Russian philosophy
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Russian philosophy is a collective name for the philosophical heritage of Russian thinkers.


Historiography

In historiography, there is no consensus regarding the origins of Russian philosophy, its periodization and its cultural significance. The historical boundaries of Russian philosophy directly depend on the philosophical content that a specific researcher sees in Russian intellectual history. Traditionally, since the 19th century, the "pre–Petrine" or "Old Russian" and "post–Petrine" or "Enlightenment" stages of the development of Russian philosophy have been distinguished. In modern historiography, a third, "Soviet" period is also distinguished. Starting from religious thought, Archimandrite Gabriel, the first historian of Russian philosophy, saw its origins in the didactic "Teachings" of Vladimir Monomakh, thereby directly elevating Russian philosophy to traditional ancient Russian scribes. A number of major historians of Russian philosophy, however, tend to view philosophy in stricter boundaries: Russian philosophy is taking shape as an independent phenomenon, thus, in the era of
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
. The reduction of Russian philosophy to the enlightenment paradigm has been repeatedly criticized in view of the reductivization of the Russian philosophical heritage of previous eras. Discussions about the origins and boundaries of Russian philosophy do not subside to this day, although in most modern historical and philosophical essays, Russian philosophy is considered as a phenomenon of Russian intellectual culture rooted in the theological and didactic literature of Ancient Russia ( Kliment Smolyatich, Kirik Novgorodets, Kirill Turovsky and others are among the first Russian philosophers). According to
Nikolay Lossky Nikolay Onufriyevich Lossky. (; – 24 January 1965), also known as N. O. Lossky, was a Russian philosopher, representative of Russian idealism, intuitionist epistemology, personalism, libertarianism, ethics and axiology (value theory). He gave ...
, the characteristic features of Russian philosophy are:
cosmism Cosmism may refer to: * A religious philosophical position from the writings of Hugo de Garis * Russian cosmism, a philosophical and cultural movement in Russia in the early 20th century See also * Cosmicism, a literary philosophy by H. P. Lovecr ...
, sophiology (teachings about Sophia),
sobornost Sobornost ( rus, собо́рность, p=sɐˈbornəstʲ "spiritual community of many jointly-living people") is a Russian term whose usage is primarily attributed to the 19th-century Slavophile Russian writers Ivan Kireyevsky (1806-1856 ...
,
metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
, religiosity, intuitionism, positivism, realism ( ontologism).
Semyon Frank Semyon Lyudvigovich Frank (russian: Семён Лю́двигович Франк; 28 January 1877 – 10 December 1950) was a Russian philosopher. Born into a Jewish family, he became a Christian in 1912. Early life and studies Semyon Lyudvigov ...
characterized Russian philosophy by pointing out the inseparability of rational and moral meanings inherent in Russian thinkers, inherent in the word ''pravda''. Nikolai Berdyaev also pointed out the striving characteristic of Russian thought "to develop for oneself a totalitarian, holistic world outlook, in which ''pravda–truth'' will be combined with ''pravda–justice''". According to Professor Andrei Sukhov, no other philosophy contains so many reflections on the fate of country. As noted by the researcher Maria Varlamova, in Russia, Plato is a much more significant figure than Aristotle. Professor Nina Dmitrieva notes that "Russian philosophical thought until the turn of the 19th–20th centuries developed mainly in the mainstream of literary criticism and journalism, with a primary focus on topical socio–political and ethical issues. And in the last decades of the 19th century, mystical and religious thinkers began to set the tone in academic and so–called free philosophy". As Professor, Doctor of Historical Sciences Natalia Vorobyova notes in her work "History of Russian Spiritual Culture", modern researchers postulate the absence of an original national Slavic–Russian philosophical system, considering the system of Russian philosophy as a phenomenon of Modern period. As Academician
Dmitry Likhachev Dmitry Sergeyevich Likhachov (russian: Дми́трий Серге́евич Лихачёв, also ''Dmitri Likhachev'' or ''Likhachyov''; – 30 September 1999) was a Russian medievalist, linguist, and a former inmate of Gulag. During his lifet ...
writes: "For many centuries Russian philosophy was closely connected with literature and poetry. Therefore, it should be studied in connection with Lomonosov and Derzhavin, Tyutchev and Vladimir Solovyov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chernyshevsky...".


