Abstract
<jats:p>This article analyzes the ideological content of F.M. Dostoevsky's novel The Adolescent in connection with the aesthetic and historiosophical concepts of F. Schiller. It notes the deep intellectual interconnection between F. Schiller and J.G. Fichte in their views on statehood and culture as forms of the highest unity of mankind, as well as the combined influence of their ideas on the philosophical worldview of F.M. Dostoevsky and the novel's hero, Versilov. It is argued that Versilov's ideas are rooted in the historical and aesthetic concepts of Schiller and Fichte, according to which culture and art serve the internal improvement of man and the future unification of mankind. The article substantiates the hypothesis that culture in Versilov's worldview becomes a form of religious life, as it is culture that serves as the expression of human freedom, the unity of mankind, and the meaning of historical development. The significance of the image of the “Golden Age” in Versilov's worldview is shown in connection with the historiosophical concepts of Schiller and Fichte. The relationship between Dostoevsky's “Russian idea” and the noble idea of the “highest cultural type” expressed by Versilov is demonstrated through Fichte's concept, according to which historical movement consists in the dissemination of culture by outstanding individuals; culture is passed on from people to people, and the most cultured state of its era becomes the common Fatherland of every enlightened Christian. It is concluded that Versilov's “fantasies” and Dostoevsky's “dreams”, criticized by many representatives of Russian social thought, are in fact a continuation and development of a profound intellectual tradition within European philosophy.</jats:p>