The Notion of Love in the Early Twentieth-Century Russian Philosophical Tradition

This article presents the central paradigms of the understanding of love by early twentieth-century Russian philosophers. It shows that interpreting the meaning of erotic love as a way of overcoming death, as proposed by Vladimir Solovyov, largely determined not only the metaphysical inquiries, but also the personal life strategies of those who contributed to Russian Silver-Age culture. The author argues that familiarity with the autobiographies of philosophers and their lives is important for better understanding of the Russian philosophical tradition and appreciation of how this tradition was shaped by love-as-suffering, love-as-service, and love-as-friendship.