http://www.marxists.org/glossary/people/i/l.htm#ilyenkov-evald
Renowned Soviet philosopher who did important original work on the materialist development of Hegel's dialectics. His works include Dialectical Logic (1977), Leninist Dialectics and the Metaphysics of Positivism (1982) and The Dialectics of the Abstract and Concrete in Marx's Capital (1982). The latter two works were published posthumously as Ilyenkov committed suicide in 1979.
David Bakhurst writes in his article; 'Meaning, Normativity and the Life of Mind' in Language and Communication, 17 (1), 33-51
"Ilyenkov was important in the revival of Russian Marxist philosophy after the dark days of Stalinism. In the early 1960s, he produced significant work in two main areas. First he wrote at length on Marx's dialectical method ('the method of ascent form the abstract to concrete'). This work, though it now seems obscure, has an important political sub-text: its critique of empiricism is aimed at the positivism and scientism that Ilyenkov thought prevalent in Soviet political and intellectual culture.
"Second, Ilyenkov developed a distinct solution to what he called 'the problem of the ideal'; that is, the problem of the place of the non-material in the natural world. The latter involves a resolute defence of the objectivity of ideal phenomena, which are said to exist as aspects of our spiritual culture, embodied in our environment. ... there are important continuities between Ilyenkov's ideas and controversies in Soviet philosophy and psychology in the 1920s and '30s, particularly ... with Vygotsky's socio-historical psychology.... .After the insightful writings of the early 1960s, his inspiration diminished as the political climate became more oppressive. ... He died in 1979, by his own hand."
>>> Rakesh Bhandari
I saw on BookTV that even the right wing libertarian Mark Skousen thinks that Marx's distinction between barter and monetary circulation is fundamental, one of the great economic ideas. Yet he had very little idea of the depth of Marx's thinking. But then so too have most Marxists had little grasp of the profound dialectics at work--excepting of course Evald Ilyenkov who drank himself to death in 1979.
Perhaps Chris Doss knows more about him?
Rakesh
^^^^^^^^^ CB: Ilyenkov seems to be a great respecter of Lenin (:>)
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