Philosophical Letters. Russian and European Dialogue

The Terrible Year 1918

Vladimir K. Kantor — 2025-09-20

In his article, the author examines one of the most diffi cult eras for Russia. Not only had the First World War just ended, but the Spanish flu pandemic swept across Europe, taking more lives than the clashes of armies, then in 1918, at Lenin’s call, Russian radicals turned the imperialist war into the nightmare of the Civil War, Western countries, as always, dreamed of tearing away some piece of territory from Russia. In the redistribution of the world that had begun, a weakened Russia was clearly losing. One of the best novels about this era was Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The White Guard.” The heroes experience the civil war in Kyiv. Kyiv before the revolution, and the fi rst years after, was one of the intellectual capitals of Russia, from where the greatest Russian thinkers and writers came. From March 1917 to June 1920, power in the city changed fourteen times. Some of the Kyiv coups of that time were relatively bloodless, while others cost the lives of many Kyivans. The cavorting of rulers since 1917 — Bolsheviks, nationalists, Germans, Poles, Petliurists — was a kind of mini-Armageddon. Mark Aldanov called his 1918 book “Armageddon.” The article also examines other very important works of that year — “The Twelve” by Blok, “Mystery Buff” by Mayakovsky, and “The Apocalypse of Our Time” by Vasily Rozanov. It is these texts that give an idea of that time. The author shows how Russian culture interpreted the horror that befell it.

About Socrates — Life-Thought (1994)

Georgy D. Gachev — 2025-09-20

An annotated publication of Georgy Gachev's essay on Socrates, intended for the youth magazine of the same name. The preface and comments examine Gachev's principle of life-thinking, recreate the atmosphere of the philosopher's village life, and draw a parallel between the text on Socrates and the books “Autumn with Kant” and “Winter with Descartes,” written in the village of Novosyolki.

Georgy Gachev as a Historian of Russian Thought

Viktor Vl. Granovsky — 2025-09-20

The article is the first attempt to consider G. D. Gachev as a historian of Russian thought (based on two editions of the book “Russian Duma”) and to characterize his method of historical and philosophical review. Gachev examines Russian thought through his natural philosophical (“cosmosophical”) concept of Cosmo-Psycho-Logos. In this regard, he acts as a critic of historiosophical concepts of Russian fate. Conceptually important is Gachev's thesis about the maturation of Russian thought not from the construction of concepts (as in the West), but from polemic-critical emotionality, which determines the fundamental incompleteness of Russian discourse. Gachev reads the legacy of Russian religious idealism of the 19^th-20^th centuries. in a certain historical situation, after a miraculous “awakening from the darkness of unanimity” that happened in Russia (an expression from an essay about M. M. Bakhtin). In a critical revision of Soviet history that occurred during the period of “perestroika,” Gachev expresses ideological solidarity with the authors of the collection “From the Depths” (the main passengers of the “philosophical ship”), especially in diagnosing the negative traits of the Russian character that brought the 1917 revolution to Russia.

Agriculture as a Form of 'Life-thinking' in Georgy Gachev's Philosophy

Daria P. Kozolupenko — 2025-09-20

The article discusses a Georgy Gachev's original research approach. The author examines the method of “engaged thinking” and the concept of “lifethinking” in the philosophy of Georgy Gachev. The assumption is introduced that, in a number of parameters, Gachev's philosophical position correlates to the mythopoetic apprehension of the world. In particular it correlates to the principle of “participatory attention.” As one of the forms of “life-thinking,” is separately analyzed the understanding of agriculture, which is considered in this tradition not only and not so much as a type of farming, but also as a certain metaphysical idea. Gachev's conclusions regarding the essence of agriculture as a form of “life-thinking” are supported by evidence and arguments from the works of specialists studying the peculiarities of the worldview and social structure of mythopoetic agricultural societies (B. Davidson, A. L. Toporkov, M. Eliade). The author draws parallels between the role of one of the central “life thoughts” of Gachev in the general context of his life and the concept of intercultural communication developed by him.

Individual Human Being and Happiness are the Key Points of G. D. Gachev's Theory of Art

Natalia N. Smirnova — 2025-09-20

Article deals with the basis of G. D. Gachev's theory of art that is subjective, personal, individual as generative source of thought in contrast to the well-known model of the impersonal cultural text what entered into late Soviet humanities and still influencing models of the history of culture. Gachev's theory of art begins with the individual itself and comes to it as the highest harmony. Individual human being and happiness are the basic concepts of Gachev's theory of art; in the concepts he considered the whole development of aesthetic thought. The personality of researcher and his artistic intuition are the key to his theories. Main attention is paid to Gachev's understanding of thought in statu nascendi, its emergence under the influence of artistic worlds and its correspondence to them. The connection between Gachev's ideas and the various traditions of understanding the problem of the origin of the work of art in the 1920s — 1930s and 1950s (Jacob Levy Moreno, Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer) is investigated. The article examines the problem of the work of art in statu nascendi and (in contrast) in extraction from the origin which is the reification of the work of art. Gachev studied national images of the World in statu nascendi and the movement of different cultures towards a whole final, that he called the “inevitable,” which gives him grounds to coin a theory of accelerated development. Gachev's thought evolved in dialogue with his potential reader and showed connection between theory and everyday life.

