Pamfil Danilovich Yurkevich: defense of philosophy and polemic with nihilism

The article presents a brief historical and philosophical analysis of the famous controversy of the 1860s between Pamphil Yurkevich (the largest representative of the Kievian theological and academic school of Christian anthropology) and Nikolai Chernyshevsky (the leading ideologist of atheistic materialism), which unfolded on the pages of such well- known publications as “Russkiy Vestnik” (“Russian Herald”), “Sovremennik” (“Contemporary”), etc. It is shown that in a dispute with the concept of “anthropological monism” and “reasonable egoism” by N. G. Chernyshevsky, P. D. Yurkevich in his printed works and public lectures reveals the positive social significance of philosophy as the highest synthesis of all scientific acquisitions of the human spirit and the teacher of life, independent of the practical problems of his time. The author reveals the ideological origins of antagonistic theories in the broad historical and cultural context of the discussion. In the considered polemic revealed and analyzed is the key role of the editor of the “Russian Bulletin” and the most prominent conservative thinker M. N. Katkov, who sought to unite the best intellectual forces to oppose anti-philosophical and anti-cultural nihilism.