Was Lev Tolstoy a Humanist?

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article is devoted to understanding the typological status of Tolstoy’s ideas in the context of the evolution of European humanism from the Renaissance to existentialism, from the doctrine of “human dignity” to the conceptualization of man as a “self-directed project.” The author does not, however, attempt yet another revision of Tolstoy’s moral–religious doctrine or the creation of a precedent for negative reassessment of his significance and originality. The goal of the present article is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of Tolstoy’s anthropological views, to highlight their sources, argumentative characteristics, and nature of impact on the formation of the key theoretical standpoints and normative principles of the thinker’s ethical–philosophical doctrine. This is presented as an impersonalist understanding of a perfectionist transformation of human personhood through the expansion of its boundaries to the point of the universe’s infinitude. Tolstoy’s rejection of personhood and its goodness does not entail his exclusion from the ranks of humanist thinkers. The article draws conclusions about a new path for further development of humanist ideas. Tolstoyan thought not only anticipates the emergence of a “new” (existentialist) humanism, but it also demonstrates the clear advantages over it in the scale and consistency of its theoretical propositions and normative conclusions.