The Logic of the West’s History: Three Ages

The postmodern turn of the last quarter of the twentieth century, which consisted in a fi - nal rejection of metanarratives, makes great philosophical systems one of the areas of mythological narratives. However, this fact does not mean we do not have to comprehend the modern situation, which has become an inalienable attribute of modern identity. In this way, generalized metaphors, generalizing our knowledge at the intuitive level of aesthetic perception, become more and more important. From this philosophical and metaphorical instrumentation’s point of view, the history of the West can be schematically described in the form of three ages, symbolized, respectively, by the Mind (intelligence), the Reason, and the Sensuality, each of them having their own unique system-forming meanings that suggest relevant cultural practices. The Mind, or the age of Antiquity, affi rms the identity of the unconcealed in reality with the ontological basis of the existing — the cosmic mind. The Christian Middle Ages raise the line between the world of divine archetypes and sinful empirism. The Reason becomes human’s symbol and destiny. The new age or Modernity focuses on what is happening here and right now, brings reality to the momentary and pragmatic, and therefore can be described as the age of Sensuality. Thus, the logic of the West’s history, understood in this way, allows us to look at the whole historical process from a new perspective, at the same time opposing it (the logic) to the classical view, which became classical in the times of M. Weber, on history as on an ongoing process of disenchantment, the result of which is the mankind teleologically moving towards the incarnation of formal rationality.

1. Hegel G.W.F. The Phenomenology of Spirit. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2015, 443 p. (in Russ.).

2. Schelling F.W.J. Sistema mirovykh epokh: Myunkhenskie lektsii 1827—1828 gg. v zapisi Ernsta Laso [The System of World Ages: The Munich Lectures of 1827—1828, Recorded by Ernst Lasaulx]. Tomsk, Vodolei Publ., 1999, 320 p.

3. Marx K. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Marx K., Engels F. Works. Moscow, Politizdat Publ., 1959, vol. 13, pp. 1—167 (in Russ.).

4. Spengler O. The Decline of the West. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1993, 592 p. (in Russ.).

5. Toynbee A. A Study of History. Moscow, Progress Publ., 1991, 736 p. (in Russ.).

6. Heidegger M. Being and Time. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2006, 466 p. (in Russ.).

7. Jaspers K. Filosofiya: v 3 kn. [Philosophy: in 3 books]. Moscow, Kanon+ Publ., ROOI “Reabilitatsiya” Publ., 2012, 384 p.

8. Fukuyama F. The End of History and the Last Man. Moscow, Ermak Publ., AST Publ., 2005, 592 p. (in Russ.)

9. Rorty R. Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity. Moscow, Russkoe Fenomenologicheskoe Obshchestvo Publ., 1996, 282 p. (in Russ.).

10. Latour B. We Have Never Been Modern. St. Petersburg, Evropeiskogo Universiteta v Sankt-Peterburge Publ., 2006, 240 p. (in Russ.).

11. Kozlovsky P. Philosophical Epics. On the Universal Syntheses of Metaphysics, Poetry and Mytho¬logy in Hegelianism, Gnosticism and Romanticism, Sud’by gegel’yanstva: filosofiya, religiya i politika proshchayutsya s modernom [The Fates of Hegelianism: Philosophy, Religion and Politics Say Goodbye to Modernity]. Moscow, Respublika Publ., 2000, pp. 348—373 (in Russ.).

12. Comte A. The Course in Positive Philosophy, Antologiya mirovoi filosofii [Anthology of World Philo¬sophy]. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ., 1970, vol. 3, pp. 553—577 (in Russ.).

13. Danilevsky N.Ya. Rossiya i Evropa: Vzglyad na kul’turnye i politicheskie otnosheniya Slavyansko¬go mira k Germano-Romanskomu [Russia and Europe: A Look at the Cultural and Political Relations of the Slavic World to the German-Roman One]. St. Petersburg, Sankt-Peterburgskogo Universiteta Publ., Glagol’ Publ., 1995, 552 p.

14. Sorokin P.A. Sociocultural Dynamics, Sorokin P.A. Chelovek. Tsivilizatsiya. Obshchestvo [Sorokin P.A. Man. Civilization. Society]. Moscow, Politizdat Publ., 1992, pp. 425—504 (in Russ.).

15. Plato. Dialogues. Moscow, RIPOL Klassik Publ., 2016, 576 p. (in Russ.).

16. Plotinus. The Sixth Ennead: Treatises VI—IX. St. Petersburg, Olega Abyshko Publ., 2016, 416 p. (in Russ.).

17. Aristotle. Metaphysics. Moscow, “E” Publ., 2016, 448 p. (in Russ.).

18. Losev A.F. Istoriya antichnoi estetiki. Sofisty. Sokrat. Platon [The History of Ancient Aesthetics. The Sophists. Socrates. Plato]. Moscow, Ladomir Publ., 1994, 716 p.

19. Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica. Moscow, Nika-Tsentr Publ., 2005, 576 p. (in Russ.).

20. Duns Scotus. Selected Works. Moscow, Frantsiskantsev Publ., 2001, 584 p. (in Russ.).

21. Ockham W. Selected Works. Moscow, Lenand Publ., 2015, 280 p. (in Russ.).

22. Bacon Roger. Opus Majus, Vostochnaya literatura: Srednevekovye istoricheskie istochniki Vostoka i Zapada [Oriental Literature: Medieval Historical Sources of East and West]. Available at: http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus15/Bacon_Roger/frametext1.htm (accessed 30.05.2018) (in Russ.).

23. Husserl E. The Crisis of European Sciences and Trans¬cendental Phenomenology: An Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2013, 494 p. (in Russ.).

24. Locke J. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke J. Works: in 3 volumes. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ., 1985, vol. 1, 623 p., vol. 2, 560 p. (in Russ.).

25. Berkeley G. A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, G. Berkeley. Works. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1978, pp. 152—247 (in Russ.).

26. Galilei G. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Moscow, Leningrad, OGIZ — SSSR Publ., 1948, 380 p. (in Russ.).

27. Descartes R. Sochineniya [Works]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 1992, 656 p.

28. Kant I. Critique of Pure Reason. Moscow, Eksmo Publ., 2016, 736 p. (in Russ.).

29. Fichte J.G. Foundations of the Science of Knowledge, Tsifrovaya biblioteka po filosofii [Digital Lib¬rary on Philosophy]. Available at: http://filosof.historic.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000076/st000.shtml (accessed 30.05.2018) (in Russ.).

30. Carnap R., Hahn H., Neurath O. The Scientific Worldview — Vienna Circle, Analiticheskaya filosofiya [Analytical Philosophy]. Moscow, RUDN Publ., 2006, 622 p. (in Russ.).

31. Jünger E. On Pain, Jünger E. Worker. Domination and Gestalt. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2002, pp. 471—527 (in Russ.).

32. Panofsky E. Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism, Bogoslovie v kul’ture srednevekov’ya [Theology in the Culture of the Middle Ages]. Kiev, Put’ k Istine Publ., 1992, pp. 49—78 (in Russ.).