V. G. BELINSKY VS N. V. GOGOL: A VIEW FROM THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

The polemics of literary critic V. G. Belinsky and writer N. V. Gogol, who in the course of the dispute acted as representatives of the philosophical trends of Westernism and Slavophilism respectively, are considered. It is emphasized that Russian philosophy since the XIX century has been developed in dialogical and polemical forms, and V. G. Belinsky and N. V. Gogol in connection with the famous letter of July 15, 1847 continue the dispute between Westerners and Slavophiles. It is noted that the dispute between major literary figures on philosophical, social and anthropological issues is interesting today not only as a historical fact, but also as a topi-cal polemic, which touches upon urgent problems that concern both all mankind and modern Russian society. The methods of historical and philosophical reconstruction and reactualisation are used in the analysis of the dispute between the two thinkers. The research optics is the principle of partisanship of philosophy, which helps to classify the philosophical ideas of thinkers in the paradigm of materialism-idealism and monism-dualism. The texts of V. G. Belinsky and N. V. Gogol, as well as research literature on the history of Russian philosophy serve as the sources and base of the study. It is established that V. G. Belinsky defends materialistic, secular, democratic, enlightenment, progressive ideas in the course of polemics, while N. V. Gogol advocates idealistic, religious, authoritarian, conservative, cosmic ideas. It is concluded that the position of the literary critic is more in line with the modern and future stages of human development, while the writer's views have lost their relevance even during the lifetime of their author. It is concluded that the ideas expressed by the thinkers during the dispute help to better understand the essence of Russian philosophical culture and social life.