Filosofiia khoziaistva

Russian Literature and Thought Series

by Sergius Bulgakov

Sergei Bulgakov (1871-1944) was a major philosopher of the Russian Silver Age, but his work was almost entirely repressed under the Soviet rgime. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bulgakov - along with a number of other philosophers of the period, including Soloviev (whose work we are publishing concurrently) - has been resuscitated in an effort to rehabilitate a tradition of Russian liberal thought that will guide the country towards a post-Communist future. As Evtuhov points out in her extremely thorough and lucid introduction to this translation of his major work, Bulgakov's philosophy is particularly fruitful insofar as it combines strands of Western liberal thought with Russian and Byzantine sources and ideas. Unlike Western liberalism, with its relentless focus on individual rights, Bulgakov stresses "human dignity," a concept in which the individual and the collectivity are seen as mutually supportive. In this, Bulgakov's work should be of interest not only to Slavists and Russian intellectual historians, but to anyone interested in political and philosophical alternatives to liberal democracy as it has taken shape in the West.

Genres: Philosophy, Economics, Theology, Politics, Nonfiction

413 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1912

About the author

Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov (/bʊlˈɡɑːkəf/;[1] Russian: Серге́й Никола́евич Булга́ков; 28 July [O.S. 16 July] 1871 – 13 July 1944) was a Russian Orthodox Christian theologian, philosopher, and economist.

Reviews

[Auke Hunneman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a profound exploration of the role of the economy in life. It potentially has tremendous implications for the way we see the world around us and how we use it to broaden the scope of life.

In particular, Bulgakov critiques the scientific discipline of economics for lacking a philosophical foundation, arguing that science fragments life into disconnected parts governed by lifeless mechanisms, neglecting freedom, responsibility, and creativity. Philosophy, by contrast, seeks to understand phenomena in relation to life as a whole. He contends that economics had already become a closed, dogmatic system with limited practical relevance.

For Bulgakov, scientific concepts are merely symbols of living reality. He sees the role of the economy (and science for that matter) as transcending mechanism to expand life’s realm. Economic processes, in his view, transform the cosmic mechanism into an organism—transcending necessity through freedom, causality through intentionality, and mechanism through purpose—effectively humanizing nature.

This perspective is inherently relational: subject and object merge into a unity where individuals act purposefully, and the natural world operates with mechanical regularity. In each economic act, teleology and mechanism fuse, creating a mutual penetration. Nature, like the organs of the body, becomes anthropomorphic, where mechanism complements rather than contradicts functionality.

From this perspective, the world enters us through our senses and, once internalized, is apprehended and assimilated, forging a deeper connection between humans and the cosmos. One might wonder how Bulgakov’s proposed philosophical foundation for economics could have mitigated the biodiversity crisis and environmental degradation we witness today. Or perhaps it is not too late to embrace a new Weltanschauung?