Lessons from Ilyenkov

This paper examines the views of Russian philosopher Evald Ilyenkov (1924–1979) on the relation between culture and mind, and argues that his philosophy offers a distinctive rationale for interdisciplinary studies in communication. Ilyenkov's life and work are described, with particular attention to his analysis of Marx's “method of ascent from the abstract to the concrete”; and his account of the nature of “ideal”; (nonmaterial) phenomena. Ilyenkov exploits Marx's concept of “objectification”; to argue that, by transforming nature in activity, human beings write meaning and value into the very structure of their world, creating objectively existing “spiritual cultures.”; It is, he maintains, only through the appropriation of culture that the human child becomes a thinking being. The paper then explores five “lessons”; from Ilyenkov's philosophy relevant to the development of communication as an “interdiscipline”;: (1) on interdisciplinarity, (2) on the nature and role of philosophy, (3) on the relation of mind and world, (4) on realism and relativism, and (5) on method. The paper concludes by considering the objection that Ilyenkov's anthropocentrism entails an unsatisfying picture of humanity's place in nature.