Philosophy and Culture - rubric Dasein of the human being

Abstract: Human is locked in the physical world. He can learn this world and become very good at it. However, something tells us there is the other world outside the material one. We even receive signals coming from that other world. More than that, many visionaries, mystics and esoterics have acquired the power to enter the spiritual world and to render their impressions of these encounters. In history of philosophy such a transfer from this world to the other is called transcendence. Philosophers use this word when they speak of the transfer from the area of possible experience (nature) to the area lying on the other side.

Abstract: We have always treated smell with caution: we absolutely repel some smells and do all we can to bring other smells into our life. What makes us so concerned about it? The thing is that we associate pleasant smell with harmony and spirituality and unpleasant smell immediately creates the atmosphere of Hell in our perception.

Abstract: the article views the city life-style from the point of view of Arnold Toibi’s challenge-response theory. The author stresses out that in this respect, the city is viewed as an exposition where a human must be creative and orient. The author shows that the “rural” mentality is mythologically bound to such an exposition creating the image of “my city”. The article is based on diverse historical data and the author’s researches in Moscow, Moscow region, St. Petersburg, Obninsk and Borovsk (the Kaluga Region).

Keywords: existential, the city, rural revolution, cult of body, elite nature, passionarity, idleness, htonism, myth, “my city”.

Abstract: Resume: the author of the article suggests that Hegel’s conception about the absolute gesture should be viewed as the basis for existential teaching about gesture. It is shown that Heidegger’s teaching about the eternal return of ground does not contradict to it. Hegel’s philosophy gave rise to Merlo-Ponti’s phenomenology. Very concrete anthropological data proves that these conceptions are true. The central example of this is Moses especially his sculptures created by Michelangelo.

Keywords: philosophy, existential, pointing hand, Moses, Michelangelo, Italian gestures, archaic gestures, antique gestures, sitting pose, counter party.

Abstract: This is an extract from the work ‘Problematic Human’ (Homme problematique) by the French philosopher and existentialist. The book ‘Problematic Human’ is mostly devoted to the questions of origin, nature and destination of the human. It is underlined that the ‘problematic nature’ of the human raises questions which go far beyond the particular issues solved by particular sciences.

Keywords: philosophy, psychology, human, existentialism, problematic human

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2024.1.69551

Abstract: The object of the study is artificial intelligence technology in Chinese show business. The subject of the study is the following technologies of Chinese show business, at the basis of which we can find an artificial intelligence: virtual idols, digital avatars, virtual influencers. The following aspects of these technologies are considered in detail: making a profit, strengthening national identity. Special attention is focused on the fact that the development of artificial intelligence technology is part of the state policy of the People's Republic of China, which is reflected in the country's regulatory legal acts. The theoretical basis of the study is the work of the following authors: A.M. Gridnev, G. A. Ioakimidi, M. D. Pysin, K. F. Lee, H. Khan and others. The following methods are used in the article: analysis of special literature, publications of mass media, normative legal acts, synthesis, deduction. The study showed that virtual idols and influencers such as "Xiangwan Big Devil", digital copies of celebrities (B. Sa, S. Zhu, B. Gao, Ya. Long) and presenter Xiao Xi bring additional profits and attract an audience, as well as strengthen the national image and unity of China. The scientific novelty of this study lies in the detailed systematization of information and cultural analysis of the phenomenon of "virtual influencer", which is gaining popularity in the modern digital world. The results of the study provide valuable data for the development and implementation of artificial intelligence strategies in China, especially in such areas as industry, defense, social sphere and show business. These findings contribute to the formation of standards and ethical principles for artificial intelligence, which is critically important for the successful digital transformation of the country. The study highlights China's strategic goals of using AI as a driver of modernization of the national economy by 2030. The document identifies key stages of development and goals, including the development of standards and the widespread introduction of AI in various sectors. China views AI as an important tool to strengthen its position on the world stage, striving to become a leader in high technology, which will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the global economy and the development of technological innovations.

