What does a person seek in the history of philosophy? What questions does he want to receive answers to? Most likely - this is the definition of one's place in life, the comprehension of this world, the search for harmony in relationships. And social and moral values are coming to the fore. Over the centuries, many thinkers have been studying the principles and laws of the development of society, the general principles of life. In this article, we will dwell in more detail on some aspects of the Russian philosophy of Radishchev.
The formation of Russian philosophy
The initial period of development of Russian philosophy can be spoken of as the Old Russian, Russian medieval or pre-Petrine period. It spans several centuries: from XI to XVII.
World philosophy has had a significant impact on the formation of worldview in Russia. Metropolitan Hilarion of Kiev in his writings, such as Prayer, The Word of the Law and Grace, and Confession of Faith, introduces Russian life to the 10th-11th centuries. This period is called "Christianization", there is an interpretation of the adoption of Christianity by the people. And, in fact, public thought is reflected in the literary works of the Middle Ages, "The Word of Igor's Campaign", written in the XII century, as well as in the annals of the "Tale of Bygone Years", dating from the XI-XII centuries.
Materialistic 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 popularization of public life that began, that is, the decline in 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 Vasilievich Lomonosov (1711-1765), became the first Russian thinker whose philosophy reflected the value of Russian history and its modification under the influence of reforms. Lomonosov, possessing extraordinary willpower and inexhaustible energy to know everything that surrounds him, the first delves 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 the natural scientist, the man who urges us to study the world in which he lives. Only relying on knowledge, the philosopher pointed out in his writings, can the world around him be known.
The critic and philosopher - A. N. Radishchev
The great scientist was not alone in the search for truth. Continued materialistic line of Russian philosophy of Lomonosov Radishchev Alexander Nikolaevich (1749-1802). However, if the worldview of the first 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-Russo, Voltaire and Guillaume-Thomas Francois 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 wealthy landowner was educated in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and from 1766 to 1771 he studied at the University of Leipzig, where he became acquainted with modern French philosophy. A.N. Radishchev, returning to Russia, was very successful in civil and military service.
“Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow”
In the years 1785-1786. Radishchev works 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 genre of travel. In 1789, he finishes work on his book and gives it the general name, Travel from Petersburg to Moscow. 650 copies of the book are being printed in its own printing house, of which 100 Radishchev managed to sell, followed by an arrest.
This book provoked the wrath of Empress Catherine the Great, and in 1790 the author was exiled to Siberia for ten years. An attempt was made in the work to comprehend the Russian reality of the end of the 18th century, an assessment was given of domestic social institutions, in particular serfdom. Inspired by French thinkers, he condemned serfdom as morally wrong and economically ineffective, criticized autocracy, and condemned censorship and other methods that violate the natural rights of man to freedom and equality. The ideas of Radishchev’s philosophy came down to immediate reforms, an appeal in general to enlightenment and “naturalness” in social events, manners and mores. In 1796, Paul I allowed Radishchev to return to the European part of Russia.
About a human
In Siberia, Radishchev wrote his main philosophical work, "On Man, on His Mortality and Immortality." He highlighted a number of problems of philosophical anthropology. This work reveals the originality of the philosophy of Radishchev.
Already in the title of the work it is supposed to consider very important questions: what is a person, what is death, and what is immortality? While working on the first question, Radishchev noted that humans are very similar to animals in both physiology and psychology. At the time of writing his work, the philosopher did not possess the knowledge that is currently known. This living generation knows that humans have about 100 vestigial organs, there are matches with the DNA structure of animals, 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 man belongs to living nature, and how its part is connected with it, which means that a scientific approach to its study can be applied to it.
In the treatise, he rejects materialistic denials of immortality in favor of various arguments: personal identity and preservation of strength, which implies the existence of a disembodied soul that survives in the body and goes into a more perfect state. In short, Radishchev's philosophy comes down to a realistic position, and experience is the only basis for knowledge.
About death and immortality
How in his treatise A. N. Radishchev illuminates the question of what is death? He believed that the "fear of death" should be weakened, based on the fact that in reality there is really no death, but there is a destruction of structures, that is, disintegration into parts, and not the complete destruction of man. The disintegrated parts continue to exist in this world without leaving it. These parts will become land, plants, parts of man himself. That is why, according to the philosopher, one should not be afraid of death, he does not leave the plan of the earth, but becomes a different form of his existence.
What is immortality? Radishchev’s philosophy speaks of the existence of imperishable particles of man, to which the soul belongs. 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 (scientific knowledge, 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 themselves are unknowable, arguing that thought, like the verbal expression that it uses, simply symbolizes reality.
