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A
meeting with the author Interview with Giulia Lami Co-author of "Storia
e filosofia in N.A. Berdjaev" (The History and Philosophy of N.A. Berdjaev)
IDr. Lami, who was Berdjaev?
Nikolaj
Aleksandrovic Berdjaev was born in Kiev in 1874 and died in Paris in
1948. He is one of the best known Russian authors outside of Russia,
thanks to the religious, essentialist, and personalist style of his
philosophy. This intellectual was a witness to and active participant
in the most important events in Russian and European history between
the nineteenth and twentieth centuriesIs this the direction that you
have taken with your research and your book?
Yes.
Dr. Giustino Vitolo and I have wished to put Berdjaev into a correct
prospective to explain the originality of his position halfway between
the "East and West." Is it true that Berdjaev was an important person
in the perestroika movement?
Was
he ever! You must remember that with the revolution, Berdjaev was forced
by the Bolshevik authorities to emigrate, and he then became part of
the "Russia outside of Russia" that kept the strongly alternative spiritual
currents alive against the Soviet ideology. In doing this, he fed and
directly encouraged perestroika.In the contemporary philosophical picture,
what role does Berdjaev play?He is found between the thinkers that have
most investigated the problem of the crisis of modernity, from Nietzsche
to Camus. His attempt was to integrate the modern revolution into a
renewed ideal of Christianity.
Perhaps
you could summarise for our readers the political thoughts of this figure
who was so exceptional in the history of Russian thought, what would
you tell us?According to Berdjaev, communism and capitalism are both
expressions of the end of modern society and as such are pathological
phenomena: both deny the value of the individual, both are atheist and
materialist, and therefore inhuman and dehumanised. First, the person
exists as the centre of values and rights, then a correct society for
this person, and finally, the decision of the political form, which
is not necessarily always a democratic one.
Certainly
with these ideas, he must have been considered a bit right of the left
and a bit left of the right!Indeed.
In truth, his ideals depart from these boundaries because of their strong
religious assumptions.What do you mean?
In
short, if god dies, then man dies too, and at that point, it is no longer
relevant whether this occurs under a communist or democratic regime,
in the East or West, led by Hitler or Stalin.
What
sort of relationship did this Russian have with his Russia?
Excellent
question. For Berdjaev there was a spiritual Russia that was no longer
neither tsarist nor Soviet, a Russia that he loved and for which he
hoped for a rebirth. This was the primary message that Berdjaev gave
to the perestroika generation and the reason for which it became "fashionable"
in his country.
What
conclusions have you and Dr. Vitolo drawn with regards to this man who
bore witness first hand to the all the tribulations of contemporary
history?
He
has given us the impression of being a very courageous man, both spiritually
and morally, highly cultured and with enormous intellectual capacities.
He fully accepted the role of philosopher, so that he need not reflect
on the great questions of our existence.
(traduzione
Interpres sas-Giussano)
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