Keywords: AI development plan, AI ethical norms, industrial modernization, innovations in AI, virtual influencers, digital avatars, virtual idols, show business, imitation of human tasks, artificial intelligence

Abstract: The author of the article analyzes how philosophy and existential are connected. Existential is interpreted as a story written in the spiritual background of existence. Being the ‘school of entrance’ (ex-sistus), philosophy is the ‘techne’ of this existential writing. Based on the author, life is a stream and we give it a certain order when we inscribe life events in that existential story. The author of the existential story creates his own author who, in his turn, helps the author to revive. Death and birth are also complementary factors of this existential creativity. Death gives integrity to the existential story and birth or revival makes it flexible and moving. According to the author, death and birth are of similar nature but they are not identical. Developing his views on these matters, the author used the conceptions of existential phenomenology (Heidegger, Husserl) which had applied not only to modern philosophers such as Arendt) but also antique philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle)

Keywords: techne of life, existential history, spiritual background, author and hero, birth and death

Abstract: The article is some kind of a cultural and philosophical review of existential forms of the body

Keywords: existential forms of the body, body-heart-rhythm, body-movements, body-imagination-self, body as a standard of truth, forced body and resisting body

Abstract: The article contains an analysis of Nikolay Berdyaev’s eschatological questions about fate and mysterious fate of Russia in the first place. The author bases his analysis on the Russian philosopher’s conception of contradictions between: 1) temporary and eternal; 2) obligations and freedom which eventually caused the tragedy of history; 3) rational knowledge and beliefs.

Keywords: philosophy, fate, destination, freedom, Russian idea, eschatology, human, eternal, history, tragedy

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2021.4.36040

Abstract: This article analyzes the elements of the concept of subject traced in the philosophy of Edmund Husserl throughout all his works. The author follows the transformation of the views of German philosopher on the idea of subject. As well as their implementation in the context of phenomenological thought. Special attention is given to correlation between the works of Husserl of the early period and the later period. It is noted that unlike the Cartesian or Kantian model of subjectivity, the egological subject for the first time conceptualizes intersubjectivity as the foundation for the development of the fundamentally new concept of understanding a human as a subject endowed with self-consciousness. The main conclusions consist in the following theses: despite the fact that the key role in the egological concept of subject belongs to the definition of evidence, intentionality, and reduction, the problem of cognition, considered in this article, is developed by Husserl as further complication of the Kantian approach; the egological concept of subject implements the concept of intersubjectivity, which demarcates the ideas of E. Husserl among other approaches towards the concept of subject. understanding the subject. On the one hand, intersubjectivity weakens the position of the idea of absolute autonomy of the subject’ while on the other hand, it is the new mechanism for legitimizing the subjective process of cognition and the truth itself, due to recognition of ego behind the figure of the Other.

Keywords: natural mode, intentionality, intersubjectivity, subject, phenomenological reduction, the concept of subject, transcendental idealism, phenomenology, Husserl, transcendental

Abstract: There is quite a number of works devoted to the symbol. Symbol is studied from all points of view. Philosophers speak of the symbol as a cognitive term and they discuss the ontogenesis of the symbol, its difference from a sign, hermeneutics of a symbol and symbolic nature of culture. However, very rare symbol is viewed as an important category of philosophical anthropology. Meanwhile, many anthropological issues cannot be considered without addressing to philosophical understanding of human

Keywords: philosophy, culture, human, symbolic forms, ontogenesis of a symbol, sign, function, myth, feeling

Abstract: The evolutional analysis of the stereotypes of fear and anxiety in the History of Philosophy shows that in many philosophers’ works there have been attempts to learn the nature of fear and anxiety, to give them anthropological and ontological grounds, to classify the forms and kinds of fear, to demonstrate its connection with other mental states. The analysis of the social aspects of fear and anxiety as constituent elements of social behaviour and management has become an important feature of the philosophic theories.

Keywords: philosophy, fear, anxiety, human, anthropology, spirituality, emotions, rationalism, irrationalism, existentials

