Russian cosmism

{{Short description|Russian philosophical and cultural movement}}

File:Tsiolk na lune (pic Gofman) 3.png educational science fiction story On the Moon (1893)}}]]

Russian cosmism (Russian: Русский космизм), or simply cosmism, is a philosophical and cultural movement that emerged in late 19th- and early 20th-century Russia, integrating science, religion, and metaphysics into a unified worldview. It is characterized by the belief in humanity’s cosmic destiny, the potential for immortality, and the use of scientific and technological advancements to achieve control over nature and explore space.Hagemeister M. {{cite book |last1=Rosenthal |first1=Bernice Glatzer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kumg5iYYkWkC&pg=PA185 |title=Russian cosmism in the 1920s and today |date=1997 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=9780801483318 |lang=ru |accessdate=2019-11-16}} / Rosenthal B. G. (ed.) The occult in Russian and Soviet culture.— Cornell University Press, 1997.— 468 p.— p.185—202.— ISBN 0-8014-8331-X, ISBN 978-0-8014-8331-8. (Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series)

At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a burst of scientific investigation into interplanetary travel, largely driven by fiction writers such as Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, which would influence philosophical movements like Russian cosmism.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} The movement was also influenced by Eastern Orthodox thought, Russian philosophy, and advancements in natural sciences. Key figures in Russian cosmism include Nikolai Fedorov, who advocated for the abolition of death and resurrection of ancestors through scientific means; and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, whose work in astronautics and space travel laid the foundations for modern cosmonautics. Other notable thinkers, such as Vladimir Vernadsky and Alexander Chizhevsky, contributed ideas on the noosphere, biosphere, and cosmic influences on human life.

Although suppressed during the Soviet era, cosmism influenced Soviet space exploration, transhumanism, and later philosophical movements. In the 21st century, Russian cosmism has gained renewed interest, particularly in discussions on space colonization, technological immortality, and the role of humanity in the universe.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Theory

Cosmism entailed a broad theory of natural philosophy, combining elements of religion and ethics with a history and philosophy of the origin, evolution, and future existence of the cosmos and humankind. It combined elements from both Eastern and Western philosophic traditions as well as from the Russian Orthodox Church.{{cite web|url=http://www.berdyaev.com/berdiaev/berd_lib/1915_186.html|first=Nikolai|last=Berdyaev|title=The religion of resuscitative resurrection The "Philosophy of the Common Task" of N. F. Fedorov|publisher=berdyaev.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014115444/http://www.berdyaev.com/berdiaev/berd_lib/1915_186.html|archive-date=14 October 2018|url-status=live|author-link=Nikolai Berdyaev}}

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|quote = The Culture of Health is the basic science about Spiritual Humanity. It studies the perspectives of harmonious development of Spiritual man and Spiritual ethnos as a conscious creator of the State of Light into the territory of the Solar System

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|source = Victor Skumin{{cite book |year=2013 |url=http://sovieteramuseum.com/?product=art-works-by-russian-cosmism-painter-xx-xxi-ct-catalogue-of-exhibition-2013 |title=Art works by Russian cosmism painter XX – XXI ct. Catalogue of exhibition 2013 |publisher=Roerich museum |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203092903/http://sovieteramuseum.com/?product=art-works-by-russian-cosmism-painter-xx-xxi-ct-catalogue-of-exhibition-2013 |archive-date=3 February 2020 |url-status=unfit |df=dmy-all}}{{cite web |url=http://900igr.net/prezentatsii/fizkultura/Kultura-zdorovja/007-Kultura-zdorovja-fundamentalnaja-nauka-o-Dukhovnom-CHelovechestve.html |year=2009 |author=Kovaleva E. A. |title=Педагогический совет. Культура здоровья учащихся как фактор здоровьесберегающей среды школы. Слайд 7 |trans-title=Pedagogical Council. Slide 7 of the presentation "culture of health" to the lessons of physical education on the theme the "Health" |publisher=900igr.net |access-date=27 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121104530/http://900igr.net/prezentatsii/fizkultura/Kultura-zdorovja/007-Kultura-zdorovja-fundamentalnaja-nauka-o-Dukhovnom-CHelovechestve.html |archive-date=21 November 2021|url-status=live}}}}

Cosmism was one of the influences on Proletkult, and after the October Revolution, the term came to be applied to "...the poetry of such writers as Mikhail Gerasimov and Vladimir Kirillov...: emotional paeans to physical labor, machines, and the collective of industrial workers ... organized around the image of the universal 'Proletarian', who strides forth from the earth to conquer planets and stars."Thomas Seifrid, A Companion To Andrei Platonov's The Foundation Pit (Academic Studies Press, 2009: {{ISBN|1-934843-57-1}}), pp. 69-70. This form of cosmism, along with the writings of Nikolai Fyodorov, was a strong influence on Andrei Platonov.

