Motherland: A Philosophical History of Russia [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2005] LESLEY CHAMBERLAIN

Lesley Chamberlain has been pondering the enigma of Russia for over thirty years. She finds that during the last two centuries Russian intellectuals have asked two fundamental questions: 'what makes a good man?' and 'what is the right way to live?' In their attempts to answer them, Chamberlain shows how these thinkers neglected the role of the individual, prioritizing instead the need to end injustice and autocracy. It was not until the ever of the revolution of 1917 that Russian philosophers came to grips with individualism, only for this endeavor to be fragmented and forced underground by the totalitarian century that followed. The end of Communism and the rediscovery of that semi-concealed world have allowed us to see a continuous Russian philosophical tradition far removed from the crude notion of Western reason introduced by Lenin. The deeper Russian tradition with its affinities to poetry and theology emerges in radical ideas about ethics and knowledge.