208 PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS AND POLITICAL THEORYAnd quite logically, Speransky rejected entirely the perceptionist epis-
temology of the 18th century and substituted a moral sympathy as our
source of true knowledge of the phenomena of the world. 1 Clearly,
this analysis and this conception of nature were directly derived from
his mystical religious attitude, an attitude that he had begun to ela-
borate very actively in the first years of his government career, following
upon the sudden death of his wife.^2 For our purposes it is important
to note Speransky's concern with the idea of unity and uniformity in
the world.
The preceding ought to have made clear that to him the world is a
unit, a harmony of variegated elements. This harmony is also quite
permanent and stable. In a short note, probably written in the early
1820's, in which he examined the epistemologies of Kant, Fichte, and
Schelling, Speransky expressed a preference for the latter two because
they overcame the dualism inherent in Kant. He also had a marked
predilection for Schelling, because for Schelling this unity and harmony
derived from stability and immutability, whereas Fichte believed in a
permanent flux.^3 However correct and exhaustive this analysis and
interpretation of the German philosophers, they clearly illustrate
Speransky's own conception and preference.
Yet, he does not think of lifeless rigidity and stability. Speransky
realizes that the world is alive. Although its fundamental principle is
unchangeable and permanent, its manifestations come into being,
develop in time and exist in space - as defined by our human
categories of space and time. 4 Speransky has wholeheartedly accepted
the basic innovation in European epistemology of the late 18th century,
i.e., the concepts of development and becoming. He quite clearly in-
dicates the results to which he thinks an application of these principles
will lead. "He who will prove that the essence of all creatures consists
in that they open up gradually, that the development of their abilities
demands a certain and constant time, that finally this development
cannot take place otherwise than by means of personal and often bitter
experience, will have solved all moral disputes and will have opened
an entire half of man's nature." 5 Life is one of the fundamental
1 "0 slozhnosti," lac. cit., p. 140.
2 El'chaninov, op. cit., pp. 119-120. For a description of Speransky's state of
mind after the death of his wife, see his letter to Karazin in M. N. Longinov,
"Graf Speranskii," Russkii Vestnik, XXIII (Oct. 1859), pp. 353-354.
3 Speranskii, "Sistema Kanta, Fikhte, Shellinga," in Pamiati, pp. 844-845.
4 "Therefrom the uninterrupted similarity and uniformity even in that which
we call diverse." Speranskii, "Dosugi - sentiabr' 1795" DfIlzheskie pis'ma C. Masal'-
skomu, p. 127.
5 "Dosugi," lac. cit., p. 126. Also: "Aforizmy," Pamiati, p. 852.