Contents
Author’s Note ...... 13 Introductory Remarks ...... 19
PART I. FROM THE ENLIGHTENMENT TO ROMANTICISM ...... 27
Chapter 1: Trends and Tendencies in Enlightenment Thought ..... 29 Introductory Remarks: The Paradoxes of Westernization ...... 30 Catherine II and Enlightenment Philosophy ...... 43 The Emergence of Professional Enlightenment Philosophy...... 52 Nikolai Novikov and Freemasonry ...... 57 Mikhail Shcherbatov and the Aristocratic Opposition ...... 69
Chapter 2: The Culmination of the Enlightenment in Russia: Aleksandr Radishchev ...... 79 Radishchev’s Life ...... 79 Radishchev’s Social Philosophy ...... 83 Radishchev’s Views on Ethics and Education ...... 88 Radical Reform or Revolution? ...... 90 The Treatise on Immortality ...... 93
Chapter 3: Political Philosophy in the Age of Alexander I ...... 97 Projects of International Order ...... 100 The Liberal Conceptions ...... 106 Nikolai Karamzin and Conservatism ...... 112 The Decembrists ...... 118 The Northern Society ...... 119 Nikolai Turgenev ...... 122 The Southern Society ...... 123 The Society of United Slavs...... 126 The Decembrist Philosophy of Russian History ...... 127 The Decembrists’ Place in the History Of Russian Thought ...... 129
Chapter 4: Anti-Enlightenment Trends in the Early Nineteenth Century ...... 131 Mysticism ...... 132 The Ideology of an Anti-Philosophical Crusade ...... 134 The Wisdom-Lovers and Russian Schellingianism ...... 136
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Ivan Kireevsky’s Young Years, or the West-Inclined Version of Philosophial Romanticism ...... 143
PART II. THE REIGN OF NICHOLAS I ...... 145
Chapter 5: Petr Chaadaev and Religious Westernism ...... 147 Chaadaev’s Metaphysics and Philosophy of History...... 148 Russia’s Past and Future ...... 151 Chaadaev’s First Philosophical Letter ...... 151 Apology of A Madman ...... 154 Toward Ecumenism ...... 156 Chaadaev’s Place in Russian Intellectual History ...... 158 Converts of The Age of Nicholas: Ivan Gagarin and Vladimir Pecherin ...... 159
Chapter 6: The Slavophiles and Other Versions of Anti-Westernism 167 The Slavophile Philosophy of History and Social Ideals ...... 168 The Concept of the “Integral Personality” and “New Principles in Philosophy” ...... 174 Slavophile Ecclesiology ...... 179 Slavophilism as Conservative Utopianism ...... 183 The Ideology of “Official Nationality” ...... 186 Tyutchev’s Imperial Vision...... 191 The Evolution of Slavophilism at the Time of Great Reforms ...... 194
Chapter 7: The Russian Hegelians: From “Reconciliation with Reality” To “Philosophy of Action” ...... 201 Nikolai Stankevich ...... 202 Mikhail Bakunin ...... 204 Vissarion Belinsky ...... 206 Philosophical Evolution ...... 207 Aesthetic and Literary Critical Views...... 212 Aleksandr Herzen ...... 215
Chapter 8: Belinsky and Different Variants of Westernism...... 223 Belinsky’s Westernism...... 224 Ancient and Modern Russia ...... 224 Narodnost’ And Natsional’nost’ In Literature ...... 226 The Polemic with Maikov ...... 230 The Dispute over Capitalism ...... 232 7
The Liberal Westernizers ...... 234 Timotei Granovsky ...... 235 Konstantin Kavelin ...... 236 Boris Chicherin ...... 237
Chapter 9: The Petrashevtsy ...... 241 Social and Political Ideas of the Petrashevtsy ...... 241 Philosophical Ideas of the Petrashevtsy ...... 246
