Zilberman, David Benjaminovich

Born in the family of an engineer in Odessa. He graduated from school with a gold medal. I could not enter the Polytechnic Institute because of Jewish origin. He received a technical education ( Odessa Hydrometeorological Institute , 1962 ), from 1962 to 1965 he worked as a meteorologist in distribution at an airport near Ashgabat . He independently studied philosophy, English, Sanskrit. He met with the translator of the Mahabharata B. L. Smirnov, who lived in Ashgabat. He also met and made friends with astronomer K. Lubarsky , who later became a well-known figure in the human rights movement. Explored the dust storms. Carried away by philosophy, he decided not to continue research in the field of meteorology ^[1] .

In 1965, the time of compulsory distribution work ended, and at the same time he contracted Borovsky's disease . In the summer of 1965, Zilberman returned to Odessa. After his recovery, he worked in various organizations, including a patent specialist at the Black Sea Central Design Bureau 3. He continued independent studies of philosophy and oriental languages, entered into marriage. He participated in the work of the philosophical circle of A. I. Uyomov at Odessa University. Translated from ancient Greek.

In 1968, in one of his visits to Moscow, he met in Moscow with Yuri Glazov and G.P.Shchedrovitsky . On the advice of the latter, he entered the graduate school of the newly created Institute for Concrete Social Research of the USSR Academy of Sciences (supervisor - Yu. A. Levada ). In graduate years (until 1972 ) he participated in seminars of the Moscow Methodological Circle and in the sociological seminar of Yu. N. Levada, translated literature on Hinduism , published articles on the same topic. He was the author of several articles in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Some of his translations of Indian philosophical texts were distributed in samizdat . The dissertation “on understanding cultural tradition” at the end of graduate school failed to be defended in connection with the reorganization of the sector (in fact, the “dispersal” of the group of Yu. A. Levada). This fundamental study was published only in 2015 under the scientific editorship of O. I. Genisaretsky ^[2] .

In February 1972, he discovered the philosophical method “ modal methodology ”. The rich possibilities of its application became the foundation for the research of Zilberman in subsequent years. Based on this method, he developed a method for comparing cultural traditions.

In the spring of 1972 he was arrested by police, then questioned by officers and came under special surveillance by the KGB ^[3] . In the summer of 1972, after graduating from graduate school, he was forced to return from Moscow to Odessa, and could not find a permanent job. Earned translations from English. At the same time, “acceleration” of the research group of Yu. A. Levada at ICSI began, which made official defense of the dissertation prepared by Zilberman impossible. In October 1973 he emigrated with his family to the United States.

Articles in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia

• “Indian Philosophy” (co-authored with A. Pyatigorsky. Volume 10);
• “Culture” (co-authored with V. Mezhuev. Volume 10);
• "Yoga" (in collaboration with A. Pyatigorsky. Volume 11);
• The Lokayatas (Volume 16);
• The Mimamsa (Volume 16);
• “Nagarjuna” (Volume 15);
• Nyaya (Volume 18).

After Emigration

Since November 1973 he lived in the United States . He lectured in philosophy and anthropology at Hunter College, City University of New York , then taught Indian philosophy at the University of Chicago , spent the last two years of his life as a professor in the Department of Idea History at Brandeis University , and lived in Newton . He lectured on the history of Indian and Western philosophy. Using modal methodology, he analyzed the philosophical traditions of classical India and the European philosophy of the New Age. He planned to conduct a long study in India in 1977-1978. At the same time, he began work on a fundamental study of Soviet philosophy (the manuscript entitled "Moscow School of Methodology" remained unfinished). He was friends with Roman Jacobson . He continued intensive correspondence with his Moscow colleagues and friends. In the spring of 1977, the announcement of the future dismissal of Professor Zilberman caused two days of student unrest at Brandai University ^[4] .

He died in a traffic accident on July 25, 1977. Spouse - Elena Michnik-Zilberman and the youngest daughter of Alexander Curtis-Zilberman currently live in Florida, the eldest daughter Natalia Carney lives in Boston, the sister of Raisa Zilberman lives in Chicago. A number of modern philosophers in Moscow , Odessa and St. Petersburg consider themselves to be his students.

Author of works on Indian philosophy , the philosophy of Kabbalah , modern social anthropology , philosophical epistemology , typology of cultures in relation to tradition. Only a small part of them are published in English and Russian . The Zilberman Archive is located at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University . University researcher Elena Gurko is engaged in their research and publication. Manuscripts that he could not take out during the emigration are stored in the personal archives of Zilberman's friends in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Thesis

The most voluminous and finished work of Zilberman is his Ph.D. thesis in philosophy (in fact, in theoretical sociology), prepared while studying at the ICSI graduate school by the end of 1971. The final version was entitled “Understanding Cultural Tradition”. This work consists of three large sections: the first provides a critical analysis of contemporary sociological and anthropological theories of cultural tradition; the second presents the author’s concept of cultural tradition and the methodology of its formalization; in the third, a typology of six types of cultural traditions. The defense of the dissertation did not take place. Zilberman took her text to emigration and later used it in the preparation of English-language works. In 2015, the dissertation was published as a separate commented edition under the scientific editorship of O. And Genisaretsky and edited by M. Nemtsev , A. Rusakov, V. Fedoseyev.

