Vladimir Solovyov (philosopher)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov (Russian: Владимир Сергеевич Соловьёв) (1853 - 1900) was a Russian philosopher, poet, pamphleteer, literary critic, who played a significant role in the development of Russian philosophy and poetry at the end of the 19th century. Solovyov (last name derives from "соловей", "solovey", Nightingale in Russian) played a significant role in the Russian spiritual renaissance in the beginning of the 20th century. Solovyov is said to have died a pauper, homeless. He had an effect on the religious philosophy of Nicolas Berdyaev, Sergey Bulgakov, Pavel Florensky, Semen L. Frank, the ideas of Rudolf Steiner and also on the poetry and theory of Russian symbolism, viz. Andrei Belyi, Alexander Blok Solovyov's nephew, and others.

Solovyov believed in the incarnation of Divine Wisdom in a being called Saint Sophia, a concept that greatly influenced the young symbolist poets, especially Blok and Belyi. Solovyov advocated a synthesis of Eastern and Western Churches in his book "Russia and the Universal Church" (written in French in 1889, translated into English in 1948). The imminent coming of the Antichrist was the theme of his last book "Three Dialogs on War, Progress, and the End of History" (1899, translated in 1915). His best known mystical poem is "Three Meetings" (1899), which describes his visions of Sophia, sapience, wisdom. Solovyov was also deeply involved in the political writings and literary criticism of his day. In his teens Solovyov renounced Orthodox christianity for nihilism though later Solovyov changed his earlier convictions and began expressing views in line again with the Russian Orthodox Church. Vladimir Solovyov was also known to be a very close friend and confidant of F.M. Dostoevsky. In opposition to Dostoevsky's apparent views of the Roman Catholic church Solovyov converted to Roman Catholicism four years before he died. It could be suggested he did this to engage in the reconciliation between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, a reconciliation that Solovyov outspokenly favored though Solovyov himself stated that he was still an Russian Orthodox believer and had never left the Orthodox faith. ^[1] Solovyov believed that his mission in life was to move people toward reconcilliation or absolute unity or sobornost. It is widely held that Solovyov is the basis of the character Alyosha Karamazov from The Brothers Karamazov ^[2]. Solovyov's influence can also be seen in the writings of the Symbolist and Neo-Idealist of the later Russian Soviet era. His book "The Meaning of Love" can be seen as one of the philosophical sources of Leo Tolstoy's 1880s works, "The Kreutzer Sonata" (1889).

Contents 1 Biography 2 Bibliography 3 Further reading 4 See also 5 External links 6 References

[edit] Biography

Vladimir Solovyov was born in Moscow on 16 January 1853, in the family of well-known Russian historian Sergey Mikhaylovich Solovyov (1820 - 1879). His mother, Polixena Vladimirovna, belonged to the Ukrainian-Polish family, having among her ancestors a remarkable thinker the 18th century Hryhori Skovoroda (1722 - 1794).

to be continued

[edit] Bibliography

• The Crisis of Western Philosophy: Against the Postivists
• The Justification of the Good
• The Meaning of Love
• War, Progress, and the End of History
• Russia and the Universal Church

[edit] Further reading

• Kristi Groberg, ‘Vladimir Sergeevich Solov’ev: a bibliography’, Modern Greek Studies Yearbook, vol.14-15, 1998
• Judith Deutsch Kornblatt, ‘Vladimir Sergeevich Solov’ev’, Dictionary of Literary Bibliography, v295 (2004), pp377-386
• Dimitrii N.Stremooukhoff, Vladimir Soloviev and his messianic work (Paris, 1935; English translation: Belmont, MA: Nordland, 1980)
• Jonathan Sutton, The religious philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov: towards a reassessment (Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan, 1988)
• Nicholas Zernov, Three Russian prophets (London: SCM Press, 1944)

[edit] See also

• Dostoevsky
• Vladimir Lossky
• Apophatic theology
• Mikhail Epstein
• Alexander Blok
• sophiology
• Phronesis
• Russian Symbolism
• List of Christian mystics
• Russian philosophy

[edit] External links

• http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1888992298/ref=pd_rvi_gw_1/104-6300569-7325509?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
• http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=0300060963
• http://aatseel.org/dissertations/literature/kostalevskym.html
• http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/readings/end/antichrist.shtml
• http://www.emich.edu/public/history/moss/
• http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/s/solovyov.htm
• http://www.christendom-awake.org/pages/soloviev/soloviev.html
• http://www.christendom-awake.org/pages/soloviev/biffi.html (address by Cardinal Giacomo Biffi)
• http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9068629/Vladimir-Sergeyevich-Solovyov
• http://www.valley.net/~transnat/solsoc.html
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solovyov/
• http://tcrnews2.com/tcrmore.html

[edit] References

1. ^ History of Russian Philosophy Nikolas Lossky pgs 84-85
2. ^ Zouboff, Peter, Solovyov on Godmanhood: Solovyov’s Lectures on Godmanhood Harmon Printing House: Poughkeepsie, New York, 1944; see Czeslaw Milosz’s introduction to Solovyov’s War, Progress and the End of History. Lindisfarne Press: Hudson, New York 1990.