UDC: 111.1:141.144
https://doi.org/10.25198/2077-7175-2026-3-97
EDN: TXRUVF


viewing

HUMAN NEED BETWEEN FACTICITY AND NORMATIVITY: AN ONTOLOGICAL ANALYSIS IN THE CONTEXT OF GERMAN AND RUSSIAN NEO-KANTIANISM

E. Yu. Aleinikova
Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba, Moscow, Russia
e-mail: 87053199508@mail.ru

V. N. Belov
National Research University «Moscow Power Engineering Institute», Moscow, Russia
e-mail: belovvn@rambler.ru

Abstract. The relevance of the study lies in the need for a philosophical clarification of the status of need within the context of contemporary interdisciplinary discourse, in which need is often reduced to an empirical state of lack or deficit, which proves insufficient for its ontological understanding. The aim of the article is to analyze the philosophical status of need within the framework of the distinction between facticity and normativity, which received systematic formulation in Kantian philosophy and further development in German and Russian Neo-Kantianism. The methodological framework of the study includes a historical-philosophical reconstruction of the Neo-Kantian tradition combined with a conceptual analysis of the categories of facticity and normativity, as well as a comparative analysis of the German and Russian philosophical traditions.

The study demonstrates that need cannot be reduced exclusively to the sphere of empirical facticity, since in human existence it is inevitably embedded in the domain of value orientations. The analysis of the works of Russian Neo-Kantians – S. I. Hessen, V. E. Sesemann, B. V. Yakovenko, and F. A. Stepun – reveals that need functions as a specific structure of human existence in which the factual conditioning of life is correlated with the normative order of values. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the interpretation of need as a boundary category that connects facticity and normativity within the structure of the human being. The theoretical significance of the research lies in the clarification of the conceptual status of need within the Neo-Kantian philosophical tradition. The results obtained can be applied in further research in philosophical anthropology, axiology, and social philosophy, as well as in the development of interdisciplinary approaches to the analysis of human needs.

Key words: need, value, facticity, normativity, axiological order, ontology, German and Russian Neo-Kantianism, being, the existent (Seiende), the ought (Sollen).

Cite as: Aleinikova, E. Yu., Belov, V. N. (2026) [Human need between facticity and normativity: an ontological analysis in the context of German and Russian Neo-Kantianism]. Intellekt. Innovacii. Investicii [Intellect. Innovations. Investments]. Vol. 3, pp. 97–113. – https://doi.org/10.25198/2077-7175-2026-3-97.


