Russian Thinkers Research Articles

„Чаемое будущее” и „идти вперед” – категория будущего в научном творчестве Михаила Михайловича Бахтина

In the article the scientific works of Mikhail Bakhtin are considered as one text with its own single metaplot. The motive of moving forward (“going forward”) is analyzed and treated as the basis of Bakhtin’s progressive outlook, his hopes for the future and for the dialogue in the Great Time. Attention is drawn to a specific period of the Russian thinker’s intellectual life, that is associated with the departure from the ideas of solipsism. The concept of “I – others” is considered a turning point and is compared with the Copernican revolution, which is carried out in the philosophical worldview of a Russian scientist and then transferred to the studies of the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky. It reveals, in particular, the philosopher’s gradual departure from individual reality and his approach towards personalism. The future for Bakhtin is a creative, active category that determines the present. At the same time it is noted that the forward movement as expressed by the Russian thinker is ambivalent and associated with the turn to the past and the source. Along the way the concepts of memory, the curvature of progress, the idea of historical inversion, etc. are also studied. Besides, Bakhtin’s criticism of the Enlightenment idea of progress, Western rationalism and humanism are mentioned. In this regard Bakhtin’s concept of the rebirth acquires great importance, in which, under the influence of movement towards the future, the past is updated.

National Culture as a Problem of Philosophical and Cultural Analysis: Current Discourse

The article shows that the 20th century has significantly changed the social structure of societies, transforming the self-consciousness of a person of European culture. The 20th century prepared the actual modernity of the third millennium with its global structure of cultural and political interrelations, allowing for both the continuous development and critical revision of cultural traditions. National cultures, their spiritual traditions, ethical and aesthetic values are deconstructed under the pressure of unifying practices of the information society. The author raises the question: is the historical and spiritual experience of Russian culture relevant for modern Russia, for its political and cultural agenda? The article puts forward the thesis that the basic concepts included in the philosophical thesaurus and defining the research horizon of Russian cultural philosophers — the state, nation, culture, personality, freedom, religious experience, creativity — are determined by the meanings, ideals and values of the Modernity project. However, currently in relation to Modernity seems to be a radically new project. Modernity, which defined the cultural and political configuration of Russia and Europe in the 18th — early 20th century, cannot compete with this project. The present situation poses a serious challenge to the historical integrity and subjectivity of national cultures. In this context, one of the key tasks is to re-actualize the intellectual heritage of Russian culture, its concepts of man, history, and spiritual life, which were formulated by Russian thinkers.

“The Fight with Gradovsky”: Causes and Consequences

The speech of the lawyer and publicist A. D. Gradovsky against F. M. Dostoevsky’s “Pushkin Speech,” as well as the latter’s response in the “Diary of a Writer” in 1880, occupy a prominent place in the golden fund of Russian thought. For the first time, a study of the background of this episode has been undertaken. In 1869–1878, Gradovsky was an ally of Dostoevsky, but in 1879 he already became his opponent. The main reason for this divergence is their different approaches to the problem of the relationship between the people and the intelligentsia, their role in the country’s history, in its present and future. Gradovsky’s position was reduced to the value of the intelligentsia as educators, with its progressive efforts being supported by the state, while the people were viewed as “passive material.” Dostoevsky, on the contrary, insisted on the active, effective nature of popular ideals, hence his call to hear and understand his people — the key goal set in the January 1881 “Diary of a Writer,” which became the last remark of the Russian thinker in this dispute. An article by A. D. Gradovsky “The Answer to G. Dostoevsky,” written between August 12 and 20, 1880, but not published, is published for the first time in the appendix.

Feudal and Christian Socialism in British Public Thought in the Second Half of the 19 — Early 20 Centuries and Its Perception in Russia

The article is devoted to further stages in the development of British feudal and/or Christian socialism in the second half of the 19th century. The socio-economic teaching and practical achievements of J. Ruskin and the evaluation of his activities in European and Russian / Soviet historiography are considered in detail. An assessment is made of the views and activities of W. Morris. A brief description of the British feudal socialists of the 20th century is presented. The personal and ideological connections of Carlyle, Ruskin, Morris with Russian conservatives are considered. Attention is paid to the reception of English Christian socialism by both right-wing and left-wing Russian thinkers in the era of the industrial revolution at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. The significance of S. Bulgakov’s lectures and research on the British feudal socialists for the history of Russian social thought is considered in detail.

