Vladimir Solovyov Research Articles

Correlation between the concepts of All-Unity and self-will: Vladimir Solovyov and Lev Shestov as philosophers of freedom

Correlation between the concepts of All-Unity and self-will: Vladimir Solovyov and Lev Shestov as philosophers of freedom

РЕЛИГИОЗНО-ФИЛОСОФСКИЕ ИДЕИ В РАССКАЗЕ Ф. М. ДОСТОЕВСКОГО «СОН СМЕШНОГО ЧЕЛОВЕКА»

Staying in the framework of the hermeneutic approach, this article reveals and analyses the religious and philosophical ideas of Saint Augustine of Hippo’s Confessions in the text of Fyodor Dostoevsky's short story “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man”. This study demonstrates that Dostoevsky, while staying within the boundaries of contemporary culture, independently comprehended such universal ideas and problems as the origin of evil, free will, theodicy and salvation, which were first formulated in the European philosophical tradition by Saint Augustine. The author concludes that the idea of unbounded free will and universal salvation, offered by Dostoevsky who demonstrated that rejecting individual freedom is justified only for the sake of said salvation, profoundly influenced Russian religious philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov.

Трансформация ценностей в контексте национальных и цивилизационных разломов

The transformation of value meanings in Russia under the influence of the socio-political technologies of “consciental warfare” took place several times. The first turmoil occurred during the reign of Prince Vladimir through change of religion (from Vedism to Judeo-Christianity) and replacement of Glagolitic script by Cyrillic alphabet. The second unrest was organized in the period of the Seven Boyars; the third, during the October Revolution, while the fourth began under President Yeltsin’s rule and continues to the present day. Vasily Klyuchevsky believed that the essence of the turmoil lies in the national rifts between “soil” and “civilization”. According to Vladimir Solovyov, the struggle between clan and state relations is the main content of the history of Russia. The essence of civilizational rifts lies in the contradiction between globalization and localization in the conditions of cyclic stages of human development, especially pronounced in an era of change, when the clash of cultures intensifies. Nowadays, we have an understanding of how ersatz values are intentionally implanted with the help of soft power, but in order to resist national and civilizational entropy, we must create sociopolitical technologies that ensure consistent security. According to the author, a balance of power in a society can be established through restoring and preserving traditional community values. For Jean Monnet, the communal approach involves gathering the entire humanity into a single fraternal family (the mondialist project) to restrain the power of the market. The “communard methodology” of I.P. Ivanov and A.V. Mudrik considers the communal way of life as a “social phenomenon”, “part of culture” and “national heritage”. This paper suggests constructs for transforming society in the context of communitarianism, where people are authorized to create their own social reality. The new communitarian self-developing system, as an original solution for long-term development of Russia, should become an obstacle to national and civilizational rifts, manifested in social instability and colour revolutions.

“Bodiliness” of thought in N.F. Fedorov’s system of views on language

The article discusses the system of N.F. Fedorov's views on language, as it was immanently formulated in his various articles and notes, laconic, aphoristic and fragmentary. Architecture and scale of Fedorov's ideas along with fundamental incompleteness as a huge project open to the future are considered in the article. An important dominant of Fedorov's thought is ‘bodiliness’, on the one hand, opposed to abstraction that destroys a phenomenon, including reality of human speech, and, on the other, hypostatizing thought and language as organic being. The dominant is essential for understanding culture at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries and the first half of the XX century (for instance, to understand Vladimir Solovyov’s views on the nature of art, the work of Andrei Platonov). ‘Bodiliness’, corporality, materiality of language and thought, according to Fedorov, is the guarantee of immortality of material life. This is the explanation of Fedorov's special attraction to ideographic writing, what embodies thought in matter as “much in little”. Fedorov’s thinking is in a special way consonant with the search for a new style of thinking in Western philosophy at the turn of the 20th century. Fedorov returns to humanitarian knowledge bodily, material; humanitarian knowledge lacks this in order to break away from the surface and move on to the things themselves, which have preserved in their original being the seeds of immortality. The article emphasizes that thought and its linguistic expression are a symbolic designation of the common cause of resurrection in Fedorov’s system, and in this it is material and has concrete outlines. The organic being of thought, belonging to life itself, has no authorship, has no place in a specific work that legitimizes it. The main conclusion of the article is about the central position of the concepts of corporality, ‘bodiliness’ in Fedorov’s project, that at the same time represent, although an integral, but, like conceptual relations in language, incomplete system, where each thought appears as a fragment, a fragment of the world that needs to be recreated.

