The ontology of history in the retrospective of Russian philosophy (P. Chaadaev — N. Danilevsky — N. Fedorov)

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the features of Russian philosophy — the key role in its development, which was played by the problems of history. The authors begin to study this issue with a general analysis of the status of historical issues in the system of philosophical knowledge, proceeding to substantiate the thesis of the predominantly ontological characteristics of history. The essence of the substantiation of this statement boils down to the fact that philosophy deals with an entity that opens to consciousness as a world, i. e. as a being ordered by man. The world as reality is reality as a form and result of human activity. Consequently, the source of existence as the original is in the foundations of human activity. Next, the authors proceed to consider the reasons why the topic of historical development has become a priority in Russia, and history as a form of human existence has been considered in an ontological way. Using the example of the philosophical creativity of three Russian thinkers (P. Ya. Chaadaev, N. Ya. Danilevsky and N. F. Fedorov), the authors demonstrate the general logic of the development of historical self-consciousness as the basis of civilizational self-determination of Russia. The article draws special attention to the peculiar national pragmatics of Russian historiosophical thought, which implies the need for broad national participation in transformations that have in mind a planetary, cosmic scale. In addition, the authors put forward a polemic thesis about the practical congeniality of the Soviet era to the theoretical intutions of the founder of Russian cosmism. Socialist construction in the USSR, in the understanding of the authors, largely actualized the project of N. F. Fedorov, declaring and actually expressing the “philosophy of the common cause”. And such a “thing” was conceived, despairing and carried out not only in class unity, but also in national unity, the unity of man and woman, and most importantly in the context of Fedorov’s views — in the unity of generations.