Russian Philosophy About Socialism as a “Religion of Hate”

The article examines the understanding of socialism as a secular “religion of hatred”, first formulated by S.F. Sharapov and developed by a number of the main Russian thinkers of the Silver Age. They showed that the ideology of socialism actually replaced religion, that is, it became a new quasi–religion that meets the religious needs of man, but is satisfied here by an artificial surrogate — the cult of human pride, rebelling against the world order. That is why socialism performed one of the key functions in the destruction of Orthodox Russia and in the struggle against Christianity as such. Being outwardly one of the political ideologies, it was an anti-Christian quasi-religious sect that brought the coming of the Antichrist civilization closer.

Ukrainian Archaeologists-Nonconformists of the Totalitarian Era

The article is devoted to the study of manifestations of intellectual resistance of scientists to the ruling regime during 1920—80s, which has signs of non-conformism. The author considers the concept of “non-conformism”, based on the definition of the Russian human rights activist Yu. F. Lukin: in every society there are not only those who support the official policy, indifferent conformists, but also those who disagree, dissidents who oppose the dominant religion, ideology, the existing political system, a way of life. The topic of non-conformism in archaeology was substantiated by Russian thinker L. S. Klein, who included G. A. Bonch-Osmolovskyi, S. M. Zamyatnin, O. M. Rogachev, O. L. Mongait, G. B. Fedorov and A. S. Formozov among them. L. S. Klein should be added to them. Among the Ukrainian archaeologists of the totalitarian era, the personalities of M. O. Makarenko, V. P. Petrov (Domontovych), M. Yu. Braichevskyi, B. M. Mozolevskyi, S. N. Bratchenko attract attention. They represent four generations of native scholars who consistently carried the baton of resistance to the ruling regime until its logical collapse in 1991, which they had foreseen. They deliberately chose public forms of protest through speeches, statements, lectures, creation and distribution of resonant scientific texts in the country and abroad. An important role was played by communication with colleagues and students in the archaeological expeditions they led. In the system of total control created by the authorities, non-conformists quickly became the objects of close attention from the State Security Committee. The declassified archives of the special services shed light on the methods of their work with a contingent of people dangerous to the regime, including: study, recruitment attempts, prevention and repressive forms of influence, up to execution (the fate of M. O. Makarenko). All mentioned researchers had gone through the control system. B. M. Mozolevskyi was saved from arrest thanks to the Pectoral he found. The system did not allow revealing and realizing the powerful creative potential of deviant creators. This did not save it, and irreparable damage was done to science.

Ken Hirschkop’s “new Bakhtin” for the English-speaking students

A review of Hirschkop K. The Cambridge Introduction to Mikhail Bakhtin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. xvi, 250 p. (Cambridge Introductions to Literature). Speaking today about the importance of Mikhail Bakhtin's ideas for the humanities is restating the obvious. The book by the renowned Canadian literary and cultural studies scholar Professor K. Hirschkop, The Cambridge Introduction to Mikhail Bakhtin (2021), aims at a systematic description of M.M. Bakhtin's scholarly legacy for the English-speaking reader, primarily for students. In our view, in this edition, the author solves both the traditional tasks of a textbook-reference book, written in the genre of "Introduction," and the research tasks. The Russian thinker's theory and practice analysis is presented based on the texts of his Collected Works, which, according to Hirschkop, form an image of a "new" Bakhtin. The tried and tested scheme of the Cambridge Introduction enables the author to draw a concise sketch of the scholar's life, outline the main sources and contexts of his scholarly quest, analyze key ideas and works, and describe the process of Bakhtin’s reception in the English-speaking world.

