Criticism of Culture in the Works by S. L. Frank and N. A. Berdyaev in the First Half of the 1920s.

The article examines the views on culture of two outstanding Russian philosophers, S. L. Frank and N. A. Berdyaev, in the context of their work in the first half of the 1920s. Since they were mainly characterized by critical pathos, the cultural philosophy of these thinkers was cultural criticism essentially at that time. The authors explore the role of the historical situation, including the consequences of the revolutions, world and civil wars, which led to the radicalization of their views, as well as the influence of previous conceptions of that kind in the West and in Russia, primarily O. Spengler’s theory. It is proved that Frank and Berdyaev develop their criticism on two interrelated levels. The first one analyzes negative trends in the spiritual life of modern society, and the second one criticizes culture as such (Berdyaev) and its false absolutization (Frank). Despite the differences in their approaches, both philosophers comprehend the loss of the transcendent foundations of culture and strive to seek spiritual rebirth. At the same time, Berdyaev associates the latter with the advent of the new Middle Ages as a pre-eschatological epoch, and Frank with the religious awakening of individuals and communities, without any tectonic shifts and fractures in the further course of history