Philosophy and Culture - rubric Man and mankind

Abstract: Review: the name of the British philosopher Alfred J.Ayer (1910-1989), an outstanding representative of neopositivism, is well known in Russia. But whereas his views on epistemological problems are given enough attention, his philosophic and anthropological ideas have been less known.
Review: the name of the British philosopher Alfred J.Ayer (1910-1989), an outstanding representative of neopositivism, is well known in Russia. But whereas his views on epistemological problems are given enough attention, his philosophic and anthropological ideas have been less known.

Abstract: Review: the crisis in humanism has reached the stage when philosophers deny human nature and human spiritual and physical identity. The stage is also known as ‘trans humanism’. The author analyzed attempts to modify the humanitarian paradigm ‘in draft’. All of them, however, are related to the same idea of substituting people by ‘transhumans’. In the second part of the article the author discussed the ideas of poliontism and the turn in traditional phenomenology of philosophy. According to the author, those ideas could help to keep the traditional Homo vitae sapiens

Keywords: humanism, trans-humanism, archeo avant-gardism, acmeology, turn in traditional phenomenology

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2020.4.31842

Abstract: The subject of this research is the contours of philosophical reasoning on the authenticity of human existence from the perspective of postmodernism. Comparison is conducted on interpretations of subjectivity in different philosophical discourses. The article examines the postmodern stage as an inversion of values and traditions of modernism and postmodernism in the context of new realities of the digital virtualized society. The author reviews the postmodern inter-worldliness of a subject and externalized selfness of a human, who on the one hand seeks self-identification, and om the other – avoids it, falling under the sway of symbolic identity, determined by the social institutions, norms and standards. Research methodology is based on the historical-philosophical approach, phenomenology of social, existential analytics and object-oriented ontology. A conclusion is made that the situation of s postmodern human is reflected in transition from the idea of diluting metanarrative to ethical universalism, from the regression of the philosophy of identity to object-oriented ontology, from skepticism to sincerity, from ironic sensibility of postmodernism to aesthetic experiencing of the tragic, from the power of text to metaphoric access to reality.

Keywords: decentration, the external, Graham Harman, Gille Deleuze, neo-romanticism, object-oriented ontology, subject, metamodernism, human being, post-postmodernism

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.1.10695

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.1.66106

Abstract: In their article Koptseva and Kistova have touched upon the following topics and issues: Russian ethnocultural and national identities, mechanisms of construction of national identity, basic approaches to social construction of ethnic and national identity including concepts offered by Franz Boas, Ernest Gellner, Wilhelm Muhlman, Sergey Shirokogorov, Lev Gumilev and other philosophers, importance of the ethnographic approach and ‘interpretative hermeneutics’ of Wilhelm Dilthey for philosophical construction of Russian national identity, mechanisms of transformation of ethnocultural identity into national identity, representative cultural texts containing codes, signs and symbols that may initiative the processes of formation of Russian national identity when being perceived by a recipient, analysis of categories and concepts, ethnographic approach, Wilhelm Dilthey’s ‘interpretative hermeneutics’, integrative methodological strategy, Peter Berger’s and Thomas Luckmann’s theory of social construction and concepts of the symbolic production of ethnicity offered by Fredrik Barth, V. S. Malakhov and V. A. Tishkov. The authors have analyzed and classified the basic approaches to social construction of ethnocultural and national identity and offer their own integrative methodological strategy that combines the ethnographic approach and Wilhelm Dilthey’s ‘interpretative hermeneutics’. The authors have also described some mechanisms of construction of Russian national identity by the means of transformation of ethnocultural identity and proven the role of representative cultural texts in the process of formation of Russian national identity.

Keywords: philosophy, ethnocultural identity, general national identity, social construction, ethnographic approach, ‘interpretative hermeneutics’, Wilhelm Dilthey, mechanisms of social construction, cultural texts, methodological strategy.

Abstract: We live in the epoch of human engineering turning into an ‘engineering’ human. Undoubtedly, such Human has a certain future which may last for several centuries. ‘Traditional’ or ‘historical’ human has all his future in the past. He has only eternity. Conservative revolution under the banner of Archaeo Avantgarde is the main business of the day at the 21st century. All the rest is the ‘business of the night’. Thus shall we live further.