References

  1. Arshinov, V. I., Minasyan, L. A. (2007) [The philosophy of the concept of Neo-Kantianism: a view from the 20th–21st centuries]. Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedenii. Severo-Kavkazskii region. Obshchestvennye nauki [News of Higher Educational Institutions. North Caucasus Region. Social Sciences]. No. 4 (140), pp. 3–10. (In Russ.).
  2. Belov, V. N. (2010) [The problem of the rational and the irrational in V. E. Sezeman’s philosophical system]. X Kantovskie chteniya. Klassicheskii razum i vyzovy sovremennoi tsivilizatsii: materialy mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii: v 2 ch. [The 10th Kant Readings. Classical Reason and the Challenges of Modern Civilization: Proceedings of the International Conference: in 2 parts]. Ed. by V. N. Bryushinkin. Kaliningrad: Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University. Part 2, pp. 7–23. (In Russ.).
  3. Belov, V. N. (2019) [The Russian European B. V. Yakovenko]. Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriya: Filosofiya [RUDN Journal of Philosophy]. Vol. 23. No. 2, pp. 133–144. – https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-2302-2019-23-2-133-144. (In Russ.).
  4. Belov, V. N., Vladimirov, P. A. (2021) [Russian Neo-Kantianism: attempts at self-definition and contemporary perspective]. Transtsendental’nyi zhurnal [Transcendental Journal]. Vol. 2. No. 3 (6). – https://doi.org/10.18254/S271326680018214-5. (In Russ.).
  5. Belov, V. N., Salnikova, T. V. (2018) [Russian Neo-Kantianism: a view from outside]. Kantovskii sbornik [Kantian Journal]. Vol. 37. No. 2, pp. 90–95. – https://doi.org/10.5922/0207-6918-2018-2-6. (In Russ.).
  6. Belov, V. N. (2025) [What is Neo-Kantianism]. Intellekt. Innovacii. Investicii [Intellect. Innovations. Investments]. No. 1, pp. 11–26. – https://doi.org/10.25198/2077-7175-2025-1-11. (In Russ.).
  7. Bogacheva, I. G. (2009) [Theoretical approaches to the study of the value-semantic sphere of personality]. Izvestiya Rossiiskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta im. A. I. Gertsena [Proceedings: Herzen University Journal of Humanities & Sciences]. No. 98, pp. 247–252. (In Russ.).
  8. Bogomolov, A. S. (1969) Nemetskaya burzhuaznaya filosofiya posle 1865 goda [German Bourgeois Philosophy after 1865]. Moscow: Moscow State University, 448 p.
  9. Windelband, W. (1995) Izbrannoe: Dukh i istoriya [Selected Works: Spirit and History]. Moscow: Lawyer, 687 p.
  10. Windelband, W. (2007) Prelyudii. Filosofskie stat’i i rechi [Preludes. Philosophical Articles and Speeches]. Moscow: Giperboreya; Kuchkovo field, 399 p.
  11. Gavrilenko, L. S., Chupina, V. B., Tarasova, T. I. (2016) [Educational needs: a theoretical analysis of the concept]. Sovremennye problemy nauki i obrazovaniya [Modern Problems of Science and Education]. No. 6. (In Russ.).
  12. Golubova, M. I. (2012) [On the essence of human needs in the life-support system]. Izvestiya UrGEU [Journal of the Ural State University of Economics]. No. 5 (43), pp. 22–25. (In Russ.).
  13. Gushchin, Ya. D. (2021) [Freedom, duty and morality in the views of S. I. Hessen and A. V. Weidemann]. Manuskript [Manuscript]. Vol. 14. No. 4, pp. 703–708. – https://doi.org/10.30853/mns210137. (In Russ.).
  14. Danilkina, N. V. (2009) [The formation of S. I. Hessen’s theory of education as «applied philosophy»]. Vestnik LGU im. A. S. Pushkina [Bulletin of Pushkin Leningrad State University]. Vol. 2. No. 4 (1), pp. 233–241. (In Russ.).
  15. Zagirnyak, M. Yu. (2019) [The specificity of substantiating social phenomena in Fyodor Stepun’s philosophy of culture]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Filosofiya. Sotsiologiya. Politologiya [Tomsk State University Journal of Philosophy, Sociology and Political Science]. No. 52, pp. 85–92. – https://doi.org/10.17223/1998863X/52/9. (In Russ.).
  16. Kalinnikov, L. A. (2016) [The systematicity of the Critique of Pure Reason and Kant’s system (III)]. Kantovskii sbornik [Kantian Journal]. No. 1 (55), pp. 7–15. – https://doi.org/10.5922/0207-6918-2016-1-1. (In Russ.).
