From Experience to Organization: Bogdanov's Unpublished Letters to Bazarov

By analyzing his unpublished correspondence with V. Bazarov, the essay clarifies A.A. Bogdanov's shift from so-called “empiriomonism” at the beginning of XX century, to the theory of organization or “tectology”. First of all some central concepts of empiriomonism are considered, particularly the idea of "podstanovka" (substitution). Then it is examined how Bogdanov used this concept in his essay “The Land of Idols and the Philosophy of Marxism” in 1908 and how this particular use of “substitution” led to his first philosophical discussion with Bazarov. Finally, the essay shows how, in the years that followed, Bogdanov relinquished the concept of “substitution” within experience and embraced the idea of the organization of reality.