Philosophical and Historical Views of Zaki Validi Togan

The article is devoted to the study of philosophical and historical views of Islamic scholar and Turkologist Z.V. Togan in the context of Russian and European philosophical, historical and socio-political thought at the beginning of the 20th century. The author provides arguments to support the view that ideas of Russian scholars and thinkers as well as Western philosophers, historians and orientalists had a serious impact on the formation of Z.V. Togan’s views on methodology and philosophy of history. Considering that historical prosses is determined by both economical and natural factors and inner and spiritual needs of man, Z.V. Togan proposed his own theory of the historical evolution similar to that developed by J.G. Herder and R.H. Lotze. It is shown that the Russian revolution and civil war 1917–1923 significantly influenced Z.V. Togan’s theoretical work. His ideas are very relevant to Russian philosophy and humanities due to the age-old interac­tion between Russia and the Islamic East.