Problems of Formation of Russian Public Consciousness in the Age of Enlightenment

The article analyzes the results of Russia’s development during Catherine’s reign, when, due to objective and subjective factors, a vector of militarization of the consciousness of the elites and the whole society to the detriment of the country’s education and cultural development was outlined for the authorities. It is noted that during the reign of the House of Romanov and under Soviet rule, in terms of the social and state structure, Russia was a military empire, doomed to develop extensively, through military victories and conquests. Unilateral concentration on the heroic values of public consciousness causes the depletion of the productive forces of the state-forming people, leads to stagnation and decline. Only education can be a condition and guarantee for the reform of the military empire into a developed civil society based on the ideals of the right of the individual, free from bias, dogmatism and obscurantism, and the triumph of the law.