DOI: 10.7256/2409-8728.2017.2.18882

Abstract: The subject of this article is the reasoning on the correlation between the objective-spatial (geographic) and symbolic (political-philosophical and cultural) foundations of the Russian identity. The object of critical understanding is the thesis “Russia is not Europe”: being relatively new to the Russian sociopolitical language, in our opinion, throughout many decades and even centuries, it remains in philosophical discussion “what is Russia” per se, what its civilizational specificity consists of, as well as how sustainable or variable this specificity is. The positions of the article are revealed from the perspective of constructivist approach in humanitarian science, which suggests that, the categories of identity (ethnic, national, civilizational, etc.) do not exists as the objective constants, but originate within the certain sociocultural context and transform within it. The main conclusion lies in the following supposition: consideration of Russia as the objective “Other” of Europe causes doubts, as well as the existence of certain unvaried cultural-civilizational code that is principally non-European or even anti-European in its essence. The article reveals correlation between the number of notions: “individual freedom – Russian Europeanism – reform and revolution”, which allows taking another look upon the certain aspects of Russian identity.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.6.16103

Abstract: The subject of this article is the analysis of integration possibilities and disintegration risks of the “Russian world” – a phenomenon that lately has attained a new sound, as well as became a subject for an extensive public discussion. The author makes an accent on the fact that the “Russian world” concept was being formed simultaneously in several platitudes: political, ethnical, economic, and cultural; thus the specificity of such phenomenon should undergo a comprehensive examination. Special attention is given to the issue of how the “Russian world” became an element of the Russian political culture; how harmoniously and/or controversially it combines ethnical, imperial, and national beginnings; which practical meanings can be determined with regards to this notion today. Based on the analysis of the theories on the heritage of the Russian philosophical thought, an attempt was made to translate a number of positions, associated with the “Russian world” concept, upon the modern sociopolitical reality of Russia, as well as critically apprehend the positive, promising, and potentially dangerous variants of interpretation of this notion in the current context. An impression can be formed that the term “Russian world” is an element of the present political language. At the same time, the attempts to mark the limits of the Russian world and to find its conceptual seed are taking place over a decade, and are certainly located not just in the political rhetoric, but also have a vivid philosophical aim.  The article presents a number of conclusions pertaining to the current stage of existence of the Russian world, which has to overcome the inner contradictions, and continues developing in the conditions of significant geopolitical shifts and complication of the sociopolitical space.