List of Russian philosophers

Philosophers (1917) by Mikhail Nesterov, depicting Pavel Florensky and Sergei Bulgakov.

Russian philosophy includes a variety of philosophical movements. Authors who developed them are listed below sorted by movement.

While most authors listed below are primarily philosophers, also included here are some Russian fiction writers, such as Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, who are also known as philosophers.

Russian philosophy as a separate entity started its development in the 19th century, defined initially by the opposition of Westernizers, advocating Russia's following the Western political and economical models, and Slavophiles, insisting on developing Russia as a unique civilization. The latter group included Nikolai Danilevsky and Konstantin Leontiev, the early founders of eurasianism. The discussion of Russia's place in the world has since become the most characteristic feature of Russian philosophy.

In its further development, Russian philosophy was also marked by deep connection to literature and interest in creativity, society, politics and nationalism; cosmos and religion were other notable subjects.

Notable philosophers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries include Vladimir Solovyev, Vasily Rozanov, Lev Shestov, Leo Tolstoy, Sergei Bulgakov, Pavel Florensky, Nikolai Berdyaev, Pitirim Sorokin, and Vladimir Vernadsky.

From the early 1920s to late 1980s, Russian philosophy was dominated by Marxism presented as dogma and not grounds for discussion. Stalin's purges, culminating in 1937, delivered a deadly blow to the development of philosophy.

A handful of dissident philosophers survived through the Soviet period, among them Aleksei Losev. Stalin's death in 1953 gave way for new schools of thought to spring up, among them Moscow Logic Circle, and Tartu-Moscow Semiotic School.

Major thinkers

Russian Enlightenment

• Vasily Tatishchev (1668–1750)
• Mikhail Shcherbatov (1733–1790)
• Andrey Bolotov (1738–1833)
• Alexander Radishchev (1749–1802)

Slavophiles and pochvennichestvo

• Ivan Kireevsky (1806–1856)
• Aleksey Khomyakov (1804–1860)
• Vladimir Odoevsky (1803–1869)
• Konstantin Aksakov (1817–1860)
• Yuri Samarin (1819–1876)
• Fyodor Tyutchev (1803–1873)
• Nikolay Danilevsky (1822–1885)
• Nikolay Strakhov (1828–1896)
• Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881) Religious philosopher artist (see Nikolai Berdyaev)
• Konstantin Pobedonostsev (1827–1907)
• Konstantin Leontiev (1831–1891)
• Ivan Ilyin (1883–1954)

Russian symbolists

• Dmitry Merezhkovsky (1866–1941)
• Zinaida Gippius (1869–1945)
• Valery Bryusov (1873–1924)
• Konstantin Balmont (1867–1942)
• Max Voloshin (1877–1932)
• Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874–1940)
• Alexander Blok (1880–1921)
• Andrei Bely (1880–1934)
• Vyacheslav Ivanov (1866–1949)
• Innokenty Annensky (1855–1909)
• Fyodor Sologub (1863–1927)

Westernizers

• Pyotr Chaadaev (1794–1856)
• Nikolai Stankevich (1813–1840)
• Vissarion Belinsky (1811–1848)
• Alexander Herzen (1812–1870) Father of Russian Socialism

Russian Schellingians

• Pyotr Chaadaev (1794–1856)
• Dmitry Venevitinov (1805–1827)
• Vissarion Belinsky (1811–1848)
• Vladimir Solovyov (1853–1900)

Russian positivists

• Peter Lavrovich Lavrov (1823–1900)
• Grigory Vyrubov (1843–1913)
• Nikolay Mikhaylovsky (1842–1910)
• Konstantin Kavelin (1818–1885)
• Nikolai Korkunov (1853–1904)

Russian Machists

• Vladimir Bazarov
• Jakov Berman
• Alexander Bogdanov (1873–1928)
• Sergei Suvorov
• Pavel Yushkevich

Russian cosmists

The cover of the book "The Will of the Universe. Intellect Unknown. Mind and Passions" by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, 1928

