Scholarly ambitions vs ethical principles: features of Alexander Presnyakov's academic career

Assessing the results of a researcher’s life, the author underlines the importance of paying attention to the intersection between the external factors of his activities and the inner motivations that determined his socio-political position, as well as to the immediate and long-term results of his work, the presence of students and followers, and his image preserved in the collective memory of the academic community. All this forms the timeless reputation of a researcher. Using a historian A. E. Presnyakov as an example, the author demonstrates what comprises such reputation: personal qualities, namely intellectual talents, working efficiency, a range of special interests that open the researcher’s horizons and determine the depth of his scholarly erudition, general philosophical and political views. The impressive track record and bibliography of the researcher are insufficient to paint his academic portrait and adequately capture his historical and academic characteristics. Historical science as a field of professional development and an area for the application of spiritual forces cannot be imagined without an axiological component. In the case of Alexander Presnyakov, the author asserts that the aims and turns of his academic career were determined not so much by the external circumstances that the historian overcame and managed, as by his adherence to the principles of professional and personal ethics. The determining factor of both Presnyakov’s life-building and academic strategies seems to have been a set of specific strong ethical principles and life priorities that he developed early in his life. Following his characteristics and assessments given in the letters to his closest people, mother and wife, the author outlines the features of his behavior, explains some of his life decisions, and the turns of his academic career. These ego-documents reflect the search for a harmonious balance between the academic world and the life world of Presnyakov as an intellectual and a public person who chose historical science as the main but not the only field for the application of his talents.