Culture and Recreation: N.A. Berdyaev and N.F. Fyodorov on the Crisis of Humanism

Author: korolevaNV / Date: 27-03-2025 /
Publication Title: 
Culture and Recreation: N.A. Berdyaev and N.F. Fyodorov on the Crisis of Humanism
Publication author(s): 
E.M. Titarenko
Abstract: 

This article is dedicated to the little-studied problem of the reception of N.F. Fyodorov's cultural ideas by N.A. Berdyaev in the context of his philosophy of creativity. It analyzes Berdyaev's works that address the theme of the crisis of humanism and the religious understanding of the essence of future culture. This theme is reflected in many of his writings, particularly in such works as “The Religion of Resurrection (“The Philosophy of the Common Cause” by N.F. Fyodorov)”, “The Philosophy of Freedom”, “The Meaning of Creativity”, “The End of the Renaissance and the Crisis of Humanism”, “On Spiritual Bourgeoisness” and others. A comparative analysis of Berdyaev's philosophy with the ideas of Fyodorov's universalist project allows us to see the differences in the thinkers' positions regarding the origins of the crisis in culture and humanism. Berdyaev perceives the specificity of Fyodorov's religious-philosophical views as being determined by a projective image of active apocalypticism and sobornost (spiritual community) in the creative transformation of the world. In his reception of Fyodorov's teachings, as presented in “The Philosophy of the Common Cause”, ideas from the philosophy of freedom, creativity, personality, individuation, and objectivation become relevant. The comparison of Berdyaev's views with Fyodorov's utopian project of “recreation” reveals a closeness in the perspectives of both thinkers. They see the roots of the crisis in the metaphysics of value substitution in the bourgeois world, where the connection with religious and liturgical origins of culture has been lost. The advent of bourgeois civilization is regarded as a triumph of profanation in the realm of culture. Fyodorov's critique of European ideals of humanism resonates with Berdyaev's ideas, who wrote about the transformation of humanism into anti-humanism. He envisions the image of future culture in Fyodorov's philosophy as a theurgic project. At the same time, while acknowledging the significance of Fyodorov's teachings, Berdyaev finds that it does not adequately express the idea of individuality and creative freedom of the person. In Fyodorov's “aesthetic supramoralism” and Berdyaev's vision of a “new medievalism”, paths to overcoming the crisis of humanism and creativity were outlined. These ideas remain relevant for understanding the foundations of Christian universalism in 20th-century culture.

 

References: 

(Sources)

Collected Works

1. Fedorov, N.F. Vystavka 1889 goda, ili naglyadnoe izobrazhenie kul'tury, tsivilizatsii i ekspluatatsii… (K proektu yubileynoy stoletney vystavki) [The Exhibition of 1899, or a Visual Representation of Culture, Civilization and Exploitation… (To the Project of the Jubilee Centennial Exhibition)], in Fedorov, N.F. Sobranie sochineniy v 4 t., t. 1 [Collected Works in 4 vols., vol. 1]. Moscow: Progress, 1995, pp. 442–463.

2. Fedorov, N.F. Esteticheskiy krizis [Aesthetic Crisis], in Fedorov, N.F. Sobranie sochineniy v 4 t., t. 3 [Collected Works in 4 vols., vol. 3]. Moscow: Traditsiya, 1997, pp. 452–453.

3. Fedorov, N.F. Vnutrennyaya rospis' khrama [The Interior Painting of the Temple], in Fedorov, N.F. Sobranie sochineniy v 4 t., t. 3 [Collected Works in 4 vols., vol. 3]. Moscow: Traditsiya, 1997, pp. 473–481.

Individual works

4. Berdyaev, N.A. Filosofiya svobody. Smysl tvorchestva [Philosophy of Freedom. The Meaning of Creativity]. Moscow:  Pravda, 1989. 607 p.

5. Berdyaev, N.A. Mirosozertsanie Dostoevskogo [Dostoevsky's Worldview]. Moscow: Akademicheskiy proekt, 2019. 560 p.

6. Berdyaev, N.A. Religiya voskresheniya («Filosofiya obshchego dela» N.F. Fedorova) [Religion of Resurrection (“Philosophy of Common Cause” by N.F. Fedorov)], in N.F. Fedorov: pro et contra: v 2 kn. Kn. 1 [N.F. Fedorov: Pro et Contra: in 2 books, book 1]. Saint-Petersburg: RKhGI, 2004, pp. 424–474.