Chapter 10: The Origins of “Russian Socialism” ...... 251 The Evolution of Herzen’s Views ...... 251 The Crisis of Belief ...... 251 The Concept of “Russian Socialism” ...... 254 The Destiny of the “Old World” ...... 260 Freedom and Necessity ...... 264 To an Old Comrade ...... 268 Nikolai Ogarev ...... 273
PART III. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES OF THE REFORM AND COUNTERREFORM PERIOD ...... 277
Chapter 11: Nikolai Chernyshevsky and the “Enlighteners” of the Sixties ...... 279 Chernyshevsky’s Anthropological Materialism ...... 282 Biographical Note ...... 282 Aesthetics ...... 286 The Anthropological Principle ...... 290 Russia’s Future Development ...... 293 Chernyshevsky’s Place in the History of Russian Thought ...... 295 Nikolai Dobroliubov and the Dispute over the “Superfluous Men” .... 299 Dmitry Pisarev and “Nihilism” ...... 306 Critics of the “Enlighteners”: Apollon Grigoriev and Nikolai Strakhov ...... 312 Reactions to the “Enlighteners” in Spiritual Academies: Pamphil Yurkevich and Fyodor Bukharev ...... 318
Chapter 12: Conservative Ideologies after the Land Reform ...... 329 Mikhail Katkov ...... 331 Ivan Aksakov and Nikolai Danilevsky ...... 337 Konstantin Pobedonostsev ...... 345
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Konstantin Leontiev ...... 348
Chapter 13: Populist Ideologies ...... 359 Introduction ...... 359 From “Go to the People” to the “People’s Will” ...... 362 Petr Lavrov ...... 372 Biographical Note ...... 372 The Historical Letters ...... 374 Sociological Conceptions ...... 378 Petr Tkachev ...... 381 Nikolai Mikhailovsky ...... 388 Theory of Progress ...... 388 The “Struggle for Individuality” ...... 398 The Social Content of Mikhailovsky’s Sociological Theory ...... 401 Nikolai Chaikovsky Aánd Godmanhood ...... 403
Chapter 14: Anarchism ...... 413 Mikhail Bakunin ...... 414 Biographical Note ...... 414 Bakunin’s Philosophical Views ...... 419 Bakunin’s Social Philosophy ...... 424 Petr Kropotkin ...... 430 Biographical Note ...... 430 Kropotkin’s Philosophy of History ...... 432 Kropotkin’s Vision of the Future ...... 436 Revolution as the Test ...... 441
Chapter 15: Boris Chicherin and Conservative Liberalism ...... 447 The Tasks of Liberalism in Russia ...... 449 Philosophy of the State ...... 456 Philosophy of Law ...... 460 Metaphysics and the Philosophy of History ...... 465 Chicherin’s Place in the History of Russian Thought ...... 468
Chapter 16: Between Populism and Marxism...... 471 Plekhanov’s Road to Marxism ...... 474 Aleksandr Ulianov ...... 482 “Legal Populism”: Vassily Vorontsov and Nikolai Danielson ...... 484
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PART IV. PHILOSOPHICAL AND RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN REFORMED RUSSIA ...... 495
Chapter 17: Prophetic Writers ...... 497 Fyodor Dostoevsky ...... 498 The “Crystal Palace” and “The Underground” ...... 498 The Devious Paths of the Man-God...... 503 National Messianism and the Idea of “All-Humanity” ...... 509 The Legend of the Great Inquisitor and the Vision of New Christianity ...... 514 Lev Tolstoy ...... 520 The Phases of Moral Crisis ...... 520 Tolstoy’s Philosophy of Life ...... 526 Tolstoy’s Views on Religion ...... 528 Tolstoy’s Criticism of Civilization and Social Ideas ...... 532 The Role of Art ...... 536 Dostoevsky and Tolstoy: A Comparison ...... 538
