The Philosophers’ Ship

[Philosophy Now]

In 1922 Lenin sent Russia’s best philosophers off on a cruise and told them not to come home unless they wanted to be shot. Alexander Razin and Tatiana Sidorina describe a ‘humanitarian act’ by a totalitarian regime.

https://philosophynow.org/issues/31/The_Philosophers_Ship

[Nick_A]

In 1922 Lenin sent Russia’s best philosophers off on a cruise and told them not to come home unless they wanted to be shot. Alexander Razin and Tatiana Sidorina describe a ‘humanitarian act’ by a totalitarian regime.

There is something about philosophy pursued as the love of wisdom which demands the elimination or at least the transformation of those who advocate the quality of inner freedom Into exponents of indoctrinated beliefs.

Berdyaev wrote of freedom but how many are capable of respecting rather than perverting the concept for pragmatic gain?

The introduction to an issue of Questions of Philosophy devoted to the ‘Philosophy Ship’ said that: “With the exiling of a philosophy began the period of sectarian existence for communist ideology. The absence of dialogue with other streams of world philosophical thought and culture finally led to the self-isolation of Marxism and its conversion into a dogma.” It is difficult to argue against this statement. All of us who had a higher education in the former Soviet Union felt the consequences of that conversion of philosophy into dogmatic Marxism. Most of the former Soviet intelligentsia, especially that part of it aged over 40, is influenced by a hatred of philosophy (or they are indifferent at best), continuing to believe that philosophy simply is dialectical and historical materialism.

This obvious hatred for philosophy fascinates me. It is prevalent in America both in the real world and online. Consider Simone Weil’s opening in a personal letter to Father Perrin when she knew she was very ill:

At fourteen I fell into one of those fits of bottomless despair that come with adolescence, and I seriously thought of dying because of the mediocrity of my natural faculties. The exceptional gifts of my brother, who had a childhood and youth comparable to those of Pascal, brought my own inferiority home to me. I did not mind having no visible successes, but what did grieve me was the idea of being excluded from that transcendent kingdom to which only the truly great have access and wherein truth abides. I preferred to die rather than live without that truth…………………….

This inner need for truth at the expense of pleasure is ignored as people pursue “rights” Who needs truth when we are fighting over rights?

Unfortunately the majority of our contemporary students, excluding those intending to become professional philosophers themselves, also have a negative attitude towards philosophy. The social cost of this is that few people wish to develop themselves culturally or spiritually. They prefer an exclusively pragmatic life and do not regard as meaningful any activity oriented toward the achievement of mutually-shared socially valid goals. Their moral attitudes seem to be based only on ancient beliefs, or on ‘commonsense’.

Yes philosophy has been forced to move underground in favor of celebrated pragmatic goals. How many are seriously capable of appreciating the ideas P.D. Ouspensky wrote of? Worldly influences assure they will be rejected as a whole in the same manner esoteric Christianity must be rejected by the world. Only a minority can profit from them.

We have already stressed that Russian culture and Russian pre-revolutionary philosophy contain a great mystic component, but paradoxically the exiling of the people who in a high degree were the bearers of this component did not improve the situation in the long term. On the contrary the interest in mysticism is increasing in Russia now. With all our respect for former famous Russian philosophers, we at the same time cannot approve of the way their writings are used in the contemporary public life of our country. The unpleasant thing is that a lot of contemporary Russian philosophers just pick up quotations from Berdyaev the same way they picked them up from Marx in former times.

Yes, this is what happens. The great truths at the core of philosophy and the essence of religion are watered down to become acceptable. Mysticism becomes fantasy to become acceptable while communism becomes empty materialism as the influences from higher consciousness and the help of nourishing grace are culturally ignored. Is it any wonder that the young are not attracted to what is taught as philosophy. It is void of “meaning.” Who understands what is necessary for freedom as Berdyaev defined it?

I am fortunate to have my talented ancestor. He never became part of the Peredvizhniki and his art always included Man’s relationship to God and nature and the love of freedom. He was his own man. Even though considered a romantic he introduced realistic concepts.

Fortunately some art has the power through the expression of awe and wonder to allow us to remember what is being forgotten as the the value of inner freedom for the pursuit and love of wisdom.

I don’t think Russia could ever lose its soul. Unfortunately there will be too much suffering taking place as society seeks to remember it.

[Gary Childress]

It seems like the Soviets did a lot of harm in eliminating their dissenting intelligentsia. OTOH, (not to necessarily endorse totalitarianism but rather to acknowledge perhaps a bitter truth) the achievements of the Bolsheviks in transforming the Soviet Union from a primarily agrarian society into an industrial powerhouse that later defeated Germany in WW2, were pretty impressive. I wonder if they could have pulled off the kind of transformation they needed to defeat Germany in any other way (without crushing dissent)?

In some ways it reminds me of the paradoxical power of Sparta over Athens. The Athenians are celebrated for their great intellectual achievements, however, the Spartans (Did Sparta even have a great thinker among them?) were far more successful on the battlefield when it came to push versus shove. Plato even modeled his Republic on some ideas he picked up from Sparta for the very reason that he believed the "ship of state" needed to factor in successful defense against enemies.

Again, not to defend totalitarianism but it is kind of sobering to me to think about it.

[Nick_A]

It seems like the Soviets did a lot of harm in eliminating their dissenting intelligentsia. OTOH, (not to necessarily endorse totalitarianism but rather to acknowledge perhaps a bitter truth) the achievements of the Bolsheviks in transforming the Soviet Union from a primarily agrarian society into an industrial powerhouse that later defeated Germany in WW2, were pretty impressive. I wonder if they could have pulled off the kind of transformation they needed to defeat Germany in any other way (without crushing dissent)?

In some ways it reminds me of the paradoxical power of Sparta over Athens. The Athenians are celebrated for their great intellectual achievements, however, the Spartans (Did Sparta even have a great thinker among them?) were far more successful on the battlefield when it came to push versus shove. Plato even modeled his Republic on some ideas he picked up from Sparta for the very reason that he believed the "ship of state" needed to factor in successful defense against enemies.

Again, not to defend totalitarianism but it is kind of sobering to me to think about it.

You've raised n important question Jesus referred to:

Matthew 16:26

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

What happened in Russia during the revolution is similar to what is happening now in America. Can the needs of the soul and the attraction to technology cooperate? Can machines serve Man rather than Man serving machines as is done now? It does seem that it would be what is natural. The problem is that we are not bright enough to do it so turn to the blind promises of progressive statism just as Russia accepted communism in the attempt to gain the world. Not a good move.