Philosophy of patriotism: Ivan Ilyin

Abstract

The article analyses the concept of homeland de­veloped by the Russian thinker Ivan A. Ilyin in his works “Homeland and We”, “On Homeland – Three Speeches”, and “The Way of Spiritual Renewal”. The author traces the evolution of this concept and reveals its various aspects, highlighted by Ilyin throughout his work. Ilyin is described as a philosopher in whose work the concept of homeland plays a systematic role. While his first works devoted to this subject reflect his political activity as an organizer of the “white movement” and demonstrate that the concept of homeland was used mainly for practical purposes of its consolidation, in his key work “The Way of Spiritual Renewal” this concept, on the contrary, acquires a theoretical character and serves as one of the most important elements of his political theory. The author suggests that this work can be compared in its structure and purposes with Hegel’s philosophy of law, of which Ilyin was an expert. The analysis focuses on the concept of “nationalism” and reveals its specifics by opposing the differences between the “spiritual nationalism,” based on a reflective love of one’s country’s culture, and the “instinctive nationalism”, based on the drive to self-preservation. The author clarifies relationship between the concepts of individual, family, state, and “humanity by means of the concept of homeland which is regarded as the source of spirituality and citizenship. It is concluded that Ilyin’s understanding of homeland is, first of all, a personal narrative derived from a person’s search for his personal identity. It is shown that, according to Ilyin, the conditions for the possibility of man’s political and cultural self-determi­na­tion on the basis of the term “homeland” include private property, legal self-con­scious­ness, the rule of law, education, the ability to think independently, spiritual and political freedom.