@article{Politis_2023, title={Interpretation of Kant in Eastern European Thought: Τhe Case of Mikhail Bakunin}, volume={1}, url={https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/iJByzPh/article/view/33981}, abstractNote={<p>For many people Mikhail Bakunin is considered to be much more<br />a poltiical activist than a political thinker. And for many of those<br />who regard him as serious political thinker Bakunin’s philosophy is<br />approached as another version of socialism mostly influenced by Marx,<br />but more simplified and less scientific. To use the terminology preferred<br />by Engels, Bakunin’s thought closely resembles utopian socialism. It is<br />a kind of primitive version of historical materialism. It is fairly easy to<br />support this view. In his writings, especially in his later period, Bakunin<br />accepts many of the principles which are linked to hard core materialism.<br />Nonetheless, if we follow his thinking under this perspective we will fail<br />to understand the passion with which the Russian thinker defends liberty.<br />Liberty is almost metaphysical in Bakunin’s thought. Anything that stands<br />against liberty has to be terminated. Liberty is good, it is only good and<br />it is the outmost of goods. Ιt is difficult to reach this conclusion starting<br />from a purely materialist basis. Moreover it is impossible to reach this<br />conclusion from an authoritarian marxist basis. This is the reason why<br />the most popular approaches of Bakunin fail to understand the depth<br />of his thought. In contrary, if the scholar is willing to follow Bakunin’s<br />early tracks, to focus in his first philosophical readings that helped the<br />formation of his thought, a different portrait will come to life. Bakunin’s<br />thougth has been inspired by the readings on the field of German Idealism.<br />Kant, Fichte and hegel played a significant part in forimg the core of<br />Bakunin’s thought. There is no doubt that Proudhon, Marx and others<br />influenced him later on in his life. But the idea of liberty, the keystone of<br />Bakunin’s philosophy can not be fully understood independentely of his<br />early Kantian studies.</p>}, number={2}, journal={ICON, Journal on Byzantine Philosophy}, author={Politis, George}, year={2023}, month={Mar.}, pages={9–26} }