Short biography: Born January 16, 1853 in Moscow. The son of the famous historian S. M. Solovyov, on the maternal side was related to the Ukrainian philosopher G. S. Skovoroda. He graduated from the Moscow gymnasium and in 1869 - 1873. studied at the Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. In 1873 he brilliantly passed the exam for a candidate's degree in the Faculty of History and Philology. Already in his youth, S. traveled the difficult path of spiritual quest from passion for atheism and positivism to Christianity and the desire to transform the world in accordance with Christian morality. 1874 - master's thesis ("The crisis of Western philosophy (against the positivists)"). In March 1877 he moved to St. Petersburg, where he became a member of the Academic Committee under the Ministry of Public Education, taught philosophy at the university and at the Bestuzhev courses, delivered public lectures that received a wide response from the enlightened public of that time. 1880 - doctoral dissertation ("Criticism of abstract principles"). After a public lecture on March 28, 1881, in which he spoke out against the death penalty of the People's Will who attempted to assassinate Alexander II, he was temporarily prohibited from speaking publicly, and at the end of 1881 he was forced to retire. He spends the following years as a real wanderer, “knight-monk” (A. A. Blok). Lacking his own home and family, he alternately lives in Moscow, St. Petersburg, in the countryside with his friends (A. A. Fet, S. A. Tolstoy) and abroad (Zagreb, Finland, France). Since 1891 he edited the philosophy department in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, for which he wrote over 60 articles. In 1898, Mr .. S. resumes its public readings, which are no less popular than the previous ones. He died on July 31, 1900 in the Uzkoye estate, which belonged to his followers - brothers Eugene and Sergei Trubetskoy.

Major works:

"Readings on God-manhood" (1877 - 1881),

"Critique of Abstract Principles" (1880),

"Spiritual Foundations of Life" (1882 - 1884),

"The National Question in Russia" (1883 - 1891),

"The history and future of theocracy" (1885 - 1887),

"Russian Idea" (1888), "Russia and the Ecumenical Church" (1889),

"Justification of Good" (1897 - 1899),

"Theoretical Philosophy" (1897 - 1899),

Three Conversations (1899 -1900).

The historiosophy of V.S.Solovyov. Soloviev began the construction of his historiosophical concept by distancing himself from the positivist Western philosophy, based, in his opinion, on "abstract principles" that separate reason and faith. This was the "incompleteness" of these ideas, the impossibility of understanding the world in its integrity, which is possible only with the help of faith and reason at the same time.

The basis of Soloviev's historiosophy is the idea of ​​the historical process as the embodiment of the idea of ​​God through the formation of all-unity. He divides this process into two stages: 1). before the emergence of man, which can be characterized as natural evolution; 2). a historical process proper, the ideal goal of which is to restore the total unity of man in the world and peace with God by building the Kingdom of God on earth.

In the concept of Solovyov, man is the crown of the universe, with the advent of man, the development of the universe is inextricably linked with human history. The thinker believed that man is able to conquer first his disunity, then the gap between himself and nature, between the material and the ideal, and, finally, reunite with the absolutely existent, that is, God. But he can do this not alone, but with the complicity of God. In the name of this, the divine Logos descends into the stream of historical events, incarnated in the person of Christ. As a result, the center of all-unity passes into history, and the soul of the world is embodied in the image of Sophia, the Wisdom of God in “ideal perfect humanity”. Therefore, Soloviev characterizes this process as Divine-human , which coincides with the actual historical process. The result of this process of history is total unity with God, which is interpreted by Solovyov as an opportunity for the embodiment of the Kingdom of God on earth. S. saw the ideal of such a society in free theocracy , in which moral authority belongs to the Church and its high priest, power belongs to the tsar, as a personified exponent of statehood, and the right of living council with God belongs to the prophets, "the owners of the keys of the future."

The Kingdom of God for its actual appearance in this life requires the most perfect social organization, which is being worked out by world history. Soloviev considered a normal society to be one in which all spheres of social life, while maintaining their relative independence, mutually complement each other as components of one organic being, necessary for each other so that their positive actions mutually reinforce and negative ones neutralize each other. Soloviev connected the practical implementation of the Divine plan of a free theocracy in earthly history with the harmonious unity of three, torn apart in a real historical process, spheres of activity - economic - society, political - state and spiritual - the universal church, which will unite, "cover" two other hierarchically lower start. The optimal variant of such interaction in contemporary Russian society, he considered the interaction of the church, state and zemstvo; At the same time, the church provides moral, the state - political, and the zemstvo - the economic leadership of society.

The main obstacle on the way of building a free theocracy is the duality, the division of the world into two polar extremes - the Eastern (Muslim) and Western European. The East excessively subordinates the personal principle to the general, sees in God-manhood only God, not noticing man. The West, on the other hand, asserts the excessive independence of the particular from the general, reaching the point of complete denial of the latter and the vision of only man in God-manhood. To the greatest extent, the contradictions between East and West manifested themselves in the split of the single Christian Church, the essence of which was that "the Christian East was too contemplative, and the West was too practical."

But history is not limited to the constant struggle of these two extremes, which leads to a bad infinity, to nowhere. Therefore, history acts "Third force" , the power-mediator, which gives positive content to the first two, frees them from one-sidedness, reconciles the unity of the higher principle with the free plurality of private forms and elements. According to Solovyov, the people on whom Providence has entrusted this responsible historical mission does not act on its own behalf, does not carry out its own way. Through the organic synthesis of these three forces, the innermost meaning of history is realized. In this way, the integrity of the common human organism, or universal humanity, is created, and its gradual evolution in the forms of "normal life" is ensured.

In the 70s - 80s. XIX century. S. believed that the role of the third force through which the Providence of God would be realized was called the Slavs, first of all, the Russian people. This was missionary idea Solovyov, that is, an idea of ​​the special mission of Russia in world history. But the possibility of Russia realizing its mission is by no means predetermined. If the first two forces have already fully expressed themselves in the Western and Muslim world, then Russia still has to become worthy of its vocation, to work hard in this field. Further progress in history depends on whether Russia will be able to understand and fulfill its vocation by "quiet and smart doing."

But due to historical circumstances in the West, the Catholic Church retained its independence, towering over states and peoples, which makes it a stronghold of the spiritual life of society. In Russia, the priority development was given to the Orthodox state, headed by the White Monarch, i.e. monarch by the grace of God, which has already united in its bosom many peoples of different faiths. It is intended to become the political pillar of a society of free theocracy on earth.

Towards the end of his life, Solovyov began to comprehend disappointment in the messianic destiny of Russia, in the universal theocracy. The reaction to this disappointment was the composition "Three Conversations" with the "Tale of Antichrist" included in it.

Thus, the historiosophical problematics for Solov'ev complete the cycle of development: starting with the search for the meaning of history, passing through the idea of ​​theocracy, it ends with the apocalypse of the end of history. The hope for the Kingdom of God is transferred to the eschatological timelessness on the other side of earthly life.

Source - Wikipedia

Vladimir Sergeevich Soloviev

Born: January 16 (28), 1853
Place of birth: Moscow, Russian Empire
Died: July 31 (August 13) 1900 (age 47)
Place of death: Uzkoye estate, Moscow district, Moscow province, Russian Empire (now Moscow)
Citizenship: Russian Empire
Significant Ideas: God-Manhood
Influenced: Nikolay Berdyaev, Sergey Trubetskoy, Alexander Blok, Andrey Bely, Alexander Kozhev

Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov (January 16, 1853, Moscow - July 31, 1900, Uzkoye estate, Moscow province) - Russian religious thinker, mystic, poet, publicist, literary critic; Honorary Academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the category of fine literature (1900). He stood at the origins of the Russian "spiritual revival" at the beginning of the 20th century. Influenced the religious philosophy of N.A. Berdyaev, S.N.Bulgakov, S.N. and E.N. Trubetskoy, P.A.Florensky, S.L. Frank, as well as the work of the Symbolist poets A. Bely, A. Blok, etc.

early years
Vladimir Solovyov was born in Moscow on January 16, 1853, in the family of the Russian historian Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov. Mother, Poliksena Vladimirovna, belonged to the noble Ukrainian-Polish Romanov family, among whose ancestors was the famous Ukrainian philosopher G.S. Skovoroda. Vl. Solovyov studied at the First Moscow Gymnasium, teaching in which was divided into general and special, and finished his studies at the Fifth Moscow Gymnasium.