Проблема кризиса идеалов в политической фило­софии С.Л. Франка (к 100-летию «философского парохода»)

The subject of the article is the problem of the crisis of ideals generated by the European Enlightenment and the Modern era, as interpreted by Russian thinkers of the first third of the 20th century. Building on the conception of Semyon Frank, the author analyzes the relationship between the socio-political ideals of the Enlightenment in the Russian version and false “idols” that led Russia and Europe to an unprecedented escalation of evil in the early 20th century, is analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the assumption that the ideals of democracy as a true power of the people, as a result of uncritical imple­mentation, lead to revolutionary violence and further reproduction of tyranny. Two ver­sions of democracy are considered: according to Frank, one of them is genuine, based on the idea of disinterested service to the truth, and the second is “false”, oriented to­wards a totalitarian utopia, fundamentally hostile to freedom. The author also analyzes Frank’s views on the phenomenon of the “idol of culture”, which is based on the idea of linear progress. According to Frank, linear progress cannot prevent Russia and Europe from falling into barbarism. Moreover, it even significantly contributed to that break­down. It is concluded that Frank as a Christian philosopher and political thinker became one of the relatively few (along with, for example, Fyodor Stepun and Vladimir Weidle), but all the more significant conductors of the Russian cultural tradition in Europe and the European cultural tradition in Russia: that is, a genuine personification of the phe­nomenon of a “Russian European”.

Shestov, anti-discípulo de Husserl

Shestov is at the beginning of the French reception of Husserl. The first criticism of his approach was made by the Russian thinker. He considered his master Husserl the greatest philosopher of his time and, paradoxically, claimed that he was wrong in his theory of truth. This research shows the relationship between Shestov and Husserl, the dialogues they had and the ideas they shared. In doing so, we show an atypical and heterodox Husserlian, an original philosopher who opened up lines of thought for those of us today who want to continue the dialogue with Husserl beyond Husserl. The idea of philosophy will be at the root of their encounters and disagreements. In it are concentrated capital themes of Husserlian thought such as truth, intuition and evidence. This research exposes the critical arguments of Shestov’s thought to Husserlian thought while recognising the audacity of the founder of phenomenology. Shestov’s dialogue with Husserl, or at least with what he considers to be Husserlian thought, enriches current debates on the relation between the real and the ideal, the genetic, intersubjectivity and the relation between the particular and the universal.

The Reality of "Nothing" as the Basis of Yu.M. Lermontov's Artistic Thinking (Response to S.S. Neretina's Novella "Lermontov: the Semantics of Repetitions")

The article discusses the meaning and content of the concept of nothingness introduced by S.S. Neretina in the book "The Earth Hums with a metaphor". Philosophy and Literature" (short story "Lermontov: the semantics of repetitions"). The author identifies five main characteristics in this view: nothing as freedom (where freedom is understood by Neretina "as peace, silence, silence, love and – as "I"); nothing as balancing on the verge of being and non-being; as an opportunity to express this reality in poetry, while philosophy makes it impossible to think of anything"; nothing as a denial of everything, including life; finally, nothing is set as a reality opposed to culture. In this interpretation, nothing is a rather complex semantic formation, but generally understandable, if we keep in mind the task that Neretina solves: on the one hand, she finds out the relationship between literature and philosophy, on the other, she thinks through Lermontov's dramas. Neretina claims that Lermontov, like Goethe, was a special poet – poet-philosopher, he, as a thinking person, following such Russian thinkers and poets as, for example, Chaadaev and Pushkin, tried to understand why an honest, educated person "woe from wit", why he often ends up badly. The article discusses Lermontov's dual position as a poet and a latent thinker (philosopher), as well as the work of a modern writer who thinks through the existential problems of time in an artistic form. The author comes to the conclusion that the nothingness introduced by Neretina and attributed to Lermontov differs from the nothingness of St. Augustine, is given by the five listed characteristics, and represents a problem as an independent reality and whole.

