“The inevitable moral upheaval” and the idea of revolution in Russian social and political thought of the 19th – early 20th century
Publication Title:
“The inevitable moral upheaval” and the idea of revolution in Russian social and political thought of the 19th – early 20th century
Abstract:
The article examines the relationship between the concepts of moral and religious upheaval and political revolution in Russian philosophy of the 19th – early 20th century. The genesis of the concept of moral upheaval is traced in detail in the reflections of P.Ya. Chaadaev, A.I. Herzen, F.M. Dostoevsky, V.S. Solovyov and L.N. Tolstoy. It is shown that Russian thinkers believed that the central element of this upheaval was the religious renewal of life, which consisted in replacing false church Christianity with true (gnostic) Christianity. Particular attention is paid to Herzen's idea that the highest goal of social development, which has religious significance, is artistic culture, therefore any revolution is fruitful only if it leads to the strengthening of the value of culture. Based on the later works of N.A. Berdyaev it is shown that the idea of revolution has a religious justification, but it is fundamentally different for its Western and Russian versions. It is concluded that Herzen and Berdyaev understand the Western version of the idea of revolution and the associated ideology of liberalism as a rationalization of the Catholic worldview which is directed against the development of culture and creativity in man, therefore, having triumphed in Europe, liberalism deprived it of the possibility of the upheaval and led to its cultural and spiritual degradation. The main result of the article is the idea that the Russian version of the idea of revolution which is a form of rationalization of Gnostic Christian religiosity left for a person the possibility of creativity and “re-creation” of the world, although only in the rational form of scientific and technological progress. That is why the revolution and the communist ideology did not have such negative consequences for Russia as the liberal ideology had for the West. As a final result it is shown that Russia and even more so Europe, will only embark on a fruitful path of spiritual development when they finally overcome the idea of revolution and make that moral and religious upheaval that Russian thinkers spoke about.
References:
(Sources)
Individual Works
1. Berdyaev, N.A. Istoki i smysl russkogo kommunizma [The origins and meaning of Russian communism]. Paris: YMCA-Press, 1955.
Collected Works
2. Chaadaev, P.Ya. Filosoficheskie pis'ma [Philosophical Letters], in Chaadaev, P.Ya. Polnoe sobranie sochineniy i izbrannye pis'ma, t. 1 [Complete Works and selected letters, vol. 1]. Moscow: Nauka, 1991, pp. 320–440.
3. Chaadaev, P.Ya. Pis'ma [Letters], in Chaadaev, P.Ya. Polnoe sobranie sochineniy i izbrannye pis'ma, t. 2 [Complete Works and selected letters, vol. 2]. Moscow: Nauka, 1991, pp. 6–523.
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7. Tolstoy, L.N. Edinoe na potrebu [The One Thing Needful], in Tolstoy, L.N. Polnoe sobranie sochineniy v 90 t., t. 36 [Complete Works in 90 vol., vol. 36]. Moscow; Leningrad: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1936, pp. 166–205.
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(Articles from Scientific Journals)
9. Evlampiev, I.I. Ideya vsemirnoy imperii kul'tury v vozzreniyakh V.S. Solov'eva i v russkom obshchestvenno-politicheskom soznanii XIX veka [The idea of a world empire of culture in the views of V.S. Solovyov and in the Russian socio-political consciousness of the XIX century], in Solov'evskie issledovaniya, 2023, issue 1(77), pp. 80–96.
(Monographs)
10. Bibikhin, V.V. Novyy renessans [New renaissance]. Moscow: Nauka, 1998. 493 р.
11. Kantor, V.K. Russkaya klassika, ili Bytie Rossii [Russian classics, or Being of Russia]. Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2005. 766 р.
Key words:
the concept of moral revolution in Chaadaev's work, the idea of a genuine revolution in Herzen's works, true Christianity as the basis of creative culture, the ideology of liberalism, Russian communism, Catholicism, gnostic Christianity
The DOI index:
10.17588/2076-9210.2023.3.024-039
Publication file:
