The Purification of Reason. Some Subjective Notes on the Image of Classical German Philosophy in Nelly Motroshilova’s Works

Abstract

The article delivers an analysis of the image of classical German philosophy in Nelly Motroshilova’s works on the history of philosophy. It is shown that Motroshilov’s interpretation of German idealism is polemically directed against the stereotypical notion of its compensatory nature. According to Motroshilova, the doctrine of pure reason, which acts as the “theoretical outline” of German classical philosophy, acts both as a means of realizing its own historicity and as an instrument of influencing social reality. Motroshilova’s methodological approaches are close to some ideas of Jürgen Habermas, Reinhart Koselleck and Dieter Heinrich. At the same time, in the image of German classical philosophy created by Motroshilova, parallels and analogies are revealed with the image of the generation of Soviet/Russian philosophers of the sixties.