Sviatoslav Vyshynsky
The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine H.S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy
Goal. The article is devoted to the coverage of the reception of the phenomenon of technology by the school of integral traditionalism (Rene Guenon, Ananda Kumaraswami, Titus Burkhardt, Fritjof Shuon, Julius Evola) and the philosophy of the German "Conservative Revolution" (Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, Oswald Brock, Oswal, Oswal Friedrich Jungeri, Martin Heidegger) as ideological currents focused on the metaphysical revision of modernism. At the same time, in their selected works, Ernst Junger and Martin Heidegger articulate new ways of practical interpretation of Nietzsche's concept of the Superman in the light of modern scientific and technological progress, in the context of which we can re-evaluate the philosophical project of traditionalism and revolutionary conservatism.
Topicality. Both views on the phenomenon of modernity have not only abstract-speculative significance, but also directly resonate with the guides of civilization in the XXI century, and therefore we must consider them also in the prognostic sense - as scenarios for the future. In turn, this raises the problem of modern interpretation of conservative-revolutionary and integral-traditionalist heritage, its critique and identification of the most relevant components for further heuristic development.
As we can see, the representatives of integral traditionalism in their critique of science focused only on general theoretical approaches to the problem, highlighting it in the context of the ideal model, but without specifying specific strategies for the relationship between man and established science and technology, which have become a fact to be reckoned with. . In this respect, the German conservative revolutionaries were undoubtedly not only prophets of a possible Apocalypse, but also those thinkers who tried to prevent it by turning to the actor as a driver of scientific and technological change. However, the review of these figures should begin with the nominal traditionalist Julius Evola, who synthesizes Genon's dogmatism with revolutionary interpretations of Tradition - it demonstrates the possibility of productively combining the two approaches and developing a concrete plan of action based on them. In the postwar work "Saddle the Tiger" [12] (1961), the Italian thinker formulates the theory of a special "differentiated" man, who perceives modern destructive processes associated with both scientific and technological progress and changes in social organization as a challenge - " a person of a special type "[12, p. 5], which he speaks of, is no longer perceived by him as an active oppositionist or escapist in the world of modernity, but as a special, transitional figure who, while remaining internally committed to the principles of Tradition, externally plays by the rules of the modern world. connects the idea of ??"saddle a tiger": "... If you manage to saddle a tiger, then this will not only prevent him from attacking himself, but, holding on to him, keeping his grip, you will eventually be able to overcome him" [12, p. . 18]. Understanding Western civilization as a predator rushing into the abyss, he concludes the impossibility of frontal confrontation - the experience of a number of utopian projects has only shown that attempts to abruptly disrupt scientific and technological progress and social liberalization threaten the collapse of the whole system. on the rails in front of the locomotive (in this connection we can recall the words from Konstantin Lopushansky's film "Letters of a Dead Man" (1986), where the protagonist compares a technocratic civilization with a locomotive rushing at a man driven by the man himself). Thus, even radical conservatives recognize that it is impossible to put immediate pressure on the brakes - or even suicidal, which in turn indicates the need to integrate into modern processes and more or less influence them, rather than flee to high matters, which means refusing to not only from responsibility, but also from constructing the future.
