The Problem of Understanding the Self in the Philosophy of VI. Solovyov and of the Philosophy of the Silver Age

The controversy between V. Solovyov and L. Lopatin sheds light on the various ways Russian philosophy has shaped its characteristic understanding of the Self. According to Solovyov, the only reality one can ascribe to the subject of consciousness is phenomenological. Lopatin suggests an alternative, closer to Leibniz, according to which the Self is a subjective consciousness, present at the various levels of spiritual development. Such an interpretation has been, to a certain extent, taken up and elaborated by N. Lossky. G. Shpet sums up the whole discussion by arguing for the distinctive communitarian [obscnost] nature of the Self, which realizes itself not through "generalization", but through "communication".