S. N. Bulgakov and P. Florensky: Dialectics of Sobornost

Abstract

The subject of the article is the concept of sobornost, considered on the example of the works of P. Florensky and S.N. Bulgakov, in whose teachings, based on the dialectical approach, we define three levels of disclosure of the category of sobornost and the types of sociality corresponding to them. At the level of its being, sobornost is one, identical with itself in church sociality. At the level of essence, which corresponds to duality, difference, there is a transition to the opposite state, through mediation in secular sociality. However, the duality of sobornost is not substantial, acting as a necessary moment of dialectical development, it leads to the combination of the universal and the particular at the level of the concept, as the most concrete form of sobornost of church-secular sociality. Sobornost is actualized in the forms of state organization from feocracy to anarchy, types of individuals from the religious, spiritual personality of church sociality, the collective, sinful personality of secular sociality to the personality of sobornost of church-secular sociality. We can conclude that the principle of sobornost is reflected in social reality, and the unity of sobornost in society is present and actualized in different forms of its dialectical development.