Philosophy. Cheat sheets Malyshkina Maria Viktorovna

85. Philosophy of V. S. Solovyov

85. Philosophy of V. S. Solovyov

Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov (1853–1900) is the founder of Russian, Christian philosophy as an original holistic direction of thought. Central to Solovyov’s teaching is the idea of ​​the “all-one being.” The need for the principle of unity (integrity) is due to the fact that all objects and phenomena do not exist separately from each other and each of them is a collection of certain aspects, connections, etc. Even our Universe, notes V. Solovyov, is not “a chaos of isolated atoms ", but represents a single, coherent whole.

It follows from this that, comprehending the truth in his theoretical activity, the cognizing subject must take existence not only in its given reality, but also in its integrity, universality, that is, strive for knowledge of “everything in everything.”

“Unconditional unity” (as a perfect synthesis of truth, goodness and beauty) is comprehended, according to Solovyov, only by “whole knowledge.” Whole knowledge is a synthesis of theology, philosophy and experimental science. The center of each of these elements is respectively the absolute being (God), the general idea and the real fact. Only such an organic synthesis of the named components represents the integral truth of knowledge as such.

The philosopher believed that the constant cooperation of countries in the field of science, technology, etc. makes cultural humanity one whole, which really, even if involuntarily, lives one common life. Specific countries and nationalities must exist and develop in their own characteristics, as “living organs of humanity,” without which its unity would be empty and lifeless.

From the point of view of V. Solovyov, the general direction of the world-historical process is the consistent increase (extensive and intensive) of real - although not always realized - solidarity between all parts of the human race. The real movement of history consists in the creation and constant improvement of forms of life, in the transmission of diverse “cultural principles” - economic, religious, scientific, philosophical and others.

This text is an introductory fragment.

Essay first. CLOSE FOLLOWERS OF VL. SOLOVIEV Solovyov's closest followers were princes Sergei and Evgeniy Trubetskoy. However, both of them were distinguished by great philosophical talent, and their adherence to Solovyov was by no means blind, but critical. However, they

8. Metaphysics of unity by V. S. Solovyov Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov (1853–1900) - philosopher, poet, publicist, critic. Son of the historian S. M. Solovyov. Solovyov’s philosophical and poetic creativity became the spiritual basis of subsequent Russian religious metaphysics,

The main features of the philosophy of “all-unity” Vl. Solovyova Vl. S. Solovyov (1853–1900), son of the historian S. S. Solovyov, received excellent home training and education in the spirit of demands Orthodox faith; Graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, where he

INTRODUCTION SOLOVIEV’S TURNING PERIOD

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Teaching B.C. Solovyov on virtues In modern European philosophy, the role of virtue as an ethical category is significantly reduced, it gives way to the categories of free will, duty and good. The situation changes from the second half of the 19th century V. One of the experiments in rethinking the doctrine of

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INTRODUCTION_________________________________________________________________3

1. Biography_______________________________________________________________4

2. Theoretical philosophy of Solovyov________________________________8

3. Trinity in the philosophy of V. Solovyov______________________________________11

4. The Doctrine of God-Humanity_____________________________________________13

5. Cosmology of Vladimir Solovyov__________________________________15

CONCLUSION_______________________________________________________________18

VOCABULARY_________________________________________________________________19

REFERENCES______________________________________________20

INTRODUCTION

Significant role and influence on the development of world philosophy at the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries. The works of outstanding Russian philosophers V. Rozanov, D. Merezhkovsky, N. Berdyaev, Vladimir Solovyov, S. Bulgakov and others contributed to Russian religious philosophy of this period modern philosophers have a completely unique role, because within the framework of this philosophy, they summed up the ideological results of the centuries-old history of Russia’s development.

Vladimir Solovyov was one of the founders of classical Russian philosophy; he combined rather contradictory life principles, philosophical thoughts, harmonious unity of word and deed, the spirit of teaching and life practice. His philosophy is imbued with goodness, love and humanity, despite the kinks and torments of the protracted transformations in Russia.

A philosopher and poet who laid the foundation for a whole movement in Russian poetry at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, Solovyov was an extraordinary person in the full sense of the word. Contemporaries were amazed by both his appearance and his intelligence.

On the views of Vladimir Solovyov big influence Christian literature, as well as the ideas of Neoplatonism, theosophy and other religious and philosophical systems, had an impact. He borrowed a lot from German philosophers and Slavophiles.

Vladimir Solovyov's desire to smooth out the contradictions between faith and knowledge, between religion and science makes his views very unique. Bringing together all human knowledge, faith, religion, philosophy and science, Solovyov opened the way to understanding man, not only as a “knowing” being, but also as a being endowed with faith, the ability to set goals and freedom to act. Soloviev himself saw his task as defending the purity and truth of Christianity.

SOLOVIEV VLADIMIR SERGEEVICH

(1853-1900)

Outstanding Russian religious philosopher, prose writer, poet, publicist, one of the most original and profound thinkers of the end XIX V.

Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov was born into the family of the famous historian Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov, author of the monumental “History of Russia from Ancient Times,” on January 16, 1853.

In his youth, nothing betrayed Vladimir Solovyov as a future religious thinker. Rather, he could have been predicted to have a career in natural sciences. “He was a typical nihilist of the 60s,” testifies his friend. And the philosopher himself admitted that he did not believe in the divinity of Christ, “became deist , and then an atheist And materialist"He received his secondary education at the 5th Moscow Gymnasium, graduating with a gold medal. Then, at the insistence of his father, he first entered the Faculty of History and Philology, but quickly switched to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. This is where the transformation began.

"...The science“cannot be the last goal of life,” he writes to his cousin Katya Romanova. - Higher true goal life is different - moral (or religious), for which science serves as one of the means." He sees his life task in reforming Christianity, revealing its true, humane essence, putting it in a modern form, making it a universal property.

He leaves the natural sciences, takes an external course at the Faculty of History and Philology, and, having received a diploma, enters the Theological Academy as a free student. His "first love in the field of philosophy" was Spinoza. The second, more significant hobby is Schopenhauer. But the main philosophical sympathies that he would carry throughout his life belonged to Schelling. Starting from Schelling, using his terminology, thinking about the problems he posed, he will build his own system of views.