«Slavia Orthodoxa» и «Slavia Romana»: В.В. Розанов о сближениях и расхождениях между двумя историко-культурными мирами

V.V. Rozanov’s extensive corpus highlights the problems of Slavic world, which he perceived through the prism of the correlation of two local ethnic communities in historical, cultural and confessional contexts. Rozanov associated the consequences of a broader phenomenon — the meeting of the Western and Eastern worlds — with the theme of Slavism. The articles puts forward the idea that the Slavic world in Rozanov’s view is at the intersection of Romano-Germanic and Greek-Slavic worldviews. In this setting, Rozanov highlights three of the most important themes: the meaning of ‘predanie’, the papacy in the West and East, the eternal struggle, and possible Union of the West and the East. The article shows that Rozanov saw the Slavs as a young ‘movement’, gradually developing and becoming significant on the world stage, but he also realized that Slavic unity, in addition to cultural, literary and ideological convergence, needs stronger spiritual and economic bonds. In Rozanov’s reflections, one can find an echo of Danilevsky’s view on the unification of Slavs, the conservative thoughts of Konstantin Leontiev, as well as Vladimir Solovyov’s ideas on the unity of the Easter and Western churches.

Philosophical Travelogy as a Cultural and Political Research Method

This article is devoted to new books written by Alexey Kara-Murza, a Russian philosopher and political scientist. Kara-Murza is the author of numerous works on the philosophy of Russian history and culture and Russian social thought, successfully working in the original genres of philosophical travelogy and philosophical local history. Russian-European and Russian-Italian cultural interactions have been the subject of Alexey Kara-Murza’s scientific interest for many years. The new monographs explore the political circumstances as well as the key biographical voyage plots to Italy of the outstanding Russian thinkers Pyotr Chaadaev (1824–1825), and Vladimir Solovyov (1876). According to Alexey Kara-Murza, these trips determined the intellectual identity of the two Russian authors as well as the spiritual and philosophical horizon of their work. Kara-Murza consistently develops a central thesis about the intellectual relationships between Europe and Russia. He interprets the dialogue of cultures as a story of creativity, and comprehends the journey as a special way of the philosophical reception of culture and creative self-identification. Kara-Murza’s cultural and political studies in his philosophical travelogy genre, as well as the method he developed which helped the philosopher reconstruct the intellectual experience of Russian thinkers in the context of the history of Russian and European culture, are critically analyzed in this article.

The feminine image of Russia in the religious and philosophical writings by Russian thinkers at the turn of the 20th century

The article looks at the versions of the feminine image of Russia in the religious and philosophical reflections of the Russian thinkers who worked during the Silver Age (the period of Russian culture covering approximately 1890–1917): Vladimir Solovyov, Nikolai Berdyaev, and Sergei Bulgakov. Special attention is paid to the balance between the male and female principles, which are endowed with certain characteristics in different works by Russian thinkers, not only from the perspective of human nature but also in terms of the nature of Russian culture and mentality, as well as the cosmic nature of the universe. Analysis of the religious and philosophical pursuit of the Silver Age relating to the feminine image of Russia allows the authors to specify the ideas of the characteristics of femininity engrained in the Russian culture and clarify the role of this pursuit in the development of the reflexive Russian thought directed towards becoming aware of these characteristics. The belief about the salvatory mission carried out by the feminine aspect of the human and cosmic nature distinctively identified in the religious and philosophical writings by the Russian thinkers belonging to the Siver Age requires further study. The research has been conducted within the framework of the symbolic direction of cultural studies with the help of comparative analysis, the method of theoretical reconstruction, and problematic-logical, functional, and systemic approaches. These methods allowed the authors to specify the problematic field of the research and define the main concepts to examine the statements about the feminine aspect of Russian culture by different authors as a unified system of forms aimed at the comprehension of the value and symbolic foundation of the national ethnic culture.

