contradiction – that is, one connected to objective reality – as non-being, which is the negative part of existence, concentrated in the acting subject. Thus, the author of the article insists that Vasiliev should be considered the founder of a new tradition of ontologizing non-being, significantly different from the Romantic tradition that became widespread in the modern era. He comes to the conclusion that Vasiliev’s scientific legacy remains of great importance for the development of the original Russian philosophical tradition, in particular Russian cosmism. It is noted that Vasiliev’s imaginary logic also has independent value, since it represents a convincing immanent criticism of Aristotle’s formal logic, an attempt to adapt it to the new, Newtonian-Cartesian picture of the world. Moreover, the concept of imaginary logic may be of use for contemporary political reflection, in particular for ideologists of Russian conservatism, as it helps to justify the spiritual and moral guidelines of society.