Justification of the nation through culture as a foundation of G. P. Fedotov’s historiosophy
Abstract
This article analyses the academic work of historian and philosopher G. P. Fedotov in terms of his philosophical and methodological principles and proposes a thesis that a culture-centred approach served as a foundation for his own historiosophy. This philosopher interpreted the historical process primarily as a creative self-expression of peoples represented in their culture, which he characterised as a “growth of national consciousness”. The key idea is a national tradition; Fedotov posited its revitalisation in contemporary nation-states of Europe. He ascribed particular significance to the language and among other things pointed to the contradictory role of the Slavonic language of the liturgy and of Old Russian literature in Russian history. Prominent place in Fedotov’s academic interests is occupied by civilisational fractures of Russian history and by the issue of cultural unity and transmission of legacy within the national tradition. The article points to the conceptual link between Fedotov’s ideas and the Russia-specifi c thought, domestic Russian cognitive tradition. Belonging to the latter is expressed in such elements of his philosophy as attention to the problem of personality and to the theory of freedom, opposing culture and civilisation, integrated view of the history of humankind, literature-centred approach, denial of linear logic of determinated progress, rejection of the hedonistic explanation of man as a subject in history, criticism of rationalism, economism, individualism, etc. Fedotov not only successfully applied his cultural and historical theory to the history of Russia, but also efficiently used it in specualtions about the future, about the time after the change of the political system. He linked the future fate of the country with a successful solution to the national problem, which he thought to be possible only if founded on the integrating mission of Russian culture; he anticipated and in a number of cases accurately predicted dramatic processes typical of the present day.
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