Russian Thought Research Articles

Yuly Aykhenwald in the debate about the theatre. Article one

The article, for the first time ever, examines in detail the route of Yuly Isaevich Aykhenwald (1872–1928) as a theatre critic. A review of his publications in the journal “The Russian Thought” (“Russkaya Mysl”) about theatre performances is given; the evolution of his aesthetic views which finally led to his “negation of the theatre” (antitheatricality) is traced; the role of a critic in the pre-revolutionary discussions about the theatre is analysed; closely examined is the attitude of his contemporaries, such as the famous theatre critics (Nikolai Efros) and theatrical figures (Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Nikolai Evreinov, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Nikolai Popov and others), to his stance in 1900–1910s.

The war against Ukraine through the prism of Russian military thought

ABSTRACT Over the past 2 years, since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, there have been very few studies that have examined the war from the perspective of Russian military thinking. To be able to more accurately predict ways in which the Russian way of war and force structure may change, it is essential to study the Russian military scientific discourse on the lessons of the war in Ukraine. Taking for granted that the Russians come to the same conclusions as Western observers can lead to mirror-imaging and will ignore the likely prospect that Russian lessons learned from the war will not coincide with those of Western military experts. This article contributes to the understanding of Russian military thinking with regard to the war by focusing on three key aspects. (1) The evolution of Russian thinking about indirect strategy. (2) The changing Russian perspective on the concept of non-contact war. (3) The Russian military discourse about the challenge posed by the increasingly transparent battlefield of contemporary wars.

ИДЕИ А. ЧАЯНОВА В ИСТОРИИ АГРАРНОЙ МЫСЛИ РОССИИ

В статье рассказывается об идеях одного из ключевых теоретиков аграрной мысли в России XX в. А.В. Чаянова. В статье показывается, как Лига аграрных реформ в России оказалась перед выбором, развивать ли трудовое крестьянское хозяйство в стране или пойти по американскому пути поддержки фермерского хозяйства. Чаянов настоял на выборе первого пути, сформулировав идею о том, что крестьянское хозяйство ищет не прибыль, но ориентируется на доход, а также мысль о том, что крестьянин самим фактом своего существования препятствует развитию капиталистического сельского хозяйства. Чаянов уже в своей первой работе «Кооперация в сельском хозяйстве Италии» предположил, что крестьянину нужно снять с себя «ярмо посредников и перекупщиков». Крестьянин может сделать это при помощи кооперации. Кооперация позволяет преодолеть изъяны разделения труда и сократить путь крестьянина к потребителю. Для этого, говорил Чаянов, крестьянству нужно по-новому организовать земледельческое производство, обобществляя в нем такие функции, которые можно обобществить. The article describes the ideas of one of the key theorists of agrarian thought in Russia of the XX century, A.V. Chayanov. The article shows how the League of Agrarian Reforms in Russia was faced with a choice whether to develop a working peasant economy in the country or follow the American path of supporting farming. Chayanov insisted on choosing the first path, formulating the idea that the peasant economy is not looking for profit, but is focused on income, as well as the idea that the peasant by the very fact of his existence hinders the development of capitalist agriculture. Already in his work, «Cooperation in agriculture in Italy» he proposed that the peasant should take off the «yoke of intermediaries and resellers». The peasant can do this with the help of cooperation. Cooperation makes it possible to overcome the shortcomings of the division of labor and shorten the path to the consumer. To do this, Chayanov said, the peasantry needs to organize agricultural production in a new way, generalizing such functions in it that can be generalized.

ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРНЫХ И ФИЛОСОФСКИХ ОСНОВАНИЙ В РОССИИ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ДИАЛЕКТИКИ ВСЕОБЩЕГО ДУХА

This article presents an analysis of the perspective of research on cultural and philosophical foundations in Russia, taking into account the dialectics of the universal spirit. The author examines the influence of cultural and philosophical traditions on the formation of Russian identity, considering their interaction with universal principles of spiritual development. The article discusses key concepts, including the notion of the universal spirit, its role in a cultural context, and its impact on philosophical thinking in Russia. The author offers their vision on studying cultural and philosophical foundations in Russia, highlighting their importance for understanding the mentality of contemporary society. Special attention is given to the interaction of cultural and philosophical traditions with modern challenges and issues characteristic of the modern world. The article provides historical justification for the researched issues, touching upon aspects of cultural heritage that may be useful in conducting this research. Overall, the article calls for the study and preservation of the country's cultural heritage, as well as the development of modern philosophical concepts that address contemporary challenges.

