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Nikolai Berdyaev

Berdyaev on the Nature of Spirit and Reality in Relation to Apologetics

From “The Scientific Discipline of Religion and Christian Apologetics” by Berdyaev (notes link to the original page): Of principal significance for the science of religion is the philosophic problem concerning the character and criterion of reality. There are certain who might suspect me of docetism and monophysitism. This would be, certainly, a misunderstanding, the product […]

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Creativity Metaphysics Nikolai Berdyaev Søren Kierkegaard

Are the Products of Creativity Necessarily Tragic?

In The Destiny of Man, Berdyaev writes: The aim of creative inspiration is to bring forth new forms of life, but the results are the cold products of civilization, cultural values, books, pictures, institutions, good works. Good works mean the cooling down of the creative fire of love in the human heart just as a […]

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Kyoto School Nihilism Nikolai Berdyaev Nishitani Keiji

Nishitani Keiji on Nicholas Berdyaev

In The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism, Nishitani discusses the problem of nihilism in western philosophy, presenting a genealogy of sorts that includes a variety of intriguing figures. There is an entire chapter entiteld “Nihilism in Russia,” and Berdyaev curiously appears in two index entries. Until now I wouldn’t have imagined that the Kyoto School was aware […]

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Constantin Constantinus Creativity Metaphysics Nikolai Berdyaev Repetition Søren Kierkegaard

Berdyaev on Creative Dogmatism

In Repetition, Constantinus suggests that repetition is the “condition sine qua non for every issue of dogmatics” (324). That got me thinking, of course. Dogmatics is a dirty word in philosophy these days, and the reputation is not unwarranted. But perhaps this is a mistake. This called my attention to Berdyaev’s commitment to dogmatics–I think […]