Critique of Western Scholasticism in Russian Religious Thought of the 19th - Early 20th Centuries

This article discusses the criticism of scholasticism in the Russian religious and philosophical tradition of the 19th - early 20th centuries. The author examines the influence of the West-East dichotomy on the Russian philosophical thought formation, with Eastern Christian patristics acting as the basis of spirituality, and Western scholasticism being perceived as an alien rationalist element. The study focuses on the polemics of Russian thinkers (N. A. Berdyayev, Yu.Samarin, V. F. Ern) with the Western European tradition, their criticism of the human being simplification to a "rational subject" (ratio) and the integral personality doctrine development in the patristic way. The influence of scholasticism on Russian religious thought determine the maindirection of Russia's spiritual self-determination. The author comes to the conclusion that Russian philosophy forms an original tradition combining antireductionism, personalism and an existential approach, which determined its originality in opposition to scholastic rationalism.