Slavophiles on the Relationship between “Internal” and “External” in the Construction of the Boundaries of Russian Identity

The article is devoted to the philosophy of classical Slavophilism, which the author considers as the first conception of Russian national identity, which reached the generalizations of the philosophical level. Self-identification of a people, as well as person, presupposes an understanding of their own characteristics in relation to “others”. The Slavophilеs viewed the West as the “Significant Other”. For the Slavophiles, one of the most important markers allowing to define the boundaries of the Russian identity was the antithesis of “internal” and “external”. Comparing her position with the one of the modern European researcher K. J. Mier, the author analyzes the use of this antithesis in Slavophil anthropology.