Main schools and directions

The main directions of Russian philosophy include: # Westernism and
liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostilit ...
– mid–19th century; # Slavophilism and pochvennichestvo – mid–19th century; # Narodnichestvo – second half of the 19th century; # Nihilism – second half of the 19th century; #
Anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
– second half of the 19th century; #
Cosmism Cosmism may refer to: * A religious philosophical position from the writings of Hugo de Garis * Russian cosmism, a philosophical and cultural movement in Russia in the early 20th century See also * Cosmicism, a literary philosophy by H. P. Lovecr ...
– late 19th – first half of the 20th century; # Tolstoyism – late 19th – early 20th century; # Positivism – late 19th – early 20th century; # Vekhovstvo – the beginning of the 20th century; #
Sophiology Sophiology (russian: Софиология, by detractors also called ''Sophianism'' or ''Sophism'' ) is a controversial school of thought in Russian Orthodoxy which holds that Divine Wisdom (or Sophia) is to be identified with God's essence, a ...
– the beginning of the 20th century; # Eurasianism – the first half of the 20th century, the beginning of the 21st century; #
Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and vario ...
– 20th century; #
Etatism In political science, statism is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation and the means of production. While in use ...
; #
Traditionalism Traditionalism is the adherence to traditional beliefs or practices. It may also refer to: Religion * Traditional religion, a religion or belief associated with a particular ethnic group * Traditionalism (19th-century Catholicism), a 19th–c ...
; #
Nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
.


Origins of Russian philosophy


Philosophical thought in the Old Russian state (11th–13th centuries)

The existence of ancient Russian philosophy is debatable. Some researchers, like Archpriest Dmitry Leskin, recognized the fact of its existence, others denied, claiming only the presence of philosophical ideas and problems in ancient Russian literature. The philosophical thoughts of the "Hellenic sages" fell into the Old Russian literature from translated sources. Within the framework of the religious worldview, the question of human nature (Svyatoslav's Izbornik, Kirill Turovsky,
Nil Sorsky Nil may refer to: * nil (the number zero) Acronyms * NIL (programming language), an implementation of the Lisp programming language * Name, Image and Likeness, a set of rules in the American National Collegiate Athletic Association allowing col ...
), state power (
Joseph Volotsky Joseph Volotsky — also known as Joseph of Volotsk or Joseph of Volokolamsk (russian: Ио́сиф Во́лоцкий); secular name Ivan Sanin (russian: Ива́н Са́нин) (1439 or 1440 – September 9, 1515) — was a prominent Russian ...
) and universal values (« The Word of Law and Grace» by Metropolitan Hilarion, who is sometimes called "the first ancient Russian philosopher") was resolved. The ethical ideal is contained in the Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh. In addition to historiosophy (ethnogenesis as a punishment for the Tower of Babel), The Tale of Bygone Years also contains elements of religious philosophy: the concepts of property (hypostasis), flesh (matter), vision (form), desire and dream (imagination) are being developed. Also in the ancient Russian state, translated literature of Byzantine philosophical monuments was widely circulated, the most important of which was the collection of sayings "The Bee" and "Dioptra" by Philip the Hermit. Among the most famous authors who left philosophically significant works are Vladimir Monomakh, Theodosius Pechersky, Klim Smolyatich, Kirik Novgorodets, Kirill Turovsky and Daniil Zatochnik.


Philosophical problems in the works of Russian scribes of the 14th–17th centuries


