Moscow State Institute for International Relations
(MGIMO-University)

Department of Philosophy

History of Russian Philosophy

Syllabus

Course Description and Objectives

The course is designed to advance the students’ knowledge and understanding of the principal theories, schools and figures of Russian philosophy. The course covers the period from the 1830s till the present time and is subdivided into three parts: (1) Russian philosophy in the 19th century; (2) Russian ‘Silver Age’ philosophy (the 1900s and 1910s); (3) Russian post-October philosophy (including émigré philosophy). The audience is expected to have the basic knowledge of classical and contemporary Western philosophy.

Course Summary

Part One. Russian Philosophy in the 19th Century: (1) The Origin and Birth of Russian Philosophy (Chaadayev); (2) Early Slavophiles (Kireyevsky, Khomyakov, Aksakov, Samarin); (3) Westernizers (Belinsky, Herzen, Bakunin, Kavelin); (4) Materialists and Positivists (Chernyshevsky, Lavrov); (5) Religious Philosophy of Russian Writers (Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy); (6) Late Slavophiles (Danilevsky, Leontyev); (7) Russian Idealism (Yurkevich, Chicherin, Kozlov); (8) The Philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov: Theory of Knowledge and Ontology of Total Unity; (9) The Philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov: Sophiology, Historiosophy, Ethics.

Part Two. Russian ‘Silver Age’ Philosophy: (10) The Philosophers of Solovyov’s Circle (Lopatin, Sergey Trubetskoy, Evgeny Trubetskoy); (11) Russian Marxism (Plekhanov, Lenin); (12) Religious and Philosophical Revival (Rozanov, Merezhkovsky, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Andrey Bely; authors of Vekhi); (13) Russian Existentialism (Shestov, Berdyayev); (14) Sophiology (Bulgakov, Florensky); (15) Russian Intuitivism (Lossky, Frank); (16) Russian Cosmism (Fyodorov, Tsiolkovsky, Vernadsky, Gorsky).

Part Three. Russian post-October Philosophy: (17) Russian Émigré Philosophy (Nikolay Trubetskoy, Karsavin, Ilyin); (18) Non-Marxist Philosophy in the

USSR (Shpet, Losev); (19) Marxist Philosophy in the USSR (official Marxism-Leninism, Soviet Neomarxism, Mamardashvili); (20) Contemporary Trends in Russian Philosophy.

Literature

The principal textbooks

• Maslin M. et al. (eds.), Istoriya russkoy filosofii [History of Russian Philosophy], Moscow: Respublika, 2001.
• Motroshilova N. (ed.), Istoriya filosofii: Zapad – Rossiya – Vostok [History of Philosophy: The West – Russia – The East], Vol. 2, Moscow: Greko-latinskiy cabinet, 1996 (selected chapters).
• Motroshilova N. and Rutkevich M. (eds.), Istoriya filosofii: Zapad – Rossiya – Vostok [History of Philosophy: The West – Russia – The East], Vol. 3, Moscow: Greko-latinskiy cabinet, 1998 (selected chapters).

Supplementary reading

• Berdyayv N. Russkaya ideya: Osnovnye problemy russkoy mysli XIX-ogo i nachala XX veka: Filosofy russkogo posleotyabr’skogo zarubezhya [The Russian Idea: Major Issues in Russian Philosophy of the 19th and Early 20th Century], in O Rossii I russkoy filosofskoy kul’ture [On Russia and Russian Philosophical Culture: Russian post-October Émigré Philosophers], Moscow: Nauka, 1990; or in Mysliteli russkogo zarubezhya: Berdyayav, Fedotov [Russian Enigre Thinkers: Berdyayev, Fedotov], St. Petersburg: Nauka, 1992; the English translation: Berdyaev N. The Russian Idea, London: Geoffrey Bles, 1947.
• Lossky N. Istoriya russkoy filosofii [History of Russian Philosophy], Moscow: Sovetskiy pisatel’, 1991; originally published in English, New York, 1951.
• Zenkovsky V. Istoriya russkoy filosofii [History of Russian Philosophy], 2 vols., Rostov-na-Donu: Feniks, 1999; or: 2 vols. (4 books), Leningrad: Ego, 1991; originally published in Paris, 1934 (Vol. 1) and 1950 (Vol. 2).

Instructor: Nikolai Biryukov, PhD