Radishchev's philosophy: about man, death and Fatherland

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

What is a person looking for in the history of philosophy, what questions that concern him, does he want answers? Most likely, this is the definition of one's place in life, understanding this world, the search for harmony in relationships. And social and moral values come to the fore. Many thinkers over the centuries have been studying the principles and laws of the development of society, the general principles of being. In this article, we will dwell in more detail on some aspects of Radishchev's Russian philosophy.

Formation of Russian philosophy

The initial period of development of Russian philosophy can be spoken of as Old Russian, Russian medieval or pre-Petrine period. It covers several centuries: from the 11th to the 17th.

World philosophy had a significant impact on the formation of worldview in Russia. Metropolitan Hilarion of Kyiv in his writings, such as "Prayer", "Sermon on the Law andGrace" and "Confession of Faith" introduces Russian life of the 10th - 11th centuries. This period is called "Christianization", there is an interpretation of the adoption of Christianity by the people. And, in fact, social thought is reflected in the literary works of the Middle Ages "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", written in XII century, as well as in the chronicles "The Tale of Bygone Years", dating from the XI-XII centuries.

Materialist philosophy in Russia

In the second period of the development of Russian philosophy, which began in the 18th century, Russia was introduced to world culture. At this time, the process of Europeanization began, associated with the reformist views of Peter the Great, as well as the process of popularizing public life, that is, reducing the role of religion, the transition from religious traditions to rational (non-religious) norms.

Lomonosov's philosophy

A brilliant scientist, an outstanding personality, a storehouse of all kinds of knowledge - Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711-1765), became the first Russian thinker, whose philosophy reflected the value of national history and its modification under the influence of reforms. Lomonosov, possessing extraordinary willpower and inexhaustible energy to know everything that surrounds him, is the first to delve into the history of the fatherland and puts forward the concept of the country's endless possibilities. But be that as it may, Lomonosov's philosophy, which does not deny the role of God in the universe, nevertheless remained the worldview of a naturalist, a person who calls to study the world in which he lives. Onlyrelying on knowledge, the philosopher pointed out in his writings, one can know the world around.

Critic and philosopher - A. N. Radishchev

The great scientist was not alone in his search for the truth. He continued the materialistic line of Russian philosophy Lomonosov Radishchev Alexander Nikolaevich (1749-1802). However, if the worldview of the former was formed under the influence of the scientific works of I. Newton, G. Galileo, G. Leibniz, as well as his own natural science research, then Radishchev was inspired by Western thinkers such as Jean-Jacques-Rousseau, Voltaire and Guillaume-Thomas- François de Reynal.

Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev was a leading public critic and philosopher of the Russian Enlightenment. He was born in Moscow, the son of a we althy landowner, was educated in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and from 1766 to 1771 studied at the University of Leipzig, where he became acquainted with modern French philosophy. A. N. Radishchev, returning to Russia, was very successful in the civil and military service.

Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow

In 1785-1786 Radishchev is working on essays on the sale of serfs at auction, writes notes on censorship. As a result, he combines several works, creating a work in the travel genre. In 1789 he finishes work on his book and gives it the general title "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow". 650 copies of the book are printed in their own printing house, of which 100 were sold by Radishchev, after which the arrest followed.

This book aroused the wrath of Empress Catherine the Great, and in 1790 the author was exiled to Siberia for ten years. In the work, an attempt was made to comprehend the Russian reality of the end of the 18th century, an assessment was made of domestic social institutions, in particular serfdom. Inspired by French thinkers, he denounced serfdom as morally wrong and economically inefficient, criticized the autocracy and denounced censorship and other methods that violate the natural human rights to freedom and equality. The ideas of Radishchev's philosophy boiled down to immediate reforms, a general call for enlightenment and "naturalness" in social events, manners and mores. In 1796, Paul I allowed Radishchev to return to the European part of Russia.

About the person

In Siberia, Radishchev wrote his main philosophical work "About Man, His Mortality and Immortality". He highlighted a number of problems of philosophical anthropology. This work reveals the originality of Radishchev's philosophy.

Already in the very title of the work, consideration of very important questions is supposed: what is a person, what is death and what is immortality? Working on the first question, Radishchev noted that man is very similar to animals both in physiology and psychology. At the time of writing his work, the philosopher did not have the knowledge that is currently known. This living generation knows that a person has about 100 rudimentary organs, there are matches with the structure of DNAanimals, even the blood types in humans are the same as in chimpanzees. But, even based on the facts known at that time, he concluded that a person belongs to wildlife, and how part of it is connected with it, which means that a scientific approach can be applied to him in his study.

In the treatise, he rejects the materialistic denials of immortality in favor of various arguments: personal identity and the preservation of power, which suggests the existence of an incorporeal soul that survives in the body and passes into a more perfect state. In short, Radishchev's philosophy boils down to a realistic position, and experience is the only basis for knowledge.

About death and immortality

How does A. N. Radishchev cover the question of what is death in his treatise? He believed that it was necessary to weaken the "fear of death", based on the fact that in nature there is actually no death, but there is a destruction of structures, that is, disintegration into parts, and not the complete destruction of a person. The disintegrated parts continue to exist in this world without leaving it. These parts will become earth, plants, parts of the man himself. That is why, the philosopher claims, one should not be afraid of death, he does not leave the earth plane, but becomes a different form of his existence.

What is immortality? Radishchev's philosophy speaks of the existence of imperishable human particles, which include the soul. Like the body, it is not destroyed, but is present in the world as a spiritual substance.

In such a branch of philosophy as epistemology (scientificknowledge, its structure, structure, functioning and development), Radishchev argued that in addition to the sensory there is a "rational experience" of the relations of things, and that a person "feels" the existence of a Supreme Being. He also argued that things in themselves are unknowable, arguing that thought, like the verbal expression it uses, simply symbolizes reality.

The value of labor "About a man, about his mortality and immortality"

Treatise "About Man" was one of the first original works in Russian. It shows two opposite points of view about the death and immortality of the soul. On the one hand, in the first 2 parts of the work it is said that eternal life is an empty dream. On the other hand, later parts of the book argue in favor of the immortality of the soul.

The influence of his pioneering social criticism led Pushkin, the Decembrists, and later generations of Russian reformers and revolutionaries to regard Radishchev as the "father" of social radicalism in Russia.

Such in general terms is Radishchev's philosophy of man. The strengths of such work include an attempt to provide answers to the eternal questions that worried thinkers of different eras. But, above all, the philosopher contributed to understanding the problems of human existence: life, death and immortality.