Russian Anti-Progressivism and Its Origins: A Critical Perspective on the Russia-Ukraine War

Guest lecture with Professor Marina F. Bykova (North Carolina State University)

While it is hard to ignore the rise of anti-modern sentiments and aggressive promotion of “traditional values” in contemporary Russia, in this talk, I will consider these phenomena as symptoms of a more fundamental problem, namely Russia’s resistance to progress, deeply ingrained in its historical trajectory, political structures, and cultural values. The hostile assault on Ukraine’s embarking upon its path of modernity manifests this anti-progressivist tendency in its most ominous form.

Various factors have contributed to Russia’s persistent adherence to archaism and apparent anti-progressivism, but I would venture to suggest that a key cause is associated with Russia’s largely elusive and unfulfilled Enlightenment. After a brief examination of the peculiarities of the Russian Enlightenment, I will explore how traditionalist concerns manifested in Russia’s subsequent history, focusing mainly on two periods – the nineteenth century marked by its profound search for Russian identity, and the present period with its renewed emphasis on tradition and traditional values. In conclusion, I will comment on counter-Enlightenment tendencies evident in contemporary Russia and show their connection to the traditionalism that the current regime instrumentalizes to promote its anti-progressivist agenda.

Bio

Marina F. Bykova is a professor of philosophy at North Carolina State University and the editor-in-chief of the highly rated international philosophical journal, Studies in East European Thought. Her main areas of specialization are nineteenth-century continental philosophy, with a focus on German idealism, and Russian intellectual history.

Her most recent books include The Palgrave Handbook of Russian Thought (co-ed. with M. Forster and L. Steiner; Palgrave MacMillan, 2021) and At the Vanishing Point in History. Critical Perspectives on the Russia-Ukraine War, and she wrote the afterword to the Danish anthology Verden set fra Rusland (ed. Tine Roesen, Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2025).