University career
In 1869 he entered the natural sciences department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University, two years later he transferred to the Department of History and Philology. He studied the works of A.S. Khomyakov, Schelling and Hegel, Kant, Fichte.
In 1874, 21-year-old Solovyov wrote his first major work (master's thesis) "The Crisis of Western Philosophy", in which he opposed positivism and the division (dichotomy) of "speculative" (rationalistic) and "empirical" knowledge. The defense took place on November 24 at St. Petersburg State University, after which the philosopher receives the title of associate professor. He lectured for one semester at Moscow University, but on May 31, 1875, he went on a business trip to London to work at the British Museum. From there, on October 16, he embarked on a voyage to Egypt (Cairo), where he stayed for 4 months.
In June 1876, he resumed teaching at Moscow University, but due to a professorial squabble in March 1877, he left Moscow and moved to St. Petersburg, where he became a member of the Scientific Committee under the Ministry of Public Education and at the same time taught at the university.
On April 6, 1880 he defended his doctoral dissertation "Criticism of Abstract Principles". Mikhail Vladislavlev, who played an influential role at St. Petersburg University, who had previously positively assessed Solovyov's master's thesis, began to treat him rather coldly, so Vladimir Solovyov remained in the position of associate professor, but not professor. On March 28, 1881, he gave a lecture in which he called for pardon for the murderers of Alexander II. Reading the lecture, the text of which has not survived, is considered the reason for his departure from the university. Although the case remained without serious consequences.
He had no family; lived mostly on the estates of his friends or abroad; was an expansive, enthusiastic and impetuous person.
Death
By the end of the 1890s, his health began to deteriorate noticeably. In the summer of 1900, Solovyov arrived in Moscow to submit his translation of Plato to print. Already on July 15, the day of my name day, I felt very bad. On the same day, he asked his friend Davydov to take him to the Uzkoye estate near Moscow (now within Moscow, Profsoyuznaya st., 123a), which then belonged to Prince Pyotr Nikolaevich Trubetskoy, in which a friend and student of Vladimir Solovyov, a famous professor, then lived with his family Moscow University Sergei Trubetskoy, who was the half-brother of the owner of the estate. Solovyov arrived at the estate already seriously ill. Doctors determined that he had atherosclerosis, cirrhosis of the kidneys and uremia, as well as complete exhaustion of the body, but they could not help. V.S.Solovyov, after a two-week illness, died in Uzkoye, in the office of P.N. Trubetskoy on July 31 (August 13, new style), 1900. He was buried in the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent next to his father's grave.

Essays
The Crisis of Western Philosophy (1874)
Philosophical Principles of Integral Knowledge (1877)
Criticism of Abstract Principles (1880)
Three speeches in memory of Dostoevsky (1881-1883)
Towards True Philosophy (1883)
Russia and the Ecumenical Church (1889)
Beauty in Nature (1889)
The General Meaning of Art (1890)
The Decline of the Medieval Worldview (1891)
The Meaning of Love (1894)
Justifying Good (1897, 1899)
The Secret of Progress (1898)
Three Talks about War, Progress and the End of World History (1900)

The doctrine of law
Morality - always strives to build an ideal; prescribes proper behavior, is addressed only to the inner side of the will of the individual. Law is conditional in nature and implies a limitation, because in the legal field, an act and its result are important; considers the external manifestation of will - property, action, result of action.
The task of law is not to make the Kingdom of God on earth, but in order not to turn people's lives into Hell.
The purpose of law is to balance two moral interests: personal freedom and the common good. The "common good" should restrict the private interests of people, but it cannot replace them. Therefore, Solovyov opposed the death penalty and life imprisonment, which, in his opinion, contradicted the essence of law.
The law is "the restriction of personal freedom by the demands of the common good."
Signs of the law: 1) publicity; 2) concreteness; 3) real applicability.
Signs of power: 1) the publication of laws; 2) a fair trial; 3) execution of laws.
The state protects the interests of citizens.
Christian state - protects the interests of citizens and seeks to improve the conditions of human existence in society; takes care of economically weak persons.
The progress of the state consists in "constraining the inner moral world of a person as little as possible and as faithfully and broadly as possible to provide external conditions for a dignified existence and improvement of people."
“Legal compulsion does not compel anyone to be virtuous. Its task is to prevent an evil person from becoming a villain (dangerous to society). " Society cannot live exclusively according to the moral law. Legal laws and the state are needed to protect all interests.

Philosophy of Vladimir Soloviev
The main idea of ​​his religious philosophy was the idea: Sophia is the Soul of the World. It is about a mystical cosmic being that unites God with the earthly world; Sophia represents the eternal femininity in God and, at the same time, God's plan for the world. This image is found in the Bible; To Solovyov, he was discovered in a mystical vision, about which his poem "Three Dating" tells. The idea of ​​Sophia is realized in a threefold way: in theosophy the idea of ​​it is formed, in theurgy it is found, and in theocracy it is embodied.

Theosophy is literally Divine wisdom. It is a synthesis of scientific discoveries and revelations of the Christian religion within the framework of integral knowledge. Faith does not contradict reason, but complements it. Solovyov recognizes the idea of ​​evolution, but considers it an attempt to overcome the Fall through a breakthrough to God. Evolution goes through five stages or "kingdoms": mineral, vegetable, animal, human and God.
Theurgy is literally divine creation. Soloviev strongly opposed the moral neutrality of science. Theurgy is a cleansing practice, without which it is impossible to gain truth. It is based on the cultivation of Christian love as a renunciation of self-affirmation for the sake of unity with others.
Theocracy is literally the power of God, what Chaadaev called the perfect system. The theocratic state should be based on spiritual principles, and it should have not national, but universal character. According to Solovyov, the first step towards theocracy should have been the unification of the Russian monarchy with the Catholic Church. V. Soloviev sent a program document on this topic to Pope Leo XIII.
In the 1880s, Vladimir Solovyov wrote and published a number of works in which he promoted the idea of ​​the reunification of the Western and Eastern Churches under the leadership of the Pope (the most important of them is “Russia and the Ecumenical Church.” Paris, 1889), for which he was criticized by the Slavophiles and conservatives.

However, the Russian religious philosopher V.V. Rozanov in his article "The Disagreement between Dostoevsky and Solovyov" (1906) writes: "At the end of his life, in a deep moment of powerlessness, he expressed that he was refusing attempts at reconciliation between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, and died a strong Orthodox human. Thus, the suspicion of its strong Catholic coloring falls by itself. "

At the same time, there are sources from which, on the contrary, it follows that Solovyov in the last years of his life officially joined the Catholic Church. So, Ph.D., Assoc. Alexei Yudin of the Center for the Study of Religions of the Russian State Humanitarian University claims that V. Solovyov in 1896 in the house church of the first Russian Catholic priest pronounced the Catholic Creed (Trent), and also received Holy Communion at Mass. During the life of Solovyov, this fact was not known to the public. However, Soloviev was never a practicing Catholic. 08:12 A. Yudin "Russian Catholicism" // Site "PostNauka"

Influence on art
The main influence of creativity is noticeable in Russian Symbolism and Modernism at the beginning. 20c. In many ways, Alexander Blok and Vyacheslav Ivanov were guided by him. It is interesting that when in 1894-1895 Valery Bryusov came out with the collections "Russian Symbolists", Solovyov came out with evil and well-aimed parodies of their style.

