Parkhomenko, R. N. Nikolai Berdyaev About Cultural and Political Peculiarities of Russia and Europe

Abstract: The article is devoted to Nikolai Berdyaev’s ideas and thoughts about cultural and political peculiarities of Russia and Europe. Berdyaev showed his interst on the matter already in his early work ‘Fate of Russia’ which he wrote when Bolsheviks had come to power. Tragic events in Russian history which had long-term consequences not only for our country but also for the whole world made Berdyaev start thinking about the Russian people’s psychology, national identity and psychology of war and politics. Berdyaev makes an attemp to define what the soul of Russia is. The soul of Russia is contradictory and antinomic which is reflected both in the Slavophiles ’ ideology and Russian classical literature. In his works Berdyaev compared differences and similarities between the Russian mentality and European way of thinking and underlined rationailsm of a Westerner unlike spontaneous and chaotic Russian soul. Based on Berdyaev, the Western way of thinking is ‘weakened by rationailsm’ and focused on details while Russians are more interested in the nature of the problem in general. Russians try not only to describe and to set a problem but also to solve it no matter how difficult and abstract it is. This particular article is based on the study of a great number of Nikolai Berdyaev’s works as well as Russian and Western philosophers found both in Russia (at Lomonosov Moscow State University) and Germany (at Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Karlsruhe and University of Tubingen). The results of the study can be used in lectures on history of philosophy and political studies as well as in researches of Russian philosophy and history in Russia and Europe.

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