Russia’s philosophy at the WCP: on the problem of the “Russianness” of Russian philosophy

This contribution to the Roundtable examines two questions raised at the 25th World Congress of Philosophy, held in Rome in August 2024. The first part of the text addresses the problem of Russian philosophy’s alleged particularity as a philosophical question. Why has this question maintained its central position for such a long time, and how should it be reconceptualised in the post-2022 reality? The second part tackles the new perspectives presented by a discourse on “Russophone” (instead of “Russian”) philosophy. Can our research field be mended using the conceptual tools of postcolonial theory? How has area studies, with its approach from the “outside,” affected the evolution of research on Russian philosophy? The text approaches the problem of “Russianness” in Russian philosophy on a meta-level, offering no final answers but striving instead to ask new questions.