African Spir
Encyclopedia
Afrikan Aleksandrovich Špir (Russian: Африка́н Алекса́ндрович Спир; Ukrainian: Африка́н Олекса́ндрович Спір or Шпір, transcribed: Afrykan Oleksandrovych Spir or Shpir; German: Afrikan (von) Spir, French: African (de) Spir, Italian: Africano Spir) (10 November 1837 – 26 March 1890) was a Russian
Neo-Kantian philosopher of German
descent who wrote primarily in German. His book Denken und Wirklichkeit (Thought and Reality) exerted a "lasting impact" on the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche
.
, Kherson
skaya guberniya
), Russian Empire
(now in Ukraine
). His father, Alexander Alexandrovich Spir, was a Russian surgeon—Chief Physician of the military Hospital of Odessa
specifically—and former professor of mathematics in Moscow. In 1812 he received the Order of St. Vladimir, was knighted, and became councillor and member of Kherson's Governorate hereditary nobility. His mother, Helena Constantinovna Spir, daughter of the major Poulevich, was on her mother's side the grand-daughter of the Greek painter Logino, who arrived in Russia under the reign of Catherine the Great. Alexander Spir gave each of his five children—four boys and one girl—names chosen in an old Greek Calendar, this is the source of the curious name "Afrikan". Spir disliked his Christian name, simply signing his letters and books "A. Spir". His modesty impelled him not to use either the German "von" or the French "de"—denoting his noble status—before his family name. He described his education as follows: "I spent my childood in the countryside and later I studied for a while in Odessa, first in a Private boarding-school and after in a Gymnasium, more or less equivalent, if I do not mistake, to a French high-school. I have not been at the University, instead I entered the Midshipmen's School in Nikolayev (now Mykolaiv
), not far fom the Black Sea
." During this period he developed an interest in philosophy and read (in the French translation of Tissot) Immanuel Kant
’s Critique of Pure Reason
, which gave him the basis of his speculative thought. He later followed the readings of Descartes, David Hume
, and Stuart Mill.
In 1855, at the age of 18, he participated as Sub-lieutenant of the Russian navy in the Crimean War
, during which he was twice decorated (Orders of Saint-Andrew and Saint-George). Spir defended the same bastion (N. 4 at Malakoff) as Leo Tolstoy
during the siege of Sevastopol
. After his father’s death in 1852, he inherited his father’s estates (his last remaining brother, the poet Aristarch, having died in 1841), and he emancipated his serfs and gave them land, goods and money (Spir was a forerunner: the serfs's official emancipation in the Russian Empire would not be proclaimed until 1861). In 1862 he left Elizabethgrad for a tour in Germany, where he spent two years "to know better the mind
's matter". His sister Charitis died soon after his return to Russia in 1864. After the death of his mother, in 1867, he sold lhis estates at a ridiculously low price, distributed almost all of his possessions and left Russia permanently.
He first went to Leipzig
, where he attended the lectures of Moritz Wilhelm Drobisch
(1802–1896), a Herbartian philosopher. He was there at the same time that Nietzsche was a student, although it does not appear that they met. In 1869 he moved to Tübingen
and in 1871, to Stuttgart
. Here, at the orthodox Church of the Court, he married on 30 January 1872, Elisabeth (Elise) Gatternich and the two had a daughter, Hélène. In Leipzig, Spir befriended the publisher and fellow Freemason Joseph Gabriel Findel, who published most of Spir’s works. His most important book, Denken und Wirklichkeit: Versuch einer Erneuerung der kritischen Philosophie (Thought and Reality: Attempt at a Renewal of Critical Philosophy) was published in 1873. A second edition, which was the one owned by Nietzsche, was published in 1877. In an attempt to be read by a broader lectorate, Spir wrote directly in French his Esquisses de philosophie critique (Outlines of critical philosophy), published for the first time in 1877. A new edition was published forty years after his death, in 1930, with an introduction by the French philosopher and professor at the Sorbonne
Léon Brunschvicg.
