LOPATIN, LEV MICHAJLOVIČ. — Philosopher, b. in Moscow in 1855, d. there in 1920. He completed his studies at Moscow University (1879) and then taught philosophy there. He was editor of the journal *Questions of Philosophy and Psychology*, published by the "Moscow Psychological Society," and until 1917 served as president of that Society.
An original and independent thinker, he was also active in public life and from his youth was a friend of V. Soloviev (v.), to whom he owed much without, however, sharing all his ideas. Along with Kozlov, Askol'dov, and N. Losskij, he belonged to the neo-Leibnizian trend in Russia (also influenced by Lotze and Schopenhauer). He defended, against Kant and empiricism, the necessity of metaphysics in a spiritualist sense. The structure of reality is spiritual and is revealed in the activity of our "self." The principle of the world is the personal God, a free creative force. The problem of evil is resolved by denying divine omnipotence.
Principal works: *Positive Tasks of Philosophy* (I, Moscow 1886; 2nd ed. 1911; II, ibid. 1891); *Philosophical Characteristics and Discourses* (ibid. 1911); *Lectures on the History of Modern Philosophy* (part 1, Berlin 1923); an important article on freedom in vol. III of the *Transactions of the Moscow Psychological Society*.