During his comparative brief stay in Moscow, Zilberman actively communicated with philosophers and sociologists from different communities. Among his close interlocutors were Alexander Pyatigorsky , Oleg Genisaretsky , Eugene Schiffers , George Shchedrovitsky , Yuri Levada , Oktyabrina Volkova , Dmitry Segal . After emigration, Zilberman maintained an active correspondence with them. Part of it was published by V.I. Rokityansky together with letters from Zilberman to Y. Levada and E. Schiffers. Alexander Pyatigorsky devoted one of his main books, Thinking and Observation , to Zilberman, indicating that it was written as a continuation of their dialogues in Moscow in the early 1970s.

• On the possibility of a systematic study of logical thinking // Systemic method and modern science . Vol. 1. Novosibirsk, 1971.P. 138-147.
• Personality and culture in the anthropology of Paul Radin . // Questions of Philosophy , 1971 , No. 6, S. 163-172.
• Social anthropology: development dynamics and prospects . // Questions of Philosophy , 1971, No. 11, S. 154-163.
• The myth of Westernization of Japan. The culture. Between 1970 and 1972 (A fragment of the dissertation of E. Zilberman, designed as an article).
• Revelation in advaita-vedanta as an experience of semantic destruction of language // Questions of Philosophy, 1972 , No. 5. P. 117-129.
• Indian Philosophy . // Great Soviet Encyclopedia . (in co-authorship with A. M. Pyatigorsky) - No. 10, M., 1972.
• The culture . // Great Soviet Encyclopedia . (in co-authorship with V. M. Mezhuev) - No. 10, M., 1972.
• Yoga // Great Soviet Encyclopedia . (in co-authorship with A. M. Pyatigorsky) - No. 11, M., 1972.
• The Kabbalah Mysticism and the Social Situation in Spain at the Close of the 15th Century - In: Jews in the USSR, London 1973.
• Lokayata . // Great Soviet Encyclopedia . - No. 14, M., 1973.
• Mimansa . // Great Soviet Encyclopedia . - M., 1974.
• The Jewish Minority in the Soviet Ukraine. - in: Minutes of the Seminar in Ukrainian Studies, Harvard university. 1974, o. 6.
• Nagarjuna . // Great Soviet Encyclopedia . - No. 17, M., 1975.
• Nyaya . // Great Soviet Encyclopedia . - No. 18, M., 1975.
• A Critical Review of E. Conze's translation of "The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom . " - in: The Journal of Asian Studies , November, 1975 .
• A Critical Review of D. Kalupahana's “Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism” . - in: The Journal of Asian Studies, May, 1976 .
• Iconic Calculus? - in: General Systems , vol. XXI, 1976, pp. 183-186.
• Ethnography in Soviet Russia - in: Dialectical Anthropology, vol. 1, no.2, Feb. 1976, pp. 135-153.
• The Emergence of Semiotics in India: Some Approaches to Understanding Laksana in Hindu and Buddhist Philosophical Usages. - in: Semiotica vol. 17, n. 3, 1976, pp. 255-265. (in co-authorship with A. Pyatigorsky).
• Orthodox Ethic and the Matter of Communism. - in: Studies in Soviet Thought, vol. 17, 1977, pp. 341-419.
• The Post-Sociological Society. - In: Studies in the Soviet Thought, vol. 18, 1978, pp. 261-328.
• Approximate reasoning between three persons about modal methodology and the sum of metaphysicists // Russia / Russia, Torino, 1980, No. 4, pp. 285-316.
• The Birth of Meaning in Hindu Thought . - Dordrecht; Boston: D. Reidel Pub .; Norwell: Kluwer Academic, 1988 .
• Semantic Shifts in Epic Composition: On the “Modal” Poetics of the Mahab-harata . // Semiosis. - Michigan, 1984.
• On the semiotics of understanding the types of cultural traditions . // Peoples of Asia and Africa , 1989 , No. 3, C. 128—142.
• Tradition as communication: translation of values, writing . // Questions of Philosophy , 1996 , No. 4, pp. 76-105.
• Genesis of meaning in the philosophy of Hinduism . Per. from English - M.: Editorial URSS , 1998 .
• Genisaretsky O. I. , Zilberman D. B. On the possibility of philosophy. Correspondence 1972-1977 - M., 2002 .
• Analogy in Indian and Western Philosophical Thought . - Dordrecht: Springer , 2006 .

