Lev Evgenevich Shaposhnikov in the context of russian philosophy

Introduction: the present paper aims to portray Lev Shaposhnikov, a Russian scholar, professor, doctor of philosophy as an advocator of the historico-philosophical approach. For this purpose it is essential to provide a holistic analysis of the personality of L. Shaposhnikov as well as his philosophical views in the synchronic and diachronic dimensions.  

Materials and Methods: Lev Shaposhnikov’s research papers devoted to the problems of the Russian religious philosophy as well as works of prominent Russian scholars of the XIX-XX centuries served as materials for the given study. The research methods employed included philosophical analysis, interpretation, comparison and generalization.

Results: as a result of the conducted research L. Shaposhnikov’ philosophical standpoint has been analysed, including description and evaluation of his academic, scholarly, and managerial activity in the philosophical realm.

Overall, it is clear that Prof. Shaposhnikov’s research is centred around a range of topics, such as: history of the religious philosophy and Orthodox theology; development and specific features of spiritual education in Russia. At present this thematic field is being widened due to investigations of philosophical and pedagogical views of Russian scholars of the ХIХ-ХХ centuries.

Lev Shaposhnikov's achievements concern not only profound academic enquiry, but also creation of a school of thought on the history of philosophy, involvement in educational activity, organization of large academic events (for example, Rozhdestvenskiye chteniya – an international conference held in Nizhny Novgorod for 30 years), participation in collective research of scholars from Russian leading universities (such as the Moscow State University and others). 

Discussion and Conclusion: within the framework of the present paper a scholarly discussion of famous philosophers from Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod) and Belorussia addressed to Prof. Shaposhnikov is presented. It helps comprehend his key ideas in their relation to the modern scientific context and the works of known Russian philosophers of the XIX-XX centuries.

Analysis of the historiosophy of Russian philosophers (such as V. Rosanov, N. Berdyaev, and others) is one of the foci in L. Shaposhnikov’s works. The author often uses an innovative approach to interpret the history of philosophy, yet his logic and vision provide reliability of the results obtained. Moreover, investigation of the Russian religious philosophy, in-depth analysis of the ideas of conservatism, research into the history of spiritual education in Russia represent important directions in L. Shaposhnikov’s scholarly work .

An obvious asset of L. Shaposhnikov’s works is systematization and classification of the philosophical issues as well as enriching the terminology base of philosophy. Thus it could be posited that research studies by L. Shaposhnikov are sure to have a valuable methodological potential.

In general, the authors of the given paper managed to portray Lev Shaposhnikov as a prominent modern scholar and reveal the role of his views in the history of the Russian philosophy.

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21. YUrkevich P.D. Heart and its value in the spiritual life of a person. YUrkevich P.D. Filosofskie proizvedeniya. Moscow, Pravda Publ., 1990. Pp. 69-103. (In Russ.)

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