Spektorsky and the Fate of His History of Social Philosophy

Abstract

Evgeny V. Spektorsky (1875–1951) based his monograph, a survey of the history of social science ideas, on his teaching experience at the universities of Warsaw, Kiev, Prague, Belgrade and Ljubljana. The manuscript, finished by mid-1931, was accepted for publication by the Slovenska Matica publishing house on the recommendation of Anton Lajovic, lawyer and composer. Entitled The History of Social Philosophy, it was translated into Slovenian by Josip Vidmar and published in two volumes in 1932 and 1933. The print run was high: 5,000 copies of Volume I and 4,500 copies of Volume II. Spektorsky argued for a genetic analysis of the history of social science thought, which he saw as a treasury of ideas influencing human life. He emphasised the impact of ideas because these had, in his view, left a deeper impact on the history of mankind than scientific studies or proofs of eternal truths. Although critical of Marxism, whose pretensions to a scientific world view he saw as a mere propaganda move, Spektorsky never accepted dogmatic views.