Дискурс Пи (Feb 2020)
The Comprehension of Chinese Philosophy by Russian Thinkers of the XVIII, XIX and XX Centuries
Abstract
When we speak about the influence of one philosophical tradition on another culture we are to clarify the specifics of each of them and point out the common points together with cross-spiritual paths. The article is aimed at clarifying the relationships between Russian and Chinese thoughts. Despite the fact that China and Russia have long been neighbouring states one of the problems of this comparison is the asymmetry of the chronology of the formation of Chinese and Russian philosophy. Confucius and Lao lived in the VI century BC while the first Russian philosophers who can be called thinkers worked in the XVIII century. Following this line of reasoning, the first documented works on Chinese life, tradition and philosophy were made no earlier than in the 18th century. However, this has not been a deep analysis of Chinese culture. More attention was paid to the practical side of relations between the countries in this stage of experiencing a new culture, a special attention was paid to the manifestations of the modus vivendi of its residents, as well as methods of governance, rather than a way of thinking and philosophical tradition. Gradually, with the development of trade and political relations interest in Chinese culture increased but it never went beyond purely commercial interests. Nevertheless, in the XIX century one of the strongest schools was formed in Russia - Sinology. This article deals with the stages of its formation. Before we begin to describe the specific effects of Chinese philosophy on Russian thought we must clarify the main characteristics of Russian philosophy being a single semantic field in which we find intersperses of Chinese philosophy. Russian translation is a problem that requires a separate study which we do not undertake to conduct in this work but we will point out the specifics of Chinese philosophy retraction in the texts of Russian thinkers.
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