'Struggle with ignorance and aspiration to the truth': Public and enlightenment activity of Aleksei Fedorovich Fortunatov

T.N. Ivanova*, N.N. Ageeva**

Chuvash State University, Cheboksary, 428015 Russia

E-mail: *tivanovan@mail.ru, **nageeva@mail.ru

Received February 6, 2019

Full text PDF

DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2019.2-3.139-149

For citation: Ivanova T.N., Ageeva N.N. “Struggle with ignorance and aspiration to the truth”: Public and enlightenment activity of Aleksei Fedorovich Fortunatov. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2019, vol. 161, no. 2–3, pp. 139–149. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2019.2-3.139-149. (In Russian)

Abstract

Aleksei Fedorovich Fortunatov (1856–1925) is one of the founders of Russian agrarian statistics. He belonged to the well-known Fortunatovs dynasty, from which a number of outstanding scientists, teachers, and educators descended (F.N. Fortunatov, F.F. Fortunatov, S.F. Fortunatov, etc.). A.F. Fortunatov, in our opinion, played a key role in the development of the enlightenment traditions of this dynasty in the late 19th – early 20th century. The scientific activity of the scientist covered a wide range of issues of economic geography, statistics, cooperation, and agronomy. In this paper, we analyzed the public activity of A.F. Fortunatov, which was characterized by an integrated approach in scientific research, teaching and educational activities. It was determined by the breadth of his knowledges, interest in various sciences, and his unique encyclopedic education. A.F. Fortunatov developed his own unique teaching methods (innovative in both form and content). Their essence can be summarized as follows: they placed special emphasis on the ability of a teacher to win interest of the audience, encouraged students to develop their research skills, promoted individual and integrative approaches to education and research. Teaching, primarily at the Petrov (Timiryazev) Agricultural Academy, played an important role in A.F. Fortunatov’s life. The political views of the scientist were based on social-democratic and liberal education ideas. A.F. Fortunatov never politicized his work, but his active public and educational activity, focus of practice, and direct interaction through his students and followers with people from various regions of the country distinguishes him among the public figures of pre-revolutionary Russia.

Keywords: Aleksei Fedorovich Fortunatov, Fortunatovs dynasty, public and enlightenment activity, agrarian statistics, Petrov (Timiryazev) Academy of Agriculture

References

  1. Myagkov G.P., Ivanova T.N. Biographics: Stages of branch development. In: Paradigmy rossiiskoi istorii skvoz’ prizmu biografistiki (k 140-letiyu Alekseya Ivanovicha Yakovleva): Vseros. nauch. konf. [Paradigms of Russian History through the Prism of Biographics (Dedicated to the 140th Anniversary of Aleksei Ivanovich Yakovlev’s Birth]. Cheboksary, Izd. Dom “Sreda”, 2019, pp. 25–32. (In Russian)
  2. Fortunatov G.A., Fortunatov I.K. Aleksei Fedorovich Fortunatov. Bibliograficheskii ukazatel’ [Aleksei Fedorovich Fortunatov. Bibliographic Index]. Moscow, 1957. 46 p. (In Russian)
  3. Kuznetsov I.A. Alexei Fedorovich Fortunatov and the development of peasant studies in Russia during the late 19th – early 20th centuries. Krest’yanovedenie, 2017, no. 2, pp. 66–89. (In Russian)
  4. Yakushkin I.V. About Fortunatov. Vestnik Sel’skogo Khozyaistva, 1927, no. 5, pp. 109–111. (In Russian)
  5. Ivanova T.N., Ageeva N.N. The Fortunatovs dynasty: Fortune in the wheel of Russian history, the 18th–21st centuries. Dialog so Vremenem, 2019, no. 66, pp. 392–404. (In Russian)
  6. Ageeva N.N. The traditions of education in the Fortunatovs dynasty. Rossiiskaya intelligentsiya v usloviyakh tsivilizatsionnykh vyzovov (V Arsent’evskie chteniya) [Russian Intelligentsia under the Conditions of Civilizational Challenges (Proc. V Lectures Dedicated to Arsent’ev)]. Cheboksary, TsNS “Interaktiv Plyus”, 2014, pp. 17–22. (In Russian)
  7. Ivanova T.N., Ageeva N.N. A.A. Fortunatov as a researcher of the Carolingian Renaissance. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2017, vol. 159, no. 4, pp. 884–886. (In Russian)
  8. Ageeva N.N. Research and educational and socio-journalistic activity of S.F. Fortunatov in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. Extended Abstract of Cand. Hist. Sci. Diss. Cheboksary, 2015. 24 p. (In Russian)
  9. Chayanov A.V. Izbrannye trudy [Selected Works]. Moscow, Finansy Stat., 1991. 432 p. (In Russian)

The content is available under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.