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Russian cosmism is a cosmocentric philosophical and cultural movement that emerged in Russia in the early 20th century. It entails a broad theory of natural philosophy combining elements of religion and ethics, a history and philosophy of the origin, evolution and future existence of the cosmos and humankind. It combines elements from both Eastern and Western philosophic traditions as well as from the Russian Orthodox Church.

Many ideas of the Russian cosmists were later developed by those in the transhumanism movement.

Representatives

Among the major representatives of Russian cosmism was Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (1828—1903), an advocate of radical life extension by means of scientific methods, human immortality and resurrection of dead people.

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky

The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live in a cradle forever!

—Konstantin Tsiolkovsky¹

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857—1935) was the first pioneer of theoretical space exploration and cosmonautics. In 1903, he published Исследование мировых пространств реактивными приборами (The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reactive Devices [Rockets]), the first serious scientific work on space travel. Tsiolkovsky believed that colonizing space would lead to the perfection of the human race, with immortality and a carefree existence. He also developed ideas of the "animated atom" (panpsychism), and "radiant mankind".

Other Ukrainian-Russian cosmists included Vladimir Vernadsky (1863—1945), who developed the notion of noosphere, and Alexander Chizhevsky (1897—1964), pioneer of Heliobiology.

See also

• Russian philosophy
• sobornost

Citations

External links

• R. Djordjevic Russian Cosmism (with the Selective Bibliography) and its Uprising Effect on the Development of Space Research (PDF)

Reading

• Nikolaj Fedorov: Studien zu Leben, Werk und Wirkung (Nikolaj Federov: Studies to his Life, Works and his Influence) :by Michael Hagemeister:(München: Sagner, 1989):ISBN 3-87690-461-7:Originally presented as the author’s thesis (doctoral) — Philipps-Universität Marburg, 1989.