Chapter 18: Vladimir Soloviev and Metaphysical Idealism ...... 543 A Philosopher’s Life and Personality ...... 544 Philosophy of Reintegration ...... 548 Godmanhood and Sophia ...... 554 The Ecumenical Ideal and the National Question in Russia ...... 558 Theocratic Utopia of the Third Rome ...... 563 Theory of Love. A Digression on Nikolai Fedorov ...... 569 Ethics and Philosophy of Law ...... 575 Theoretical Philosophy...... 580 Apocalyptic Premonitions ...... 582 Theory of Art ...... 584 Soloviev’s Place in Pre-Revolutionary Russian Thought ...... 586
Chapter 19: Variants of Positivism ...... 589 Introduction ...... 589 Dogmatic Positivism: Grigory Wyrouboff ...... 591 Critical Positivism: Vladimir Lesevich ...... 593 Positivism and Sociology ...... 596 Positivism and Psychology ...... 611 Toward Ethical Idealism. The Renaissance of Natural Law: Leon PetraĪycki and Pavel Novgorodtsev ...... 616
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Positivist Psychologism and a Philosophy of God: The Theological Anthropologism of Victor Nesmelov ...... 626
Chapter 20: Metaphysical Idealism ...... 635 Extending the Hegelian Tradition ...... 636 Aleksei Kozlov and Neo-Leibnizianism ...... 639 Lev Lopatin and Spiritualistic Personalism ...... 643 Sergei Trubetskoi and “Concrete Idealism” ...... 650
PART V. FROM THE TURN OF THE CENTURY TO THE AFTERMATH OF THE FIRST REVOLUTION ...... 663
Chapter 21: Three Variants of Marxism at the Turn of the Century ...... 665 Plekhanov’s Necessitarian Orthodoxy ...... 668 The Philosophy of “Rational Necessity” ...... 668 Aesthetics and Literary Criticism ...... 675 Petr Struve and the Evolution of “Legal Marxism” ...... 678 Antecedence: Marxist Economism of Nikolai Ziber ...... 678 The Breakthrough - Critical Remarks ...... 680 Further Evolution ...... 685 Lenin and Revolutionary Marxism ...... 692 The Preparatory Period ...... 692 Theory of the Party ...... 697 Philosophical Views ...... 706 The Communist Utopia and Its Failure ...... 712
Chapter 22: The Crisis of Marxism and the Intellectual Genesis of the Religious-Philosophical Renaissance ...... 721 Around Problems of Idealism ...... 725 The Anti-Positivist Breakthrough and the Liberal Liberation Union . 725 Petr Struve ...... 729 Pavel Novgorodtsev ...... 734 Semen Frank...... 736 Nikolai Berdiaev ...... 739 Sergei Bulgakov ...... 742 New Marxism and the Birth of “Godmaking” ...... 748 “New Religious Consciousness” ...... 765 Dmitri Merezhkovsky ...... 765 Vasilii Rozanov ...... 774 11
Berdiaev, Bulgakov and the 1905 Revolution ...... 785 The Philosophy of “Mystical Realism” ...... 785 The Final Reckoning with Marxism ...... 791
Chapter 23: The Religious-Philosophical Renaissance during the Years of Reflection upon the Experience of the First Revolution .. 797 The Situation in Philosophy at the Turn of 1905/1906 ...... 798 Philosophical Societies ...... 798 Signposts ...... 801 “Put’” Publishing House ...... 807 New Slavophilism, Ontologism and the Search for Eastern-Christian Sources of Russian Philosophy ...... 809 The Program of National Philosophy ...... 809 Discussing Messianism ...... 810 New Slavophile Ontologism and the Controversy with “Logos” .. 813 Vladimir Ern and the Idea of Eastern-Christian Logos ...... 820 Lev Shestov ...... 826 Metaphysics of All-Unity and Sophiology ...... 831 The Schellingian Inspiration ...... 831 Berdiaev’s Anthropologism and Bulgakov’s Theocosmism ...... 836 Evgeny Trubetskoi ...... 843 Father Pavel Florensky...... 847 Semen Frank and Lev Karsavin ...... 852
Closing Remarks ...... 855
Bibliographical Supplement ...... 861
Index of Names ...... 863