philosophical
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
and
cultural movement
A cultural movement is a change in the way a number of different disciplines approach their work. This embodies all art forms, the sciences, and philosophies. Historically, different nations or regions of the world have gone through their own i ...
that emerged in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
at the turn of the 19th century, and again, at the beginning of the 20th century. 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
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
entailed
In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust established by deed or settlement which restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents the property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise alien ...
a broad theory of
natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science.
From the ancient wo ...
, combining elements of
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
and
ethics
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...
with a history and philosophy of the
origin
Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Comics and manga
* ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002
* ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...
,
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
, and future existence of the
cosmos
The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.
The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...
and
humankind
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
. It combined elements from both
Eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
.
Cosmism was one of the influences on
Proletkult
Proletkult ( rus, Пролетку́льт, p=prəlʲɪtˈkulʲt), a portmanteau of the Russian words "proletarskaya kultura" (proletarian culture), was an experimental Soviet artistic institution that arose in conjunction with the Russian Revolu ...
, and after the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, 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." This form of cosmism, along with the writings of Nikolai Fyodorov, was a strong influence on
Andrei Platonov
Andrei Platonov (russian: Андре́й Плато́нов, ; – 5 January 1951) was the pen name of Andrei Platonovich Klimentov (russian: Андре́й Плато́нович Климе́нтов), a Soviet Union, Soviet Russian people, Rus ...
.
Many ideas of the Russian cosmists were later developed by those in the
transhumanist
Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement which advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity and cognition.
Transhuma ...
movement.
Victor Skumin
Victor Andreevich Skumin ( rus, Ви́ктор Андре́евич Ску́мин, p=ˈvʲiktər ɐnˈdrʲejɪvʲɪtɕ ˈskumʲɪn, born 30 August 1948) is a Russian and Soviet scientist, psychiatrist, philosopher and writer.
After graduating ...
argues that the Culture of Health will play an important role in the creation of a human spiritual society into the
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
.
Representatives
Among the major representatives of Russian cosmism was
Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov
Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (russian: Никола́й Фёдорович Фёдоров; surname also Anglicized as "Fedorov", June 9, 1829 – December 28, 1903) was a Russian Orthodox Christian philosopher, who was part of the Russian cosm ...
(1828–1903), an advocate of radical
life extension
Life extension is the concept of extending the human life expectancy, lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled oldest people, limit of 125 years.
S ...
by means of scientific methods, human
immortality
Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality.
Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...
, and
resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
of dead people.
In 1881, Russian revolutionary and rocket pioneer
Nikolai Kibalchich
Nikolai Ivanovich Kibalchich (russian: Николай Иванович Кибальчич, uk, Микола Іванович Кибальчич, sr, Никола Кибалчић, ''Mykola Ivanovych Kybalchych''; 19 October 1853 – April 3, 188 ...
proposed an idea of pulsed
rocket propulsion
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
by combustion of explosives, which was an early precursor for Project Orion.
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (russian: Константи́н Эдуа́рдович Циолко́вский , , p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj , a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) ...
(1857–1935) was among the pioneers of theoretical
space exploration
Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by robotic spacec ...
and
cosmonautics
Astronautics (or cosmonautics) is the theory and practice of travel beyond Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Spaceflight is one of its main applications and space science its overarching field.
The term ''astronautics'' (originally ''astronau ...
. In 1903, Tsiolkovsky published the first serious scientific work on space travel. His work was essentially unknown outside the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, but inside the country it inspired further research, experimentation and the formation of the Society for Studies of Interplanetary Spaceflight. Tsiolkovsky wrote a book called "The Will of the Universe; Unknown Intelligent Forces" in which he propounded a philosophy of
panpsychism
In the philosophy of mind, panpsychism () is the view that the mind or a mindlike aspect is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of reality. It is also described as a theory that "the mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists thro ...
. He believed humans would eventually colonize the
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...
. 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.
Alexander Bogdanov
Alexander Aleksandrovich Bogdanov (russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Богда́нов; – 7 April 1928), born Alexander Malinovsky, was a Russian and later Soviet physician, philosopher, science fiction writer, and B ...
(1873-1928) was a Russian and later Soviet physician, philosopher, science fiction writer, and Bolshevik revolutionary. His wide scientific and medical interests ranged from the universal systems theory to the possibility of human rejuvenation through
blood transfusion
Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...
. He saw heterochronic blood transfusions as a 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.
Other cosmists included
Vladimir Vernadsky
Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (russian: link=no, Влади́мир Ива́нович Верна́дский) or Volodymyr Ivanovych Vernadsky ( uk, Володи́мир Іва́нович Верна́дський; – 6 January 1945) was ...
(1863–1945), who developed the notion of noosphere and the question of noosphere's evolution from biosphere, and
Alexander Chizhevsky
Alexander Leonidovich Chizhevsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Леони́дович Чиже́вский, also Aleksandr Leonidovich Tchijevsky) (7 February 1897 – 20 December 1964) was a Soviet-era interdisciplinary scientist, a biophysicist ...
(1897–1964), pioneer of " heliobiology" (study of the sun's effect on biology). A
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1978, is named after him. The outstanding Russian palaeontologist and sci-fi writer
Ivan Yefremov
Ivan Antonovich (real patronymic Antipovich) Yefremov ( ru , Ива́н Анто́нович (Анти́пович) Ефре́мов; April 23, 1908 – October 5, 1972; last name sometimes transliterated as Efremov) was a Soviet paleonto ...
developed the ideas of cosmism and has concluded that the
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
is a necessary structure of the future society, which wants to survive in space. The successor of the traditions of Ivan Yefremov was a geologist and sci-fi writer Alexander Shalimov. The astrophysicist
Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrev
Nikolai Alexandrovich Kozyrev (russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Ко́зырев; 2 September 1908 – 27 February 1983) was a Soviet Russian astronomer and astrophysicist.
Biography
He was born in St. Petersburg, and by 1 ...
was the discoverer of Lunar tectonic activity (1959) and author of Causal Mechanics/Theory of Time.
Gallery of Russian Cosmists
File:Pasternak fedorov.jpg,
File:Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in his working room (by Feodosiy Chmil), 1934.png ,
File:1934-V I Vernadsky.jpg,
File:Ivan A. Yefremov.jpg,
File:Скумін у серпні 2020 року.jpg,
Michael Hagemeister
Michael Hagemeister (born 9 January 1951 in Ellwangen, Baden-Württemberg) is a German historian and Slavist, an authority on ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' and on Sergei Nilus.
Hagemeister was employed at the universities of Marburg, B ...
:(München: Sagner, 1989)::Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral) — Philipps-Universität Marburg, 1989.
*
Michael Hagemeister
Michael Hagemeister (born 9 January 1951 in Ellwangen, Baden-Württemberg) is a German historian and Slavist, an authority on ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' and on Sergei Nilus.
Hagemeister was employed at the universities of Marburg, B ...
: "Russian Cosmism in the 1920s and Today". In: Bernice G. Rosenthal (ed.): ''The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture'' (Ithaca, London: Cornell UP, 1997), pp. 185–202.
* Young, George M. ''The Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism of Nikolai Fedorov and His Followers''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012 The Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism of Nikolai Fedorov and His Followers * Frédéric Tremblay: "George M. Young, ''The Russian Cosmists'', Oxford University Press, 2012, x + 280 pp.", ''Slavonic and East European Review'', vol. 94, n. 1, pp. 155–158.