Gurvich, Georgy Davidovich

George Gurvich was born in the family of the candidate of commercial sciences David Gurvich in Novorossiysk of the Black Sea province on October 20 ( November 2 ), 1894 . He was a relative of F. I. Dan , who later became one of the leaders of the Menshevik wing of Russian Social Democracy. In 1912, G.I. Gurvich brilliantly completed the eight-year course of the Riga Nikolaev Gymnasium . His certificate had only excellent marks, with the exception of mathematics. He was not certified according to the "law of God."

On June 9, 1912, he filed a petition addressed to the rector of Yuryevsky University with a request that he be enrolled as a law student. At Yuriev University, he studied from the first semester of 1912 to the sixth semester of 1915. On August 13, 1915, after six semesters, he was transferred to the University of Petrograd.

While studying at Yuriev University, G. D. Gurvich attended the courses of international lawyers working at that time in Yuriev, such as V. E. Grabar , L. A. Shalland , A. S. Yashchenko . On December 12, 1914, the Faculty of Law awarded him a gold medal for the composition “True Will of the Monarch Feofan Prokopovich ” (history of the philosophy of law). It was published in the book “True to the Will of the Monarch Feofan Prokopovich and Its Western European Sources”, edited and edited by Professor F.V. Taranovsky .

In 1917 he graduated from Petrograd University and received a master's degree, he was left to prepare for a professorship. In 1920, he received a doctorate and a university course, but after a few months he was forced to leave Russia and emigrate. There is evidence that G. D. Gurvich took an active part in revolutionary activity and was forced to leave after criticism of V.I. Lenin . The contributing factor, of course, was the harsh living and working conditions of scientists in the early years of Soviet power.

The first place GD Gurvich was abroad was Berlin , where he arrived in 1920. In 1921, in the Works of Russian Scientists Abroad, he published an article entitled The Idea of ​​Inalienable Rights in the Political Doctrine of the 17th — 18th Centuries. Here he began to write the first philosophical works published in German.

In 1920, about 500 thousand Russian emigrants lived in Germany, of which about 300 thousand were in Berlin. The German capital was often called the "second Russian capital." In the spring of 1920, a Russian academic group was created here, at the origins of which stood, and which included professor of international law A.S. Yashchenko. One of the group's activities was lecturing. G. D. Gurvich took the course "On the Idea of ​​the Inalienable Law of Persons." The Russian Scientific Institute with the Faculty of Law has opened. G. D. Gurvich taught a course of state law on it, and M.A. Taube , professor of international law , told the history of international relations. The course of international law at the institute was not listed.

In 1922, G. D. Gurvich ended up in Czechoslovakia. On May 18, 1922, the Russian Law Faculty opened in Prague. G. D. Gurvich was among his first teachers. Behind it was the subject of "International Law." However, he did not work long. Already on June 26, 1922, G. D. Gurvich wrote the following letter addressed to the dean of the Russian Faculty of Law in Prague: “Needing for the successful completion of my dissertation on the philosophy of Fichte's law in the book wealth of the Royal Berlin Library, and, in particular, in familiarization with unpublished manuscripts Fichte stored there, I have the honor to ask the faculty to send me abroad to Germany for the summer holidays from August 15 to October 15, 1922. " At the end of the specified period, the law faculty considered “the application of associate professor G. D. Gurvich to provide him with a one-year leave without content for completing the dissertation for the master’s degree” and satisfied him.

“In view of the clear need for a successful completion of my dissertation on ethics and philosophy of Fichte’s law, which I have been preparing (for the defense of the Prague Academic Group), I have been continuously staying in Berlin for a long time and then make a trip to Paris, I have the honor to ask to allow me leave for both semesters of the 1923/1924 academic year, that is, until August 1, 1924, ”he wrote in a letter of October 8, 1923.

In the same letter, he expressed "readiness for the time of vacation to abandon the relevant content." The request was granted. The training collegium under the Committee for the Education of Russian Students in the Czechoslovak Republic "at its meeting on November 24, 1923 decided to consider the free vacancy of Associate Professor G. D. Gurvich free and subject to replacement." On July 15, 1924, the Dean of the Faculty of Law D. D. Grimm raised the question "about G. D. Gurvich’s desire to return to Prague, and on December 29 at a meeting of the Russian Law Faculty his statement was announced" about the intention to teach a course in the general theory of international the law that was noted. ”

