Ratio serviens? Reflections on the book by B.I. Pruzhinin

Abstract

The subject of the article is the ideas and reflections of Boris Isaevich Pruzhinin about the fate of the scientific mind, the problems and dangers that await him on the way from theoretical reason to not even practical reason, but “servile”, serving. Who and what does it serve? Man, and all mankind. But what is the risk for humanity, and for the mind itself? To answer such questions, it is necessary to immerse oneself in discussions about modern methodology and philosophy of science, which Boris Isaevich does, justifying the concept of cultural and historical epistemology along the way. Its feature is the return of philosophy to the space of the methodology of scientific knowledge. The author of the article substanti­ates the general philosophical significance of Pruzhinin’s ideas. Accordingly, the proposed article addresses the main problems of the European cultural tradition, which now, taking into account the ideas under consideration, appear as some representations of the scientific mind, its cultural and historical modifications. It turns out that the problems of the scientific mind are not the result of the impact of society, its crisis, but its internal transformations that shaped and are shaping the European culture, and today, the whole world. In this case, the cultural centrality of science (and philosophy) becomes not a simple declaration, but a methodological principle of research.