Ideas Against Ideocracy : Non-Marxist Thought of the Late Soviet Period (1953–1991)

This groundbreaking work by one of the world's foremost theoreticians of culture and scholars of Russian philosophy gives for the first time a systematic examination of the development of Russian philosophy during the late Soviet period. Countering the traditional view of an intellectual wilderness under the Soviet regime, Mikhail Epstein provides a comprehensive account of Russian thought of the second half of the 20th century that is highly sophisticated without losing clarity. It provides new insights into previously mostly ignored areas such as late-Soviet Russian nationalism and Eurasianism, religious thought, cosmism and esoterism, and postmodernism and conceptualism. Epstein shows how Russian philosophy has long been trapped in an intellectual prison of its own making as it sought to create its own utopia. However, he demonstrates that it is time to reappraise Russian thought, now freed from the bonds of Soviet totalitarianism and ideocracy but nevertheless dangerously engaged into new nationalist aspirations and metaphysical radicalism. We are left with not only a new and exciting interpretation of recent Russian intellectual history, but also the opportunity to rethink our own philosophical heritage. Cover 1 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 9 Preface 11 Introduction: Philosophy, the State, and Plato-Marxism 16 Part 1 The Philosophy of National Spirit. Conservatism, Eurasianism, and Traditionalism 24 1. The Search for National Identity. Traditions and New Challenges 24 2. The Neo-Slavophile Revival in Aesthetics and Criticism. Petr Palievsky and Vadim Kozhinov 28 3. Other Neo-Slavophiles and Nationalists of the 1960s–1970s 33 4. Nation as Personality. The Moral Conservatism of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 36 5. From Anti-Socialism to Anti-Semitism. Igor Shafarevich 47 6. The Philosophy of Ethnicity. Neo-Eurasianism. Lev Gumilev 52 7. Radical Traditionalism and Neofascism. Aleksandr Dugin 62 Part 2 Religious Thought. Orthodox Christianity 78 1. Major Expatriate Theologians 79 a. The Revival of Theology. Georges Florovsky 79 b. The Liturgical Philosophy of Alexander Schmemann 81 c. The Existential Orthodoxy of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh 84 2. Science and Theology. Archbishop Luka (Valentin Voino-Iasenetsky) 87 3. The Christian Intuitivism of Boris Pasternak 90 4. Christian Socialism. Anatolii Krasnov-Levitin 93 5. Atheism as the Forerunner of Spiritual Rebirth 96 6. The Dialogue between Believers and Atheists. Sergei Zheludkov and Kronid Liubarsky 98 7. Christianity and the New Humanism. Secularization and the Intelligentsia 103 8. The Philosophy of Christian Synthesis. Aleksandr Men 108 9. The Generation of Neophytes and Theological Innovations 116 a. Postmodernist Perspectives on Christianity. Tatiana Goricheva 118 b. Christian Energetism. Sergei Khoruzhii 120 Part 3 Mysticism, Universalism, and Cosmism 124 1. General Features of Russian Mysticism 124 2. Religious Universalism and Metahistory. Daniil Andreev and 125 a. The Spiritual System of the World 127 b. The Theocratic State of the Future and the Coming of the Antichrist 130 c. The Feminine in Russian Thought. Sophiology and Materialism 133 d. Andreev’s Mysticism of Femininity 137 e. The Internal Ironies of Theocratic Thought: Utopia as Eschatology 143 3. Cosmism and Active Evolutionism 146 a. The Sources of Cosmism 146 b. The Variety of Cosmist Perspectives 150 c. Svetlana Semenova. The Theology and Technology of Active Evolution 157 4. The Religion of Absolute Self and the Abyss of Negativity. Iurii Mamleev 165 Part 4 Postmodernist Thought. Conceptualism 172 1. The Origins of Conceptualism 172 2. The Archaic Postmodernism of Andrei Siniavsky 176 3. The Satirical Metaphysics of Aleksandr Zinoviev40 187 4. The Metaphysics of Emptiness. The Philosophical Installations of Ilya Kabakov 196 5. The Philosophy of Sots-Art and Morality of Eclecticism. Vitalii Komar and Aleksandr Melamid 208 6. Shimmering Aesthetics. Dmitrii Prigov 212 7. The Canonization of Emptiness. The Medical Hermeneutics Inspectorate 215 8. Postmodernism versus Soviet Utopianism and Western Demythologization. Boris Groys 218 9. Academic Postmodernism. Valerii Podoroga 226 Epilogue: The End of Soviet Philosophy and Strategies for the Future 230 1. The Critique of the Russian Ideocratic Tradition 230 2. New Metaphysical Radicals 234 3. Conceptualism versus Metaphysical Radicalism 239 4. The Symbiosis of Radical Metaphysics and Conceptualism 241 Conclusion 246 1. The Circular Paths of Ideocracy 246 2. The Comedy of Ideas and the Tragedy of Ideocracy 248 3. Philosophy and the Philosophical 250 Bibliography 252 Appendix: Original Russian and Other Foreign-Language Titles 261 Name Index 266 Subject Index 269 Name Index 266 Subject Index 269 Winner of the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Studies in Slavic Languages and Literatures (awarded by the Modern Languages Association)This groundbreaking work by one of the world's foremost theoreticians of culture and scholars of Russian philosophy gives for the first time a systematic examination of the development of Russian philosophy during the late Soviet period.Countering the traditional view of an intellectual wilderness under the Soviet regime, Mikhail Epstein provides a comprehensive account of Russian thought of the second half of the 20th century that is highly sophisticated without losing clarity. It provides new insights into previously mostly ignored areas such as late-Soviet Russian nationalism and Eurasianism, religious thought, cosmism and esoterism, and postmodernism and conceptualism.Epstein shows how Russian philosophy has long been trapped in an intellectual prison of its own making as it sought to create its own utopia. However, he demonstrates that it is time to reappraise Russian thought, now freed from the bonds of Soviet totalitarianism and ideocracy but nevertheless dangerously engaged into new nationalist aspirations and metaphysical radicalism. We are left with not only a new and exciting interpretation of recent Russian intellectual history, but also the opportunity to rethink our own philosophical heritage. "This groundbreaking work by one of the world's foremost theoreticians of culture and scholars of Russian philosophy gives for the first time a systematic examination of the development of Russian philosophy during the late Soviet period. Countering the traditional view of an intellectual wilderness under the Soviet regime, Mikhail Epstein provides a comprehensive account of Russian thought of the second half of the 20th century that is highly sophisticated without losing clarity. It provides new insights into previously mostly ignored areas such as late Soviet Russian nationalism and Eurasianism, religious thought, cosmism and esoterism, and postmodernism and conceptualism. Epstein shows how Russian philosophy has long been trapped in an intellectual prison of its own making as it sought to create its own utopia. However, he demonstrates that it is time to reappraise Russian thought, now freed from the bonds of Soviet totalitarianism and ideocracy but nevertheless dangerously engaged into new nationalist aspirations and metaphysical radicalism. We are left with not only a new and exciting interpretation of recent Russian intellectual history, but also the opportunity to rethink our philosophical heritage"-- Provided by publisher Introduction: Soviet ideocracy: Plato-Marxism -- 1. The philosophy of the national spirit -- 2. Philosophy of Christianity -- 3. Cosmism and religious universalism -- 4. Postmodernist philosophy -- Conceptualism