A distinctive feature of Solovyov as a thinker was his high historical and philosophical culture. This was already evident in his master's thesis, “The Crisis of Western Philosophy (against the Positivists),” which he defended at the age of twenty-one. Here for the first time Soloviev formulated his favorite idea unity-synthesis, fusion of cultures. He will carry this idea throughout his life.

Soon after his defense, the young master was already standing at the department of Moscow University and giving an introductory lecture to the course on the history of modern philosophy. His patron, Professor P.D. Yurkevich, died, and, according to the will of the deceased, Soloviev became his successor. During these same years, the poetic gift of the philosopher was revealed.

To complete education and research work a young privatdozent is sent to England... He works diligently at the British Museum. But then something extraordinary happens to him. If you believe what he later described in the poem “Three Dates,” she (who was keen on spiritualism) appeared to him Divine Wisdom-Sophia and ordered to go to Egypt. There he saw her again - in the desert, where he almost died at the hands of the Bedouins, who mistook him for an evil spirit. In Cairo, where Solovyov spent the winter, he began writing the dialogue "Sofia". This is the first attempt to express my views.

Returning to Russia, Solovyov begins to systematize his ideas. At Moscow University he teaches a course in logic and the history of philosophy, and is working on his doctoral dissertation, which he defends at the age of twenty-seven. The dissertation is called "Critique of Abstract Principles." At the beginning of 1878, Soloviev gave a series of public lectures on the philosophy of religion, which he published under the title “Readings on God-manhood.” The lectures were a resounding success; the entire educated capital came to see Solovyov. In “Readings...” Soloviev looks equally critically at both Western and Eastern Christianity, simultaneously recognizing the merits of each religion. The West has nurtured the idea of ​​individuality, embodied in the image of the “god-man.” The East created the idea of ​​a "man-god", the personification of universalism. The challenge is to bring both Christian principles together. The idea of ​​synthesis dominates Solovyov’s mind; he previously defended it in philosophy, but now he transfers it to religious matters, which in the near future will absorb him entirely. I will dwell on his idea of ​​God-Humanity a little later.

Despite all his efforts, he never became a professor. The University of St. Petersburg still kept him as a private assistant professor, and soon he himself abandoned teaching. Solovyov could not sit in one place; he always led the unsettled life of a wanderer.

A new stage begins in Solovyov’s work. He puts aside (for a while) philosophical research and turns entirely to the problems of religion. The unification of the churches - Orthodox and Catholic - is, in his opinion, an urgent task. Yesterday's Slavophile, he convinces his compatriots of the goodness of Latinism, and proves to Catholics the correctness of Orthodoxy. But he gets it from both those and others.

“Critique of Abstract Principles” contained a presentation of the first two parts of his system - ethics and theory of knowledge. Now he begins to work on the third part - aesthetics. The last decade of Solovyov's life was the most fruitful. Solovyov's talent reached its peak. During these years, inspired articles about the poetry of Tyutchev and Pushkin appeared, “The Meaning of Love” - a philosophical hymn to high feelings, “Three Conversations”, where irony and parody are mixed with apocalypse, and the philosopher’s main work - “The Justification of Good”.

But the strength is undermined. Having set off on yet another journey, Soloviev falls ill. He is brought to the Uzkoye estate of the Trubetskoy princes near Moscow. Here death overtakes him.

2. Theoretical philosophy of Solovyov

Overcoming the crisis in which the philosophical theism And Slavophilism , became the main work of the religious philosopher Vladimir Solovyov. His system was a new stage in the evolution of religious philosophy, whose followers tried to make it ideologically active already at the beginning of the century. Solovyov’s activities were based on the following cardinal aspirations: to implement under the sign "all-unity"“harmonious synthesis of religion, science and philosophy”; combine rational, empirical And mystical types of cognition; present history as a process "divine-human"; indicate ways of social renewal and activation.

Vladimir Solovyov outlined his philosophical worldview in the treatise “Philosophical Principles of Integral Knowledge,” which can be considered, by current definitions, the best example of philosophical classics, as the doctrine of existing , being And idea. It was his teaching on development that he already applied to humanity as a whole. The category of development must be applied to the whole world and to existence as a whole. The organism is unity and integrity. Consequently, all being is also unity and wholeness. For Solovyov, a much more complete philosophy is philosophy mystical, but it too often turns out to be associated either with naturalism or idealism. Therefore, according to Solovyov, it also requires a completely new development.

It is very important to understand what Solovyov understands by mysticism. "Item mystical philosophy There is not the world of phenomena, reducible to our sensations, and not a world of ideas, reduced to our thoughts, and living reality of creatures in their internal life relationships; this philosophy deals not by the external order of phenomena, A the internal order of beings and their life, which is determined by their relationship to the original being." Solovyov's “mysticism” is simply theory of being and life as a universal and integral organism, if you don't go into any detail.

Vladimir Solovyov constantly observes a discrepancy between philosophical terminology and the philosophical essence of the matter. For example, by such a term as “church”, Vladimir Solovyov must understand, according to his teaching, first of all the universal integrity of being, or, as he says, unity. Therefore, if we take a critical look at Vladimir Solovyov’s terminology, then there will be absolutely nothing terrible or terrible in either this “mysticism,” or this “all-unity,” or “integrity,” or this “church.” Here is simply a teaching about life and existence, including the entire human and entire cosmic sphere, as an indestructible and unified integrity. This teaching is motivated by the purely life goals of a person who wants to overcome the imperfections of life and remake it for a better future.

Yours being Vladimir Solovyov understands in at least two, if not three, senses. He speaks quite clearly about the opposite of existence And being, as we stated above. Existence above any separateness, and being there is separateness and multiplicity. Now it turns out that in being it is also necessary to distinguish between two different beings. One - ideal, necessary and what the philosopher calls essence. The other thing is real, actual and what the philosopher calls nature. It is impossible to say that all this division is quite clear. Existence, dismembered, becomes an idea or, as the philosopher says, Logos, and this idea, or Logos, being carried out, creates reality. Here it can be understood that Logos there is only “an act of manifestation or revelation”, and idea- the most manifested and open superexistence. In the general table of analyzed categories we also find a triple division: Absolute, Logos, Idea .

The situation here is also not very good with the category Logos . Logos is divided into interior, or hidden, Logos and open, or manifested, Logos. Moreover, for some reason the philosopher suddenly speaks about the “appearance” or “ghostness” of this second logos. The matter becomes even more confusing when the philosopher talks about the third Logos, "embodied or concrete" whom he also calls Christ. After all Christianity thinks of Christ as the embodiment of logos in the sensual matter .

