Law and the Idea of Higher Moral Justice Among Slavophiles and Soil Scientists

Abstract

hroughout the XIX century, in the Russian philosophy of law, disputes about the formation of a just civil society, in which a balance between religion, morality and law would be found, did not subside. In this regard, in modern Russian society there is a need to study the heritage of the past, and above all, to analyze the philosophical and legal views of Slavophiles and soil scientists. They laid the foundation for understanding the moral and legal ideal in Russian religious and philosophical thought, based on traditional values, observance of the principles of conciliarity in the state and social structure. The article examines the issues of legality as one of the important elements of the Slavophiles' understanding of the state-legal ideal. As a result, it was revealed that Slavophiles and soil scientists saw an objective connection between social relations and the norms of legal regulation. It was emphasized that legal customs should be formed on the basis of traditions and local conditions in cultural, economic, household and other spheres of society. Slavophiles and their followers believed that the primacy of internal truth (justice) over external (legal law) should be decisive in society. The authors conclude that the Slavophiles proclaimed such a community of people as the ideal of the Christian structure of society, where people would do good without external coercion in the form of laws and legal norms.