Russian Philosophy of The 19th - Early 20th Century

The Philosophy of V. S. Solovyov

Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov (1853-1900) studied at Moscow University and subsequently spent an additional year at the Moscow Spiritual Academy. In 1874, he defended his master's dissertation titled "The Crisis of Western Philosophy," and in 1880, his doctoral thesis "Critique of Abstract Principles." His tenure as a lecturer at St. Petersburg University was brief, and he devoted the remainder of his life to independent creative work. He is perhaps the most original and systematic philosopher in Russia, having influenced many contemporaries and successors. His work significantly shaped the movement known as "Russian Religious Philosophy."

Solovyov posited that, in form, philosophy is the domain of personal reason or the individual. However, in content, the goal of philosophy remains singular: the reflection of the Absolute Being or All-Unity ("vseedinstvo"). Thus, in a substantial sense, the object of philosophy is unified: "1) There is the all-unifying principle of everything that exists. 2) This all-unifying principle, in its manifested activity, which we know through our experience, undoubtedly possesses a spiritual character. 3) This spiritual reality belongs to the principle independently of our consciousness and precedes it."

The philosopher further identifies three sources of knowledge that exist in unity: internal experience, external experience, and reasoning as a form of purely logical cognition. True knowledge is the result of empirical, rational, and mystical understanding in their unity. "The complete definition of truth," notes Solovyov, "is expressed in three predicates: Being, Unity, All... Truth is the All-Unity."

The nature of the knowing human is manifested in three fundamental forms of existence: feeling, thinking, and active will. This triad forms the "principles" of universal human existence. Feelings have as their object objective beauty, thinking concerns objective truth, and will pertains to objective good. These correspond to three spheres of human existence: creativity, knowledge, and practical activity. Creativity is expressed in technical achievements, in art, and in mysticism. Knowledge appears in the form of positive science, philosophy, and theology. Practical activity is realized in the form of economic society, political (the state), and spiritual society (the church).

At the foundation of Solovyov's ontology lies a principled distinction between "Being" and "Existence." The primary is Being, which serves as the subject of any real judgment, while existence is always a predicate (e.g., "I am"). "Existence is the manifestation of Being... Every existence is relative; absolutely, it is only Being... Being is that which appears, while existence is appearance." Solovyov subsequently arrives at the idea of the Absolute (God). Being, as such (God), engenders a triad: Spirit - Mind - Soul. The Absolute has two poles: 1) the Absolute in itself, meaning the Absolute that exists beyond existence; 2) the striving for existence, wherein matter may be interpreted as the "Body of God."

From the doctrine of Being, Solovyov transitions to the theory of the world process. The development of the world unfolds in two stages: 1) the period before the emergence of humanity, during which the evolution of nature occurs; 2) history. Overall, the world process proceeds as follows: the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom, and the Divine Kingdom. Everything that arises prior to humanity is studied by various systems of knowledge, such as theogony (the explanation of God's origin), sophiology (the doctrine of the world soul), and cosmogony (the theory of the formation and development of the world).

In humanity, Solovyov observes a contradiction, an incongruity between spirit and flesh: "The human 'I' is unconditionally possible and utterly insignificant in reality. In this contradiction lies evil and suffering; therein lies unfreedom, the internal slavery of man... Man is both deity and nothingness." The individual cannot attain the absolute fullness of existence, which is granted only through the complete mutual penetration of all living beings, united by love for one another and for God. The idea of the absolute fullness of being resides within human consciousness, yet it cannot realize itself automatically; its achievement is a free act. Humans can ascend to God when they are filled with the sense of perfect love, that is, when they renounce their own self-assertion.

Solovyov uniquely approaches ethical issues. The entire cosmos takes on a moral coloring, as it pertains to the primacy of the idea or essence of Good, which is diffused throughout the universe. Good is inextricably linked to the entire cosmic-evolutionary process. The Russian philosopher believes that it is upon the human spirit that the responsibility for the fate of the entire world rests. Essentially, the task extends beyond the purely ethical realm; it assumes a socio-ethical dimension: to discover the true forms of solidarity in human existence. Solidarity is a universal fact of the world's development, yet it is initially imperfect, as it possesses an unconscious-compulsive nature and is not imbued with high moral norms. Each individual must understand and fulfill the common cause as their personal responsibility. The goal and meaning of human life lie in goodness, in its proliferation. Solovyov concurs with Kant in asserting that humanity cannot be treated merely as a means.

At the center of Solovyov's philosophical and historical thought is the category of "God-Manhood." The history of humanity is the history of the formation of religious consciousness. It is divided into two periods: 1) the movement of humanity towards Christ; 2) the movement from Christ to the Universal Church, which must embody humanity, reunited with its divine principle through Jesus Christ. All historical events are explained by the evolution and state of humanity's religious consciousness, which traversed through the struggle between the Christian and national ideas. Ultimately, it is a movement towards a universal theocracy, towards universal divine authority.