Joseph Volotsky and Nil Sorsky

A wide controversy unfolded between the followers of Joseph from Volokolamsk (in the world – Ivan Sanin), nicknamed "Josephites", and Nil Sorsky (in the world – Nikolai Maikov), nicknamed the "Trans–Volga elders", or "non–possessors". The central question that worried the polemicists was related to the role of the church in the state and the significance of its land holdings and decoration. The problem of decorating churches and land was not directly related to philosophy, however, it served as an impetus for considering the problems of church possessions in the plane of biblical and patristic literature (in the polemics, Gregory Sinait and Simeon the New Theologian,
John Climacus John Climacus ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης τῆς Κλίμακος; la, Ioannes Climacus), also known as John of the Ladder, John Scholasticus and John Sinaites, was a 6th–7th-century Christian monk at the monastery on Mount Sinai. He is re ...
,
Isaac the Syrian Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was th ...
, John Cassian the Roman, Nil of Sinai, Basil the Great and others are cited) and ultimately led to the question of the meaning of the connection between faith and power, which was resolved on Russian soil in the idea of "charisma" of the ruler. This philosophical problem was further developed in the epistolary legacy of Ivan the Terrible and Prince Kurbsky, in "The Lay of Voivode Dracula" by
Fyodor Kuritsyn Feodor Vasiliyevich Kuritsyn () (? - died no earlier than 1500) was a Russian politician, statesman, philosopher and a poet. As a government official and a diplomat, Kuritsyn exerted great influence on the Russian foreign policy in the times of I ...
, as well as in the message of Ivan Peresvetov. In addition, Joseph Volotsky and Nil Sorsky went down in history in the course of the struggle against the heresy of the Judaizers and strigolniki, which spread in the Novgorod land (first of all, in Novgorod itself and in Pskov). With the spread of the heresy of the Judaizers in the Russian intellectual environment, works of pseudo–Aristotle began to appear. The position of the strigolniks in their spirit was close to the Hussites. In this regard, there is a need not only for the arguments of patristic literature, but also for monuments of Latin scholastic scholarship, which Dmitry Gerasimov, also known as Dmitry Scholastic, a member of the Gennadiy circle, began to translate. It is noteworthy that the reaction to heretics on the part of Joseph Volotsky and Nil Sorsky also differed radically: Joseph Volotsky insisted on the destruction of heretics, according to Joseph, it is necessary to "inflict wounds on them, thereby consecrating his hand", while Nil Sorsky and Vassian Patrikeev insisted on the need exhortation, fighting with the word, not with the sword. The controversy between the Josephites and the non–possessors became an important example of the tension between the authorities and free–thinkers in the Russian state, which subsequently reappeared again and again in the history of Russian philosophy, which was repeatedly banned.


Ostrog School

An important role in the formation of Russian philosophy was played by the Ostrog School, founded by Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky in his domain in Ostrog in order to strengthen the Orthodox faith and improve the quality of the work of the Orthodox clergy in polemics with the Uniates. In the Ostrog School, much attention was paid to the study of languages: Ancient Greek, Latin and Old Church Slavonic. There was a printing house at the school, in which Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Timofeev served. Prince Andrey Kurbsky also took part in the development of the school. Along with theological literature, scholastic philosophy was studied at the Ostrog School. So Vitaly Dubensky compiled the florilegia "Dioptra, or the Mirror and the Reflection of Human Life in the Next World" in the Univ Monastery. Among the graduates of the academy were: the author of "Grammar" Melety Smotritsky (son of the first rector), archimandrite of the Kiev–Pechersk Lavra, the founder of the Lavra Printing House
Yelisey Pletenetsky Yelysei Pletenetskyi, or Yelysei Pletenetsky (1550 – 29 October 1624), also known as Elizeusz Pletenecki, was a Ukrainian archimandrite. He served as archimandrite of a monastery in the Pinsk region from 1595 to 1599, and of Kyiv Pechersk Lavra ...
, polemicist writer, philosopher, author of "Apocrisis" Christopher Filalet and many others. The activities of the Ostrog School predetermined the orientation of philosophical and theological courses at the Kiev–Mogila and Moscow Slavic–Greek–Latin academies.


Rtishchevskaya School

The Rtishchevsky School (also – the Rtishchevsky Brotherhood, the Andreevsky School) was the first educational institution in
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
, founded as a court circle during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. Education in the Rtishchevsky Brotherhood was carried out on the model of European institutions of higher education. The school arose on the initiative of Fyodor Rtishchev, operated in Moscow since 1648 and was located in the Andreevsky Monastery, built at the expense of Rtishchev at the foot of the Sparrow Hills. The Rtischevskaya School was the first in Moscow to officially include courses in
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
and
rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...
. The head of the Rtishchevskaya School was appointed a native of the Kiev Fraternal School, a participant in book research in Russia, a philosopher, theologian and translator Epiphany Slavinetsky.


