As one of the more prominent Russian neo-Kantians, much of Yakavenko's work focused on problems of cognition.
He graduated from a classical gymnasium in Saint Petersburg in 1903 and that same year was admitted to Imperial Moscow University.
Following his release, Yakovenko fled Russia to continue his studies at Heidelberg University in Germany.
[1][2] In 1910, he co-established a Russian philosophical journal called Logos, while working on Russian translations of philosophical works such as those of Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Benedetto Croce.
[1][3] He was one of the more prominent Russian neo-Kantians, of the Baden School, a follower of Hermann Cohen, and had a particular focus on problems of cognition.