The Hope for the War as a Results of the Inactivity of Peace. The Russian Thought on the Great War (1914–1918)

The article analyzes the self interpretative views of Russian thinkers on the Great War. Philosophers, historians and publicists unanimously assessed the armed conflict of 1914–1918 as a great change from the state of peace understood as apathy. The war was supposed to give hope for a positive transformation of Russia. According to philosophers, the conflict between the Orthodox East and the West was to lead to a renewal of the European spirit. The war was to destroy the foundations of Western thinking: rationalism, atheism, nihilism, militarism, capitalism and bourgeoisism. The German Empire for the Russians was the embodiment of these features of Modernity. The mission of the East was to be the religious revival of Europe, the liberation of the Slavs and the conquest of Constantinople.

«Он видел особую миссию русского народа». Почему философ Владимир Соловьев считал, что Россия объединит все человечество?

The conversation of the correspondent of “Lenta.ru” within the framework of the History of Russian Thought project, with Boris Mezhuyev, Associate Professor of the Department of History of Russian Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy of Lomonosov Moscow State University, devoted to the modern significance of V. Solovyov's philosophy of unity, his social mission, as well as about the complex aspects of his religious worldview, which have recently caused acute controversy. It is reported that V. Solovyov managed to create a philosophical system that meets the deep features of the national consciousness, that he tried to give Christianity a kind of social mission and, on the other hand, point out that the main problems of humanity will not be solved if it rejects the Gospels and leaves the church. The conversation emphasizes that Vladimir Solovyov remained the number one thinker in Russia for his contemporaries throughout almost his entire life. And he strengthened his status as a prophet by predicting the coming unification of Europe, the power of China and even the confrontation of Western countries with the Islamic world. It is argued that the philosopher saw the future of humanity in the unification of all Christians, which would end the wars that were inevitable until then. And Russia and the Russian people, with their idea of self-denial and striving for integrity, had to play a key role in this unification. The conversation also tells how Solovyov explained the contradictions of the West and the East and how he saw the future of the Russian people.

Образ итальянского государства в период первой Итало-эфиопской войны 1895-1896 гг. в российской журнальной периодической печати либерального толка

Introduction. The article deals with the problem of functioning and transformation of the image of the Italian state during the first Italo-Ethiopian war of 1895-1896 in the Russian liberal periodical press. Special attention is paid to the assessments of the battle of Adua on 1 March 1896 and its significance in changing the political stereotype in Russia about Italy. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that before in the domestic historiography no attention was paid to historical-imagological studies about this historical period in Russian-Italian relations. Materials and methods. The authors relied on the materials of the journals ‘Russian Thought‘ and ‘Herald of Europe‘ as the most popular and authoritative liberal publications in the Russian Empire of the period under consideration. The methodological basis of the study is the methodology of historical imagology and, accordingly, its conceptual apparatus (image and stereotype). Results. Two periods in the development of the image of Italy during the First Italo-Ethiopian War of 1895-1896 are identified. The first period is fixed from January 1895 to March-April 1896. These boundaries are associated with the time when Prime Minister Francesco Crispi was in power in the country. The Italian state and its policy during this period, according to liberal journalists, was defined by the ‘mania of great power‘, which drove the already ruined population into even greater financial decline. The next chronological phase is associated with the premiership of Antonio Starabba de Rudini, which is recorded from March-April 1896 to 1 January 1897. In this period of time the former image of the Italian state and political stereotype ceases to function. Instead of it a new stereotype is gradually formed. Now the Italian state was presented much more moderately, ‘great caution in politics‘ and aspiration to maintain the status quo were emphasised. This assessment is already neutral-positive, though not so bright.