Many ideas of the Russian cosmists were later developed by those in the transhumanist movement. Victor Skumin argues that the Culture of Health will play an important role in the creation of a human spiritual society into the Solar System.{{cite book |last=Skumin |author-link=Victor Skumin |first=V. A. |script-title=ru: Культура здоровья — фундаментальная наука о человеке. |trans-title=A Culture of Health as a fundamental human science. |year=1995 |url=https://biblmdkz.ru/kz.html |language=ru |isbn=5-88167-003-5 |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623174117/https://biblmdkz.ru/kz.html |archive-date=23 June 2021|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://kult-zdor.ru/?page_id=5 |title=Концепция Учения |trans-title=The Concept Of Doctrine |publisher=kult-zdor.ru |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627104056/http://kult-zdor.ru/?page_id=5 |archive-date=27 June 2021|url-status=live}}

Branches

Russian cosmism can be divided into two categories: scientific and philosophical.Гачева, Анастасия. 2019. Русский Космизм в Идеях и Лицах. Москва: Академический проект, 3. While the scientific branch is naturalistic, the philosophical branch is mystical and metaphysical, yet both branches are inherently spiritual. This is particularly evident among early Russian cosmists who followed in the footsteps of spiritual thinkers like Fyodorov and Solovyov. For a more nuanced categorization, there is often a third category mentioned by scholars: the artistic branch.Bezgodov, Aleksandr, and Konstantin Barezhev. 2019. The Origins of Planetary Ethics in the Philosophy of Russian Cosmism. Xlibris, p. 93.

= The philosophical branch =

Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (1828–1903) is regarded as the father of Russian cosmism and its most representative figure. The major idea associated with Fyodorov is the philosophy of Humankind's Common Task, which meant "to regulate the forces of nature, to defeat death and bring ancestors back to life so that they too would participate in the general resurrection."Elisabeth Koutaissoff and Marilyn Minto. "Introduction". In What Was Man Created For? The Philosophy of the Common Task. Lausanne: Honeyglen Publishing/L’Age d’Homme, p. 12.

This idea was so central to his philosophy that "whatever topic he wrote about, Fedorov brought in his main idea of the Common Task—how to achieve universal brotherhood, rationalise nature instead of merely exploiting her bounties, overcome death, resurrect the ancestors and create a united humanity worthy of governing the universe."Elisabeth Koutaissoff and Marilyn Minto. "Introduction". In What Was Man Created For? The Philosophy of the Common Task. Lausanne: Honeyglen Publishing/L’Age d’Homme, p. 18. The sense of urgency for uniting for a common task is a theme that exists in one way or another in the works of all Russian cosmists.

File:Alexander Scriabin (by Alexander Mozer).jpg as a Russian cosmist.]]

= The artistic branch =

Alexander Scriabin, who was inspired by the Russian cosmist ideas of his day, sought to unite humanity for a common task much like Fyodorov. He can be regarded as the most representative member of the artistic branch of Russian cosmism.{{Cite journal |last=Yansori |first=Ali |date=2023-12-07 |title=Alexander Scriabin as a Russian Cosmist |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-023-09590-6 |journal=Studies in East European Thought |language=en |doi=10.1007/s11212-023-09590-6 |issn=1573-0948}} Scriabin's vision was to use artistic means to achieve Cosmist ends. His artistic vision, which was grounded in philosophy and spirituality, can be most clearly observed in his project Mysterium.

