From the history of academic Slavophilism: an unfinished speech by V. I. Lamansky about A. S. Khomyakov

Abstract

The article provides an analysis of Vladimir Lamansky’s view on the personality and teachings of Ale­ksey Khomyakov. Lamansky considered himself a follower of Slavophilism, but he was never personally acquainted with Kho­myakov. It is noted that Lamansky and Kho­myakov belonged to different generations of Slavophiles: the so-called early Slavophilism and late, or academic, Slavophilism. The late Slavophiles are known to have proposed a systematization of the Slavophil doctrine, they also tried to elaborate Slavophil approaches to solving philosophical, religious, and socio-political problems. Both Lamansky and Khomyakov we­re most interested in the philosophy of history. However, they interpreted it quite differently. Khomyakov considered religious beliefs to be the main driving force of history, and divided history by confessions. As to Lamansky, he regarded natural circumstances, climatic conditions and language as the most important factors of historical development. Instead of the rivalry of languages ​​in the modern world, Lamansky believed, there is a competition of the world-historical languages, one of which is the Russian language. Lamansky gave praise to Kho­myakov, who contributed much to the doctrine of Slavophilism and this way helped Russian philosophy, science and culture to become original and self-reliant. The article contains some statements from Lamansky’s letters concerning Slavophiles. An unfinished manuscript of Lamansky’s speech about Khomyakov taken from the archive is also published. Upon the analysis of these texts, the author of the article shows what Lamansky thought about himself as a Slavophil and what difference he saw between the late Slavophils and the founders of this school.