In Memory of Mikhail N. Gromov (February 20, 1943 – April 27, 2025)

Abstract

The material is dedicated to the memory of Mikhail Nikolaevich Gromov (1943–2025), the largest specialist in the history of Russian philosophy in the Ancient Russian period, a long–term researcher and head of the History of Russian Philosophy Department at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The author shares his memories of M.N. Gromov as a lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy of State University for Humanities and a colleague at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The article reveals the understanding of philosophy as a life-building doctrine, which was characteristic for M.N. Gromov’s research position. This allowed Gromov to develop the idea of the specifics of the existence of philosophical knowledge in Ancient Russian culture – its dispersion throughout the cultural context, its existence in various (verbal and non-verbal forms). His point of view on the structure, typology and features of philosophy in Russian medieval culture is briefly described – Christian panethism, symbolism, craving for artistic means of expression, practical orientation, etc. It is noted that the works of M.N. Gromov are characterized by the conviction that it was in the medieval period that all the key features of the national spiritual (including philosophical) culture were laid down.