  17. Kant, I. (2024) Kritika prakticheskogo razuma [Critique of Practical Reason]. Moscow: Yurait Publishing House, 177 p.
  18. Kant, I. (1999) Osnovy metafiziki nravstvennosti [Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals]. Moscow: Thought, 1471 p.
  19. Cassirer, E. (2001) Filosofiya simvolicheskikh form. Tom 1. Yazyk [The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. Vol. 1. Language]. Moscow; Saint Petersburg: Universitetskaya kniga, 271 p.
  20. Cohen, G. (2012) Teoriya opyta Kanta [Kant’s Theory of Experience]. Moscow: Academic project, 618 p.
  21. Kryshtop, L. E. (2015) [Kant and Xunzi on the evil nature of man]. Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Seriya: Filosofiya [RUDN Journal of Philosophy]. No. 4, pp. 139–152. (In Russ.).
  22. Leontiev, A. N. (1975) Deyatel’nost’. Soznanie. Lichnost’ [Activity. Consciousness. Personality]. Moscow: Politizdat, 304 p. (In Russ.).
  23. Lugovskaya, T. V., Parkaikina, G. A. (2009) [The value-semantic space of the human being]. Istoricheskie, filosofskie, politicheskie i yuridicheskie nauki, kul’turologiya i iskusstvovedenie. Voprosy teorii i praktiki [Historical, Philosophical, Political and Legal Sciences, Cultural Studies and Art History. Issues of Theory and Practice]. No. 1 (2), pp. 71–74. (In Russ.).
  24. Mantikova, A. V. (2017) [Needs and values as psychological constructs and behavioral determinants]. Vestnik po pedagogike i psikhologii Yuzhnoi Sibiri [Bulletin of Pedagogy and Psychology of Southern Siberia]. No. 2, pp. 128–144. (In Russ.).
  25. Meleshchenko, Z. N. (1960) Neokantianstvo kak filosofskaya osnova revizionizma [Neo-Kantianism as the Philosophical Basis of Revisionism]. Leningrad: Leningrad State University Publishing House, 67 p.
  26. Morozov, V. A. (2012) [The compatibility of human needs and social values: the service sector]. Kreativnaya ekonomika [Creative Economy]. No. 4, pp. 10–16. (In Russ.).
  27. Myasnikov, A. G. (2010) [The problem of distinguishing natural necessity and moral freedom in Kant’s practical philosophy]. Izvestiya Penzenskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta im. V. G. Belinskogo [Proceedings of Penza State Pedagogical University named after V. G. Belinsky]. No. 19, pp. 7–13. (In Russ.).
  28. Natorp, P. (2006) Filosofskaya propedevtika. Obshchee vvedenie v filosofiyu i osnovnye nachala logiki, etiki i psikhologii [Philosophical Propedeutics. General Introduction to Philosophy and the Basic Principles of Logic, Ethics and Psychology]. Moscow: Territory of future, pp. 55–118.
  29. Nikulina, O. V. (2011) [The Baden school of Neo-Kantianism: origins, personalities, main problems]. Vestnik Buryatskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of Buryat State University]. No. 14, pp. 36–42. (In Russ.).
  30. Nikulina, O. V. (2012) [B. V. Yakovenko on the essence and purpose of philosophy]. Vestnik NVGU [Bulletin of Nizhnevartovsk State University]. No. 3, pp. 39–44. (In Russ.).
  31. Petrova, S. I. (2017) [On the meaning and significance of the category «need»]. Byulleten’ nauki i praktiki [Bulletin of Science and Practice]. No. 6 (19), pp. 255–259. – https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.808764. (In Russ.).
  32. Pisarchik, L. Yu. (2008) [The philosophy of culture and methodology of historical knowledge of the Freiburg/ Baden school of Neo-Kantianism]. Vestnik Orenburgskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of Orenburg State University]. No. 2 (81), pp. 31–46. (In Russ.).
  33. Potapov, M. G. (2016) [On the contemporary understanding of law]. Teoriya i istoriya prava i gosudarstva [Theory and History of Law and State]. No. 3, pp. 11–21. (In Russ.).
  34. Rickert, H. (1998) Nauki o prirode i nauki o kul’ture [The Sciences of Nature and the Sciences of Culture]. Moscow: Republic, 410 p.
  35. Sezeman, V. E. (2005) [The real attitude and «pure» attitude-free knowledge]. Russkie filosofy v Litve: Karsavin. Sezeman. Shilkarskii [Russian Philosophers in Lithuania: Karsavin. Sezeman. Shilkarsky]. Kaliningrad: Kaliningrad State University Publishing House, pp. 42–72. (In Russ.).
