University Philosophy in Saint Petersburg: Prosopographic Study Experience

The beginnings of professional philosophy in Russia are connected with the emergence of a secular system of education in the 18th century (Academic and Moscow Universities). For the first two centuries, philosophy occupied, though notably, a peripheral position in St Pe-tersburg's academic science. The situation changed in Soviet times with the emergence of the public university, when philosophy was given an ideological and educational role. The main focus of this research is the collective biography of philosophers at St. Petersburg Uni-versity which is being restored through several periods in the history of professional philoso-phy in St. Petersburg: 1) biographies of philosophers of the 'Academic University' and the period of the Main Institute of Education (in wide chronological framework of 1724–1819); 2) biographies of philosophers of the 'Imperial University' (1819–1919); 3) biographies of philosophers in the 'Age of Transformation' (period of Faculty of Social Sciences, Historical and Linguistic Faculty) (1918–1930s); 4) biographies of scientists from the School of Philos-ophy of the Moscow School of Economics. ); 4) biographies of academics in the Faculty of Philosophy (1940–2013). In order to draw a collective portrait of the corporation of universi-ty philosophers, prosopography methods are used to trace the dynamics of the processes tak-ing place in the professional community. The quantitative changes of the philosophers of St. Petersburg/Leningrad University are noted and compared with another professional corpora-tion - university historians. It is noted that the study is based on the database – electronic dic-tionary «Philosophers of St. Petersburg University».