Cultural influence
Vladimir Solovyov inspired Dostoevsky to create the image of Alyosha Karamazov in the novel The Brothers Karamazov. His influence can also be seen in the works of the Symbolists and Neo-Idealists of the late Soviet era. The influence of his cycle of articles "The Meaning of Love" can be traced in the story of L. Tolstoy "The Kreutzer Sonata" (1889).

Attitude towards Jews
Solovyov's attitude to the Jews was a consistent expression of his Christian universalism, ethical principles prescribing to love all peoples as their own. The rejection of Jesus by the Jews seemed to Solovyov the greatest tragedy that predetermined the entire future history of the Jewish people, but the philosopher blamed the Jews' stubborn rejection of Christianity not on the Jews, but on the Christians themselves.

The mutual relationship between Judaism and Christianity during the many centuries of their life together is one remarkable circumstance. Jews always and everywhere looked at Christianity and acted in relation to it according to the prescriptions of their religion, according to their faith and according to their law. Jews have always treated us like a Jew; we Christians, on the contrary, have not yet learned to treat Judaism in a Christian way. They never violated their religious law regarding us, but we constantly violated and are violating the commandments of the Christian religion with regard to them. If the Jewish law is bad, then their stubborn loyalty to this bad law is, of course, a sad phenomenon. But if it is bad to be faithful to a bad law, then it is even worse to be faithful to a good law, an absolutely perfect commandment.

- "Jewishness and the Christian question"
In 1890, the censorship did not let in the press the declaration against anti-Semitism, written by Solovyov and signed by a number of writers and scientists. It was printed abroad.

Soloviev not only defended Jews in his philosophical works, but also fought against the persecution of Jews in Russia. In letters to F. Getz, Solovyov denounced the pogroms and assured that his pen was always ready to defend poverty-stricken Israel. At the same time, Solovyov was not a sentimental Philosemite; he did not idealize the Jewish people and repeatedly pointed out the shortcomings, in his opinion, of the Jews:

The Jewish people, showing the worst sides of human nature, "a hard-headed people" and with a stone heart, this same people is the people of the saints and the prophets of God
On his deathbed, Solovyov prayed for the Jewish people and read a psalm in Hebrew. The death of Solovyov caused deep sorrow for all Russian Jewry. In synagogues, prayers were read for the repose of the soul of Solovyov, one of the "righteous among the peoples of the world."

Panmongolism
Solovyov did not have a serious orientalist education, but allowed ambiguous statements about the Eastern peoples and was the author of the negative term "pan-mongolism", in which he put apocalyptic content.

“If the end of the war in general I consider impossible before the final catastrophe, then in the closest rapprochement and peaceful cooperation of all Christian peoples and states, I see not only a possible, but a necessary and morally obligatory way of salvation for the Christian world from being absorbed by the lower elements. "
“It seems to me that the success of Pan-Mongolism will be facilitated in advance by the stubborn and exhausting struggle that some European states will have to endure against the awakened Islam in West Asia, North and Central Africa. "
End of world history [edit | edit source]
The concept of “the end of world history” is considered by Vladimir Solovyov in his book “Three conversations about war, progress and the end of world history”, by which he understands the second coming of Christ, God's judgment and the end of the struggle between good and evil on Earth.

Read the biography of the philosopher thinker: facts of life, main ideas and teachings

VLADIMIR SERGEEVICH SOLOVIEV
(1853-1900)

Russian religious philosopher, poet, publicist. Soloviev's philosophy of all-unity is a synthesis of the ideas of Western European and Eastern thought. He tried to find harmony between cosmic and social themes in the concept of "all-unity" and the doctrine of Sophia, and in epistemology - in "integral knowledge". Major works "Readings on God-manhood" (1877-1878), "Criticism of Abstract Principles" (1880), "History and Future of Theocracy" (1887), "Plato's Life Drama" (1888), "Russia and the Ecumenical Church" (1889) , "The Meaning of Love" (1892-1884), "Justification of Good" (1897-1899), "Three Conversations" (1900).

Vladimir Sergeevich Soloviev was born on January 16, 1853 in the family of the famous historian Sergei Mikhailovich Soloviev. The father was distinguished by severity and indisputable authority. From the side of Polyxena Vladimirovna's mother, Soloviev belonged to the Ukrainian-Polish surname, was a relative of the thinker Grigory Skovoroda.

The philosopher was proud of his ancestor, believed that he inherited his spirituality from him. In total, the Soloviev family had twelve children. In his youth, nothing betrayed a future religious thinker in Soloviev. Rather, he could have predicted a career in science.

"I have never met such a passionately convinced materialist afterwards. He was a typical nihilist of the 60s," his friend testifies.

Since 1864, Vladimir studied at the Moscow 5th gymnasium. He graduated from it with a gold medal, and his name was entered on the gymnasium Gold Board. In 1869, Soloviev entered Moscow University, at the request of his father - at the Faculty of History and Philology, but in the same year he transferred to the Physics and Mathematics Department.

The future philosopher did not have the ability and interest in physics and mathematics, so he failed the exam in his second year. Disappointment in the natural sciences in general gradually accumulated.

“This knowledge,” he wrote in October 1871 to his cousin Katya Romanova, whom he was in love with, “is in itself completely empty and ghostly. works ". In another letter (March 7, 1872). "... Science cannot be the last goal of life. The highest true goal of life is different - moral (or religious), for which science also serves as one of the means."

In the end, Solovyov decides to leave the physics and mathematics department and take an external student to the historical and philological department. He carried out his intention in 1873. Soloviev is fascinated by Spinoza, and even more by Schopenhauer.

At the same time, he is experiencing an unsuccessful love experience. In his autobiographical story "At the Dawn of Hazy Youth," Soloviev describes an explanation with his cousin Katya Romanova, whom he intended to marry. After listening to his passionate words, mixed with an appeal to follow the path of self-denial of will, she responded with a calm and firm refusal. "I hasten to note that this was my last experience of converting young girls to the path of self-denial of the will." Prior to that, Soloviev had a fleeting romance with his young aunt A. Petkovich, who bestowed kisses on him, and he introduced her to the foundations of Schopenhauer's philosophy.

Even before breaking up with Katya, in 1874, Soloviev entered the Theological Academy as a free listener. Here the candidate (that is, the holder of a diploma) from Moscow University is considered either a nihilist, or a religious fanatic, or simply crazy. Someone started a rumor that he wanted to become a monk. Soloviev keeps aloof, the opinion of those around him does not bother him, he is completely immersed in philosophical and theological studies. Makes confident steps in versification.

In his frame of mind, he is close to the Slavophiles. However, Soloviev carefully studies the entire history of Western philosophy, especially Kant, and translates Kant's Prolegomena. The first article "The mythological process in ancient paganism" is published, reproducing the ideas of Schelling and Khomyakov. His historical and philosophical articles appear in the journal Pravoslavnoye Obozreniye, which will then form the basis of his master's thesis. Among his contemporaries, he admired Dostoevsky. The writer said that he "saw the truth", the philosopher had to state and substantiate it, which he did. And if he did not succeed completely, then this was explained by the shortness of the days allotted to him.

Soloviev was carried away by Dostoevsky's Russian idea and dedicated a special pamphlet to it. Moreover, his whole life, all his work were aimed at a deeper understanding of the various aspects of this idea. Professor of Moscow University P. Yurkevich drew attention to the gifted young man, who highly appreciated Kant's Solov'ev translation. He saw in Solov'ev his successor in the Department of Philosophy and took him under his patronage, offering to defend his thesis.

For protection, I had to go to St. Petersburg. It took place on November 24, 1874. The dissertation was titled "The Crisis of Western Philosophy (Oppositivists)".

