Deterministic ideas about man in the philosophical works of A.L. Chizhevsky: scientific and religious aspects

Abstract

The subject of the study is the scientific and religious aspects of the anthropological determinism of the philosophical works of A.L. Chizhevsky, the object is the deterministic views of the cosmist on man. The author examines in detail the "dialectical" anthropological determinism compatible with the freedom of human will of the "Basic principle of the universe" and the roughly deterministic approach to man of the "Electronic Theory and genesis of forms". Special attention is paid to the study of the question concerning the validity of both types of deterministic views in the context of global evolutionism, as well as Christianity and Vedantist ideas about the "cosmic game" correlated with the phenomenon of cosmic consciousness. The purpose of the work is to explicate the question of the peculiarities of the correlation of scientific and religious worldviews in Russian cosmism, based on which it is possible to identify the grounds for a productive dialogue between science and religion.  The following methods were used: analysis of textual sources (including manuscripts of the 1703 fund of the Archive of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation), comparative analysis, analysis, synthesis, generalization, induction and deduction, historical method. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the identification of two varieties of anthropological determinism characterizing the philosophical works of A.L. Chizhevsky, and the study of their compliance with scientific and religious views. The main conclusions of the study are the following judgments: 1) "dialectical" anthropological determinism seems legitimate, in contrast to the roughly deterministic approach to man; 2) an assessment of the correspondence of the two mentioned varieties of anthropological determinism to scientific and religious views allows us to draw the same conclusion about their legality. A similar vision of a complex phenomenon in scientific and religious discourses indicates the presence of points of contact between them. The similarities and differences between science and religion should become the basis for solving the urgent problem of building a constructive dialogue between these forms of human culture.