Moscow Slavic–Greek–Latin Academy

The most important figure within the Moscow Slavic–Greek–Latin Academy was Simeon of Polotsk. Simeon Polotsky was a figure of Russian culture, spiritual writer,
theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
,
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...
, playwright, translator. He was the mentor of the children of the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from Maria Miloslavskaya: Ivan, Sophia and Fedor. Founder of the School at the Zaikonospassky Monastery, teacher of Sylvester Medvedev. Other important figures include Sylvester Medvedev and the Likhuda Brothers, Feofilakt Lopatinsky, Pallady Rogovsky.


Philosophy at the Smolensk Collegium

The most important figure in the framework of philosophy at the Smolensk Collegium was Gedeon Vishnevsky. Bishop Gedeon Vishnevsky was the bishop of the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
, bishop of Smolensk and Dorogobuzh.


Russian philosophy of the 18th century

The reforms of Peter I contributed to the limitation of the power of the church and the penetration of Western philosophy into Russia through the emerging system of higher education. The most popular Western innovation was deism, whose adherents were such key thinkers of the Russian Enlightenment as Mikhail Lomonosov and Alexander Radishchev. It was at this moment that
atomism Atomism (from Greek , ''atomon'', i.e. "uncuttable, indivisible") is a natural philosophy proposing that the physical universe is composed of fundamental indivisible components known as atoms. References to the concept of atomism and its atom ...
and
sensationalism In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emotio ...
fell on Russian soil. In practice, the ideas of deism were expressed in anti–clericalism and the substantiation of the subordination of spiritual power to secular ones, for which the learned squad of Peter I advocated. Also, the philosophy of Russian Enlightenment adapted many of the ideas of
Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
( Nikolay Novikov). Grigory Teplov compiled one of the first Russian philosophical dictionaries. Important Russian philosophers of the 18th century were Feofan Prokopovich and Stefan Yavorsky, Mikhail Lomonosov, Grigory Skovoroda, Russian Martinists, and "Inner Christians". The central works of Russian philosophers of the 18th century were "A Conversation of Two Friends" by Vasily Tatishchev, "Children's Philosophy" by Andrei Bolotov, "Knowledge Concerning Philosophy in General" by Grigory Teplov and "About Man, His Mortality and Immortality" by Alexander Radishchev.


Russian philosophy of the 19th century

Schellingism appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1823, the Society of Wisdom is created. * Peter Chaadaev – stood at the origins of the original philosophy, asked the question about the meaning of Russia as a separate civilization. For the rest, he repeated the old ideas about the
mechanistic The mechanical philosophy is a form of natural philosophy which compares the universe to a large-scale mechanism (i.e. a machine). The mechanical philosophy is associated with the scientific revolution of early modern Europe. One of the first expo ...
structure of the world and the
providential Providential (February 6, 1977 – May 1998) was an Irish-born Thoroughbred racehorse who competed successfully in France and won the most important race on turf in the United States. Bred and raced by Bertram R. Firestone, he was sired by Ru ...
nature of history; * Aleksey Khomyakov – a Slavophile, considered the decision about the meaning of Russia unsatisfactory, and defended the idea of
sobornost Sobornost ( rus, собо́рность, p=sɐˈbornəstʲ "spiritual community of many jointly-living people") is a Russian term whose usage is primarily attributed to the 19th-century Slavophile Russian writers Ivan Kireyevsky (1806-1856 ...
; *
Ivan Kireevsky Ivan Vasilyevich Kireyevsky (russian: link=no, Ива́н Васи́льевич Кире́евский; 3 April 1806, Moscow – 23 June 1856, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian literary critic and philosopher who, together with Aleksey Khomyakov, i ...
– a Slavophile, defended the ideal of pre–Petrine patriarchal Russia; * Konstantin Aksakov – made a distinction between country and state; * Fyodor Dostoevsky declared about the " Russian Idea" and the need to restore the connection between the "educated society" and the
people A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
on the basis of the national "soil"; * Herzen; * Belinsky; * Dobrolyubov; * Chernyshevsky; * Pisarev.