Here, for the first time, Soloviev formulated his favorite idea of ​​total unity, a synthesis of Western and Eastern cultures, which he will carry through all his life. "The newest philosophy, - argued Soloviev, - with the logical perfection of the Western form seeks to combine the fullness of the content of spiritual contemplation of the East. positive sciences, this philosophy, on the other hand, gives a hand to religion. The implementation of this universal synthesis of science, philosophy and religion - should be the highest goal and the last result of mental development. " In January 1875, barely celebrating his twenty-second birthday, Soloviev was already at the department of Moscow University and gave an introductory lecture to the course in the history of modern philosophy. His patron Yurkevich had died shortly before, and in accordance with the will of the deceased, a young associate professor became his successor. The course was relatively small, based on a master's thesis.

At the same time, Soloviev taught at the Ger'e courses for women. The course student Elizaveta Polivanova, who listened with enthusiasm to his lectures, said: "Solovyov has wonderful blue-gray eyes, thick dark eyebrows, a beautifully shaped forehead and nose, thick rather long and somewhat curly hair ... This face is beautiful and with an unusually inspired expression, as if not of this world, I think such faces should have been among Christian martyrs. " If Liza Polivanova had not been hopelessly in love with another person, she could have become the wife of a philosopher. The girl made a strong impression on Solovyov. The philosopher made sure that he was introduced to her, made an offer, but was again refused.

Soon he applied for an overseas business trip and in July 1875 began to study ancient historical and philosophical texts in the British Museum. Moscow University sent Soloviev to England to study at the British Museum of Gnostic and Medieval Philosophy.

Let us note one circumstance that is important for understanding the fate of Solovyov: he was a visionary, he had visions. At the age of nine, he saw the Divine Wisdom - Sophia. Already being a candidate, and then a master of philosophy, he was fond of spiritualism, believing, but not believing in what happened during the sessions. When the spirit of the late Yurkevich appeared to him, doubts seemed to dissipate completely. But when he found himself in London and went to the spiritualists there, he discovered charlatanism. “English spiritualism,” he wrote to his friend, “made the same impression on me as the French charlatans, on the one hand, blindly believers, on the other, and a small grain of real magic.” Soloviev is looking for the true paths to the supersensible. In the British Museum, forgetting to dine, he sits for days over books about Kabbalah, keeps mysterious notes.

With a letter of recommendation to the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Russian Consul, he went to Egypt. Visits local sights. In the desert, one day I came across Bedouins, who in the darkness took him (walking among the sands in a cylinder) for Satan and almost killed him. And soon he was going through a new meeting with Sophia. This is discussed not only in "Three Dating", but also in the written poem. In Cairo, where Soloviev spent the whole winter, he began to write the dialogue "Sophia". The philosopher talks with wisdom itself (Sophia).

Wisdom presupposes love. The morality of universal religion is based on love. Natural love, in other words, sexual love, is of a purely personal nature. Intellectual love is directed towards the fatherland, towards humanity, towards God. Soloviev considers it possible to synthesize two types of love - this is absolute love, the spiritual community of the universal church. The latter is also a hierarchical organization headed by the Pope, each part of the world has its own patriarch, followed by metropolitans, bishops, etc. The Holy Fathers are the legislators; in addition to them, Soloviev sees in society a vast stratum of producers - artisans and farmers. A special role in Soloviev's utopia is assigned to women: they are educators. The dialogue "Sophia" outlines the contours of all future searches of Soloviev - in the field of philosophy, religion, culture.

Returning to Russia (via Sorrento, Nice, Paris), Soloviev turns to the systematization of his ideas. In the fall of 1876, he reads a course in logic and history of philosophy at Moscow University. At the same time he is working on the work "Philosophical Foundations of Integral Knowledge", which he intends to defend as a doctoral dissertation and is published in parts in periodicals. This work deals with three types of philosophy. Two of them relate exclusively to human cognitive ability - empiricism and idealism. Soloviev's sympathies belong to the third kind of philosophy, which embraces not only knowledge, but also the higher potencies of the soul - moral and artistic feeling. Soloviev calls this "philosophy of life" and "mysticism."

Whole knowledge is a synthesis of three types of philosophizing and consists, according to Solovyov, of three parts of any traditional system of philosophy - logic, metaphysics, ethics. Soloviev begins with logic. And it stops: the work remained unfinished. In 1877, in the journal "Russian Bulletin" Soloviev began to publish a new work - "Critique of Abstract Principles", which he defended in three years as a doctoral dissertation. The defense took place in St. Petersburg without any complications, Soloviev became a doctor of philosophy. He left Moscow University in February 1877 (not wishing to participate in professorial strife). In the summer of the same year, he went to the theater of military operations with Turkey as a correspondent. He even acquired a revolver, which, of course, he did not have to use: he never got to the front line.

The patriotic upsurge that he experienced in those days is evidenced by his public lecture "Three Forces" delivered in Moscow. The three forces that determine the fate of history are the Muslim East, Western civilization, and the Slavic world. In the first case, all spheres of human activity are in a state of impersonality and unity, this is the world of an inhuman God. Western civilization has brought to the limit the free play of private interests, this is the world of individualism and egoism, the world of a godless person. The third force is designed to overcome the limitation of the two lower positions.

"Only the Slavs, especially Russia, remained free of these two lower potencies and, therefore, can become the historical guide of the third. Meanwhile, the first two forces have completed the circle of their manifestation and led the peoples under their control to spiritual death and decay. So, I repeat. , or this is the end of history, or the inevitable discovery of a third all-inclusive force, the only bearer of which can be the Slavs and the Russian people. "

At the beginning of 1878, he reads a series of lectures on the philosophy of religion, which, when published, is called "Lectures on God-manhood." The lectures were a great success, the entire educated capital gathered "for Soloviev." According to Dostoevsky, the readings were attended by "a crowd of almost a thousand." Leo Tolstoy also visited them. Soloviev will make friends with Dostoevsky (they will make a trip to Optina Pustyn together), relations with Tolstoy will remain cool.

In "Readings ..." Soloviev already looks equally critically at both Western and Eastern Christianity. He attacks Catholicism as before, but recognizes the merits of this religion: the West fostered the idea of ​​individuality, embodied in the image of the "God-man." The East created the image of a "man-god", the personification of universalism. The challenge is to bring together both Christian principles, "... and as a result of this free combination to give birth to spiritual humanity." The idea of ​​synthesis invariably possesses the mind of Solovyov, before he defended it in philosophy, now he transfers it to religious affairs, which in the near future will absorb him entirely.

In the "Readings ..." the concept of all-unity is deployed on a cosmic scale. The cosmogonic process leads, according to Solov'ev, to the merging of God and the world that has fallen away from him. The astral epoch, when matter is concentrated in stellar bodies, is replaced by an organic epoch, the culmination of which is man. "In man, the world soul unites for the first time with the divine Logos in consciousness as a pure form of all-unity." Man becomes a mediator between God and the world, the organizer and organizer of the Universe.

Soloviev teaches at St. Petersburg University. After defending his doctorate, he is eligible for a professorship, but he is still kept as a privat-docent. Soon he abandons academic activities (never becoming a professor) - after he spoke out in defense of the regicides, but by no means because of this. When the trial was over, Soloviev, in a public lecture, turned to Alexander III with an appeal to pardon the participants in the attempt on his father. Judging by the preserved record, the words of Solovyov also contained a certain threat. ". if state power is denied from the Christian principle and embarks on a bloody path, we will go out, distance ourselves, renounce it."

The next day he was invited to the mayor and demanded an explanation. The matter took a serious turn, they reported to the tsar. The sovereign ordered to make the philosopher a suggestion and ordered him to refrain from public speaking for some time. He was not expelled from the university. Apparently, his departure was associated with a reluctance to continue teaching, which he did not like very much because of the low level of teaching philosophy, the obligatory schedule of lectures ... He moved to Moscow.

In St. Petersburg he lived in a hotel, in Moscow - with his mother (father died in 1879). After returning from Egypt, Vl. Soloviev met SA Tolstaya and her niece Sofia Petrovna Khitrovo. For married Khitrovo Soloviev had serious feelings and was ready to marry her. But she, who was very affectionate towards Soloviev, nevertheless refused to reciprocate him, not wanting to divorce her husband. This love lasted more than ten years, but it never came to marriage, although Soloviev was a regular guest of Tolstoy and Khitrovo in their estate Pustynka near St. Petersburg and in the estate of Krasny Rog near Bryansk.

It seems that the hopes of marriage with her Soloviev experienced most of all in the spring of 1883. When Vl. Soloviev received a letter from Sofya Petrovna, he read it with pauses, a few words at a time. "Why is there incomprehensible! - he said - If I read everything at once, there would be no consolation ahead, and so I enjoy bliss. Well, on the other hand, it teaches self-control."

In 1887, the novel, apparently, came to a sad end, as far as can be judged from the three poems of this year, "Joyless love, the fateful denouement! .." (January 1), "My friend! Before, as now" (April 3) and "Poor friend, your journey has weary ..." (September 18). Soloviev at this time was already beginning to fall ill, suffered from chronic insomnia, from which he could not find any remedies, and at night in his mind he painfully parted with the image of his beloved woman.

But let us return to the year 1883, when Soloviev publishes a small, but extremely important for understanding the concept of total-unity, article "On the Way to True Philosophy." Analyzing the views of one of Schopenhauer's students, he formulates his main idea: "Neither pure substance, consisting in one stretch, nor pure spirit, consisting in one thought, actually exists ... All our reality, we ourselves and the world in which we live, equally far from pure thought and from pure mechanism.

The entire real world consists in a constant relationship and continuous internal interaction of the ideal and material nature. "A new stage in the work of Solovyov begins, when he turns entirely to the problems of religion. The unification of the churches - Orthodox and Catholic - is, in his opinion, an urgent task. In the newspaper Rus, published by Ivan Aksakov, Soloviev publishes the work The Great Debate and Christian Politics, where he raises the question of restoring church unity. Soloviev writes. "On the day of the fall of Constantinople, in view of the advancing Turkish troops, the last free statement of the Greeks was the cry:" Better slavery to Muslims than an agreement with the Latins. " We cite this not to reproach the unfortunate Greeks. ”“ Rus ”publishes indignant letters from readers Solovyov is accused of antipatriotism, of forgetting Russian interests, someone spread a rumor that he had converted to Catholicism.

Soloviev conceived a three-volume work on the defense of Catholicism, but for various reasons only the works "The History and Future of Theocracy" (1885-1887) and "Russia and the Ecumenical Church", written and published in Paris in French in 1888, were published. Soloviev had traveled to Croatia two years earlier. The local Catholic bishop Strossmayer, having learned about Solovyov's ideas, invited him to Zapheb (in this city there is Solovyov Street in memory of the visit of the Russian philosopher). Here Soloviev, in the form of a letter to Strossmeier, creates a kind of memorandum on the unification of churches. He fell into the hands of Pope Leo XIII and earned his approval. But the matter did not go further than this.

The Russian clergy and Slavophiles are outraged by Soloviev. His works on religious themes are banned in Russia. But he does not receive support abroad either. Some Catholics see him as a heretic, he has to defend the Orthodox Church from their attacks.

Disappointed, lonely, Soloviev returns from France to his homeland. Having joined the discussion about the fate of the Russian people, Soloviev opposes two extreme positions - "feudalists" and "worshipers". Solov'ev had to polemize with the new generation of Slavophiles - Danilevsky and Strakhov. "Russia and Europe" of the first and "Struggle with the West in our literature" of the second were unacceptable for Solovyov, since they contradicted his idea of ​​a synthesis of cultures. But it would be unfair to accuse the philosopher of renouncing his homeland and betraying it. It is no coincidence that he expounded his idea of ​​the unity of Christian peoples in a pamphlet called "The Russian Idea" (1888).

"The Russian people are a Christian people, and therefore, in order to know the true Russian idea, it is impossible to pose the question of what Russia will do through itself and for itself, but what it should do in the name of the Christian principle, recognized by it, and for the good of the entire Christian world, of which it is supposed to be a part. " And once again Soloviev insistently emphasizes: "The Russian idea cannot consist in the renunciation of our baptism. The Russian idea, the historical duty of Russia requires us to recognize our inextricable connection with the universal family of Christ." Here is the national profile of Solovyov, formulated in a dispute with Strakhov.

"1. Nationality is a positive force, and every people has the right to an independent (from other peoples) existence and free development of their national characteristics.

2 Nationality is the most important factor in natural-human life, and the development of national identity is a great success in the history of mankind. "

Further, Soloviev condemns national egoism, that is, the desire of one people to assert itself at the expense of other peoples. In Solovyov's profamma there is no "admiration for the West", he values ​​and loves his native, Russian, protesting only against national egoism, which is destructive like any other.

The article "Beauty in Nature" (1889) opens a new period in the work of Solovyov. In it, he examines the main problems of aesthetics. "Beauty will save the world," he says, attributing the aphorism to Dostoevsky. For Solovyov, beauty is an expression of "positive total unity", a certain primordial essence that determines the structure of being. The philosopher defines beauty as the objective embodiment of the idea of ​​organization. Accepting the thesis about the objectivity of beauty, Soloviev rejected, however, the idea of ​​the superiority of natural beauty over that created by the artist. The beauty of nature, Soloviev notes, embodies the idea only in an external, superficial way, the task of art is to objectify the inner beauty. Nature is devoid of a moral principle, art must spiritualize nature.

In the early 1880s, he became acquainted with the ideas of Nikolai Fedorov. Overcoming death, the return to life of all the dead, the conquest of space to meet their vital needs - these are the main points of Fedorov's "common cause."

Soloviev writes to Fedorov that "since the emergence of Christianity, your" project "is the first movement of Christianity along the path of Christ. For my part, I can only recognize you as my teacher and spiritual father." Later Solovyov parted ways with Fedorov on two points.

First, he considered it inexpedient to revive humanity "at the level of cannibalism", that is, to return life to those who are not worthy of it.

Secondly, Soloviev believed that the resurrection should have a "religious, not scientific character."

Soloviev interpreted Fedorov's utopia as a demand for spiritual renewal. It was about spiritual renewal that he spoke in his lecture entitled "On the causes of the decline of the medieval world outlook." He called Western individualism "medieval world outlook", here he included the idea of ​​"personal salvation". It is necessary to be saved not by individual deeds of this or that person, but by one common deed of united humanity. Soloviev urged to recognize Christianity as a common cause of mankind. The trouble with modern religion is the neglect of the material principle. That is why material progress - a completely Christian matter - was carried out by unbelievers.

To believers and unbelievers, Soloviev calls on to exercise his solidarity with mother earth, to save her from mortification, in order to save himself from death. Soloviev's lecture caused a scandal. Liberals saw in her a renunciation of individual freedom. "He wants to save in a herd, not one by one, as before" - the opinion of the historian Klyuchevsky. The conservatives interpreted Solovyov's speech as a mockery of Orthodoxy, demanded that the philosopher be sent abroad, and persecution in the press began. Soloviev fought back as best he could.

In the work "The Meaning of Love" (1892-1894), the high spiritual feeling that unites people appears as completely earthly, bodily, generated by "mother earth". But this inner and outer spirituality was surprisingly combined with a cheerful disposition, with constant playfulness, with love for his own and other people's anecdotes, with comic works that occupy far from the last place in the collection of his poems.

He dressed in whatever he got and out of forgetfulness even went out into the street in a red blanket, which he used to hide at night. The philosopher often carried with him a stick with antlers, which had previously belonged to A.K. Tolstoy and presented to Vl. Solovyov, the widow of the poet S. A. Tolstoy. He always smelled of turpentine, as that was his favorite scent. He did not like and did not know the fine arts, music and theater, but he passionately loved poetry. He also loved chess.

Many talked about the famous Solovyov's laugh. SM Solov'ev even gives something like an approximate general formula for this laughter.

"They wrote a lot about the laughter of V. Solovyov. Some found in this laughter something hysterical, eerie, strained. This is not true. V.S.'s laugh was either the healthy Olympic laughter of a frantic baby, or the Mephistophelean laugh he-he, or both the other together. "

Carelessness and wandering are typical features of Vl. Solovyov. But the attitude of Vl. Solovyov was warm and compassionate to people. Soloviev is in love again. Again a married woman with children. Again Sofia - Sofia Mikhailovna Martynova. He met her at the end of 1891. In the same year, another significant event takes place in his life, he becomes the editor of the philosophical section of the Brockhaus-Efron encyclopedia.

Among the many articles written for the encyclopedia is "Love". In this article, Soloviev defines love as "the attraction of an animate being to another in order to unite with him and mutually replenish life." From the reciprocity of relationships, he deduces three types of love. First, a descending love that gives more than it receives. Secondly, upward love, when more is received than given. Thirdly, when both are balanced.

In the first case, this is parental love, it is based on pity and compassion, includes the care of the strong for the weak, the elders for the younger, outgrowing family relations, it creates a fatherland.

The second case is the love of children for their parents, it rests on a feeling of gratitude and reverence, outside the family, it gives rise to an idea of ​​spiritual values, God, religion.

The fullness of vital reciprocity is achieved in sexual love, the emotional basis of this third type of love is created by pity and reverence, combined with a feeling of shame.

The meaning of love is the creation of a new person. This should be understood both in a figurative sense - as the birth of a new spiritual image, and literally - as a continuation of the human race. Love acts as a factor that transforms the Universe.

Soloviev spent the second half of 1893 abroad - Sweden, Scotland, France. Returning to his homeland, he begins to create his main work - "Justification of Good". The look at the structure of philosophy remains the same - ethics, epistemology, aesthetics, but the initial principles have undergone changes. The "Justification of Good" was to be followed by the unwritten work "Justification of Truth" (three fragments, united by the general heading "Theoretical Philosophy" - blanks of this work).

There is evidence that Soloviev thought about creating "Justification of Beauty", but there were no blanks either. The feeling of shame distinguishes man from animals, says Soloviev in Justification of Good. Shame, pity, reverence - these are the three elementary experiences from which morality arises. From these three experiences Solov'ev deduces all the wealth of a person's spiritual life.

In Plato's Life Drama (1898), the philosopher returns to the theme of love. He sees five possible paths in love - two false and three true.

The first way of love - the "hellish" Solovyov does not want to talk about it (apparently, this means masturbation, which in those years was considered fatal to the body).

The second false path is the animal, indiscriminate gratification of the sex drive.

The third way (the first of the true ones) is marriage, in which man “rejects his immediate animality and accepts, takes the norm of reason. Without this great institution, as without bread and wine, without fire, without philosophy, humanity could, of course, exist, but in a manner unworthy of man - an animal custom. "

The fourth way is asceticism, mortification of the flesh, angelic being. But an angel from the Christian point of view is lower than a person, therefore monasticism, although a feat, is not the highest for a person.

The fifth, highest path of love is divine love, when in the foreground appears not the sex of a person, not his half, but an integral person, in the union of the masculine and feminine principles. In this case, a person becomes a "superman", a "god-man", it is here that the main task of love is solved - to perpetuate the beloved, to save from death and decay.

Soloviev speaks of this kind of love in another work ("Russia and the Universal Church", 1890) that it is the force that leads us internally out of the boundaries of our given existence. "This love brings down the grace of God to earthly nature and celebrates the victory not only over moral evil, but also over its physical consequences - sickness and death."

The work "The Idea of ​​the Superman" (1899) takes the conversation from the realm of higher love to the natural science sphere. The first thing that will make a person superman is the victory over death. Solov'ev expects individual immortality from science. The philosophy of love grows here into the philosophy of the boundless progress of mankind.

In The Brief Tale of the Antichrist, which crowns his last major work, Three Conversations (1900), Soloviev, in the language of a newspaper report, tells in detail about the conquest of Europe by the yellow race. In this case, Russia is dying, but once and for all. Europe is liberated from the new Mongol invasion without the participation of the Russians. A world empire emerges, headed by the Antichrist and with the capital in Jerusalem.

The last act of world tragedy is the clash of the multi-tribal pagan army of the Antichrist with the army of Israel. Initially, the Israelites supported the Antichrist, believing that he was seeking to establish their world dominion, but accidentally learning that he was not circumcised, they rebelled against him. The army of the Antichrist falls into tartar, and the crucified Christ "in the royal garment" appears to the Jews, and they fraternize with the Christians. The dead are raised and reign with Christ for a thousand years.

There is an element of irony (and even parody) in this whole story. Soloviev opposes all kinds of messianism. Moreover, the main object of criticism is Tolstoyism, Tolstoy's doctrine of non-resistance to evil by violence. And yet the presentiment of catastrophe did not leave the thinker. After "Three Conversations" a small note "Concerning Recent Events" was published posthumously - a kind of spiritual testament of the philosopher.

"The historical drama has been played, and there is still one more epilogue, which, however, like Ibsen's, can stretch over five acts. But their content is essentially known."

In 1896 the husband of Sofia Petrovna Khitrovo died. Soloviev, who had survived before this passion for S.M. Martynova, retained a warm feeling for Sofya Petrovna. He proposed to her, but was refused. They remained friends, and Soloviev, who did not change his wandering habits, often visited her estate.

In the spring of 1898, Soloviev unexpectedly went to Egypt. His path lies through Constantinople. At sea he is tormented by hallucinations. Once entering the cabin, Soloviev saw a hairy monster. It was on Easter, and Soloviev decisively declared to the devil, "Do you know that Christ is risen?" With a cry "He is risen, he is risen, but I will finish you all the same," the devil rushed to Solovyov. The philosopher was found unconscious on the floor of the cabin.

In St. Petersburg, he had to go to a psychiatrist. Soloviev planned to travel from Egypt to Palestine. The money, however, was not enough (the philosopher did not know how to count it, he did not spend it, but simply distributed it). In the spring of the following year, he visited the Riviera, then Switzerland.

After living in St. Petersburg for some time, Soloviev comes to Moscow. In the fall he returns to St. Petersburg. His health is weakening, he often resorts to alcohol in order to somehow invigorate himself. Still working a lot. Unable to respond to the correspondence coming to him, he asks through the newspaper Novoye Vremya to understand and spare him. Simultaneously informs about his plans

"1) Plato's translation with sketches about him, 2) theoretical philosophy, 3) aesthetics, 4) Pushkin's aesthetic analysis, 5) biblical philosophy with the translation and interpretation of the Bible."

With a few exceptions (Plato, an article on Pushkin), the plans remained unfulfilled. The summer of 1900 found him in the estate of S.P. Khitrovo Pustynka. In June he was already in Moscow, intending then to visit his sister in the Kaluga province and a friend in Tambov. In Moscow, he felt bad, with difficulty he got to the estate of Prince E.N. Trubetskoy Uzkoe. Here, having been ill for two weeks (the diagnosis was complete exhaustion, sclerosis, cirrhosis of the kidneys, uremia), Vladimir Soloviev died on July 31, 1900. They buried him in the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent next to his father's grave.

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Soloviev Sergei Mikhailovich (1820-1879), historian.

Born May 17, 1820 in Moscow into a priest's family. In 1838-1842. studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow University.

In 1842-1844. Solovyov, as teachers of the children of Count A.G. Stroganov, visited Europe, where he attended lectures at the universities of Berlin, Paris and Heidelberg. In his youth he was a Slavophile, then he joined the Westernizers.

In 1845, after defending his master's thesis “On the attitude of Novgorod to the Moscow grand dukes,” Solovyov received the department of Russian history at Moscow University.

In 1847 he defended his doctoral dissertation "The history of relations between the Russian princes of Rurik's house". In 1864-1870. served as dean of the Faculty of History and Philology, in 1871-1877. was the rector of Moscow University. Since 1872 - a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Solovyov left a rich scientific heritage. His main work is "History of Russia from Ancient Times" in 29 volumes (1851-1879; the last volume was published posthumously). The scientist relied on rich factual material, while not only setting out events, but striving to explain the laws of the historical process, the essence of which he saw in the progress of society and the relationship between the development of different countries. The history of Russia in the understanding of Solovyov is the history of statehood. The main content of the changes consists in the development of a tribal life into a state one. The historian examined primarily the course of the country's internal development (political events, the colonization of new territories, the emergence of cities, the change in the nature of the power of princes, etc.). The state and the people, in his opinion, cannot be divided, since the state is the people itself in its development, the individual experiences the influence of his people and time. Great personalities understand and satisfy the people's needs, thereby ensuring the development of their state.

Russian religious thinker, mystic, poet, publicist, literary critic

Vladimir Soloviev

short biography

Vladimir Sergeevich Soloviev(January 28, 1853, Moscow - August 13, 1900, Uzkoye estate, Moscow province) - Russian religious thinker, mystic, poet, publicist, literary critic; Honorary Academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in the category of fine literature (1900). He stood at the origins of the Russian "spiritual revival" at the beginning of the 20th century. Influenced the religious philosophy of Nikolai Berdyaev, Sergei Bulgakov, Sergei and Evgeny Trubetskoy, Pavel Florensky, Semyon Frank, as well as the work of the Symbolist poets Andrei Bely, Alexander Blok and others.

Vladimir Solovyov is one of the central figures in Russian philosophy of the 19th century, both in his scientific contribution and in the influence he exerted on the views of scientists and other representatives of the creative intelligentsia. He founded a movement known as Christian philosophy. Vladimir Solovyov objected to the division of Christianity into Catholicism and Orthodoxy and defended the ideas of ecumenism. He developed a new approach to the study of man, which became predominant in Russian philosophy and psychology in the late 19th - early 20th centuries.

early years

Vladimir Solovyov was born in Moscow on January 16, 1853, in the family of the Russian historian Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov (1820-1879). Mother, Poliksena Vladimirovna, belonged to the noble family of the Romanovs, which had Polish and Cossack roots. Among the ancestors of the Romanovs was the famous Russian and Ukrainian philosopher G.S. Skovoroda, who was Vladimir Solovyov's great-uncle. The younger brother of the future novelist Vsevolod Solovyov (1849-1903).

Education

Solovyov studied at the First Moscow Gymnasium, teaching in which was divided into general and special, and finished his studies at the Fifth Moscow Gymnasium.

After graduating from the gymnasium in 1869, he entered the natural sciences department of the physics and mathematics faculty of Moscow University, two years later moving to the historical and philological department. In 1872, he had a whirlwind romance on a train to Kharkov with a random fellow traveler Julie, after which he experienced a mystical vision of Sophia. During his student years, Soloviev became interested in spiritualism. After graduating from the university in 1873, on special request he was left at the Department of Philosophy to prepare for a professorship. In early September 1873 Soloviev moved to Sergiev Posad and for a year he attended lectures at the Theological Academy.

21-year-old Solovyov wrote his master's work "The Crisis of Western Philosophy", in which he opposed positivism and the separation (dichotomy) of "speculative" (theoretical) and "empirical" knowledge. Defense took place on November 24, 1874 at St. Petersburg State University, after which he received the title of staff assistant professor of philosophy and lectured at Moscow University for one semester.

Trip abroad

May 31, 1875 went on a business trip to London to work in the British Museum " with the aim of studying Indian, Gnostic and medieval philosophy". He reached his destination through Warsaw and Berlin. In London, Solovyov gets acquainted with spiritualism and studies Kabbalah. On October 16, 1875, he embarked on an unexpected voyage to Egypt, associated with a mystical vision of Sophia. His path ran through France and Italy. From Brindisi, Soloviev went by steamer to Alexandria. In November he arrived in Cairo, where he remained until March 1876, making a trip to the vicinity of Thebais. Then he returned to Italy, lived in Sorrento, Naples and Paris, from where he returned to Moscow.

Career

In June 1876 he resumed teaching at Moscow University, in March 1877 he left Moscow and moved to St. Petersburg, where he became a member of the Academic Committee under the Ministry of Public Education and at the same time taught at the university. In St. Petersburg, Soloviev became friends with Dostoevsky. During the Russian-Turkish war, he experienced an upsurge of patriotism and almost went to the front. By this time, the philosophical views of Solovyov were finally formed.

V.S.Soloviev. Portrait by I.E.Repin in 1891

On April 6, 1880 he defended his doctoral dissertation "Criticism of Abstract Principles". Mikhail Vladislavlev, who played an influential role at St. Petersburg University, who had previously positively assessed Solovyov's master's thesis, began to treat him rather coldly, so Vladimir Solovyov remained in the position of associate professor, but not professor. On March 28, 1881, he gave a lecture in which he called for pardon for the murderers of Alexander II, after which he left the university.

He had no family. He lived mostly on the estates of his friends or abroad.

Death

Researchers are convinced that he undermined his body with significant periods of fasting and intense exercise, and in addition, he gradually poisoned himself with turpentine, which has a destructive effect on the kidneys.

The room where he lived was usually saturated with the smell of turpentine. He attributed to this liquid either mystical or healing value. He said that turpentine protects against all diseases, sprinkled it on the bed, clothes, beard, hair, floor and walls of the room, and when he was going to visit, he moistened his hands with turpentine and cologne and jokingly called it "Bouquet Solovieff".<…>Friends repeatedly tried to warn him about the danger of abuse of turpentine, but until very recently he showed extraordinary stubbornness in this matter.

- Velichko V.L. Vladimir Soloviev. Life and Creations.

For "turpentine cleansing from demons" he<…>paid with his life, gradually poisoned himself with turpentine

- Makovsky S.K. On the Parnassus of the Silver Age. - M .: XXI century-Consent, 2000 .-- S. 560.

V.S.Soloviev. Portrait by N. A. Yaroshenko 1892

By the end of the 1890s, his health began to deteriorate noticeably. In the summer of 1900, Solovyov arrived in Moscow to submit his translation of Plato to print. Already on July 15, the day of my name day, I felt very bad. On the same day, he asked his friend Davydov to take him to the Uzkoye estate near Moscow (now within Moscow, Profsoyuznaya st., 123a), which then belonged to Prince Pyotr Nikolaevich Trubetskoy, in which a friend and student of Vladimir Solovyov, a famous professor, then lived with his family Moscow University Sergei Trubetskoy, half-brother of the owner of the estate. Solovyov arrived at the estate already seriously ill. Doctors determined that he had atherosclerosis, cirrhosis of the kidneys and uremia, as well as complete exhaustion of the body, but they could not help. Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov died in Uzkoye after a two-week illness, in the office of P.N. Trubetskoy on July 31 (August 13, new style), 1900. He was buried in the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent next to his father's grave.

The doctrine of law

Morality - always strives to build an ideal; prescribes proper behavior, is addressed only to the inner side of the will of the individual.

Law is conditional in nature and implies a limitation, because in the legal field, an act and its result are important; considers the external manifestation of will - property, action, result of action.

The task of law is not to make the Kingdom of God on earth, but not to turn people's lives into Hell.

The purpose of law is to balance two moral interests: personal freedom and the common good. The "common good" should restrict the private interests of people, but it cannot replace them. Therefore, Solovyov opposed the death penalty and life imprisonment, which, in his opinion, contradicted the essence of law.

The law is "the restriction of personal freedom by the demands of the common good."

Signs of the law: 1) publicity; 2) concreteness; 3) real applicability.

