The philosophy of man in the materialistic tradition of Russian philosophy of the 20th century

Abstract

The prevailing view in the modern studies of Russian philosophy that philosophical anthropology was not developing as a conceptual analysis of human issues in the Soviet period is disputed. It is claimed that materialistic philosophy has always involved philosophical anthropology. Within this philosophy, two fundamental approaches are taken into account: essential (substantive) and existential. These approaches enable to grasp man as an organic whole. Particular attention is paid to the definition of man as the subject of reason. Ontologically, a particular person becomes man to the extent to which his thinking reaches the level of reason. Related to reason, a fundamental postulate of materialistic philosophical anthropology is that the attributes of man forming his general nature are resulted from the development of society, and as such, they are part of a general human culture, which is acquired by individuals in the process of socialisation (enculturation). In its pure form, the reason is the quality of the social substance, and in relation to the individual, it is a certain idealisation. However, this idealisation has a real existence because it is a quality of the really existing social substance. Reasonable thinking is capable of creating a cultural world. In culture, reasonable thought becomes objectified not only in the form of words but primarily in the form of actions and their products. By means of the de-objecti­fi­ca­tion of the created culture an individual becomes a partial bearer of reason.