ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 plays on the notion of the unity of faith and reason which underlined Florensky’s “mathematical worldview.” Florensky’s use of the trope of Non-Euclidean geometry in his theory of the icon is interpreted as an illustration of this worldview. While Non-Euclidean geometry was a favourite idea among the avant-garde both in Russia and in the West at the time, in the Russian context it had a specifically religious sound to it, which highlighted the still relevant problem of religion in a secularized modernity. In this way, Florensky’s “mathematical worldview” was developed in a conscious opposition to the Western analytical worldview, while the very notion of Non-Euclidean geometry was seen by Florensky and his contemporaries as a way of challenging Kant’s philosophy.