Keywords: philosophy, human, personality, God, nature, subject, future, individual, engineering, metaphysics

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.1.9294

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.1.63768

Abstract: The authors of the article study the process of communication from the point of view of philosophical anthropology. Based on this approach, communication is viewed as an expression of not only social but also existential human nature because this approach allows to determine man’s relations with the world and the Other (and society), God and so on. In this regard the concept of Self and Other acquires a special status, too. In case both the transmitting and receiving parties are active, the inter-subjective communication is created. Inter-subjective communication has special features such as the dialogic interaction, inter-subjectivity, communication as a process of confluence of the message, information and understanding and the presence of individuals. The authors also view the structure of inter-subjective communication based on the concept of basic needs introduced by Abraham Maslow. The authors suggest a six-level structure consisting of the following levels: primitive, traditionally oriented, socially standard, progressively synthesizing, spiritual and spiritually modifying types of communication. Developing mass media and so called «network society» make a significant impact on the structure of the communication process. It brings in the element of «untrue communication» and results in the effect that can be called «archaic style of communication» when the primitive forms of communication such as mass, social, family, domestic, erotic forms of inter-subjective communication become dominating and information is mythologized or acquires a mystic content.

Keywords: communication, need, subject, society, Self and Other, virtuality, anthropology, meta-need, spirituality.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2024.1.69678

Abstract: The problematics of civilization development and the place of human being in it is a significant area of research, which is additionally actualized nowadays in the conditions of the outlined transition to a new stage - the civilization of cognitive technologies. According to the assessment proposed in the article, three stages of civilization development should be distinguished: agrarian, machine, and the civilization of cognitive technologies, which is currently being formed. It is characterized by the main need in the form of artificial cognitive systems for intellectual control of machines for the production of material goods, and the result of satisfying this need is the replacement of human beings by artificial cognitive systems in the intellectual control of machines. The following several questions are key in the context of the mentioned problems: "What are the functions of human beings in the existence and development of civilization?", "Do these functions change?", "Are there inalienable ones among them?", "What can become the basis for the further development of civilization?". The functions of human beings within civilization are the generation of needs and work to satisfy them. Generation of needs is an inalienable function of human being in civilization, which determines the determining role of the evolution of needs in the development of civilization. The main role in the evolution of needs belongs to social mechanisms of compulsion (motivation) to consumption, which influence not only the satisfaction of social needs, but also stimulate excessive consumption of material goods and intellectual activity. Further development of civilization will preserve the position of human being as an initiator of this development only in case of successful implementation of social coercion mechanisms. The condition for this is social integration: preservation and expansion of ties between human beings, counteraction to the fragmentation of society.

Keywords: intelligence, cognitive technologies, inalienable function, goals, society, culture, stages of development, civilization, social mechanisms, compulsion to consume

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2017.3.19371

Abstract: This article examines the phenomenon of sacrifice from the perspective of philosophical anthropology. The author highlights two main lines in the sacrifice theories: pragmatics of a sacrifice and apophaticism of a sacrifice. The pragmatics of a sacrifice includes the theory that reveal its practical positive sense, namely: social, biological, economic, psychological, and political. The apophaticism of a sacrifice pertains to its anthropological perspective that suggests referring to an invisible side of the world. Analyzing both strategies, the author answers to the questions about the meaning of sacrificing, correlation between faith and ritual, gift and sacrifice, as well as disappearance of blood sacrifices. The work leans on the philosophical-anthropological methods, in other words, accepts the message that a person is not an element of population, which he seems to be prior to biology, not an element of society, which he is for sociology, but rather a free creature that is not determined from without. In the author’s opinion, the phenomenon of sacrifice lies in the foundation of anthropogenesis and sociogenesis. The conclusion is made that the ritual of sacrificing is the cornerstone of the anthropological structure set by the cult. A blood sacrifice represents the point of the primary interdiction that constitutes consciousness.