Philosophy of all–unity of Vladimir Solovyov

Contemporaries called Vladimir Solovyov (1853–1900) the central figure of Russian philosophy. He criticized the philosophy that existed before him for abstractness and did not accept such extreme manifestations of it as
empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empir ...
and
rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy' ...
. He put forward the idea of positive total–unity, headed by God. He saw good as a manifestation of will, truth as a manifestation of reason, beauty as a manifestation of feeling. The philosopher saw the entire material world as controlled by Him, while man in his philosophy acted as a connecting link between God and nature, created by Him, but not perfect. A person must bring it to perfection (up to spiritualization), this is the meaning of his life (movement to the
Absolute Absolute may refer to: Companies * Absolute Entertainment, a video game publisher * Absolute Radio, (formerly Virgin Radio), independent national radio station in the UK * Absolute Software Corporation, specializes in security and data risk manag ...
). Since a person occupies an intermediate position between God and nature, his moral activity is manifested in love for another person, for nature and for God. The concept of ''all-unity'' was also used by
Semyon Frank Semyon Lyudvigovich Frank (russian: Семён Лю́двигович Франк; 28 January 1877 – 10 December 1950) was a Russian philosopher. Born into a Jewish family, he became a Christian in 1912. Early life and studies Semyon Lyudvigov ...
and Lev Karsavin.


Philosophy of Leo Tolstoy

One of the central places in Russian philosophy is occupied by
Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
(1828–1910). His philosophy was influenced by the views of Kant, Rousseau,
Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...
. Tolstoy's views were shared by many of his contemporaries ("Tolstoyans") and followers. Gandhi himself considered him to be his teacher. In his philosophy, Tolstoy recognizes the value of the moral component of religion, but denies all its theological aspects ("true religion"). The goal of
cognition Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, though ...
is the search for the
meaning of life The meaning of life, or the answer to the question: "What is the meaning of life?", pertains to the significance of living or existence in general. Many other related questions include: "Why are we here?", "What is life all about?", or "Wha ...
by a person.


Positivism

*De Roberti; * Vyrubov; *Lesevich; * Lavrov; * Mikhailovsky.


Russian philosophy of the 20th century

At the beginning of the 20th century, the largest Russian philosophers, under the influence of social and political changes in the country, published three philosophical collections, which received a wide public response and evaluation from various political figures of that time. These compilations: *The Problems of Idealism. 1902; * Milestones. Collection of Articles About the Russian Intelligentsia. 1909; *From the Depth. Collection of Articles About the Russian Revolution. 1918. Russian religious philosophy at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries became a kind of synthesis between Slavophilism and Westernism. Following Chaadaev, projects for the construction of the kingdom of God on Earth were preserved, which acquired the features of
Sophiology Sophiology (russian: Софиология, by detractors also called ''Sophianism'' or ''Sophism'' ) is a controversial school of thought in Russian Orthodoxy which holds that Divine Wisdom (or Sophia) is to be identified with God's essence, a ...
( Vladimir Solovyov,
Sergei Bulgakov Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov (; russian: Серге́й Никола́евич Булга́ков; – 13 July 1944) was a Russian Orthodox theologian, priest, philosopher, and economist. Biography Early life: 1871–1898 Sergei Nikolaevich B ...
) and the Roses of the World ( Daniil Andreev). Religion and spiritual and moral regeneration were thought to be an important part of building a just society. In part, the ideas of sophiology are inherited by Bolshevism (
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
) and cosmism (
noosphere The noosphere (alternate spelling noösphere) is a philosophical concept developed and popularized by the Russian-Ukrainian Soviet biogeochemist Vladimir Vernadsky, and the French philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Verna ...
). In the 20th century, in connection with the dramatic events of Russian history, there is a division of Russian philosophy into Russian Marxism and the philosophy of the Russian diaspora. Some of the philosophers were exiled abroad, but some remained in Soviet Russia: Pavel Florensky and his student Alexei Losev. Through the latter, the traditions of Russian philosophy were revived in Soviet Russia, since Sergey Averintsev and Vladimir Bibikhin received spiritual succession from him.