  36. Sokolova, Yu. V. (2024) [The problem of cognition in V. E. Sezeman’s philosophy]. Vestnik RUDN. Seriya: Filosofiya [RUDN Journal of Philosophy]. Vol. 28. No. 2, pp. 575–588. – https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-2302-2024-28-2-575-588. (In Russ.).
  37. Speshilova, E. I. (2013) [The value foundations of cognition in the philosophy of the Baden school of Neo- Kantianism]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta [Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin]. No. 5 (133), pp. 87–91. (In Russ.).
  38. Stepun, F. A. (2000) Sochineniya [Works]. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 1000 p.
  39. Taran, P. E. (2007) [The idea of moral autonomy as the basis of Kant’s doctrine of law]. Uchenye zapiski Tavricheskogo natsional’nogo universiteta im. V. I. Vernadskogo. Seriya «Yuridicheskie nauki» [Scientific Notes of V. I. Vernadsky Taurida National University. Series «Legal Sciences»]. Vol. 20 (59). No. 2, pp. 105–111. (In Russ.).
  40. Tetyuev, L. I., Vladimirov, P. A. (2020) [The moral problem in Russian Neo-Kantianism: the specificity of the formation of transcendental philosophy in Russia]. Izvestiya Saratovskogo universiteta. Novaya seriya. Seriya: Filosofiya. Psikhologiya. Pedagogika [Proceedings of Saratov University. New Series. Series: Philosophy. Psychology. Pedagogy]. Vol. 20. No. 4, pp. 398–402. – https://doi.org/10.18500/1819-7671-2020-20-4-398-402. (In Russ.).
  41. Timoshchuk, A. S. (2023) [How being and oughtness meet]. Idei i idealy [Ideas and Ideals]. Vol. 15. Part 1. No. 2, pp. 127–146. – https://doi.org/10.17212/2075-0862-2023-15.2.1-127-146. (In Russ.).
  42. Tyutyunnikova, S. V., Ganzherli, A. O. (2015) [Social/public needs in the system of human needs]. Problemy ekonomiki [Problems of Economics]. No. 4, pp. 260–265. (In Russ.).
  43. Heidegger, M. (1997) Bytie i vremya [Being and Time]. Moscow: Ad Marginem, 452 p. (In Russ.).
  44. Khudyakova, N. L. (2020) [Human needs and personal values as a socio-cultural form of their existence]. Vestnik Chelyabinskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of Chelyabinsk State University]. No. 4 (438), pp. 36–47. – https://doi.org/10.24411/1994-2796-2020-10406. (In Russ.).
  45. Shaveko, N. A. (2024) [Russian Neo-Kantian philosophy of law: an original development of Kant’s ideas or a dead-end project?]. Filosofskii polilog [Philosophical Polylogue]. No. 1–2 (15–16), pp. 43–50. – https://doi.org/10.31119/phlog.2024.1-2.218. (In Russ.).
  46. Scheler, M. (1988) [The human place in the cosmos]. Problema cheloveka v zapadnoi filosofii [The Problem of Man in Western Philosophy]. Moscow: Progress, pp. 31–95, 519–523. (In Russ.).
  47. Shipovskaya, L. P. (2008) [The meaning of life. The human being and the need to be a personality]. Servis PLUS [Service PLUS]. No. 4, pp. 25–30. (In Russ.).
  48. Yakovenko, B. V. (2001) Filosofiya otchayaniya [The Philosophy of Despair]. Saint Petersburg: Russian Christian Humanitarian Institute, pp. 252–263.
  49. Belov, V. N. (2016) Hermann Cohen in the History of Russian Neo-Kantianism. Russian Studies in Philosophy. Vol. 54. No. 5, pp. 395–407. – https://doi.org/10.1080/10611967.2016.1290415. (In Eng.).
  50. Hess, A., Ciunova, A., Negrea-Busuioc, E. (2026) Rethinking Public Opinion Studies in the Digital Era: Expert Discourse on the Theoretical and Methodological Challenges of Public Opinion Research. International Journal of Public Opinion Research. Vol. 38. No. 1. – https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edag001. (In Eng.).

In order for us to provide you with high-quality services, we use cookies that are stored on your computer (location information; ip-address; type, language, OS and browser version; device type and screen resolution; source from which you came to site the user; what pages the user opens and what buttons the user clicks; the same information is used to process statistical data on the use of the site through the Yandex.Metrika Internet service). By clicking the "I agree" button, you confirm that you are informed about the use of cookies on our website. You can disable cookies in your browser settings.