In 1878, having suffered from pneumonia
, in order to treat the consequences of his illness (a chronic cough), Spir moved to Lausanne
, Switzerland
, where he spent five years. In 1884 Spir asked the Russian Emperor to be authorized to leave the Russian citizenship and to obtain the Swiss citizenship, the same year he received the imperial authorization and applied for a certificate of registry at Belmont-sur-Lausanne
, where he lived with his family. In 1886, to enjoy the facilities of a bigger library (the "Société de Lecture", a private reading society), he moved to Geneva
. At 17 September 1889 he received from the Swiss Federal Government the authorization for his wife, his daughter, and himself to become Swiss citizens. He died of influenza
in Geneva, at 6 rue Petitot, on 26 March 1890, and was buried in the Saint-Georges cemetery. He was survived by his wife Elisabeth and his daughter, Hélène. Although he spent most of his life as a philosopher, he never held a university appointment and his writings remained relatively unknown and unrecognized throughout his life.
Manuscripts, personal papers, photographs, books by or on African Spir were donated in March 1940 by his daughter Hélène Claparède-Spir to the Library of Geneva (Bibliothèque de Genève, formerly Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire de Genève), where they compose the "Fonds African Spir" and can be consulted.
Others Papers concerning Spir, his daughter Hélène Claparède-Spir and her family can be consulted at Harvard University Library
.
".
, show the delusion of empiricism
, and present the true nature of things by strict statements of facts and logically controlled inference. This method led Spir to proclaim the principle of identity (or law of identity
, A ≡ A) as the fundamental law of knowledge, which is opposed to the changing appearance of the empirical reality.
and philosophy, have for Spir the same theoretical foundation: the principle of identity, which is the characteristic of the supreme being, of the absolute, of God. God is not the creator deity
of the universe and mankind, but man's true nature and the norm of all things, in general. The moral and religious conscience live in the consciousness of the contrast between this norm (Realität) and empirical reality (Wirklichkeit).
"There is a radical dualism between the empirical nature of man and his moral nature" and the awareness of this dualism
is the sole true foundation of moral judgment
.
. He set the example, redistributing his personal inherited land properties to his former serfs.
read Thought and Reality and was deeply impressed, as he mentioned in a letter to Hélène Claparède-Spir: "reading Thought and Reality has been a great joy for me. I do not know a philosopher so profound and at the same time so precise, I mean scientific, accepting only what is strictly necessary and clear for everybody. I am sure that his doctrine will be understood and appreciated as it deserves and that the destiny of his work will be similar to that of Schopenhauer, who became known and admired only after his death". We read in Tolstoy's journal, 2 May 1896 : "Still another important event the work [Thought and Reality] of African Spir. I just read through what I wrote in the beginning of this notebook. At bottom, it is nothing else than a short summary of all of Spir's philosophy which I not only had not read at that time, but about which I had not the slightest idea. This work clarified my ideas on the meaning of life remarkably, and in some ways strengthened them. The essence of his doctrine is that things do not exist, but only our impressions which appear to us in our conception as objects. Conception (Vorstellung) has the quality of believing in the existence of objects. This comes from the fact that the quality of thinking consists in attributing an objectivity to impressions, a substance, and a projecting of them into space."
The most important works on Spir's philosophy were published between 1900 and 1914 (Lessing, Zacharoff, Segond, Huan, Martinetti). After the first World War, the interpretation of Spir's thought by the Italian philosopher Piero Martinetti (1872–1943) gave it a second life for a short while, in the form of a "religious idealism". Before the second World War, Hélène Claparède-Spir published some new editions of her father's books in French and had an extensive exchange of letters to promote her father's thought. In 1937, for the centennial of Spir's birth, Martinetti published in Italy a monographic edition on Spir of the Rivista di Filosofia (Philosophical Review). After the second World War, African Spir fell into oblivion. In 1990, for the centennial of Spir's death in Geneva, the Geneva Public Library organized an exhibition of the African Spir's corpus and published the analytical catalogue. Many of Spir's books have not been entirely sold and are still available in their first or second edition (in German, French, Italian, English, or Spanish translations). Presumably, due to the increasing interest in the argument at the beginning of the twenty-first century, a reprint of the Italian translation by Odoardo Campa in 1911 of Spir's Moralität und Religion (1874) has been published in 2008.
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
Neo-Kantian philosopher of German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
descent who wrote primarily in German. His book Denken und Wirklichkeit (Thought and Reality) exerted a "lasting impact" on the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
.
Biography
Spir was born on 10 November 1837 in his father's estates of Spirowska, near the city of Yelisawetgrad (Elizabethgrad, now KirovohradKirovohrad
Kirovohrad , formerly Yelisavetgrad, is a city in central Ukraine. It is located on the Inhul River. It is a motorway junction. Pop. 239,400 ....
