Russian cosmism. Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov: biography, works

The name of the Russian philosopher Nikolai Fedorov for a long time was hidden from the general public, but he was not forgotten, because his ideas inspired such outstanding scientists as Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky, Alexander Leonidovich Chizhevsky, Nikolai Aleksandrovich Naumov.

Russian philosophers of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th Vladimir Solovyov, Nikolai Berdyaev, Pavel Florensky, Sergei Bulgakov and others praised the ideas of Fedorov, and Vladimir Nikolaevich Ilyin in the article "Nikolai Fedorov and the Monk Seraphim of Sarov" puts these two people on one common stage , Paying tribute to the high spirituality and true Christian holiness of Nicholas Fedorovich.

Childhood and youth

Biography N. Fedorova contains a lot of white spots. We can not say whether he was married or had children. It is known only that Nikolay Fyodorovich Fedorov was born on May 26 (June 7) in 1829. His mother's information has not been preserved. He is illegitimate son of Prince Pavel Ivanovich Gagarin. As illegitimate, neither Nikolai, nor his brother and three sisters had the right to claim the title and surname of his father. Fyodorov was his godfather. From him, he got his name. Such situations at that time were not uncommon: a nobleman could fall in love with a peasant woman, but divorce and marrying a woman of a lower class deprived many of the privileges of both spouses and their children.

As for the name, after the flight to Yuri Gagarin's space, foreign media responded to this event with articles under the heading "Two Gagarin", implying the real name of Nikolai Fedorovich. Sergei Korolev had in his office a portrait of a cosmos philosopher and, of course, deciding which of the guys first to send into space, could not help thinking about a good sign.

Father, Prince Gagarin, did not hide his extramarital affair from his brother - Konstantin Ivanovich Gagarin. He took part in the fate of his nephews. He took over the payment of Nicholas's education. About other children there is no information. Native village of Keys (Tambov province, now - Ryazan region, Sasovsky district) Nikolay left, reaching school age - he moved to Tambov, where he entered the gymnasium.

Lycée Richelieu

After graduating from the gymnasium in 1849, Fedorov went to Odessa. There he enrolled at the famous Richelieu Lyceum in the Faculty of Law. This is a very prestigious educational institution. In importance, it stood in second place after the famous Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. On the composition of subjects studied, the quality of the knowledge and rules taught, he was rather a university than a lyceum. Teaching was conducted by professors. In Richelieu lycée, children from the most aristocratic and wealthy families studied. Nikolai studied in it for three years. After the death of my uncle, who paid for his studies, the young man was forced to leave the Lyceum and begin an independent life. An illegitimate son, even endowed with great talents and high virtues, could not count on a state subsidy in such an educational institution. However, three years of study did not go in vain. Fundamental knowledge in the natural and human sciences, obtained at the Lyceum, later became very useful to the future philosopher who initiated Russian cosmism.

Teacher and librarian

In 1854, Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov returned to his native Tambov province, received a teacher's certificate and sent a job as a history and geography teacher to the city of Lipetsk. Until the end of the sixties, he was engaged in teaching activities in the district schools of Tambov, Moscow, Yaroslavl and Tula provinces. From 1867 to 1869 he went to Moscow, where he gave private lessons to Mikhailovsky's children.

In 1869, Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov finally moved to Moscow and settled himself as an assistant to the librarian in Chertkov opened the first public library in the city.

Fedorov believed that the library is the center of culture that unites people who are not related by kinship, but who are close to the spiritual values - literature, art, and science. He was against the law on copyright and actively promoted the ideas of various forms of book exchange.

Rumiantsev Museum and pupils

In Chertkovsky library Fyodorov met the future father of cosmonautics - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Konstantin Eduardovich came to Moscow with the intention of getting an education in the Higher Technical School (now Baumanskoye), but he did not enter and decided to study independently. Nikolai Fedorovich replaced him with university professors. For three years under the leadership of Fedorov Tsiolkovsky mastered physics, astronomy, chemistry, higher mathematics, etc. Humanities were not forgotten, which, like rest, was devoted to the evening time.

