The problem of the historical age of Russia in the doctrine of O. Spengler (in the context of N. Ya. Danilevsky’s and K. N. Leontiev’s influence)

Abstract

The question of the historical age of Russia raised by O. Spe­n­gler in his philosophical and historical theory has not been thoroughly studied yet. However, it is relevant, especially when the modern socio-political and spiritual issues as well as the global prospects of Russia are considered. The methodological basis for the reconstruction of Spengler’s ideas about the historical age of Russia is a comparative analysis of his concept and the classical works of Russian conservative thinkers. The German phi­losopher, in fact, proposed the same theses which had been advanced in Russia before by N. Ya. Danilevsky and K. N. Leontiev: that the Russian cultural-historic type was rather young, it had the Eastern Byzantine foundations, that the Western cultural influence on Russia was negative, and that there were very few, if any, significant results of the cultural and public development of Russia. It is concluded that in spite of the fact that Spe­n­gler never referred to the works of Russian conservative writers he might have been under their influence. In general, Spengler regarded the 19-century Russian state as a relatively young socio-historical organism which had been weakened by the two historical pseudomorphoses but still was able to develop an original culture and to become a constantly expanding and hierarchically organized Asian country in case the appropriate cultural and geopolitical goals were achieved.