Existentialism of Nikolai Berdyaev

The most important place in Russian philosophical thought in the first half of the 20th century is occupied by the work of Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948), the most prominent representative of Russian
existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and val ...
. At the beginning of his journey, Berdyaev adhered to Marxist views, participating in anti–government demonstrations and conducting correspondence with one of the leaders of the German Social Democracy,
Karl Kautsky Karl Johann Kautsky (; ; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was a Czech-Austrian philosopher, journalist, and Marxist theorist. Kautsky was one of the most authoritative promulgators of orthodox Marxism after the death of Friedrich Engels ...
. However, the young philosopher and thinker soon abandoned Marxism, becoming one of the most detailed critics of this doctrine. Berdyaev calls the main opposition, which should develop in the philosopher's worldview, the opposition between spirit and nature. Spirit is a subject, life, creativity and freedom, nature is an object, a thing, necessity and immobility. Knowledge of the spirit is achieved through experience. God is spirit. Those of people who have had spiritual experience and experience of creativity do not need rational proof of the existence of God. At its core, the deity is irrational and super–rational. Developing in his teaching the theme of creativity and spirituality, Berdyaev pays great attention to the idea of freedom, which reveals the connection between God, the Universe and man. He distinguishes three types of freedom: primary irrational freedom, that is, arbitrariness; rational freedom, that is, the fulfillment of a moral duty; and, finally, freedom imbued with the love of God. He argues that freedom is not created by God, and therefore God cannot be held responsible for the freedom that created evil. Primary freedom conditions the possibility of both good and evil. Thus, even God cannot foresee the actions of a person with free will, he acts as an assistant so that the will of a person becomes good. Existential views in Berdyaev's work are manifested in his thoughts on the problem of personality. According to Berdyaev, personality is not a part of the cosmos, on the contrary, the cosmos is a part of the human personality. Personality is not a substance, it is a creative act, it is unchanging in the process of change. A person who manifests creative activity thereby finds a deity in himself. Berdyaev is trying to formulate the so–called "Russian Idea", which expresses the character and vocation of the Russian people. "The Russian people are a highly polarized people, they are a combination of opposites", the thinker believes. The Russian people combine cruelty and humanity, individualism and faceless collectivism, the search for God and militant atheism, humility and arrogance, slavery and rebellion. In history, such features of a national character as obedience to power, martyrdom, sacrifice and a tendency to revelry and anarchy were manifested. Speaking about the events of 1917, Berdyaev emphasizes that the liberal–bourgeois revolution in Russia was a utopia. The revolution in Russia could only be socialist. According to the philosopher, the Russian idea is rooted in the idea of the brotherhood of people and peoples, for the Russian people in their spiritual structure is religious, open and communitarian. Nevertheless, Berdyaev reminds, one should not forget about the polarization of the nature of the Russian man, capable of compassion and the possibility of bitterness, striving for freedom, but sometimes prone to slavery. Among the main works of Berdyaev "Philosophy of Freedom" (1911), "The Meaning of Creativity. The Experience of Human Justification" (1916), "The Philosophy of Inequality. Letters to Enemies in Social Philosophy" (1923), "The Origins and Meaning of Russian Communism" (1937), "Russian Idea. The Main Problems of Russian Thought in the 19th and 20th Centuries" (1946).


Eurasianism

Eurasianism is a philosophical and political movement advocating the rejection of Russia's European integration in favor of integration with Central Asian countries. The Eurasian movement, which emerged among the Russian emigration in the 1920s and 1930s, gained popularity by the beginning of the 21st century. The ideas of Eurasianism, practically forgotten by the second half of the 20th century, were largely revived by the historian and geographer Lev Gumilyov and became widespread by the beginning of the 21st century. Gumilyov in a number of books – "Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere of the Earth", "Millennium around the Caspian" and "From Rus to Russia" – using the Eurasian concept and supplementing it with his own developments, forms his concept of ethnogenesis, leading him to a number of conclusions, among which the largest the following are important: firstly, any ethnos is a community of people united by a certain stereotype of behavior; secondly, an ethnos and its stereotype of behavior are formed in specific geographic and climatic conditions and remain stable for a long period of time, comparable to the existence of an ethnos; thirdly, superethnic wholes are formed on the basis of a generalized stereotype of behavior shared by representatives of different ethnic groups of a single super–ethnic group; fourthly, the stereotype of the behavior of a superethnic integrity is a certain way of being that meets certain conditions of existence.


