Abstract
This chapter discusses the crucial ideas of Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov (1853–1900), one of the most original thinkers and the central figure in Russian philosophy of the nineteenth century. The founder of a tradition of Russian spirituality that brought together ideas of philosophy, mysticism, and theology combining them with a powerful social message, he was instrumental in the development of Russian philosophy, as well as in the Russian spiritual renaissance of the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Solovyov was the first Russian thinker who attempted to develop a philosophical system which would offer solutions to core issues in such varying fields as the history of philosophy, ontology, epistemology, scientific cognition, theology, ethics, and politics, thus changing the direction and central discourse of Russian philosophy.
An earlier version of this text was published in Motroshilova 2007, 83–102. Used here with permission of the publisher.
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Notes
- 1.
For a detailed bibliography of publications on Vladimir Solovyov until the end of the last century see Groberg 1998.
- 2.
This does not contradict what Evgenii N. Trubetskoi has rightly noted, that the weakness of Solovyov’s early works was their lack of clarity or their contradictory nature regarding the systemic question of where the exposition of philosophy should begin. Solovyov places ethics “at the forefront of his philosophy,” but he leaves his underworked theoretical-cognitive and metaphysical premises of philosophy for a later time. Of course, he would later recognize and partially eliminate these weaknesses and gaps, Trubetskoiargues (Trubetskoi 1913, 124–125ff.)
- 3.
Solovyov has the word “all-unity” in lowercase letters. When my study refers to the principle of All-Unity, the central category for Soloyov, I find capital letters appropriate.
- 4.
For a discussion of Solovyov’s indebtedness to, as well as his departure from, the tradition, see Sutton 1988.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
On Solovyov’s quest for metaphysics, see Nemeth 2014.
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Motroshilova, N.V. (2021). Vladimir Solovyov: Philosophy as Systemic Unity. In: Bykova, M.F., Forster, M.N., Steiner, L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Russian Thought. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62982-3_8
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