The phenomenon of the “Russian idea”: origins, components and spiritual meaning

The article is devoted to the historical uniqueness of the history of our country, the identity of its people, which is reflected in the concept of the “national idea”. The essence of this concept is the search for the spiritual meaning of the existence of the peoples of our country, the identification of the historical mission of Russian civilization, the meaning of the joint existence of its peoples under the leadership of the great Russian people. The “Russian idea” — the origins of which can be traced back to the religious and philosophical work created in Russia in the middle of the 11th century — “The Word on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion — is not an issue of ideology or politics. It is primarily a spiritual and cultural problem expressing the originality and uniqueness of the Russian spiritual experience. The author analyzes in detail the genesis, meaning and differentiates between the concepts of the “Russian idea”, which was first introduced into scientific circulation by F.M. Dostoevsky, and the “idea of the nation”, which entered into verbal circulation thanks to N.Y. Danilevsky, according to whom the “idea of the nation” was the idea of unifying the people within the framework of a national state. The phenomenon of the “Russian idea” is based on the postulates that “Russia is a family of nations” under the auspices of the Russian people, who have proven their ability to organize a state and economic colonization, politically and economically uniting one sixth of the earth’s surface, having a special, spiritual and moral mission in world history. The article examines current issues related to the formulation of the “Russian idea”, in which outstanding Russian social scientists N.M. Karamzin and A.S. Khomyakov played a significant role, as well as its development, an important contribution to which was made by representatives of Slavophilism. Thus, K.S. Aksakov conceptualized the concept of “Russian outlook” as “an independent outlook of the Russian people, to which the Russian people, like others, have every right”. Much attention is paid to the socio-philosophical substantiation of the “Russian idea” in the works of V.S. Solovyov, as well as other “Russian religious philosophers” — N.A. Berdyaev, E.N. Trubetskoy, S.L. Frank, V.V. Rozanov, L.P. Karsavin, N.O. Lossky and I.A. Ilyin. These thinkers generally denied the possibility of explaining social life on rational principles and criticized the desire of Western researchers to ignore its irrational aspects, comprehended social reality from the point of view of Christianity and, above all, Orthodoxy. At the same time, the main emphasis was placed on the priority of the spiritual side of social existence. The author notes that the religious and philosophical truth expressed by Russian thinkers through the “Russian idea” marks a turn of Russian society to its original national and historical origins, and this turn was repeated at the end of the first quarter of the 21st century. The Russian idea is a unique synthetic concept of the path of development of Russian civilization, defined by the Russian national character, the heart of the Russian person, formalized in culture, based on the concepts of conscience, justice, internal freedom of the individual, which allows us to conclude that the Russian worldview is based more on religious and moral than on economic, political or legal concepts. History has convincingly proven that the arbitrary transfer of liberal ideological constructions, alien to the national mentality, to Russian soil contradicts national traditions, contributes to the destabilization of social life, and, ultimately, contradicts the national and state interests of Russia.