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Philosophy of Economy: The World as Household

Online ISBN:
9780300132854
Print ISBN:
9780300079906
Publisher:
Yale University Press
Book

Philosophy of Economy: The World as Household

Published online:
31 October 2013
Published in print:
11 May 2000
Online ISBN:
9780300132854
Print ISBN:
9780300079906
Publisher:
Yale University Press

Abstract

The writings of Sergei Bulgakov (1871–1944), like those of other major social thinkers of Russia's Silver Age, were obliterated from public consciousness under Soviet rule. Discovered again after eighty years of silence, Bulgakov's work speaks with remarkable directness to the postmodern listener. This translation of Philosophy of Economy brings to English-language speakers for the first time a major work of social theory written by a critical figure in the Russian tradition of liberal thought. What is unique about Bulgakov, it explains, is that he bridges two worlds. His social thought is firmly based in the Western tradition, yet some of his ideas reflect a specifically Russian way of thinking about society. Though arguing strenuously in favor of political and social liberty, Bulgakov repudiates the individualistic basis of Western liberalism in favor of a conception of human dignity that is compatible with collectivity. His economic theory stresses the spiritual content of life in the world and imagines national life as a kind of giant household. Bulgakov's work, with its singularly postmodern balance between Western and non-Western, offers fascinating implications for those in the process of reevaluating ideologies in post-Soviet Russia and in America as well.

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