The Study of Russian Thought in Norway: Major Milestones and Representatives (Foreword to Translation)

Abstract

The following foreword to the translation of Kåre Johan Mjør’s article “The Slavophile Idea of
Russia” provides an outline of the history of how Russian philosophy and thought have been
studied in Norway and who its main representatives have been. The main centers for studying
Russian philosophical thought are the Russian departments at the universities of Oslo, Bergen and
Tromsø. As in most European countries Russian philosophy makes up a part of Slavic studies
(or Russian studies), and more specifically of cultural studies, a field that in turn has traditionally
served as a preparation for the study of Russian literature. This suggests that the study of Russian
philosophy has not yet gained sufficient independence in Western Europe. Nevertheless, the study
of Russian philosophical thought in Norway does have a tradition of its own. For instance has
Nikolay Berdyaev’s philosophy attracted wide interest both in terms of scholarship and
translations. A characteristic feature of the study of Russian thought in Norway more recently is
a philological approach, where keen attention has been drawn to the linguistic structures and
rhetorical patterns of philosophical texts.