Already conservative revolutionaries noted that science and technology in the XX century. went their own way, largely free from social realities and cultural norms, worldviews, systems of world description, and in some cases technology got out of control of even theoretical science, ahead of attempts at "metaphysical" systematization as a summation of particular knowledge under a certain universal denominator, which used to be God, man, the ideals of knowledge and creative transformation of the world. In particular, this is pointed out by Friedrich Junger in the preface to the work "Perfection of Technology", comparing the Western world with the fatal peak of its development, the notorious "Titanic", in which scientific and technological genius became a master and director of his own death. as a "ship equipped with a well-tuned and well-functioning engine that is constantly moving towards an unknown iceberg" [15, p. 6-7]. However, the origins of this problem ten years earlier were stated in Martin Heidegger's "Being and Time", where the German philosopher directly speaks that "positive science and" can not "and do not have to wait for the ontological work of philosophy" [8 , with. 51], thus indirectly points to the inherent gap between practice and worldview as a consequence of the emancipation of the sphere of τεχνη. Postmodern shifts only confirmed the autonomy of the scientific and technological component of civilization - despite the collapse of educational ideas and the collapse of the New Age project, the transition of Western society to post-industrial relations, the main product and tool of modernity - technology - not only did not leave the arena, but even more strengthened its position, ensuring at an increasingly sophisticated level the functioning of a civilization in which the ideals of progress have receded into the background, or even devalued. The rejection of the theoretical orientations of science and technology, which guided them in modern times, only strengthened and accelerated their development, because, on the one hand, technology is rapidly getting rid of regulatory restrictions that previously put it at the service of abstract man, while on the other - and technology in the ensemble of the consumer society "wash out" some idealistic teleology of the project, accelerating technological processes from purely utilitarian needs on the principle of equating modernization with profit growth: "The victory of technology here is always a victory of comfort, . 106]. De facto postmodern civilization is purely functionally modernized at an even faster pace, and the term "modernization" loses its theoretical, paradigmatic and ideological meaning, becoming synonymous with technological optimization - or entirely based on widespread use. In the perspective of culture, this means only that man no longer forms and sets the tone of scientific and technological progress, being its subject, but that science and technology have become a kind of "thing in itself", in which, according to Friedrich Junger, man became a simple operator, becoming the object of the processes initiated by him: "... Prohibitions can not hide the fact that workers are slaves to complex technical equipment and organization" [15, p. 6]. We must recognize that today (at least as far as the masses are concerned), technology as such is clearly becoming a real actor in (post-) history - because, after all, theoretical scientific research is conducted with the intensity in which it can bring practical effect (either in the field of economics or as a means of direct political domination). The crisis of the humanities in the modern university is connected with this: to the extent that the university curriculum will be formed from the direct order of private corporations as the main investors in higher education, theoretical sciences will be excluded from it, except those necessary for applied myth-making society as an attractive consumer "interface" of its mechanical "stuffing".
Conservative-revolutionary thinkers in the pre- and post-war period, analyzing the described trends, have identified two ways out of the situation, which we can conditionally label as "active" and "passive" positions. Undoubtedly, as among traditionalists, conservative revolutionaries did not lack criticism of technocracy, as well as awareness of all the threats of emancipated science, but, as already noted, not all members of this intellectual movement unequivocally opposed the processes generated by the Enlightenment. The conservative-revolutionary wing, with which Armin Moeller associates the names of Ernst Junger, Ernst Nikish, and Hans Fryer, understood the new situation as the evocation of a spontaneous, Nietzschean "dragon" with which the Western man would not only have to deal but submit to his will. : "... Someday bigger dragons will be born. In order for the superman not to lack a worthy dragon, a super-dragon, the scorching sun needs a long time to wade over the wet virgin forest! ” [5, p. 143-144]. The whole pathos of "total mobilization" [17] and the figure of the Worker as the fifth essence of the Prometheus archetype of the titan man, the "son of the Earth" [2, p. 114], which combines powerful telluric forces and the human mind, which in a strong-willed impulse directs the blind elements on a given trajectory. In fact, the metaphysical image of the Worker is a combination of human and non-human in a single "gestalt" [16, p. 59], where the gradation between "humane", "humanitarian" and inherently spontaneous is blurred, and man himself becomes an impersonalized actor ("type" [13, p. 79]) of global processes, measured by heroic and divine ranks: ".. The total nature of work violates both collective and individual boundaries and ... it is the source with which any productive content of our time is connected "[16, p. 171]. In essence, the Worker is a heroic image in which "a titanic man" [14, p. 121], following the Prometheus impulse, transcends its own framework and merges with the universal horizons in the action of scientific and technical theurgy. In Ernst Junger's vision, like that of his brother Friedrich Junger, history, despite its modern layers, retains a mythological basis, the comprehension of which allows us to grasp reality in its true essence - so conservative or traditionalist critique of science and technology at the root of visible secular processes. Even in a world where the gods have died, the power of the myth remains valid - and especially when this myth is completely dispelled, because it is then and only then that its logic becomes most transparent. Closely related to this is the problem of nihilism, which, directing civilization from the "disengagement" of existence to the discovery, according to Martin Heidegger, of its secrets [9, p. 50], in the same way because of Hölderlin's "impoverishment" [10, p. 299], Nietzsche's "danger" [5, p. 19] and Stirner's Nothing [11, p. 353] brings the historical subject closer to his most secret depths, in which he, having dealt with divine idols and human ideals, meets himself face to face.
