Vladimir Wagner

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Wagner (or Vagner: Russian: Владимир Александрович Вагнер; March 29, 1849 – March 8, 1934) was a Russian psychologist and naturalist known for his studies of comparative and evolutionary psychology.^[1][2][3] He also studied spiders, and in 1882 proposed the first classification of spider families based on copulatory organs.^[4] His friend Anton Chekhov was inspired to write the novella, "The Duel", based on discussions with Wagner.^[5][6]

Vladimir Wagner
Born	Vladimir Aleksandrovich Wagner 29 March 1849 Kaluga, Russian Empire
Died	March 8, 1934(1934-03-08) (aged 84) Leningrad, USSR
Nationality	Russian
Occupation(s)	naturalist, psychologist, zoologist, arachnologist
Known for	studies of comparative and evolutionary psychology

Life and work

Wagner was born in Tula. He graduated from the law faculty (1874) and then in physics and mathematics (1882) from Moscow University. He spent some time at biological stations in Sevastapol, Naples and Villafranca. His first work was on marine invertebrate blood in collaboration with A. O. Kovalevsky and I. I. Mechnickov. His next major work was on the taxonomy of spiders, making use of such features as the construction pattern of webs. In 1889 he wrote a monograph on the spiders as a master's thesis at St. Petersburg University. He examined instinct in spiders. He taught at the Moscow Lyceum and at the private Perepelkina women's gymnasium. In 1901 his doctoral dissertation was on biological methods in zoopsychology (behavior) with an evolutionary perspective.^[7] In 1896 he became a departmental head at the Catherine Institute and in 1906 became a director at the Imperial Commercial School while also serving as a private associate professor at the St. Petersburg University. He organized a psychoneurology department begun by V. M. Bekhterev. He also edited a journal along with B.E. Raikov from 1912. He argued with the school of Pavlov and believed that instinct varied and that not everything could be reduced to reflex actions. He was critical of anthropomorphism as well as extreme reductionist views.^[8] From 1924 he also examined child development and recognized games played an important role in development. He also examined memory.^[9]

References

1. Jaan Valsiner; Rene van der Veer (2000). The Social Mind: Construction of the Idea. Cambridge University Press. pp. 357–359. ISBN 978-0-521-58973-4.
2. Vucinich, Alexander (1988). Darwin in Russian Thought. University of California Press. pp. 153–185. ISBN 978-0-520-06283-2.
3. Русские биологи-эволюционисты до Дарвина. Материалы к истории эволюционной идеи в России [Russian Evolutionary Biologists Before Darwin. Materials for the History of Evolutionary Ideas in Russia] (in Russian). Alexander Doweld. 1951. p. 415. GGKEY:D8T75RNY5X8.
4. Mikhailov, K. G. (2004). "A brief historical overview of the development of arachnology in Russia" (PDF). In Logunov DV; Penney D (eds.). European Arachnology 2003. Special Issue Number 1. Arthropoda Selecta. pp. 21–34. ISSN 0136-006X.
5. Wagner, V.A. "From the Other Shore: My Autobiography". International Journal of Comparative Psychology. 6 (1): 37–49. doi:10.46867/C46885.
6. Joravsky, David (1992). "Comparative psychology in Russia". International Journal of Comparative Psychology. 6 (1): 56–60.
7. Владимир Александрович Вагнер — Визуальный словарь
8. Krementsov, Nikolai L (1992). "V.A. Wagner and the Origin of Russian Ethology". International Journal of Comparative Psychology. 6 (1): 61–70. doi:10.46867/C4G02M.
9. Артемьева, О.А.; Щелокова, М.В (2017). "Историография советской зоопсихологии: герои, достижения и этапы развития в представлениях авторов академических учебников". Психология и Психотехника. 3 (3): 23–35. doi:10.7256/2454-0722.2017.3.23492. ISSN 2454-0722.