Humanistics in the Digital Age: A New Renaissance?

The article is devoted to contemporary problems of humanistics. It comprehends the essence of humanistics (the term was introduced by the modern philosopher, culturologist and linguist M. Epstein) as a totality of the humanities, completed by humanitarian technologies and humanitarian invention. There is discussed the importance of breaking the trend towards total technicism to the detriment of humanism in human, which is associated with the total onset of modern technologies for the development of artificial intelligence. The author expresses the idea of the importance of reviving the relevance of humanism in human, since the uncontrolled development of information and communication technologies can lead, according to modern humanitarian researchers (Yu. Harari), to a pessimistic scenario of the regressive evolution of humankind up to its disappearance. The article emphasizes the importance of the parity development of natural and artificial in modern society. The author draws attention to the need to revive the importance of such humanitarian sciences as cultural studies, aesthetics, and to stimulate the development of new humanitarian areas. A special place today should be occupied by the renewal of understanding of the importance of socio-cultural and artistic practices from the point of view of both enriching spiritual production and developing skills for mastering and comprehending their meanings by wide audiences to create the necessary conditions for the formation of a “complex person”. The article presents the origins of the discussion of “physicists and lyricists”. There are demonstrated various positions of researchers on the issues of passivity and activity of humanitarians to explain the current state of humanism. There is a paradoxical discrepancy between attitudes towards pragmatism, technological innovation and the development of a creative class, the essence of which is close collaboration with creative professions. Leaders of innovative information industries (S. Jobs, B. Gates, M. Zuckerberg, etc.) show their close relationship with humanitarian knowledge and values. The article presents and analyzes examples of humanitarian technologies and inventions that are recognized by the world community and continue to be in demand until the present time, even though they were created in different cultural and historical epochs and in different countries. The author pays attention to socio-cultural inventions in the field of pedagogy, especially artistic.

1. Khangeldieva I.G. Need for Change in Modern Education, Pedagogika v Rossii i za rubezhom [National and Foreign Pedagogy], 2020, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 33—48 (in Russ.).

2. Oganov A.A., Khangeldieva I.G. Overcoming Cultural and Educational Conservatism is the Way to New Models of Education, Observatoriya kul’tury [Observatory of Culture], 2019, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 128—141. DOI: 10.25281/2072-3156-2019-16-2-128-141 (in Russ.).

3. Slutsky B. Sovetskaya poeziya. V 2 t. Biblioteka vsemirnoi literatury [Soviet Poetry. In 2 volumes. World Literature Library]. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya Literatura Publ., 1977. Available at: https://www.beesona.ru/stihi/sluckij/14362 (accessed 08.10.2021).

4. Epstein M.N. Budushchee gumanitarnykh nauk. Tekhnitsizm, kreatorika, erotologiya, elektronnaya filologiya i drugie nauki XXI veka [The Future of the Humanities: Technicism, Creatorics, Erotology, Digital Philology and Other Disciplines of the 21st Century]. Moscow, RIPOL Klassik Publ., Pangloss Publ., 2019, 238 p.

5. Florida R. Kreativnyi klass: lyudi, kotorye menyayut budushchee [Creative Class: People Who Change the Future]. Moscow, Klassika-XXI Publ., 2011, 419 p.

6. Harari Yu.N. 21 urok dlya XXI veka [21 Lessons for the 21st Century]. Moscow, Sindbad Publ., 2019, 416 p.

7. Data Mining in Football: Let’s Digitize the Match and Count Everyone! Habr. Available at: https://habr.com/ru/company/digitaloctober/blog/139731/ (accessed 08.10.2021).

8. Howkins J. The Creative Economy: How People Make Money from Ideas. Moscow, Klassika-XXI Publ., 2011, 256 p. (in Russ.).

9. Bard A., Söderqvist J. Netokratiya. Novaya pravyashchaya elita i zhizn’ posle kapitalizma [Netocracy: The New Power Elite and Life After Capitalism]. St. Petersburg, Stokgol’mskaya Shkola Ekonomiki v Sankt-Peterburge Publ., 2004, 252 p.

10. Donoqhue F. Can the Humanities Survive the 21st Century? The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2010, September 5. Available at: https://www.chronicle.com/article/can-the-humanities-survive-the-21st-century/ (accessed 08.10.2021).

11. Carmody T. Without Jobs as CEO, Who Speaks for the Arts at Apple? WIRED, 2011, August 29. Available at: https://www.wired.com/2011/08/apple-liberal-arts/ (accessed 08.10.2021).

