The Teaching of Philosophical Disciplines by V.D. Kudryavtsev-Platonov at the Moscow Theological Academy

Abstract

The article is devoted to the reconstruction of the historical and philosophical context of the teaching of philosophical disciplines by V.D. Kudryavtsev-Platonov (hereinafter Kudryavtsev) in the Moscow Theological Academy (hereinafter MDA), which is achieved by analyzing official documents regulating the teaching of philosophy in theological academies; Kudryavtsev’s manuscript materials for his lectures on philosophy; and the memoirs of MDA student M.D. Muretov. The relevance of the article is due to the fact that, firstly, it reveals for the first time the nature of the influence of philosophical disciplines taught by Kudryavtsev on the students of the MTA,
and secondly, it makes it possible to solve historical and philosophical problems of the genesis and development of philosophical views of Kudryavtsev himself. As a result, it has been established that Kudryavtsev’s teaching of philosophical disciplines, despite the fact that in the sphere of ecclesiastical-academic education they fulfilled an auxiliary function as compulsory subjects defined by the framework of confessional education, was not restricted by any censorship and, as a consequence, left freedom for the manifestation of the Russian philosopher’s creative thought, which was expressed, in particular, in his regular reference to Kantian philosophical ideas.