The active position of the Worker and his subsequent transformations, reproducing the logic of modernity, at the same time endowed with some specific non-modern features - primarily Junger's emphasis on "gestalt", the rejection of the previous rigid dualism between subject and object of transformation, and a specific, irrational aspect of its formation, which in many ways resembles a mythological epic, dressed in the robes of scientific and technological progress. Another important component of the Worker's "gestaltness" can be seen: if not the obvious trans-humanism of the new "type", then the first step in this direction, in connection with which we can talk about a concentrated "will to power" [3, p. . 589], which transcends the framework of "human, too human" [4, p. 432] and implements one of the possible directions of the project of the Superman: "The coming time is marked by the fact that it will again see, feel and act under the power of the Gestalts" [16, p. 86-87]. The object of scientific and technological expansion is not so much the world, but also the nature of the old man, who becomes an instrument, carved according to given patterns, and with the transition of social relations to the phase of active consumerism - post-man becomes the focus of civilizational activity. After exhausting the development of a separate ratio of "objective reality" within the planet, man himself as a complex psychophysical complex becomes the object of transformation and exploitation, and the high-tech engine of civilization bursts into the human soul, turning it into the main "fuel" of metaphysical "work". The difference between the Worker and the passive substance and the human mass is that, being his own tool, he is in the broadest sense and his own demiurge, without losing the targets and meaningful actions, in connection with which the term "Gestalt" as a whole most accurately describes its dynamic nature: "... Gestalt is not subject to the elements of fire and earth, and therefore man, as a gestalt, belongs to eternity" [16, p. 90]
Of course, the galaxy of metaphysical figures described by Ernst Junger in the historical game does not reflect the reality of everyone, but rather points to the elitist project of those players who can and seek to preserve their own subjectivity in modern conditions, so we should talk about them as about certain ideal types on which intellectual elites (or counter-elites) are or can be guided. The Worker's position is therefore a synthesis of science, will, new post-Nigilist values, holism of knowledge and postmodern gestalt as constitutive components of a new worldview and a new project. Stepping over the dry, and often naive-idealistic rationalism of the Enlightenment, the new type formulates a new attitude to science and technology, which in the conditions of devaluation of old values ??act as a means of realizing a pure, unmasked Wille zur Macht. However, this approach, meaning passing the baton to the "posthuman", at the same time eliminates the inherent human subjectivity, turning it only into a situational "pawn" in the game of "forces" and elements, while the active position is maintained by those figures level and framework of classical humanism. This turn without any illusions means not only a crisis in the humanitarian sphere, but also an apology for cynicism - in the XXI century. scientific and technological progress will serve only two purposes: to provide power and profit to political actors and to comfort or minimize consumption - rhizomatic objects deprived of an internal axis and any design will. In the posthuman "character of the Worker" we see the archetype of the "new kshatriya" and the negative project of the Superman (in many respects consonant with the understanding of "man-god" in Nikolai Berdyaev, but much further from the romantic vision of the man-hero) - a creature integrating pure will pure automatism of its implementation. We can go further and, noting a number of quotes from Ernst Junger, talk about "biorobot" [6, p. 169], understanding him, however, not as a passive tool, but as an actor of the processes set by him - the complete master of which he, however, can never be, so doomed to constant struggle and constant transgression of the natural: "... Technology has acquired such properties for which a person can only be its appendage "[7, p. 22]. The New Worker cannot ignore the spheres of science and technology, as they guarantee his own existence and power, but at the same time it is the processes he launches that constantly expose him to danger, challenging him from nothingness. In the locomotive-tiger-man pair, superiority is never absolute, and the will to power dictates the interdependent necessity of both principles, but by impulsing the elements, the metaphysical actor changes himself, so the competing pair is more than the unity of two opposing impulses. an integral gestalt directed into the unknown.