12. Chase L. Mark Zuckerberg Speaks at BYU, Calls Facebook “as Much Psychology and Sociology as It Is Technology”, Desert News, 2011, March 25. Available at: https://www.deseret.com/2011/3/25/20181280/mark-zuckerberg-speaks-at-byu-calls-facebook-as-much-psychology-and-sociology-as-it-is-technology#facebook-founder-mark-zuckerberg-left-joins-sen-orrin-hatch-to-talk-technology-and-policy-at-byu-in-provo-on-friday accessed 08.10.2021).

13. Sintez dvukh sistem poznaniya akademika Raushenbakha [A Synthesis of the Two Systems of Knowledge by Academician Rauschenbach]. Moscow, Vegaprint Publ., 2015, 288 p.

14. Ivanov V.V. Semiotic Anthropology: A Course of Lectures, Russkaya antropologicheskaya shkola RGGU, 2016 — YouTube [The Russian Anthropological School of the Russian State University for the Humanities, 2016 — YouTube]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrGbiWpx7IE&list=PLlKurE1sTDrSjuZz6P5a_LFiN33l0awvp (accessed 08.10.2021) (in Russ.).

15. Chernigovskaya T.V. Tvorchestvo kak prednaznachenie mozga [Creativity as a Purpose of the Brain]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TJxgRUwNVU (accessed 08.10.2021).

16. Chernigovskaya T.V. The Influence of Music on Our Brain, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKmgOVlWmsk (accessed 08.10.2021) (in Russ.).

17. The Universe of Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Gorodskie novosti [City News], 2019, August 7. Available at: https://city-news.ru/news/education/vselennaya-tatyany-chernigovskoy/ (accessed 08.10.2021) (in Russ.).

18. Kaku M. Useless Intermediary Professions Will Die Out, RBK, 2017, October 19. Available at: https://www.rbc.ru/own_business/19/10/2017/59e733299a7947545d948ae2 (accessed 08.10.2021) (in Russ.).

19. Tendryakova M.V. Primitive Age Initiations in the Circle of “Eternal” Questions, Etnograficheskoe obozrenie [Ethnographic Review], 2014, no. 1, pp. 91—101 (in Russ.).

20. Derevyanko A.P. Human Origins: New Discoveries, Interpretations, and Hypotheses, Vestnik Rossiiskoi akademii nauk [Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences], 2015, vol. 85, no. 10, pp. 381—391 (in Russ.).

21. Volkova P. Lektsii po iskusstvu professora Paoly Volkovoi [Lectures on Art by Professor Paola Volkova], book 2. Available at: https://ru.bookmate.com/quotes/pN3VsLHH (accessed 08.10.2021).

22. Ussing J.L. Vospitanie i obuchenie u grekov i rimlyan [Greek and Roman Education and Training]. St. Petersburg, V. Bezobrazova i K° Publ., 1878, 175 p.

23. Ilyenkov E.V. Lichnost’ i tvorchestvo [Personality and Creativity]. Moscow, Yazyk Russkoi Kul’tury Publ., 1999, 272 p.

24. Ilyenkov E.V. Uchites’ myslit’ smolodu [Learn to Think from a Young Age]. Moscow, Znanie Publ., 1977, 66 p.

25. Sokolyansky I.A., Meshcheryakov A.I. (eds.) Obuchenie i vospitanie slepoglukhonemykh [Education and Training of the Blind, Deaf and Mute]. Moscow, Akademii Pedagogicheskikh Nauk RSFSR Publ., 1962, 199 p.

26. Meshcheryakov A.I. Slepoglukhonemye deti. Razvitie psikhiki v protsesse formirovaniya povedeniya [Blind, Deaf and Mute Children. The Psyche Development in the Process of Behavior Formation]. Moscow, Pedagogika Publ., 1974, 327 p.

27. Razhnikov V. Kirill Kondrashin rasskazyvaet o muzyke i zhizni [Kirill Kondrashin Talks about Music and Life]. Moscow, Sovetskii Kompozitor Publ., 1989, 238 p. Available at: https://www.litmir.me/br/?b=283726 (accessed 08.10.2021).

28. Vlasova T. I Believe. Why do the Leaders of the Modern Theater Still Rely on Stanislavsky, Teatral [Theatergoer], 2012, November 9. Available at: https://teatral-online.ru/news/8109/ (accessed 08.10.2021) (in Russ.).

29. Ivanov V.V. Claude Lévi-Strauss and Structural Anthropology, Priroda [Nature], 1978, no. 1, pp. 77—89 (in Russ.).