The book on the history of Russian philosophical thought of the nineteenth century deals with six important representatives in the sharply present context of the ideological dispute between East and West. The author has chosen for analysis such Russian concrete worldviews which either advocated dialogue between Russia and the West, or particularly sharply proclaimed the conflict between them. Agreement should be made either in the name of universal-humanist Christian principles, with a special emphasis on Catholicism, or in the name of Enlightenment principles. None of these thinkers are popular in Putin’s Russia today, unlike Dostoevsky and Leontiev, the prophets of the fundamental conflict between Russia and Europe, also discussed in this work.
Chapter 1: Peter Chaadayev: Russian Apologist of Catholic Europe
Chapter 2: Constants and Variables in the World of Chaadayev’s Ideas after 1830
Chapter 3: Alexander Herzen Meeting the West: Five Years of Creative Turmoil (1847-1852)