When a few years later the library was attached to the Rumyantsev Museum, Fedorov NF made a complete cataloging of the unified book fund. In his spare time he worked with young people. Nikolay Fedorovich spent his modest salary on students, and he lived, adhering to the strictest savings, up to the fact that he did not use public transport and everywhere he walked.

The essence of the theory of cosmism

Nikolai Fedorov is considered the father of Russian cosmism. The philosopher asserted that after the discovery of the heliocentric system by Copernicus, medieval philosophy was to reconsider its ideas about the world order. Space prospects have set new challenges for mankind. As Tsiolkovsky said: "The earth is the cradle of humanity, but it is not eternal for him to live in a cradle!"

It should be noted that the science of philosophy Fedorov denoted as a thought without work. In his opinion, this sooner or later leads to isolation from the object of study and the denial of objective knowledge. Theoretical knowledge must be supported by practice, and its purpose is to study the nature, life and death to control them.

The universe is mastered in such a miserable volume that the conclusion itself suggests itself: the Lord created such a huge Cosmos with the goal of placing in it all people who ever lived, and those who are still born in the future. In another way, this can not be explained. Under the influence of this inference, the Russian cosmos of Fedorov was born. Considering the universe as a vast space, only a microscopic part of which humanity occupies, the philosopher associated this unnatural imbalance with the Christian doctrine of the resurrection. The free space is prepared by the Creator to accommodate the billions of people who have ever lived on Earth. More details about this can be found in the collection of works by Nikolai Fedorovich, united by the name "Philosophy of the Common Cause." The development of human civilization should be aimed at the exploration of outer space, the return to physical life of people who lived before and now are buried. In this regard, it is necessary to create a new ethic that allows everyone to live in peace and harmony.

New Ethics

Nikolai Fedorovich was a religious man. He participated in the liturgical life of the Church, observed fasts, regularly confessed and communion. In his opinion, the new ethics should develop on the basis of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity of God. As the three different Essences of God - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, harmoniously interact, so the divided humanity must find a way of peaceful coexistence. The Divine Trinity is the antithesis of the eastern mentality of the dissolution of the individual in the collective and of Western individualism.

The best basis for building new relationships is ecology. Care for nature, the study of its laws and the management of them should become the basis for the unification of people of different nationalities, professions and level of education. Science and religion have much in common. The Christian doctrine of the coming resurrection of the dead must be practiced by scientists.

Resurrection of the Dead

What is the general resurrection, according to Fedorov, is the rebirth or recreation of people? The philosopher argued that death is an evil that people must eradicate. Every person lives by the death of his ancestors, therefore, is criminal. This state of affairs should be corrected. Accounts should be paid by resurrecting the dead. The idea of resurrection should become a catalyst, connecting scientists from all countries of the world for one common cause.

The mechanism of resurrection is based on the laws of physics - each physical body consists of molecules and atoms, which are held near each other by the energies of attraction and repulsion. All objects emit such waves. These phenomena should be studied and thoroughly investigated for the restoration of physical matter, that is, for growing past inhabitants of the planet from the preserved biological material or for collecting the energies that people consisted of in order to materialize them in this way. There are more options for resuscitation, as Fedorov suggests.

The philosophy of his model of social development includes the education of new relationships between people. Since paradise is not an ephemeral space inhabited by the souls of the righteous, and not the abstract peace of the soul that has come to terms with reality, which it does not control, but the real physical world, it is necessary to alter or educate people in such a way that they say goodbye to dependence on Vices, known as hatred, envy, avarice, despondency, pride, idolatry, etc. It is also necessary to make sure that people do not suffer from physical irritants, such as diseases, cold, heat, hunger and others. This is a work for both scientists and clergy. Science and religion must unite.

Nikolai Fedorovich drew two possible ways of development of human civilization.

Relationship between the sexes

Nikolai Fedorov did not ignore this aspect of human relations. In our world, in his opinion, there is a cult of woman and carnal love. Relationships are driven by sexual instinct. More sensuality and very little sympathy.

Matrimonial relations should be built on the model of the Divine Trinity, when the union is not a yoke, and the individuality of the person is not a reason for discord. Love between men and women should resemble the love of children for parents. However, not only lust is allowed, but also its opposite - asceticism, as full selfishness and absolute altruism are unacceptable.

