The contemporary situation in Russian philosophy is examined
through the prism of history of understanding the problems of hope. By singling out and contrasting two types of thinking – prospective and retrospective – the specificity and stimulus of philosophical creativity is revealed. It is stated that in the history of Russian philosophy these strategies of philosophical thought originally played a decisive role, focusing attention on hope in different ways and suggesting different forms of reasonable life. The article makes an attempt to identify the "sources" of hope in Russian thought, which are interpreted as the fundamental conditions of meaningful attitude towards the world, society and oneself. The basic "sources" of hope were formed in Russia in the period from the second half of the 18th century till the first quarter of the 20th century and up to the present moment they are still actual. They are the beliefs that 1) philosophy will make the man free, and his mind perfect, that due to philosophy the sciences and arts will actively develop, and the society
will be just, 2) the philosophy can provide the man immortality – infinite joy of life, which is supported by the conclusions of the mind, 3) Russia is God's
"plan", which, once solved, reveals the hidden secrets of the universe, 4) the
original Russian philosophy or just philosophy in Russia is possible. As hope
was drawn into the circle of philosophical reflection, disillusionment emerged, which first stimulated the anti-metaphysical pathos of Russian thought to present nothing as the basis for a new hope, and then began to cultivate a pessimistic aestheticism. The author concludes that a way out of this situation can be found by developing an intercultural philosophy based on the ideas of polylogicism developed in the Russian tradition and by unconditionally recognising the right of the Other to otherness