The extension of liberalism by collectivism in S. I. Hessen

Abstract

The article considers the principle of the extension of liberalism by collectivism by S. I. Hessen. It is shown that the justification of the possibility of combining the ideas of socialism, communitarianism and liberalism can be found both in the historical reality existing in the time of Hessen and in the status of philosophical, legal and social conceptions. Hessen’s sociopolitical views are interpreted as a search for a compromise between the socialist ideas of his idol A. I. Herzen and the liberal ideas of his father I. V. Hessen. The search for a compromise between the moral maximalism of the legal nihilism of Vl. Solovyov and the liberal law of B. N. Chicherin is illustrated. Furthermore, the importance of Hessen’s commitment to the transcendental theory of cultural values of the Baden school of neo-Kantianism for his theorizing of history and personality is emphasized. The author considers the concept of a collective personality, the theoretical sources of which are the concept of a “complex collective personality” by O. v. Gierke and the “collective personality” of M. Scheler. The concept of collective personality, which uses Hessen, as well as L. P. Karsavin, points to the closeness of Hessen’s concept to the views of the Slavophiles and the philosophy of all-unity of Vl. Solovyov, which is also confirmed by the influence on Hessen of the theory of social law by G. D. Gurvitch who used the concept of “conciliar [sobornost- or communion-related] property.” It is concluded that the developed principle of extending liberalism through the application of the concept of a collective personality, and the concept of legal socialism created by Hessen on this principle, can serve as the basis for explaining the paradoxical situation observed today in the social and legal sciences on the convergence of liberalism and communitarianism, which makes this study relevant.