Preview

Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences

Advanced search
Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Epistemological Foundations of Socio-Individualism: The Lektorsky–Auzan System

https://doi.org/10.30727/0235-1188-BRREQK

EDN: BRREQK

Abstract

The article introduces the concept of socio-individualism into scholarly discourse by offering an epistemological justification for the author’s model of the “Self – Tri-D/communication – Other” system, here referred to as the Lektorsky–Auzan system. The proposed system brings together Vladislav Lektorsky’s nonclassical epistemology and a socio-individual interpretation of Alexander Auzan’s Tri-D concept, which includes long-term orientation, trust, dialogue, agreement-building capacity, mutual understanding, and related principles. This synthesis is examined as a mechanism of intersubjective cooperation within Victor Polterovich’s theory of social evolution and Ruslan Grinberg’s theory of the social market economy. At the conceptual center of the system is the author’s notion of socio-individualism, understood as a mediating alternative to Sigmund Freud’s ego-individualism and Zbigniew Brzeziński’s egocentrism. At the same time, socio-individualism is presented as a substantive extension of the Enlightenment concept of the individual personality that evolved in European thought between the 17th and 19th centuries. The article develops the socio-individual foundations of the system in several stages. First, it critiques the absolutization of Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative and advances a dynamic conception of the human being as the subject of their own development, drawing on Vladimir Bibler and Confucian thought. Second, it elaborates a nonclassical understanding of personality through the capacity of the Self to respond to the call of the Other, with reference to Mikhail Bakhtin and Vladislav Lektorsky. Third, it interprets Lektorsky’s philosophical paradox as a mechanism through which the individual is transformed into the social. Particular attention is given to the communicative and sociological dimensions of the proposed system. Its structure and internal mechanisms are analyzed through Niklas Luhmann’s concept of autopoietic communication, Michel Foucault’s idea of a “network of relations,” and Vladimir Arshinov’s principle of “thinking together-with.” The article concludes by outlining possible directions for the further development of the system, including the theory of communicative law as a sociology of the “sphere between,” the construction of a dual index for measuring social development, and a dialectical approach to the mutual complementarity of unification and diversity.

About the Author

Alexey P. Davydov
Institute of Sociology, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation

Alexey P. Davydov – Doctor of Cultural Studies, RAS Expert in Sociology, Chief Research Fellow, Center for Sociology of Management and Social Technology, Institute of Sociology of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Moscow



References

1. Auzan A.A. (2024) Individualism and Collectivism: Two Cultural Cores of Russia. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences = Filosofskie nauki. Vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 11–26 (in Russian).

2. Auzan A.A. (2025) Cultural Codes of the Economy at the Macro- and Microlevels. Lomonosov Economics Journal. Vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 3–18 (in Russian).

3. Bakhtin M.M. (2000) The Author and the Hero: On the Philosophical Foundations of the Humanities. Saint Petersburg: Azbuka (in Russian).

4. Balatsky E.V. (2024) Philosophy of Cooperation in Institutional Design: Origins, Limitations, and Prospects. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences = Filosofskie nauki. Vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 27–46 (in Russian).

5. Bibler V.S. (2002) Plans. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities (in Russian).

6. Davydov A.P. (2012a) Transition from Civilisational Identity to Individual’s Self-Identification in Russia under Modernisation Conditions. Issues of Methodology. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences = Filosofskie nauki. No. 11, pp. 37–46 (in Russian).

7. Davydov A.P. (2012b) Non-Political Liberalism in Russia. Moscow: Mysl’ (in Russian).

8. Davydov A.P. (2020) Methodological “Middle” as a Tool for Studying Social Reality. In: Gorshkov M.K. (Ed.) Reforming Russia: Yearbook (Vol. 18, pp. 529–564). Moscow: Novyy khronograf (in Russian).

9. Davydov A.P. (2021) Methodological “Middle-for” from the Perspective of V. Lektorsky’s Non-Classics, A. Akhiezer’s Mediation, and R. Grinberg / A. Rubinstein’s Principle of Complementarity. Voprosy filosofii. No. 4, pp. 191–202 (in Russian).

10. Davydov A.P. (2023) Individualism and Collectivism as a Subject of Social-Philosophical Analysis (Reflections on the Eve of the Scientific Conference “Individualization and Collectivism in Contemporary Russian Society”). Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences = Filosofskie nauki. Vol. 66, no. 4, pp. 140–159.

11. Davydov A.P. (2024a) Mediation and Convergent Sociality: Toward a Theory of Social Dialogue. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences = Filosofskie nauki. Vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 135–159 (in Russian).

12. Davydov A.P. (2024b) The “Middle” as a Method: In Search for the Socio-Individual. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences = Filosofskie nauki. Vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 114–135 (in Russian).

13. Foucault M. (2004) The Archaeology of Knowledge (M.B. Rakova & A.Yu. Serebryannikova, Trans.). Saint Petersburg: “Gumanitarnaya akademiya” Publishing Center; Universitetskaya kniga (Russian translation).

14. Grinberg R.S. (2012) Freedom and Justice: Russian Temptations of a False Choice. Moscow: Magistr; INFRA-M (in Russian).

15. Laing R.D. (1995) The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness. Anti-Psychiatry. Moscow: Akademiya; Saint Petersburg: Belyy krolik (Russian translation).

16. Lektorsky V.A. (1991) Theory of Knowledge (Vol. 2). Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).

17. Lektorsky V.A. (2009) Classical and Non-Classical Epistemology (3rd ed.). Moscow: URSS (in Russian).

18. Lektorsky V.A. (2010) Self. In: New Philosophical Encyclopedia (Vol. 4, pp. 492–502). Moscow: Mysl’ (in Russian).

19. Lektorsky V.A. (2024) Individualization, Collectivity, Dialogue. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences = Filosofskie nauki. Vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 13–25 (in Russian).

20. Luhmann N. (1995) What Is Communication? (D. Ozirchenko, Trans.). Sotsiologicheskiy zhurnal. No. 3, pp. 114–124 (Russian translation).

21. Luhmann N. (2004) Society as a Social System. Moscow: Logos (Russian translation).

22. Polterovich V.M. (2022a) Competition, Cooperation, and Life Satisfaction. Part 1: The Seven European Leaders. Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast. Vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 31–43 (in Russian).

23. Polterovich V.M. (2022b) Competition, Cooperation, and Life Satisfaction. Part 2: The Basis of Leadership – Collaborative Advantages. Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast. Vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 42–57 (in Russian).

24. Rubinstein A.Ya. (2025) Individual and Societal Interests: From Economic Sociodynamics to Relativist Methodology. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences = Filosofskie nauki. Vol. 68, no. 3, pp. 10–37 (in Russian).

25. Smirnov A.V. (2019) The All-Human vs. the Common-Human. Moscow: Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences; Sadra; LRC Publishing House (in Russian).

26. Xunzi (1973) Chapter 17: On Heaven. In: Ancient Chinese Philosophy (Yang Hin Shun, Ed.; Vol. 2, pp. 167–174). Moscow: Mysl’ (Russian translation).

27. Zubok Yu.A. & Seliverstova N.A. (2025) Meaning Deviations in the Youth Environment: Methodology and Research Methods. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya. No. 12, pp. 28–49 (in Russian).


Review

For citations:


Davydov A.P. Epistemological Foundations of Socio-Individualism: The Lektorsky–Auzan System. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.30727/0235-1188-BRREQK. EDN: BRREQK



Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.


ISSN 0235-1188 (Print)
ISSN 2618-8961 (Online)