Keywords: Eucharist, Religion, Cult, Mystery, Ritual, Consciousness, Anthropology, Exchange, Gift, Sacrifice

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2021.4.36069

Abstract: This article discusses the topic of identity in the religious philosophy of N. Berdyaev. The author emphasizes the importance of this topic for the philosopher alongside the problematic of freedom and creativity. Emphasis is placed on the existential-religious traditions of Berdyaev’s philosophy, which views a particular individual in his relation to the society and history. According to Berdyaev, an individual is a puzzle not as an organism or social being, but as the identity; the spiritual aspect alone does not depend or determined by the society, which indicates its freedom, although not absolute. The conclusion is made on the relevance of philosophical reflections of N. Berdyaev for the modern state of social development. The author comes into line with the prophetic ideas of the philosopher on the approaching process of dehumanization in spheres of cultural and social life, and namely, dehumanization of moral consciousness. A human fades out as an integral, internally centered, spiritually focused being, who retains cohesion and unity. The author is forced to acknowledge the transformation of moral and ethical values of society, loss of innate thinking, increasing dependence on popular culture and consumer ideology, undermined faith in the future and self-confidence.

Keywords: society, anthropologism, humanism, spiritual freedom, Nikolai Berdyaev, personality, human, history, culture, values

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2022.11.39225

Abstract: This article analyzes the compatibility of the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism and Orthodox Christianity in relation to the class division of society and class struggle. The significance of the study is due to the controversy (often acute) on this issue, which is directly related to the social structure. The article provides a historical and theological analysis of the topic under study on the basis of a critical study of the works of the founders of Marxism-Leninism, their closest associates, historical documents on this issue, as well as historical and theological works. This article attempts to present a systematic analysis of the subject under study. It examines the relationship between the teachings of Orthodox Christianity and Marxism-Leninism about classes and class struggle, as well as their application in practice, and appeals to opponents. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that some documents are analyzed for the first time in connection with the issue under study. Also, in more detail and systematically, in relation to the available works, the analysis of the relationship between the teachings of Orthodox Christianity and Marxism-Leninism is carried out. The purpose of the work is to study historical documents, as well as historical and philosophical works on this topic. The article concludes that Marxism-Leninism is directly opposed to Christianity in the issue of attitude to the classes of society and the class struggle. In the course of historical development, the intensity of the class struggle changed, but not according to Marxism-Leninism, but depended on the state of morality, religiosity, the development of new trends in the social, scientific and technological development of mankind. A Christian understanding of the essence of the state can provide the basis for the national idea of Russia.

Keywords: Christian anthropology, differentiation of income of the population, Church, dialectical materialism, class struggle, morality, Marxism-Leninism, christianity, orthodoxy, the essence of the state

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2021.8.36451

Abstract: David Graeber (1961–2020) is a former professor at the London School of Economics, sociologist, and social anthropologist, prominent thinker of modernity; in the decades ahead, his views and social ideas will be highly demanded in social and humanistic knowledge. Assessment is given to his social theory of labor, which Graeber dedicated multiple books and articles, viewing labor as a futile phenomenon for the society and individual. He notes that meaningless labor in just a set of actions subordinated to some social force. The analysis of his ideas reveals several important vectors of modern social mentality: 1) in reconsideration of the role of labor in life of a person and society, the social frame of references (from the perspective of total sociality) is brought to the forefront, while the economic and political vectors of the assessment of labor assessment are shifted to the background; 2) meaningless labor becomes the social norm and generates the new system of values, for example, bureaucracy, administration, office, etc.; 3) gradually and with strong consolidation in society, labor becomes part of the active symbolic struggle (for example, for power) and symbolic exchange, which entails inequality between people and social commonalities. The article substantiates the heuristic nature of application of the concept of meaningless labor in characterizing the central ideas pf David Graeber, taking into account the fact that labor is viewed as an “imitation” of social value. This thesis is fundamental in comprehension of Graeber’s theory, as all his works contain a refrain on the need to reconsider the key social values (labor, money, finance, taxes, resources, and other), the nature of which is determined by both economic and sociocultural relations.

