Lodii, Petr

Born May 4 (15), 1764, in the village of Zboi, near Mukachev, in present-day Transcarpathian Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR; died June 10 (22), 1829, in St. Petersburg. Russian deist philosopher. Professor at the universities of L’vov (1787) and Kraków (1801), at the St. Petersburg Pedagogical Institute (1803), and at St. Petersburg University (1819–20).

Lodii criticized subjective idealism, skepticism, and agnosticism, particularly the Kantian variety. He developed a sensualistic view of cognition (Logical Precepts Which Lead to Cognition and the Distinction of the True From the False, 1815). He opposed attempts to prohibit the teaching of philosophy in Russia. From 1820 he was not allowed to teach philosophy. His Theory of Common Rights, which contains teachings about natural universal state law (1828), was conservative in nature.