This course is an in-depth critical survey of Russian thought taking the concept of The Russian Idea as its central concern. It traces the origin, process, and outcomes of The Russian Idea in the grounding texts of philosophy, literature, religion, history and politics (The term itself was coined by Vladimir Solovyov at a salon reading in Paris in 1888). The course examines the formative elements of the Russian Idea and its development as well as the outlets for its expression from the times of The Holy Rus to Russia‘s War in Ukraine in the era of Putinism. Week by week and case study by case study, we shall look at key movements (e.g. Decembrists, Westernizers and Slavophiles, men of the soil, PanSlavism, Eurasianism), key writers (e.g., Chaadaev, Khomiakov, Herzen, Dostoevsky, Leontiev, Tolstoy, Solovyov, Berdiaev, Il’in, Solzhenitsyn, Gumilev, Bibikhin), key forums and media (e.g. the Polar Star, Diary of a Writer, Signposts, De Profundis, From Under the Rubble) and key debates in Russia and among the dissident, emigre circles and global intellectuals in the more recent volumes and commentaries after the fall of communism and following the demise of the idea of the end of history. These include conversations by proponents of, responders to, and outspoken critics of, the Russian Idea concerning the issues of a distinct historical path, mission bearing and messianism, apocalypses, demonology, redemption, cyclicity, regress and historical transmigration. The course takes a comparativist approach and establishes links to other relevant philosophies of modernity and post-modernity (e.g. Heidegger-Dugin). The course is open to students of all disciplines. All readings are in English. Qualified advanced undergraduates allowed to join with special permission.