“To the third or specific Logos there is also a specific idea, or Sofia" In other words, a pure idea also contains some kind of pure matter and, together with this matter, is Sofia. But what kind of matter this is in a pure idea, one can only guess about it.

3. Trinity in Solovyov’s philosophy

Of all his main triads, Soloviev dwells in more detail on only one - Existence, Being, Essence. He also presents this same triple division in this form: Absolute, Logos, Idea. Since, however, wholeness presupposes the existence of everything in everything, then in each of these three categories the same three categories are repeated again. This results in the following table:

Since integrity presupposes the existence of everything in everything, then in each of these three categories the same three categories are repeated again. "... Existence as such, or as absolute, there is spirit as logos it is mind and as an idea it is shower A. The second main category, namely being, taken as absolute, is will as the logo is performance and as an idea it is feeling. We find the same triple division in the sphere essence. Namely essence how the absolute is good as the logo is true, and as an idea - beauty" That is, these three main categories are in mutual relationship, namely, in such a way that each category, firstly, is itself, secondly, it reflects the second and, thirdly, the third category. Thus, these three categories, reflecting each other, turn into 9 categories. And if these three categories are not turned into 9, then the basic principle of unity, namely, that everything is in everything.

Trinity is depicted by Vladimir Solovyov in completely definite traditional Christian tones. God exists absolute subject, which is above all its manifestations; he is a manifestation of himself, since otherwise he would simply be nothing; and this manifested and produced in him at the same time is not different from him, returns to him, is itself, but only as living. Orthodoxy has nothing to object to here. This is the traditional Orthodox dogma of three hypostases.

4. The Doctrine of God-Humanity

The doctrine of God-manhood developed by Solovyov occupies an important place in his religious system. It aims to interpret human history and common life. For Solovyov God-man is a simultaneous and universal being that embraces all humanity through God. It expresses unity good, truth And beauty. Pursuing the goal of human perfection, God manifested himself in the earthly historical process in the form of the God-man - Jesus Christ. “With his word and the feat of his life, he began with victory over all temptations of moral evil and ended with resurrection, that is, victory over physical evil - over the law of death and corruption - the real God-man opened the kingdom of God to people.”

Central to Solovyov’s teaching is the idea of ​​the “all-one being.” The latter is considered as the sphere of the absolute, divine, and the real world as its self-determination and embodiment (the mediator between them is the so-called world soul, or Sofia , wisdom of god).

That is, according to Solovyov, the world consists of: unity(social element) and from material element. This element tends to unity and becomes one when he unites himself and God. This kind of becoming unity and is the development of the world. Unconditional unity(as a perfect ontological synthesis truth, goodness And beauty) is comprehended, according to Solovyov, only whole knowledge, which is a connection mystical, rational(philosophical) and empirical(scientific) knowledge. Moreover, the basis of this whole knowledge constitutes mystical knowledge: faith into the unconditional existence of the object of knowledge; intuition(imagination that gives the true idea of ​​an object); creation(implementation of this idea in experimental data).

According to Solovyov, the world undergoes two stages of its development: nature And history. The final result of this development process is triumph of the kingdom of God, the so-called “general resurrection and restoration of all.”

Human acts as a certain connection between the divine and natural world due to the fact that he is a moral being. Human life consists “in the service of Good - pure, comprehensive and omnipotent”. Someone who strives to improve in moral goodness, he goes to absolute perfection . Solovyov bases his ethics on this: a person is moral if he freely subordinates his will to service absolute Good, that is, God, and strives for the establishment of the divine-human kingdom.

The historical process for Solovyov is coexistence of goodness. In this regard, he considered the problem of the relationship between the individual and society. He believed that " society there is an augmented and expanded personality, and personality- compressed society."

I would like to note one more feature of both the church-political and philosophical-national quests of Vladimir Solovyov during the 80s. Namely: despite all the enthusiasm and psychological pathos of the philosopher, his constructions have a certain kind of utopian, and besides softly utopian, character. Vladimir Solovyov really preached the advantage of Roman Catholicism. But, on the other hand, he himself did not convert to Catholicism and did not even consider it necessary. Moreover. He saw the real transition from Orthodoxy to Catholicism as a deep mistake and delusion. He loved Russia very much and global role brought to the fore. But here he had neither Slavophilism nor Westernism. There was absolutely no messianism, since all other nations, in his opinion, also participate in the construction universal church. Yes, and this one itself universal church rather, it was for Vladimir Solovyov a socio-historical and cosmic ideal, which he interpreted in a very free-thinking way.

At the end of life, having lost faith in the possibility of fulfillment worldwide theocracy , Solovyov came to the idea of ​​a catastrophic end to human history, to eschatology .

5. Cosmology of Vladimir Solovyov

Solovyov's metaphysics is derived by him from the general doctrine of the Absolute, and here he uniquely combines Schelling with Spinoza, here and there introducing elements of Platonism. In cosmology, although it was determined in its basic principles by his metaphysics, Solovyov, undoubtedly, was more independent, more than once reworked his constructions, and it is with cosmology that Solovyov’s influence is most closely connected in the subsequent quest for Russian thought. Solovyov’s teaching about the soul of the world, about Sophia, is cosmological in its essence. At the same time, Solovyov’s problem of evil and chaos is connected with cosmology; This problem tormented him all his life, becoming especially acute in the last years of his life.

For the study of Solovyov’s cosmology, two of his books are important - “Readings on God-Humanity” and “Russia and the Universal Church”.

Nature, according to Solovyov’s teachings, is simultaneously multiple and united. On the one hand, the beginning of disunity reigns in it - space and time separate the points of existence from each other. Diversity in nature is, in essence, a repetition of the original diversity in the sphere of ideas, and in this sense, nature in its essence is not different from the absolute. But it’s not for nothing that she is his “other”; let nature have the same elements as in the Origin, but they are in it “in an improper relationship”: mutual repression, enmity and struggle, “internal discord” reveal the dark basis in nature, the chaotic principle that is characteristic of “extra-divine existence” " At the same time, the forces raging in nature do not destroy it; nature maintains its unity, chaos is constantly tamed by nature itself, which as a whole is the true cosmos. Thus, two tasks arise before us: to understand the very emergence of real multiplicity, “to derive the conditional from the unconditional,” and on the other hand, to understand what the condition for unity in nature is.