Beyond Distances: The Epistolary Exchange Between Albert Schweitzer and an Italian Hermit

Giovanni Pirari — 2025-09-20

Born in Alsace, Albert Schweitzer was geographically and culturally placed at the crossroads of different religious denominations. His cousin would become the mother of Jean-Paul Sartre, and in the church where his father, a Lutheran pastor, preached, both Catholic and Protestant rites coexisted. Schweitzer himself wrote: “From this church open to both rites I derived a great lesson for life: reconciliation (...). The differences between the Churches are destined to disappear. Even as a child, I found it beautiful that in our land Catholics and Protestants celebrated their feasts in the same temple.” This attitude is also reflected in his epistolary exchange with Maria di Campello, an Italian nun and founder of the Community of the Sisters of the Franciscan Hermitage of Campello sul Clitunno. The two never met in person, yet their correspondence stands as a precious testimony to a spiritual vocation striving to overcome denominational, cultural, and national boundaries — uniting Schweitzer's hospital in equatorial Africa with the small hermitage hidden in the heart of Umbria in the 1950s through their shared convictions: reverence for life, care for all living beings, and a religiosity expressed through love for creation, all of which were central to Schweitzer's thought and work.

'The Will-to-Live Amidst the Universal Will-to-Live': Albert Schweitzer on the Connection Between Thinking and Culture

Margarita A. Pilyugina — 2025-09-20

This article analyzes Albert Schweitzer's concept of the philosophy of culture. Understanding culture as a movement towards perfection and progress, the philosopher notes differences in the manifestations of progress itself and its significance across cognitive, social, and internal (personal) spheres. Progress is not only a natural process but also a reflection of the prevailing mode of thinking that forms the basis of a worldview. A historical and philosophical research of society and an analysis of its crisis state leads to the conclusion that the spiritual component is fundamental — it provides an immediate understanding of life, defines ethical ideals, and determines the mode of interaction between humans and the world. The detachment of thinking, expressed in the exclusive cognition of the external world and a blinding by scientific and technological development, negatively impacts the system of social, political, economic, and personal relations, values, and the possibilities for realizing abilities — from individual to universal. The movement towards an integral culture is possible through a renewal of thinking, which Schweitzer defines as elementary. Based on the idea of reverence for life, it fosters personal self-improvement, as well as freedom and responsibility in decision-making. Its strengthening and dissemination are possible through practical and active participation, internal acceptance of the value of life, an ethical and humanistic sensibility, and the formation of a new type of relations.

Testament, Mission and the Kingdom of Heaven: On the Three Dimensions of the Idea of Holy Rus'

Wang Shuai — 2025-09-20

The article explores the concept of “Holy Rus'” in the context of religious thought. Based on sources such as The Tale of Bygone Years, The Galician-Voly-nian Chronicle, The Novgorod First Chronicle, and literary works, like The Sermon on Law and Grace, The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land, Zadonshchina, and Kazan Story, as well as religious and philosophical writings from the 19^th century to the mid-20^th century, the author of the article concludes that the idea of Holy Rus' is constantly interpreted and enriched with new concepts in different historical periods, such as “Russian land,” “Moscow — the Third Rome,” “Russian idea,” “Orthodox civilizational space.” The idea of Holy Rus' generally develops in three dimensions, which embody “Messianism of the Testament,” “Messianism of the Mission,” and “Kingdom of Heaven.” 1) The centripetal dimension refers to self-identity confirmation through the making and keeping of a covenant. In this sense, the idea of Holy Rus', on the one hand, coincides with the concept of “Russian land” in historical documents of the 10^th-15^th centuries, and on the other hand, echoes the Orthodox civilizational space in modern times. 2) In the religious context, the dimension of mission emphasizes the creation of an ideal Christian / Orthodox world. The concept of “Moscow — the Third Rome” of the 16^th century initially expressed the ideal of Holy Rus', and religious philosophers of the 19^th century and the first half of the 20^th century, from the point of view of theology and philosophy, deepened the Christian and universal component in the concept of the “Third Rome”. 3) The transcendent dimension refers to the ultimate aspiration beyond time and history — the Kingdom of Heaven. In this dimension, the idea of Holy Rus' and the Russian idea come together.

