“To Interpret the Appearance of Peter from the Laws the Idea Development…” – the Reflections about Peter the Great in A. I. Herzen’s Publicism

Abstract

Herzen’s historiosophical concept in general and his attitude to the transformations of the first Russian emperor in particular were largely determined by the specifics of the Russian public dialogue in the second third of the 19th century. A.I. Herzen’s understanding of the historical role of Peter the Great changed in the course of the evolution of his historiosophical concept. From the admiration for the monarch’s transformative energy and the commitment for the Europe’s ideal through the humanistic criticism of absolutism and the skepticism towards European values, Herzen came to recognize Peter’s activities as a catalyst of social discontent and ferment, which in the future will lead Russia to a revolution of a special type, different from the bourgeois revolutions of the European model.

Keywords

• peter the great
• journalism
• a.i. herzen
• russian journalism of the xix century