Первое издание «Оправдания добра» (1897 г.): отклики современников. Часть четвертая

The article continues the systematic review and analysis of newspaper and magazine responses to the first edition of the main work of V. Solovyov on moral philosophy “Justification of Good” (1897). The fourth part of this series of articles examines critical attacks on this book by representatives of the left, presumably Populist camp of the Russian press and public thought. It describes in detail critical responses of such authors as the regular columnist of the newspaper “Novosti”, literary critic Evgeny A. Solovyov, an anonymous review published in the journal “Russian Thought”, the reviews by the positivist philosopher Pavel V. Mokievsky in “Russkoe bogatstvo” and by the religious idealist Akim L. Volynsky in the “Severnyi vestnik”. It is noted that the main tone of criticism from the left was the assertion that the philosopher took the position of a conformist acceptance of the state and the church in their existing forms. Based on the consideration of all the above responses, the article concludes that none of the aforementioned critics tried to understand the essence of V. Solovyov's views. For most of the left-wing critics, any correlation of philosophy with religion, at least in its traditional forms, was unacceptable. It is argued that certain objections of V. Solovyov's critics on the left against his concept of moral philosophy were not without persuasiveness, which the philosopher had to take into account in the second edition of his work.

«Сумма мудрости» Фэн Мэнлуна как источник исследования китайской стратагемной мысли

Studies of Chinese stratagem thinking in Russia still do not take into account works created in line with the Confucian philosophical tradition. “A Complete Book of Wisdom” by Feng Menglong (1574–1646) can be regarded as a collection of stratagems. The grounds for this assessment may be found in traditional bibliographic descriptions and the modern research and publishing tradition. The fi rst edition was published in 1626, the supplemented edition – in 1634. Formally, “A Complete Book of Wisdom” can be referred to encyclopediasleishu. The text is not a continuous narrative, but consists of individual short stories; the number depends on the edition, from 1061 to 1236. Each story describes a precedent for the application of a stratagem. The period of the narration covers years from ancient times to the Ming Dynasty. Feng Menglong selected proper stories, edited them, and added his own comments. Typologically, similar stories are organized into separate sections (28 in total), which, in turn, are organized into chapters (10 in total). One chapter contains from two to four sections. “A Complete Book of Wisdom” retains the features of the “A New Account of Tales of the World” by Liu Yiqing (403–444), which are characterized by a value classifi cation of people’s deeds. All the stories are arranged according to the principle of “from the best to the worst”. Feng Menglong wrote a large preface to the entire work, and provided extended prefaces to each chapter. Each section is preceded by a brief explanation. Feng Manlong’s own ideological views can be discovered as the paratextual elements: prefaces and commentaries. The article consists of two parts. The fi rst part is devoted to the description of the peculiarities of the narrative language of “A Complete Book of Wisdom”, as well as the analysis of the socio-philosophical issues that stimulated the creation of this work. On the basis of quotation from classics in Feng Menglong’s works two types of author’s meaning formation are revealed. The author of the paper shows transformation of ethical models of Sung neo-Confucianism and the changing status of the category ‘wisdom’ in Feng Menglong’s ideological program. The second part of the article offers the author’s commented translation of Feng Menglong’s general preface to “A Complete Book of Wisdom” and ten prefaces to each chapter.

The Influence of Nationalism and Realism on Shaping of the Political Thought in Russia with Special Emphasis on the Putin Era

Nationalism as an idea, movement and ideology denotes tendency of members of an ethnic group towards the establishment of an ethnically pure territory. Achieving this political goal, with superiority in relation to others as a guiding idea, often leads to jeopardizing sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppression and exploitation of other people. Nationalism has been a significant feature of the Russian society for centuries. Traditionally, the focus of Russian nationalism has been the preservation and strengthening of a large and powerful multi-ethnic state. Opposed to this imperial nationalism stands ethno-nationalism focused on the struggle for the interests of ethnic Russians. One of the main drivers of the Russian nationalism in the past couple of decades has been the country’s economic situation and the political tensions with the West. The Russian nationalist sentiment grew stronger after the annexation of Crimea and the beginning of war in Ukraine, being justified with a strong nationalist political narrative focused on ethnic Russians and the protection of their rights. Contrary to nationalists, realists advocate a more pragmatic approach to international relations, focusing on economic and social development. The aim of this paper is to research to what extent nationalism and realism have shaped political thought in Russia.