Let's turn first to the first topic.

We already know that, according to Solovyov, ideal multiplicity alone is not enough for the origin, which needs (for the manifestation of love) precisely in real being. “The Divine Being cannot be content with eternal contemplation of ideal essences - he dwells on each of them separately, affirms its independent existence.” Real multiplicity owes its existence to the Origin itself, the internal dialectic of which leads to the emergence of separation, and therefore disunity in real being. “Every being,” writes Solovyov, “loses its direct unity with the Divine, receives the action of the divine will for itself and in it acquires living reality. These are no longer ideal beings of ideas, but living beings with their own reality.” The beginning of self-separation, which has its roots in the Divine sphere, therefore turns out to be limitless.

But real plurality does not exclude the unity of nature - this unity is realized by the “world soul”. This concept of the “world soul,” first created by Plato, was not initially included in Christian metaphysics, but already in medieval philosophy it gradually won its former place in cosmology, and since the Renaissance it has found many ardent defenders, although it sharply diverges from the mechanical understanding of nature as it began to grow stronger from the 14th century. Soloviev takes this, of course, from Schelling, but goes much further than him. “The soul of the world,” writes Solovyov, “is both one and everything - it occupies an intermediate place between the plurality of living beings and the unconditional unity of the Divine.” To this formal definition of the concept of “soul of the world” there are also added features that characterize the functions of the world soul. First of all, “the soul of the world is the living center of all creatures - the existent subject of created existence”; It was precisely this concept of the world soul that passed from Solovyov to a number of Russian thinkers. At the same time, the concept of the world soul is already used in “Readings...” by Solovyov to explain the fundamental dualism in being. Uniting the world and protecting it in unity, the soul of the world itself opposes the Absolute and opposes the world to it. “The soul of the world is a dual being: it contains within itself both the divine principle and created existence, but, not being determined by either one, remains free.” This moment of freedom is introduced by Solovyov to reveal how the split in the Absolute turns into a dualistic opposition of the world to the Absolute. “Possessing “everything,” the world soul may want to possess it differently than it possesses, it may want to possess it from itself, i.e. like God". But by this she lost her freedom in relation to creation, lost power over it. The unity of the universe disintegrates, the universal organism turns into a mechanical collection of atoms; all creation is subjected to vanity and the slavery of corruption... by the will of the world soul, as a single free principle of natural life... By the free act of the world soul, the world united by it fell away from the Divine and disintegrated into many warring elements.”

We will not now follow the stages of the cosmological process, in which the internal discord in being is gradually, although with effort, overcome. The important thing is that when a person appears on earth, a deep and significant change occurs in the history of the world - the world soul is revealed in its new action and meaning precisely in a person - moreover, not in an individual person, but in humanity as a whole. The soul of the world is revealed as “ideal humanity,” and therefore, above the cosmic process that was going on in the world before, the historical process now rises, driven by the same world soul (now called Sophia). The world soul, by nature involved in the Divinity, seeking through the cosmogonic process of overcoming dualism (of which it itself is guilty), is reunited with the Divine, - more precisely, with the Logos. This reunion takes place in consciousness and reaches its completion in Christ - “the central and perfect personal manifestation of Sophia.”

CONCLUSION

In one of the articles, Soloviev claims that he does not have his own teaching, apparently believing that everything he wrote is just a commentary on the truth that shone to our people nine centuries before him. He is right in the sense that his views not only do not fall out of the spiritual tradition of Russia, but to some extent absorb all the life-giving that it contains. But this was done with such depth, consistency and brilliance that we can (and should) recognize Solovyov as the creator of an original philosophical system.

In such a short period of his life, Vladimir Solovyov only managed to outline the most general outlines of his theoretical philosophy, but almost all subsequent philosophy of the knowledge of God followed this path. Advocating for development scientific knowledge, and sincerely striving for the development of science in Russia, the philosopher still believed that it would never lead a person to understand the meaning of the Universe.

Nature and history forced him to leave the historical scene too quickly, since he died as a very young man - at the age of 47, but what he managed to do in this area deserves not only serious criticism from us, but also equally serious admiration.

DICTIONARY:

Atheism – a system of beliefs that denies belief in the supernatural (spirits, gods, afterlife etc.); denial of all religion.

Deism – a doctrine that recognizes the existence of God as the impersonal first cause of the world, which then develops according to its own laws.

Slavophiles – representatives of the conservative political and idealistic philosophical current of Russian social thought of the CIC century, who sought to justify the need for a special (compared to Western European) path of development of Russia.

Theology - theology, systematization of the doctrine of a given religion. Divided into basic theology, dogmatic theology, moral theology, doctrine of the church, etc.

Theism - a religious and philosophical doctrine that recognizes the existence of a personal god as a supernatural being possessing intelligence and will and mysteriously influencing all material and spiritual processes. Everything that happens in the world is considered as the implementation of divine providence. The connection between God and man is recognized.

Eschatology – religious teaching about the ultimate destinies of the world and humanity, about the end of the world and the Last Judgment.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Kuvakin V.A. Philosophy Vl. Solovyova. - M.; "Knowledge", 1988.

2. Losev A.F. Vl. Soloviev. - M.; "Thought", 1983.

3. Losev A.F. Vladimir Solovyov and his time. - M.; "Progress", 1990.

4. Fundamentals of philosophy: Tutorial for universities / Director author. coll. and resp. ed. E. V. Popov. – M.; Humanitarian. ed. VLADOS center, 1997. – 320 p.

5. Radugin A. A. Philosophy: course of lectures. – 2nd ed., revised. and additional – M.; Center, 1998. – 272 p.

6. Rashkovsky E.B. Vl. Soloviev. The doctrine of the nature of philosophical knowledge. / Questions of Philosophy, 1982, No. 6.

7. Modern philosophical dictionary. / Ed. Doctor of Philology, Prof. V.E. Kemerovo. – 1996. – 608 p.

8. One hundred Russian philosophers. Bibliographic Dictionary. Comp. and ed. HELL. Sukhov, - M.; "Mirtha", 1995.

9. Trubetskoy E. World outlook Vl. S. Solovyova. T. 1-2. – M.; 1913.

10. Philosophy: Textbook for universities / Ed. V.N. Lavrinenko. - M.; Law, 1996. – 512 p.

The great Russian philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov was born in Moscow in 1853 into a large family. His father was the famous historian S. M. Solovyov, and Vladimir grew up in the atmosphere of Moscow University. He belonged to that layer of Moscow society that included the flower of the cultural nobility and the highest intelligentsia. Solovyov early joined a group of very talented humorists who called themselves a circle of Shakespeareans and amused themselves by writing funny rhymes and staging parody plays. The brightest of them was Count Fyodor Sollogub, the best Russian absurdist poet after Kozma Prutkova. Soloviev was a devotee of this art all his life.

