Women’s Theme in the Works by V. S. Solovyov

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of the views of the philosopher Vladimir Solovyov on the nature of a woman and her place in society. The purpose of the study is to reveal Solovyov’s position in relation to a woman, her essence, relationship with a man, family and society, as well as to demonstrate the attitude of the Russian philosopher to the women’s movement. The relevance of the study is due to the low level of knowledge of the positions of Russian philosophers in general and Solovyov in particular in resolving issues raised by the women’s feminist movement. Hermeneutic, comparative and comparative historical methods were used for analyzing philosophical works, literary and journalistic works of the philosopher. The author of the article shows that Solovyov’s reflections on the Divine Sophia, Eternal Femininity, the image of the Beautiful Lady does not prevent the philosopher from unequivocally rejecting the idea of female emancipation, education, paid professions. The female ideal created by the philosopher is a vivid example of a feminine image, represented by a man and reflecting masculine ideas about the nature of a woman. A specific woman as a bearer of the Divine Sophia is called by Solovyov the keeper of a religious secret, but at the same time she is deindividualized, depersonalized. Speaking of a woman as a mediator between the earthly world and the heavenly world, the philosopher emphasizes the secondary nature of her nature, functional complementarity in relation to a man.The author comes to the conclusion that V. Solovyov did not accept the idea of a woman’s independence and her desire for liberation from male control. The article shows that Solovyov is inclined to a negative assessment of a real woman, speaks negatively about the feminist movement and those ladies who actively defend their rights.

Keywords

• eternal femininity
• sophia
• feminism
• female emancipation
• russian feminist movement