Toporkov, Alexey Konstantinovich

Alexei Konstantinovich Toporkov was born in 1882 in the Moscow middle-bourgeois family (his father was a process engineer) ^[1] . Toporkov graduated from the historical and philological faculty of Moscow University in 1906 and was left at the university to prepare for a professorship. In his student years, for the work “The influence of Leibniz , especially his“ Nouveaux essais “, on Kant's theory of knowledge” (1905), he was awarded a gold medal ^[2] . As the holder of a diploma with the highest degree, he was sent to one of the semesters - summer 1906 or winter 1907/08 - to Heidelberg ^[3] . After Germany, he returned to Moscow and adjoins artistic and philosophical circles, which maintained an orientation towards a new Western culture, grouping around the Musaget book publishing house and the Logos, Trudy i Dnya magazines ^[1] . He entered graduate school under the guidance of Professor L. M. Lopatin , but, according to Andrei Bely , because of the conflict with Lopatin he was forced to leave the university ^[4] :

[Lopatin] put forward Toporkov, who was left at the university by him <...> Toporkov, essentially a buoy, four years ago - for the sake of sports, he began to overcome academic scholasticism, so that, defending his dissertation, show his real teeth; in this he succeeded at Lopatin; but, a temperamental man, - in the philosophical circle he broke, objecting to I. A. Ilyin, who read his essay on Ficht; he suddenly burst into cascades of aphorisms, which a third of those present understood; but the aphorism in philosophy was hated by Lopatin, who listened to Toporkov with an innocent smile; and gleamed in his eyes:

- “To you: not here, but - there; not with Morozova: in u-no-ver-si-te-those! ”

The fate of Toporkov was decided: he soon became homeless; the university closed his doors: the intrigue of Lopatin is like revenge for a fountain of aphorisms.

Before the revolution, Toporkov published only one book, The Idea of ​​the Slavic Revival (M., 1915). His fate during the years of the revolution is unknown. After the revolution, he was published in magazines. Like S. Yesenin , he was published in the first issue of the magazine Hotel for Traveling in the Beautiful. The second issue of the journal contains an article by A. Toporkov “Poetry and Literature” (signature: Yugurta) with a quote from V. Shershenevich’s book “To Whom I Shake Hands”: “Yesenin began his activity anonymously.” Toporkov was also published in other magazines. He wrote under the following pseudonyms: A. T .; Zvenigorodtsev; Zmiev; Nemov; Office; Yogurt Ophis. In 1924, together with Yesenin, he was a member of the initiative group for the creation of the Modern Russia Society, and on August 4, 1924 he attended an organizational meeting at which S. Yesenin was elected a member of the board of the Modern Russia Society.

Then for a long time he led the "dialectic circle" at the Military Academy of the headquarters of the Red Army, publishing the book "Method of Military Knowledge" (1927). During these same years, he managed to publish several more small books: Elements of Dialectical Logic (1927.1928), Technical Life and Contemporary Art (1928), How to Become Cultural (1929) ^[1] . In 1932, Spinoza's Ethics was published with his introductory article.

In the early 1930s - editor of the philosophical department of the Publishing House of Socio-Economic Literature (Sotsekgiza). Arrested on December 31, 1932. On February 1, 1933, by a resolution of the Board of the United State Political Administration under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, he was sentenced to 10 years in forced labor camps. He died in custody. Rehabilitated March 6, 1958 by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR.

The most significant work of Toporkov is the book “The Idea of ​​the Slavic Renaissance” (M., 1915; reprinted from abbr.: Beginning. 1992. No. 4), published under pseudo. A. Nemov. Here he, analyzing the concept of the Renaissance and analyzing the examples of the High Renaissance and the German Renaissance of the 18th century, puts forward a model for the development of Russian culture. According to Toporkov, Russia and the Slavic world should carry out a new Renaissance, for which the Late Antique Alexandrian culture with its synthetic character uniting the West and the East will serve as a historical, cultural and typological prototype. Toporkov’s concept is related to the ideas that Vyach developed in those years. Ivanov and F.F. Zelinsky, however, is independent of them.

• Toporkov A.K. Ideals of modern democracy. M. Revolution and Culture. 1918.108 + ill.
• Yogurt <Toporkov A.K.>. Poetry and literature // Hotel for travelers in the beautiful. 1923. No 2. P. 17
• Toporkov A.K. (Yugurta). Culture and personality // Transactions and days. 1914. No. 7. P. 107-123.
• Yogurt [A. K. Toporkov]. Triza and eve. Part II. Decay // Northern Notes. 1916. No. 6.
• Toporkov A.K. (Ophis). Idea // Transactions and days. 1912. No. 1. S. 73-82.
• Toporkov A.K. (Ophis). Sic et Non // Transactions and Days. 1912. No. 4-5. S. 121-131.
• Toporkov A.K. (Ophis). About Entities // Transactions and Days. 1914. No. 7. P. 124-135.
• Toporkov A.K. Goetheana. Forest Tsar // Transactions and Days. 1913. No. 1-2. S. 8-18.
• Toporkov AK Goetheana I. Goethe and Fichte. (On the centenary of the death of Fichte). 1914. No. 7. P. 11-20.
• Toporkov A.K. (Yugurta). Logic and rhetoric // Transactions and Days. 1912. No. 3. P. 40-49.
• Toporkov A.K. (Yugurta). Culture and personality // Transactions and days. 1914. No. 7. P. 107-123.
• Toporkov A.K. Essays on Contemporary Philosophy. Neo-Kantians // New Life. 1915. July August. S. 162-174.
• Toporkov A.K. B. Christiansen. Psychology and theory of knowledge // Russian Thought. 1908. Book III. S. 51-52.
• Toporkov A.K. G. Gefding. Philosophical problems. Per. with him. G. Ya. Kotlyar. M. 1904 // Questions of philosophy and psychology. 1905. Book. 76.P. 127-131.