Shokhin, V. K. Philosophical Classicism and Modern Devotion to the Spirit of Times

Abstract: The purpose of the research is to clarify the main peculiarities of philosophical discourse by comparing it to other branches of theoretical knowledge (first of all, science). As a result, philosophical discourse is described by the author as a special theoretical activity which peculiarities include unique auto-reflectivity, broad competiveness in interpretation of both objects and methods of this activity, the absence of both scientific verifiability of results and consistent succession of the problem definition. This leads to the path of ‘eternal return’ to ‘eternal issues’ The article is focused not only on the results of philosophizing but also on the philosophical practice itself (as it was defined by Alasdair Maclntyre). Noteworthy that to differentiate between different types of philosophy, it is necessary to answer the question whether a philosopher has a goal to solve particular, usually traditional, problems (for example, metaphysical questions) by the means of common rationality (philosophical classicism) or a goal to create the ‘newspeak’ where concepts are replaced with metaphors (so called philosophical avant-garde). This delimitation offered by the author is an innovation in the sphere of comparative studies of American and continental philosophy. The author also establishes the thesis that being one of the modern philosophical trends, analytical tradition – the modern version of traditional philosophy – is more capable of producing ‘philosophical results’ than others. The author of the article shows that the most significant drawback of Russian philosophy is the absence of serious interest towards researches of concepts, terms and controversial topics. According to the author, today these researches are replaced with the imitations of post-modernistic ‘literature philosophizing’.

Keywords: