The Evolution of Metaphysics of Sex in the Philosophy of Sergei Bulgakov: From Idealization of the Androgyne to Their Criticism

The article compares the metaphysics of sex in the early and late philosophy of Sergei Bulgakov. At the early stage, Bulgakov perceived sex of a person as a half, which should find integrity in an androgynous marriage. He criticized a person's escaping from marriage and family, believing that in most cases it is insincere and comes from disappointment and fear. The nature of sex is fundamentally damaged by the Fall, which determines the kind of the suffering associated with it and encourages a person to avoid them. However, but for exceptional circumstances of the rarest cases of “odd spirits,” the integrity of sex can only be achieved in the married life of a man and a woman. At a later stage in his philosophy, Bulgakov revises his views on human sex: it becomes a faded reflection of the transcendental Masculine and Feminine principles in the Divine. A person is tasked with purifying and sublimating these principles in oneself, which is achieved by a chaste life in virginity, which Bulgakov again opposes to life in marriage. The later Bulgakov gives preference to celibacy, arguing that marriage does not help to solve the problem of sex. In addition, in his later views, Bulgakov criticizes the ideal of the androgyne. He believes that the androgyne is only deceptively integral; in fact, it destroys the selfsufficiency of each of the sexes in itself. In both early and later views, Bulgakov goes beyond the canonical Christian views on the issues of marriage and virginity, opposing these paths to each other and valorizing one of them in comparison with the other. In his early and later philosophy, Bulgakov denies the middle way of platonic love outside of marriage, believing that it is self-deception and results in a person's inflaming their passions for nothing, and not overcoming them. The article concludes that, in the context of modern gender problems, it is useful to rethink Bulgakov's philosophy in order to return to sex its metaphysical foundations which were lost in modern discourse. Understanding of these foundations gives a modern person the possibility to realize sex not only as a limitation, but also as a capability that allows fulfilling one's inner spiritual potential. It is this possibility that is denied by gender theories, which extinguish sex of its deep essence. Returning a spiritual basis to sex allows overcoming the modern person's alienation from oneself. Keywords: androgyne; gender; virginity; metaphysics of sex, masculine and feminine

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