Russian abroad about the philosophy of N.A. Berdyaev: criticism of the historian N.I. Ulyanov

Annotation

An overview of the ideological heritage of the famous Russian historian of the second “wave” of Russian emigration, Nikolai Ivanovich Ulyanov (1904–1985), dedicated to the great Russian philosopher Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev, is given. Discussions about the role and place of the philosophy of Berdyaev were widespread in the post-war Russian emigration. The criticism of Ulyanova of the ideological position of Berdyaev on the national question, the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the history of Russia and in relation to Peter the Great and his reforms. According to Ulyanov, the philosopher Berdyaev did not have sufficient historical knowledge, did not have a scientific methodology, and sought to penetrate the secrets of history intuitively, which led to unscientific speculation. In the same way, Berdyaev had a voluntaristic attitude towards the creative heritage of P. Ya. Chaadaev. At the same time, the historian Ulyanov recognized the priority of the philosopher Berdyaev, with pleasure he put his “catch phrases” in the form of epigraphs to his articles. The position of Ulyanov in relation to the work of Berdyaev with other Russian thinkers V. F. Ern, F. A. Stepun, I. A. Ilyin, N. O. Lossky. Ulyanov considered Berdyaev a typical God-seeking intellectual, far from both Orthodoxy and academic science.

Keywords

Russian Abroad, N. A. Berdyaev, N. I. Ulyanov, philosophy, history, criticism, philosophy, history, Russian emigration.

Literature

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This study was supported by grant No. 24–28–00748 from the Russian Science Foundation, https://rscf.ru/project/24–28–00748/; the Dostoevsky Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy