UDC

130.2

Authors

Oleg V. Parilov
Nizhniy Novgorod Academy of the Ministry of the Interior of Russia; Ankudinovskoe shosse 3, Nizhny Novgorod, 603950, Russian Federation;
e-mail: olegparilov@yandex.ru

Abstract

This article examines the evolution of the views of Russian conservative philosophers of the 19th and early 20th centuries (Slavophiles, authors of civilizational theories Nikolay Danilevsky and Konstantin Leontiev, and Eurasianists) on the relationship between Russia and the West as well as on Russia’s ethno-civilizational identity and mission in world history. The ideas under study are especially relevant to modern Russia. Today, the country is experiencing civilizational uncertainty, which is evidenced by the lack of clarity in the questions about the underlying causes of Western civilization’s aggression against Russia and the country’s response strategy and about the role of Russia in the current geopolitical situation, as well as by inconsistent domestic policy (anti-Western rhetoric in combination with inconsiderate copying of the European-American statecraft models and viewing Western civilization as a universal one). In their efforts to solve the above issues, conservative authors of the 19th and early 20th centuries demonstrate a general dynamics of moving from West to East. Slavophiles emphasize the need for harmonious interaction between Russian Orthodox culture and European culture. Advocate of the pan-Slavic cultural-historical type Danilevsky interprets Western civilization as perishing and hostile to Russia, thus considering its interaction with the West detrimental to the country. This view of the Romano-Germanic world would later be adopted by his followers. In his turn, Leontiev refutes pan-Slavic solidarity and focuses on Russia as a successor to the Byzantine Empire. Eurasianists assert the country’s Russian-Asiatic (Turanian) identity and the need for cultural interaction with the great civilizations of the East. All conservative thinkers of that period defend the idea of Russia’s organic development without mechanical copying of cultural experiences of other civilizations.

Keywords

Russian conservatism, Slavophilism, neo-Slavophilism, Byzantinism, N.Ya. Danilevsky, K.V. Leontiev, Eurasianism, Russia and the West

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