Tsiolkovskii and the Invention of ‘Russian Cosmism’: Science, Mysticism, and the Conquest of Nature at the Birth of Soviet Space Exploration (2016)
The rhetoric of the early years of the Soviet space program was rooted in a long and enthusiastic discourse about the transformative role of modern science and technology in the socialist context. Yet, it has become evident that ‘Russian Cosmism’, a mystical and occultlike worldview with Orthodox Christian overtones continues to animate Russian interest in the cosmos. The goal of this essay is to dispel some fundamental misconceptions, especially about the embellished historical importance of ‘cosmism’ in the lived historical context of twentieth century Russia. By doing so, I hope to position the philosophical foundations of Soviet space activities as part of a broader aspirations for ‘modernity’ and a concomitant ideology of conquering the natural world.
...MoreBook Paul Betts; Stephen A. Smith (2016) Science, Religion and Communism in Cold War Europe.
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