Blokhin, V. V., Pimenova, I. I. The Problem of Transformation of Intelligentsia’s Public Mind at the End of 1990’s – Beginning of ÕÕ Century

Abstract: the article is devoted to the problem of ideological turn from some Russian intelligentsia from materialism to idealism at the turn of XIX–XX centuries. It is very important to solve this problem in order to understand the ideological life of Russian intelligentsia and to answer the question about genesis of idealism and early symbolism in Russian culture. At the same time, when studying the mechanisms of this ideological transformation, we can also understand both the reason of creating a new esthetical paradigm in literary criticism, overcoming Nikolay Chernyshevsky’s utilitarianism which had been reigning over the minds of radical intelligentsia since 1860’s. The author of the article studies different ideological and cultural factors of formation of intelligentsia’s mind and the reasons why Immanuel Kant’s and Friedrich Nietzsche’s ideas became so popular. The author proves that those reasons included spiritual crisis, ‘longing for religion’ and a search for ‘new religious concept’ typical for many well-known figures of that epoch such as Nikolay Berdyaev, Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Vasily Rozanov. In the author’s opinion, ideological and cultural shift in intelligentsia’s public mind predetermined ‘abatement of legacies’ in 1980’s when intelligentsia declined the ideas of Nikolay Chernyshevsky and Alexander Pisarev.

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