With the collapse, the modern relevance of the Worker's figure, however, has not lost its relevance: in a sense, it has been reserved for a narrower circle, although it may receive several different readings and be implemented in different contexts. At the same time, the active nihilistic action of the "new kshatriya" receives its counterbalance, which we outline as the position of the "new brahmana," although we emphasize the arbitrariness of the use of the word. When we speak of the "Brahmanical," we mean the antithesis of the active creative force embodied in the heroic image of the Worker, the antithesis to which the late Julius Evola and Ernst Junger come, introducing into the philosophical discourse the figures of the "differentiated man." 43]. The traditionalists' rejection of the modern world, as well as the frustration of a number of conservative revolutionaries, are echoed in the images of the "fugitive" (in the German philosopher Waldgänger as "one who walks the forest paths" [2, p. 94]), however, in contrast to Genoon's attempts to live in an ivory tower, new conservative-revolutionary figures choose the path of formal integration into the structure of the modern world, but multiplied by internal spiritual autonomy ("dimension of transcendence" [12, p. 93] in Julius Evola). The passive position of "isolation" is masking, refusal of active involvement in processes, contemplation from the side, actual construction of counter-gestalt, gestalt of "differentiated person", invisibly opposed to chaotic processes around which it does not show solidarity and refuses direct influence. . Anarch's antipathy to the modern world does not allow him to actively stand on the edge of historical progress - but the distance between him and the ideal world of Tradition leaves no choice but to accept the existing system and without conflict - and at the same time "waiting" - to dissolve in it. The prospects for such a retreat are vague and unrestricted by any chronological framework, and have little to do with intellectual diversion - and in a sense we are dealing with an analogue of traditionalist life, with the amendment that the Anarch fails to change the external entourage, preserving old values ??only within. in the space of the private, the sovereign. Here we can talk about the practical overcoming of the polemics of integral traditionalists, and in the context of the concept of the Superman - the Anarch paradigmatically embodies the vector of a possible initiative reading of Nietzsche's philosophy. If in the case of the Worker as an actor of technological progress we are dealing with "super-human" as "post-human", titanic, and then directed to Junger's "zero point" [18, p. 32], in which the sacred appears through the advancement of matter and its remelting, transmutation into a new quality, which is more consistent with the conservative-revolutionary reception of man and the world, science and technology - the Anarch demonstrates a traditionalist retreat into the silence of inner being, in which "superhuman" means nothing more than "pre-human", a rediscovered divine basis of the self, a "post-sacred" approach that intuitively reconstructs the modern search for a new spirituality.
These late figures are characterized by a pronounced distrust of the modern flourishing of science and technology: in the elements raised by them is already seen something demonic, caused not by lack but by excess ratio, which is at the forefront of nihilism of the XXI century, having previously lost the theoretical (ie essentially metaphysical) Ernst Junger: "Man in modern society ... is more corrupt with his mind than with his passions" [2, p. 87]. Detached from metaphysical reasoning, rationalism is identified with pure utilitarianism, meaningless and ultimately leaves no room for man himself, replacing it with perfect automata - in the fictional story "Glass Bees" (1957) the German thinker is one of the first real ideas its artificial constructs, including human-like creations, which suggests anxiety about possible interference in human nature, as well as replication of biological organisms with the help of scientific knowledge and advanced technologies. For the triumph of technology "man must be destroyed in the same way as before he was destroyed horse" [2, p. 151]. The reason for such an "uprising of industry" is the preliminary dismantling of metaphysics, which in the history of Western European philosophy we can divide into three stages: 2) expression of distrust in rationalist metaphysics and the formation of a positive philosophy (from Auguste Comte to Rudolf Carnap); 3) rejection of rational goal-setting as such, the verdict of logocentrism (from Arthur Schopenhauer to Jacques Derrida). As shown above, all this does not mean abandoning the scientific and technological process, but radically changes its motivation - at least for the broad strata, which include a significant part of the "naive" intelligentsia. And if Rene Guenon noted that in the normal state of affairs "all human activity ... in essence is seen as one that proceeds from the principles" [1, p. 58], then at the beginning. XXI century such an assessment is already losing its unambiguity, as the ideal component, which he means by this, is rapidly being "washed out" of social practices.
