The Emergence of Russian Liberalism: Alexander Kunitsyn in Context, 1783-1840 (Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History)

This study offers a fresh perspective on the history of Russian liberalism by looking at the life and work of Alexander Kunitsyn, a teacher and philosopher of natural law, whose academic and journalistic writings contributed to the dissemination of Western liberal thought among the Russian public. Placed into the broad intellectual and political context of its time, Kunitsyn’s life illuminates the history of legal philosophy and early liberalism in Russia—topics that remain little studied in Russian and Western scholarships. One of the chapters is devoted to the textual and historical analysis of the major works on legal philosophy published in early nineteenth century Russia, none of which has been examined before. A comparison with other thinkers highlights Kunitsyn’s distinctly individualistic and liberal interpretation of natural law theory. It also explains why the publication of his work triggered an official reaction against the teaching of natural law and philosophy in Russian universities.