The topicality of the philosophic research of the Renaissance dualisms in the sphere of soul and body is stipulated by the representation of the dichotomy which puts focus on the body that is able to perform complicated forms of cognition. This kind of representation encouraged both philosopher and writers of the Renaissance to praise the artistic and subjective image of man. The «Titans» of the Renaissance produced the ways of explaining human mind and body in the close connection of the (...) spiritual and the material thus moving away from the Platonic positions of the Greek philosophy and simultaneously deviating from the Middle Ages dualities of body and mind in the doctrines of the Reformation. The objective of the paper is to give an analysis with the expressed purpose of studying the nature of the dichotomy «soul-body» in the philosophy and culture of the Renaissance. The methodology of the research is based on the complex approach that is considered valid due to the inter-disciplinary character of the given study. The comparative/historical analyses used in this paper, can be represented as identification and explication of the system of cultural features and revealing deep factors which determine their interrelation. The scientific novelty of the research lies in finding out the essence of the Renaissance conception of man as for the duality of soul and body represented both in the philosophic treatises and in the artistic work of the Renaissance. The conclusions put an emphasis on the idea that the Renaissance «Titans» in the glorification of man in their «vita activa» admitted ambiguity in the man as an embodiment of the riot and quilt, the good and the evil at the moment of disruption between the order and the law of harmony. (shrink)

Alexey Losev's concept of 'personality' was developed in his writings from the 1920s, "The Dialectics of Myth" and "The Philosophy of Name". In his later works Losev also understood the 'personality' outside of the boundaries of philosophy and theology. For him, the mystical dimension of personality in the end dominates logical and cultural structures of the subject. Losev's concept of 'personality' as a myth, a symbol, rather than an abstract theory was an attack on the European individualism seen as a (...) principle of the self-affirmation of the isolated subject. (shrink)

This article is devoted not only to Losev''sphilosophical works, but also to his fiction,which he created during 1930s and 1940s.Losev''s eight books of the 1920s (his``octateuch'''') combine into a single whole thatamounts to his philosophy of life and historydepicted in expressive images. At the same timeLosev''s ``octateuch'''' strikes one as having beenwritten at a single sitting and in a singlestyle, in a genre that can be identified as the``philosophical novel'''' having as much right asSpengler''s opus to be called an ``intellectualnovel.'''' (...) In his prose of the 1930s and 1940sLosev tries with artistic methods to resolvethe philosophical problems which he raised inhis works of the 1920s. Losev''s ``octateuch'''' andhis fiction are directed against thosecontemporary materialists who seek to embodyPlato''s Republic, whom he christens``soil-less nihilist idealist utopians.'''' All ofthis leads to the conclusion that Losev''sintellectual novel belongs to a definite andmore specific subgenre. It is undoubtedly ananti-utopia, full of the grotesque. In additionto its scientific and social orientation,Losev''s anti-utopia is also religious innature. Thus Losev not only depicts the realconsequences of utopian dreams, but also turnsto the ``life of the artist,'''' which is far fromany technological or social utopias but isfilled with another, no less terrifying ornihilistic utopia: that of the non-religiousexistence of the human person. Losev preservedhis anti-utopian and anti-nihilist viewsthrough his late period (1950s–1980s), despitethe care he took not to cross Sovietcensorship. Losev''s anti-utopia is the kind ofChristian realism to which he appealedthroughout his life. (shrink)