Russian Philosophy, Volume 1: The Beginnings of Russian Philosophy; The Slavophiles; The Westernizers

Russian philosophy begins through the impregnation of the ancient Byzantine tradition of Old Russia by the Western thought of the French Enlightenment, and then by German Romanticism. The first original Russian philosopher, Gregory Skovoroda, the "Russian Socrates," was followed by the early philosophy of history and culture, Alexander Radishchev and Peter Chasadayev. The fateful break of Russian philosophiers into two opposed camps of the Slavophiles was accomplished by the middle of the nineteenth century.