Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series IVA. Central and Eastern European Philosophical Studies, Volume 46 General Editor George F. McLean Philosophy and Spirituality across Cultures and Civilizations Russian Philosophical Studies, VII Edited by Nur Kirabaev Yuriy Pochta Ruzana Pskhu The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Copyright © 2015 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Box 261 Cardinal Station Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Philosophy and spirituality across cultures and cilizations / edited by Nur Kirabaev, Yuriy Pochta, Ruzana Pskhu. -- first [edition]. pages cm. -- (Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series IVA, Eastern and Central Europe ; v. 46) (Russian philosophical studies ; 7) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Philosophy--21st century--Congresses. 2. Civilization--21st century-- Congresses. 3. Spirituality--21st century--Congresses. I. Kirabaev, N. S., editor of compilation. B805.P45 2013 2013011486 100--dc23 CIP ISBN 978-1-56518-282-0 (pbk.) TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 PART I. PHILOSOPHY: DIVERSITY IN UNITY 1.1 Russian Approach Chapter I. Contemporary Challenges to Traditional 11 Values and Virtues: A Russian Case Marietta Stepanyants Chapter II. Eurasianism as a Post-revolutionary Variant of 21 the Russian Idea Michail Maslin Chapter III. Vladimir Solovyev: Justification of Philosophy 31 Vladimir Serbinenko Chapter IV. Synthesis of Theology and Science in the Philosophy 35 of History by Lev Karsavin Vasily Vanchugov Chapter V. V.D. Kudryavtsev-Platonov’s Theological and 43 Philosophical System Irina V. Tsvyk Chapter VI. The Basic Issues of Human Life in 55 N.I.Pirigov’s Philosophy Elena S. Grevtsova 1.2 European Dimension Chapter VII. Aristotelian Reading of Hegel and Hegelian 65 Readings of Aristotle in the Formulation of “Work of Art” Ahmadreza Motamedi Chapter VIII. Faith and Reason according to Antonio Rosmini 77 Wilhelm Dancă Chapter IX. Relationship as an Essential Aspect of Human 87 Nature in the Philosophy of Dietrich von Hildebrand Jeanna Brennan Kamat Chapter X. Metaphysics and Spirituality in the History of 97 Philosophical Anthropology and Contemporary Phenomenology of the Human Person Michail Khorkov 1.3 Asian and Middle East Traditions Chapter XI. Happiness as Self-realization: Two Islamic Approaches 105 Andrey Smirnov Chapter XII. Nationalism and Islam: Opposition in the Formation 113 of Muslim Political Ideology in Arabian Countries Alexander Rodrigez Chapter XIII. Relations between Human and Divine Natures 119 in the Iranian Sufi Tradition Pavel Basharin Chapter XIV. Integration of Philosophy and Spirituality in 133 Medieval India (Based on the ‘Vedarthasamgraha’ of Ramanuja) Ruzana Pskhu PART II. PHILOSOPHY: CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES IN CIVIL SOCIETY 2.1 Civil Society: Overcoming Stereotypes Chapter XV. Civil Society: Overcoming Stereotypes 143 Nur Kirabaev Chapter XVI. Civilization, Foundation of Civil Society in 149 the Muslim World: The Russian Experience Yuriy Pochta Chapter XVII. Civic Dignity and the Ethnic Umbilical Cord of History 163 Pyotr Grechko Chapter XVIII. Civil Society from the Perspective of Historical 171 and Conceptual Changes Elizaveta V. Zolotareva Chapter XIX. “The Natural Rate of Education” as a Factor of 181 Political Stability and an Emerging Global Challenge Vladimir Ivanov 2.2 Philosophy, Spirituality and Ethical Values Chapter XX. The Meaning of Love: Explorations on the Role 197 of Philosophy in Spirituality João J. Vila-Chã Chapter XXI. Ethical Responsibility in Jonas and Levinas 209 Ozanan Vicente Carrara Chapter XXII. Professional Morals in Modern Society 225 Vladimir A. Tsvyk Chapter XXIII. The Value of Time and Eternity in Traditional, 233 Modern and Postmodern Cultures Tatiana Alexina 2.3 Aesthetical Context of Spirituality Chapter XXIV. Symbolism of Cultures and the Spiritual Archetypes 245 of Humankind Sergey Nizhnikov Chapter XXV. Unravelling the Spiral, Embracing the Serpent 259 Jack Harte Index 267 INTRODUCTION The present development of a global outlook presents both challen- ges and opportunities. A new sense of individual identity cannot only enrich the sense of personal dignity, but endanger the social foundations upon which the values and virtues of the particular cultures rest. In turn, this can lead to a period of confusion, anomie and even lawlessness. This is especially true for the young who lack a mature experience of the values of their own tradition while exploring the unfamiliar and as yet unassimilated values of others. These questions were discussed at the conference “Philosophy and Spirituality across Cultures and Religious Traditions” (April 19-21, 