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2023.7.43479

Abstract: In the article, through the prism of the existential philosophy of S. Kierkegaard, K. Jaspers, G.-G. Gadamer and J.-P. Sartre, as well as the theory of ideology of K. Manheim, the personality of the main character of M. Y. Lermontov's drama "Masquerade" – Arbenin is analyzed. The author of the article claims that Arbenin is in a state of existential despair and finds himself in a borderline situation. At the same time, in the drama "Masquerade", the ideals of Romanticism are reduced to a post-Romantic ideology. Lermontov does this intentionally in order to condemn the ideological perversion of the ideals of romantic culture. The drama also focuses on the general cultural border situation: how to protect yourself from the temptations of ideology at a time when existing ideals and values are disappearing. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that in "Masquerade" Lermontov praises the romantic ideals of rebellious spirit and will, transcendent love and insight, even when he shows the dangers of turning these ideals into ideology. But "Masquerade" is not a romantic drama. This is a drama about romanticism, that is, about how the ideals of romantic culture can be perverted into an ideology that deceives and destroys people, destroying their unique existence, instead of elevating them. "Masquerade" is a variant of Lermontov's reaction to the difficulties that arose in his post–romantic, transitional time. Conveying his admiration for the ideals of romantic culture, Lermontov embodies one of the types of reaction to the realization of the decline of these ideals – the stereotypical reduction of the romantic worldview and values to a set of ideological concepts. But by portraying Arbenin, Lermontov hints at the possibility of recognizing that the worldview and values of Romanticism are losing their authority and integrity and that turning them into an ideology does not compensate for this loss. We need to find a new worldview, new values, new ideals.

Keywords: Arbenin, Lermontov, Russian literature, philosophy, cultural studies, borderline situation, existentialism, drama, psychology, ideology

Abstract: The article is devoted to the absurd, peculiarities of its perception and influence on human in the 20th century – an atheist and a hero of Sartre’s and Camus’ books. The author of the article makes a comparative analysis of their interpretations of the absurd and empathizes the resistance of consciousness towards a factual pressure of the absurd and initial autonomy of the absurd in the face of the integrated and whole consciousness. The author of the article reaches a compromise by extending the model of the absurd abandonment to the sad sides of modern life. According to the author, philosophy must come back to what it initially served for. It would make a certain contribution to fighting with the ‘disease’.

Keywords: philosophy, absurd, consciousness, subconsciousness, atheism, antinomy, paradox, attraction, abandonment, existence.

Abstract: The article is devoted to metaphysical, anthropological and existential aspects of Nikolay Berdyaev’s eschatology. The author of the article also describes psychological prerequisites for existential issues turning into a philosopher’s eschatological metaphysics. It is shown that it allows to reveal the fundamental issues of Berdyaev’s philosophy: the topics of pre-existence existential freedom, its objectivization into being and the problems of human coming back to this freedom. It is proved for a philosopher eschatology is some kind of a symbol of transcendence of human personality towards existential. The author also describes the eschatological horizon of borderline situations human is faced with such as when he faces death, experiences historical events or a mystical insight or creative act.

Keywords: philosophy, existentialism, metaphysics, eschatology, experience, transcendence, objectivization, freedom, creativity, eternity.

Abstract: Michael Jackson is a New Zealand anthropologist and ethnographer, author of the book ‘Existential Anthropology’. This article is a good example of his conception saying that it is necessary to bring together existentialism and anthropology for better understanding of human nature.

Keywords: philosophy, anthropology, existentialism, existence, I-subject, I-object, globalization, North- South, culture, ethnos.

Abstract: Social technologies of psychotherapy are the result of a long process of theory formation as well as social and therapeutic practice involved in a particular culture and form of world perception. In existential psychotherapy such technologies help to revel the problem of universal human experience allowing to find ways to solve particular crisis situations. Concrete technologies of working with personality in existential psychotherapy connected with philosophical and psychological conceptualizations of such fundamental elements of human consciousness and psyche as the feeling, meaning, value and life define the relation between these technologies and particular existences or combinations of existences.

Keywords: philosophy, existential, psychotherapy, technology, existence, emotion, feeling, depression, science, experience.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.1.16264

Abstract: In conjunction with the existential edge of the being and correlation with the historical type of the world perception, this article examines the human memory – individual and collective. Not every individual memory is existentially rich, and not every collective memory is deprived of existential motifs. Speaking of the collective memory, it is important to differentiate an actual memory of the people from their historical memory. The latter along with the historical consciousness as a whole, is critically evaluated. The author focuses attention on the problems of mindfulness of the Great Patriotic War, as well as existential perception of the war itself. The contradictions of life and its descriptions are resolved by intuition, strengthened by a personal responsibility, The author claims and substantiates the thought, that the people who have the right to speak about war are those who have either gone through it, or those whose families lives were affected by it. Pomposity and political conjuncture are inappropriate in this regard. The opinion of the victors is of most importance. War ultimately actualizes the problem of humanism, and in particular, the bloody opposition “soldier-torturer”.

