Scientific Modernity vs. Cultural Tradition in Imperial Russia

Abstract The emergence of modern science in Russia was a belated and rather abrupt development, unfolding rapidly in the 1860s and significantly challenging Russian traditional culture rooted in the Orthodox religion. As in Western Europe, the spread of scientific ideas that increasingly undermined the religious worldview was controversial and unsettling to many conservative thinkers. In Russia, however, controversy around the religious implications of science was more ideologically charged and complex because it involved the old, waxing question of Russia’s relationship with the West. While Dostoevskii’s attitude towards science has been a subject of long-standing debate, many questions remain overlooked and some are highly controversial. Dostoevskii’s reaction to J. S. Mill (mediated by Strakhov) is one important aspect that has been overlooked in current historiography. Mill’s Logic , widely known to European readers, played a significant role not only in creating the modern philosophy of science but also in stimulating the debate on the relationship between science and religion. By placing the views of Strakhov and Dostoevskii into a European intellectual context, this essay offers a re-evaluation of the theme of science in the works of the two most prominent conservative thinkers in nineteenth-century Russia.