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Abstract: The purpose of this article is to give a general idea of the role of Fyodor Buslaev in formation and development of Russian philology. The author speaks about the innovative nature of Buslaev's understanding of the role of science as one of the most important factors of social consciousness and self-awareness. Buslaev posed to the Russian philology the task of a holistic interpretation of the people's worldview, developed and proposed ways to solve it, laying the foundations of the comparativehistorical method of scientific research, which he continued to improve throughout his scientific work. The article emphasizes the universal nature of Buslaev's scientific thinking, he perceives the phenomenon under study multifaceted, in the light of both linguistic and literary problems, and in correlation with the historical context. The merit of Buslaev is the affirmation of the high aesthetic and moral value of folk literature as the basis for the origin and development of written literature. As the leader of the mythological school, Buslaev defined the strategic direction of the development of Russian philology. His studies in the field of folklore have significantly deepened the notion of the specific nature of reality reflection in the main genres, and the scope of the regional peculiarities of the folklore existence. Buslaev introduced a large array of works of medieval Russian literature into scientific circulation; he laid the foundation of Russian medieval studies. Particular attention is paid to the independent, original approach of Buslaev to the solution of problems common to European philology. Seeking to study a genuinely popular world outlook, the scientist came to an understanding of its inner dynamics, conditioned by historical circumstances, he developed the concept of three periods of progress of folk poetry. The author prefers to talk not about the transfer of Buslaev to the position of the school of borrowing, but about the complication and enrichment of the comparative-historical method in his writings of the 1870s. Buslaev comes to an understanding of the multi-level nature of the connections between the creativity of different peoples, conditioned not only by genetic kinship or borrowing in the process of communication, but also by typological closings due to the similarity of the conditions of historical existence.