The Issue of the Continuity and Discontinuity of the Historical Process in Russian Religious Philosophy

Abstract

This article considers the issue of the continuity and discontinuity of the historical process within the legacy of the Russian philosophers of the first half of the twentieth century. Its main task is to reconstruct their understanding of the category of discontinuity in relation to social sciences and the humanities in the works of N.V. Bugaev, V.G. Alekseev, P.A. Florensky, V.F. Ern, and L.P. Karsavin. This task is accomplished by carrying out a comparative historical study of the works of these philosophers in the context of their mutual influence and of how the given topics are developed. The research, which was conducted mainly on the existing historiography of the Moscow School of Philosophy and Mathematics, identifies a number of lacunae regarding the category of continuity/discontinuity. While this issue was first raised by Nikolai Bugaev and Vissarion Alekseev, it was Pavel Florensky who suggested a solution to the problem by applying the theory of discontinuous functions used in arithmology to the historical process. Florensky’s efforts were initially fruitless, however, and it was not until after 1905 that he succeeded in doing so. It has been proven that Vladimir Ern radicalized Florensky’s thoughts and made significant progress in understanding the topic of discontinuity within the historical process and the progress of mankind. Considerable attention is also paid to the reasons for the repressions enacted against the Moscow school during the Soviet period. Finally, Lev Karsavin’s relationship with this line of study of discontinuity in Russian philosophy is clarified and the place of Karsavin’s early and late works in the study of the category of continuity and discontinuity in the history of mankind is also considered. The conclusion of this article deals with the relevance of this legacy of Russian philosophers in contemporary epistemology and the methodology of history.