On the question of speech portraits of political propagandists

Based on the analysis of the oral public speech of popular publicists (S. A. Mikheev and I. N. Panarin) working in electronic media and the Internet, the article attempts to characterize the stylistic and semantic originality of modern Russian pro-government propaganda. The dependence of the nature of the linguistic features of propaganda on such factors as the personality of the propagandist, the scope of his activities, and the nature of the transmission is established. It is shown that the personal qualities of Mikheev is conditioned by such features of his speech as emotionality, exceeding the permissible volume level, and careless pronunciation style, while Professor Panarin is characterized by an academic manner of speech with its inherent consideration of the opposite point of view, argumentation, and respect for the audience. It is claimed that the influence of the sphere of activity (Mikheev works in electronic media, such as Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, the radio program Iron Logic, Panarin conducts an analytical program Igor Panarin. World Politics on the YouTube channel) is found in taking into account the composition and request of the audience to which the propaganda is directed. Television discussion allows rudeness, verbal aggression, reduced vocabulary, political banter, logic of the absurd, direct insults, and threats to opponents. Analytical transmission involves the strategic forecasting of events filled with the metaphysics of propaganda, the creation of mythologies, the use of allegories, and hints. It is proved that despite the almost opposite stylistic format, the propaganda discourse of Mikheev and Panarina is characterized by common dominant semantic categories, such as traditional family values, religiosity, conservatism, protection of the interests of the state, humanistic maximalism, and the historical continuity of Russia.

Russian Literature in the Works of Three Generations of Hungarian Scholars. Review of: Kroó, K., & Bóna, E. (Eds.). (2018). Golosa russkoi filologii iz Budapeshta: literaturovedenie i iazykoznanie na kafedre russkogo iazyka i literatury Universiteta im. Loranda Etvesha [Voices of Russian Philology from Budapest: Literary Studies and Linguistics at the Department of Russian Literature and Language of Eötvös Lorбnd University].

This paper looks at the collection of articles entitled Voices of Russian Philology from Budapest, published in 2018 under the editorship of Prof. Katalin Kroу. The collection gives a recapitulation of several generations of Russian studies produced by scholars affiliated with Eцtvцs Loránd University. The book contains works on both Russian literature and language; however, the review focuses solely on the papers dealing with various aspects of the history of Russian literature covering a large period from Pushkin to Ulitskaya. The reviewer points out a significant thematic diversity of the reviewed papers: some authors elaborate on rather conventional topics (such as Vladimir Solovyov’s historical philosophy, autobiographic elements in Herzen’s prose, poetics of detail in Chekhov’s works, etc.), while others develop relatively new issues. Some articles are of interest from the methodological point of view. The quality of articles collected in this volume proves that despite the fact that the Russian language no longer retains its status in contemporary Hungary, Russian studies still keep a high profile.

