Projects of the “critique of revelation”: Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Nikolai Berdyaev

The article is devoted to the projects of the “critique of revelation” of two thinkers who saw the potential for the development of Kantian intuitions in the field of philosophy of religion - John Gottlieb Fichte and Nikolai Berdyaev. The main purpose of the study is to identify the peculiarities of these philosophers' approaches to understanding the origins of the phenomenon of revelation and the tasks it poses to human beings; and, using their example, to identify two characteristic ways of understanding Christian truth in the context of the ideas and hopes of the Enlightenment, in the first case, and, in the second case, in the era of crisis and collapse of these hopes in the 20th century. The paper emphasizes that for both philosophers, revelation loses its objective, human-independent significance. Both philosophers proceed from the premise that in order to grasp the essence of revelation, it is necessary to investigate the subject who perceives it, as well as the extent to which the subject's inner development is prepared for the change that the realization of revelatory truth will require of him. In this case, the development of the subject in the ability to perceive revelation in Fichte depends on the degree of purity of the will and its freedom from sensual heteronomy, while in Berdyaev - on the degree of disclosure of the spiritual beginning in man and his ability to creative free action. Special attention is paid to understanding in this context the meaning of religion and various forms of its realization, as well as the relation of religion to the moral law. The conclusion attempts to compare the different sense of the continuity of Fichte's and Berdyaev's philosophy of revelation in relation to the ideas and pathos of Kant's critical philosophy. In both cases it is shown that it is possible to trace such continuity, realized, however, in different senses and directions.

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Publication Details

Journal
St Tikhon s University Review
Published
2025-06-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.15382/sturi2025119.45-64
Primary Topic
Humanities and Social Sciences
Type
article
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article

Projects of the “critique of revelation”: Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Nikolai Berdyaev

Anna Platanova
St Tikhon s University Review
Humanities and Social Sciences
article

Projects of the “critique of revelation”: Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Nikolai Berdyaev

Anna Platanova
article en

Abstract

The article is devoted to the projects of the “critique of revelation” of two thinkers who saw the potential for the development of Kantian intuitions in the field of philosophy of religion - John Gottlieb Fichte and Nikolai Berdyaev. The main purpose of the study is to identify the peculiarities of these philosophers' approaches to understanding the origins of the phenomenon of revelation and the tasks it poses to human beings; and, using their example, to identify two characteristic ways of understanding Christian truth in the context of the ideas and hopes of the Enlightenment, in the first case, and, in the second case, in the era of crisis and collapse of these hopes in the 20th century. The paper emphasizes that for both philosophers, revelation loses its objective, human-independent significance. Both philosophers proceed from the premise that in order to grasp the essence of revelation, it is necessary to investigate the subject who perceives it, as well as the extent to which the subject's inner development is prepared for the change that the realization of revelatory truth will require of him. In this case, the development of the subject in the ability to perceive revelation in Fichte depends on the degree of purity of the will and its freedom from sensual heteronomy, while in Berdyaev - on the degree of disclosure of the spiritual beginning in man and his ability to creative free action. Special attention is paid to understanding in this context the meaning of religion and various forms of its realization, as well as the relation of religion to the moral law. The conclusion attempts to compare the different sense of the continuity of Fichte's and Berdyaev's philosophy of revelation in relation to the ideas and pathos of Kant's critical philosophy. In both cases it is shown that it is possible to trace such continuity, realized, however, in different senses and directions.

St Tikhon s University ReviewVol. 119
Openalex Percentile: Top 71%
Humanities and Social Sciences
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