Лев Толстой и возможность мифологического мышления

Философия. Журнал Высшей школы экономики. 2023. Т. 7. № 2. С. 174–202.

Kulikov Anton A.

The article develops an approach to the analysis of thought based on the philosophical interpretation of the heritage of Leo Tolstoy as myth-making. It helps to understand living human thought (inevitably lost if one relies only on speculative objectification), to get closer to the mystery of its meaningfulness and connection with reality. The special urgency of this “eternal” mystery results from the fact that not only the essence and foundations of thought remain incomprehensible today, but the very idea of thought has become amorphous and doubtful. In this situation, a critical analysis of some conceptions of thought (naturalistic, intellectualistic, etc.) reveals their insufficiency and justifies the need for a different understanding of thinking. The purpose of the work is to highlight the event–based nature of thinking in empathy with Tolstoy and his characters. Tolstoy is the creator of myths: by myth–making reality and man participate in the events of thought, where it is impossible to distinguish and contrast what is happening in the “external” world and in the very thought of man. An event cannot be explained either mechanically or teleologically: it is a thought as not given or pre-given, but self-fulfilling unity of the world and man. Thought, like myth, can be understood as the presence of reality in a person's life, its self-expression and self-enrichment.

Keywords: мышление, объективация, событие, thought, Leo Tolstoy, мифотворчество, objectification, философия мифологии, philosophy of mythology, myth-making, Л.Н. Толстой, event, living thought, живая мысль