Dialectics of national and universal values in the social ideals of Slavophiles and Westerners

Abstract

The article analyzes the social ideals of the Slavophiles and Westerners from the point of view of the dialectical interaction between national and universal. Identification of humanistic, Christian meaning in the form of national existence and a spiritual self-determination of the nation, advanced as the basis of social progress, unites the positions of the representatives of various ideological trends. Despite the controversy and obvious disagreement on the issue of the bases of a people’s national consciousness, they are evaluated from the perspective of cultural and civilizational contributions to mankind. The ideals of early Slavophiles and Westerners are discussed in the context of a new cultural model, which became relevant for subsequent phases of the formation of the Russian national idea. A comparative analysis of views regarding early national and universal Slavophiles (A. S. Khomyakov, I. V. Kireevsky, K. S. Aksakov, Yu. F. Samarin) and K. N. Leont’ev) is also undertaken.