Workshop in London on Russian Philosophy

Cosmos and Soul: Intersections between German Idealism and Russian Philosophy 

A reading workshop at Royal Holloway central London campus (Bedford Square)

14^th/15^th April 2026 

Organised by Isabel Jacobs (Czech Academy of Sciences), Anna Vinkelman (Radboud University, Nijmegen) and Daniel Whistler (Royal Holloway, University of London) 

Call for Participation

This workshop is devoted to reading together and discussing extracts from texts at the intersection between German Idealism and Russian philosophies from the nineteenth century to the present, including Soviet and post-Soviet thinkers. In particular, we will be focusing on themes of community, cosmos, evil, love, naming, resurrection, soul and utopia as they cross Germano-Russian intellectual borders. Alongside German philosophers like Kant, Schelling and Hegel, we will read and discuss Russian philosophers such as:

• Alexander Bogdanov
• Sergei Bulgakov
• Alexander Chizhevsky
• Iakov Druskin
• Nikolai Fedorov
• Pavel Florensky
• Tatiana Goricheva
• Evald Ilyenkov
• Aleksei Losev
• Nikolai Lossky
• Vladimir Solov’ev,
• Oxana Timofeeva

There will be six thematic discussion sessions of 1h45 spread over the two days, each with an assigned introducer and a pack of short extracts from Russian and German philosophers to discuss (distributed in advance).

The workshop is free and open to all to participate. It will be taking place in-person only, with coffee refreshments provided. Registration is necessary, since space is limited. Please register by emailing daniel.whistler@rhul.ac.uk.