The Westernizer and Slavophile Disparity

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The 19th century was a highly turbulent time in Russia’s history. Following the defeat of Napoleonic France, Western ideas and philosophy crept into Russian culture. As a result, Russian nobles split into two schools of thought. Slavophiles valued Russia’s traditional Orthodox Church, and did not want to Westernize and secede to the supposed superiority of Western culture. Conversely, Westernizers were a group of nobles who were against the traditional Russian values, and believed that the only way forward was to look to Europe. The Westernizers and the Slavophiles disagreed on a deep level about the direction Russia needed to take in the future. Russian thinkers were split between the Westernizer and the Slavophile point of view; both sides disagreed about the true nature of the country as well as its relation with the West. Westernizers in Russia strongly believed that Russia’s future development would rely on the adoption of Western technology and thinking. They looked for inspiration and ideas primarily from Hegel’s philosophies and texts. (Bova 43) According to Hegel, human history could be “understood as progress toward the realization of freedom and reason in human life.” He claimed that each individual is an intrinsically free being and cannot be contained. (Bova 44) This theory caught the attention of Russian thinkers quickly, and soon they began to question the role that Russia would play in the development of human society along the European model. This questioning eventually paved the way for the role that Russian westernizers would perform in the history of Russia. M.A. Bakunin, a radical westernizer, took philosophical inspiration from Hegel. Bakunin praised Hegel, referring to him as the “greatest philosopher of the... ... middle of paper ... ...0) Many Decembrists were arrested and sent to Siberia to labor camps, others spent time in prison. The organizers and ringleaders were executed. A lot of Great Russian thinkers and Decembrist sympathizers remained unharmed, and continued to mentally expand the boundaries of Russia’s liberal movement. The Slavophile and westernizer conflict is an inherent cultural question that Russians must answer about their country. Russian thinkers have long been fragmented between the Westernizer and the Slavophile viewpoint. Both disagreed about the true nature of the country as well as its relation with the West. It is a problem that has plagued Russia for centuries, and continues to do so to this day. Adopting the mindset of recognizing this conflict is essential to better understanding Russian history as well as the motives and thought processes of Russian leaders today.

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