Keywords: existence, memory, past, now, war, soldier, torturer, history, literature, humanity

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.1.67436

Keywords: literature, history, torturer, soldier, war, now, past, memory, existence, humanism

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2023.6.40939

Abstract: The article presents an analysis of the existential paradigm of M. Lermontov's creativity in the light of the existential theories of S. Kierkegaard and K. Jaspers, which is considered in the context of the cultural transition in Russian literature of the 1830s-1840s. It is argued that Lermontov radically changed the nature of his literary activity by the mid-1830s, overcoming his own existential ambivalence and abandoning the subjective emotionality and exoticism of his youthful poetry in favor of objective observations and research of the surrounding world. Lermontov was aware of his existential ambivalence and sought to overcome this state in order to achieve cultural integrity, which should be considered as one of his main values. Lermontov's works reflect the concept of integrity as the integration of culture through a set of prevailing norms and ideals, as well as the feeling that this integrity was disintegrating in transitional times. This state of affairs caused a sense of disintegration in Lermontov, which is similar to the borderline situation of Jaspers. Lermontov's works illustrate the loss of cultural ideals with the decline of Romanticism. But rejecting the ideals of Romanticism, Lermontov conveys the feeling that post-Romantic disappointment generated cynicism and distorted thinking. The novel "The Hero of Our Time" has become the embodiment of such shortcomings. Lermontov's works do not belong to romanticism, nor to protorealism, nor to any combination of both. But Lermontov played his transitional role superbly. Not only did he raise questions about Romanticism that realism would later make its own, he also shed light on Romanticism itself and how it was fading. Lermontov showed how difficult it is for an artist who is aware of his own existential ambivalence to create and live in a transitional time devoid of a unifying sense of cultural integration and integrity, illustrating how badly a creative personality needs such integration and integrity.

Keywords: borderline situation, cultural transition, Russian literature, realism, romanticism, philosophy, cultural studies, existentialism, creativity, Lermontov

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2023.5.40774

Abstract: The article examines the historiosophical reflections of F. I. Tyutchev, presented in his treatises, letters, poems, and substantiates the idea that Tyutchev does not proclaim slogans of either Slavophil or Westernist doctrines, but creates an original imperial ideology. Tyutchev views Russia as an equal and integral part of Europe, linking the existence of the empire with the development of the European spirit in Russia. The main criterion for the existence of the empire is unity. If it does not exist, then the state as an empire cannot exist. Tyutchev treated Orthodoxy as a historiosophical category. He bases his concept of the historical process on the traditions of Eastern Christianity and the legacy of the Byzantine Empire. In the idea of an empire based on Christian principles, Tyutchev sees the best system of statehood. For Tyutchev, the Russian people and Orthodoxy play a major role in the transformation of the world. In the concept of state and power, the categories of Christian ethics are especially important for Tyutchev, which, in his opinion, were not really relevant for the upper strata of society and representatives of the Russian government. The poet calls power "godless", claiming that it does not come from God, but is based on its material power, without recognizing a higher Divine authority over itself. The reason for the "godlessness" of the authorities was the separation from the Russian people and their national traditions and the departure from the historical past of "Holy Russia". This, from Tyutchev's point of view, is the main existential problem of Russia. Tyutchev's concept of empire was not a reproduction of the realities of the political life of Russia in the XIX century, but was an attempt to answer how the state should be built. Tyutchev's ideal of the Russian state is based on a society united by a single Christian faith.

Keywords: Tyutchev, Russian literature, historiosophy, religion, existentialism, philosophy, culturology, poetry, messianism, empire

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.4.9181

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.4.64230

Abstract: The author of the article views the fear of self-actualization as the main obstacle in one’s personal growth and adoption of general human values. In order to develop an efficient method of overcoming the fear of self-actualization, the author views this phenomenon from the dialectic positions of deficient and existential cultural mentalities. Based on the analysis of the phenomenological model of individual consciousness offered by the author, Rudykh offers a step-by-step analysis of the method of overcoming the fear. The author describes the role and opportunities of personal innovations, spiritual crisis and the awe-fear in the process of personal development and adoption of the values of Being. The author proves that the existential fear enhanced by the spiritual crisis takes the form of the ‘awefear’ which, in its turn, makes the fear of self-actualization even stronger and an individual appears to be more open for the true personal innovation. In this case any deficiency fear creates the picture showing what values should be reviewed and changed in order to get rid of the fear once and for all. The present article will be interesting not only for philosophers and psychologist but also for all who are interested in human being and existence.