, Kherson
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...
skaya guberniya
Guberniya
A guberniya was a major administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire usually translated as government, governorate, or province. Such administrative division was preserved for sometime upon the collapse of the empire in 1917. A guberniya was ruled by a governor , a word borrowed from Latin ,...
), Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(now in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
). His father, Alexander Alexandrovich Spir, was a Russian surgeon—Chief Physician of the military Hospital of Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
specifically—and former professor of mathematics in Moscow. In 1812 he received the Order of St. Vladimir, was knighted, and became councillor and member of Kherson's Governorate hereditary nobility. His mother, Helena Constantinovna Spir, daughter of the major Poulevich, was on her mother's side the grand-daughter of the Greek painter Logino, who arrived in Russia under the reign of Catherine the Great. Alexander Spir gave each of his five children—four boys and one girl—names chosen in an old Greek Calendar, this is the source of the curious name "Afrikan". Spir disliked his Christian name, simply signing his letters and books "A. Spir". His modesty impelled him not to use either the German "von" or the French "de"—denoting his noble status—before his family name. He described his education as follows: "I spent my childood in the countryside and later I studied for a while in Odessa, first in a Private boarding-school and after in a Gymnasium, more or less equivalent, if I do not mistake, to a French high-school. I have not been at the University, instead I entered the Midshipmen's School in Nikolayev (now Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv , also known as Nikolayev , is a city in southern Ukraine, administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv is the main ship building center of the Black Sea, and, arguably, the whole Eastern Europe.-Name of city:...
), not far fom the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
." During this period he developed an interest in philosophy and read (in the French translation of Tissot) Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
’s Critique of Pure Reason
Critique of Pure Reason
The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, first published in 1781, second edition 1787, is considered one of the most influential works in the history of philosophy. Also referred to as Kant's "first critique," it was followed by the Critique of Practical Reason and the Critique of Judgement...
, which gave him the basis of his speculative thought. He later followed the readings of Descartes, David Hume
David Hume
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...
, and Stuart Mill.
In 1855, at the age of 18, he participated as Sub-lieutenant of the Russian navy in the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, during which he was twice decorated (Orders of Saint-Andrew and Saint-George). Spir defended the same bastion (N. 4 at Malakoff) as Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
during the siege of Sevastopol
Sevastopol
Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....
. After his father’s death in 1852, he inherited his father’s estates (his last remaining brother, the poet Aristarch, having died in 1841), and he emancipated his serfs and gave them land, goods and money (Spir was a forerunner: the serfs's official emancipation in the Russian Empire would not be proclaimed until 1861). In 1862 he left Elizabethgrad for a tour in Germany, where he spent two years "to know better the mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
's matter". His sister Charitis died soon after his return to Russia in 1864. After the death of his mother, in 1867, he sold lhis estates at a ridiculously low price, distributed almost all of his possessions and left Russia permanently.
He first went to Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, where he attended the lectures of Moritz Wilhelm Drobisch
Moritz Wilhelm Drobisch
Moritz Wilhelm Drobisch was a German mathematician, logician, psychologist and philosopher. His brother was the composer Karl Ludwig Drobisch .-Life:...
(1802–1896), a Herbartian philosopher. He was there at the same time that Nietzsche was a student, although it does not appear that they met. In 1869 he moved to Tübingen
Tübingen
Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...
and in 1871, to Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
. Here, at the orthodox Church of the Court, he married on 30 January 1872, Elisabeth (Elise) Gatternich and the two had a daughter, Hélène. In Leipzig, Spir befriended the publisher and fellow Freemason Joseph Gabriel Findel, who published most of Spir’s works. His most important book, Denken und Wirklichkeit: Versuch einer Erneuerung der kritischen Philosophie (Thought and Reality: Attempt at a Renewal of Critical Philosophy) was published in 1873. A second edition, which was the one owned by Nietzsche, was published in 1877. In an attempt to be read by a broader lectorate, Spir wrote directly in French his Esquisses de philosophie critique (Outlines of critical philosophy), published for the first time in 1877. A new edition was published forty years after his death, in 1930, with an introduction by the French philosopher and professor at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
Léon Brunschvicg.