Portrait of Lev Shestov by Leonid Pasternak, 1910

• Nikolay Fyodorov (1829–1903) N O Lossky lists Fyodorov as primarily a Christian philosopher.
• Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947)
• Vladimir Vernadsky (1863–1945)
• Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935)
• Alexander Chizhevsky (1897–1964)
• Victor Skumin (1948–)

Occultists

• Nikolay Novikov (1744–1818)
• Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891)
• G. I. Gurdjieff (1872–1949)
• P. D. Ouspensky (1878–1947)

Epistemologists, logicians and metaphysicians

• Boris Chicherin (1828–1904)
• S. N. Trubetskoy (1862–1905)

Anarchists

• Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876), listed also among the materialist and nihilist theorists
• Count Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), whom some consider the greatest of Russian novelists
• Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921), known as the 'Anarchist Prince' or 'Father of Anarchism'

Materialists and nihilists

• N. G. Chernyshevsky (1828–1889)
• Dimitri Pisarev (1840–1868)
• Ivan Sechenov (1829–1905)

Socialists and Marxists

• George Plekhanov (1856–1918) The first major Russian Marxist thinker.
• Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) The founder of Leninism.

• Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) The founder of Trotskyism.
• Sofya Yanovskaya (1896–1966)
• Aleksandr Zinovyev (1922–2006)
• Evald Ilyenkov (1924–1979)

Christian philosophers

Pre-Solovyov

• Pamfil Yurkevich (1826–1874)
• Vladimir Solovyov (1853–1900) Solovyov is noted to have created the first complete encompassing system of Russian philosophy.
• Vasily Rozanov (1856–1919)
• Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881) listed also as an existentialist
• Sergei Bulgakov (1871–1944)
• Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948) listed also as an existentialist
• Count Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) listed also as the greatest of novelists and an anarchist

Orthodox Christian theologians

• Georges Florovsky (1893–1979)
• Michael Pomazansky (1888–1988)
• Alexander Schmemann (1921–1983)
• John Meyendorff (1926–1992)
• Vladimir Lossky (1903–1958)
• Pavel Florensky (1882–1937)

Intuitivist-personalists

• Nikolai Lossky (1870–1965)
• Semyon Frank (1877–1950)
• Aleksei Losev (1893–1988)
• Leo Lopatin (1855–1920)

Existentialists

• Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)
• Lev Shestov (1866–1938)
• Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948)

Aestheticians

• Alexei Losev (1893–1988)
• Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975)

Historians of thought

• Isaiah Berlin (1909 – 1997)

Globalists

• Alexander Chumakov (1950–)

See also

• Philosophy in the Soviet Union
• Philosophers' ship
• Russian literature
• Valentin A. Bazhanov
• Lev Gumilev
• Dmitry Likhachev
• Vasily Nalimov
• Victor Ovcharenko
• Karen A. Swassjan
• Nicolai A. Vasiliev

Bibliography

• History of Russian Philosophy (История российской Философии) (1951) by N. O. Lossky. Publisher: Allen & Unwin, London. International Universities Press Inc NY, NY sponsored by Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary.
• A History of Philosophy, Volume 10: Russian Philosophy (1986) by Frederick Copleston. Publisher: Continuum, London.
• A history of Russian Philosophy (2 vols.) by Vasilii Vasilevich Zenkovsky; translator George L. Kline Publisher: Routledge & Kegan Paul (1953).
• Russian Philosophy. English-Russian Dictionary (ed. Vasily Vanchugov). Moscow, People's Friendship University of Russia, 2005.

External links

• Books on Russian philosophy at Runivers.ru
• Brief overview of Russian philosophy
• PHILTAR—Comprehensive web site with links to texts and resources
• Gallery of Russian Thinkers edited by Dmitry Olshansky
• Russian philosophy—entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Directory of links to Russian philosophers, mostly in Russian
• Routledge entry
• Konstantin Leontiev
• Sergius Bulgakov Society at the Wayback Machine (archived October 26, 2009)—Extensive collection of links to Bulgakov resources