Signs of power: 1) the publication of laws; 2) a fair trial; 3) execution of laws.

The state- protects the interests of citizens.

Christian state- protects the interests of citizens and seeks to improve the conditions of human existence in society; takes care of economically weak persons.

State progress- consists in "constraining the inner moral world of a person as little as possible and as accurately and broadly as possible to provide external conditions for a dignified existence and improvement of people."

“Legal compulsion does not compel anyone to be virtuous. Its task is to prevent an evil person from becoming a villain (dangerous to society). ”Society cannot live exclusively by moral law. Legal laws and the state are needed to protect all interests.

Philosophy of Vladimir Soloviev

The main idea of ​​his religious philosophy was Sophia - the Soul of the World, understood as a mystical cosmic being that unites God with the earthly world. Sophia represents the eternal femininity in God and, at the same time, God's plan for the world. This image is found in the Bible. To Solovyov, he was discovered in a mystical vision, about which his poem "Three Dating" tells. The idea of ​​Sophia is realized in a threefold way: in theosophy the idea of ​​it is formed, in theurgy it is found, and in theocracy it is embodied.

• Theosophy- literally Divine wisdom... It is a synthesis of scientific discoveries and revelations of the Christian religion within the framework of integral knowledge. Faith does not contradict reason, but complements it. Solovyov recognizes the idea of ​​evolution, but considers it an attempt to overcome the Fall through a breakthrough to God. Evolution goes through five stages or "kingdoms": mineral, vegetable, animal, human and God.
• Theurgy- literally idolizing... Soloviev strongly opposed the moral neutrality of science. Theurgy is a cleansing practice, without which it is impossible to gain truth. It is based on the cultivation of Christian love as a renunciation of self-affirmation for the sake of unity with others.
• Theocracy- literally the power of god, what Chaadaev called the perfect order. Soloviev assigned the "theocratic mission" to Russia, while maintaining sympathy for Catholicism. Theocracy consists in "the true solidarity of all nations and classes", as well as in "Christianity realized in public life"

The philosophy of Soloviev was greatly influenced by the ideas of the Russian religious thinker Nikolai Fedorov. Soloviev considered Fedorov his “teacher and spiritual father”, called him a genius thinker.

Influence on art

Soloviev saw the meaning of art in the embodiment of the "absolute ideal" and in the "transubstantiation of our reality." He criticized the position that the artist should create one appearance and mirages. In art, he distinguished between epic, tragedy and comedy. The influence of V. Solovyov is noticeable in Russian symbolism and modernism of the early 20th century. In many ways, Alexander Blok and Vyacheslav Ivanov were guided by him. It is interesting that when in 1894-1895 Valery Bryusov came out with the collections "Russian Symbolists", Solovyov came out with evil and well-aimed parodies of their style.

Cultural influence

Vladimir Solovyov inspired Dostoevsky to create the image of Alyosha Karamazov in the novel The Brothers Karamazov. His influence can also be seen in the works of the Symbolists and Neo-Idealists of the late Soviet era. The influence of his series of articles "The Meaning of Love" can be traced in the story of Leo Tolstoy "The Kreutzer Sonata" (1889).

Novella "Three Conversations" became the basis for a rock opera Beloved antichrist Swedish symphonic metal band Therion.

Attitude towards Catholicism

There is a version that Vladimir Solovyov in February 1896 in Moscow joined the Catholic Church, taking the sacrament from the hands of the Greek Catholic priest Father Nikolai Tolstoy. Solovyov justified his sympathy for Catholicism by adherence to the "Ecumenical Church", where Orthodoxy only expresses the "Eastern Church". He calls the act of the Baptism of Rus' the acceptance of the Gospel pearl, covered with "Byzantine dust." Solovyov considered the "papacy" itself a "positive beginning", and the "apostolic throne" in Rome - "a miraculous icon of universal Christianity" ("Russia and the Ecumenical Church", 1889). Among the advantages of Catholicism, Solovyov ranked its supranational character and succession from the Apostle Peter. The split of the Churches, according to Solovyov, is the result of the "particular" activities of the "party of Orthodox anti-Catholic" (IX-XI centuries). Defending the "Orthodox papacy" of the ancient Church, he spoke of the "sham Orthodoxy" of Byzantium, where Caesaropapism was "political Arianism." Among the features of anti-Catholic Orthodoxy, Solovyov ranked the denial of the role of the Logos in the procession of the Holy Spirit, denial of the virginity of the Virgin Mary, denial of the jurisdiction of the Roman high priest.

However, Vasily Rozanov, in his article “The Disagreement between Dostoevsky and Solovyov” (1906), wrote: “At the end of his life, in a deep moment of impotence, he said that he was refusing attempts at reconciliation between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, and died a strong Orthodox man. Thus, the suspicion of its strong Catholic coloring falls by itself. "

Attitude towards Jews

Solovyov's attitude to the Jews was a consistent expression of his Christian universalism, ethical principles prescribing to love all peoples as their own. The rejection of Jesus by the Jews seemed to Solovyov the greatest tragedy that predetermined the entire future history of the Jewish people, but the philosopher blamed the Jews' stubborn rejection of Christianity not on the Jews, but on the Christians themselves.

The mutual relationship between Judaism and Christianity during the many centuries of their life together is one remarkable circumstance. Jews always and everywhere looked at Christianity and acted in relation to it according to the prescriptions of their religion, according to their faith and according to their law. Jews have always treated us like a Jew; we Christians, on the contrary, have not yet learned to treat Judaism in a Christian way. They never violated their religious law regarding us, but we constantly violated and are violating the commandments of the Christian religion with regard to them. If the Jewish law is bad, then their stubborn loyalty to this bad law is, of course, a sad phenomenon. But if it is bad to be faithful to a bad law, then it is even worse to be faithful to a good law, an absolutely perfect commandment.

- "Jewishness and the Christian question"

In 1890, the censorship did not let in the press the declaration against anti-Semitism, written by Solovyov and signed by a number of writers and scientists. It was printed abroad.

Soloviev opposed the persecution of Jews in Russia. In letters to F. Getz, Solovyov denounced the pogroms and assured that his pen was always ready to defend poverty-stricken Israel. At the same time, Solovyov was not only not a Philosemite, but he himself was not free from anti-Semitism:

The Jewish people, showing the worst sides of human nature, "a hard-headed people" and with a stone heart, this same people is the people of the saints and the prophets of God

The philosopher considered ecumenism to be the solution to the "Jewish question" - the unification of Judaism with Orthodoxy and Catholicism on a common religious basis. On his deathbed, Solovyov prayed for the Jewish people and read a psalm in Hebrew. After the death of Solovyov, prayers were read in the synagogues for the repose of his soul.

Panmongolism

Soloviev introduced the term pan-mongolism into circulation, which, in Soloviev's historiosophical concept, expressed the idea of ​​historical retribution to Europe from the peoples of the East and was compared with the conquest of Constantinople by the Muslims.

If the end of the war in general I consider impossible before the final catastrophe, then in the closest rapprochement and peaceful cooperation of all Christian peoples and states, I see not only a possible, but a necessary and morally obligatory way of salvation for the Christian world from being absorbed by the lower elements.

It seems to me that the success of Pan-Mongolism will be facilitated in advance by the stubborn and exhausting struggle that some European states will have to endure against the awakened Islam in West Asia, North and Central Africa.

The World History

Soloviev accepts the idea of ​​progress. Wildness is replaced by civilization, and national monarchies - by world monarchies. The Assyrian-Babylonian monarchy is replaced by the Medo-Persian monarchy, and that by the Macedonian monarchy. Soloviev calls the Roman Empire the first true universal monarchy. The goal of history is God-manhood.

The concept of the “end of world history” is considered by Vladimir Solovyov in his book “Three conversations about war, progress and the end of world history”, by which he understands the second coming of Christ, God's judgment and the end of the struggle between good and evil on Earth.

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