Theism as a strong and unchanging truth in the philosophy of L. M. Lopatin

The article is devoted to the life and work of an outstanding Russian philosopher Lev Mikhailovich Lopatin (1855-1920), professor at the Imperial Moscow University, chairman of the Moscow Psychological Society and editor of the journal “Questions of Philosophy and Psychology”. The article shows Lopatin’s life path, the main milestones of his scientific and pedagogical activities, the memories of his students, Lopatin’s views on the main philosophical problems. This article opens a series of publications about the philosophical work of L. M. Lopatin. Lopatin’s analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of religious and philosophical systems traditional for European philosophy: deism, pantheism and theism, is presented. He finds illogicality in this traditional division of systems. The inconsistency of pantheism is shown. According to Lopatin, philosophy, in its desire to substantiate the concept of the Absolute, must come to theism.