Berdiaev, Nikolai

Smysl istorii: opyt filosofii chelovecheskoĭ sudʹby [The Meaning of History: An Essay in the Philosophy of Human Destiny]

Berlin: Obelisk, 1923. Item #1425

269 pages. 20 cm. Original publisher’s wrappers. Heavily worn; rear wrapper lacking; edges and spine chipped.

First edition of Nikolai Berdiaev’s seminal philosophical treatise, composed during his Moscow lectures at the Free Academy of Spiritual Culture in the winter of 1919–1920 and completed in exile. In this landmark work, Berdiaev (1874–1948), one of the foremost thinkers of the Russian religious renaissance and a central figure of Christian existentialism, proposes a transcendental and eschatological interpretation of historical process, standing in opposition to Marxist materialism and positivism. The book develops his metaphysical critique of progress and introduces the idea of human freedom as a spiritual reality unfolding in time.

Price: $50.00