Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (russian: Никола́й Фёдорович Фёдоров; surname also Anglicized as "Fedorov", June 9, 1829 – December 28, 1903) was a Russian

Orthodox Christian Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churche ...

philosopher, who was part of the

Russian cosmism Russian cosmism, also cosmism, is a philosophical and cultural movement that emerged in Russia 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 ...

movement and a precursor of

transhumanism 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 ...

. Fyodorov advocated 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 ...

, physical

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 even

resurrection of the dead General resurrection or universal resurrection is the belief in a resurrection of the dead, or resurrection from the dead ( Koine: , ''anastasis onnekron''; literally: "standing up again of the dead") by which most or all people who have died ...

, using scientific methods.

Early life and education

Fyodorov's parents were the (noble) Pavel Ivanovich Gagarin and Elisaveta Ivanova, a woman of lower-class nobility. He studied at the Richelieu Lyceum in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

. From 1854 to 1868, he served as a teacher in various small Russian towns. In 1878, he joined the

Rumyantsev Museum The Rumyantsev Museum evolved from the personal library and historical collection of Count Nikolay Rumyantsev (1754–1826). Its origin was in St. Petersburg in the Rumyantsev house or mansion, building number 44 on the English Embankment overlo ...

staff as a librarian. Fyodorov opposed the idea of

property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...

of books and ideas and never published anything during his lifetime. His selected articles were printed posthumously with the title ''Philosophy of the Common Task'' (also known as ''Philosophy of Physical Resurrection'').

Philosophy

Fyodorov was a

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

, who theorized about the eventual

perfection Perfection is a state, variously, of completeness, flawlessness, or supreme excellence. The terminology, term is used to designate a range of diverse, if often kindred, concepts. These have historically been addressed in a number of discrete a ...

of the human race and society (i.e.,

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

), including radical ideas like

, revival of the dead,

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

and

ocean colonization Ocean colonization is the theory of extending society territorially to the ocean by permanent settlements floating on the ocean surface and submerged below, employing offshore construction. In a broader sense the ocean being subject of colo ...

. His writings greatly influenced mystic

Peter Uspensky Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii (known in English as Peter D. Ouspensky; rus, Пётр Демья́нович Успе́нский, Pyotr Demyánovich Uspénskiy; 5 March 1878 – 2 October 1947) was a Russian esotericist known for his expositions ...

. He also had direct contact with early rocket theorist

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (russian: Константи́н Эдуа́рдович Циолко́вский , , p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj , a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) ...

, who visited the library where he worked over a 3-year period. He was also known to

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

and

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

Fyodorov and Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy had the highest opinion of Fyodorov. They were quite friendly, and shared many ideas in the 1880s and early 90s. But Fyodorov refused to see Tolstoy again after 1892, because of their ideological differences. That was the time of some food shortages in Russia because of poor harvest. Tolstoy published in the London ''Daily Telegraph'' an article accusing the Russian government of not doing enough for the peasants, which displeased many Russian conservatives. While Fyodorov shared with Tolstoy many religious ideas, he was also a church-going Christian who cared very much for the Orthodox ritual observance. This was also a big stumbling block between them.

Humankind’s Common Cause

Fyodorov argued that

evolutionary Evolution is change in the heredity, heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the Gene expression, expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to ...

process was directed towards increased

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

and its role in the development of life. Humanity is the culmination of evolution, as well as its creator and director. Humans must therefore direct evolution where their reason and morality dictate. Fyodorov also argued that

mortality Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality. Mortality may also refer to: * Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...

is the most obvious indicator of the still imperfect, contradictory nature of humanity and the underlying reason for most evil and

nihilism Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Ivan ...

of humankind. Fyodorov stated that the struggle against death can become the most natural cause uniting all people of Earth, regardless of their nationality, race, citizenship or wealth (he called this the Common Cause). Fyodorov thought that death and afterdeath existence should become the subject of comprehensive scientific inquiry, that achieving immortality and revival is the greatest goal of science, and that this knowledge must leave the laboratories and become the common property of all: "Everyone must be learning and everything be the subject of knowledge and action".

Two reasons for death

Human life, emphasized Fyodorov, dies for two reasons. First is internal: due to the material organization of a human, his or her functionality is incapable of infinite self-renewal. To overcome this, psychophysiological regulation of human organisms is needed. The second reason is the unpredictable nature of the external environment; its destructive character must be overcome with the regulation of nature. Regulation of nature, "introducing will and reason into nature" includes, according to Fyodorov, prevention of natural disasters, control of Earth's climate, fight against viruses and epidemics, mastery of solar power, space exploration and unlimited creative work there.

Immortality for all

Achieving immortality and resurrection of all people who ever lived are two inseparable goals, according to Fyodorov. Immortality is impossible, both ethically and physically, without resurrection. We cannot allow our ancestors, who gave us life and culture, to remain buried, or our relatives and friends to die. Achieving immortality for individuals alive today and future generations is only a partial victory over death – only the first stage. The complete victory will be achieved only when everyone is resurrected and transformed to enjoy immortal life.

Restoring life and making it infinite

Fyodorov tried to plan specific actions for scientific research of the possibility of restoring life and making it infinite. His first project involved collecting and synthesizing decayed remains of dead based on "knowledge and control over all atoms and molecules of the world". This idea of Fyodorov is related to the modern practice of

cloning Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, cl ...

. The second method described by Fyodorov is genetic-hereditary. The revival could be done successively in the ancestral line: sons and daughters restore their fathers and mothers, they in turn restore their parents and so on. This means restoring the ancestors using the hereditary information that they passed on to their children. Using this genetic method it is only possible to create a genetic twin of the dead person (the problem of identity in cloning). It is necessary to give back the revived person his old mind, his personality. Fyodorov speculates about the idea of "radial images" that may contain the personalities of the people and survive after death. Nevertheless, Fyodorov noted that even if a soul is destroyed after death, humanity will learn to restore it whole by mastering the forces of decay and fragmentation.