Soviet philosophy

Even before the beginning of the
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...
, the philosophy of
Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
developed in Russia (
Georgy Plekhanov Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov (; rus, Гео́ргий Валенти́нович Плеха́нов, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj vəlʲɪnˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ plʲɪˈxanəf, a=Ru-Georgi Plekhanov-JermyRei.ogg; – 30 May 1918) was a Russian revoluti ...
,
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
). The main question in Soviet philosophy was the question of the relationship between matter and consciousness, and the main method was
dialectics Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing t ...
, in which three laws were distinguished. Structurally, philosophy was divided into dialectical and
historical materialism Historical materialism is the term used to describe Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx locates historical change in the rise of class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. For Marx and his lifetime collaborat ...
, that is, the philosophy of nature and the philosophy of history. Nature, interpreted as
matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic part ...
and objective reality, was considered eternal and infinite in space and time.
Consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...
was interpreted as "a property of highly organized matter". The theory of knowledge was dominated by the Leninist theory of reflection. The historical process was perceived through the prism of a subordinate relationship between the basis (
economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...
) and superstructure (
culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...
), which passed through successively replacing formations: the primitive communal system, the slave system,
feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structu ...
,
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...
and
socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes th ...
(as the first stage of communism). In the Soviet years, discussions about the nature of the ideal gained popularity (only "in the head" or not? David Dubrovsky –
Evald Ilyenkov Evald Vassilievich Ilyenkov (russian: link=no, Э́вальд Васи́льевич Илье́нков; 18 February 1924 – 21 March 1979) was a Marxist author and Soviet philosopher. Biography Evald Ilyenkov did original work on the mater ...
), disputes about the nature of information. Mikhail Bakhtin develops the ideas of polyphony, dialogue and carnivalism. Such philosophers as Aleksey Losev, Sergey Averintsev, Vladimir Bibikhin enjoyed great popularity in the late Soviet period. In the late Soviet and post–Soviet period, the ideas of the Moscow–Tartu Semiotic School were widely recognized.


Post–Soviet philosophy

After the lifting of ideological prohibitions due to the collapse of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, Russian philosophy found itself in a situation of uncertainty. While maintaining the existing structure of philosophical education, the process of mastering that part of the philosophical heritage, from which Soviet philosophy was artificially isolated, was launched. New disciplines of the philosophical cycle arose and began to develop –
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...
,
cultural studies Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the political dynamics of contemporary culture (including popular culture) and its historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers generally investigate how cultural practices re ...
, religious studies,
philosophical anthropology Philosophical anthropology, sometimes called anthropological philosophy, is a discipline dealing with questions of metaphysics and phenomenology of the human person. History Ancient Christian writers: Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ...
. Attempts were made to resume the interrupted philosophical tradition, return to the legacy of Russian religious philosophy, but these attempts (according to Yuri Semyonov, Daniil Danin, Mikhail Chulaki and many others) proved to be a failure. Currently, there are several organizations that declare their continuity to the ideas of the Eurasians. The main ones among them are the Eurasian Youth Union, the
International Eurasian Movement The Eurasia Movement is a Russian political movement founded in 2001 by the political scientist Aleksandr Dugin. The organization follows the neo-Eurasian ideology, which adopts an eclectic mixture of Russian patriotism, Orthodox faith, anti-m ...
of the main ideologist of neo–Eurasianism,
Alexander Dugin Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin ( rus, Александр Гельевич Дугин; born 7 January 1962) is a Russian political philosopher, analyst, and strategist, who has been widely characterized as a fascist. Born into a military intelligen ...
, and a number of other organizations.