Vladimir Solovyov

But even in science his successes were brilliant. Already in 1875 he published his dissertation The crisis of Western philosophy directed against positivism. That same year he went to London, where he did not leave the British Museum, studying the mystical teachings about Sophia the Wisdom of God. There in the reading room he had a vision and received a mystical command to immediately go to Egypt. In the desert near Cairo, his most important and complete vision appeared to him - the image of Sophia. The journey to the desert was accompanied by funny incidents with the Arabs. It is typical for Solovyov that in a humorous poem Three dates, written twenty years later, a deeply lyrical and esoteric description of visions (including an early one, 1862) accompanied by poems in the spirit Beppo or Don Juan.

Philosophy of unity by Vladimir Solovyov

Upon returning to Russia, Soloviev received a position as a private assistant professor of philosophy, first in Moscow, then in St. Petersburg. But his university career was short: in March 1881, he gave a speech against the death penalty, in which he tried to convince the new Emperor Alexander III not to execute his father's murderers. He motivated this by the fact that, going “contrary to all calculations and considerations of earthly wisdom, the Tsar will rise to a superhuman height and by his very deed will show the divine origin of the Royal power.” Despite this motivation, Solovyov had to leave the university.

In the eighties, Solovyov developed the idea of ​​a universal theocracy, which brought him closer and closer to papal Rome. He went to Zagreb and became close to the Catholic Bishop Strossmayer, who had protested against postulate of papal infallibility, but by this time already an obedient servant of the Vatican. Solovyov's works of this period are collected in a French book La Russieet l'Eglise Universelle(1889); here he takes an extremely pro-Roman position, defending both papal infallibility and the Immaculate Conception, portraying the papacy as the only bastion of true Orthodoxy throughout the centuries and rejecting the Russian Church for being subservient to the state. Such a book could not appear in Russia, but it became a sensation abroad. However, Solovyov never became a Catholic and the definition of “new Russian man” given to him by the French Jesuit d’Herbini (in the book Un Newman Russe), completely wrong. Book La Russieet l'Eglise Universelle was the culmination of Solovyov’s pro-Roman sentiments. They soon began to decline, and in his last work Soloviev outlined the final unity Christian churches like a union between three equal churches - Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant - where the Pope is just primus inter pares(first among equals).

In the late eighties and nineties, Solovyov led an energetic struggle against the nationalist policies of the government of Alexander III. These articles greatly raised his reputation in liberal circles. At the same time, his mystical life continued, although the visions of Sophia after Egypt ceased. In the nineties, Solovyov's mysticism became less orthodox and took the form of a strange “mystical romance” with the Finnish Lake Saimaa, which was abundantly reflected in his poetry. He also knew the devil's visits: there is a story about how he was attacked by the devil in the guise of a shaggy beast. Soloviev tried to drive him out, saying that Christ has risen. The devil answered: “Christ can resurrect as much as he wants, but you will be my victim.” In the morning, Solovyov was found lying on the floor unconscious. IN Last year In his life, Solovyov entered into correspondence with the provincial newspaperwoman Anna Schmidt, who believed that she was the incarnation of Sophia, and Solovyov was the incarnation of the personality of Christ. Solovyov's answers were outwardly humorous, but essentially sympathetic - he accepted her worship.

Three mystical dates of Vladimir Solovyov

But his mystical life was little known to his contemporaries. He was known only as an idealist philosopher and liberal polemicist. The last one made him stand out so much intelligentsia that the radical publishers of the Brockhaus-Efron encyclopedic dictionary invited him to edit the philosophical department, which thereby began to be conducted in a spirit opposed to agnosticism and materialism. Solovyov had many devoted followers who developed his philosophical views. The first of them were the prince brothers Sergey And Eugene Trubetskoy.

In 1900, Solovyov published his last and, from a literary point of view, most important work - Three conversations about war, progress and the end of world history, with the appendix of the story of the Antichrist. Conversations were immediately recognized as masterpieces, but The Tale of the Antichrist caused some bewilderment with its strangely specific belief in this character. Solovyov by that time was exhausted from an overly intense mental, spiritual and mystical life. He went on vacation to the Trubetskoy estate, Uzkoye, near Moscow. There, on July 31, 1900, he died of general exhaustion.

Kramskoy Ivan (1837-1887) - Portrait of Vladimir Solovyov. 1885

Solovyov’s personality was unusually complex; we are not used to seeing such contrasts in one person. It is difficult to understand how such a strange mixture was combined in him: intense religious and moral seriousness and an invincible craving for absurd humor, an unusually keen sense of Orthodoxy and unexpected leanings towards Gnosticism and unbridled mysticism; the same keen sense of social justice and dishonesty in polemical works, a deep belief in personal immortality and cheerful cynical-nihilistic statements, earthly asceticism and painful erotic mysticism. The complexity and ambiguity of his personality, it seems, found its expression in his laughter, which was completely unforgettable and amazed everyone who knew Solovyov. Many described this laughter and the eerie, otherworldly impression it made on those present. Solovyov was a brilliant writer, brilliant in everything he undertook; he was always successful: wherever he appeared, he was always greeted with delight and admiration. In prose he had a sharp and coolly brilliant style, especially suited to polemics.

Solovyov's more serious prose works are perhaps least characteristic of him, since in them he was forced to suppress both his gaiety and his mysticism. But it is in these works that Solovyov’s most important ideas are expressed, which made him famous. His early works proclaim his first philosophical principles; works of the eighties mainly develop issues of church policy sub specie aeternitatis (from the point of view of eternity). The Justification of Good (1898) - a treatise on moral theology, directed mainly against the "non-resistance" teachings of Tolstoy. Soloviev is considered the most significant philosopher of Russia in the “professional” sense of the word. He was a remarkable scholar: his knowledge of ancient and modern philosophy was incredibly extensive, but he cannot be placed on a par with the greatest philosophers of the world, and his name may not appear in the general history of philosophy. His philosophy was Neoplatonism and he was always attracted to the Gnostics. But I am not competent, and I do not consider it appropriate here to retell his metaphysics. As for his theology, I have already mentioned Solovyov’s relationship with Catholicism. It is studied in Roman Catholic schools, although, of course, it is not recognized as an authority. In the Orthodox Church his position is ambiguous: it is recognized that he has given the best existing definitions of Orthodoxy in opposition to each of the heresies, but his craving for Rome and visible unity, as well as the disorderly and doubtful nature of his mystical life, make him suspicious.

Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov was born in Moscow in 1853 into a large family. His father was the famous historian S. M. Solovyov( There is a message: ), and Vladimir grew up in the atmosphere of Moscow University. He belonged to that layer of Moscow society that included the flower of the cultural nobility and the highest intelligentsia. Solovyov early joined a group of very talented humorists who called themselves a circle of Shakespeareans and amused themselves by writing funny rhymes and staging parody plays. The most striking of them was Count Fyodor Sollogub, the best Russian absurdist poet after Kozma Prutkov. Soloviev was a devotee of this art all his life. But even in science his successes were brilliant. Already in 1875 he published his dissertation The Crisis of Western Philosophy, directed against positivism. That same year he went to London, where he did not leave the British Museum, studying the mystical teachings of Sophia the Wisdom of God. There in the reading room he had a vision and received a mystical command to immediately go to Egypt. In the desert near Cairo, his most important and complete vision appeared to him - the image of Sophia. The journey into the desert was accompanied by funny incidents with the Arabs. It is characteristic of Solovyov that in the humorous poem Three Dates, written twenty years later, a deeply lyrical and esoteric description of visions (including an early one, 1862) is accompanied by verses in the spirit of Beppo or Don Juan. Upon returning to Russia, Soloviev received a position as a private assistant professor of philosophy, first in Moscow, then in St. Petersburg. But his university career was short: in March 1881 he gave a speech against the death penalty, in which he tried to convince the new emperor not to execute his father's murderers. He motivated this by the fact that by going “contrary to all calculations and considerations of earthly wisdom, the Tsar will rise to a superhuman height and by his very deed will show the divine origin of the Royal power.” Despite this motivation, Solovyov had to leave the university. In the eighties, Soloviev developed the idea of ​​a universal theocracy, which brought him closer and closer to Rome. He went to Zagreb and became close to Bishop Strossmayer, who had once protested against the postulate of papal infallibility in 1870, but by this time was already an obedient servant of the Vatican. Solovyov's works of this period are collected in the French book La Russie et l'Eglise Universelle (1889); here he takes an extremely pro-Roman position, defending both the infallibility of the pope and the Immaculate Conception, portraying the papacy as the only bastion of true Orthodoxy throughout the centuries and rejecting the Russian Church for that it is subordinate to the state. Such a book could not appear in Russia, but abroad it became a sensation. However, Solovyov never became a Catholic and the definition of “Russian Newman” given to him by the French Jesuit d'Herbini (in the book Un Newman Russe) is completely incorrect. The book La Russie et l'Eglese Universelle was the culmination of Solovyov's pro-Roman sentiments. They soon began to decline.

Dear friend, don’t you see,
That everything we see is
Only a reflection, only shadows
From the invisible with your eyes?

Dear friend, don’t you hear?
That everyday noise is crackling -
Only the response is distorted
Triumphant harmonies?

Dear friend, don’t you hear,
What is one thing in the whole world -
Only what is heart to heart
Says in a silent hello?
1892

Eight years before his death, Vladimir Sergeevich wrote his epitaph:

Vladimir Soloviev
Lies in this place.
First there was a philosopher.
And now he has become a skeleton.

...

Passerby! Learn from this example,
How destructive is love and how useful is faith.

In memory of Fet

He was an old man who had been sick and frail for a long time;
Everyone marveled at how long he could live...
But why with this grave
Can't time reconcile me?

He did not hide the gift of crazy songs in the ground;
He said everything that the spirit told him,—
Well, for me he didn’t become incorporeal
And his gaze did not turn pale in his soul?..

There is a secret here... I hear calls
And a mournful groan with a trembling plea...
The irreconcilable sighs forlornly,
And the lonely grieves over itself.

1897

In poetry, Solovyov was a follower of Fet, with whom he maintained friendship, although he regretted Fet’s militant atheism, which made it impossible for them to meet in the afterlife. But like all the other contemporaries of Fet, Solovyov could not adopt (and even, probably, recognize) Fet’s magnificent technique, and, like all of them, he suffered from lethargy and weakness of form. At the same time, he was a real poet, and certainly the best poet of his generation

A. A. Fetu

From whom is this warm southern sea
Knows the bitter songs of the cold seas?..
And under a different sky, inevitably arguing,
The same shadow still stands over my dream.

Or maybe the consonant sobs of the abyss are not enough for her,
That from her close heart she wants tears,
The tears of strangers, someone's selfless grief
Over the grave of madly rejected dreams...

How can I help the deceived, deceived lot?
How to solve the problem of fate for someone else?
Who will tell me? But my heart is in pain
And he cannot forget someone else’s disaster.

Splashes of life merged into diamond dreams,
And now the radiant network will only flash,—
The pearls of your songs melt into tears,
To grumble and mourn together with the abyss.

The southern sea knows this song alone,
Like the stormy waves of cold seas -
About someone else's, distant, dead grief,
Which, like a shadow, is inseparable from my soul.
1898

White bells

...And I hear my heart bloom.
Fet

How many of them bloomed recently,
Like a white sea in the forest!
The warm wind rocked them so smoothly
And take care of the young beauty.

It fades, it fades,
The snow-white wreath has darkened,
And it’s as if the whole world is fading...
Among the coffins I stand alone.

“We live, your white thoughts,
On the cherished paths of the soul.
You wander along the gloomy road,
We shine motionless in silence.

It’s not the whimsical wind that takes care of us,
We would have saved you from the blizzards.
Come to us quickly, through the rainy west,
For you we are the cloudless south.

If the fog covers your eyes
Or ominous thunder was heard,
Our heart vettes and sighs...
Come and find out what it’s about.”
1899

Poems by Vladimir Solovyov

Statements by Vladimir Solovyov

“Freedom is when you don’t have to choose.”

