The article proposes the historico-philosophical reconstruction of S.L. Frank’s attitude to theosophy and occultism, made on the basis of foreign archival materials, epistolary heritage as well as periodicals. The authors present the archival documents containing the philosopher’s critique of theosophical teachings of the emigrant thinker Pyotr Demianovich Ouspensky, especially expressed in his book “The New Model of the Universe”, which contains the theosophist’s teaching about the occult-magic system called the “Fourth Way”. This book was to be translated into Dutch due to Henk Wechgelaar from the weekly newspaper “Woord en Geest”, founded in 1925. The article analyzes the evolution of S.L. Frank’s views on paranormal phenomena, which were formulated by the philosopher in a series of his lectures in Berlin (March 7, 1927), Riga (February 29, 1928), Daugavpils (March 6, 1928), Tallinn (March 12, 1928), Kaunas (March 27, 1927) and Belgrade (April 26, 1930); as well as the relation of theosophy and occultism to science and religion as expressed by S.L. Frank both in his doctoral (undefended) dissertation “The Soul of Man” and in his later works and talks. In the Appendix, the article provides a Russian translation of S.L. Frank’s letter to H. Wechgelaar from the archives of the Amsterdam Free University, in which the philosopher expresses his attitude to theosophical teaching (the original: Brief van Simon Frank aan H Wechgelaar, Amsterdam, UVA copy UB: HSS-mag.: XXXIII Pos: map Wechgelaar [H.]).

Keywords: Russian philosophical emigration, Russian philosophy in the Netherlands, theosophy, occultism, S.L. Frank, P.D. Ouspensky

DOI: 10.22250/20728662_2022_2_75

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About the authors

	Teresa Obolevitch - Pontifical University John Paul II, Kanonicza St 9, Krakоw, 31-002, Poland; National Research University “Higher School of Economics”; 21/4 Staraya Basmannaya Str., Moscow, 105066, Russia; е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Alexander S. Tsygankov - Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences. 12/1 Goncharnaya Str., Moscow, 109240, Russia; National Research University “Higher School of Economics”. 21/4 Staraya Basmannaya Str., Moscow, 105066, Russian Federation; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.