Transformation of past physical forms

The revival of people who lived during the past is not a recreation of their past physical form – it was imperfect, parasitic, centered on mortal existence. Fyodorov's idea was to transform it into self-creating, mind-controlled form, capable of infinite renewal, which is immortal. Those who haven’t died will go through the same transformation. Humans will have to become creators and organizers of their organisms ("our body will be our business"). In the past the development of civilization happened by increasing human power using external tools and machines – the human body remained imperfect.

Transhumanism

Fyodorov stated that people needed to reconcile the difference between the power of technology and weakness of the human physical form. The transition is overdue from purely technical development, a "

prosthetic In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

" civilization, to organic progress, when not just external tools, artificial implements, but the organisms themselves are improved, so that, for example, a person can fly, see far and deep, travel through space, live in any environment. People must become capable of "organodevelopment" that so far only nature was capable of. Fyodorov discussed supremacy of mind, "giving, developing organs for itself" and anticipated V. Vernadsky’s idea of autotrophic humans. He argues that a person must become an

autotroph An autotroph or primary producer is an organism that produces complex organic compounds (such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) using carbon from simple substances such as carbon dioxide,Morris, J. et al. (2019). "Biology: How Life Works", ...

ic, self-feeding creature, acquire a new mode of energy exchange with the environment that will not end. Fyodorov repeatedly said that only general scientific studies of aging, death and postmortem studies can deliver the means to overcome death and promote indefinite healthy lifespan.

Popular culture

Nikolai Fedorov monument at Borovsk, Kaluga

The 2011 BBC documentary ''Knocking on Heaven's Door'', about the

Space Race The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the tw ...

in the former

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 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, ...

, suggests that, in many people's eyes, Nikolai Fyodorov was the true father of the Soviet space project that put the first man in space. Fyodorov's thought is extensively though indirectly discussed and alluded to in the well-regarded 2010

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel '' The Quantum Thief''; it is implied that the founders of the post-human collective of uploaded minds called the

Sobornost Sobornost ( rus, собо́рность, p=sɐˈbornəstʲ "spiritual community of many jointly-living people") is a Russian term whose usage is primarily attributed to the 19th-century Slavophile Russian writers Ivan Kireyevsky (1806-1856 ...

were inspired by Fyodorov and other thinkers associated with cosmism. The 2013 novel ''Strange Bodies'' by

Marcel Theroux Marcel Raymond Theroux (born 13 June 1968) is a British-American novelist and broadcaster. He wrote ''A Stranger in The Earth'' and '' The Confessions of Mycroft Holmes: A Paper Chase,'' for which he won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2002. His ...

imagines Fyodorov's ideas of the Common Task being developed by Soviet and post-Soviet research to implant a mind into another body using an encoded lexicon from the original mind and an unspecified, but painful, procedure.

Manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

Gunnm ''Gunnm '' ( ja, 銃夢, Ganmu, ), also known as ''Battle Angel Alita'' in English, is a Japanese cyberpunk manga series created by Yukito Kishiro and originally published in Shueisha's ''Business Jump'' magazine from 1990 to 1995. The se ...

: Mars Chronicle in 2022 chapter LOG_044 has also directly mention Fyodorov's name and recalling ''The Philosophy of the Common Task''

References

Nikolai Berdyaev Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev (; russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Бердя́ев; – 24 March 1948) was a Russian Empire, Russian philosopher, theologian, and Christian existentialism, Christian existentialist who e ...

,
The Religion of Resusciative Resurrection. "The Philosophy of the Common Task of N. F. Fedorov
'. * Nader Elhefnawy,

'. * Ludmila Koehler, ''N.F. Fedorov: the Philosophy of Action'' Institute for the Human Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA, US, 1979.

Alibris Alibris is an online store that sells new books, used books, out-of-print books, rare books, and other media through an online network of independent booksellers. History Martin Manley founded Alibris in 1997 with the team behind early o ...

ID: 8714504160 * History of Russian Philosophy «История российской Философии» (1951) by N. O. Lossky. Publisher: Allen & Unwin, London ASIN: B000H45QTY International Universities Press Inc NY, NY sponsored by Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary. * Ed Tandy,
N.F. Fedorov, Russian Come-Upist
', Venturist Voice, Summer 1986. * G. M. Young, ''Nikolai F. Fedorov: An Introduction'' Nordland Publishing Co., Belmont, MA, US, 1979. * George M. Young, ''The Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism of Nikolai Fedorov and his Followers.'' Oxford University Press, New York, 2012. * Taras Zakydalsky, "N. F. Fyodorov's Philosophy of Physical Resurrection". Ph.D. thesis, Bryn Mawr, 1976, Ann Arbor, MI, US.

External links

Museum-Library of Nikolai Fyodorov
at the

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia, dealing with philosophy, philosophical topics, and philosophers. The IEP combines open access publication with peer reviewed publication of original pape ...

Nikolai Fyodorov artistic portrait

(texts in English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fyodorov, Nikolai Fyodorovich 1829 births 1903 deaths Criticism of intellectual property People from Sasovsky District People from Yelatomsky Uyezd Rurikids Gagarin family Russian Orthodox Christians from Russia 19th-century philosophers from the Russian Empire Cosmists Russian cosmologists Eastern Orthodox philosophers Futurologists History of science Life extensionists Pantheists Philosophers of mind Philosophers of religion Philosophers of science Philosophers of technology Philosophical cosmologists Russian librarians Russian transhumanists