“Discover the USSR’s forgotten thinkers“. Have you ever read any of the Soviet philosophers? Have you heard about them? Did you know they even existed? It is really rather surprising, with all the diversity and inclusion trends and all, how seldom one comes across non-Western philosophers’ names in an English-speaking philosophical space. You are sure to encounter some Germans, a few Frenchmen (and perhaps a couple of women), but what about the rest of Europe? The increasing awareness of the need to diversify our reading lists and knowledge of non-Western thinkers seems to start venturing to different continents (e.g., African philosophy) but somehow managed to miss (yet again?) its own historically forgotten region – Eastern Europe.

That is why I was glad to find this article that suggests 10 philosophers who were active in the former Soviet Union, often with grave personal consequences for voicing their thoughts. The good thing is that the author of the article provides short descriptions of each thinker’s ideas and a bit of their biography. See if you find someone you might be interested in reading. Enjoy!

Keeping up the “Spreading the Word” tradition, I hope to share an insightful and thought-provoking article or video every weekend. I feel it is essential to care for our physical and mental well-being. Humans have always turned and returned to storytelling to find meaning. My weekends’ “Spreading the Word” posts are an online version of sharing meaningful stories.   

keep exploring and storytelling!

_{Image credit: Photo by César Viteri on Unsplash}