V. S. Solovyov and L. N. Tolstoy: Two Opinions on Law and Morality

Abstract

The paper deals with the problem of the correlation of law and morality as the most important social regulators in the interpretation of two outstanding thinkers of pre-revolutionary Russia, namely the religious philosopher V. S. Solovyov and the writer L. N. Tolstoy. In a sense, both were “iconic thinkers”, had a huge army of admirers, as well as critics. Of interest is the fact that L. N. Tolstoy studied at the Faculty of Law of the Kazan Imperial University, but did not graduate from it. It was during his student years that he formed an extremely negative view of law and legal professions. In this regard, Tolstoy can safely be counted among the representatives of the so-called theoretical legal nihilism, whose supporters sought to justify the denial of the value of law by conceptual argumentation in a way they understood it. V. S. Solovyov, on the contrary, treated the law more positively than negatively. However, he qualified the law as a “minimum of morality”, and considered the state to be “organized pity”. Nevertheless, in the professional academic environment, V. S. Solovyov enjoyed the reputation of a person who was deeply versed in law and understood its role in a state-organized society.
The paper notes some similarity of the theoretical views of V. S. Solovyov and L. N. Tolstoy. Law and morality occupy an important place in their ideological constructions. It seems that their ideas to some extent have not lost their significance today