Motherland

May 21, 2007
Delving fearlessly into her complex and understudied subject, Chamberlain provides a useful synthesis of 200 years of thought by nearly 40 Russian philosophers. Her philosopher-by-philosopher account portrays an important, if flawed, theoretical geography that has earned its place in the philosophical tradition, despite Russia's inferiority complex stemming from Nicholas I's closing of all philosophy departments in universities in 1826. Russian thinkers defined themselves against a Western perspective—Hegelian knowledge, Cartesian individualism, Adam Smith's political economy—that, in their view, simply could not comprehend the culture and society of Russia. Among these thinkers, Lenin is the most influential, and the book's argument can't help turning on his 1908 treatise, Materialism and Empirio–criticism
. Yet in trying to provide a balanced view of all relevant figures, Chamberlain misses an opportunity to make Lenin's devastating philosophy the book's compelling center. The progression toward totalitarianism is subtle but clear in hindsight, a result of Russia's precarious position on the physical and moral outskirts of the Western world: “Russian disdain for the West, its sense of being morally superior, always contained the shadow of a fear that Russia was the inferior place.” This useful reference and historical corrective should inspire further study into a neglected but rich intellectual landscape.