FEOFAN PROKOPOVICH AND BENEDICT DE SPINOZA THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD AND THE ESSENCE OF NATURE

The 18th century was marked by extremely dynamic changes and reformatting of the European intellectual space, namely by the foundation of new educational institutions representing different denominations, which was reflected in the works of Russian and Western European thinkers. This article aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the philosophical content of the thoughts about God and the essence of Nature expressed by Feofan Prokopovich and Benedict de Spinoza. It is shown that the relationship between the philosophical beliefs of Feofan Prokopovich and Benedict de Spinoza represents a cross-section of the European philosophical landscape of the time when the commonality of initial premises did not at all guarantee similar conclusions; on the contrary, it created favourable conditions for a diversity of philosophical ideas. The conclusion drawn in this article suggests that the views on the essence of Nature and existence of God expressed by Feofan Prokopovich and Benedict de Spinoza if not do not fully coincide, then at least can be considered not contradictory. Besides, the criticism of Spinoza's views in Feofan's works can be fully explained by the religious mind-set that largely influenced Feofan's worldview as opposed to Spinoza.