Returning to Own Culture: the Intellectual Heritage of G. P. Fedotov

Abstract

The article reveals the conceptual attitudes and thematic preferences of the philosopher of the Russian diaspora G. P. Fedotov on the material not only of published works but also of his epistolary heritage. The author emphasizes that appeal to his past, to the historical foundations of Russian culture, was in the center of attention of almost all philosophers-emigrants. Still, each of them saw the path to his culture in his own way.
A feature of Fedotov consisted in its historicity, i.e., in the fact that he not only theoretically substantiated a special path for the development of Russian spirituality but himself returned to pre-Christian Russian culture as the source of a special religious worldview. He wanted to rethink the trajectories of Russia’s spiritual development to understand how and when there was a gap between the intellectual and the spiritual, what are the reasons for the cultural catastrophe that was unfolding before his eyes. At the same time, the author pays special attention to the sphere of conversation of Fedotov and his methods of expression, revealing the specifics of philosophical communication of that time, key topics, the most discussed problems, and debatable issues. Representatives of the Russian diaspora (philosophers, philologists, historians, art critics) have acquired a special intellectual location on European and American magazines’ pages. The topics discussed by Fedotova with colleagues: the discussion of the fate of Russia, Slavic specificity, and spiritual culture have not lost their relevance today.