M.A. Bakunin’s anarchist anti-theologism and A. Kozhev’s dialectical atheism

This research was supported by funds from the Priority 2030 strategic academic leadership program of I. Kant Federal university

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of Russian philosophical origins of Aleksandr Kozhev’s (A.V. Kozhevnikov) neo-Hegelianism. It is claimed that one of these origins might have been the anti-theology of Mikhail A. Bakunin. To prove this, the author emphasises the similarity of the philosophical destinies of both thinkers, the foundation of their philosophical thought on re­vo­lutionary experience and left-wing Hegelianism, and the influence of L. Feuerbach’s phi­lo­sophy on their views, especially on religion. The author provides a general analysis of Bakunin’s anti-theology and compares it with Kozhev’s dialectical atheism. As a result of the comparative analysis of both philosophers’ views on religion, five conceptual points are proposed, which are relevant to both Kozhev’s neo-Hegelian doctrine and Bakunin’s theory of anarchism. Attention is drawn to the fact that Bakunin and Kozhev considered atheism as a means of human emancipation, which removes the binary opposition of Master and Slave. It is emphasized that in the philosophical perspective of both thinkers atheism appears as a component of the egalitarian project, a condition for building a society of universal equality, where there is no hierarchy and stratification. It is shown that both Kozhev and Bakunin regarded atheism as a prerequisite for the realization of a utopian society in which violence and exploitation will be eliminated. It is concluded that despite the theophobic pathos of both philosophers, their own projects of the future society represent the realisation of Christian values (freedom, equality, individuality) in a secular form, which implies both the negation of Christianity and its development.