N.A. Berdyaev – Russian mystical philosopher
Abstract
In spite of the fact that Nikolai A. Berdyaev is often characterized as a “Russian existentialist”, “personalist”, and “religious philosopher”, the author of the article classifies him as a representative of the tradition of Russian mystical philosophy, trying to present all the above-mentioned characteristics in a new perspective. It is stressed that Berdyaev was unusual even among the mystical Russian philosophers, and not only because he vividly and comprehensively discussed the problem of mysticism as a mystery, the basis of spiritual and religious life, the starting point in the formation of various religious and mystical trends, but also because in his own philosophical intuitions and conceptions he refused from the understanding of mysticism proposed by Vladimir S. Solovyov, the founder of Russian mystical philosophy. The article offers an unbiased analysis of Berdyaev’s most significant works from the point of view of the “mystical worldview” he developed. The main object of the study is the work Self-Knowledge, which is now presented in several “variants”, from the first Parisian edition (1949) to the edition compiled and prepared by A.V. Vadimov (1991). These editions do not always “overlap”, they rather complement each other, so references in the article are given to both editions. The fact that there are a lot of extensive quotations from Berdyaev’s writings in the article is explained by pointing out that since the theme of mysticism in Russian philosophy still causes controversial discussions and ambiguous assessments, then it is necessary to remind (or inform) the modern reader about Berdyaev’s emphasized interest in mysticism, about his specific developments of mystical problems, and also about the fact that it is various mystical teachings that paid the fundamental and direct influence on the philosophical work of the Russian thinker.
