Criticism of Historicism in the Russian Religious Philosophy

Abstract

In article the understanding of the nature of historical knowledge is considered by the Russian religious philosophers. As basis of historical thinking of domestic thinkers the paradigm according to which historical process is defined by an incomprehensible Divine Providence acts. Proceeding from it, the Russian philosophers criticize the rationalistic historicism connected with recognition of cognizable objective laws of historical process. They consider as an important lack of historicism an exception of the moral contents of historical process occurring in it. In a counterbalance to historicism N. A. Berdyaev and S. L. Frank claim that as a main goal of historical knowledge legend establishment acts. Achievement of this purpose is connected with installation on fidelity to the past. Other point of view is presented G. V. Florovsky, who in the spirit of a conventionalism believes that the purpose of historical knowledge is creation of the schemes, which are ordering the available facts and not applying for knowledge of objective laws. Such understanding of the purpose of historical knowledge creates, according to Florovsky, the spiritual prerequisite for human right justification on free social creativity that is excluded by the ideology recognizing standard value of objective laws of history. In article it is noted that the understanding of the nature of historical knowledge as having the subject the legend corresponds to the processes happening in modern public consciousness.