V.S. Solovyov and the Choice of the Russian Civilization

The attention is focused on the idea that the modern phase in the Russian philosophical and social thinking is characterized by the discourse on civilizational choice of Russia. Therewith, addressing the Russian religious and philosophical tradition is deemed to be relevant. The central personality of the Russian religious philosophy is Vladimir S. Solovyov – the ideological founder of the all-unity philosophy. His contemplation on multiple topics became significant for the Russian society of his time as well as of the modern days. It is stipulated, that one of the central topics for the Russian society is the problem of correlation of western and eastern elements of spiritual culture and historical development of Russia. Contemplation on this problem based on the creative heritage of Vladimir Solovyov makes his standpoint relevant in the current stage. The opinion that Solovyov's solution to the “East-West” dichotomy is based on the acknowledgement of universal christian values as the highest factor of historical development is being sustained. This allowed the founder of the all-unity to stipulate the highest ideals of spiritual and moral perfection as a goal of the progress of the society, to highlight the threat of spiritual crisis, to anticipate catastrophic events of the following historical period. The universalistic approach of Vladimir Solovyov presumes the inclusion of Russia into the context of the European Christian culture. The philosopher assumed for Russia a task of “global synthesis” of western and eastern values in global scale. Detailed ways of solving this task were utopian. The conclusion is made that the relevance of the philosopher's standpoint for the present is constituted by the vision of main tendencies in spiritual and social life. The all-unity philosophy is deemed to be productive to justify the general Russian identity of the present.