A.K. Baiburin The Soviet Passport. The History, Nature, and Uses of the Internal Passport in the USSR (Transl. from Russian by Stephen Dalziel.) [New Russian Thought.] Polity Press, Cambridge [etc.] 2021 (2017). xvii, 451 pp. Ill. £35.00; € 39.60. (E-book: £31.99; € 35.99.)

A.K. Baiburin The Soviet Passport. The History, Nature, and Uses of the Internal Passport in the USSR (Transl. from Russian by Stephen Dalziel.) [New Russian Thought.] Polity Press, Cambridge [etc.] 2021 (2017). xvii, 451 pp. Ill. £35.00; € 39.60. (E-book: £31.99; € 35.99.) - Volume 68 Issue 1

Выступления в дискуссии

This section presents a summary of Yu.V. Blue-eyed, N.I. Kuznetsova and G.L. Tulchinsky at the All-Russian online seminar "Russian Thought and Politics", held on January 20-21, 2023 and dedicated to the topic "The Phenomenon of the Sixties in Soviet Philosophy: the Intellectual and Political Potential of a Generation".

Philosophical and Legal Russian Thought at the Late 19th - Early 20th Century Period on the Status of Finland in the State Structure of the Russian Empire

The subject of this article is the philosophical views of representatives of the legal tradition of the late period of the Russian Empire regarding the status of the Grand Duchy of Finland. The objective of this work is to conduct a philosophical and legal assessment of the views of various Russian legal theorists. This study uses philosophical cognition methods comprising, firstly, a formal dogmatic method for analysing legal instruments related to the legal status of the Grand Duchy of Finland, and secondly, a hermeneutic method in relation to the studied works of Russian legal theorists. A concrete historical method is also used. The main result of this article is to identify contradictions in the philosophical views of Russian legal theorists on the legal status of the Grand Duchy of Finland and determine all the contributing factors. The main conclusion drawn in this article is that the philosophical and theoretical views of representatives of the Russian legal tradition were significantly influenced by their initial objectives. Researchers first sought to refute the existence of a union between the Russian Empire and the Grand Duchy of Finland, which sidelined and hindered the cognition of the legal nature of relations between Russia and Finland.

Some notes on The Palgrave Handbook of Russian Thought

These are my comments on The Palgrave Handbook of Russian Thought at the ASEEES convention (Chicago, November 2022).

Methodology of the cultivation of reflective thinking in Russian education: the experience of reflection

The paper focuses on the reflective analysis of one of the most powerful philosophical and methodological programs for the development of reflective thinking in Russia. This is the “Program for the Development of Regional Social Systems by Means of Education”, developed in the 90s of the last century by a team of young scientists on the basis of the theory of developing education of V.V. Davydov. The author studies the problems to be solved by the program as well as the main stages of its implementation. Such projects as “Metropolitan Education”, “Updating the content of education: meta-subjects, meta-subject technologies”, “Education of design activities: School of General Designers”, – are in the centre of analysis. The author discusses also the structures of solutions that have been aimed at the developing educational practices (experimental sites, innovative networks) and reflective thinking in the metropolitan education system (Expert Council). The results of the implementation of the program at each stage are summed up. The limitations in the application of the reflection method are analyzed and the path of further research is outlined.