ФИЛОСОФСКИЕ ИСТОКИ ОРГАНИЧЕСКОЙ ТЕОРИИ СПАСЕНИЯ В ПРАВОСЛАВНОМ БОГОСЛОВИИ

The historical study of modern Orthodox theology is a very important process, which is only now finding its place in science. Orthodox dogmatic theology can only seem static, while a closer examination can reveal the processes of decomposition, change and mutation. This article analyzes the theological history of the organic atonement theory, with Vladimir Lossky as its main advocate. The appearance of several atonement theories in theology (along with the criticism of legal theory – a traditional theory peculiar to academic education) highlights the reasons leading to such an unusual state of affairs. In the author’s opinion, this situation is one of the indicators for the changes in theology under the influence of new philosophical trends. The links between the organic atonement theory and philosophical research were noticed as early as in the 20th century. However, the issue has been still insufficiently explored. In connection with this, one of the objectives in this article is a thorough consideration of the way the Russian religious thought participated in the development of the 20th-century Orthodox theology. The largest school of religious philosophy at the beginning of the 20th century was the philosophy of unitotality, which was supported by many famous authors, including theologicians Sergei Bulgakov, Lev Karsavin, Sergei and Evgenii Trubetskoy, Vladimir Ern, Pavel Florensky, et al. The Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov was the initiator of this movement. The thinkers mentioned above and the authors of “organic” theology (in particular, Lossky and Georges Florovsky) are linked not only by their biographies, but also by common themes, methodological guidelines and objects of criticism. Thus, one of the key features of the “organic” atonement theory is the idea that Jesus Christ adopted the common human nature, and it exists as real and integrated in every single human hypostasis. In the author’s opinion, this viewpoint is not specific to Russian Orthodox theology before the 20th century. It was indeed inspired by the philosophy contemporary to Lossky. We can find the same ideas in the works by Karsavin and archpriest Bulgakov, whose teachings influenced Lossky’s views. At the same time, Lossky tried to dissociate himself from philosophy and remain a theologician. However, the author undertakes to demonstrate that not all of his resources are in the patristic tradition. In this regard, we cannot speak about imitation. On the contrary, we discuss the unconscious adoption of some topics, images and methodological techniques by Lossky from his opponents and teachers.

Идейный кризис в Московском религиозно-философском обществе памяти Владимира Соловьева (1907–1910 гг.)

The article provides an overview of the main development stages of the Moscow Society of Religion and Philosophy in Memory of Vladimir Solovyov (here­inafter, MRFO – Moskovskoye religiosno-filosofskoye obschestvo). The focus is on the second stage of MRFO’s activity, from October 1907 till April 1910. The articles studies the reasons for the expulsion of one of its most active members of the first period, Valentin Sventsitsky, and why the communication with him where broken thereafter. The article also explores the decline of Bulgakov’s po­litical activity towards the end of the revolution and his increased engagement with the problems of Christian history, spurred, among other factors, by the in­fluence of the Circle of Seekers of Christian Illumination. Another issue is the departure of Vladimir Ern from social and ecclesial issues and his transition to classical philosophical topics. The author also specifically focuses on the evo­lution of Berdyaev’s philosophic views – from socio-religious issues close to those explored by the New Religious Consciousness group, to ecclesial issues and the phenomenon of historical Christianity. The articles also describes the features of the formation of the philosophical ideas of Symbolists observed in their pre­sentations made at MRFO meetings in 1907–1908. Some of the presentations discussed are those of Andrey Bely and Vyacheslav Ivanov. The author also ana­lyzes the main reasons for the MRFO crisis of 1907–1910 and discusses the pre­sentations of Dmitry Merezhkovsky at MRFO meetings. In addition, the article seeks to give an overview of how the ideas of St Petersburg and Moscow circles of religious and philosophical thinkers developed in subsequent periods.

Острые грани общественного идеала (от давних дискуссий к современности)

The author outlines the views on social ideal of Russian thinkers from Vladimir Solovyov to Georgij Fedotov. Solovyov, advancing Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ideas, viewed the social ideal as a realization of the doctrine of universal solidarity and free development of a person under spiritual guidance of the Universal Church. This ecumenic and theocratic utopia had not received any recognition in Russian society, torn apart by unsolvable social and cultural conflicts. Pavel Novgorodtsev, generally sharing on the whole Solovyov’s views, thought that only the constitutional state could put these into effect. Konstantin Pobedonostsev pinned his hopes on monarchy, which would embrace popular religious and cultural traditions and oppose the “destructive” liberal reforms, while Nicolay Berdyaev believed in intelligentsia “transformed” by the idea of freedom. Georgij Fedotov called for the revival of the “need for freedom” and creation of the institutes executing spiritual development of society. The problem of the social ideal is relevant in modern Russia, though discredited by the neglect of cultural values, and above all, the devaluation of personal freedom. The prospect of a new cultural elite to overcome this remains vague.

