THE RUSSIAN MENTALITY
Abstract
THE RUSSIAN MENTALITY
The present essay is the conclusion of my two books devoted to Nicolas
Berdjaev’s religious philosophy: Amor futuri albo eschatologia
zrealizowana Studia nad myślą Mikołaja Bierdiajewa (Amor Futuri or
Eschatology Realised Studies on the Thought of Nicolas Berdjaev),
[Styczyński 1992] and Umiłowanie przyszłości albo filozofia spraw
ostatecznych. Studia nad filozofią Mikołaja Bierdiajewa (Adulation for
the Future or the Philosophy of the Ultimate Matters Studies on the
Thought of Nicolas Berdjaev), [Styczyński 2001]. The differences
between them are mentioned in the latter. They were both written in
Polish and as a consequence had no chance of reaching a wider circle of
readers. This is, therefore, the reason why I have decided to present this
conclusion to an English language readership. I have tried to show the
consequences of the unique Russian mentality, whose predominant
feature is an ambivalence between a persistent search for good and
constantly doing of evil. This “Russian theodicy” expressing itself in the
creation of an alternative world, which is to justify the evil done, has its
roots in the conviction of man’s principally divine nature revealing itself
through the exculpating effect of evil. In the case of the twentieth
century of Russian history it yielded a result totally different from the
expected one.