Philosophy in post-Soviet society and its functions as related to the process of social modernization
Keywords:
post-Soviet philosophy, national school of philosophy, national culture, social modernization, social-humanitarian technology, 'new enlightenment'Abstract
Within the post-Soviet space there remain three possible ways for the development of philosophy, i.e. conserving the national academic schools with their typical modes of reflection, transforming the philosophical process in order to adapt it to the specific tasks of social practice (not only to 'substantiate', 'understand', but above all to 'assess' and 'predict'), finally, promoting the practical utility of philosophical knowledge and even making it a commercially sound undertaking. In the present paper, the author gives the examples for the implementation of each of the aforementioned strategies in continental and Anglo-American philosophy and compares their situation with that in Belorussia. He then brings into consideration the functions of philosophy in relation to the processes of social modernization, which from a philosophical perspective appears to be a comprehensive programme of renovation of all structural elements of the society involving systematic, qualitative change in the politics of science and technology as well as that of culture and education, in industrial engineering and control systems, in public conscience and the way of life. What is further suggested is that contemporary philosophy and humanities in general are faced with an unconventional task tentatively labelled here as the project of a New Enlightenment. The aim of such a project would be to restore the enlightenment ideals of past centuries combined with a new understanding of humanism and creative personality, with the values of ecological conscience and synergetic view of the world.