Keywords: useless work, David Graeber, methodology of science, knowledge, universal value, social sciences, work, knowledge about society, society, globalization

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2019.11.31567

Abstract: The subject of this research is the Philhellenic tradition as a possible form of history. Philhellenic discourse is structured as a complex correlation between national and universal. “Greece” as topos becomes an important stage of historical narrative, through which the gnoseological gap leads to the beginning of history and identification of human with universal. Philhellenic tradition implies particular interest to writing that is viewed through the prism of history. Jacques Derrida’s concept of writing helps interpreting the early Philhellenic texts (Chernorizets Hrabar “On The Letters”), which become the subject of the philosophy of history. Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s concept of language is viewed as a contrasting example. The scientific novelty of which work consists in the following: Philhellenic discourse, which contains the problematic of national and universal, begins with writing; the narrative on the emergence of alphabet, written by Chernorizets Hrabar as a historical treatise, flows from the field of the history of language to the field of the theology of language, namely Christ-centered. The national idiom, aligning with the Greek form, strives to see the whole, since it is impossible to reach the source by expressing everything, but not becoming universal. This generates the lust for “Hellenism” in the texts of Philhellenic tradition; and here are the roots of hierotopic, which allows the Philhellenic discourse to become the universal form of modern history.

Keywords: writing, Jacques Derrida, historical consciousness, historical form, hierotopia, narrative, the national and the universal, Chernorizets Khrabr, grecophile tradition, Johann Gottlieb Fichte

Abstract: The thesis of ‘uniform’ mysticism ignores the forms typical for paganism and developed religions. Even though mysticism still has the same nature and origin, it definitely varies greatly in forms and structures. The author defined the five ‘primary’ structures of mysticism (archetypes): unity with God, Godsend, transcendental and immanent mystical determinations and the bipolar immanent and transcendental mystical bond. According to the author, primary configurations of the mystical bond usually join in structural complexes.

Keywords: philosophy, mysticism, complex, morphology, sacred, structure, archetype, transcendental, immanent

Abstract: Idiom is viewed as an interaction between the two natures and the two languages, - everyday and metaphoric languages. The author shows the role of a religious philosophy principle of communicatio idiomatum, due to which the idiom is happened to be at the crossing of anthropology, ethics, gnoseology and ontology. In the context of idiom formation the author also casts light on the topic of the inner form (Plotin, Wilhem von Humboldt, Shpet, Potebnya, Bibikhin). Therefore, the idiom is not quite a linguistic, but philosophical phenomena.

Keywords: philosophy, communicatio idiomatum, idiom, inner form, inner grammar, trope, metaphor, term formation.

Abstract: The article provides a unique opportunity to solve the issue of creating artificial intellect not in technological and non-technological spheres but from the point of view of transformations of natural forms of the intellect, in particular, collective thinking. The author postulates principal restrictions of creative opportunities of human in the sphere f creating new objects and describes experience of creating artificial intellect in the sphere of administration.

Keywords: philosophy, methodology, consciousness, artificial, intellect, transformation, administrative, technology, machine, intellect.

Abstract: It is the first time in scientific literature that we study the history of the Roerich Pact on preservation of cultural objects and the program of its implementation ref lected in N. K. Roerich’s works during 1910-1930. The issue of the defense of cultural objects is now becoming even more relevant which is also conditioned by the socio-cultural situation both in our country and all over the world. The author of the article describes t he main t argets of t he Roerich program implemented by t he world community as well as s ummarizes scientific works related to N. K. Roerich’s activities in the sphere of protection of cultural objects. The results of the study can be very useful for salvation of topical questions related to protection of monuments of the world civilization at different levels. Factual material can be also the ground for further researches on this topic, creation of generalized works on the theory, history and practice of defense of cultural objects as well as cultural history.

Keywords: cultural studies, pact, culture, legacy, ethics, evolution, up-bringing, environmental studies, peacekeeping, community.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.2.10515

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.2.63920

Abstract: This article is written in the form of a dialogue and continues the interview of Vladimir Kutyrev, the author of the book ‘Time Mortido’, taken by Aleksey Nilogov. The main topic of their interview was the question about manageability of the progress and the interview was published in the NB: Philosophical Researches Journal in 2013. The interview has developed into a conversation. The conversation evolved around the hidden yet sharp dispute between the ‘progressor’ and ‘conservator’. Interlocutors give different and often contrary evaluations of the prospects of the humankind and opinions on the matter. They talk about the tendency towards replacement of everything alive and natural with the technological and artificial. Theauthortouchesuponthe relation between being and nothing, postmodernistic transformation of human into ‘something else’, elimination of the borders between genders and creation of weak (‘thinking’) and strong (‘programmable’) zombies. The author of the book is completely against the boundless expansion of innovative, i.e. post-human technologies and the idea of human im-provement. He tries to prove that the main goal of a modern human should be the preservation of his civilization in the anthropomorphous context. Society where consumption takes the place of production and the world are depicted as the global trading center.

