The vexing case of Igor Shafarevich, a Russian political thinker

This is the first comprehensive study about the non-mathematical writings andactivities 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.The scandal culminated when the President of the National Academy of Sciencesof the United States suggested that Shafarevich, an honorary member, resign. While it became clear already in the early 1990s that Shafarevich had not discriminated against his Jewish students, as was claimed, the present study also shows that the allegations about anti-Semitism in Shafarevich’s texts are unfounded. “The Shafarevich case” discussed in this study created a large controversyin the mathematics community at the beginning of the 1990s about a fundamental ethical principle: Can scientific honorary societies make demands to their members concerning their non-scientific views?. Another, even bigger problem inShafarevich’s case is that, as this study shows, he was condemned wrongly, onthe basis of superficial groundwork and tendentious reading of his texts. This study will hopefully set off Shafarevich’s belated rehabilitation. Mathematicians are often fascinating personalities and Shafarevich is no exception. This study, written by a historian of ideas and a specialist of Russian studies, introduces Shafarevich’s companionships with some of the most interesting cultural figures of the Soviet Union in his youth, his extensive activities for defence 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. Arguably the most interesting among the largebody of Shafarevich’s non-mathematical writings from the 1960s onwards are his texts on the contemporary techno-scientific civilisation. This study is a comprehensive introduction to these texts, which so far, with some minor exceptions, are available only in Russian original. INDICE: 1 igor shafarevich, a lightning rod for controversy. 2 shafarevich’s early years in the young soviet state. 3 shafarevich, the human rights activist. 4 the first disputes about the soviet – and russian – future. 5 from under the rubble, shafarevich’s and solzhenitsyn’s joint project. 6 shafarevich’s addresses until the early 1980s. 7 shafarevich’s first statements during the era of glasnost. 8 russophobia. 9 the rapid political changes of the late 1980s early 1990s. 10 critique of techno-scientific civilisation. 11 some conclusions. sources and literature. index of personal names.

• ISBN: 978-3-0348-0214-7
• Editorial: Springer Basel
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 549
• Fecha Publicación: 30/11/2011
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés