On the Concepts of Eternity and Time of Nikolai Nadezhdin as the Publisher of P. Ia. Chaadaev’s „Philosophical Letter”

Abstract

This study analyses the concepts of eternity and time of N. I. Nadezhdin (1804–1856) with the aim of clarifying his intentions in publishing the Russian translation of Peter Chaadaev’s Philosophical Letter in his journal “Telescope” in 1836. In this study it will be shown that Nadezhdin believed that “time” is the image or likeness of the divine “eternity” in the phenomenal world and that it is assigned to return to its prototype. Consequently, the created beings of the world should gradually move toward the ideal world over a long period of time. Thus, from his point of view, real “time” is nothing other than the movement of the world toward eternal ideas. From this historical perspective, Nadezhdin made a positive assessment of the Letters of Chaadaev, which completely denied the value of Russia’s past. In other words, Nadezhdin considered that the Russian people still did not have a true national identity, which should seek divine eternity through the establishment of “the Kingdom of God.” He criticized the people of his own country for their habit of mind, by which they had always looked solely at their neighbours on the horizontal plane without contemplating their own ideal future. Therefore, he intended to shock the Russian audience by publishing the Russian translation of Letters of Chaadaev and call them to a spiritual awakening. Moreover, in contrast to the perspective of the cultural superiority of the Western nations that was expressed in the Letters, he intended to point out the way in which every nation must, in its own image, rise to the height of the universal realization of the perfect idea of humanity.