Alexey Appolonov

Year and Place of Birth

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-8140-1206

Ринц Author ID: 261631

Scopus Author ID: 57201357593

25 July 1971, Moscow

Education 

• Moscow State University, the Faculty of Philosophy, the Department of the History of Foreign Philosophy (2000).

Career

• Leading Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Scientific Interests

• History of Medieval Philosophy;

• History of Modern Philosophy;

• Contemporary Religious Studies.

• Religious Philosophy (Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2011–2023).
• Philosophy and Theology of the Middle Ages (Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2013–2019).
• Secularization and Desecularization in the Modern World (Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2014–2023).
• Religion and Politics (Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2016–2023).
• Christianity and Capitalism (Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2016–2019).
• Critique of Religion in Philosophical and Scientific Thought (Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2019–2023).
• Science and Religion (Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2020–2023).
• Freedom of Conscience and State-Confessional Relations (Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2020–2023).
• History of Religious Studies (Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2020–2023).

• Medieval Philosophy // Philosophy: A Classical University Textbook / ed. by A. F. Zotov, V. V. Mironov, A. V. Razin. 6th ed. Moscow: Akademicheskii Proekt, 2009. Pp. 107–132.

• Philosophy of Religion (co-authored with I. N. Yblokov) // Religious Studies: A Textbook for Bachelors / ed. by I. N. Yablokov. Moscow: Yurait, 2014. Pp. 76–89.

• The Formation of Catholicism and Its History (co-authored with K. I. Nikonov and Z. A. Tazhurizina) // History of Religion: A Textbook for Bachelors. In 2 vols. / ed. by I. N. Yablokov. 4th ed., rev. and enl. Vol. 2. Moscow: Yurait, 2014. Pp. 319–354.

• The 'Speculative Grammar' of Thomas of Erfurt in the Context of Western European Medieval Philosophical and Linguistic Thought (Late 13th – Early 14th Century)" (RSH grant No. 16-03-00204; 2016).

BOOKS

• The Science of Religion and Its Postmodern Critics. Moscow: HSE Publishing House, 2018. 240 p. ISBN 978-5-7598-1736-9.

The book presents a critical analysis of certain contemporary trends in religious studies, which, in the author’s opinion, are driven by the adoption of the methodological relativism characteristic of postmodernism in the second half of the 20th century. The main object of criticism is a concept typical of postmodern discourse in religious studies. According to this concept, a phenomenon such as religion did not exist until Western scholars of religion "constructed" it, and consequently, the traditional science of religion should be considered a discipline that does not describe reality but narrates about fictions of its own invention. Critiquing this position, the author demonstrates, first, that such assertions are historically incorrect (i.e., notions of "religion" and "religions," and even more so the phenomenon of religion itself, existed long before the emergence of the actual science of religion), and second, that the idea of the "construction of religion" is based on a methodological error (whether deliberate or not), which consists in equating a phenomenon itself with its scientific-theoretical investigation. 

• Latin Averroism of the 13th Century. Moscow: URSS, 2011. 160 p. ISBN 978-5-396-00814-4.

The book is devoted to the philosophy of Latin Averroism of the 13th century—an influential heterodox movement in Western European scholasticism. The monograph provides a systematic review of the works of the main representatives of Latin Averroism—Siger of Brabant and Boethius of Dacia; it explores their ontology, epistemology, and ethics. At the same time, primary attention is given to such key philosophical problems for Latin Averroism as monopsychism, the eternity of the world, universal determinism, and the theory of double truth. Furthermore, the monograph examines the polemics conducted by the opponents of the Latin Averroists from among orthodox Catholic theologians, such as Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great, and Bonaventure.

• R. H. Tawney. Religion and the Rise of Capitalism / trans. by T. M. Kotelnikova, A. V. Apollonov; ed. by A. V. Apollonov. Moscow: "Delo" Publishing House of RANEPA, 2023.
• Émile Durkheim. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life / trans. by T. M. Kotelnikova, A. V. Apollonov; ed. by A. V. Apollonov. Moscow: "Delo" Publishing House of RANEPA, 2018.
• William of Ockham. Selected Works / trans. and ed. by A. V. Apollonov. Moscow: URSS, 2015.
• Thomas Aquinas. Commentary on Boethius's 'De Trinitate' / trans. and ed. by A. V. Apollonov. Moscow: Lenand, 2014.
• Duns Scotus. Treatise on the First Principle / trans. and ed. by A. V. Apollonov. Moscow: KRASAND, 2010.
• Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologiae / trans. by A. V. Apollonov; ed. by N. Lobkowicz and A. V. Apollonov. Moscow, 2006.

