to three craft degree March 14, 1888, in Paris, in the Russian lodge "Cosmos". January 9, 1906, member of Lodge "Revival". To other sources - member of the Lodge "Cosmos" before 1915. Since 1906 founding member of the Lodge "Renaissance" of the Grand Orient of France. Was Worshipful Master Lodge "Renaissance". Ideas Among Kovalevsky's contributions to Russian jurisprudence and social science was a new historical method which combined traditional descriptive comparative analysis with sociological/ethnographic methods. Among his disciples were Pitirim Sorokin, Nikolai Kondratiev, and Nicholas Timasheff (see Sociology in Russia). His early work on the peasant commune influenced Georgy Plekhanov. As a scholar Kovalevsky was a social evolutionist and called himself a disciple of Auguste Comte. He defined sociology as "the science dealing with the organization and evolution of societies". He believed in progress as one of the inexorable laws of history. For him progress was "the constant expansion of the environment of peaceful coexistence from tribal unity through patriotism to cosmopolitanism". According to Kovalevsky, economic relations are bound to expand ever further, and the growth of international trade "would bring about the economic integration of the whole world, eliminating the causes of war, and ultimately lead to a world federation of democratic states". Progress depends on population growth as its main driving force. See also List of Russian legal historians Russian legal history References Further reading Leo Pasvolsky, "M.M. Kovalevsky", in The Russian Review, Volume 1, No. 5 (June 1916), pp. 259–268 (available at Wikisource) Modern Customs and Ancient Laws of Russia. Union, N.J.: Lawbook Exchange, 2000. Russian Political Institutions: The Growth and Development of These Institutions from the Beginnings of Russian History to the Present Time. University of Chicago Press (1902). Alexander F. Tsvirkun, history and legal and political scientist. Kharkiv 2007 External links 1851 births 1916 deaths People from Kharkiv Oblast People from Kharkov Governorate Russian nobility Party of Democratic Reform (Russia) politicians Progressive Party (Russia) politicians Members of the State Council (Russian Empire) Members of the 1st State Duma of the Russian Empire Russian legal scholars 20th-century Russian historians Russian anthropologists Russian sociologists Russian Freemasons National University of Kharkiv alumni Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Burials at Nikolskoe Cemetery 19th-century historians from the Russian Empire