Overview
In the 1990s “the Shafarevich case” stirred a heated discussion in the mathematics community about a fundamental ethical principle: Can scientific honorary societies make demands to their members concerning their non-scientific views? Another obvious problem becomes topical with the present study and concerns the ethical repercussions of the fact that Shafarevich was demonized without reasonable justification
This study, written by a historian of ideas and a specialist of Russian studies, also introduces Shafarevich’s companionships with some of the most interesting cultural figures of the Soviet Union in his youth, his extensive activities for defense of human rights and struggle against communist propaganda in the heyday of dissent in the Soviet Union in the 1970s, and his role as an important opinion-maker in post-Soviet Russia
The large body of Shafarevich’s non-mathematical writings from the 1960s onwards includes texts discussing the contemporary, or “techno-scientific”, civilization. Shafarevich finds it deeply disturbing that this civilization sees machines, not living organisms, as the model of its life. However, while he maintains that contemporary man has ended up giving a virtual mandate in everything concerning his life to machines, he stresses that man – a living creature – is much more viable, creative, beautiful, sophisticated and adaptive than machines and, as such, much stronger than them
Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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Table of contents (11 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
This is the first comprehensive study about the non-mathematical writings and activities of the Russian algebraic geometer and number theorist Igor Shafarevich (b. 1923). In the 1970s Shafarevich was a prominent member of the dissidents’ human rights movement and a noted author of clandestine anti-communist literature in the Soviet Union. Shafarevich’s public image suffered a terrible blow around 1989 when he was decried as a dangerous ideologue of anti-Semitism due to his newly-surfaced old manuscript Russophobia. The scandal culminated when the President of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States suggested that Shafarevich, an honorary member, resign. The present study establishes that the allegations about anti-Semitism in Shafarevich’s texts were unfounded and that Shafarevich’s terrible reputation was cemented on a false basis.
Reviews
From the reviews:
“The book under review consists of 11 chapters. … The book is supplemented by a bibliography and index of personal names. The book will be of interest to mathematicians, historians of mathematics as well as historians of dissident movement.” (Roman Murawski, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1238, 2012)
“This meticulously researched book looks carefully at Shafarevich’s own writing as well as his record with students and colleagues and convincingly argues that Shafarevich was not anti-Semitic. The author, with equal care, analyzes in detail the writings of Shafarevich’s numerous critics. This book is based on the author’s 2009 doctoral thesis at the University of Helsinki … . Clearly, The vexing case of Igor Shafarevich is intended for serious students of Russian intellectual history.” (John J. Watkins, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2012 k)
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Vexing Case of Igor Shafarevich, a Russian Political Thinker
Authors: Krista Berglund
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-0215-4
Publisher: Birkhäuser Basel
eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Basel AG 2012
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-0348-0214-7Published: 29 February 2012
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-0348-0748-7Published: 13 April 2014
eBook ISBN: 978-3-0348-0215-4Published: 27 February 2012
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIV, 542