Abstract
On the basis of the dominance principle, Ukhtomsky created a unified theory of the bio-social nature of man and a systemic approach to the leading determinants of human behavior and psyche. His scientific pursuits sought to explain the fundamental principles of brain functions that underlie complex forms of psychic representation and the spiritual life of individuals. Today, the scientific and humanitarian legacy of academician A.A. Ukhtomsky attracts the attention of specialists from various areas, as it represents one of the first and most encompassing attempts to create a complex science of man. In this paper, some of the main themes of Ukhtomsky’s unique legacy and life are outlined.
“For succeeding generations, there are always two equally valuable sides in the activity of great people initiating new eras of scientific thought: the sources of their reformatory activity and the path that their thought traversed. For successors, his conclusions serve as the starting point for further achievements, whereas the path he took envisions the direction of new developments”
I.M. Sechenov [1, p. 42]
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Notes
- 1.
They lived together until her death (in 1898) at the outskirts of Rybinsk in a modest house, where in 1990 a house-museum was opened in Ukhtomsky’s memory.
- 2.
The hypothesis on the origins of dominance theory in hesychasm, as analyzed by Merkulov [6], may in this regard merit attention. As several most outstanding intellectuals and philosophers of this period in Russia, Ukhtomsky delved into the ideas of Orthodox patristics and hesychastic anthropology—the Old Believer’s movement, to which he belonged, was strongly associated with ascetic traditions of hesychasm. Here (from Greek hesychia—ἡσυχία, “stillness, silence, unification”) a detailed understanding existed of the “energetic” structure of man and its development. Humans were seen as ordered complexes of diverse and differently directed energies, the progressive transformation of which grounds the evolution of man—as a system open to the achievement of the higher purpose of being (union with the divine).
It has been argued that this system, although framed in very different terms, has parallels with the ideas of self-organization and structured chaos at the basis of the synergetic paradigm [7], which Ukhtomsky indeed anticipated in important ways with his dominance principle (cf. Zueva, current volume, and references therein).
- 3.
According to the regulations of the Ministry of Education at the time, people with higher theological education could not be accepted to the natural science divisions of universities. Therefore, Ukhtomsky at first matriculated to the department of oriental studies, and only after the first year was able to transfer to the department of physics and mathematics.
- 4.
In 1928, Ukhtomsky formulated the principle of rhythm assimilation. It was seen as an important mechanism of coordination, integration and subordination of working brain centers with various degrees of lability, and considered as a general biological regularity at the basis of human and animal adaptation to changing environmental conditions. The effects of training, learning and memory were explained based on this physiological mechanism.
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Translated from the Russian original by Andres Kurismaa.
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Sokolova, L.V. (2015). On the Legacy and Life of Academician Alexei A. Ukhtomsky. In: Nadin, M. (eds) Anticipation: Learning from the Past. Cognitive Systems Monographs, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19446-2_7
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