Keywords: philosophy, culture, psychology, values, self-actualization, fear, existential, deficiency, myth, innovation.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.5.62671

Abstract: The author attempts to introduce an idea of potentiality of human being to actualize the spiritual component of his nature in the contemporary discourse on human identity. He argues that on the basis of this idea it becomes possible to identify not only “present’ human identity but also “possible” one. The author specifies properties and needs of human being, which take place not due to his representation as a physical and mental being. The very existence of them, in author’s opinion, is an indication of opportunities that are often not taken into account in the study of human identity.

Keywords: philosophy, identity, essence, existence, human, needs, properties, succession, value, spirituality.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.7.12507

Abstract: The subject of the research is the two most important German concepts, the concept of the depth (Tiefe) and the concept of the abyss (Abgrund). These concepts have had the in-depth analysis in most spheres of German culture, language and philosophy. These are ambivalent concepts. On the one hand, the abyss arouses fear in a man, on the other hand, it beckons him. German culture traditionally presents the drive to the abyss both figuratively, i.e. to the depth of creative searches, and literally, to the depth of earth. This drive to the depth that has been reflected in mythology and religion, literature and art, science and industry, is associated with the vertical model of German culture, ups and downs of spirit. The theoretical and methodological basis of the article involves the cultural-philosophical approach which views national culture as the sphere of formation and functioning of concepts. The researcher has used the method of the conceptual analysis (as it was offered by Yu. Stepanov) allowing to define the culturally important features of the described concepts. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the researcher has conducted the cultural-philosophical concepts of Tiefe and Abgrund and defined their role for German culture. The researcher has also described the main factors influencing the development of these cultural concepts and demonstrated their crucial role for German culture.

Keywords: underworld, Angst (existential fear), Abgrund (abyss), cultural studies, concept of culture, German culture, national mentality, Tiefe (depth), Gothic art, Faustianism

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.7.66790

Keywords: underworld, Angst (existential fear), Abgrund (abyss), cultural studies, concept of culture, German culture, national mentality, Tiefe (depth), Gothic art, Faustianism

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.9.6978

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.9.63153

Abstract: The object of our research is a personal guilt as a cultural phenomenon. The subject of our research is the ambivalence of guilt. The purpose of the research is to determine what opposite values are covered by the concept of guilt and how these opposite values are determined by the cultural environment. Theoretical grounds of the research include symbolic interpretation of culture in Ernst Cassirer’s writings, Jung’s and Horney’s psychoanalysis and Alexander Dugin’s historical sintagma. For us guilt is the problem of self-understanding, existential self-identity and therefore resolution of guilt is associated with both personal responsibility and punishment. The authors of the article offer their own definitions of guilt and ambivalence where guilt is, in the first place, a life-meaning phenomenon or existential appealing to one’s true existence and ambivalence is the category inscribing the essence of human existence in culture, particularly, in Art Nouveau. From the existential point of view, the feeling of guilt means self-accusation, self-condemnation and tender conscience. The core of this concept is placing responsibility for one’s wrong doings on ourselves instead of self-justifying. Since this meaning of guilt is actualized only in the symbolic environment, we can talk here about a special role of religion, philosophy and psychoanalysis in modern culture: they allow us to retain connection with our transcendence, questioning about the meaning of life, starvation for high moral principles, on one hand, and constructive experience of our ‘shaded area’, on the other hand. Contrary to the existential guilt, there is also a neurotic guilt. The main feature of such guilt is its projective nature, i.e. placing responsibility for one’s wrong doings on others. Neurotic guilt is typical for a person who doesn’t have any symbolic experience of culture. Today’s cultural situation disposes to semiotic interpretation of culture and acculturation at the level of symbols, therefore neurotic guilt is becoming a dominating discourse. This is the main conclusion made by the author of the article.

Keywords: cultural science, guilt, ambivalence, punishment, freedom, culture, psychoanalysis, symbol, sign.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.9.19767

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the emergence and development of the existential version of culture. The philosophy of culture as a specific sector of philosophical knowledge occurred in the pas millennium. Certainly a long period of the comprehension of culture as a peculiar phenomenon has preceded the emergence of the aforementioned discipline. The new direction of the understanding of culture originated the appearance of the philosophy of history. Having revealed the various opportunities of the cultural being, the historical knowledge contributed into the conception of adjacent area of philosophical reflection. The introduced into the discourse by Müller notion “Kulturphilosophie” has conclusively formed a new discipline. W. Windelband indicated that the academic philosophy of culture stood against positivism on one hand, and philosophy of life on the other. Nevertheless, it does not undermine the achievements in the area of understanding of culture that have established in positivism, as well as philosophy of life. As a result, the two different approaches towards comprehension of culture have formed. Neo-Kantians, having detected the multiplicity of cultures, turned the efforts towards the search of the universal foundations of culture. As far as the philosophy of culture and existentialism, the representatives of these directions based themselves upon the fact that the understanding of culture is impossible without submerging into the existential experience, as well as the roots of the inner world of a human as a creator of this phenomenon. The author uses the principle of historicism for comparison of the various approaches towards culture. This allows observing not only the universalities of culture, but also the unusual versions of the cultural creativity. Many researchers believe that neither philosophy of life nor existentialism did not show interest towards culture. However, it is demonstrated that without revelation of the existential practice it is not possible no analyze the specificity of culture alongside the regularities of the historical-cultural process. These ideas are contained in the philosophical heritage of Søren Kierkegaard, whose views are being examined in this article.

Keywords: Transcendental idealism, Existentialism, Human, History, Universalities, Being, Choice, Existence, Culture, Philosophy

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.9.68211

Abstract: The subject of this research is the memory as a part of public consciousness. The article examines its formations on the example of the works of one of the most renowned poets of the Soviet era Vladimir Mayakovsky. The author raises the question, how objectively does the poet reflect the historical reality, social phenomena, and events in his poetic ideas? We must acknowledge that the latest generations often base their perception about the revolution on his oeuvres and assessment of the events, and thus form their own. The main conclusion of the conducted research consists in the following: the topics, precise storylines, and created images in Mayakovsky’ poetry in best case scenario have emerged based on the slogans and promises, which accompanied the revolutionary October. The further practice of the Bolshevik reformations was far from the, and at times antithetical. However, the poet preferred not noticing it, having lived his life with wide shut.

Keywords: Man, Public consciousness, People, Power, Philosophy of culture, History, Culture, Poetry, Literature, Memory

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.10.20630

Abstract: In this article, based on the analysis of certain fragments of "Being and Nothingness", the author attempts to reconstruct the principle which underlies the concept of time created by Jean-Paul Sartre. The article shows that Sartre builds the concept of time upon his very own previously created model of “being of consciousness”. Sartre, clarifying conceptual environment in which the concept of time unfolds, describes the terms "past", "present" and "future" as a holistic measurement of time. The integrity of time is determined by the structure of "being of consciousness’, because phenomenological description of the time is only possible when taken with connection to "human reality". The most important element of the model of “being of consciousness”, and thus, of the concept of time is the concept of "nothingness". The author considers the history of formation of Sartre’s philosophy up until “Being and Nothingness” while strongly adhering to the work being analyzed. The author’s analysis is based on the method of historical and philosophical reconstruction.

Keywords: present, past, time, being, nothingness, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, future, consciousness

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.10.68289

Keywords: present, past, time, being, nothingness, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, future, consciousness

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.12.7606

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.12.63610

Abstract: The article is devoted to the search for the meaning of life by Semyon Frank and Martin Heidegger. Why did a Russian religious philosopher and German existentialist address the meaning of life at the same time? Is there a relation between a meaning of life of an individual or the meaning of history? Should we say that human views on the meaning of life have been developing historically? What human thought of his being and existence at crucial historical moments? Why philosophers looking for the meaning of life often come to understanding the absurdity of life and what makes human to refuse from social purposes and turn to transcendency? This is the range of questions the author of the present article consider when comparing Martin Heidegger’s approach to Semyon Frank’s philosophy. Dramatic relations between human and his existence and searches for the meaning of life and meaning of history are expressed in Russian classical literature as well. However, in Russian literature searches for the meaning of life never lead to despair or a calling to leave social life and turn to transcendency like in philosophy. Quite on the contrary, Russian writers tempt us to look for a better life.