V.S. Solovyov‘s Views on Nation

One of the most controversial figures in the Russian national discourse of the 19 century was Vladimir S. Solovyov who considered the issues of nation through the prism of mankind going towards unity based on Christianity. Referring to common characteristics of national unity, the philosopher essentially rejected their effectiveness purely as national identifiers. An important factor in national solidarity he considered national self-awareness, the formation of which was a significant criterion for building nationhood (nation). Therefore, Solovyov believed self-determination of a man to be crucial in terms of national identification. Solovyov finds a nation to be of interest as the main form of bringing people together at the time, as a community within which Christian unity of mankind will develop. However, in the history of mankind, nationhood acted as a force which differentiates and separates and therefore contradicts the unifying moral principles of Christianity. V.S. Solovyov thought the global system ‘individual - nation - mankind (as a single civilization)’ to be preserved but hoped for a change of principles of interaction of those through the idea of God-manhood. Moving towards inter-ethnic unity - the overall unity - constituted, according to Solovyov, the essence of historical progress and determined the prospects for the development of nation as a form of human community. In his view, factors that had united nationhood in the past were as follows: the unity of origin, national language, and common history but in his time they gave place to the unity of goals of individuals consciously considering themselves belonging to a particular nation that was shaped as a national idea.

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