Russian ‘Logos’ and European ‘Razio’: the meaning of Russian philosophy in the assessment of A. F. Losev

Abstract

The article deals with A. F. Losev’s understanding of the role of Russian philosophy in the context of its dialogue with European philosophy on the basis of his searly text of the same name “Russian Philosophy” (1919). From Losev’s point of view, Russian philosophy is only a nascent and emerging phenomenon that requires comprehension and detailed realisation of its differences from Western thought. In the early period of his work, Losev literally dreamed of creating distinctive Russian philosophy he did not abandon this idea in the late period of his work. The criterion of the main distinction Losev considers the concept of the opposition between “logos” and “razio” to be the criterion of the main distinction, which is not new for Russian philosophy as a whole. The logocentricity of Russian culture lies in its mystical-religious foundations, “mystical realism”, as Losev claims. These foundations will not disappear even in the “atheistic” Soviet period of its history. The rationalism of Western culture is alien to Russian self-consciousness, so European philosophy is unable to fully refl ect the essence of either Russian history or Russian anthropology. Although refl ections on Russian philosophy as such were not the subject of Losev’s research interest, they implicitly had a great influence on his work. The importance of his early, still not quite independent ideas for later aims and objectives is outlined.