PHILOSOPHEMA OF THE MIDDLE AGES IN THE CREATIVE LEGACY OF BERDYAEV

Abstract

The aim of the work is to consider the anthropological meaning of modernity, which becomes apparent when using images of the Middle Ages, which becomes possible with attention to the optics of philosophical-historical research of M. Berdyaev. Methodology. The methodological specificity is determined by the set goal, which has two dimensions: firstly, the explication of the content-semantic dimension of the medieval cultural type, which is carried out as a traditional philosophical work with concepts, and secondly, the involvement of this nuanced analytical concept to understand the anthropological content of modernity, which actualizes the methods of comparative studies for a more comprehensive view of the subject under consideration. Scientific novelty. Contrary to the usual characteristics of M. Berdyaev's philosophical legacy as excessively free and non-strict discourse, attention is drawn to the fact that the way of thinking is the subject of constant attention of M. Berdyaev, and regarding this he is a very strict thinker.In situations of rapid changes, the ability to see what has not acquired, or does not have at all, directly visible forms is in demand. The article emphasizes that for Berdyaev, the substantive center of understanding the Middle Ages is the attitude towards eliminating the intrusive dominance of the visibly apparent and familiar, the requirement to look into the depth, where there are no clearly defined images. His critical analysis of the Renaissance is compared with the famous «Dialectic of Enlightenment», the peculiarity of Berdyaev’s analysis is the vision of the tragic consequences of humanism as the reduction of man to the earthly dimension, which is indicated by the very name Homo. Conclusions. In the formula of the New Middle Ages, the contours of such an understanding of Christianity, which is seen as the matter of the future, become apparent. Berdyaev’s New Middle Ages and Heidegger’s other thinking are two formulas for turning attention to the religious content of human existence. Both Berdyaev and Heidegger refer to the type of religiosity that preserves in a person the sense of reverence for the vastness of the world and the incomprehensibility of the divine essence, the encounter with which generates all that is essential and great. The demand for the Middle Ages as a cultural archetype in our times can be seen as a longing for height, disagreement with the confinement of man to the dimensions of everyday survival, the desire to give her actions an elevated character.