Khmelnytsky, Ivan

Khmelnytsky, Ivan [Хмельницький, Іван; Xmel'nyc'kyj], b January 1742, d 13 January 1794 in Saint Petersburg. Philosopher. After graduating from the Kyivan Mohyla Academy, he attended Königsberg University where he received a doctorate for his Razsuzhdenie ob osnovaniiakh filosofskikh (Discourse on Philosophical Foundations, 1762). Settling in Saint Petersburg, Khmelnytsky wrote several original works including Razsuzhdenie o rabstve po zakonam estestvennym i pravu vsenarodnomu (Discourse on Slavery according to Natural Law and Universal Customary Law) and translated a number of scholarly books including one by Jan Amos Comenius. His chief works, which were written in Latin, survive only in Russian translation. Khmelnytsky’s philosophical views were strongly influenced by Christian Wolff and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]