The concept of myth in the Russian religious philosophy of the 20-ies of XX century

Abstract

The problem of the myth is not something new to Russian thought of 20 century — the main approaches to its solution were developed in the 40s of the 19 century — so the research in the field of myth was based not only on the works of European thinkers, but also on the national tradition formed by that time. In particular, the article is centered on the approaches to understanding the myth developed in the Moscow intellectual milieu in the 20-ies of 20 century. The starting point of the study is the Vyacheslav Ivanov’s concept of myth, who developed the ideas of late Schelling’s works. The works of philosophers, who collaborated and communicated with V. Ivanov in Moscow until 1922 — Frank, Shestov, Florensky, Vysheslavtsev, Bulgakov, Losev, Berdyaev — are also studied. In the course of consideration of these theories the article focuses on the specifi c characteristics of the myth, as well as relations «myth — mythologeme — meaning» and «myth — symbol» uncovered by each thinker. In particular, an original A. F. Losev’s theory of the myth — miracle is studied, as it not only includes the elements of an earlier concepts, but also elevate the problem of the myth to a new level. The spectrum of actual at the time solutions to the problem of myth, thus obtained, allows to take a fresh look not only at the role of works by A. F. Losev in the Russian thought, but on the Russian religious philosophy of the beginning of the 20 century as a whole.