Liberal Arts in Russia EN-rus logo
russian flagRussian
ISSN 2305-8420 (Print)
ISSN 2312-6442 (Online)
Current Issue

Philosophy of technology by Andrei Platonov: ideas and images in the space of mutual interpretation

Liberal Arts in Russia. 2017. Vol. 6. No. 2. Pp. 145-153.
Get the full text (Russian)
Antipov A. A.
Saint-Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics
49 Kronverksky Avenue, 197101 St. Petersburg, Russia
Email: aantipov80@mail.ru

Abstract

In the article, the development of the basic ideas of the philosophy of technology and literary text, exemplified by the work of A. Platonov is discussed. Mutual interpretation of philosophical and literary texts constitutes unity that has value both in the semantic and methodological sense. Philosophy reveals the meaning behind the metaphor and literature enriches the philosophical theory that gives rise to new results in understanding of the problem. According to the terminology by Max Weber, the imposition of philosophy on the literary text causes it to witchcraft. The way the hero is revealed is the way of human development by O. Kont: from the stage of fetishism and hylozoism to the positive phase; and the deep feelings of the hero, which comprehended the essence of the technique, are typical to the crisis of the twentieth century. One of characteristic features of that crisis was the realization that the machine did not solve existential problems of human and, moreover, it gave strength to the thought that the efforts of mankind to reach happiness and harmony by the use of science and technology are futile. The literary text by Platonov not only concentrated within itself different stages of scientific-technical development of humanity, it also revealed stages of psychological perception of a rapidly changing world. It had foretold a powerful crisis of the twentieth century, which created strong anti-scientist tendencies and raised a discussion about a spiritual dead end and the end of history as the other side of technological progress.

Keywords

  • • A. Platonov
  • • L. Mumford
  • • P. Engelmeier
  • • J. Ortega y Gasset
  • • philosophy of technology
  • • machine
  • • making of the master
  • • metautopia

References

  1. Strelko A. V. Vestnik OGU. 2012. No. 7(143). Pp. 60-65.
  2. Filosofiya tekhniki: istoriya i sovremennost' [Philosophy of technology: history and modernity]. Moscow: IF RAN, 1997.
  3. Platonov A. P. Tsvetok na zemle. Povesti, rasskazy, skazki, stat'I [Flower on the ground. Novels, stories, tales, articles]. Moscow: Molodaya gvardiya, 1983.
  4. Ortega-i-Gasset Kh. Razmyshleniya o tekhnike. Izbrannye Trudy [Reflections on technology. Selected works]. Moscow: Ves' Mir, 1997. Pp. 164-233.
  5. Mitchem K. Chto takoe filosofiya tekhniki? [What is philosophy of technology?] Moscow: Aspekt Press, 1995.
  6. D'yakov D. A. Vestnik Udmurdskogo universiteta. 2014. No. 4. Pp. 50-58.
  7. Emel'yanov B. V., Petrovich G. P. Petr Engel'meier: filosofiya tekhniki i tvorchestva [Peter Engelmeier: philosophy of technology and creativity]. Ekaterinburg: Izd-vo Ural'skogo universiteta, 2004.
  8. Bogdanovich T. Khudozhestvennye otkrytiya A. Platonova i A. Malygina v proze 20-30-kh gg. (kontseptsiya lichnosti i istorii): dis. ... d-ra filos. nauk. Moscow, 1998.
  9. Berdyaev N. A. Put'. Mai. 1933. No. 38. Pp. 3-38.
  10. Pokrovskaya Ya. S. Vestnik RGGU. 2014. No. 10(132). Pp. 138-144.
  11. Rans'er Zh. Esteticheskoe bessoznatel'noe [The aesthetic unconscious]. Saint Petersburg: Machina, 2004.
  12. Malygina N. M. Vestnik MGPU. 2012. No. 1. Pp. 32-42.