Non-confident Alliance of 'Reactionaries' : the Relationship between 'Opponents' on the Philosophical-ideological Dispute over Physics in Soviet Russia in the 1930's

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  • 同床異夢の反動家たち : 1930年代ソ連での物理学をめぐる哲学・イデオロギー論争における「現代物理学への反対者」同士の関係について
  • ドウショウイム ノ ハンドウカ タチ 1930ネンダイ ソレン デ ノ ブツリガク オ メグル テツガク イデオロギー ロンソウ ニ オケル ゲンダイ ブツリガク エ ノ ハンタイシャ ドウシ ノ カンケイ ニ ツイテ

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Abstract

The present study seeks to reveal the unknown political factor of the philosophical-ideological disputes over physics in the pre-war Soviet Russia. Previous studies on this issue assumed conflicts between the two definite fractions to have a basic framework: courageous leading physicists on one hand, and foolish communists or old-generation scientists on the other. Such a distinct dichotomy, however, may have to be reconsidered after studying archival material. That is to say, the relationship between A.A. Maksimov, one of the representatives of communist ideology, and V.F. Mitkevich, a prominent specialist of the electrical technology, was more ambivalent than it seems to be. These two men apparently had a common aggressive character: both of them charged leading physicists, such as Ya. I. Frenkel' and A.F. Ioffe, of having an idealistic view. Yet, the correspondences exchanged between these 'opponents' clearly show that they severely disagreed (until 1937) on issues such as ontological views on mathematical notions or terminologies to be used in the dispute. Occasionally, the communist even criticized the electric engineer for overemphasizing the dangers of modern physical theories to materialism, an official Soviet philosophical system. Hence, until the mid 1930's, Mitkevich and Maksimov did not become confident allies of each other. This awkwardness might be regarded as one of the reasons why the dispute over the interpretation of modern physics did not result in a clear break between the professional physicists and the 'opponents'.

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