The Theme of “Self-recognition” in Philosophy of Vladimir Bibikhin

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the theoretical reconstruction of the hermeneutics of “self” in the philosophy of Vladimir Bibikhin, considering the role that the practice of “self-recognition” plays in the interpretation of the history of philosophy and the possibilities of reading it. The author refers to the materials of Bibikhin's lecture courses (Recognize Yourself, Property, History of Modern Philosophy, etc.) and suggests comprehending the strategies of Bibikhin's thoughts and reasoning through a particular hermeneutic setting that requires self-recognition in the narrative, in a historical event, in the text and thoughts of another. At the same time, the author offers to view this hermeneutic strategy polemically by comparing it with the Freudian/Lacanian psychoanalytic strategy of interpretation. It is proposed to decipher the so-called Bibikhin “formulas” of “self-recognition” by referring to three situations: dreams, childhood and doppelgangers' experiences. These situations have a deep existential dimension but can also be considered in the context of how Bibikhin exposes historical-philosophical material, since this very motive of philosophizing as “recognizing one's own” is rooted for Bibikhin in the practice of philosophical conversation, reading and writing. Interpretation of dreams, children's babbling speech and play, as well as reflection in the “living mirror”, are those given situations that open the possibility for a person to comprehend one's position and find the integrity of one's existence in the world. The risk of the strategy proposed by Bibikhin is that such hermeneutics, or the practice of “recognizing oneself”, is predominantly negative. Moreover, despite the desire to avoid possible dogmatism, unscrupulousness, skepticism, “grabbing the world”, or an invasive approach to the truth, this or that interpretation of “self”, “our” or “us” may still have been a biased decision.