The concept of «human nature» as an axiological principle
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17072/2078-7898/2021-3-413-422
The concept of «human nature» as an axiological principle
Guzel K. Saikina
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor,
Professor of the Department of General Philosophy,
Institute of Social and Philosophical Sciences and Mass Communications
Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University,
18, Kremlevskaya st., Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, 420008, Russia;
e-mail: gusels@rambler.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7618-1835
ResearcherID: B-5465-2019
Zulfiya Z. Ibragimova
Candidate of Philosophy, Associate
Professor of the Department of General Philosophy,
Institute of Social and Philosophical Sciences and Mass Communications
Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University,
18, Kremlevskaya st., Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, 420008, Russia;
e-mail: yuldyz@rambler.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8648-6096
ResearcherID: G-1495-2015
In the philosophy of the 20th century, the idea of the absence of nature in man was established, due to which the concept of «human nature» became a rudiment in anthropological knowledge, and man himself began to be comprehended as «unsupported». In the era of the «biotechnological revolution», this concept turns out to be inconvenient for the transgressive game of man with his own limits. However, the problematization of a person in modern anthropological discourse can occur in many respects precisely through questioning the human nature. In the era of developed biotechnologies, for the purposes of human ecology, modern anthropology should not so much deny as assert the nature of man, since the concept of «human nature» indicates an ontological framework that preserves the authenticity of man, ensuring the continuity of all his historical forms. In contrast to the interpretation of the concept of human nature as opposed to the social essence (as a base physical, material, biological, vital part of human being), it is heuristically significant to elevate it to a socially significant axiological principle, filling it with value content by raising the status of the human nature. This is especially important due to the fact that this concept is substantively included in ethical, social and humanitarian expertise of biotechnological projects. Without the axiological development of this concept, bioethical and ecological discourses will lose strength and persuasiveness. A person is always incomplete, multidimensional, multifaceted, therefore there cannot be a single essential idea of a person capable of becoming the cementing foundation of anthropological knowledge, as the first generation of «philosophical anthropology» representatives hoped for. Still, man is one anthropological type with a single nature. As a result of the study, a hypothesis has been put forward that it is the reanimation of the concept of «human nature» that will give unity to anthropological knowledge and become its «ideological core».
Keywords: human nature, human essence, axiology, philosophical anthropology, biological, social, corporeality, «first nature», «second nature», Enlightenment.
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Received: 01.08.2021. Accepted: 31.08.2021
For citation:
Saikina G.K., Ibragimova Z.Z. [The concept of «human nature» as an axiological principle]. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Filosofia. Psihologia. Sociologia [Perm University Herald. Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology], 2021, issue 3, pp. 413–422 (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.17072/2078-7898/2021-3-413-422