Malinov A.V. The Doctrine of the Socio-Cultural Energetics of Alexander Lappo-Danilevsky (Experience of Reconstruction)

Abstract: This article was prepared on the basis of the archives (St. Petersburg branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences) on the academician Alexander Lappo-Danilevsky (1863-1919), in particular, it is devoted to the doctrine of the socio-cultural energetics that has not been fully studied by researchers yet. This doctrine is not mentioned in the published works of Lappo-Danilevsky but it has been preserved as part of the manuscript "On Social Studies" containing materials of the end of the 1890s. The manuscript is more of a draft and therefore can not be issued as a separate publication. In his article Malinov gives a reconstruction of this doctrine including the most preserved fragments and offers their interpretation. The doctrine of Lappo-Danilevsky is based on the 'law of the social energy conservation' which he formulated in analogy with the law of the mechanical energy conservation. According to Lappo-Danilevsky in terms of the social phenomena the transition of the potential energy into the kinetic energy means converting the potential energy of cosmos into the creative power of culture. At the same time Lappo-Danilevsky attempts to formalize the 'law of social energy conservation'. Partly theoretical principles of the doctrine of the socio-cultural energetics were reflected Lappo-Danilevsky's researches on the history of the Russian culture of the XVIIIthe century.

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