Nikolai Lossky, Dimitar Mihalchev, and Rehmkeanism

The philosophy of Johannes Rehmke (1848–1930), also called “Rehmkeanism,” and the intuitivism of Nikolai Lossky (1870–1965) converge on essential doctrinal points. The Bulgarian philosopher Dimitar Mihalchev (1880–1967), who studied under Rehmke in Greifswald, became a promoter of the Rehmkean philosophy in Bulgaria. The points of convergence between Rehmkeanism and Losskyan intuitivism led Mihalchev to develop an interest in Lossky. He visited Lossky in Saint Petersburg in 1911 and mentioned the similarities between Rehmke and Lossky in 1914 in Forma i otnoshenie (Form and Relation). They also moved in the same circles in Prague, where Lossky, whom Lenin had expelled from Russia in 1922, had found refuge, and where Mihalchev had been appointed ambassador between 1923 and 1927. After his return to Sofia, Mihalchev invited Lossky to publish an article in his newly created philosophy journal, Filosofski pregled. Mihalchev would likely have seen in Lossky an ally in his endeavor of promoting Rehmkeanism in Bulgaria. Moreover, given the similarities between Rehmke and Lossky, Mihalchev had come to believe that Lossky had, just like himself, been influenced by Rehmke and that he developed his intuitivism under this influence. However, Lossky, who translated one of Rehmke’s books as a student and who admitted similarities between Rehmke’s philosophy and his own intuitivism, nevertheless denied having been influenced by him. The present article proposes a comparison of Lossky and Rehmke, and chronicles the interactions between Lossky and Mihalchev in their historical context.