On the representation of the cultural category of sinfulness in the works of A.N. Radishchev

Abstract

The subject of the research in this article is the category of sinfulness and the peculiarities of its actualization in the Russian culture of the late XVIII – early XIX century. The author examines the category under study through the prism of fiction, since this historical period is characterized by a special literary centrism, when the social, spiritual, and cultural life of society was reliably reflected in the works of art. The author focuses on the cultural analysis of A.N. Radishchev's treatise "On man, his mortality and Immortality", in which the category of sinfulness is represented through the writer's appeal to such concepts as vice, virtue, the sin of lust, greed, laziness and pride, as well as to the idea of punishment for sins, images of heaven and hell. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time the category of sinfulness was considered, an objectification of the sin was found in the work of A.N. Radishchev "About man, his mortality and immortality". In his essay, the writer examines in detail the sin of lust, its causes and consequences, devoting only a few lines to other sins, such as laziness, greed and pride, which allows us to judge their subjective significance. Based on the conducted cultural analysis, the author concludes that the category under study is implicit and is the basic one for the Russian society of the XIX century. In the work of A.N. Radishchev, the main, regulatory function of the category of sinfulness is actualized.