Стал ли Вл.С. Соловьев католиком (историко-философский анализ)

In the article, the author examines the religious and philosophical views of Vladimir Solovyov during the period of his appeal to the Roman Catholic Church as a rock and center of unification of Christian humanity. Based on materials from the Vatican archives and periodicals of the Holy See, it was reconstructed how Catholic world perceived Solovyov’s project of ecclesiastic union. In particular, the question of Solovyov’s conversion in Catholicism was studied. The author points to unknown document on the preparation of special instructions for Solovyov by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In addition, the author analyses the reception of the idea of the Universal Church by Russian religious philosophers of the early 20th century. It is emphasized that they did not accept the idea of Solovyov’s conversion to Catholicism and pointed to the fundamental religious and philosophical significance the idea of the Universal Church as a mystical unity of the Eastern and Western Churches. Thus, the article shows that the religious and philosophical ideas of Solovyov were closely related to his sociocultural and political views. He was a person who adopted Christianity as a fundamental principle of being and a key driving force of history.

Prince Yegeny Trubetskoy As a Critic of Vladimir Solovyov’s Theocratic Utopia

Prince Yegeny Trubetskoy As a Critic of Vladimir Solovyov’s Theocratic Utopia

THE ARCHITECTURE OF MINSK MOSQUE, 1901

The architecture of the Minsk mosque built in 1901 is reviewed. This mosque became the first stone mosque built by the Lithuanian Tatars community and the first stone mosque in Belarus. The Minsk mosque was completely destroyed in the 1960s. Its appearance was reconstructed from surviving illustrations, photographs and materials of the Belarusian State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation. In addition to general description and analysis of the architecture of the mosque, the objective of the article is to establish a connection between the architecture of the Minsk mosque and the practice of standardized design of Muslim cult buildings in the Russian Empire.
 Another objective is to publish information about the mosque that was previously unknown, in particular about the personality of the mosque architect Vladimir Solovyov. Using archival documents from Russia and Poland, the identity of the architect Solovyov was established and his creative biography retraced.

Lavr Evgenija Vodolazkina kao roman o vječnoj ljubavi

EUGENE VODOLAZKIN’S LAURUS AS A NOVELA ABOUT ETERNAL LOVE Even though in Eugene Vodolazkin’s hybrid novel Laurus, the hagiographic and love storylines are inseparable, this paper focuses mainly on the topic of love, or more precisely, on the concept of eternal love. The paper seeks to demonstrate that in his understanding of love, Vodolazkin is inspired, on the one hand, by Vladimir Solovyov and Nikolai Berdyaev’s Christian-Platonist rendering of Eros, and, on the other, by the Orthodox-theological interpretation of passion as sin. In any case, the semantic field of “love”, as seen by Vodolazkin in his novel, includes passion and compassion and unquestionable permanence. The meaning of the adjective “eternal” in “eternal love” first points to the meaning of the Christian concept of eternity. The meaning of the adjective is further discussed and clarified in the framework of Vodolazkin’s metaphysical assumptions about the irrelevance or absence of time.

Reports presented at the meetings of the Moscow religious-philosophical society in memory of Vladimir Solovyov 1907–1908 гг.

We present here a list of meetings of the Moscow Religious and Philosophical Society in Memory of Vladimir Solovyov (hereinafter: MRPS) held during the 1907–1908 season. We analyze the reports and lectures of V.F. Ern, V.P. Sventsitsky, E.N. Trubetskoy, A. Bely, V.I. Ivanov, and other members and guests of the MRPS. The following essay also presents the discrepancies in the meeting dates of different researchers of the MRPS. A list of all known publications of the reports and lectures presented at the MRPS is also given. In addition, we trace references to meetings of the MRPS by other investigators as well as references in archival material and surviving letters by members of the MRPS.