= The scientific branch =

In 1881, Russian revolutionary and rocket pioneer Nikolai Kibalchich proposed an idea of pulsed rocket propulsion by combustion of explosives,{{Cite web |title=Кибальчич Николай Иванович - История науки - Известные ученые |url=https://famous-scientists.ru/founder/90 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323175249/https://famous-scientists.ru/founder/90 |archive-date=March 23, 2023 |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=famous-scientists.ru |language=ru}} which was an early precursor for Project Orion.{{cite tech report |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20000096503 |title=Nuclear Pulse Propulsion: Orion and Beyond |last1=Schmidt |first1=George R |last2=Bonometti |first2=J.A. |last3=Morton |first3=P.J. |date=1 January 2000 |institution=NASA |number=20000096503}}{{cite web |title=ON A METHOD OF PROPULSION OF PROJECTILES BY MEANS OF EXTERNAL NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS PART I |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA306631.pdf |access-date=12 March 2024 |website=apps.dtic.mil}}

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935) was among the pioneers of theoretical space exploration and cosmonautics. In 1903, Tsiolkovsky published the first serious scientific work on space travel. His work was essentially unknown outside the Russian Empire, but inside the country it inspired further research, experimentation and the formation of the Society for Studies of Interplanetary Spaceflight.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k8CxJeFzCdQC&pg=PA26|first=A. Bowdoin|last=Van Riper|title=Rockets and Missiles: The Life Story of a Technology|date=29 October 2007|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-8792-5|pages=26–28|access-date=13 October 2018}} Tsiolkovsky wrote a book called "The Will of the Universe; Unknown Intelligent Forces" in which he propounded a philosophy of panpsychism. He believed humans would eventually colonize the Milky Way. His thought preceded the Space Age by several decades, and some of what he foresaw in his imagination has come into being since his death. Tsiolkovsky did not believe in traditional religious cosmology, but instead he believed in a cosmic being that governed humans.{{cite book|url=https://www.prlib.ru/en/node/404538|last=Tsiolkovsky|first=Konstantin Eduardovich|author-link=Konstantin Tsiolkovsky|title=The Will of the Universe; Unknown Intelligent Forces|place=Kaluga|year=1928|pages=23|language=ru|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019001447/https://www.prlib.ru/en/node/404538|url-status=live|archive-date=19 October 2018}}

= Other cosmists =

Alexander Bogdanov (1873–1928) was a Russian and later Soviet physician, philosopher, science fiction writer, and Bolshevik revolutionary. His wide scientific and medical interests ranged from universal systems theory to the possibility of human rejuvenation through blood transfusion. He saw heterochronic blood transfusions as an alliance of solidarity between the generations, where the old benefited from the rejuvenating effects of the young blood, while the young received immunities from the elders' blood. Ironically, he died as a result of a hemolytic transfusion reaction. His successors put Russia in the forefront of the development of centralized national blood transfusion services.Huestis, Douglas. (2007). Alexander Bogdanov: The Forgotten Pioneer of Blood Transfusion. Transfusion medicine reviews. 21. 337-40. 10.1016/j.tmrv.2007.05.008.

Other cosmists included Vladimir Vernadsky (1863–1945), who developed the notion of a noosphere, and Alexander Chizhevsky (1897–1964), pioneer of "heliobiology" (study of the sun's effect on biology).L. V. Golovanov, Alexander Chizhevsky entry in the Great Russian Encyclopedia, Moscow, 2001 edition. See [http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://slovari.yandex.ru/%25D0%2590%25D0%259B%25D0%2595%25D0%259A%25D0%25A1%25D0%2590%25D0%259D%25D0%2594%25D0%25A0%2520%25D0%259B%25D0%2595%25D0%259E%25D0%259D%25D0%2598%25D0%2594%25D0%259E%25D0%2592%25D0%2598%25D0%25A7%2520%25D0%25A7%25D0%2598%25D0%2596%25D0%2595%25D0%2592%25D0%25A1%25D0%259A%25D0%2598%25D0%2599/%25D0%2591%25D0%25A1%25D0%25AD/%25D0%25A7%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B6%25D0%25B5%25D0%25B2%25D1%2581%25D0%25BA%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B9%2520%25D0%2590%25D0%25BB%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BA%25D1%2581%25D0%25B0%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B4%25D1%2580%2520%25D0%259B%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BE%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B4%25D0%25BE%25D0%25B2%25D0%25B8%25D1%2587/&rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhibb_mRRqrG0zmDCVry13dsUkEe6g Google.Translate version of the article from the Russian version of the Encyclopedia].Soiuz Pisatelei, Soviet literature, Issues 1-6, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TOJKAAAAYAAJ&q=Alexander+Chizhevsky+Cosmism p 188], Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1982.James T. Andrews, “Red cosmos: K.E. Tsiolkovskii, grandfather of Soviet rocketry”, Issue 18 Centennial of Flight Series, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3jO5KHOLdDcC&dq=Alexander+Chizhevsky+Cosmism&pg=PA114 p 114], Texas A&M University Press, 2009, {{ISBN|1-60344-168-9}}, {{ISBN|978-1-60344-168-1}} A minor planet, 3113 Chizhevskij, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1978, is named after him.{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=3111+Misuzu+1977|title=3111 Misuzu 1977 - Google Search|website=www.google.com}}

Russian paleontologist and sci-fi writer Ivan Yefremov developed the ideas of cosmism and concluded that communism was a necessary structure for any future society which wants to survive in space. The successor of the traditions of Ivan Yefremov was geologist and sci-fi writer Alexander Shalimov. The astrophysicist Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrev was the discoverer of Lunar tectonic activity (1959) and author of Causal Mechanics/Theory of Time.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Gallery of Russian cosmists

File:Pasternak fedorov.jpg|Nikolai Fyodorov

File:Vladimir Solovyov 1892 by Nikolay Yarochenko.jpg|Vladimir Solovyov

File:Skrjabin Alexander.jpg|Alexander Scriabin

File:1934-V I Vernadsky.jpg|Vladimir Vernadsky

File:Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in his working room (by Feodosiy Chmil), 1934.png|Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

File:Ivan A. Yefremov.jpg|{{center|Ivan Yefremov}}

File:Скумін у серпні 2020 року.jpg|Victor Skumin

Citations

External links

{{commons|Константин Эдуардович Циолковский|Konstantin Tsiolkovsky}}

{{wikisource|Author:Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky|Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky}}

R. Djordjevic [http://saj.matf.bg.ac.rs/159/pdf/105-109.pdf Russian Cosmism (with the Selective Bibliography) and its Uprising Effect on the Development of Space Research] (PDF)
[http://www.emory.edu/INTELNET/rus_thought_overview.html Brief overview of Russian philosophy]
{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040910091321/http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/russian_philosophy/ PHILTAR - Comprehensive web site with links to texts and resources]}}
[http://www.isfp.co.uk/russian_thinkers/index.html Gallery of Russian Thinkers] edited by Dmitry Olshansky
[http://www.iep.utm.edu/r/russian.htm Russian philosophy] - entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040910091055/http://www.mavicanet.com/directory/bel/2123.html Directory of links to Russian philosophers, mostly in Russian]}}
[http://www.hudsonfla.com/thesis.htm Tsiolkovsky's Imperative in the 21st Century] Academic paper
[http://phillumeny.onego.ru/labels/russian/space/page2/page2.html Virtual Matchbox Labels Museum - Russian labels - Space - Page 2 - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky] Historic images
[http://www.russianspaceweb.com/tsiolkovsky.html Tsiolkovsky] from Russianspaceweb.com
{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080828211841/http://www.spaext.com/info/tsiolkovsky/index.html Spaceflight or Extinction: Konstantin Tsiolkovsky]}} Excerpts from "The Aims of Astronautics", The Call of the Cosmos
{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060209011023/http://www.astronautix.com/articles/theceage.htm The Foundations of the Space Age]}}
[https://kozyrevmirrors.com/russian-cosmism/ Russian Cosmism]

=Videos=

{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Ag-qT0tpM&t=193s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/v_Ag-qT0tpM| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Russian Cosmism, Perpetual Generations Abraham's Seed, 500 Quadrillion People|author=Pastor Moabel |publisher=youtube.com|access-date=26 September 2019}}{{cbignore}}
{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTIn1UeyGRc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/JTIn1UeyGRc| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Roerich. The Call Of Cosmic Evolution|publisher=youtube.com|access-date=7 January 2018}}{{cbignore}}

Category:Philosophical theories

Category:20th century in philosophy

Category:Culture of Russia

Category:Russian philosophy