Comparative analysis of the philosophical and historical views of S.L. Frank and V.V. Zenkovsky

Abstract

The purpose of the article is a comparative analysis of the historiosophical views of S. L. Frank and V. V. Zenkovsky, which were based on specific ontognoseological concepts about the essence of being and the possibilities for a creative person to comprehend it. Based on the ideas about the place and role of man in natural and socio-historical processes characteristic of Christian personalism, thinkers, interpreting the concepts of creation and the Fall in different ways, came to dissimilar conclusions about the practical meanings of the cognitive and transformative activity of the individual. When conducting the study, comparative analysis methods were used, which involved a reasoned and consistent identification of the similarities and differences in the historiosophical positions of S. L. Frank and V. V. Zenkovsky, as well as hermeneutical methods used to better understand the semantic content of their texts. The author of the article, having consistently examined the views of S. L. Frank and V. V. Zenkovsky on evolution, social utopianism, conciliarity, on the place and role of the Church in the socio-historical process and on the eschatological perspective of humanity, comes to the conclusion that, despite the fact that both philosophers have significant disagreements regarding their solution to the problem of theodicy, the theme of overcoming evil in the world is fundamental for their philosophical and historical constructions. However, due to the incompatibility of their ideological approaches, the difference in the ontognoseological ideas of philosophers about the types of connection between the Absolute and the created world (essential and beneficial) and about the cognitive capabilities of man affected their understanding of both the goal of historical development and the methodology for achieving it.