| The dissertation is an historical survey of the reaction of Soviet Marxist-Leninist philosophers and cosmologists to revolutionary Western theories in modern astronomy.;The dissertation is chiefly concerned with the variety of issues and trends in the conflict of ideas between the dialectical materialist concept of the nature of the universe and the eminent cosmological theories which are incompatible with those precepts, according to the Soviet interpretations. The period surveyed is the mid-1920's to the early 1970's.;The main sources consulted are the works which Marxist-Leninists refer to as the classics--the publications of Marx, Engels, and Lenin--and Soviet books, journals, and conference proceedings containing relevant material.;The evidence clearly indicates that there is an official state ideology of science in the field of cosmology in the Soviet Union. A dominant Marxist-Leninist "school" had emerged by the late 1930's. It maintained control over published works in cosmology up through the 1970's, the end of the period reviewed in this dissertation. It influenced the direction of the research and the interpretations of both groups engaged in cosmological studies--the philosophers and the astronomers and astrophysicists.;Much of the Soviet research has been conducted to disprove interpretations in theoretical astronomy which conflict with fundamental premises regarding the nature of the material cosmos, as held by Marx, Engels, and Lenin. Theories accepted by the majority of Western astronomers as guidelines for their work, such as Gamow's theory of the formation of the elements, stars, and galaxies, have been rejected by the Soviet school in cosmology. |