Childbirth will be perceived as a creation, that is, the creation of people for new worlds. Our sexual sensuality is an instinctive flight from death, and birth, in the present view, is the opposite of dying. The love of ancestors will supersede the fear of their own death and is transformed into a re-creation of the fathers.

The first way that humanity can go

Intellectuals and scientists around the world will work to recreate the human gene pool. The armed forces will no longer be used for aggressive, mutually exterminating purposes, but will be used to confront the spontaneous forces of nature, that is, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, etc.

The industry will stop making products, which can be conditionally called toys for adults. The main production will be transferred to the countryside. Life will develop there. Cities produce people in a consumer warehouse, prone to a parasitic way of existence. Life in cities deprives them of healthy aspirations, restricts them and makes them not just flawed, but unhappy.

Universal education is a prerequisite for the realization of the resurrection plan.

Public administration will be carried out by the monarch, connected with his people by the relations of not Caesar and his subjects, but the executor of the will of God for the sake of the universal good.

Another way

Nikolai Fedorov also suggested another way of development of human civilization, which will lead us not to immortality and the resurrection of the dead, but to the Last Judgment and the Gehenna of Fire. Russian cosmism is a real concept, which has nothing in common with the utopian fantasies of science fiction writers. Fedorov's picture of the world looks incredibly believable, although he lived in the era before the scientific and technological revolution.

To the Last Judgment will lead a hypertrophied sense of self-preservation, which will prevail over common sense. This will arise as a result of a departure from God, in the loss of faith in His craft, will, care and love for people. From an incorrectly interpreted sense of security, people will begin to artificially synthesize food. Lust prevails over love, unnatural marriages without procreation will begin to appear. Animals and plants that pose a threat to health will be destroyed. Will cease to produce aircraft. In the end, people will try to exterminate each other. Then the Day of Wrath will come.

It's amazing that all this was written in the XIX century - Nikolai Fyodorov died on December 28, 1903.

The sciences born from the teachings of Fedorov

Nikolai Fyodorovich Fedorov, without knowing it, inspired Konstantin Tsiolkovsky to devote his life to the creation of a new branch of science and technology - astronautics.

The order of the world order, formulated by Nikolai Fedorovich, conquered the minds of many of his contemporaries. It was the ideas of Fedorov that gave birth to such sciences as space and heliobiology, aeroionization, electro-hemodynamics, and so on. In the opinion of scientists involved in the legacy left by the "Moscow Socrates", as friends and disciples called Fedorov, he defined a vector and gave impetus to the development of universal knowledge for many centuries ahead. From his submission, a new view of the evolution of mankind was born, as an active process, produced by the people themselves, working to create an ideal noosphere.

Most of the records that Fedorov NF made for his pupils have survived. Nikolai Fedorovich did not publish his thoughts. His works were preserved by numerous students. Nikolai Pavlovich Peterson and Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kozhevnikov systematized them and published them in 1906. The entire circulation was sent to libraries and distributed free of charge among those who wish.

During his lifetime Nikolai Fedorovich was never photographed and did not allow himself to paint. However, Leonid Pasternak still secretly made one portrait. We placed it at the beginning of the article.

Conclusion

During the years of Soviet power in the USSR, when the space industry and science achieved very significant indicators, Nikolai Fedorov was known only in very narrow circles.

By the highest leaders of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Fedorov's teaching was perceived unduly tied to the Christian idea of the universe as a creative act of the Divine mind of the Holy Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. His deeply religious view of the world order came into conflict with the basic principles of the attitude to the world order of Soviet society, which was aimed at satisfying only the material needs of man. The main slogan of socialism: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his work", but the main slogan of communism: "From each according to ability, to each according to needs." Needs were exclusively for physiological needs, for Soviet society denied the presence of the soul, although the idea of educating a new person, very possibly, was borrowed from him.

At present, we are still far from the era of the Universal Resurrection, although for other reasons - the consumer attitude towards life, as well as the distance from God were transformed, but in general, there were not many changes.