F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy on the relationship of personality, individual and society

The main subject of this article is the relationship of a human as a personality or as an individual and society in the artistic and philosophical creativity of F.M. Dostoevsky and L.N. Tolstoy. The main goal of this work is, in comparison with the structuralist approach, to analyze the main provisions of the approaches of F.M. Dostoevsky and L.N. Tolstoy, which touched upon the problem of the relationship of a human as a personality or as an individual and society. The main objectives of this article: to analyze how the concepts of the personality and the individual differ, and what is the correlation of the personality and the individual with society as a whole. Then it is determined what is the understanding of the individual and his purely functional role in the society of the structuralist approach. Finally, the understanding of a person as a unique personality, created in the image and likeness of God in the works of F.M. Dostoevsky and L.N. Tolstoy. It is determined what is the advantage of such an existential-personalist approach of two Russian thinkers over the structuralist direction and its approach to the individual as just a "cog" of a systemically-functionally regulated society. So, as shown in the article, structuralism presupposes the domination of the general, the whole over the individual, the particular and grades a human as a personality, turning him into only an atomic social individual. In contradiction to structuralism, F.M. Dostoevsky and L.N. Tolstoy develop an approach to man as a person and offer an original model of society as an interconnected community of personalities. As the study proves, thinkers also influenced the personalist philosophy of the 20th century, and their approach as a whole allows a human to realize himself as a genuine, independent personality, and not as an individual governed by a social system, enslaved by the society.

Жизнь и творчество М.М. Бахтина глазами канадского исследователя

A review of K. Hirschkop’s book “The Cambridge introduction to Mikhail Bakhtin” is presented. The book by the renowned Canadian literary and cultural studies scholar Professor K. Hirschkop aims to give a systematic description of M.M. Bakhtin’s scientific heritage for the English-speaking reader, especially for a philology students’ audience. According to the reviewers, the author solves in this book both traditional tasks of a textbook, performed in the genre of «Introduction» as well as purely research tasks. For the first time in English-language Bakhtin Studies an analysis of the theory and practice of the Russian thinker is presented on the basis of the texts of his collected works, which Hirshkop is convinced forms the image of the “new” Bakhtin. The proven scheme of the Cambridge Introductions series allows the author to consistently present a compact sketch of the scholar’s life, the main sources and contexts of his philosophical and philological pursuits, an analysis of key ideas and works, and the process of reception in the English-speaking world of the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries.

Семантика греха (к истории и онтологическому статусу понятия)

The article examines various disciplinary and research aspects of the concept of sin, actualizes the problem of historicism of this concept, its ontological rootedness in the experience of Christian thinking. The prerequisites of various dictionary-semantic reconstructions of the concept of sin in the academic publications of Max Vasmer, Oleg Trubachev, Vladimir Dal, Vladislav Sherdakov, etc. are specified. The ethical and ontological mood of the concept in everyday Russian speech is clarified, where it is used to denote misconduct, guilt, debauchery outside of direct connection with the law and the will of the Creator of the world. It is argued that the concept of sin can be classified as ontologically crucial primarily in Christian thinking; it is closely connected here with the study of human nature and human personality, the categories of salvation and redemption. In this regard, the semantics of the concept in the New Testament corpus of biblical works (the Gospels and the Epistles of the Apostle Paul) are systematically presented; representative examples from patristic literature are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the new diagnostic, practice-oriented classifications of sin proposed by Russian thinkers of the XIX-XX centuries – St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), Archimandrite Evtikhian (Lestev), Archimandrite Ioann (Krestyankin).

Роль русской литературы в рождении и развитии жакра романа в монголской национальной литературе

The purpose of this article is to show how Russian literature has played main role in the novel forming as a new genre in the Mongolian national literature. As we understand, such attributes as the breadth of views of Russian writers of the historical process, faithfulness, understanding the revolutionary path of the people and the vividness of the image of the positive and progressive aspects of life have enabled a Russian literature to become a unique and unrepeatable. The value of Russian literature has been recognized by the world since it could express the life and ideals not only of Russian but also of mankind in whole. We assume there was a strong and fruitful influence of the works of leading Russian thinkers on the formation of national literatures and the development of a revolutionary-democratic ideas in Asia.