Yuly Aykhenvald: in search of aesthetic and historiosophical harmony

This article explores the question of literary criticism in the context of interactions between literature and philosophy. The best example of such interaction is the legacy of the early twentieth century Russian literary critic, Yuly Aykhenvald (1872–1928). This article gives a brief overview of his works of literary criticism and their thematic repertoire. Aykhenvald’s philosophical background, professional education, and personal connections with renowned Russian thinkers, including Vladimir Solovyov, Fyodor Stepun, and Semyon Frank, are included in an evaluation of Aykhenvald’s position on one of the most discussed relationships in Russian culture—that of Russia and the West. The issue of relations between the West and Russia acquired a particular urgency after the October Revolution of 1917, when Russian culture split into two realms—Soviet and emigre. This article analyzes Aykhenvald’s position on this issue, which is present in both his philosophical responses to the Eurasianists and in his essays written on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of Pushkin’s birth. Throughout the mid-1920s Aykhenvald wrote that Pushkin was the ideal of spiritual and aesthetic balance. In Pushkin’s work Aykhenvald found the embodiment of his own historiosophical aspirations—the harmonious fusion of Russia and the West.

Vladimir Soloviev and Pavel Florensky: variation on the theme of platonism

The topic identified in the title of this article drew researchers’ attention not just once, so in the beginning a short overview of the works available on this topic as well as problem areas and the names of scientists involved in this issue are presented. It is highlighted that Vladimir Solovyov had influence on the creative development of Pavel Florensky mainly due to his written works, since they were representatives of different generations, as also to acquaintance with his close circle. The facts of the biographies of Vladimir Solovyov and Pavel Florensky are given: family, university studies, etc. The author emphasizes influence of Plato’s work on both Vladimir Solovyov and Pavel Florensky. The topic of unity of «theory and life» by Plato and Vladimir Solovyov is explained, it is emphasized that the latter failed to achieve the unity. The theme of love in understanding of Vladimir Solovyov and Pavel Florensky is revealed through their personal experiences and philosophy. Finally, the article states that both philosophers are metaphysical authors, on whom Plato’s philosophy had a decisive influence.

Sophia or Apophatic reality in Alexander Blok’s poem «A girl was singing in a church choir»

The paper presents a coherent analysis of the famous poem by Alexander Blok «A Girl Was Singing in a Church Choir...» in an extensive historical and cultural context. Much attention is paid to the poetics of color, the colorative «white», which is characterized by semantic tension and brings the reader into the ontological space of the text. In the poem, the image of the girl is associated with white color and light, which shows that the heroine belongs to the higher, heavenly world and is opposed to «everyone» from the temple, which is in darkness. The play of light and shadow acquires a sacred nature and makes it possible to raise the question of the apophatic tradition, the appearance of «evening light» and «unfading light». The image of the heroine is also viewed from the perspective of the teaching on Sophia by Vladimir Solovyov, whose legacy was addressed by the poet. Blok draws parallels with the Russian folklore tradition, analyzing the last stanza, the image of a crying child. The appeal to folklore is fruitful, since Blok was well acquainted with oral folk art, as evidenced by the fact that he was the author of the article «Poetry of Conspiracies and Spells», written in the same period as the object of the current study, the poem «A Girl Was Singing in a Church Choir...». However, the authors of this paper interpret folklore not narrowly, but include in its field rituals, ceremonies, and pre-genre formations. The work is based on a holistic analysis of the artistic text using structural-typological, comparative, and systematic-comprehensive (culturological) research methods. These methods allow highlighting the ontological dimension in the poem, revising the views on the images of the girl and the child that have established in literary studies, avoiding unambiguousness in interpretation.