“Second after Aquinas ...”: Hans Urs von Balthazar on the Philosophical Aesthetics of V.S. Solovyov

Abstract

The analysis of the book by the Swiss philosopher and theologian H.U. von Balthazar “Vladimir Solovyov”, dedicated to the reconstruction and interpretation of the aesthetic teachings of V.S. Solovyov, is presented. The main themes of Balthazar's work are considered, defining its structure in accordance with the author's vision of the main stages of Solovyov's work: “Visionary and textual form”, “Logic and Metaphysics”, “Ethics and Ecclesiology”, “Aesthetics and Apocalypticism”. The author notes the harmony and consistency of Balthazar's concept, the logic of interpretation of the most important provisions of Solovyov's aesthetics, based on the corpus of his writings, as well as on research Russian and foreign literature. The essential characteristics of Balthazar's consideration of the aesthetics of the Russian philosopher are revealed: the disclosure of its ontological, eschatological and theological aspects. The historical and philosophical origins of Solovyov's ideas, parallels and consonances of the conceptual positions of Solovyov's aesthetics and the largest representatives of domestic and foreign philosophy: Plato, Plotinus, Maxim the Confessor, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer, E. von Hartmann are determined. Balthazar's position on Solovyov's teaching about Sophia in the context of сhristological and trinitarian theology is presented. The assessment of the comparison of Solovyov's method of unity with the methods of studying Dilthey's “forms of spirit” and Spengler's “forms of culture” is given. The researcher's attention is noted to the problems of Solovyov's creative dialogue with outstanding Russian thinkers F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, K.N. Leontiev. The conclusions about the significance of the philosophical and theological reconstruction of Solovyov's aesthetics, carried out by Balthazar, for foreign and Russian Solovyov studies are formulated.