Nikolai Berdyaev
Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev was born at Kyiv in 1874 of an aristocratic family. He commenced his education in a military school and subsequently entered the University of Kiev. There he accepted Marxism and took part in political agitation, for which he was expelled. At twenty-five he was exiled from Kiev to the north of Russia and narrowly escaped a second period of exile shortly before the Revolution. Before this, however, he had broken with Marxism in company with Sergius Bulgakov, and in 1909 he contributed to a symposium which reaffirmed the values of Orthodox Christianity. After the October Revolution he was appointed by the Bolshevists to a chair of philosophy in the University of Moscow, but soon fell into disfavour for his independent political opinions. He was twice imprisoned and in 1922 was expelled from the country. He settled first in Berlin, where he opened a Russian Academy of Philosophy and Religion. Thence he moved to Clamart near Paris, where he lectured in a similar institution. In 1939 he was invited to lecture at the Sorbonne. He lived through the German occupation unmolested. After the liberation, he announced his adhesion to the Soviet government, but later an article by him published in a Paris (Russian) newspaper, criticising the return to a policy of repression, was tantamount to a withdrawal of this. He died at Clamart March 24, 1948.
“Нельзя отказаться от любви, от права и свободы любви во имя долга, закона, во имя мнения общества и его норм, но можно отказаться во имя жалости и свободы.”
“Istnieje bolesny brak odpowiedniości między moją myślą i jej słownym wyrazem.”
“Moje myślenie jest intuicyjne i aforystyczne. Nie ma w nim dyskursywnego rozwoju myśli. Niczego nie mogę rozwinąć i udowodnić. Wydaje mi się to całkowicie zbędne. Bardzo cenię i lubię Kanta, uważam go za największego z filozofów. Jednak obrastanie myśli Kanta szkolno-scholastyczną korą, ze skomplikowanymi dowodami, zawsze uważałem za zbędne i szkodliwe, zaciemniające genialną myśl. (...) Dyskursywny rozwój myśli istnieje nie dla samego poznającego, istnieje dla innych.”
“There is a tragic clash between Truth and the world. Pure undistorted truth burns up the world.”
“The question of bread for myself is a material question, but the question of bread for my neighbor is a spiritual question.”
“Every single human soul has more meaning and value than the whole of history.”