In 1878, having suffered from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, in order to treat the consequences of his illness (a chronic cough), Spir moved to Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, where he spent five years. In 1884 Spir asked the Russian Emperor to be authorized to leave the Russian citizenship and to obtain the Swiss citizenship, the same year he received the imperial authorization and applied for a certificate of registry at Belmont-sur-Lausanne
Belmont-sur-Lausanne
Belmont-sur-Lausanne is a municipality in the district of Lavaux-Oron in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is a suburb of the city of Lausanne.-Geography:...
, where he lived with his family. In 1886, to enjoy the facilities of a bigger library (the "Société de Lecture", a private reading society), he moved to Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. At 17 September 1889 he received from the Swiss Federal Government the authorization for his wife, his daughter, and himself to become Swiss citizens. He died of influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
in Geneva, at 6 rue Petitot, on 26 March 1890, and was buried in the Saint-Georges cemetery. He was survived by his wife Elisabeth and his daughter, Hélène. Although he spent most of his life as a philosopher, he never held a university appointment and his writings remained relatively unknown and unrecognized throughout his life.
Manuscripts, personal papers, photographs, books by or on African Spir were donated in March 1940 by his daughter Hélène Claparède-Spir to the Library of Geneva (Bibliothèque de Genève, formerly Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire de Genève), where they compose the "Fonds African Spir" and can be consulted.
Others Papers concerning Spir, his daughter Hélène Claparède-Spir and her family can be consulted at Harvard University Library
Harvard University Library
The Harvard University Library system comprises about 90 libraries, with more than 16 million volumes. It is the oldest library system in the United States, the largest academic and the largest private library system in the world...
.
Philosophy
Due to his personal readings and his attending of Drobitsch's lectures, Spir must be considered as a Neo-Kantian philosopher, Nietzsche presented him as "an outstanding logician". Spir referred to his philosophy as "critical philosophyCritical philosophy
Attributed to Immanuel Kant, the critical philosophy movement sees the primary task of philosophy as criticism rather than justification of knowledge; criticism, for Kant, meant judging as to the possibilities of knowledge before advancing to knowledge itself...
".
Epistemology
Spir sought to establish philosophy as the science of first principles, he held that the task of philosophy was to investigate immediate knowledgeKnowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
, show the delusion of empiricism
Empiricism
Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,...
, and present the true nature of things by strict statements of facts and logically controlled inference. This method led Spir to proclaim the principle of identity (or law of identity
Law of identity
In logic, the law of identity is the first of the so-called three classic laws of thought. It states that an object is the same as itself: A → A ; While this can also be listed as A ≡ A this is redundant Any reflexive relation upholds the law of identity...
, A ≡ A) as the fundamental law of knowledge, which is opposed to the changing appearance of the empirical reality.
Ontology
For Spir the principle of identity is not only the fundamental law of knowledge, it is also an ontological principle, expression of the unconditioned essence of reality (Realität=Identität mit sich), which is opposed to the empirical reality (Wirklichkeit), which in turn is evolution (Geschehen). The principle of identity displays the essence of reality: only that which is identical to itself is real, the empirical world is ever-changing, therefore it is not real. Thus the empirical world has an illusory character, because phenomena are ever-changing, and empirical reality is unknowable.Religion and Morality
Religion, moralityMorality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
and philosophy, have for Spir the same theoretical foundation: the principle of identity, which is the characteristic of the supreme being, of the absolute, of God. God is not the creator deity
Creator deity
A creator deity is a deity responsible for the creation of the world . In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator deity, while polytheistic traditions may or may not have creator deities...
of the universe and mankind, but man's true nature and the norm of all things, in general. The moral and religious conscience live in the consciousness of the contrast between this norm (Realität) and empirical reality (Wirklichkeit).
"There is a radical dualism between the empirical nature of man and his moral nature" and the awareness of this dualism
Dualism
Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...
is the sole true foundation of moral judgment
Judgment
A judgment , in a legal context, is synonymous with the formal decision made by a court following a lawsuit. At the same time the court may also make a range of court orders, such as imposing a sentence upon a guilty defendant in a criminal matter, or providing a remedy for the plaintiff in a civil...
.
Social Justice
Socially, Spir was not favourable to inherited wealth's accumulation in private hands and demanded just distribution of material goods, but disapproved of collectivismCollectivism
Collectivism is any philosophic, political, economic, mystical or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. Collectivists usually focus on community, society, or nation...