Принципы конструирования фемининности в повести О.П. Руновой «Лунный свет»

The article examines the work of the Russian writer Olga Pavlovna Runova (nee Meshcherskaya) (1864–1952) in the context of literary and gender discourse that developed in the modernist period. One of the most striking, accentuated feminine works of Runova is the epistolary story Moonlight, published in 1913 in the leading literary and political publication “Russian Thought.” Later, the story was included in another collection of Runova’s gender-specific prose, published in Petrograd in 1916 with the same title. In Moonlight the writer uses diary genre of unsent letter with first-person narration, trying to penetrate deeper into the inner world of a woman, to demonstrate her vulnerability to the patriarchal environment and to show possible options for overcoming a spiritual split. The story combines various artistic tactics of Runova in the construction of femininity, which were reflected in the prose of the writer of the 1900–1910s (psychosis, conformism, escapism). The character of story goes through all the stages of feminine self-determination: from internal discontent through rebellion/rejection to a compromise acceptance of dictated conditions. Runova sees the main way out for a woman in inner escapism, which gives an imaginary respite from the oppressive reality, the prevailing patriarchy, but not solving the problem of women’s self-determination outside the patriarchal world.

З. Н. Гиппиус и О. Миртов (Ольга Негрескул): литературно-гендерные параллели

In 1893, a story Apple Trees Are in Bloom by Z.N. Gippius was published in the journal Nashe vremya (Our Time). In 1911, a novel by O. Mirtov (pseudonym of the writer Olga Emmanuilovna Negreskul-Rosenfeld) under the same title Apple Trees Are in Bloom was published in the leading literary and political journal Russkaya Mysl’ (Russian Thought), edited by P.B. Struve. A close friend of the Merezhkovsky’s family, D.V. Philosophov in his 1914 essay The Feast Trunk pointed out the similarity of titles, reflecting on the secondary nature of literary and philosophical findings of Negreskul. An analysis of the Gippius’ story of 1893 and Mirtov’s novel of 1911 in the context of philosophical and gender ideas of the turn of the century makes it possible to speak of some literary parallels, both genetic and typological, characteristic of two female authors’ work, one of whom wrote under her own name, and the other worked under a pseudonym. The commonality of the plot arc of the two works, the similarity of philosophical and aesthetic statements, made in the spirit of modernist artistic quest, the proximity of the Negreskul to the symbolist picture of the world, as evidenced by her first literary experiments, make it possible to identify a common artistic concept of the formation of worldview and artistic motives in the work of two modernist writers.

Historiosophical Problems in Russian Thought in the Modern Time

The article deals with the historiosophical problems of Russian thought in the Modern time. The historiosophical problems of Russian thought were determined by the peculiarities of spiritual and socio-political life, the development of national and civil consciousness of society, the formation of the intelligentsia. The major historiosophical problems of Russian thought since the XIX century have been the reflection on the fate and role of Russia in the global historical process; conceptualization of the meaning of history; analysis of social development options; the definition of progress criteria; the clarification of the role of an individual and people in history, understanding of the meaning of human existence. A number of historiosophical issues were identified in ideological searches of earlier times. Historiosophical ideas also influenced the development of historical science in Russia. The history of philosophy was interconnected with ontology and anthropology, gravitating towards metahistory. One of the most relevant problems for the Russian historiosophy was the meaning of history, which attracted the attention of historians, philosophers and other cultural leaders, in the context of the essence, content, criteria, driving forces of historical development; specifics of historical knowledge; political and moral significance of historical memory. The problem of the meaning of history was often revealed in moral and religious contexts, in connection with spiritual and moral problems of the meaning of human life. In the works of Russian thinkers, the remarkable ideas were expressed about socio-anthropological and moral meaning of history, which retain their significance to modern philosophical and historical research, to the spiritual and value-based self-determination of an individual and society.

Mikhail Epstein. The Phoenix of Philosophy: Russian Thought of the Late Soviet Period (1953–1991). Mikhail Epstein. Ideas Against Ideocracy: Non-Marxist Thought of the Late Soviet Period (1953–1991)

Mikhail Epstein. The Phoenix of Philosophy: Russian Thought of the Late Soviet Period (1953–1991). Mikhail Epstein. Ideas Against Ideocracy: Non-Marxist Thought of the Late Soviet Period (1953–1991)

Comments for the book symposium “The Palgrave Handbook of Russian Thought”

These are my comments and responses to questions and comments by my colleagues at the Handbook symposium that took place last fall.