National Culture as a Problem of Philosophical and Cultural Analysis: Current Discourse

The article shows that the 20th century has significantly changed the social structure of societies, transforming the self-consciousness of a person of European culture. The 20th century prepared the actual modernity of the third millennium with its global structure of cultural and political interrelations, allowing for both the continuous development and critical revision of cultural traditions. National cultures, their spiritual traditions, ethical and aesthetic values are deconstructed under the pressure of unifying practices of the information society. The author raises the question: is the historical and spiritual experience of Russian culture relevant for modern Russia, for its political and cultural agenda? The article puts forward the thesis that the basic concepts included in the philosophical thesaurus and defining the research horizon of Russian cultural philosophers — the state, nation, culture, personality, freedom, religious experience, creativity — are determined by the meanings, ideals and values of the Modernity project. However, currently in relation to Modernity seems to be a radically new project. Modernity, which defined the cultural and political configuration of Russia and Europe in the 18th — early 20th century, cannot compete with this project. The present situation poses a serious challenge to the historical integrity and subjectivity of national cultures. In this context, one of the key tasks is to re-actualize the intellectual heritage of Russian culture, its concepts of man, history, and spiritual life, which were formulated by Russian thinkers.