Russia’s Path toward Enlightenment

This very big book is a well-conceived study of political thought in Russia over the three centuries indicated in its title. A relatively brief initial chapter, “Searching for Enlightenment,” sets out the author’s plan, which is to show how “the phenomenon we call the Russian Enlightenment” (p. 19) was a matter as much of historical continuities as it was of the discontinuities set in motion by the revolution of Peter the Great. This is followed by the four chapters of Part I, all devoted to analyzing the theocratic thinking found in texts dating to the Muscovite period (1500-1689) as well as to earlier times. Part II (two chapters) then focuses on several of the distinctly secular and rationalist political texts produced during Peter’s reign and its immediate aftermath (1689-1762). Part III (ten chapters), by far the longest section of the book, examines how “enlightenment” as understood by exponents of “the Enlightenment” in contemporary Europe blossomed in Russia in writings during the reign of Catherine II (1762-1796), including some by the empress herself. A conclusion, “Russia’s Path toward Enlightenment,” adeptly summarizes the book’s somewhat diffuse argument.

Argument (complex analysis) · Enlightenment · Faith · Political science · Politics · Reign · Theocracy · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Classics · History · Law · Philosophy