The idea of a world empire of culture in the views of V.S. Solovyov and in the Russian socio-political consciousness of the XIX century

Abstract

The paper considers the formation of the idea of a world empire in the Russian philosophical and socio-political thought of the 19th century, embracing all of humanity and based on the absolute priority of high culture. Based on the analysis of the encyclopedic article by V.S. Solovyov on this subject, it is shown that the source of this idea is in the philosophy of I.G. Fichte, who was one of the first to talk about a united Europe in his work “The Main Features of the Modern Era”, but recognized not the economy and politics, but high culture as the main factor of unity. A similar model of the coming world civilization is presented in the works about Russia and the West by F.I. Tyutchev. It is noted that the idea of “world revolution” in the book by A.I. Herzen “On the Development of Revolutionary Ideas in Russia” refers to the creation of a universal “kingdom of culture” headed by Russia in the sense that Fichte thought of it. Analysis of the work of A.I. Herzen shows that this socio-political figure was skeptical about the real revolutionary movement in Russia (which led to the revolution of 1917), calling it “autocracy in reverse”, and considered Peter I to be the true initiator of the true revolution. The paradoxical similarity of the views of Tyutchev and Herzen about the coming “kingdom of culture” was noted by F.M. Dostoevsky, who expressed his point of view in the famous Pushkin speech and through Versilov’s hero of the novel “The Row Youth”. It is concluded that the Russian Empire in its history sometimes approached the ideal model of the “kingdom of culture”, which famous Russian thinkers of the 19th century dreamed of.