Troitskii, Matvei Mikhailovich

Born Aug. 1 (13), 1835, in Kaluga Province; died Mar. 22 (Apr. 3), 1899, in Moscow. Russian psychologist and positivist philosopher.

A graduate of the Kiev Theological Academy, Troitskii was appointed a professor at Moscow University in 1875. In 1889 he founded the journal Voprosy filosofii i psikhologii (Problems of Philosophy and Psychology). Troitskii’s philosophical and psychological views were influenced by English empiricism, particularly the ideas of F. Bacon, J. Locke, and J. S. Mill, as well as by associationism. These schools of thought provided the basis for his critique of I. Kant, G. Hegel, and J. F. Herbart in German Psychology in the Present Century (1867) and The Science of Spirit (vols. 1–2,1882). Insisting on the importance of the experimental method in psychology, Troitskii carried out experimental research on aural and visual sensations and representations and studied the role of the larnyx and tongue in the thought process. Troitskii also wrote A Textbook on Logic.