***
"Man could be defined as a shameful animal."

***
“Wine is a wonderful reagent: the whole person is revealed in it: whoever is cattle will become a perfect beast in wine, and whoever is human will become an angel in wine.”

***
“Two desires that are close to each other, like two invisible wings, lift the human soul above the rest of nature: the desire for immortality and the desire for truth.”

***
“All the charm of children for us, their special, human charm is inextricably linked with the hope that they will not be like us, they will be better than us.”

***
“People are compared to a plant, they talk about the strength of the roots, the depth of the soil. They forget that a plant, in order to bear flowers and fruits, must not only be rooted in the soil, but also rise above the soil, must be open to external foreign influences, to dew and rain, to free wind and sunlight.”

http://solovev.ouc.ru/

Vladimir Solovyov was one of the largest Russian religious thinkers of the late 19th century. He became the author of several concepts and theories (about God-manhood, pan-Mongolism, etc.), which are still studied in detail by domestic philosophers.

early years

The future philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov was born on January 28, 1853 in Moscow, in the family of a famous historian (author of the multi-volume “History of Russia from Ancient Times”). The boy studied at the 5th gymnasium, and later entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University. From his youth, Solovyov read the works of German idealists and Slavophiles. He was also greatly influenced by radical materialists. It was his passion for them that brought the young man to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, although after the second year he transferred to the Faculty of History and Philology. Impressed by materialistic literature, young Vladimir Solovyov even threw icons out of the window of his room, which extremely angered his father. In general, his reading circle then consisted of Khomyakov, Schelling and Hegel.

Sergei Mikhailovich instilled in his son hard work and productivity. Every year he himself systematically published his “History” according to that, and in this sense he became a clear example for his son. Already as an adult, Vladimir wrote every day without exception (sometimes on scraps of paper when there was nothing else at hand).

University career

Already at the age of 21, Soloviev became a master and associate professor. The work he defended was entitled "The Crisis of Western Philosophy." The young man decided to get a degree not in his native Moscow, but in St. Petersburg. What point of view did Vladimir Solovyov defend in his first scientific work? The philosopher criticized positivism, which was then popular in Europe. After receiving his master's degree, he embarked on his first major overseas trip. The aspiring writer visited the Old World and the countries of the East, including Egypt. The voyage was purely professional - Soloviev became interested in spiritualism and Kabbalah. Moreover, it was in Alexandria and Cairo that he began work on his theory of Sophia.

Returning to his homeland, Soloviev began teaching at St. Petersburg University. He met and became close to Fyodor Dostoevsky. The author of The Brothers Karamazov chose Vladimir Solovyov as the prototype for Alyosha. At this time, another Russian-Turkish war broke out. How did Vladimir Soloviev react to her? The philosopher almost went to the front as a volunteer, however, at the last moment he changed his mind. His deep religiosity and rejection of war had an impact. In 1880 he defended his dissertation and became a doctor. However, due to a conflict with the rector of the university, Mikhail Vladislavlev, Solovyov did not receive the position of professor.

Termination of teaching activities

The year 1881 became a turning point for the thinker. Then the whole country was shocked by the murder of Tsar Alexander II by revolutionaries. What did Vladimir Soloviev do under these conditions? The philosopher gave a public lecture in which he stated that it is necessary to pardon terrorists. This act clearly demonstrated Solovyov’s views and beliefs. He believed that the state had no right to execute people, even in response to murder. The idea of ​​Christian forgiveness forced the writer to take this sincere but naive step.

The lecture led to a scandal. It became known at the very top. Minister of Internal Affairs Loris-Melikov wrote a memorandum to the new Tsar Alexander III, in which he convinced the autocrat not to punish the philosopher due to the latter’s deep religiosity. In addition, the author of the lecture was the son of a respected historian, who was once the rector of Moscow University. Alexander, in his response, called Solovyov a “psychopath,” and his closest adviser, Konstantin Pobedonostsev, considered the offender “insane” before the throne.

After this, the philosopher left St. Petersburg University, although no one formally fired him. Firstly, it was the hype, and secondly, the writer wanted to focus more on books and articles. It was after 1881 that the period of creative flourishing began, which Vladimir Solovyov experienced. The philosopher wrote non-stop, since for him this was the only way to earn money.

Knight-monk

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Soloviev lived in monstrous conditions. He did not have a permanent home. The writer stayed in hotels or with numerous friends. Household instability had a bad effect on health. In addition, the philosopher regularly kept a strict fast. And all this was accompanied by intensive training. Finally, Soloviev was poisoned with turpentine more than once. He treated this liquid as healing and mystical. All his apartments were soaked in turpentine.

The controversial lifestyle and reputation of the writer inspired the poet Alexander Blok to call him a knight-monk in his memoirs. Solovyov's originality was manifested in literally everything. The writer Andrei Bely left memories about him, which, for example, say that the philosopher had an amazing laugh. Some acquaintances considered him homeric and joyful, others - demonic.

Solovyov Vladimir Sergeevich often went abroad. In 1900, he returned to Moscow for the last time to submit his own translation of Plato’s works to the publishing house. Then the writer felt bad. He was transported to Sergei Trubetskoy, a religious philosopher, publicist, public figure and student of Solovyov. His family owned the Uzkoye estate near Moscow. Doctors came there to see Vladimir Sergeevich and made a disappointing diagnosis - “renal cirrhosis” and “atherosclerosis”. The writer's body was exhausted from overload at his desk. He had no family and lived alone, so no one could monitor his habits and influence Solovyov. The Uzkoye estate became the place of his death. The philosopher died on August 13. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery, next to his father.

God-manhood

A key part of Vladimir Solovyov's legacy is his idea of ​​God-manhood. This theory was first outlined by the philosopher in his “Readings” in 1878. Its main message is the conclusion about the unity of man and God. Soloviev was critical of the traditional mass faith of the Russian nation. He considered the usual rituals “inhumane.”

Many other Russian philosophers, like Solovyov, tried to comprehend the then state of Russian Orthodox Church. In his teaching, the writer used the term Sophia, or Wisdom, which was to become the soul of the renewed faith. In addition, she also has a body - the Church. This community of believers was to become the core of the future ideal society.

