The adventures of human protoplasm (About the philosophical works of V.A. Kutyrev)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the works written by a professor of the University of Nizhny Novgorod Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kutyrev, including his new book «The last kissing. Man as a tradition» (SPb., 2015). His studies are directed against the movement of humanity to degeneration as rejection of real life and culture in favor of technology and virtualization. The review gives critical scrutiny of the philosophical tradition which at the present ended in contempt for the being, the ruining of life and humanism. Concurrently, the limited nature of this viewpoint can be observed. The author reflects on the tremendous changes of the outside world, assuming they require the extreme mobilization of philosophical reflection. The belief that IT in the course of development can eliminate human difficulties and vices is subjected to criticism. V. A. Kutyrev insists on the fact that the mechanism of identity is a basis of any human-related reasoning. Self-identity cannot be pieced together with innovations only, as had argued in due time P. Ricoeur. It is tradition that preserves «humane». However, if we set aside the past, the basic, there is no point in discoursing upon hereafter. Tradition can be treated in different ways. Some people propose to alleviate from the ship of present a burden of tenacious ethnicity, traditions, isolation and narrow-mindedness. Yet others think differently. Others, as noted in the article, presume that critique of archaistic society as the one suffering from narrow-mindedness and patriarchal character is unjustified. The French philosopher G. Bataille proclaimed sacredness the major achievement of traditional society. He noted that the real world complies with the innermost order only exteriorly. Innermost means intimate, secret. Bataille spoke in support of a revival of sacredness. He saw in it the salvation of mankind. For many years he was in search of sacred knowledge, which would change the face of sociology or political economy. V. A. Kutyrev proved the philosophy of tradition to be a historical form of an identity, bearing the tension of existence and changes. And while it bears this tension, it exists. The author pays attention to the transformation of identity nowadays. Hybridism is a new motto. Girls often want to be boys, boys to be girls. White wish to be black, black dream of becoming white. Elderly want to get back their youth. Aborigines try on the roles of the European. The European voluntarily rush for the shacks. The most important thing is not to be frozen in the past life, the past role, the past self-identity. Parents are labeled oddly with «the first» and «the second» parent. The main thing is to escape a clear sex identity. Blurring the gender identity aimed at the elimination of gender certainty. Cultural and domestic signals are added to the armory. Woman shave her head, man puts on her dresses along with army boots. That indicates a mockery of the traditional assumptions about identity. The whole process of identity construction is transformed. We live in an era of constructivism mania. Transformations, modifications touch everything. We have not yet managed to understand the mysteries of protein life form, as we hasten to hatch out. We are ready to set our minds to a cosmic mood. We wonder why nature was so tolerant towards the evident mistakes of evolution. It won’t be like that anymore. We endured puberty and now sank into an abyss of constructivism. V. A. Kutyrev thinks the main fault lies with the philosophers. Enthusiasts of the incredible changes in the historical destiny of mankind make philosophy seem like a useless expendable material in this situation. Every philosophical idea echoes differently in the philosophical space. But there is no sense in examining different concepts as the reason for the exposure. The «New philosophers» of France not so long ago accused classical philosophy followers to play the mischief with modern history. Even before Karl Popper traced the cradle of totalitarian ideas in the social thoughts of Plato. The topic of «Übermensch» in Nietzsche’s reflection was interpreted as the precursor of fascism. Ideological demarcation in philosophy certainly requires establishing responsibility of thinkers for revelations they give to people. Nevertheless, is it fare to blame Kant for the discovery of transcendental thinking, which led philosophy astray from the verified root of seeking thought? Would modern philosophy be that rich, if it were not for Kant? How did it come in domestic literature to impute almost criminal intentions to classical scholars? Let us take for instance E. Husserl. He created the concept of lifeworld, some kind of a correlate of human experience in everyday reality. This idea enabled us to return to analyze the primary forms of everyday reliability. V. A. Kutyrev elaborates the concept of co-evolution of the natural and the artificial worlds, stresses the need of resisting to the discredit of existence and the tendencies of substituting ontology with «nihilitology», propose the idea of uniting philosophy and religion in order to protect humanism from scientific mind. He states that the intensification of antagonism between natural and artificial and the creation of «post-human» reality have caused the global crisis. Only our ability to restrain the expansion of technology and preserve the niche of natural existence will help us to avert the catastrophe. Emphasizing the major accomplishments of V. A. Kutyrev in criticizing the destructive tendencies of modern civilization, author draws attention to the philosopher’s polemical costs and the specific weaknesses of his philosophical standpoint.