start de novo. As a result, they included criticism of Russia's intellectual isolation and social backwardness. When in 1836 the first edition (and only one published during his life) of the philosophical letters was published in the Russian magazine Telescope, its editor was exiled to the Far North of Russia. The Slavophiles at first mistook Chaadayev for one of them, but later, on realizing their mistake, bitterly denounced and disclaimed him. Chaadayev fought Slavophilism all of his life. His first Philosophical Letter has been labeled the "opening shot" of the Westernizer-Slavophile controversy which was dominant in Russian social thought of the nineteenth century. He wrote in his "first letter": The strikingly uncomplimentary views of Russia in the first philosophical letter caused their author to be declared "clinically insane" because he criticized the regime of Tsar Nicholas I. The 1836 case of Pyotr is believed to be the first recorded incident where psychiatry was used in Russia to suppress dissent. Living under house arrest following his declaration of insanity, Chaadayev next work was entitled, fittingly, "Apologie d'un Fou" [which has been translated as "Apology of a Madman" but may better be translated as "Apologia of a Madman"] (1837). It opens with a quote from Samuel Coleridge stating "O my brethren! I have told/ Most bitter truth, but without bitterness." In this brilliant but uncompleted work he maintained that Russia must follow her inner lines of development if she was to be true to her historical mission. His ideas influenced both the Westernizers (who supported bringing Russia into accord with developments in Europe by way of various degrees of liberal reform) and Slavophiles (who supported Russian Orthodoxy and national culture.) Most of his works have been edited by his biographer, Mikhail Gershenzon (two volumes, Moscow, 1913–14), whose study of the philosopher was published at St. Petersburg in 1908. References Sources This article incorporates text from the New International Encyclopedia, a work which is now in the public domain. lazov, Yuri. "Chaadaev and Russia's destiny." Studies in East European Thought 32.4 (1986): 281-301. McNally, Raymond T. "The Significance of Chaadayev's Weltanschauung." Russian Review 23.4 (1964): 352-361. online M.A. Mendosa, Uno scrittore russo del primo ’800: Pëtr Jakovlevič Čaadaev, Mantova: Universitas Studiorum, 2014, External links "Philosophical Letters", by P. Chaadayev at Runivers.ru in Djvu and PDF format "Philosophical Letters", by P. Chaadayev. "LETTRES PHILOSOPHIQUES ADRESSÉES À UNE DAME". P. Ja. Tchaadaev. Principales ideas de