Abstract
Analysis of Russia’s crisis in the mid-19th – the early 20th century is a central topic of deliberations of the national philosophers of the conservative branch. This topic was first taken up by the early Slavophils and then developed by N.Ya. Danilevskiy, K.N. Leontiyev and the Eurasianists. They reasoned that Russia was in crisis because its educated social classes were imitating Europeans and had lost their national values the most important of which they considered to be the Russian people, the original Russian culture, the national Orthodox spirituality, the communal mode of living, the Russian autocracy. The analysis of the crisis was based on the denunciation of the reforms implemented by Peter the Great, the thoughtless Europeanization of Russia and Europocentrism in the political practice and theory. A particular topicality is also imparted to the views of the thinkers mentioned in this article in the light of the modern attempts to liberalize the Russian national thinking. Therefore, the theory of local civilizations and of “culturohistorical types” cannot but attract the attention of the researcher. The views of the early Slavophils, Danilevskiy, Leontiyev and “Eurasians” are becoming more and more relevant today.