Sergei Nikolaevich Trubetskoy

Prince Sergei Nikolaevich Trubetskoy (; 4 August [O. S. 23 June] 1862 – 23 September 1905) was a Russian religious philosopher. He was the son of Prince Nikolai Petrovitch Trubetskoy, co-founder of the Moscow Conservatory, and Sophia Alekseievna Lopouchina, who was a big influence on his religious thought. Trubetskoy and his brother, Evgenii Nikolaevitch Troubetzkoy (1863–1920), continued Vladimir Solovyov's work on developing a modern Christian philosophy of the world. He was also a professor of philosophy at Moscow University and a founding member of the underground discussion circle Beseda. Biography Early life Trubetskoy became an adherent of the British Positivists Herbert Spencer and John Stuart Mill as a teenager. Later he became disappointed with both and turned to Schopenhauer. Trubetskoy's study of Schopenhauer's philosophy led him to a conclusion that Schopenhauer's pessimism was the result of the denial of God. Trubetskoy himself described this dilemma the following way: "Either God exists or life is not worth living". He became an Orthodox Christian, and also an adherent of the Slavophiles: his beliefs at that time were influenced by the writings of Aleksey Khomyakov. In 1885 Trubetskoy graduated from Moscow University; he continued to work there until his death, lecturing in philosophy.