Soloviev, in his “Readings on God-Humanity,” argued that the Church is experiencing a serious crisis. It is fragmented and has no power over the minds of people, and new popular but dubious theories - positivism and socialism - are claiming its place. Solovyov Vladimir Sergeevich (1853-1900) was convinced that the cause of this spiritual catastrophe was the Great French revolution, which shook the usual foundations of European society. In 12 readings, the theorist tried to prove: only a renewed church and religion can occupy the resulting ideological vacuum, where at the end of the 19th century there were many radical political theories. Soloviev did not live to see the first revolution in Russia in 1905, but he correctly sensed its approach.

Concept of Sofia

According to the philosopher’s idea, the principle of the unity of God and man can be realized in Sophia. This is an example of an ideal society based on neighbor. Talking about Sophia as the ultimate goal of human development, the author of the Readings also touched on the issue of the universe. He described in detail his own theory of the cosmogonic process.

The book by philosopher Vladimir Solovyov (10th reading) gives the chronology of the origin of the world. In the beginning there was the Astral Age. The writer associated her with Islam. Next came the Solar Age. During it, the Sun, heat, light, magnetism and other physical phenomena arose. On the pages of his works, the theorist connected this period with numerous solar religious cults of antiquity - the belief in Apollo, Osiris, Hercules and Adonis. With the appearance of organic life on Earth, the last, Telluric era began.

Vladimir Solovyov paid special attention to this period. The historian, philosopher and theorist highlighted the three most important civilizations in human history. These peoples (Greeks, Hindus and Jews) were the first to propose the idea of ​​an ideal society without bloodshed and other vices. It was among the Jewish people that Jesus Christ preached. Soloviev treated him not as an individual person, but as a person who managed to embody all of human nature. Nevertheless, the philosopher believed that people have much more material than divine. Adam was the embodiment of this principle.

When discussing Sophia, Vladimir Solovyov adhered to the idea that nature has its own single soul. He believed that humanity should become like this order, when all people have something in common. These views of the philosopher found another religious reflection. He was a Uniate (that is, he advocated the unity of churches). There is even a point of view that he converted to Catholicism, although it is disputed by biographers due to the fragmentary and inaccurate sources. One way or another, Solovyov was an active supporter of the unification of the Western and Eastern churches.

"Beauty in Nature"

One of the fundamental works of Vladimir Solovyov was his article “Beauty in Nature,” published in 1889. The philosopher examined this phenomenon in detail, giving it many assessments. For example, he considered beauty to be a way of transforming matter. At the same time, Soloviev called for appreciating beauty in itself, and not as a means to achieve another goal. He also called beauty the embodiment of an idea.

Soloviev Vladimir Sergeevich, short biography which is an example of the life of an author who touched upon almost all spheres of human activity in his work, in this article he also described his attitude to art. The philosopher believed that he always had only one goal - to improve reality and influence nature and the human soul. The debate about the purpose of art was popular at the end of the 19th century. For example, Leo Tolstoy spoke on the same topic, with whom the writer indirectly polemicized. Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov, whose poems are less known than his philosophical works, was also a poet, so he did not talk about art from the outside. “Beauty in Nature” significantly influenced the views of the intelligentsia of the Silver Age. The importance of this article for their work was noted by writers Alexander Blok and Andrei Bely.

"The Meaning of Love"

What else did Vladimir Solovyov leave behind? God-manhood (its main concept) was developed in the series of articles “The Meaning of Love,” published in 1892-1893. These were not isolated publications, but parts of one whole work. In the first article, Soloviev refuted the idea that love is only a way of reproduction and continuation of the human race. Next, the writer compared its types. He compared in detail the maternal, friendly, sexual, mystical to the Fatherland, etc. At the same time, he touched on the nature of egoism. For Solovyov, love is the only force that can force a person to step over this individualistic feeling.

The assessments of other Russian philosophers are indicative. For example, Nikolai Berdyaev considered this cycle “the most wonderful thing that has been written about love.” And Alexei Losev, who became one of the writer’s main biographers, emphasized that Solovyov considered love a way to achieve eternal unity (and therefore, God-manhood).

"Justification of Good"

The book “The Justification of Good,” written in 1897, is the key ethical work of Vladimir Solovyov. The author planned to continue this work in two more parts and, thus, publish a trilogy, but he never managed to realize his idea. In this book, the writer argued that goodness is comprehensive and unconditional. First of all, because it is the basis of human nature. Soloviev proved the truth of this idea by the fact that all people from birth are familiar with a feeling of shame, which is not brought up or instilled from the outside. He also named other similar qualities characteristic of a person - reverence and pity.

Good is an integral part of the human race, because it is also given from God. Soloviev, explaining this thesis, mainly used biblical sources. He came to the conclusion that the entire history of mankind is a process of transition from the kingdom of nature to the kingdom of spirit (that is, from primitive evil to good). A significant example of this is the evolution of methods of punishing criminals. Soloviev noted that over time the principle of blood feud disappeared. Also in this book, he once again spoke out against the use of the death penalty.

"Three Conversations"

Over the years of his work, the philosopher wrote dozens of books, lecture courses, articles, etc. But, like every author, he had his last work, which ultimately became a summation of the results of his long-term journey. Where did Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov stop? “Three Conversations on War, Progress and the End of World History” was the title of the book he wrote in the spring of 1900, shortly before his death. It was published after the author passed away. Therefore, many biographers and researchers began to consider it as the writer’s creative testament.

The philosophy of Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov, touching on the ethical problem of bloodshed, is based on two theses. War is evil, but even it can be fair. As an example, the thinker cited the example of Vladimir Monomakh's preventive campaigns. With the help of this war, the prince was able to save Slavic settlements from the destructive raids of the steppes, which justified his action.

In the second conversation on the topic of progress, Soloviev noted the evolution of international relations, which began to be built on peaceful principles. At that time, the most powerful powers really sought to find a balance among themselves in a rapidly changing world. However, the philosopher himself no longer saw the bloody world wars that broke out on the ruins of this system. The writer in the second conversation emphasized that the main events in human history took place in the Far East. Just then, European countries divided China among themselves, and Japan embarked on the path of dramatic progress along Western lines.

In the third conversation about the end of world history, Soloviev, with his characteristic religiosity, argued that, despite all the positive trends, evil persists in the world, that is, the Antichrist. In the same part, the philosopher first used the term “pan-Mongolism,” which his many followers later began to use. This phenomenon consists of the consolidation of Asian peoples against European colonization. Soloviev believed that China and Japan would join forces, create a single empire and expel foreigners from neighboring regions, including Burma.