Man, the “Orthodox Church”, the State and the Inevitability of War in Lev Karsavin’s Philosophy

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the implications that arise from Karsavin’s reflections on man, the “Orthodox Church” and the state with particular reference to the issue of war. In doing so, I pose the question of the inevitability of war. The question posed refers to the main hypothesis of the research formulated in reference to Karsavin’s views – war is necessary. I focus my research on Karsavin’s considerations contained in the dissertation entitled Tserkov’, lichnost’ i gosudarstvo [1927] (The Orthodox Church, the Person and the State). With the analytical method used, the order of the issues discussed and repeated reference to them is due to the interpretive approach, and the findings made and conclusions reached were used to answer the question posed about the inevitability of war. The result of the research is the confirmation of the main hypothesis and also the demonstration of the relationships that exist between the causes of war and the responsibility for its initiation.