Les principes épistémologiques de la critique de l’ethnodéterminisme

Gustav Shpet: Epistemological Principles of Ethnodeterminism

Ethnodeterminism is defined as a tendency to explain the whole of human culture by ethnic factors. In post-soviet Russia, ethnodeterminism is a huge and diffuse complex of phenomena which testifies to ethnicity, nationality establishing themselves as the main explanatory factors in accounting for social, political and linguistic processes. The presented analysis is meant as a criticism of the subtle methodological and epistemological assumptions which underlie the idea of national originality. The supports for criticizing the idea inside its cultural domain are found in the work of Russian philosopher Gustav Shpet (1879-1937).