The reviewer considers Andrea Oppo’s book the first English-language study to offer a comprehensive and unified analysis of Pavel Florensky’s philosophy. This makes the book a significant step forward in understanding the Russian thinker, especially for non-Russian-speaking audiences. Aware of the tension between Florensky’s historical context and contemporary readers, Oppo aims to present the Russian philosopher’s ideas from a perspective that resonates today, while at the same time avoiding speculations that fall outside a historically grounded interpretation. The reviewer briefly summarizes Oppo’s main thesis: Pavel Florensky’s philosophy and its relevance for modern philosophical audiences may be described through his three key concepts – antinomy, symbol, and discontinuity. Oppo highlights and examines the central point of his book: discontinuity, understood as a philosophical problem, places Florensky’s thought within a lineage that spans the entire history of Western philosophy – from Aristotle to the present day.
Mark L. Spano (Mon,) studied this question.