The Problem of the Relationship between Law and Morality in the Works of Vladimir Solovyov

This article examines Vl. Solovyov’s views on the relationship between legal and moral phenomena. Drawing on the philosopher’s fundamental works – “The Justification of Good: Moral Philosophy” and “Critique of Abstract Principles” (also known as “Law and Morality”), the author systematizes his ideas on the essence, genesis, and functional purpose of law and morality in society, revealing the correlations between them from the perspective of ontology and praxeology. The author demonstrates the influence of the legal positions and theories dominant in social science in the second half of the 19th century on Solovyov’s work, and his debates with these theories determine the specific nature of his views on the relationship between law and morality. The author concludes that Solovyov’s concepts remain relevant in today’s increasingly complex legal reality, amidst a turning point in legal scholarship, and in light of the particularities of the Russian legal mentality. Namely: the systemic nature of legal theory, including religious, moral, theoretical-legal and institutional aspects; the understanding of law and morality as co-evolving elements, the interpretation of the state as a naturally arising union that creates in society security measures for moral values and norms, a synthetic understanding of law in connection with its moral dominants.