The article considers the intellectual biography of the Russian historian N. M. Karamzin (1766-1826), the formation of his philosophical ideas about man, the world, and history. An important stage of his work was the Moscow period of friendly contacts with N. I. Novikov, participation in his educational projects, relations with masons and gradual disappointment in their mysticism. Philosophical views of N. M. Karamzin were infl uenced by his European journey, his meetings and conversations with I. Kant, S. Bonn, K. M. Wieland, J. G. Herder, which he described in his “Letters of a Russian Traveler”. Several philosophical articles by N. M. Karamzin were published in his magazines “Bulletin of Europe”, “Moscow Magazine”, almanac “Aglaya”. The result of philosophical understanding of the fate of Russia is its 12-volume “History of the Russian State”, as well as a note “On the Old and New Russia in its political and civil relations.”