Russian Philosophy, Volume 2

The second half of the 19th century in Russian philosophy sees the more or less definitive triumph of Westernizing currents over the Slavophiles. There is no doubt that both Nihilism and Populism, as successive schools of Russian philosophy, are the authentic progeny of the senior Westernizers- though in the development of their philosophical doctrine they owe much less to German Romantacism than to British utilitarianism, French positivism, and the socialism of the left-wing Hegelians. Toward the end of the century these philosophers come increasingly under the influence of the scientific socialism of Karl Marx. Their non-Westernizing contemporaries, such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Leontyev, and Rozanov, devote themselves to a searing and negative critique of Western culture in general and begin to despair of a Russia which would accept salvation from the superficialities of Western European thought and culture.

This is one of three volumes of the first historical anthology of Russian philosophical thought from its origins to the present day, with critical and interpretive commentary. The work includes 68 selections from 27 philosophers, with new translations or retranslations especially for these volumes.