The author of the article refers to the heritage of representatives of Russian spiritual and academic philosophical theism of centuries and to the founders of Slavophilia. Author presents the study of the issue of mutual influence and mutual evaluation of Slavophiles and academicians, as well as an attempt of the comparative analysis of Russian thinkers’ epistemological views (using the example of the correlation of faith and reason). The author comes to the conclusion that the Slavophiles, like academicians, aspired to develop the doctrine of “believing thinking”. The principle of “the willful mind”, the concepts of “reasonable will”, “leaving knowledge”, and “entire knowledge” is comparable to the “believing mind” of the thinkers of the academic school, who developed, as well as the Slavophiles, the Orthodox concept of faith and knowledge. Both Slavophiles and Orthodox academics, emphasizing the question of the relationship between faith and reason, saw faith as the foundation of thinking, combining various elements of knowledge. The faith of the Slavophiles is perceived not as a formal cognitive act, but as a deep, ineradicable principle rooted in the very act of conscious life. As a fundamental cognitive act (unremovable openness and active trust in being), faith is associated with its highest form – religious faith. The author also notes that the proximity of the views of the representatives of the two directions of Russian religious and philosophical thought does not at all mean that there are no significant differences between them.

Keywords: A.S. Khomyakov, I.V. Kireevsky, Slavophilia, spiritual and academic theism, epistemology, faith, reason, and truth.

DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662.2018.3.95-103

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Natalia A. Senko – Master of Socio-Economics, Teacher at the Department of International Relations,

Training and Testing of Russian as a Foreign Language at branch of the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) in Ussuriysk;

35 Nekrasova Str., Ussuriisk, Russia, 692508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.