PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS AND POLITICAL THEORY 205sources which were available at the time to scholars. The interested
reader must be referred to them. 1 Here we shall restrict ourselves to
an examination of Speransky's philosophical ideas properly speaking,
as a background and foundation for an analysis of his political theory,
always keeping in mind that there was a close relationship between his
religious, mystical searchings and philosophical analysis and study.
It may be recalled that while a student and tutor at the Aleksandro-
Nevskii theological seminary, Speransky had come in contact with both
science and philosophy. In those early years, he came to study and
investigate nature primarily as a means for the justification and better
grounding of his religious beliefs - an attitude characteristic of an
earlier Christian Europe and not unexpected in someone who was
preparing himself for the ministry to souls. 2 At one point he even
made the naive statement that if the correct description and explanation
of the physical world were given to the Moslems, it would lead to their
mass conversion to Christianity.^3 Besides this purely apologetic interest,
Speransky showed genuine scientific curiosity and an enthusiastic thirst
for a knowledge of God's creation, a curiosity and a thirst which he
retained throughout his life.^4 In this respect, he found himself quite
at home in the "intellectual climate" of the Enlightenment. After he
had finished his studies at the seminary, Speransky was entrusted with
the teaching of two courses at the same institution, one in philosophy
and one in physics; and he taught them between 1792' and 1795. A
very complete set of notes on his course in physics has been preserved
and published. It shows that Speransky made use of all the important
classical sources of his time, but relied most heavily on the work of
Winckler, which he brought up to date with remarks and speculations
on the meaning of the most recent discoveries, in particular those in
chemistry.^5
1 See El'chaninov "Mistitsizm Speranskogo" and Katetov, "Graf M. M. Speranskii
kak religioznyi myslitel''' cited in the bibliography to the chapter.
2 "The second benefit which the science of nature gives us consists in that it
alone can give us a conception of the distinctive creation of the Almighty." M.
Speranskii, "Fizika vybrannaia iz luchshikh avtorov, raspolozhennaia i dopolnennaia
Nevskoi Seminarii filosofii i fiziki uchitelem M. M. Speranskim 1797-go g. v Sankt
Peterburge," Chteniia, (Moscow 1871), kniga 3, otdel 2, p. 4. Hereafter, Speransky's
course of physics will be referred to as Fizika.
3 Fizika, p. 4.
4 "If physics were only the science of looking at nature with pleasure, this in
itself would be enough to give it the first place in our [intellectual] activities and
count among the truly useful activities of man. The sight of nature is splendid.
touching to the eyes of those who know, but it is dead and mute for the ignorant."
Fizika, p. 1.
5 "And thus let us leave Leibniz with his monads, in their dark and involved ways;
we shall follow Newton (Principia Philosoph. Natur.) and Euler (Physical Letters),
on the simple and straight road to find the true principle of the composition of
bodies." Fizika, p. 8. See also, ibid., pp. 7 and v.