EDUCATION OF A NEW INDIVIDUAL. PHILOSOPHICAL AND POLITICAL-ECONOMIC GROUND FOR THE SOCIO-PEDAGOGICAL DOCTRINE OF COLLECTIVISM

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to prove that the abstract contradistinction of individualism and collectivism, which is typical of today's philosophical and pedagogical thought, is counterproductive both from a theoretical (i.e., philosophical and political-economic) and practical (socio-pedagogical) point of view and has never been inherent neither in classical philosophy nor classical pedagogical thought. To achieve this goal, the article attempts to trace, in the most general terms, the evolution of theoretical and practical views on the education of the human personality and the role of the collective in this process. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the views of M.G. Chernyshevsky and A.S. Makarenko as the brightest representatives of the theory and practice of the collectivist direction in pedagogy, one of whom, M.G. Chernyshevsky, was also a supporter of the theory of "reasonable egoism", and the other one, A.S. Makarenko, has achieved, perhaps, the greatest successes in the history of pedagogy in the mass education of a full-fledged person. The study is based on the classical tradition, which M.G. Chernyshevsky described as an anthropological method in philosophy. The author not only refuses to claim any scientific novelty but even tries to prove that in such areas as philosophy, economics, pedagogy, the formal desire for novelty often leads to a thoughtless denial of the old, i.e., it leads towards the inability to distinguish between what has really outlived itself and the classics, that is, something that, ultimately, cannot get old. This approach does not lead to anything truly new, moreover, it forces scientists and practitioners to repeat over and over again the same mistakes that have long been overcome in the classical tradition. A striking example of such mistakes is the abstract contradistinction of individualism and collectivism. Also, the main outcome of this study is that the true collectivism is nothing more than consistently pursued individualism, and the education of a real, developed individuality, personality, is possible only in a properly organized collective and through a collective.