Keywords: being, nothing, trans-humanism, zombie, Derrida, programming, anti-language, homosexuality, selfdestruction, conservatism.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.4.14957

Abstract: The article explores the attitude of Paul Kurtz (1925-2012), who is considered by many to be the father of the secular humanist movement, towards philosophical critique of the scientific methodology and humanistic values. The author analyzes Paul Kurtz’ understanding and interpretation of the works of such philosophers as Søren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger, Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan, and his counter-arguments used against the following concepts: radical subjectivism, irrationalism, anti-humanism and philosophical pessimism. In her research Ponochevnaya has used the methods that are usually used in humanitarian disciplines. These methods include the comparative historical, conceptual problematic, classification and system-forming methods. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that for the first time in the academic literature the researcher conducts a fundamental analysis of Paul Kurtz' views on the key issues of existential and post-modern philosophy. The main conclusion of the research is the definition of ideological contradictions between humanistic and pragmatistic traditions, on the one hand, and philosophy of existentialism and philosophy of French post-modernism, on the other hand.

Keywords: subjectivism, anti-humanism, Martin Heidegger, Soren Kierkegaard, Paul Kurtz, secular humanism, postmodernism, pragmatism, anthropology, irrationalism

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.4.66463

Keywords: subjectivism, anti-humanism, Martin Heidegger, Soren Kierkegaard, Paul Kurtz, secular humanism, postmodernism, pragmatism, anthropology, irrationalism

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.5.11517

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.5.64923

Abstract: The subject under review is the ideology of the Grand Inquisitor, the main character of The Great Inquisitor story told by Ivan Karamazov. In this story the elderly Jesuit criticizes Jesus’ self-sacrifice for the sake of the freedom of humanity and offers the only alternative to the concept of state power and violence that came after Christ’s teaching. This alternative, in fact, deifies the three powers: authority, miracle and mystery. The approach chosen by the author of the article allows to specify peculiarities of Dostoevsky’s fundamental concept of the image of the Grand Inquisitor that involves meta-demonization of the Grand Inquisitor’s image. The research method used by the author integrates a few types of analysis including ethical and philosophical analysis, psychological analysis, literary analysis and comparative analysis. Combination of these methods allows to recode the demoniac symbols in the image of the Catholic power. The scientific novelty of the research is in the author’s philosopheme according to which the Grand Inquisitor, on one hand, is like a devil hunting for human souls but, on the other hand, he differs from the devil because in his dreams about the unlimited power he without any remorse sees a global ‘happy’ society where Jesus Christ was not needed. This is the cynicism of the universal level and this is why the Jesuit is even more dangerous than the devil because the former represent the all-destroying Ahrimanic power. As a result of his research, the author concludes that the Grand Inquisitor represent the phenomenon of catastrophism because for an Orthodox person religion without Christ is a nonsense and absurdity. For Russia the image of God has always been the measure of spirituality and moral purity.

Keywords: God, Christ, church, Catholicism, the Grand Inquisitor, human, devil, temptation, freedom, religion and moral, authority, mystery, power and violence.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.8.12469

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.8.65392

Abstract: The authors of the article analyze meanings and definitions of the terms ‘human nature’ and ‘human essence’ and grounds for their development, generalization and convergence taking into account modern genetic, anthropological and cultural discoveries. Historically, differentiation of these two concepts was caused by the formation of the ‘nature and culture’ opposition during the Early Modern Period when it was believed that expansion of the cultural sphereled to narrowing of the sphere of nature and cultural degradation, on the contrary, resulted in the revival of nature. The authors of the article show to what degree the aforesaid conclusion can be related to the human himself and what grounds there are for creating the ‘savage (animal) and civilized human’ opposition. The article is based on philosophical and general scientific principles of monism and development, integrity and consistency, concepts of historicism, evolutionism and self-organization. The discovered contradiction between rather conservative human nature and his free and creative ‘essence’ dictates the discourse about the manageable evolution of human as an actor of self-development. Philosophical and anthropological terms ‘cultural adaptation’ and ‘cultural evolution’ are described as a typological factor of human self-development. In fact, the authors describe the path to creating a new humanism — the goal UNESCO has been actively calling the world community for.