What are the possible ways out of the situation? We have already seen that the steps of a number of traditionalists seem to be saving only for themselves, but cannot be repeated by the majority - not only and not so much because traditionalism requires spiritual effort, but because traditionalism means unquestioning belief in one's own value. , which was eliminated by the destructive work of nihilism. The conflict-free return of the previous ranks of Western civilization without the loss of its European character is impossible, so the philosophizing of Rene Guenon or Martin Heidegger, abstracted from everyday reality, seems relevant only to a select circle of intellectuals, while historical data requires decisive strategies. We must state the following perspectives: objectivity and idealistic meanings of life; 2) a neoconservative project, to which a number of traditionalists are inclined, and which is opposed to the modern West, in the case of its implementation threatens the very European identity, as it is based on the Eastern cultural foundation; 3) the late conservative-revolutionary project of the "differentiated man", continuing the line of Western European nihilism, is established as an individual move, and thus does not solve the civilization dilemma; 4) the early conservative-revolutionary project of "total mobilization" raises the problem of rethinking the paradigmatic foundations of modernism, and thus requires a new transcendental justification of the idea of ??progress as a way out of the post-modern trap, while exacerbating the problem of resource scarcity and environmental consequences of mass appropriation.
Thus, the four possible ways out of the crisis, based on the philosophy of integral traditionalism, the Conservative Revolution and archeofuturism, require serious reflection and fundamental forecasting, as in one way or another. format of implementation means not only the choice of direction for the further development of civilization, but also significant sacrifices that are inevitable in creating the future. At the same time, only in the "neo-archaic", archeofuturist and "modern" conservative-revolutionary approaches does the place of rational science and industrial technology remain key - in the first case as a tool for preserving the status quo of the social pyramid and competition with other civilizational forms, while in the second - in the role of the engine of social mobilization and realization of the new senses connected with a paradigm of progress. Accordingly, the post-liberal project inevitably veils knowledge and technology, gradually removing it from public discourse and reserving it for intellectual elites - science and technology serve such a civilization and ensure its stable existence, but do not constitute its ideological core and do not belong to everyone as a means. in the form of finished products for their use. At the same time, the project of "new modernism", derived from the concept of "total mobilization", offers a broader, mass actualization of the figure of the Worker - and thus the revision of scientific and technical tools not as an end in itself but as a key means of realizing philosophical ideas. in turn, requires the real subjectivity of the broadest social strata as co-creators of the future of civilization. The chances of both strategies we can consider as equal and understand the XXI century. - as a field of competition with an uncertain ending.
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Summary:
The article highlights the problems of critical reception of the phenomenon of technology in the philosophy of the Conservative Revolution. The author compares the ideas of Ernst Junger and Martin Heidegger in the sense of interpreting the scientific and technological mind as one of the options for reading Nietzsche's concept of the Superman.
Key words:
Conservative Revolution, Ernst Junger, Martin Heidegger, Friedrich Nietzsche.
Abstract:
Vyshinsky S. The fate of technology: a conservative-revolutionary scenario. The article covers the problem of critical reception of the phenomenon of technology in the philosophy of the Conservative Revolution. The author turns to the comparison of the ideas of Ernst Junger and Martin Heidegger in the key of interpretation of scientific and technical reason as one of the options for reading Nietzsche's concept of the Superman.
Key words:
Conservative Revolution, Ernst Junger, Martin Heidegger, Friedrich Nietzsche.
Annotation:
Vyshynskyi S. The Fate of Technics: A Conservative Revolutionary Scenario. The article deals with the problem of critical reception of the phenomenon of technics in the Conservative Revolutionary philosophy. The author compares the ideas of Ernst Jünger and Martin Heidegger in the key of understanding scientific and technical reason as one of the ways of interpretation of Nietzschean concept of the Superman.
Key words:
Conservative Revolution, Ernst Jünger, Martin Heidegger, Friedrich Nietzsche.
Publication:
Vyshynsky S. The fate of technology: conservative-revolutionary scenario / Sviatoslav Vyshynsky // Scientific Bulletin of Chernivtsi University. Philosophy. Collection of scientific works. - 2013. - Vip. 646—647. - S. 90—95.
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