Russian sociological thought at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries.. Katasonov V.

You are offered a book on the analysis of the views of outstanding Russian people of the late XIX - early XX centuries. on the structure of society and world history. The sociological views of the Russian thinkers of that time were very different from the postulates of Western sociology. First of all, because they approached the understanding of the driving forces of social development not from the standpoint of positivism, rationalism and materialism inherent in Western atheistic science, but based on Christian ideas about the world, man, the meaning of individual and social life. The book gives an analysis of the creative heritage of five Russian thinkers: Konstantin Leontyev, Lev Tikhomirov, Vladimir Solovyov, Sergey Bulgakov, Sergey Sharapov. They did not close their idea within the framework of narrow sociological science, their perception and understanding of society and history can be called metaphysical. At the same time, these authors understand and explain the phenomena and processes of public life very differently. The author of the book approaches the analysis of the creative heritage of these thinkers critically. Especially to the work of Vladimir Solovyov and Sergey Bulgakov. They are attributed to the school of “Russian religious philosophy”, which, according to the author, was an eclectic combination of Orthodox teaching and Western atheistic philosophy. Speaking of Konstantin Leontyev, the author draws attention to that he did not even consider himself a philosopher. But he possessed an amazing instinct and vision, which allowed him to foresee many events of the 20th century. As for Leo Tikhomirov, his work “Religious and philosophical foundations of history” still remains an unsurpassed historiosophical study, which is largely superior to the well-known work of Western historian A. Toynbee “Cracking of history”. A special place in the work is given to Sergey Sharapov, a representative of the late Slavophiles. It is customary to attribute it to economists, but its understanding of the economy was based on a broader view of society, which covered the state system, local government, parish life, family relations, foreign policy, etc. By modern standards, it can be qualified as an economic sociologist.