The theory of symbolism as the basis of philosophical thought of the culture of the Silver Age

Background. The present study attempts to substantiate the philosophy of symbolism as a methodology of modern humanitarian cognition. One of the civilisational features of Russia and the domestic sphere of spiritual culture is such a historical and cultural phenomenon as the Silver Age. It was within its framework that the discussion and identification of the significance of the theory of the symbolic for the comprehension of the essence of being took place. The symbol as an instrument of synthesis of mythological and religious levels of spirituality became the bridge that united the outer world and the inner world of man as a person. Symbolic provides the unity of the sphere of culture and individual consciousness of a single person. Such an outstanding cultural figure of the Silver Age as A.F. Losevmade a great contribution to the Russian philosophy of symbolism, which became one of the research objectives of this paper. The relevance of the study is confirmed by the fact that today the need to consolidate traditional values of the spirit is on the agenda, and the symbol is historically such a value. Materials and methods. The source of the work was the classical philosophical works of do mestic thinkers (Berdyaev, Lossky, Losev, Florensky) and theorists of the philosophy of symbolism in its artistic and aesthetic form of the era of the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries. Methodologically justi fied itself applied the main method of research as a method of cultural-comparative with reliance on the principle of historicism. It allowed substantiating the thesis that the symbolic as signification or commemoration became a factor in the formation of human thinking and language, and the connection between mythological and religious is the beginning of the spirituality of humanity. Results. The main results of this work should include the proof of A.F. Losev’s idea of the symbol as the integrity of objective reality, which encompasses the elements of abstract thinking: the opposition of elements of re ality, the fusion of these elements into a synthetic whole, the generalisation of empirical experience in the form of a theoretical doctrine. According to Losev, the symbol of a thing is in the identification of internal regularity. Conclusions. The general conclusion of the study is the thesis that the Russian philosophy of symbolism and symbolism as a methodology for analyzing the aesthetic in the culture of the Silver Age had the most noticeable impact on the domestic and European spiritual cultures by try ing to express the deep experiences of a person as a person. The existential orientation of Russian symbolism is still in demand today not only in historical and philosophical terms, but also in practical terms to preserve domestic traditional value guidelines.