The tragedy of history

Nikolai Berdyaev (here called Nicholas Berdyaev) was a Russian philosopher and Christian believer who was expelled by the Bolsheviks in 1922. He was onboard the famous "philosopher's ship" together with Sergei Bulgakov, Nikolai Lossky (Vladimir Lossky's father) and others. After his expulsion, Berdyaev lived in Germany and France, but seems to have fallen out with virtually all other émigré groups, perhaps because he was too "leftist" for most of them - and too religious for the leftist ones.

Berdyaev's philosophy is highly eclectic and difficult to fathom. It's a combination of Christianity, existentialism and Hegelianism. His main philosophical work is called "The meaning of history". This book, "The fate of man in the modern world" (first published in 1935) is both easier and more difficult. It's easier in the sense that Berdyaev summarizes his philosophical ideas and connects them to reflections concerning the world situation in 1935. And yet, it's more difficult, due to Berdyaev's style of writing. This man seems to change subject every other paragraph. After reading about half the book, my head was spinning!

In Hegelian fashion, Berdyaev believes that the meaning of history has been revealed in our own time. Or rather the cunning of history, the fact that history or "the World Spirit" uses man for its own ends. Contrary to Hegel, however, Berdyaev sees nothing positive about this. To him, history is a tragedy. Man is trapped in history, and cannot solve the constant conflict between personality and society, personality and culture, personality and mass, "quality" and "quantity". History is a tragedy, and all human endeavours inevitably fail. The modern period is especially gruesome in this regard. It dehumanizes man, subordinates him to the machine, and fragments his personality (as can bee vividly seen in modern literature and art). Both unfettered capitalism, socialism and Nazism are part of this dehumanization. What is more, the common man seems to long for authoritarian solutions. He positively craves them. Nor is there any necessary contradiction between democracy and fascism - in a sense, fascism *is* democratic, since the mass rules by accepting the charismatic leaders, who promise to solve their problems. The chapter describing the dehumanization is probably the best in this book.

But what is the solution? Here Berdyaev is more vague. On the one hand, he seems to be saying that there really isn't a this-worldly solution to the woes of humanity. As for otherworldly solutions, he rejects pantheism since that also leads to dehumanization. Christianity, with its emphasis on man as the image of God, is the religious solution. On the other hand, Berdyaev nevertheless discusses this-worldly, political solutions. He has a soft spot for what he calls "the medieval Renaissance". Judging by his main book "The meaning of history", this refers to the trecento (Dante, Giotto, etc). He also calls for a kind of socialism as the solution to the economic problems caused by capitalism. Indeed, Berdyaev even says that compulsion in economic matters might be necessary, as long as spiritual freedom is preserved. He never explains how the two should be reconciled. His view of personality sounds "libertarian", and his view of culture is somewhat "aristocratic". (He may be influenced by Ortega y Gasset here.) At one point, he implies that Mussolini's Italy might be on to something with its corporatism, but this too is vague. I feel he never really managed to work out a concrete alternative. Perhaps he didn't really think a solution was possible. After all, he sees human history as at bottom an existentialist tragedy.

The book also contains a sarcastic critique of Russian and German nationalism. Berdyaev points out, perhaps tongue in cheek, that the Germans have more Slavic blood than the Russians, whose upper class is mostly German! Indeed, he says that it's questionable whether the Russians are Slavic at all, being Scythians mixed with Finnish and Tartar blood. Even more hard-hitting is Berdyaev's comment that modern anti-Semitism actually mimics Old Testament Judaism, the Jews being obsessed with race from time immemorial. Unfortunately, Berdyaev combines this with his own brand of anti-Semitism, attempting to distinguish religious anti-Judaism from ethnic anti-Semitism. Still, something tells me that his anti-nationalism rubbed the more White émigré circles the wrong way!

"The fate of man in the modern world" left we with a mixed impression. The ultimate crisis won't happen the way Berdyaev predicted. But a crisis will dawn upon the modern world sooner or later. Only time will tell whether the tragedy of history will continue, or whether we can finally solve the contradictions between "quality" and "quantity".