W. von Humboldt’s Ideas as Locus Communis in Russian Philosophy (Casus of V. Weidle)

Abstract

The article substantiates the idea that the ideas of W. von Humboldt had a sig­nificant impact on the formation of the thematic priorities of the Russian philo­sophical, scientific and humanitarian thought of the 20th century. In all spheres, one way or another concerning the nature of language and art, his reasoning turned out to be strikingly relevant and consonant with the intellectual searches of Russian philosophers of the last century. Thus, his concept of the internal form of language becomes a locus communis in their scholarly communication. In this article, the author outlines the themes that make it possible to reveal the artistic-aesthetic, hermeneutic, and epistemological significance of the intel­lectual continuity that goes from Humboldt to Russian thinkers. In the works of G.G. Shpet, P.A. Florensky, S.N. Bulgakov, and other philosophers of the first half of the twentieth century, dealing with the problems of language and the Word as unique humanitarian objects, one way or another, there is a connec­tion with Humboldt’s reflections on art and language. It is noteworthy that in the second half of the twentieth century, the interest of Russian philosophers in the work of Humboldt did not weaken. This, in particular, is evidenced by the works of the representative of the philosophy of the Russian diaspora V.V. Weidle, in which the methodological transfer of Humboldt’s ideas from the linguistic sphere to the artistic-aesthetic and theoretical-cognitive tradition of Russian philosophy is effected.