Voloshinov-Bakhtin’s Sociological Method in the Science of Language (on the example of the book “Marxism and the Philosophy of Language”)

Abstract

This article discusses the attributes of the sociological method of V.N. Voloshinov (M.M. Bakhtin) on the example of the book “Marxism and the Philosophy of Language”. Analysis was conducted in the context of the early works of the Soviet philosopher, while taking into consideration their study by Yu. Davydov, S.G. Bocharov’s recollections of Bakhtin, as well as the author's previous article on a related topic. It is substantiated that Bakhtin's worldview evolved over time, with him having been influenced in parallel and in sequence by the ideas of the most prominent German philosophers of the first quarter of the 20th century: G. Simmel, G. Cohen, E. Cassirer, E. Husserl, M. Scheler and others. The desire to develop an independent system of views, starting from the phenomenological sociology of Scheler, led Bakhtin in his work “Problems of Dostoevsky's Creativity” to the idea of human consciousness’ “dialogism” being a member of society (an individual). In the work “Marxism and the Philosophy of Language”, Voloshinov-Bakhtin “materialistically” interprets Cassirer’s “philosophy of symbolic forms” and comes to the idea of “inter-individuality” of the ideological code environment (inter-subjectivity) as a fundamental socio-cultural phenomenon that should serve as the basis for understanding both individual consciousness and all forms of human culture.

Keywords

• v.n. voloshinov
• m.m. bakhtin
• sociological method
• language
• yu.n. davydov
• marxism
• phenomenology
• max scheler
• neo-kantianism
• e. cassirer