Philosophical and Cultural Foundations of the Concept of “Nihitogenesis”

Abstract

The goals of this research are: 1) to substantiate the conceptual content and introduce into the terminological circulation of the philosophy of culture the concepts of “nihitology of culture” and “nihitogenesis”; 2) to substantiate the intensification of ontologization of the negative in the second half of the XX century and the present. Data were achieved using observation and description of the behaviour of modern man in virtual and real cultures; hermeneutic analysis of observation results, as well as a description of the results of virtualization and simulation of modern culture. The article extrapolates the ontological method to the aesthetic and social spheres. Research results are as follows: 1) the following metamorphoses of non-being in the space of culture being have been discovered: anthropologization of the negative; semiotization and aesthetization of non-being; “hollow” attitudes of everyday worldview and individual experience of inner devastation; production and consumption of simulacra; virtualization of cultural reality; 2) the processes of diminishing or even loss of reality are associated by the author with various factors, such as: the transition from the individual’s solid identity to its “fluid” form, and ultimately to the loss or destruction of identity; the ongoing destruction of the integrity of "ego"of a modern subject. This is expressed in the fall of stable norms, including ethical ones, in the absence of a single anthropological ideal and in highlighting visibility in the form of "flickering of countless guises", "masks"; an increase in the volume of simulacra in the spheres of media, art, morality, religiosity, and in everyday life as well; active interest in negative entities manifested by postmodern art; loss by a person of a sense of spiritual security, compensation for this loss by hedonism, unlimited consumption of material goods; communication virtualization, etc.