7. Berdyaev, N.A. Chuvstvo Italii [The Feeling of Italy], in Berdyaev, N.A. Padenie svyashchennogo russkogo tsarstva: Publitsistika 1914–1922 [The Fall of the Holy Russian Empire: Journalism 1914–1922]. Moscow: Astrel', 2007, pp. 318–321.

8. Berdyaev, N.A. Tri yubileya (L. Tolstoy, Gen. Ibsen, N. Fedorov) [Three Anniversaries (L. Tolstoy, Gen. Ibsen, N. Fedorov)], in N.F. Fedorov: pro et contra: v 2 kn., Kn. 2 [N.F. Fedorov: Pro et Contra: in 2 books, book 2]. Saint-Petersburg: RKhGA, 2008, pp. 628–634.

9. Berdyaev, N.A. Opyt eskhatologicheskoy metafiziki: Sbornik nauchnykh trudov 1937–1948 [Experience of Eschatological Metaphysics: Collection of Scientific Works 1937–1948]. Moscow: Terra; Knizhnyy Klub Knigovek, 2013. 654 p.

10. Berdyaev, N.A. Russkoe khristianstvo i burzhuaznyy mir (pis'mo v redaktsiyu Esprit) [Russian Christianity and the Bourgeois World (Letter to the Editor of Esprit)], in Berdyaev, N.A. Sbornik sochineniy «O dukhovnoy burzhuaznosti» [Collected works “About the spiritual bourgeoisie”]. Moscow: Nouveaux Angles; Parizh: Editions des Syrtes, 2022. 175 p.

11. Iz istorii filosofsko-esteticheskoy mysli 1920–1930-kh godov. Vyp. 1. N.A. Setnitskiy [From the History of Philosophical and Aesthetic Thought of the 1920s and 1930s. Issue 1. N.A. Setnitsky]. Moscow: IMLI RAN, 2003. 624 p.

12. Khaydegger, M. Pis'mo o gumanizme [Letter on Humanism], in Problema cheloveka v zapadnoy filosofii [The Human Problem in Western Philosophy]. Moscow:  Progress, 1988, pp. 314–356.

13. Sventsitskiy, V.P. Otvet N.A. Berdyaevu [Reply to N.A. Berdyaev], in N.A. Berdyaev: Pro et contra: antologiya. Kn. 1 [N.A. Berdyaev: Pro et Contra: an Anthology. Book 1].  Saint-Petersburg: RKhGI, 1994, pp. 160–165.

(Articles from Proceedings and Collections of Research Papers)

14. Berdyaev i sovremennost': Materialy kruglykh stolov kafedry filosofii gumanitarnykh i estestvennonauchnykh distsiplin SFI 2018–2019 gg. [Berdyaev and Modernity: Materials of the Round Tables of the Department of Philosophy of Humanities and Natural Sciences of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences 2018–2019]. Moscow: Svyato-Filaretovskiy pravoslavno-khristianskiy institut, 2021. 64 p.

15. Darenskiy, V.Yu. Dekonstruktsiya antitezy «slavyanofil'stvo»–«zapadnichestvo» v istoriosofii N.A. Berdyaeva [Deconstruction of the Antithesis “Slavophilism”–“Westernism” in N.A. Berdyaev’s Historiosophy], in Nikolay Aleksandrovich Berdyaev [Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev]. Moscow: Rossiyskaya politicheskaya entsiklopediya (ROSSPEN), 2013, pp. 493–506.

16. Gacheva, A.G. «Filosofiya obshchego dela» N.F. Fedorova v dukhovnykh iskaniyakh russkogo zarubezh'ya [“Philosophy of Common Cause” by N.F. Fedorov in the Spiritual Quest of the Russian Diaspora], in Gacheva, A.G., Kaznina, O.A., Semenova, S.G. Filosofskiy kontekst russkoy literatury 1920–1930-kh godov [The Philosophical Context of Russian Literature in the 1920s and 1930s].  Moscow: IMLI RAN, 2003, pp. 320–374.

