Originally appeared at: The soul of the east
As the author of a notable work on Fyodor Dostoevsky, philosopher Nikolai Onufriyevich Lossky contributed
an excellent analysis of Dostoevsky’s worldview. Here he examines
Dostoevsky’s relation to the state in the context of Russian culture and
Orthodox faith. While Dostoevsky highly valued the democratic ethos of
the Russian people and wished to see their communal principles enacted
more in political life, he was nonetheless a staunch monarchist and a
critic of Enlightenment liberalism. Dostoevsky’s thoughts on foreign
policy, meanwhile, might seem quite romantic to us, but they contain a
powerful ideal: the image of a state in the service of God, the Church
and the people. Translated by Mark Hackard.As a great empire, Russia is an organism larger than the Russian people. However, the Russian people are the most important factor of the Russian Empire, and the basic features of the people’s spirit determine the character of its sovereignty to a significant degree. Therefore Dostoevsky’s thought on the attributes of Russia as a state are closely tied with the views he expounded on the Russian nation.
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