Employing psychological analysis in philosophical biographistics: some risks and possibilities to overcome them

Abstract

The paper explains how a psycho-analytic approach (wider — a psychological analysis) can be employed in a historico-philosophical biographistics. As contrasted with a reductionist approach to an interpretation of the philosophical ideas, the author proposes a dialogical approach, within which any biographic material coexists on a par with a purely philosophical material, i. e. it is designed not to clarify the ideas of a philosopher but to explain his personality in all its complexity.