The "subjective method" by N.K. Mikhailovsky in sociology and history: background knowledge, empathy, and moral assessment

The article contains an analysis of the theoretical and methodological approach to the study of human society, developed at the end of the 19th century by N.K. Mikhailovsky, a leading theorist of Russian Populism (Narodnichestvo). The author compares the prospects for the application of the «subjective method» elaborated by Mikhailovsky in sociology and history, and distinguishes some components of the «subjective method»: «biased representation» (background knowledge), empathy for the object of research, reconstruction of the ideals and goals of people of the Past, and their moral assessment from the standpoint of the modernity.