Generate QR code
Open Access
Subscription Access
Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals in Pushkin’s The Captain's Daughter [Kapitanskaya dochka]
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2019-3-103-138
Abstract
The author argues that A. Pushkin chose Kantian philosophy as the social-philosophical, as well as aesthetic, guide for the moral-legal and political tools to solve the burning issues of Russian society. The paper sets out to prove that there is every reason to consider Pugachev’s History [Istoriya Pugacheva] and The Captain’s Daughter [Kapitanskaya dochka] as a unique duology, where the same subject is interpreted by means of the historical apparatus (reliant on documents) and art, with a much wider scope. Kant’s influence manifests itself in Pushkin’s works starting from the ode Liberty [Volnost] to The Captain’s Daughter. It is stated that the poet structured his duology according to Kant’s The Metaphysics of Morals. In Pugachev’s History, Pushkin focuses on the problems of law. He follows Kant in claiming that substitution of natural law with a state of lawlessness was exactly what drove the Yaik Cossacks, and then peasants from the whole of the Volga region, to rebellion. The Captain’s Daughter, on the other hand, focuses on moral issues, in line with the structure of Kant’s most mature work on practical philosophy.
About the Author
L. A. Kalinnikov
Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Leonard A. Kalinnikov - Doctor of Philosophy.
14 A. Nevsky St., Kaliningrad, 236041
References
1. Abdullaev, Е. (2010). Kantian Pushkin and wise Mayakovsky. Voprosy Literatury, 5, pp. 149-174. (In Russ.)
2. Altshuller, М. (2015). Two Pugachevs. Romantic fiction and ‘The History of Pugachev’s rebellion’ [‘Istoriya Pugachevkogo bunta’]. Voprosy Literatury, 5, pp. 118-158. (In Russ.)
3. Aristotle. (1983). Poetics. Translated by M. Gasparov. In: A. Dovatur, ed., The works of Aristotle (4 vols). Vol. 4. Moscow: Mysl, pp. 645-680. (In Russ.)
4. Bely, А. (2004). Kant quoted in Pushkin’s texts. Voprosy Literatury, 3, pp. 59-80. (In Russ.)
5. Betea, D. (1996). Slavic gift giving, the poet in history and Pushkin’s ‘The Captain’s Daughter’ [‘Kapitanskaya dochka’]. In: V. Markovich and V. Shmid, eds., Author and text: Collected papers. Issue 2. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University, pp. 132-149. (In Russ.)
6. Chateaubriand, F. R. de. (1995). Memoirs from beyond the grave. Translated by О. Grinberg. Moscow: Izd. im. Sabashnikovykh. (In Russ.)
7. Frank, S. (1990). On the purposes of Pushkin studies. In: A. Tarkhov, ed., Pushkin in Russian philosophical thought. The late 19th century - the first half of the 20th century. Moscow: Kniga, pp. 422-452. (In Russ.)
8. Godelier, М. (2007). The enigma of the gift. Translated by А. Gofman. Moscow: Vostochnaya literatura, RAS. (In Russ.)
9. Kalinin, I. (2016). ‘To have no screen between this part he play’d and him he play’d it for’: Slaves, autocrats and impostors (Dialectics of power). Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie, 142, pp. 441-465. (In Russ.)
10. Kalinnikov, L. (2001). The theory of genius in Kant’s aesthetics and Pushkin’s ‘Mozart and Salieri’ [‘Mozart i Salieri’]. Kantovskiy Sbornik, 22, pp. 138-171. (In Russ.)
11. Kalinnikov, L. (2010). Kantian motifs in A. S. Pushkin’s ‘The Bronze Horseman’ [‘Medniy vsadnik’]. Kantovskiy Sbornik, 32, pp. 17-32. (In Russ.)
12. Kalinnikov, L. (2015-2016). Systematic ‘Critique of Pure Reason’ and Kant’s system. Kantovskiy Sbornik, 3, pp. 7-21; 4, pp. 8-16; 35(1), pp. 7-15; 35(3), pp. 7-18. (In Russ.)
13. Kalinnikov, L. (2016). The fundamental idea of Kant’s state law in Pushkin’s ‘Boris Godunov’. Kantovskiy Sbornik, 35(4), pp. 7-23. (In Russ.)