Using the “Sociocultural Identity of Russia” Category in Teaching Humanities to Pedagogical Universities Students

Problem and Aim. The article actualizes the problem of using the category of Russia’s socio-cultural identity in the process of teaching humanitarian disciplines to students studying at pedagogical universities. The purpose of the article is to present the effectiveness of using this category for the formation of social, pedagogical and professional competencies of bachelor, master and postgraduate students. Tracing the reflection of this category in the works of Russian thinkers, focused on the issues of civilizational identity, historical paths and destinies of Russia, the teacher contributes to the realization the educational potential of the domestic humanities, which contributes to the establishment traditional values in the Russian youth national self-consciousness. Methodology. An interactive dialogue with participants in the educational process (lectures, laboratory classes, special courses, special seminars and webinars, research presentations) made it possible to determine the degree to which students master the methods of comparative and retrospective historiography, functional and civilizational approaches inherent in research in the subject area of intellectual history, as well as methodology and philosophy of history. In conclusion, it is concluded that the use of the category of socio-cultural identity of Russia as an interdisciplinary one in its discursive status allows students of pedagogical universities to form competencies in several areas of modern historical education (professional, educational, pedagogical, research) at once.

Инновационные процессы в образовании: реформы Петра I и современность

The article is devoted to the issues of reforming education in transitional periods of historical development. An attempt is made to compare two eras of innovative transformations - the time of Peter the Great's educational reforms (the first quarter of the XVIII century) and the recent period of our history (the 90s of the XX century - present. time). These difficult periods have a lot in common: the radical restructuring of school education, the transition to Western European models in culture, the rejection of traditional, "old" spiritual forms of education and training. Both reforms had different goals and consequences: in the Peter the Great period it was a search for new knowledge and new meanings of education, in the modern era it was an attempt to completely rethink and remake the Soviet education system.The time of Peter's reforms was evaluated by Russian thinkers in different ways, but almost everyone saw them as a process of modernization of society, an attempt to put it on new technological rails. Liberal and Westernizing thinkers evaluated Peter's reforms exclusively in a positive way, considering them a real revolution in the field of education, which led Russia to an unprecedented strengthening and flourishing. A galaxy of conservative thinkers who assessed the transformations of Peter I as a "storm" and a "thunderstorm" that overturned the old "Moscow" education, believed that they were inevitable, but had many negative consequences, in particular, the division of education into spiritual and secular, uncritical borrowing of its content from the Western European tradition, the forcible planting of schools alien to the spirit of the population.Modern innovative transformations, which are largely contradictory in nature, are still waiting for the evaluation by researchers and teachers.

Ideas of Conventionalism in Russian Science and Philosophy

The paper examines the conventionalism that arose within the framework of the second positivism in European philosophy at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries, in connection with Russian science and philosophy. Despite its being popular and developed mainly in Western philosophy, we demonstrate that its ideas were also reflected in Russian culture. Moreover, we argue that it was the achievements of Russian mathematicians that influenced the emergence of this direction in European philosophy. To determine the place of conventionalism in Russian culture, the works of such scientists, philosophers and historians of science as A. Poincaré, N.V. Efimov, G.V. Florovsky, P.S. Yushkevich and others were used. The article also provides an overview of their main works and ideas. The analysis also deals with the influence of ideological and political factors on the development of philosophy in the XX century in Russia and the USSR. It is shown that the achievements of Russian mathematicians had a significant influence on the emergence of conventionalism, and the ideas of conventionalism, in turn, were reflected in the concepts of Russian thinkers concerning the philosophy of science and the philosophy of history. Thus, N.I. Lobachevsky can be called a harbinger of mathematical conventionalism, some ideas of P.S. Yushkevich and A.A. Bogdanov can be referred to natural-scientific conventionalism, and some ideas of G.V. Florovsky can be called historical conventionalism. We conclude that Russian science, firstly, was one of the reasons for the emergence of conventionalism in Europe, and secondly, Russian philosophy adopted and applied some of its ideas, in particular, concerning the impossibility of complete knowledge of the world or the relativity of ways of expressing truth, which remain relevant today.

