Orthodox “Mysticism” in the Native Spiritual and Academic Philosophy of the ХІХ century

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of such a spiritual phenomenon in the history of Russian philosophy as its spiritual-academic branch, represented in the ХІХ century by the scientific and pedagogical activity of philosophy professors of four academies of the Russian Empire: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev and Kazan. On the example of the Kiev and Moscow Academies, the unique features of this philosophy, manifested in the desire of their most prominent representatives P. Avsenev and F. Golubinskiy to combine elements of Orthodox “mysticism” with elements of European rationalist philosophy, have been considered. In the work of these representatives of spiritual and academic philosophy, mystical and scholastic traditions are combined. Both philosophers were distinguished by an extremely increased interest in mystical literature, in the sphere of everything irrational, in the phenomena of somnambulism, sleepwalking, and clairvoyance. They retained the glory of strange and mysterious thinkers. By virtue of the last argument, the author has turned to their work and tried to compare some features of their philosophical views.