Vitaly Sergeevich Nikonenko. On the 80th anniversary of his birth

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the scientific work of the outstanding historian of Russian philosophy, professor of St. Petersburg State University, Doctor of Philosophical Sciences Vitaly Sergeevich Nikonenko, who might have turned 80 in 2022. It is shown that the sphere of scientific interests of V.S. Nikonenko was rather wide and varied, it included the history of Russian philosophy from the 17th to the 20th century, and of the Russian culture from ancient times to the present. It is shown that V.S. Nikonenko paid special attention to the study, on the one hand, of the materialistic phi­lo­sophy of N.G. Chernyshevsky, N.A. Do­b­ro­lyu­bov, D.I. Pisarev, as well as the concept "realism" of A.I. Her­zen, and, on the other hand, the religious philosophy of F.M. Dostoevsky and V.S. Solovyov. The author of the article analyzes the works of V.S. Nikonenko dealt with the problems of historical and philosophical research. The question of "syncretism" of Russian philosophy is considered, and the thesis that this "syncretism" has to be interpreted not in the sense that it is the result of underdevelopment of Russian philosophy or of its secondary character in comparison with Western philosophy, but exclusively as a consequence of a deeper understanding of the object of philosophical cognition is substantiated. Attention is also paid to the problem of the in­tegrity of the history of Russian philosophy, and the solution to this problem proposed by V.S. Nikonenko is analyzed. V.S. Nikonenko's researches on the history of social and philosophical thought of the Russian democrats of the 1950s–1960s are considered, as well as his works on the philosophy of Russian literature. The conclusion is made that the scientific significance of the research works of V.S. Nikonenko is still high.