Keywords: human nature, human essence, generic human, individual, personality, culture, human ecology, post-human history, humanism, trans-humanism.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.9.9293

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.9.63151

Abstract: The author of the article compares the reemergence of the main hero in ‘Resurrection’ with the ‘spiritual rebirth’ of Lev Tolstoy himself as well as with the philosophical interpretation of the ‘borderline situations’ represented by existentialists. The author makes a conclusion that Tolstoy’s hero behaves the same way as a man in a borderline situation described by existentialists. Noteworthy that Tolstoy did not appeal to existentialists and such likeness is caused by objective processes ongoing in a man’s inner world. Generally speaking, the process of ethic choice (or Tolstoy’s ‘spiritual rebirth’) consists of the following stages: decisive affect, borderline situation, conviction, despair, awareness of one’s possibility to make an ethic choice, ethic choice (which, being the point of bifurcation, can lead to three options: suicide, return to previous lifestyle and start of a new life), spiritual rebirth, crucifixion and resurrection. The process described by the author of the article is based on the combination of ideas presented by Soren Kierkegaard (‘either/or’), Karl Jaspers (‘borderline situation’) and Lev Tolstoy (‘confession’ and ‘resurrection’).

Keywords: Tolstoy, human, penance, despair, awareness, resolution, ethics, choice, crucifixion, resurrection.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.9.12602

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.9.65486

Abstract: The author of the article analyzes various approaches to the gender and post-humanism issues in Russian philosophy and socio-scientific literature. According to the author, the main reason of the appearance of such researches is both the fundamental changes that have taken place in the Russian society and development of the humanities which create the need in viewing the aforesaid issues from the point of view of social science and philosophy. The author of the article describes the five stages of formation and development of this scientific discipline in Russia. This allows to better understand the main tasks of Russian gender researches at different stages of their development. The main research methods used by the author include the comparative and dialectic methods as well as the ideas and principles of the systems approach. The author makes an assumption that the post-humanism concept appeared in Russian science at the fifth stage of the development of gender researches as a result of the Russian society entering the age of universal informatization and globalization processes. The present article is focused on the ideas of Russian cosmists which were continued in Russian trans-humanism. According to the author of the article, one of the main dangers of the modern society is the deindividuation of human and the blurring of distinctions between man and woman. Nanotechnologies are seen as a bright example and proof of the aforesaid statement. The results of the author’s analysis show that gender issues are now losing its importance and often ignored by researchers. The post-humanism ideas are aimed at existence beyond humanism, in other words, human body falls outside personality and gender. For this reason, the author offers a new concept of creating ‘post-humanist’ gender relations.

Keywords: gender research, post-humanism, trans-humanist movement, cosmism, nanotechnologies, network society, post-human, social constructivism, natural epistemology, society.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.11.16945

Abstract: The solution of the question “what is human” was not a trivial task for the philosophy. But outside the philosophical context, nontriviality of the aforementioned question manifests at the stage of perception of the essence of interrogation, particularly as a result of the inherent specificity of formulation. The presented question in essence is an abstract interrogation about the “abstract-universal”, the idea of which until today does not have an unambiguous and generally recognized definition. The article analyzes separate aspects of the problematic of search for the answer to one of the fundamental philosophical questions of modernity – “what is human?” The author attempts to actualize the philosophical-anthropological discourse in the part of metaphysical dimension of human nature. During the course of conceptualization of the narrative of the Holy Scripture, we can trace the foundation of the alternative vector in determination of the essence “human”. The original approach towards reading the text of the Holy Scripture serves as the impulse for actualization of the metaphysical aspect of the scientific discourse regarding the “problem of human”. The notion of “possibility” in the presented by the author interpretation, is able to perform the functions of the connecting link between the basic concepts of such scientific disciplines as philosophy, sociology, political science, etc.

Keywords: God-likeness, Creation, Creation, “Human in general”, Human, Individual, Human essence, Ontology, Possibility, Holy Scripture

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.11.68353