On April 26, 2022 (Tue), the Russian Institute (Director: Pyo Sang-yong, Professor of Nor Language) HK+ Research Group held the 184th Coloquium online as part of its academic activities for the Humanities Korea Project (AGenda: Re-recognition of Russian Humanities Space: Russia in the World).
The speaker, Choi Jin-seok, a professor of humanities and social studies at Seoul National University, presented the topic 'Controversy over the history of modern cultural intelligence in Russia: Westernism and Slavism, or Russia's self-identity.' Professor Choi Jin-seok began his presentation in the 19th century, noting that a group called 'revolutionary intelligence' emerged from aristocratic intellectuals to miscellaneous intellectuals, and that disputes among intellectuals actively outside the university system were the mainstay of Russian cultural and intellectual history in the 19th century. He pointed out that questions about Russia's position in world history and its direction of development ignited the Western-Slavist debate in Chadiev's 'Philosophical Book,' explaining how their ideas deepened, especially among the key figures in the debate, which is a watershed in Russian intellectual history. Professor Choi Jin-seok said that the question of 'we' requires knowledge of 'them' and constitutes knowledge of 'we again' and that the Western-Slavist debate is important not in how much Russia accepted Western Europe, but in that Russia formed its identity through the other of Western Europe.
More than 20 researchers, including researchers from the institute, participated in the online Coloquium, and discussions were conducted through Q&A after the presentation.