School of Georgy Shchedrovitsky

An extremely original and extraordinary contribution to the development of Russian philosophy belongs to Georgy Shchedrovitsky and the methodological school he created, which was subsequently formulated accordingly ("the third Russian philosophy is actually methodology"). The philosophical and methodological system, created by Shchedrovitsky and his school (also known as the Moscow Methodological Circle), offers original ways out of the problematic situation of postmodernism ("in the opposition "modernism – postmodernism", the system of thought–activity methodology can be positioned with a number of reservations and conditions"). It is indicative that the initially semi–underground Moscow methodological circle forms, forges and polishes the concepts demanded by contemporary period, at a time when the conceptual apparatus of the so–called "post–non–classical" (post–modernist) philosophy has already exhausted its capabilities.Georgy Shchedrovitsky. We Have a Philosophy // Georgy Shchedrovitsky. Philosophy. The Science. Methodology. Moscow: "School of Cultural Policy", 1997, Pages 1–24


See also

*
List of Russian philosophers Russian philosophy includes a variety of philosophical movements. Authors who developed them are listed below sorted by movement. While most authors listed below are primarily philosophers, also included here are some Russian fiction writers, ...


References


Sources

*Vasily Vanchugov. The First Historian of Russian Philosophy: Archimandrite Gabriel and His Time – Moscow: World of Philosophy. 2015 – 752 Pages – (Russian Philosophy). ISBN 978-5-9906502-0-6 *Archimandrite Gabriel
Russian Philosophy
/ Preface, Text Preparation, Notes – Doctor of Philosophy Vasily Vanchugov – Moscow – Peoples' Friendship University of Russia Publishing House, 2005 *Archimandrite Gabriel
History of Philosophy
Part 6. Kazan, at the University Printing House 1840 – Part 6: Russian Philosophy. (Facsimile Edition on th
Runivers
Portal) *Anatoly Galaktionov, Peter Nikandrov. History of Russian Philosophy – Moscow: Publishing House of Socio–Economic Literature, 1961 *Anatoly Galaktionov, Peter Nikandrov. Russian Philosophy of the 9th–19th Centuries. 2nd Edition, Revised and Enlarged – Leningrad: Leningrad State University Publishing House, 1989 *Vasily Zenkovsky. History of Russian Philosophy / Introductory Article, Preparation and Notes by Vyacheslav Serbinenko – Moscow, 2001 *
Nikolay Lossky Nikolay Onufriyevich Lossky. (; – 24 January 1965), also known as N. O. Lossky, was a Russian philosopher, representative of Russian idealism, intuitionist epistemology, personalism, libertarianism, ethics and axiology (value theory). He gave ...

History of Russian Philosophy
– Moscow: Academic Project, 2007 – 560 Pages – ISBN 978-5-8291-0858-8
Russian Philosophy of the First Half of the 19th Century
– Sverdlovsk: Publishing House of the Ural University, 1967. On the Runivers Website
Russian Philosophy
/ Mikhail Gromov // New Philosophical Encyclopedia: In 4 Volumes / Chairman of the Scientific Editorial Council Vyacheslav Stepin – 2nd Edition, Revised and Supplemented – Moscow: Mysl, 2010 – 2816 Pages * *Maja Soboleva. Russische Philosophie im Kontexte der Interkulturalitaet. Traugott Bautz Verlag, 2007 *Andrey Sukhov
Russian Philosophy: Features, Traditions, Historical Destinies. Moscow, Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1995
* ttps://rvb.ru/swassjan/noch_nacht/15.htm Karen Svasyan. About Three Transformations of Philosophy in Russia*Galina Grinenko. History of Philosophy – Moscow: Yurayt–Izdat – 2004
Philosophy in the Soviet Union and Post–Soviet Russia
/ Vladimir Pustarnakov, Alexander Myslivchenko, Vladislav Lektorsky, Alexander Ogurtsov // New Philosophical Encyclopedia: In 4 Volumes / Chairman of the Scientific and Editorial Council Vyacheslav Stepin – 2nd Edition, Revised and Supplemented – Moscow: Mysl, 2010 – 2816 Pages


External links


Russian Philosophy
in the Electronic Library of Philosophy
Russian Philosophy on the Site "World of the Russian Word"Library of Russian Religious, Philosophical and Fictional Literature "Vekhi"A Cycle of Documentary Programs About Russian Philosophy and LiteratureRussian Philosophy on the Runivers Portal
(Facsimile Library)
Gallery of Russian Thinkers by Dmitry OlshanskyAn Introduction to the History of Russian Philosophical Thought. Video Lecture by Vasily Vanchugov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russian Philosophy Russian philosophy Philosophy by country