Vision of the future and the crisis of culture: Oswald Spengler and the ideas of Russian cosmism (Valerian Muraviev)

The article researches unstudied aspects of reflecting on cultural and philosophical concept of Oswald Spengler by V. N. Muraviev (1885-1932), a representative of the Russian cosmism philosophy and the follower of N. F. Fyodorov’s theory. The paper analyzes his works such as Ownership of Time, Culture of the Future, articles, and diary notes which concentrate on the crisis of culture and the necessity of revival of religion for creation of the culture of the future. The comparative analysis of Spengler’s ideas and the universal project of Muraviev demonstrates the critical and polemic character of the Russian philosopher’s works and his ambiguous attitude to the ideas of the German thinker. The paper reveals the specifics of the religious and philosophical ideas of Muraviev which were defined by the projective image of the active apocalyptics and the ideas of spiritual collegiality in the creative transformation of the world. Unlike Spengler, Muraviev accepts the idea of historical progress and the idea of the time dynamics. The paper shows the importance of the theme of ontologization of time for the formation of the projective image of the culture of the future in his philosophy. The search for ways of overcoming the decline of culture leads him to creating the theory of culture as the instrument for time ownership. Muraviev’s criticism of The Decline of the West by Spengler shows the image of culture as theurgic project based on the principles of Christian eschatology. His reception of Spengler’s ideas permits to conclude that the polemics with the German philosopher was extremely important for his development of the projective theory of culture in the intellectual context of Russian cosmism.