Petr Chaadaev and the rise of modern Russian philosophy

I present and argue for two theses: the first concerns the degree to which Chaadaev's thought represents a breakthrough in the development of Russian social philosophy and the second concerns the Hegelian character of this thinking. I also show that Chaadaev's theory retained an open character closely tied to the crisis character of the social reality of his time and that it depended for its justification on the further course of the historical process, which is impossible to predict. All this leads to an interpretation of Chaadaev's view according to which the standard opposition of Chaadaev's two best-known texts, The Philosophical Letters, with their predominantly pessimistic picture of Russia, and the Apology of a Madman, which refutes this evaluation, is rejected.