On the influence of V. N. Karpov’s “Philosophical synthetism” on V. D. Kudryavtsev-Platonov’s “Transcendental monism”

V. N. Karpov and V. D. Kudryavtsev-Platonov are two of the most famous representatives of Russian ecclesiastical-academic philosophy of the mid-nineteenth century. There is an opinion that Karpov significantly influenced Kudryavtsev, but there have been no studies so far that would clarify specifics of this influence. The aim of this article is to find out whether Karpov’s “philosophical synthetism” really influenced Kudryavtsev’s epistemology. The main research methods are philosophical analysis of texts, historical reconstruction and comparative analysis. Drawing on the analysis of Karpov’s and Kudryavtsev’s texts on theoretical philosophy, similarities and differences in their views are identified. It has been found out that both philosophers set themselves the task of explaining the possibility of reliable cognition and adequate God-knowledge. At the same time, the main difference is that Karpov’s epistemology is characterized by psychologism, while Kudryavtsev’s theory of cognition is characterized by apriorism. It has been found out that there are no sufficient grounds to speak about Karpov’s extensive influence on Kudryavtsev and to rate them to the same branch of ecclesiastical-academic philosophy. Particularly for Karpov, Kant’s philosophy gradually turned into the object of irreconcilable criticism, while Kudryavtsev’s philosophy reveals a number of Kantian intuitions functioning as key elements. In the conclusion, an answer is proposed to the question which of the two concepts can be used for modern developments of Christian epistemology: Karpov’s “philosophical synthetism” or Kudryavtsev’s “transcendental monism”.