The life and thought of David B. Zilberman

Autor: Irving H. Anellis
Rok vydání: 1979
Předmět:
Zdroj: Studies in Soviet Thought. 20:165-175
ISSN: 1573-0948
0039-3797
DOI: 10.1007/bf00833861
Popis: The Russian philosopher, David B. Zilberman, who immigrated to the United States in 1974, died as a result of injuries sustained in a traffic mishap on July 25, 1977. Well-known in his homeland as the contributor of the article on 'Culture' to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Dr Zilberman has remained a stranger to the vast majority of American philosophers. There are two primary sociological factors for the unfamiliarity of his work in his adopted homeland; these are his recent arrival, with its concomitant difficulties of resettlement, made still more difficult by the current status of the academic job market, and Zilberman's natural predilection to expressing his thought in Russian, despite his mastery of English, coupled with indifference to the themes of cultural philosophy which Zilberman took as his primary concern. Neverthe less, Zilberman attempted to initiate a meaningful dialogue between dialectical philosophy and analytic philosophy scarcely attempted since A. J. Ayer's lectures at Moscow State University of 1962, and there is much to be learned from a close exploration of Zilberman's thought. If I might be permitted a personal word, I should like to declare that, in our talks and correspondence, while we each accused the other of gross misunderstanding, it would be closer to the reality to describe our relationship as one of mutual militant disagree ment bordering on defensiveness. However, it is indicative of the strength and importance of Russian philosophy, and a credit to Zilberman's abilities as a creative exemplar of it, that one can attain an empathy, if not an overwhelm ing sympathy, for Russian thought, and more particularly for its fundamental ethical concerns. Zilberman's thought is deserving of careful study for its creative originality, a need enhanced by its novelty as much as by its general unfamiliarity. The task of a systematic study of Zilberman's work is handicapped by the inaccessability of his writings. His files and manuscripts are presently in the care of his widow, and are being catalogued by his students. It is anticipated that these works, the bulk of which are in Russian and will be translated into
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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