Boris Petrovich Vysheslavtsev (Russian: Бори́с Петро́вич Вышесла́вцев; 1877– October 5, 1954) was a Russian philosopher who belonged to the Russian Silver Age and Renaissance of Religion and Philosophy.[1]

Boris Vysheslavtsev
Born
Boris Petrovich Vysheslavtsev

October 1877
DiedOctober 5, 1954 (aged 76)
Era20th-century philosophy
RegionRussian philosophy
SchoolRussian Religious Renaissance

Life

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He did his doctorate on Fichte in 1914[2] and became a lecturer, later professor in the philosophy of law at Moscow University.[1]: 203  In September 1922, he became one of a group of prominent writers, scholars and intellectuals who were sent into forced exile on the so-called "philosophers' ships".[3]: 575  He emigrated first to Berlin, then in 1924 to Paris. He spent most of his life at the Orthodox Theological Institute.[4] While in Paris, he published the book The Ethics of a Transfigured Eros (1931). This book deals with the Christianisation of Freudian sublimation and is universally considered Vysheslavtsev's best work.[5]: 203  He is noted for an attempt to apply concepts of depth psychology to ethics and to the interpretation of Christian doctrine.[6]

During World War II, Vysheslavtsev collaborated with the Nazis, helping them write anti-Soviet propaganda. After the war, he fled to Switzerland to avoid prosecution.[7]

Books

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Available in English translation:

  • The Eternal in Russian Philosophy. Translated by Penelope V. Burt. Grand Rapids, MI, and Cambridge, U.K.: Eerdmans, 2002.

Further reading

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  • Crone, Anna Lisa (2010). Eros and Creativity in Russian Religious Renewal: The Philosophers and the Freudians. Russian History and Culture. Vol. 3. Netherlands: Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-9004180055.
  • Lossky, N.O. (1951). "B. Vysheslavtsev". History of Russian Philosophy. New York: International Universities Press Inc. ISBN 978-0-8236-8074-0.

References

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  1. ^ a b Blagova, Tatiana. “Boris Vysheslavtsev on the Russian National Character.” New Zealand Slavonic Journal, 1999, pp. 203–216.
  2. ^ Dr Matthew Raphael Johnson. "he Orthodox Nationalist: Boris Vysheslavtsev". Radio Albion. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  3. ^ Mikhail Maslin (ed.) История русской философии: Учебник для вузов. Под редакцией Маслина М.А. М.: Республика, 2001. — 639 с. ISBN 5-250-01811-4
  4. ^ David Vincent Meconi. "The Eternal in Russian Philosophy [Book Review]". Review of Metaphysics. 57 (1): 183–184. ISSN 0034-6632.
  5. ^ Crone A. L. Eros and Creativity in Russian Religious Renewal. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2010.
  6. ^ Голович, Радое. Философия преображенного Эроса и метафизика сердца Б. П. Вышеславцева : диссертация ... кандидата философских наук : 09.00.03. - Москва, 2003. - 176 с.
  7. ^ Левицкий С. А. «Борис Петрович Вышеславцев» С. 6-7 (Из книги Вышеславцев Б. П. Сочинения / Сост. и прим. Сапов В. В. Вступ. статья Левицкий С. А. — М.:Раритет, 1995. — 461 с. — (Библиотека духовного возрождения). ISBN 5-85735-022-0 , ISBN 5-85735-012-3)
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