Vladimir Kantor's New Book

In March 2020 a new book by the head of the International Laboratory for the Study of Russian and European Dialogue (HSE) Vladimir K. Kantor was published

The "Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ" publishing house has published a new book written by the Professor at the Higher School of Economics Vladimir K. Kantor. The book is entitled Russian Thought, or "the self-Standing of Man". Philosophical essays.

Abstract
In the new book, Vladimir Kantor examines one of the most important philosophical problems of Russian thought, the problem, that we can call using Pushkin's phrase the self-Standing of a man. As Chernyshevsky believed, one cannot expect spiritual independence from a person who is timid in a "butler's hut". Russian philosophy, which grew out of the element of community, where people were very limited in their rights and opportunities –  economic or political – sought a basis for self-standing. Communism generated, on the one hand, the arbitrariness of the government, on the other – the devilry of radical circles, which awakened the arbitrariness of Pugachev's Rebellion. The worst thing happened, the chaos of madness overcame reason. The twentieth century came, the age of magic, the age of pagan irrationalism, boundless dictatorships when the idea was replaced by a spell-like word that gave power over the masses that have entered history. As Georgy P. Fedotov, the return to the world of freedom is possible only when the mind returns to its leading position in spiritual nature. An image familiar to antiquity: the mind is the driver of the chariot of passions. Strictly speaking, V. S. Solovyov's thesis that Christianity is the triumph of reason in the world became the credo of Russian thought, which fought for the self-standing of a man. The theme of reason in Russian culture is the problem of this book.

Russian Thought, or "the self-Standing of Man". Philosophical essays (in Russian; PDF, 24.06 mb)