TRANSLATIONS

• Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologiae. Vol. VI: Secunda Secundae. Questions 47–122. Latin-Russian Bilingual Edition. Transl. from Latin / Ed. by N. Lobkowicz, A.V. Apollonov. URSS, 2024. 

"The Summa Theologiae" of the great medieval thinker Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274) is one of the most influential works in the Western European Christian tradition, which has not lost its significance to this day. The present volume includes Questions 47 through 122 of the Secunda Secundae part of the Summa, in which Thomas Aquinas examines two cardinal virtues — prudence and justice.

• R. H. Tawney. Religion and the Rise of Capitalism: A Historical Study (Lectures in Memory of Henry Scott Holland, 1922) / by Richard Henry Tawney; translated by T. M. Kotelnikova, A. V. Apollonov.

Richard Henry Tawney (1880–1962) was an eminent figure in English political-economic thought, a historian, and a public figure whose ideas significantly influenced state-building in post-war Britain. His Religion and the Rise of Capitalism is a fundamental work on economic history, dedicated to the complex interaction between religious doctrines and socio-economic practices in Western European countries (primarily England) during the 16th–18th centuries. Drawing on rich empirical material, Tawney demonstrates how religious thought evolved alongside the development of capitalist relations and how, in turn, these relations received legitimation and justification from Christian theology. From examining historical matters, the author proceeds to analyze the moral foundations of the Western society of his time, paying particular attention to the tragic rift between the ethical norms of social responsibility and the dominant economic practice. As it seems, these reflections of Richard Henry Tawney, who consistently advocated for the humanization of economic relations, hold great significance for our time and, likely, for the future.

TRANSLATIONS

2024

• Alistair McGrath and Thomas Aquinas’s “Five Ways” // Istoriko-Filosofskii Ezhegodnik [History of Philosophy Yearbook], No. 39, 2024. Pp. 75–106.The Virtue of Religion in the Ethical Doctrine of Thomas Aquinas // Eticheskaia Mysl’ [Ethical Thought], Vol. 24, No. 3, 2024. Pp. 34–46.

• Does Weber Live in Guatemala? Traditional Protestant Values in Contemporary Latin America // Patria, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2024. Pp. 25–49.

• Commentary to Volume VI // Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologiae. Vol. VI: Secunda Secundae. Questions 47–122. Latin-Russian Bilingual Edition. Transl. from Latin / Ed. by N. Lobkowicz, A.V. Apollonov. URSS, 2024.

2022

• Protestant Themes in Contemporary Russian Religious Studies: A Scholarly Discussion (co-authors: A.P. Zabiyako, E.V. Zaitsev, S.I. Ivanenko, I.I. Ivanova, O.V. Kuropatkina, T.K. Nikolskaya, M.Yu. Smirnov, N.V. Shaburov, E.S. Elbakyan) // Vestnik Leningradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta im. A. S. Pushkina [Bulletin of the Leningrad State University named after A. S. Pushkin], No. 1. Pp. 195–222.

2021

• Rodney Stark, Subjective Religiosity, and the Protracted Farewell to Secularization Theory // Kontsept: Filosofiia, Religiia, Kul'tura [Concept: Philosophy, Religion, Culture], Vol. 5, No. 3. Pp. 101–112.

• The Philosophical Theology of Albert the Great // Filosofiia Religii: Analiticheskie Issledovaniia [Philosophy of Religion: Analytical Studies], Vol. 5, No. 2. Pp. 94–129.

2020 

• The Latin Word “Religio” and the “Sacred-Profane” Dichotomy // Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriia 7: Filosofiia [Moscow University Bulletin. Series 7: Philosophy], No. 2. Pp. 102–111.

• The Concept of “Religio” in the Work of Marsilio Ficino // Sotsiologiia [Sociology], No. 1. Pp. 202–209.

ENCYCLOPEDIC ARTICLES

Conferences

Expert Activity

• PhD Dissertation: Belomytsev, Arsenii Anatol'evich. Contemporary Worship Music in Christian Liturgical Practice (Case Studies of Russia and the USA) (Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), 2022).
• Doctoral Dissertation (D.Sc.): D'iachenko, Ol'ga Nikolaevna. The Problem of Person in Western European Medieval Philosophy (Kursk, 2021).

Contacts

• E-mail: alexeyapp@yandex.ru

Web-page in Russian