. He set the example, redistributing his personal inherited land properties to his former serfs.
Reception
In 1896 Leo TolstoyLeo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
read Thought and Reality and was deeply impressed, as he mentioned in a letter to Hélène Claparède-Spir: "reading Thought and Reality has been a great joy for me. I do not know a philosopher so profound and at the same time so precise, I mean scientific, accepting only what is strictly necessary and clear for everybody. I am sure that his doctrine will be understood and appreciated as it deserves and that the destiny of his work will be similar to that of Schopenhauer, who became known and admired only after his death". We read in Tolstoy's journal, 2 May 1896 : "Still another important event the work [Thought and Reality] of African Spir. I just read through what I wrote in the beginning of this notebook. At bottom, it is nothing else than a short summary of all of Spir's philosophy which I not only had not read at that time, but about which I had not the slightest idea. This work clarified my ideas on the meaning of life remarkably, and in some ways strengthened them. The essence of his doctrine is that things do not exist, but only our impressions which appear to us in our conception as objects. Conception (Vorstellung) has the quality of believing in the existence of objects. This comes from the fact that the quality of thinking consists in attributing an objectivity to impressions, a substance, and a projecting of them into space."
The most important works on Spir's philosophy were published between 1900 and 1914 (Lessing, Zacharoff, Segond, Huan, Martinetti). After the first World War, the interpretation of Spir's thought by the Italian philosopher Piero Martinetti (1872–1943) gave it a second life for a short while, in the form of a "religious idealism". Before the second World War, Hélène Claparède-Spir published some new editions of her father's books in French and had an extensive exchange of letters to promote her father's thought. In 1937, for the centennial of Spir's birth, Martinetti published in Italy a monographic edition on Spir of the Rivista di Filosofia (Philosophical Review). After the second World War, African Spir fell into oblivion. In 1990, for the centennial of Spir's death in Geneva, the Geneva Public Library organized an exhibition of the African Spir's corpus and published the analytical catalogue. Many of Spir's books have not been entirely sold and are still available in their first or second edition (in German, French, Italian, English, or Spanish translations). Presumably, due to the increasing interest in the argument at the beginning of the twenty-first century, a reprint of the Italian translation by Odoardo Campa in 1911 of Spir's Moralität und Religion (1874) has been published in 2008.
Spir's Works
- 1866. Die Wahrheit, Leipzig, J.G. Findel (under the pseudonym of “Prais”, anagram of: A. Spir, 2nd ed. under the name of A. Spir 1867, Leipzig, Förster und Findel).
- 1868. Andeutung zu einem widerspruchlosen Denken, Leipzig, J.G. Findel.
- 1869. Erörterung einer philosophischen Grundeinsicht, Leipzig, J.G. Findel.
- 1869. Forschung nach der Gewissheit in der Erkenntniss der Wirklichkeit, Leipzig, J.G. Findel.
- 1869. Kurze Darstellung der Grundzüge einer philosophischen Anschauungsweise, Leipzig, J.G. Findel.
- 1869. Vorschlag an die Freunde einer vernünftigen Lebensführung, Leipzig, J.G. Findel (French translation by Hélène Claparède-Spir: Projet d'un coenobium laïque, Ed. of Coenobium, Lugano, 1907).
- 1870. Kleine Schriften, Leipzig,J.G. Findel.
- 1873. Denken und Wirklichkeit: Versuch einer Erneuerung der kritischen Philosophie, 1st ed. Leipzig, J. G. Findel.
- 1874. Moralität und Religion, 1st ed. Leipzig, J.G. Findel. (Italian translation by Odoardo Campa: Religione, Lanciano, Carabba, 1911, reprint 2008).
- 1876. Empirie und Philosophie: vier Abhandlungen, Leipzig, J.G. Findel.
- 1876. "Zu der Frage der ersten Principien", in: Philosophische Monatshefte, XII, p. 49–55.
- 1877. Denken und Wirklichkeit: Versuch einer Erneuerung der kritischen Philosophie, 2d ed. Leipzig, J. G. Findel.
(French translation from the 3rd ed. by A. Penjon: Pensée et réalité: essai d'une réforme de la philosophie critique, Lille, Au siège des Facultés – Paris, Alcan, 1896). - 1877. Sinn und Folgen der modernen Geistesströmung, 1st ed. Leipzig, J.G. Findel.
