The 20th International Scientific Readings in Memory of N.F. Fedorov: Prologue to the 200th Anniversary of the Philosopher in 2029

Abstract

A scientific review of the problems and content of the 20th International Scientific Readings in Memory of N.F. Fedorov is presented. The event took place on June 7—10, 2023 in Moscow and was devoted to the ideas, projects, and heritage of Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov (1829—1903), an outstanding Russian philosopher, theorist of library and museum studies, pedagogue and innovator. The relevance of the Forum is conditioned both by the necessity of forming the programme of celebrating the 200th anniversary of N.F. Fedorov’s birth, which will be celebrated in 2029, and by the large-scale work on the creation of an encyclopedic online resource dedicated to the philosopher. Its goals: to present in a systematized form the main achievements of Fedorov studies of the 20th—21st centuries in Russia and abroad, to give a coherent and authoritative body of knowledge about N.F. Fedorov, to become a guide to his creative heritage and Fedorovianism of the 20th century, to show the significance of N.F. Fedorov’s ideas for modernity. The opening and plenary session of the event took place in the Russian State Library. The reports delivered during the readings contain the latest results of research in the field of N.F. Fedorov’s biography, introduce new archival data into the scientific turnover, make a significant contribution to the analytical description of N.F. Fedorov’s philosophical system, his language and poetics, aesthetics, pedagogy, and museology. As part of the readings, a round table was held devoted to the programme of celebrating the 200th anniversary of N.F. Fedorov’s birth. It presented current memorial, educational, creative projects of libraries, museums, schools, cultural centers working with the name and heritage of the philosopher of the “universal cause”. In addition to the scientific agenda, the programme of the readings included the ceremony of awarding the N.F. Fedorov Medal to librarians who embody his model of a “library open to all”.