TENEBRAE SEU LUX EX ORIENTE? RE-EVALUATION OF THE SOVIET PHILOSOPHY IN CONTEMPORARY ANGLO-AMERICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY (Tenebrae seu lux-ex oriente? Pereotsinka radyanskoi filosofii v suchasnii anglo-amerikanskiu istoriografii).

The article reviews approaches to assessment of the Soviet philosophy in the Anglo-American philosophical texts. The author defines the periods of the evolution of the Western (mostly Anglo-American) scholars' views on the Soviet philosophy, namely: 1) views between the World Wars; 2) views during the Cold War; and 3) contemporary ones. During the first period, the Soviet philosophy was viewed as integral part of the European thought. The political aspect was visible here, but it was not a dominant one. During the second period, the Soviet philosophy was estranged from the European philosophy because of difference of political and ideological values. The Western view on the Soviet philosophy was founded upon Bochenski's ideas, which promoted the Thomistic negligence of the Soviet secular thought and its institutional frameworks. The third period started with Perestroika in the USSR and de-ideologization of the Western studies of the Soviet philosophy. Philosophers of that period recognized multitude of thoughts and trends in philosophy of the USSR. Finally, showing the process of 're-discovery' of the Soviet philosophy in the West, the author proves the idea that there are no reasons to limit studies of the Soviet philosophy with the frames of history of the Soviet Marxism.