But this time, G. D. Gurvich did not stay in Prague for long. On October 27, 1925, the faculty examined his application for granting him leave for a year from November 1 of this year. on November 1, 1926, "in view of his business trip by order of the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry to Paris with preservation of content." Resolved: "To acknowledge that there is no obstacle encountered by the faculty to satisfy the request of Associate Professor G. D. Gurvich to grant him a one-year leave." June 30, 1926 vacation was extended for another year. Thus, since 1922, G. D. Gurvich did not participate in the educational process at the Russian Law Faculty, however, he was listed as his assistant professor. In a letter to the dean of the Russian Faculty of Law in Prague, Professor A. A. Vilkov from Paris on January 16, 1928, G. D. Gurvich wrote: “On December 31, 1927, my vacation expired and, as far as I know, the ministry has not yet notified the committee about my extension vacation time. Meanwhile, unofficially, the French authorities were informed back in December that the Ministry would not express obstacles to extend my vacation. On January 21, I have to start a public course of lectures in French at the Sorbonne, which honored me with its election. You will understand how important it is for me in all respects to read this course, which should end by mid-March. But, of course, a piece of bread is the most important thing, and since I have absolutely no earnings in Paris, I would rather return immediately than lose my place in Prague. ” In this regard, he asked "to personally answer the dean's questions:" Is it possible to consider the absence of an answer to my request from the Ministry as a refusal to leave; Do I have the right to expect a resolution of the issue in Paris; Do I risk being removed from my dependency if I stay in Paris without permission until mid-March. ”

Since 1925, G. D. Gurvich permanently lived in France. In 1925-1927 he worked at the Slavic Institute in Paris, and also taught at the Russian Law Faculty at the University of Paris. Since 1927, he taught at the Sorbonne. He also read Russian lectures at the Sorbonne. The newspaper Vozrozhdenie, November 27, 1925, reported that they were giving a three-hour lecture, Russian Philosophers of Law, at 10 du Ponteon Square. In 1928, G. D. Gurvich adopted French citizenship. at the same time, he did not stop participating in the cultural and social life of the Russian emigration.

In the journal "Modern Notes", starting in 1924, he published the following articles: "The ideology of socialism in the light of the latest German literature" (1924, No. 18), "State and Socialism" (1925, No. 25), "The latest evolution of French ideology syndicalism ”(1925, No. 24),“ Proudhon and the present ”(1927, No. 39),“ Bolshevism and the reconciliation of Europe ”(1925, No. 26),“ Ethics and religion ”(1926, No. 29),“ The future of democracy ” (1927, No. 32), “Socialism and Property” (1928, No. 36), “Property and Socialism” (1929, No. 38) and more.

In addition, he published reviews of the works of N. N. Alekseev , N. A. Berdyaev , M. Ya. Lazerson , T. G. Masaryk , F. V. Taranovsky . The latest publication of the scientist in "Modern Notes" was a review of the book by B. P. Vysheslavtsev "Ethics of the Transfiguration of Eros." She appeared in 1932.

The scientific views of G. D. Gurvich were widely known to Russian emigration. They were the subject of a detailed review of supporters of Eurasianism. They were referred to by the leader of this movement P. N. Savitsky in the sensational book “Controversy around Eurasianism in the 1920s”. They were a frequent subject of discussion in the correspondence of Eurasians.

According to his political views, G. D. Gurvich was a socialist. In Russia, he was a member of the party of Social Democrats (Mensheviks). He did not completely break with socialism in exile. In 1927, he continued to connect the development of democracy with a socialist perspective. From 1932 to 1937, GD Gurvich was a member of the North Star Masonic Lodge.

In the period from 1932 to 1934, G. D. Gurvich, as a professor, taught a course in philosophy at Sevign College, and in 1934/1935 he taught sociology at the University of Bordeaux. Since 1935 he worked at the University of Strasbourg . In addition, he was Secretary-General of the International Institute of Sociology of Law in Paris (1931-1940) and editor of the Paris journal Archives de philosophie du droit et de sociologie juridique for legal philosophy and legal sociology.

When the war with Germany began, G. D. Gurvich joined the ranks of the French army, participated in hostilities. After the defeat of France and demobilization in October 1940, he left for New York, where he headed the French Institute of Sociology. In 1944/1945 he taught a course in the sociology of knowledge at Harvard University.

In September 1945, G. D. Gurvich returned to France and became the main figure in French-speaking sociology. He founded and became the first director of the Center for Sociological Research, the laboratory of the sociology of cognition and morality in France, the International Association of Sociologists of French-Speaking Countries (1962), and the editor-in-chief of the journal International Notebooks on Sociology (1946). Since 1948, he is a professor of sociology at the University of Paris. From 1960 to 1963, he served as president of the French National Research Coordination Center.

