Parkhomenko, R. N. Freedom as the Philosophy of Theanthropism (Nikolay Berdyaev)

Abstract: The article is devoted to Nikolay Berdyaev’s (1874 – 1948) concepts of freedom and theanthropism. The philosopher believed in creative abilities bringing human out of all other natural world and leading him to self-rescue. Creative activity allows human to exceed the bounds of the world of need and enter the kingdom of freedom. However, based on Berdyaev it is not the determinism of the natural world that is the main enemy of personal freedom – it is objectivization that is the main hinder on his way to freedom. Earlier Berdyaev said about the duality of human nature and existence of the two worlds in human – the inner (subjective) world and the outer (objective) world. In his definition of freedom as a metaphysical beginning Berdayev based, in the first place, on the irrational tradition and intuitivism in Bergson’s traditions. This is why in order to understand and provide a definition the phenomenon of freedom, it is necessary to do it not from the point of view of the rational tradition, but based on our soul and internal experience. Only in this case we can understand Berdyaev’s saying that the problem of freedom is the problem of one’s creativity. In his early works Berdyaev interpreted ontology as monadology and believed that existence had nothing negative in it. In his later works Berdyaev started to oppose freedom and existence and existence was interpreted as the ‘fallen world’. At the same time, freedom is above the natural world and God – freedom lies in the ‘non-existence’ that has a higher status than God himself.

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