Aleksandr Ivanovich Gertsen

A leading Russian thinker and writer of the 19th century. Born as the illegitimate son of a distinguished aristocrat, he was given a new surname derived from the German word Herz (heart). He maintained his childhood ambition of overthrowing tyranny and emancipating the serfs throughout his life, and is considered one of the pioneers of the Russian revolutionary movement along with the Decembrists. He was interested in a series of French social thought, from the Encyclopedists to Saint-Simon and Fourier, and was particularly quick to focus on the ideas of Proudhon. Philosophically, he understood Hegelianism as the "algebra of revolution," and followed the path of the Hegelian left, from August Cieszkowski's (1814-1894) "Philosophy of Action" to Feuerbach's "The Essence of Christianity." He wrote "Letters on the Nature of Nature" (written 1844-1845, published in 1845), aiming to synthesize continental rationalism and British empiricism. He left the country in 1847 and remained in exile. Witnessing the dark side of modern civil society during the June events of 1848, he wrote From the Other Shore (1847-1850), a book of despair for Western civilization, in which he denied the inevitability of historical development along Western lines, while exploring the possibility of Russia's own unique development. As a result, he rediscovered the mir (rural community) as the cornerstone of the coming socialist society, and preached a "theory of Russian socialism" that combined the Russian principle of community with the Western principle of the individual, influencing the Narodniks (populists). In 1853, he established the Free Russian Press in London, and engaged in the publication of banned books in Russia, the publication of the magazine Polyarnaya Zvezda (Pole Star) and the newspaper Kolokol (Bell) (1857-1867), and supported the Russian anti-government movement. He also had extensive acquaintances with socialists and nationalists in Western Europe, and sought cooperation between the revolutionary movements in Russia and Western Europe. In his later years, he was isolated both at home and abroad due to his opinion of the Polish national liberation movement. His memoirs Past and Thoughts (written from 1854 to the end of the 1860s) are considered the pinnacle of autobiographical literature, and are also of great documentary value. His representative work as a novelist is Whose Guilt is it? (1841-1846).

[Mitsuo Naganawa October 20, 2015]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

19世紀ロシアを代表する思想家、作家。名門貴族の庶子として生まれ、ドイツ語のHerz（心）に由来する新しい姓を与えられた。専制政治の打倒と農奴解放という少年時代からの志を、生涯を通して貫き、デカブリストと並んでロシア革命運動の先駆者の一人に数えられている。百科全書派からサン・シモン、フーリエに至る一連のフランス社会思潮に関心を抱き、とくにいち早くプルードンの思想に注目した。哲学的にはヘーゲル主義を「革命の代数学」と理解し、チェシコフスキーAugust Cieszkowski（1814―1894）の「行為の哲学」からフォイエルバハの『キリスト教の本質』に至るヘーゲル左派の歩みを踏襲、大陸合理論とイギリス経験論の総合を目ざして『自然研究書簡』（1844～1845年執筆、1845年刊）を書いた。1847年に出国し、そのまま亡命。1848年の六月事件に際会して近代市民社会の暗黒面を目撃、西欧文明への絶望の書『向う岸から』（1847～1850年執筆）を著し、歴史の西欧的発展の必然性を否定する一方、ロシア独自の発展の可能性を模索した。その結果、ミール（農村共同体）をきたるべき社会主義的社会の礎石として再認識し、ロシアの共同体原理と西欧の個の原理とを結合させた「ロシア社会主義論」を説き、ナロードニキ（人民主義者）に影響を与えた。1853年ロンドンに「自由ロシア出版所」を設立、ロシア国内での禁書の刊行、雑誌『北極星』Полярная　Звезда／Polyarnaya Zvezdaや新聞『鐘』Колокол／Kolokol（1857～1867）の発行等に従事、ロシアの反政府運動を助け、他方、西欧の社会主義者・民族主義者とも広く交際し、ロシアと西欧の革命運動の連携を図った。晩年にはポーランドの民族解放運動の評価をめぐり国の内外で孤立し不遇であった。回想記『過去と思索』（1854～1860年代末ころ執筆）は自伝文学の白眉(はくび)と称され、また資料的価値も高い。小説家としての代表作に『誰(だれ)の罪か？』（1841～1846）がある。

［長縄光男　2015年10月20日］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例