German philosophers of the 18th–19th centuries about Russia and Europe

Abstract

The article analyzes the historical and philosophical context of the evolution of ideas about Russia and Russian culture in Germany. The author investigates the positions of such German philosophers of the 18^th and 19^th centuries as Gottfried Leibniz, Johann Herder, Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche and Bruno Bauer. Two different perspectives in the interpretation of Russia's significance for Western Europe are highlighted, and it is emphasized that common to both perspectives is the recognition of mutual influence and mutual belonging of European and Russian cultures. It is concluded that Russia used to be in the field of attention of German philosophers only insofar as it was considered as a part of the European cultural space, although it was emphasized that Russia occupies a special place in it due to its geopolitical Asian integration. If for Leibniz Russia was a tabula rasa, subject to cultural cultivation for rapprochement with Europe, and Herder's enlightenment impulse was aimed at awakening the historical and cultural conscious­ness of Russia for the purpose of national self-determination of the Russian people (this position was generally shared by Kant and Hegel, who characterized Russia as a country that was in the preparatory phase of its cultural blossoming and had not yet entered the European system), then Bauer and Nietzsche, on the contrary, claimed that Russia was a salvation for Europe, because against the background of the crisis of European statehood and culture, the ever-increasing “will to power” of the Russian people gave hope that Europe would also develop a will for unity and would be able to survive in the face of the upcoming global challenges.