From Onomatodoxy to Aesthetics: Aleksei Losev's Concept of Symbol

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-90-04-72198-2
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 7, 385 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: Contemporary Russian Philosophy

In From Onomatodoxy to Aesthetics: Aleksei Losev’s Concept of Symbol, Teresa Obolevitch analyzes the category of symbol in broad historical and philosophical context, with a focus on Losev’s exploration of symbol over his prolific and tragic career. A survivor of the Stalinist camps, Losev is recognized as the “last classic” of Russian Silver Age philosophy. This book addresses Losev’s critical role within the divisive debate over onomatodoxy (imiaslavie), or the divine name, which occupied the minds of Russian thinkers in the early nineteenth century.

Obolevitch presents the ancient and patristic roots of onomatodoxy and elucidates its importance for Losev’s work in a range of fields, including aesthetics, mathematics, philosophy of language, and religion. Losev’s work revolves around the possibility of expressing reality in language and his conception of symbol reflects both the apophatic aspect of Logos, as well as the possibility for new interpretations of reality.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Obolevitch, Teresa

Weitere Mitwirkende

Malczak, Lukasz

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Ästhetik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Note on Transliteration

Introduction

1 The Twentieth-Century Debate over Onomatodoxy, and Its Participants

1 The History of the Debate

2 Aleksei Losev: the Man and His Work

2 Patristic Foundations of Imiaslavie

1 Apophasis and Its Philosophical Premises

2 Divine Names and Energies

3 Eastern Christian Symbolism

4 Interpretation of the Patristic Doctrine of the Divine Name in Russian Philosophy

3 Platonic Determinants of Onomatodoxy as Interpreted by Losev

1 A Thesis about God’s Immanence and Platonism

2 Losev’s Characterization of the Platonic “Idea”

3 The One-Good as the Principle of Reality

4 Platonic Symbolism

4 The Structure of the Name

1 Antinomy between Freedom and Necessity

2 Ancient Concepts of the Inner and Outer Aspects of the Word, and Their Interpretation among the Name Glorifiers

3 Losev’s Dialectic of the Name

4 Synergism between Divine and Human Energies

5 The Origin of the Name

1 The Ontological Foundation of the Name

2 The World as a Name

3 The Symbolism of the Cosmos

6 The Mythic Nature of the Name

1 Losev’s Analysis of Mythology

2 Myth and Symbol

3 Absolute Mythology—Christianity

4 Indispensability of Myth

7 The Open Structure of the Symbol

1 The “Logic” of the Symbol

2 The Symbol as a Category of Expression

3 The Symbol as Interpretation of Reality

8 The Symbol in Aesthetics

1 Losev’s Definition of Aesthetics

2 The Symbol in Art

3 Philosophy of Music

4 The Symbol in Mathematics

5 Philosophy of Expression as Philosophy Par Excellence

Afterword

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Teresa Obolevitch, Ph.D. (2005), is professor at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, Poland. She has published and edited several books and many articles, including Faith and Science in Russian Religious Thought (2019) and The Eastern Christian Tradition in Modern Russian Thought and Beyond (2022).