Review article

https://doi.org/10.56550/d.4.2.4

From the Dialectic of Spirit to the Philosophy of Freedom: Berdyaev’s Engagement with Hegel up to 1922

Ivan Čulo *

* Corresponding author.

Abstract

The article explores Nikolai Berdyaev’s engagement with Hegel’s philosophy from his early writings up to his exile in 1922, tracing how his initial admiration developed into a critical transformation. Through historical and conceptual analysis, it reconstructs the genesis of Berdyaev’s view of Hegel within the broader context of Russian religious and philosophical thought at the turn of the twentieth century. The paper argues that Berdyaev reinterprets Hegel’s dialectic of Spirit as a dialectic of Freedom, replacing the impersonal logic of the Absolute with the creative act of the person. This reinterpretation not only marks the birth of Berdyaev’s personalism and philosophy of freedom but also illuminates the passage from German idealism to Russian existential thought.

Keywords

Nikolai Berdyaev; G. W. F. Hegel; freedom; dialectic; German Idealism; Russian philosophy

Hrčak ID:

347649

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/347649

Publication date:

18.5.2026.

Article data in other languages: german

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