- 1878. Moralität und religion, 2d ed. Leipzig, J.G. Findel.
- 1878. Sinn und Folgen der modernen Geistesströmung, 2d ed. Leipzig, J.G. Findel.
- 1879. Johann Gottlieb FichteJohann Gottlieb FichteJohann Gottlieb Fichte was a German philosopher. He was one of the founding figures of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, a movement that developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant...
nach seinen Briefen, Leipzig, J. G. Findel. - 1879. Recht und Unrecht: Eine Erörterung der Principien, Leipzig, J.G. Findel.(2nd ed., 1883, Italian translation by Cesare Goretti: La Giustizia, Milano, Lombarda, 1930; French translation: Principes de justice sociale, Genève: Éditions du Mon-Blanc (Hélène Claparède-Spir ed., Préf. de Georges DuhamelGeorges DuhamelGeorges Duhamel , was a French author, born in Paris. Duhamel trained as a doctor, and during World War I was attached to the French Army. In 1920, he published Confession de minuit , the first of a series featuring the anti-hero Salavin...
); English translation by Alexander Frederick Falconer: Right and Wrong, Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd, 1954). - 1879. Ueber Idealismus und Pessimismus, Leipzig, J.G. Findel.
- 1879. "Ob eine vierte Dimension des Raums denkbar ist?", in: Philosophische Monatshefte, XV, p. 350–352.
- 1880. Vier Grundfragen, Leipzig, J.G. Findel.
- 1883. Studien, Leipzig, J.G. Findel.
- 1883. Über Religion: Ein Gespräch, 1st ed. Leipzig, J.G. Findel. (Italian translation by O. Campa, Ed. of Coenobium, Lugano, 1910.
- 1883–85. Gesammelte Schriften Leipzig: , J.G. Findel, (republished in 1896 by Paul Neff, Stuttgart).
- 1885. Philosophische Essays,Leipzig: , J.G. Findel, (republished in 1896 by Paul Neff, Stuttgart).
- 1887. Esquisses de philosophie critique, Paris, Ancienne librairie Germer-Baillière et Cie, F. Alcan éditeur. (Russian translation by N. A. Bracker, Moscow, 1901; Italian translation by. O. Campa, with an introd. of P. Martinetti, Milano, 1913).
- 1890. Deux questions vitales: De la Connaissance du bien et du mal; De l'immortalité, Genève, Stapelmohr (published anonymously).
- 1895. "Wie gelangen wir zur Freiheit und Harmonie des Denkens", in: Archiv für systematische Philosophie, Bd. I, Heft 4, p. 457–473.
- 1897. Über Religion: Ein Gespräch, 2d ed. Leipzig, J.G. Findel.
- 1899. Nouvelles esquisses de philosophie critique (études posthumes), Paris, Librairie Félix Alcan, (Spanish translation by R. Urbano, Madrid, 1904).
- 1908–1909. Gesammelte Werke, Leipzig, J.A. Barth (Hélène Claparède-Spir ed.).
- 1930. Esquisses de philosophie critique, Paris, Libraire Félix Alcan (Nouvelle éd. avec une introduction par Léon Brunschvicg, Membre de l'Institut)
- 1930. Propos sur la guerre, Paris, Editions Truchy-Leroy (Hélène Claparède-Spir ed.).
- 1937. Paroles d'un sage, Paris-Genève, Je Sers-Labor (Choix de pensées d'African Spir avec une esquisse biografique, Hélène Claparède-Spir ed., 2d ed. Paris, Alcan, 1938).
- 1948. Lettres inédites de African Spir au professeur Penjon, Neuchâtel, Éditions du Griffon (Introd. d'Emile BréhierÉmile BréhierÉmile Bréhier was a French philosopher. His interest was in classical philosophy, and the history of philosophy. He wrote a Histoire de la Philosophie, translated into English in seven volumes....
).
Selected works on Spir
- Charles BaudouinCharles BaudouinCharles Baudouin was a French-Swiss psychoanalyst, who combined Freudianism with elements of the thought of Carl Jung and Alfred Adler.-Works:...
, "Le philosophe African Spir (1837–1890). A l'occasion de son centenaire", in: Action et Pensée, 1938, juin, p. 65–75. - Léon Brunschvicg, "La philosophie religieuse de Spir" in: Comptes rendus du II ème Congrès international de philosophie, Genève, 1904, p. 329–334.