'Maccary.' A Mysterious Note in F. M. Dostoevsky's Notebook from 1869-1870

Konstantin A. Barsht — 2025-09-20

The article highlights a number of versions that explain the appearance of the calligraphic note “Maccary” in F. M. Dostoevsky's notebook from 18691870, probably made on December 8/20, 1870, while he was thinking about the plan for the novel “The Life of a Great Sinner”, conceived as a series of works united by a common plot. Several possible hypotheses are considered — an allusion to E. Zola's “Rougon-Macquart,” a mention of the Italian artist Cesare Maccari, the American theologian William MacCary, the 16^th century Arab scholar. Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Maqqari, as well as Dr. Ange (Angelo) Maccari, the author of a monumental work on the diagnosis and treatment of hysteria, which was interpreted at that time as a mental illness related to epilepsy. As is known, the writer suffered from this disease all his life, was very interested in this topic, in his youth he actively read and commented on medical literature from the library of his close friend and attending physician S. D. Yanovsky. In his work, the writer widely used the medical term “hysteria,” which, in accordance with the concepts of medical science of the first half of the 19^th century, included a wide range of mental illnesses, and also described the symptoms of severe nervous disorders of his characters with an undoubted knowledge of the characteristic symptoms of sthenic and asthenic variants of this disease. The article analyzes the work of A. Maccari with the clarification of the possible range of allusive connections of his work with a number of episodes of the writer's works — the story “The Eternal Husband,” the novels “Crime and Punishment,” “The Idiot,” “Demons” and “The Brothers Karamazov.”

Preface to Translation of D. I. Chizhevsky's Review

Nikolay V. Ryabchinskiy — 2025-09-20

The reader is presented with a translation of a review by the philosopher and Slavic philologist D. I. Chizhevsky on N. A. Berdyaev's work “On Suicide,” published in 1931. This review was published in the Lviv journal “Dzvony” in Ukrainian and has remained one of Chizhevsky's works that had not previously been translated into Russian, making it virtually unknown to a wide circle of domestic researchers. The review itself is thematically structured by paragraphs as follows. In the first paragraph, Chizhevsky outlines his view of Berdyaev as a philosopher, as well as the specifics of his philosophical approach within the Russian and European philosophical traditions. In the second paragraph, Chizhevsky presents suicide both as a “pressing” problem in the USSR and as an urgent issue in contemporary philosophical discourse. In the following three paragraphs, which form the central part of the review, Chizhevsky briefly yet comprehensively examines Berdyaev's specific perspective on the problem of suicide as a Christian thinker. Finally, in the last paragraph, Chizhevsky proposes to broaden Berdyaev's interpretation by shifting the focus from the purely psychological-individual aspect of the suicide problem to its broader cultural context. In the philosophical understanding of suicide problem, Chizhevsky attaches particular importance to M. Heidegger, who is described in the review as the most outstanding thinker of modernity. Thus, Chizhevsky's review covers an extensive context of the suicide problem in the philosophical discourse of his time and, from this perspective, may be of particular interest not only to Chizhevsky scholars but also to a wider circle of researchers. This translation is timed to coincide with the 130th anniversary of Chizhevsky and the 150th anniversary of Berdyaev, both celebrated in 2024.

Nikolai Berdyaev. On Suicide

Dmitriy I. Chyzhevsky — 2025-09-20

Translate from the Ukrainian, comments by N. V. Ryabchinskiy

Preface to the Publication of I. I. Lapshin's Article 'The Mystical Rationalism of Prof. S. L. Frank'

Alexander L. Begrambekov — 2025-09-20

The preface presents a historiographical analysis of Lapshin's critique, reexamined through the interpretive lens provided by preface in Frank's Complete Collected Works (2023). The research juxtaposes Lapshin's criticism of metaphysics with approaches taken by Soviet philosophers (I. K. Luppol, G. K. Bammel), challenging the view that Lapshin's article remains on the periphery of research interest due to its supposed similarity to official Marxist criticism. A detailed examination is offered of Lapshin's principal objections to Frank's philosophical system, as highlighted in the Frank's Complete Collected Works (2023): accusations in “intellectual arrogance” toward empiricism, accusations in affection of consciousness by the thing in itself (Ding an sich), the alleged “conflation of transsubjective and transcendent realms,” and charges of “philosophical particularism.” The study makes a crucial distinction between the philosophical debate and the circumstances of Frank's exile, demonstrating that his deportation resulted from being deemed “politically unreliable” by Soviet authorities, unrelated to either his philosophical views or Lapshin's critique of metaphisics. This confirms the ideological neutrality of Lapshin's work. In conclusion of the preface argues for Lapshin's article's continued relevance in contemporary studies of Frank's philosophy. Such intellectual debates, it maintains, prove essential for understanding the dynamics of early 20^th century Russian thought, where criticism often served as a constructive force in shaping ideas. The results will interest both historians of 1920s Russian philosophy and scholars of Russian intellectual culture.

The Mystical Rationalism of Prof. S. L. Frank

Ivan I. Lapshin — 2025-09-20

Reprint

'Man is Doomed to the Tests of History...'

Anton O. Kondratenko — 2025-09-20

Book review.

In a Gutenberg’s Mirror

- - — 2025-09-20

In a Gutenberg's mirror