2012, Moscow) organized by the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of History of Phi- losophy and Centre of Comparative Studies for Education in Humanities) in collaboration with The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP) and the Confédération Mondiale des Institutions Universitaires Catholique de Philosophie. The participants tried to explore the deeper spiritual roots of cultures East and West. In particular they searched for ways of understanding what it means to be human, or a philosophical anthropology; how human life can be lived with justice, dignity and responsibility, or a philosophical ethics; and the spiritual foundations of values and virtues, or a metaphysics for our global times. A point of special interest was the modes of relating the emerging sense of individual identity to the rich commitments to commu- nity and social life which mark the many traditions, and of sharing such insights with the younger generation in their formative years. In the first part of the book devoted to philosophical diversity in unity, the Russian approach, as well as the European, Asian and Middle East Traditions are analyzed. In her article “Contemporary Challenges to Traditional Values and Virtues: A Russian Case” Marietta Stepanyants analyzes the future role of Russia in the world. Many Russians cherish hope for the return of their motherland to the status of a superpower which the Soviet Union, along with the United States, had in the past century. Others, on the contrary, are convinced that globalization poses a real threat to what they call “the Russian civilization”. Finally, there are those who expect Russia to become one of the poles in a multi-polar world. The author tries to consider which of the above scenarios is real and desirable. Michail Maslin in “Eurasianism as a Post-revolutionary Variant of the Russian Idea” examines the classical Eurasianism of Russian emigrants that arose in the early 1920s in Europe and spread in places where emigrants took up residence. In order to grasp and to investigate national psychology Eurasianists created a special legal philosophy based on specific concepts. 2 Introduction “Russian destiny” was not meant as a nationalist doctrine like national- socialism but as a “project for the future” oriented on keeping in wholeness all existing civilizations in their “flowering complexity”. This problem is of great importance for the modern world and therefore one can evaluate Eur- asianism and its version of the Russian idea as a positive variety of non- aggressive anti-Westernism and anti-globalism standing for the dialogue of civilizations. In “Vladimir Solovyev: Justification for Philosophy” Vladimir Serbinenko examines the attitude of several Russian philosophers to the famous Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyev. He points out that almost every one of the greatest Russian metaphysicians, recognizing the impor- tance of Solovyev’s ideas for their own works, challenged and criticized certain aspects of his teaching. This is true even of representatives of the metaphysics of unity, of which Solovyev is considered the founder. They argued, criticized and tried to understand. They found, of course, not only contradictions, but also something that could be and became a reference point for further philosophical movement. The author of the article poses the question: whether this corresponds to the position of Solovyev himself? Vasily Vanchugov in his work “Synthesis of Theology and Science in the Philosophy of History by Lev Karsavin” makes an attempt at com- bining science and the theology of the famous Russian philosopher Lev Karsavin in his book Philosophy of History. This attempt is interesting from the historical and historical-philosophic prospectives. Karsavin as a pro- fessional historian attempted to bring a metaphysical view to history as a science, which resulted in changes in methodology. His attempt at philoso- phizing on the basis of history left a certain trace in the history of philo- sophy as continuing the tradition of the philosophy of all-unity, he created the concept of a ‘symphonic personality‘, which manifests itself in the historical process. The paper of Irina Tsvyk “V.D. Kudryavtsev-Platonov’s Theological and Philosophical System” is devoted to analyses of Kudryavtsev-Plato- nov’s philosophical teaching and his creative activities, which reworked in the Orthodox spirit contemporary West European philosophy. He included the most interesting and suitable ideas from the structure of religious consciousness and used them to expound religious ideas and in brief to lend an ecclesial character to European philosophy. In the author’s opinion, Kudryavtsev-Platonov successfully fulfilled the task that confronted