N. A. Berdyaev’s method of cognition of history in light of possible socio-philosophical interpretations of modernity

Abstract

The subject of this research is the methods of philosophical-historical cognition developed in the writings of N. A. Berdyaev, his triadic scheme of subject’s relation to history. The first period of direct, cohesive presence in some conventional historical structure does not portend the emergence of historical reflection. The second period, which Berdyaev associates with the era of “Enlightenment”, is characterized by disintegration in the historical life and human consciousness, contraposition of historical object and subject. However, the actual formation of the philosophy of history is possible only on condition of the transition into the third state of human spirit, which invokes acuity of mind, propensity to reflection and comprehension, which allows to return and in a new way, deliberately tap into the sanctuaries of historical life. The scientific novelty consists in interpretation of the method of cognition of history, developed by Berdyaev through the prism of such methodological capabilities that has the modern social philosophy. It is concluded that the main difference between the first and third levels of subject’s relation to history in Berdyaev’s scheme consists in the change of the object of cognition, when the object is not just an empirical givenness, but a special, superordinate reality. Such reorientation allows to predetermine a situation of the first period in a new way, which opens additional opportunities for correlating the active development of existence with the standards of everyday experience, as well as reinterpret the nature of the second period, when in can be perceive not as a crisis, but a routine question, an essential condition for transition into the third, most productive period.