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“Philosophers’ Ships” and historical destinies of Russian philosophy. To the publication of the book “Russian abroad: an anthology of modern philosophical thought” compiled by M. Sergeev

Liberal Arts in Russia. 2020. Vol. 9. No. 1. Pp. 3-15.
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Chumakov A. N.
Lomonosov Moscow State University; Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences
GSP-1 Leninskie Gory, 119991 Moscow, Russia; Building 1, 12 Goncharnaya Street, 109240 Moscow, Russia
Email: chumakov@iph.ras.ru

Abstract

The article is devoted to a detailed analysis and critical evaluation of the content of the Anthology of modern philosophical thought, which from different sides and quite widely shows the Russian abroad, the creative representatives of which live and work now in different countries on almost all continents of the planet. The author of the idea of publishing the Anthology and the compiler, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor at the University of Arts in Philadelphia (USA) Mikhail Sergeev identifies four waves of Exodus from Russia of intellectuals, in particular, philosophers. This permanent series of mass emigration began after the revolution of 1917 and, according to M. Sergeev, continues to the present time. Recalling the history of the well-known “Philosophers’ Ship” (1922), the compiler of the Anthology refers to the philosophers who left their homeland with the third and fourth waves of emigration and calls them passengers of the “Philosophers’ Ship - 2”, which today represent the culture of the Russian abroad. In his selection of authors for the publication, he seeks to observe the measure both in terms of the diversity of creative interests of these authors and from the position of their distribution across different countries and continents. As a result, the publication includes representatives of different generations, whose work is devoted to different topics, since they are not only University professors, but also writers, priests, musicians, and even “professional unemployed”. Thus, readers will get acquainted with the work of not only well-known thinkers of the modern Russian abroad, with such authors, for example, as the historian and philosopher A. L. Yanov, philosophers K. A. Svasyan or M. N. Epstein, but also with less, if not unknown and at the same time original and very interesting authors. Among them I. M. Efimov, A. Akhutin, E. Y. Smotritsky, etc. The article emphasizes that the anthology fills a serious gap in the history of modern Russian philosophy, and therefore it should rightfully be considered as an integral part of the cultural heritage of Russia. And its value will only be increasing as we approach the centennial date of expulsion of “Philosophers’ Ship” from Russia.

Keywords

  • • philosophy
  • • waves of emigration
  • • philosophical thought
  • • Russia
  • • Europe
  • • West
  • • culture
  • • civilization
  • • Russian-speaking community

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