17. Gal'tseva, R.A. Sub specie finis: Utopiya tvorchestva N.A. Berdyaeva [Sub Specie Finis: The Utopia of N.A. Berdyaev's Creativity], in Gal'tseva, R.A., Rodnyanskaya, I.B. K portretam russkikh mysliteley [To Portraits of Russian Thinkers]. Moscow: Petroglif; Patriarshee podvor'e khrama-domovogo mts. Tatiany pri MGU, 2012, pp. 217–263.

18. Gal'tseva, N.A. Novaya vstrecha so starym Berdyaevym [New Meeting with the Old Berdyaev], in Gal'tseva, R.A., Rodnyanskaya, I.B. K portretam russkikh mysliteley [To Portraits of Russian Thinkers]. Moscow: Petroglif; Patriarshee podvor'e khrama-domovogo mts. Tatiany pri MGU, 2012, pp. 315–328.

19. Hagemeister, M. Der “russische Kosmismus” – ein Anachronismus oder die “Philosophie der Zukunft”? in Hartmann, A., Veldhues, Ch. (Hg.). Im Zeichen-Raum. Festschrift für Karl Eimermacher zum 60. Geburtstag. Dortmund, 1998, pp. 169–201.

20. Hagemeister, M. Nikolaj Fjodorows Projekt der universellen Erlösung und der «russische Kosmismus», in Groys, B., Vidokle, A. (Hg.). Kosmismus. Berlin, 2018, pp. 168–184.

21. Khagemeyster, M. N.F. Fedorov v Germanii i nemetskoyazychnykh stranakh [Fedorov in Germany and German-speaking Countries], in Materialy mezhdunarodnykh nauchnykh chteniy pamyati N.F. Fedorova «Filosof obshchego dela» [Proceedings of the International Scientific Readings in memory of N.F. Fedorov “The Philosopher of Common Cause”]. Moscow: GBUK g. Moskvy «TsBS YuZAO», 2022, pp. 266–279.

22. Semenova, S.G. Filosofiya voskresheniya N.F. Fedorova [Philosophy of Resurrection by N.F. Fedorov], in Fedorov, N.F. Sobranie sochineniy v 4 t., t. 1 [Collected Works in 4 vols., vol. 1]. Moscow: Progress, 1995, pp. 5–33.

23. Semenova, S.G. Revolyutsiya glazami russkikh religioznykh filosofov [The Revolution through the Eyes of Russian Religious Philosophers], in Gacheva, A.G., Kaznina, O.A., Semenova, S.G. Filosofskiy kontekst russkoy literatury 1920–1930-kh godov [The Philosophical Context of Russian Literature in the 1920s and 1930s]. Moscow: IMLI RAN, 2003, pp. 5–32.

(Monographs)

24. Bakhtin, M.M. Estetika slovesnogo tvorchestva [Aesthetics of Verbal Creativity]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1979. 423 p.

25. Batkin, L.M. Ital'yanskoe Vozrozhdenie v poiskakh individual'nosti [The Italian Renaissance in Search of Individuality]. Moscow: Nauka, 1989. 272 p.

26.Bonetskaya, N.K. Moy Berdyaev [My Berdyaev]. Saint-Petersburg: Aleteyya, 2021. 310 p.

27. Young, G.M. Nikolai F. Fedorv: an introduction. Belmont: Nordland, 1979. 272 p.

28. Young, G.M. The Russian cosmists: the esoteric futurism of Nicolai Fedorov and his followers. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2012. 280 p.

29. Zen'kovskiy, V.V. Istoriya russkoy filosofii. T. II [History of Russian Philosophy. Vol. II]. Paris: YMCA-PRESS, 1950. 476 p.

 

Key words: 
Russian religious philosophy, N.A. Berdyaev's philosophy of creativity, N.F. Fyodorov's “Philosophy of the Common Cause”, N.F. Fyodorov's aesthetic supramoralism, crisis of culture and humanism, civilization and culture, apocalypticism, theurgic project, Christian universalism
2025. Issue 1 (85)
The DOI index: 
10.17588/2076-9210.2025.1.128-142
Publication file: