Просвещение и онтология. Онтологические аспекты русского предпросвещения

Abstract

This article opens the cycle of studies of the «borrowed» (non-autochthonous) Enlightenments. It deals with the processes of Enlightenment in Russia.The author proves that in the Russian civilization prior to the Enlightenment period (XIV – the beginning of the XVII cent.) there worked a mechanism of ontologization through sacralization. This mechanism is characterized by two specifical features: (a) the source of the being-energies was a sacred place – «Holy Rus’», (b) the Being-Transmitter was the Ruler who also had a sacred status.The prerequisite of the emergence of Enlightenment intentions in Russian culture became the crisis of civilizational structures of ontologization (XVI–XVII cent.). The character of these intentions was greatly determined by the growing influence of European culture.On the example of Simeon of Polotsk, the author shows that the specificity of Russian Pre-Enlightenment was based (1) on the traditional mechanisms of ontologization and (2) on the reproduction of system of views on the Sacred Power and the Sacred Monarch. Simeon’s Enlightenment ontology was composed of Christian Illuminism and the transfer of Being-Transmitter’s role to the Enlightener-Prophet.