The idea of a humane civilisation in the works of representatives of the Leningrad philosophical school

Abstract

Considering the fact that at present there is a crisis of modernity, which has not only a political but also a socio-cultural character, the authors of the article try to offer a possible way out of it. Namely, they propose to turn to those socio-philosophical ideas that were developed by representatives of the Leningrad philosophical school in the second half of the 20th century and are almost forgotten at this moment. These ideas, understood through the prism of recent events that have shown the precariousness and insecurity of the unipolar world established after the collapse of the Soviet Union, may well be actualised and used to find the right solutions. The article devotes special attention to the analysis of the socio-philosophical views of V. P. Tugarinov, the dean of the department of philosophy of the Leningrad State University from 1951 to 1960, and V. P. Branskiy, one of the most prominent representatives of the Leningrad philosophical school. It is shown that the idea of humane civilisation, which they conceived as the ideal of social development, meets the theoretical and practical demands of the present. The main characteristics of the humane civilisation are as follows: a pluralistic view of the world, man and society, which, providing freedom of thought and action of people, would not lead to the destruction of society, anarchism in public life or relativism in knowledge; proclamation of freedom the highest value of human life and creation of such social institutions that would be able to guarantee the realisation of freedom in practice; ensuring favourable conditions for the maximum development of personality and moral perfection of man; a critique of bourgeois morality and lifestyle, as well as the pseudo-values of capitalist culture; interpretation of socially significant ideals in the context of the dynamics of social life, as necessary elements of historical development, rather than as eternal truths.