Monographic editions in Russian

• The genesis of meaning in the philosophy of Hinduism / trans. E. Gurko. M: ROSSPEN, 1998.
• Orthodox ethics and the matter of communism / trans. from English E Gurko, ed. S. A. Semenova; scientific ed. A. Mitrofanova and M. Nemtsev . St. Petersburg: Ivan Limbach Publishing House, 2014.
• To an understanding of cultural tradition. - M.: Russian Political Encyclopedia, 2015 .-- 623 p. ISBN 978-5-8243-1977-4 (The Book of the Light Series)

Translations

• Sankara , “ Incomplete Comprehension ” ( Sanskrit translation, published in the journal Voprosy filosofii , 1975, No. 5, pp. 109-116).
• Ingolls D. Introduction to Indian Logic Navia-Nyaya / Otv. ed. V.A. Smirnov. M .: Nauka, 1975 [the book was published without indicating the name of the translator].

1. ↑ See Methods. Methodology. Methodological thinking: [discussions, 1971/72] / [resp. Ed .: A. A. Piskoppel, V. R. Rokityansky, L. P. Shchedrovitsky]. - Moscow: MMK Heritage, 2011 .-- 295 p .; 22 cm. - ( Annals of MMK ) .; ISBN 978-5-98808-011-4 ; Field of activity. Methodological thinking and reflection [Text] / [resp. Editors: A. A. Piskoppel, V. R. Rokityansky, L. P. Shchedrovitsky]. - Moscow: MMK Heritage, 2012 .-- 306 p .; 22 cm. - ( Annals of MMK : seminars; 1972 (1)) .; ISBN 978-5-98808-013-8 ; Typology and typological method [Text]; Knowledge in activity: seminars / [open. Ed .: A. A. Piskoppel, V. R. Rokityansky, L. P. Shchedrovitsky]. - Moscow: Legacy of the MMK , 2014 .-- 405 p. : ill .; 22 cm. - ( Annals of MMK ; 1973 (1)) .; ISBN 978-5-98808-018-3 .

In Russian

• Genisaretsky O. I. A few words about David Zilberman and his philosophizing // Zilberman D. To the understanding of cultural taddition. M .: ROSSPEN, 2015.S. 15-22.
• Gurko E. N. Modal methodology of David Zilberman . - Minsk : Ekonompress, 2007 .
• Gurko E. N. "Philosophy" by David Zilberman // Philosophy does not end. From the history of Russian philosophy of the XX century. T. 2 / Ed. V.A. Lektersky. M .. 1998.S. 671–691.
• Zilberman R. B. On the possibility of love. Life-long joy and bitterness: the story of the philosopher David Zilberman. St. Petersburg: Aletheia , 2015.280 s. (Series "Body of Thought").
• Levada Yu. A. About the author // Peoples of Asia and Africa . - 1989. - No. 3. - C. 128-130. (Preface: Zilberman D. On the semiotics of understanding the types of cultural traditions. P. 130-142).
• Melikhov G.V., Petrushin E. S. D. Zilberman on the nature of understanding in social anthropology (the experience of problem reconstruction) // Uchenye zapiski Kazan University . Ser. Humanity. science. - 2009. - T. 151, book. 1 .-- S. 44-50.
• Michnik-Zilberman E. Biographical notes about extraordinary life // Zilberman D. Towards an understanding of cultural tradition. M .: ROSSPEN , 2015.S. 9-14.
• Nemtsev M. Yu. Bibliography DB Zilberman. Literature about DB Zilberman // Zilberman D. To the understanding of cultural tradition. M .: ROSSPEN, 2015.S. 615-621.
• Nemtsev M. Yu. From the sociology of tradition to modal methodology // Zilberman D. To the understanding of cultural tradition. M.: ROSSPEN, 2015.S. 597-615.
• Nemtsev M. Yu. “Modal Methodology” by David Zilberman and its hermeneutic significance // Proceedings of the All-Russian Seminar of Young Scientists named after P.V. Kopnin. (Series 2): Proceedings of TSU, T. 268. Philosophical Series. Tomsk: TSU, 2006.S. 111-114.
• Nemtsev M. Yu. On the characteristic of philosophical studies of D. B. Zilberman // “Science. Philosophy. Society". Materials of the V Russian Philosophical Congress. Volume II Novosibirsk, 2009.P. 134-135.
• Rokityansky V. R. Notes and comments // Genisaretsky O. I., Zilberman D. B. On the possibility of philosophy: correspondence of 1972-1977 / comp., Comment, comm. V. Rokityansky. M .: Way. 2001.S. 263-350.
• Pyatigorsky A. M. On the philosophical work of Zilberman [1980] // He. Selected Works. - M., 1996, p. 161-173.

In other languages

• Annelis I. David B. Zilberman, 1938-1977 // Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 1978, Vol. 51, no. 5, p. 585-586.
• Anellis I. The life and thought of David B. Zilberman // Studies in East European Thought, 1979, No. 20, p. 165-175.
• Annotated catalog of the David Zilberman archive / Helena Gourko , ed. - Boston: Boston University , Center for Philosophy and History of Science, 1994.
• Piatigorsky A. Preface - in: Zilberman D. Birth of Meaning in Hindu Thought / Robert S. Cohen (ed.) D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1988. P.xiii-xv.

• Zilberman David Benjaminovich (Russian)
• on the Lotus website (Russian)