Georgii Fedotov as a Theologian of Culture

The article discusses the notion of culture as it appears and is conceptualized in the works of G.P. Fedotov. The analysis focuses on two articles by Fedotov published in Russian migr journals, "The Holy Spirit in Nature and Culture" of 1932 and "Eschatology and culture" of 1938, and in his magnum opus in a Western context, The Russian Religious Mind of 1946. The author proposes to analyze Fedotov's ideas as a theology of culture due to the profoundly religious meaning the Russian migr thinker attributed to cultural products and production, regardless of their religious intention. By implication, Fedotov understood culture in a religious framework as the human experience of and response to the divine, though not necessarily as dependent on firm belief. Viewing Fedotov as a theologian of culture enables us, furthermore, to compare him with other thinkers across the West-East cultural gradient, most notably Paul Tillich. This approach contextualizes Fedotov in a post-Schellingian pan-European idealist tradition, to which Russian thinkers' analyses of religious experience and imagination have made seminal contributions, in particular from Vladimir Solov'ev on. The article discusses these issues within the framework of the perspectives of global intellectual history, entangled history ( histoire croise ), and transnationalized Russian studies.

Simon L. Frank on J.W. Goethe’s Spiritual Personality

The paper treats the character and significance of J.W. Goethes personality in Simon L. Franks interpretation. The study is based upon principles of historicism and development; it uses the methods of the unity of historical and logical, comparative-typological and textual methods. The paper demonstrates why the Russian philosopher turns to examine the works of the German thinker and the role of Goethes ideas in becoming of Franks philosophical system. It clarifies Georg Simmels influence on methodological approach to the definition of spiritual personality with respect to the conceptual distinction of objective and subjective culture. The paper also analyses Franks distinction between two types of genii - pure genii of life and purely objective genii, - and applying that method with respect to understand Goethes spiritual personality. Frank was very far from idealising the Goethes particular personality, but he had rather found in what he called the Goethes type an aspiration for the harmonious unity of personal and sobornoye (catholic, universal, communal - Russ.) being. Accomplishing of such a type - as far as he had been capable - was considered by the Russian thinker not only the life purpose of any spiritual personality, but as well as a peculiar prescription against the crisis of the contemporary culture. The paper also reflects on Franks participation (publications and lectures) on occasion to 100 years anniversary, since Goethes death. In appendix, there are lecture notes of Franks lecture 1932, dedicated to Goethes spiritual personality that are published for the first time. The conclusion is made that considering Goethes impact on Simon Frank - as well as any influence, caused by not a systematic philosopher, but an artist-thinker in general - one should take into consideration not only the reception of separate ideas and concepts, but significance of the personality as a whole. It is said about the unique synthesis of living personal development and the objective creative work results.

“Good and Evil are Like Grave Dust…”: the Image of Artistic Reality in the Poem by A. A. Fet

The article is devoted to one of the “eternal” themes and problems of Russian literature and philosophy ‒ the problem of good and evil. The relevance of the study of the problem of good and evil is determined by some simplified consideration of this topic at school and university. Hence, the purpose of the undertaken research is to reveal the ethical and spiritual aspects of the designated problem through the prism of the work by A. A. Fet, to show the commonality of the artistic and philosophical searches of Russian thinkers of the 19th–20th centuries in this area. On the basis of the research undertaken in the article, which was carried out using the historical-philosophical, comparative, hermeneutic and descriptive methods of studying, the available sources on this issue, as well as the method of reconstruction and the method of literary analysis of the main poetic images and ideas of the poem in question, the author showed the peculiarity of recreating the poet of artistic reality in the analyzed poem, which served as the basis for the poetic solution of the “eternal” theme. The article notes that the readers are presented with the Christian picture of the world and the Christian understanding of the problem of good and evil, with its highlighting of the moral and spiritual aspects. The author of the article, referring to the poem by A. A. Fet as an illustration, shows, on the one hand, the unequal moral and spiritual aspects of the problem of good and evil, and on the other hand, their relationship. The article concludes that the ability to distinguish between the moral and spiritual aspects of this problem allows one to comprehend the issue of good and evil more deeply, to get away from its stereotypical dialectical consideration in the context of the idea of free choice. An example of such a deep disclosure of the ethical and philosophical problem in an artistic context can serve, according to the author, a poem by A. A. Fet, consonant with the spiritual quest of Russian religious philosophers of the 19th–20th centuries.