- Hélène Claparède-Spir, Un précurseur: A. Spir, Lausanne-Genève, Payot & Cie, 1920.
- Hélène Claparède-Spir, "Vie de A. Spir" in African Spir, Nouvelles esquisses de philosophie critique, Paris, Félix Alcan, 1899.
- Augusto Del Noce, Filosofi dell'esistenza e della libertà, Spir, Chestov, Lequier, Renouvier, Benda, Weil, Vidari, Faggi, Martinetti, Rensi, Juvalta, Mazzantini, Castelli, Capograsssi, a cura di Francesco Mercadante e Bernardino Casadei, Milano, Giuffrè, 1992.
- Fabrizio Frigerio, Catalogue raisonné du fonds African Spir, Genève, Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire de Genève, 1990.
- Fabrizio Frigerio, "Un philosophe russe à Genève: African Spir (1837–1890)", in: Musées de Genève, 1990, 307, p. 3–7.
- Fabrizio Frigerio, "Spir, Afrikan Alexandrowitsch", in: Schweizer Lexikon, Mengis & Ziehr Ed., Luzern, 1991-1993, t. VI, p. 31.
- Adolphe FerrièreAdolphe FerrièreAdolphe Ferrière was one of the founders of the movement of the progressive education.He shortly worked in a school in Glarisegg and later founded an experimental school in Lausanne, Switzerland, but Adolphe Ferrière had to quickly abandon teaching due to his deafness...
, "African Spir", in: Bibliothèque universelle, 1911, vol. 63, p. 166–175. - Alfred Haag, Der Substanzbegriff und eine erkentniss-theoretischen Grundlagen in der Philosophie des Afrikan Spir, 1837–1890. Historisch-kritischer Beitrag zu neueren Philosophie, Würzburg, 1923-224.
Haag's dissertation at Würzburg. - Gabriel Huan, Essai sur le dualisme de Spir, Paris, Librairie Félix Alcan, 1914.
Huan's dissertation at Paris. - Humanus, (pseud. of Ernst Eberhardt), African Spir: ein Philosoph der Neuzeit, Leipzig, J.G.Findel, 1892 (New ed. 2009).
- Theodor LessingTheodor LessingTheodor Lessing was a German Jewish philosopher.He is known for opposing the rise of Hindenburg as president of the Weimar Republic and for his classic on Jewish self-hatred , a book which he wrote in 1930, three years before Hitler came to power, in which he tried to explain the phenomenon of...
, African Spirs Erkenntnislehre, Gießen, Münchow, 1900.
Lessing's dissertation at Erlangen. - Piero Martinetti, "Africano Spir", in: Rassegna nazionale, 1913, fasc. 16 gennaio-11 febbraio.
- Piero Martinetti, La libertà, Milan, Lombarda, 1928, Spir: pp. 282–289 (new ed. Torino, Aragno 2004, Spir: p. 248–254).
- Piero Martinetti, Il pensiero di Africano Spir, Torino, Albert Meynier, 1990.
Published and with an introduction by Franco Alessio.
Review of Fabrizio Figerio in: Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie, Lausanne, 1993, 125, p. 400. - Auguste Penjon, "Spir et sa doctrine", Revue de métaphysique et de morale, 1893, p. 216–248.
- Rivista di filosofia, 1937, a. XXVIII, n. 3, Africano Spir nel primo centenario della nascita : *** "Africano Spir (1837–1890)"; E. Carando "La religione in Africano Spir", A. Del Noce " Osservazioni sul realismo e l'idealismo in A.Spir"; *** "Il dolore nel pesssimismo di A. Spir"; P. Martinetti "Il dualismo di A.Spir"; A. Poggi "Luci ed ombre nella morale di Africano Spir"; G. Solari "Diritto e metafisica nella morale di Africano Spir".
- Joseph Segond, "L'idéalisme des valeurs et la doctrine de Spir" in: Revue philosophique de la France et de l'étranger, 1912, 8, p. 113–139.
- Samuel Spitzer, Darstellung und Kritik der Moralphilosophie Spir's, Raab, 1896.
Spitzer's dissertation at Würzburg. - Andreas Zacharoff, Spirs theoretische Philosophie dargestellt und erläutert, Weida i. Th., Thomas & Hubert, 1910.
