Solovyov, Vladimir Sergeyevich.

Natsionalnyj vopros v Rossii / Nacional’nyj vopros v Rossii. [The national question in Russia].

Moskva, 1884. Large Octavo. 107 pages. Original, illustrated softcover in protective collector’s mylar. Unusually excellent condition. Uncut / Unopened version of this extremely scarce publication in original printed wrappers.

Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov (January 28 [O.S. January 16] 1853 – August 13 [O.S. July 31] 1900) was a Russian philosopher, theologian, poet, pamphleteer, and literary critic. He played a significant role in the development of Russian philosophy and poetry at the end of the 19th century and in the spiritual renaissance of the early 20th century.
he son of the historian Sergey Mikhaylovich Solovyov (1820–1879), and the brother of historical novelist Vsevolod Solovyov (1849-1903), he was born in Moscow. His mother Polyxena Vladimirovna belonged to a Polish origin family and had, among her ancestors, the thinker Gregory Skovoroda (1722–1794).
In his teens, Solovyov renounced Eastern Orthodoxy for nihilism, but later,[when?] his disapproval of positivism saw him begin to express views that were in line with those of the Orthodox Church. Solovyov studied at the University of Moscow, and his philosophy professor was Pamfil Yurkevich.
In his The Crisis of Western Philosophy: Against the Positivists, Solovyov discredited the positivists’ rejection of Aristotle’s essentialism, or philosophical realism. In Against the Postivists, he took the position of intuitive noetic comprehension, or insight. He saw consciousness as integral (see the Russian term sobornost) and requiring both phenomenon (validated by dianonia) and noumenon validated intuitively. Positivism, according to Solovyov, validates only the phenomenon of an object, denying the intuitive reality that people experience as part of their consciousness. As Solovyov’s basic philosophy rests on the idea that the essence of an object (see essentialism) can be validated only by intuition and that consciousness as a single organic whole is done in part by reason or logic but in completeness by (non-dualist) intuition. Soloyvev was partially attempting to reconcile the dualism (subject-object) found in German idealism.
Vladimir Solovyov became a friend and confidant of Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881). In opposition to his friend, Solovyov was sympathetic to the Roman Catholic Church. He favoured the healing of the schism (ecumenism, sobornost) between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. It is clear from Solovyov’s work that he accepted papal primacy over the Universal Church, but there is not enough evidence, at this time, to support the claim that he ever officially embraced Roman Catholicism.
As an active member of Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia he spoke Hebrew and struggled to reconcile Judaism and Christianity. Politically he got renowned as the leading defender of Jewish civil rights in tsarist Russia in the 1880s. Solovyov also advocated for his cause internationally and published a letter in London Times pleading for international support for his struggle. Jewish Encyclopedias describe him as a friend of the jews and state that “Even on his death-bed he is said to have prayed for the Jewish people”.
Solovyov spent his last years obsessed with the fear of the “Yellow Peril”, constantly warning that soon the Asian peoples, especially the Chinese, would invade and destroy Russia. In an 1890 article entitled “China and Europe”, in the journal Review, Solovyov wrote that the great struggle of the coming 20th century would be a war between China which was “yellow”, “pagan” and completely “evil” vs. the Europe which was “white”, “Christian” and completely “good”. After the victories of the Japanese during the First Sino-Japanese war in 1894-95, Solovyov added Japan to the list of Asian nations that were allegedly menacing Russia.
It is widely held that Solovyov was one of the sources for Dostoevsky’s characters Alyosha Karamazov and Ivan Karamazov in The Brothers Karamazov. Solovyov’s influence can also be seen in the writings of the Symbolist and Neo-Idealist writers 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 The Kreutzer Sonata (1889). It was also the work in which he introduced the concept of ‘syzygy’, to denote ‘close union’.
He influenced the religious philosophy of Nicolas Berdyaev, Sergey Bulgakov, Pavel Florensky, Nikolai Lossky, Semyon Frank, brothers Sergei Nikolaevich Trubetskoy and Evgenii Nikolaevich Trubetskoy, the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, and the poetry and theory of Russian Symbolists (Andrei Belyi, Alexander Blok, Solovyov’s nephew, and others). Hans Urs von Balthasar explores his work as one example of seven lay styles, which reveal the glory of God’s revelation, in volume III of The Glory of the Lord (pp. 279–352). (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: Russian Literature – Rare
• Language: Russian
• Inventory Number: 60129AB

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