14. Kant, I. (1965). The metaphysics of morals. Translated by S. Sheinman-Topstein, T. Arzakanian. In: V. Asmus, A. Gulyga and T. Oiserman, eds.,
15. The collected works of I. Kant (6 vols). Vol. 4 (2). Moscow: Mysl, pp. 107-438. (In Russ.)
16. Kant, I. (1966a). Perpetual peace. Translated by T. Arzakanian. In: V. Asmus, A. Gulyga and T. Oiserman, eds., The collected works of I. Kant (6 vols). Vol. 6. Moscow: Mysl, pp. 257-347. (In Russ.)
17. Kant, I. (1966b). The critique of judgement. Translated by N. Sokolov. In: V. Asmus, A. Gulyga and T. Oiserman, eds., The collected works of I. Kant (6 vols). Vol. 5. Moscow: Mysl, pp. 161-529. (In Russ.)
18. Karpov, А. (2016). The noble lion story in A. S. Pushkin’s ‘The Captain’s Daughter’ [‘Kapitanskaya dochka’]. Russkaya Literatura, 3, pp. 166-175. (In Russ.)
19. Kichatov, F. (1994). ‘A frisky philosopher and a poet...’ (On the influence of Kantianism on the formation of A. S. Pushkin’s philosophical views). Kantovskiy Sbornik, 18, pp. 37-44. (In Russ.)
20. Pushkin, А. (2001a). ‘Dennitsa’. Review of the almanac in ‘Literaturnaya Gazeta’, Bibliography Section, 1830. In: M. Tsyavlovsky, ed., The complete works of A. Pushkin (1 vol). Moscow: Alfa-Kniga, p. 1173. (In Russ.)
21. Pushkin, А. (2001b). Journey from Moscow to St. Petersburg. In: M. Tsyavlovsky, ed., The complete works of A. Pushkin (1 vol). Moscow: Alfa-Kniga, pp. 1363-1379. (In Russ.)
22. Pushkin, А. (2001c). M. E. Lobanov’s opinions about the spirit of literature, foreign and our own. In: M. Tsyavlovsky, ed., The complete works of A. Pushkin (1 vol). Moscow: Alfa-Kniga, pp. 1218-1222. (In Russ.)
23. Pushkin, А. (2001d). Notes on the rebellion. In: M. Tsyavlovsky, ed., The complete works of A. Pushkin (1 vol). Moscow: Alfa-Kniga, pp. 932-936. (In Russ.) Pushkin, А. (2001e). On prose. In: M. Tsyavlovsky, ed., The complete works of A. Pushkin (1 vol). Moscow: Alfa-Kniga, pp. 1282-1283. (In Russ.)
24. Pushkin, А. (2001f). On the nobility. In: M. Tsyavlovsky, ed., The complete works of A. Pushkin (1 vol). Moscow: Alfa-Kniga, pp. 1362-1363. (In Russ.)
25. Pushkin, А. (2001g). The history of Pugachev. In: M. Tsyavlovsky, ed., The complete works of A. Pushkin (1 vol). Moscow: Alfa-Kniga, pp. 870-932. (In Russ.)
26. Pushkin, А. (2001h). Table-talk. In: M. Tsyavlovsky, ed., The complete works of A. Pushkin (1 vol). Moscow: Alfa-Kniga, pp. 1393-1406. (In Russ.)
27. Temnenko, G. (2017). The metaphysics of beauty: Pushkin, Kant and others. Voprosy Literatury, 3, pp. 112-130. (In Russ.)
28. Tomashevsky, B. (1990). Pushkin and the national spirit. In: B. Tomashevsky, Works of different years. Moscow: Kniga, pp. 78-129. (In Russ.)
29. Tsvetaeva, M. (1981). My Pushkin. Moscow: Sovetskiy pisatel. (In Russ.)
Review
For citations:
Kalinnikov L.A. Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals in Pushkin’s The Captain's Daughter [Kapitanskaya dochka]. Voprosy literatury. 2019;(3):105-140. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2019-3-103-138
Views:
617
Email this article 