Zacharoff's dissertation at Jena. - Mary-Barbara Zedlin, "Afrikan Alexandrovich Spir", in: Paul Edwards ed., Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 544, New York, Macmillan, 1972.
Selected works on Nietzsche's Relationship to Spir
- Peter Bornedal, Surface and the Abyss, Nietzsche as Philosopher of Mind and Knowledge, Berlin – New-York, 2010.
- Hélène Claparède-Spir, Evocation: Tolstoi, Nietzsche, Rilke, Spir, Genève, Georg, 1944.
- Hélène Claparède-Spir, "Friedrich Nietzsche und Afrikan Spir", Philosophie und Leben, 1930, 6, p. 242–250.
- Maudemarie Clark & David Dudrick, "Nietzsche's Post-Positivism", European Journal of Philosophy, 2004, 12, p. 369–385.
- Karl-Heinz Dickopp, "Zum Wandel von Nietzsches Seinsverständnis: Afrikan Spir und Gustav Teichmüller", Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung, 1970, 24, p. 50–71.
- Paolo D'Iorio, "La superstition des philosophes critiques: Nietzsche et Afrikan Spir", Nietzsche-Studien, 1993, 22, p. 257–294.
- Domenico M. Fazio, "Il Pensiero del Giovane Nietzsche e Afrikan Spir", in: Bollettino di Storia della Filosofia dell'Università degli Studi di Lecce, 1986/9, 9, p. 243–262.
- Domenico M. Fazio, Nietzsche e il criticismo, Elementi kantiani e neokantiani e critica della dialettica hegeliana nella formazione filosofica del giovane Nietzsche, Urbino, QuattroVenti, 1991.
- Michael Steven Green, Nietzsche and the Transcendental Tradition, Urbana & Chicago, University of Illinois Press – International Nietzsche Studies Series, 2002.
- Michael Steven Green, "Nietzsche’s Place in Nineteenth Century German Philosophy", Inquiry, 2004, 47, p. 168–188.
Review of Will Dudley, "Hegel, Nietzsche, and Philosophy: Thinking Freedom", Cambridge U. Press 2002. - Nadeem J. Z. Hussain, "Nietzsche's Positivism", European Journal of Philosophy, 2004,12, p. 326–368.
- Sergio Sánchez, "Logica, verità e credenza: alcune considerazioni in merito alla relazione Nietzsche–Spir” in: Maria Cristina Fornari (ed.), La trama del testo: Su alcune letture di Nietzsche, Lecce, Millela, 2000, p. 249–282.
- Sergio Sánchez, "Linguaggio, conoscenza e verità nella filosofía del giovane Nietzsche: I frammenti postumi del 1873 e le loro fonti", Annuario Filosofico, 2000, 16, p. 213–240.
- Sergio Sánchez, El problema del conocimiento en la filosofía del joven Nietzsche, Córdoba (Argentina), 2001
- Karl Schlechta & Anni Anders, Friedrich Nietzsche: Von den verborgenen Anfängen seines Philosophierens,Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, F. Frommann, 1962, p. 119–122, 159–166.
- Robin Small, "Nietzsche, Spir, and Time",Journal of the History of Philosophy, 1994, 32, p. 82–102.
Reprinted in Chapter One of Robin Small, Nietzsche in Context, Aldershot (UK), Ashgate, 2001.
External links
- Claparède-Spir Family Papers at Harvard University Library
- Online version of Spir's Thought and Reality, 2d ed., 1877 (German)
- Pensée et Réalité, 1896 (transl. of Thought and Reality) at Bibliothèque nationale de France (French)
- Esquisses de Philosophie critique, 1887, at Bibliothèque nationale de France (French)
- Paroles d'un sage, Paris-Genève, 1937 (French)
- American website on Spir
- Article on African Spir (Russian)
- Article on African Spir in a biographic dictionary (Russian)
- Kirovohrad Regional Universal Research Library's Website on Spir (mostly in Ukrainian)
- Letters of Leo Tolstoy (Russian)
- Book of Michael Steven Green, Nietzsche and the Transcendental Tradition (on African Spir-Nietzsche relationship)
- Fazio's article on African Spir-Nietzsche relationship (Italian)
- Article on Piero Martinetti of Wikipedia (Italian)
- Article on Moritz Wilhelm Drobisch of Wikipedia (German)
- Article on Foundationalism in Stanford Encyclopedia