G.D. Gurvich died in Paris on December 10, 1965.

Already after the death of GD Gurvich, his small memoir article “My Intellectual Path” was published, which is one of the few sources of biographical information about the scientist.

G. D. Gurvich entered the history of science primarily as a learned sociologist. He is completely unknown to the scientific world as an international lawyer. Meanwhile, the right to call him that gives not only his legal education. G. D. Gurvich also had works on international legal subjects, including in foreign languages. He was the author of the comprehensive work, Introduction to the General Theory of International Law. Lecture notes. Issue 1. Prague, 1923. 119 pages. "

Books

• Gurvich G. D. "Russo and the Declaration of Rights", Petrograd, 1918
• Gurvich G. D. “Introduction to the general theory of international law. Lecture notes ", Prague, 1923
• Fichtes System der konkreten Ethik , Tübingen: Mohr, 1924
• L'expérience juridique et la philosophie pluraliste du droit , Pedone, 1935
• Essai de Sociologie , 1939
• Sociology of law , 1942
• La vocation actuelle de la sociologie (2 tomes), PUF, 1950
• Le concept des classes sociales de Marx à nos jours , 1954
• The Specturm of Time , 1958
• Dialectique et sociologie , Flammarion, 1962
• Les Cadres sociaux de la connaissance , PUF, 1966
• La magie et le droit , Dalloz, 110 p., 2004

Articles

• "Kant und Fichte als Rousseau-Interpreten", Kant-Studien . 1922. Bd. 27, H. 1-2. S. 138-164.
• "Sociologie de la connaissance et psychologie collective", L'Année sociologique , 3e série, t. 1, 1940-1948.
• "La sociologie du jeune Marx", Cahiers internationaux de sociologie , vol. 3-4, 1947-1948 a.
• "Microsociologie et sociométrie", Cahiers internationaux de sociologie , vol. 3-4, 1947-1948 b.
• "Psychologie collective et psychologie de la connaissance", L'Année sociologique , 3e série, 1948-1949.
• "Groupement social et classe sociale", Cahiers internationaux de sociologie , vol. 7, 1949.
• "Réponse à une critique. Lettre ouverte au Pr Léopold von Wiese", Cahiers internationaux de sociologie , vol. 13, 1952.
• "Hyper-empirisme dialectique", Cahiers internationaux de sociologie , vol. 15, 1953.
• "Le concept de structure sociale", Cahiers internationaux de sociologie , vol. 19, 1955.
• "La crise de l'explication en sociologie", Cahiers internationaux de sociologie , vol. 21, 1956.
• "Réflexions sur les rapports entre philosophie et sociologie", Cahiers internationaux de sociologie , vol. 22, 1957.
• "Pour le centenaire de la naissance de Durkheim", Cahiers internationaux de sociologie , vol. 26, 1959.
• "Mon itinéraire intellectuel ou l'exclu de la horde", L'Homme et la société , no 1, 1966.

• Starodubtsev G.S. Georgy Davidovich Gurvich, as an international lawyer / G. S. Starodubtsev. // International law = International Law. - 2005. - No. 1 (21). - S. 198—217. On p. 208–217: Article in English.
• Antonov M.V., Polyakov A.V. G. D. Gurvich and Russian post-classical legal thought of the late XIX - early XX century // Jurisprudence . - 2005. - No. 4. - S. 131-137. (The article is the preface to the article - Gurvich G. D. Two of the greatest Russian philosophers of law: Boris Chicherin and Vladimir Solovyov // Jurisprudence . - 2005. - No. 4 - P. 138-164.)
• Antonov M.V. Sociology of Law George D. Gurvich // Jurisprudence . - 2003 - No. 2 (247). - S. 218-234.
• "Éléments biographiques et bibliographiques pour une étude de l'apport de Georges Gurvitch à la théorie et à la sociologie du droit" Robert Cramer, Droit et Société , 4/1986.
• Doikov Yu.V. George Gurvich - sociologist-emigrant of the first wave // Sociological studies . 1996. No. 2. P. 142-148.
• Gergilov R.E. Law as a social control: the concept of George Gurvich // Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology . 2005.V. VIII. No. 3. S. 71-78.
• Gergilov R.E. Theory and Methodology of Sociology G.D. Gurvich // Sociological studies . 2008. No. 4.
• Golosenko I.A. Gergilov R.E. George (George) Gurvich as a sociologist // Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology . 2000.V. 3. Issue. one.