The article, based on the historical-philosophical methodology as a «theory of the historical-philosophical process», examines the topical topic of the spiritual situation of the time. This methodology was developed at the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University, and then at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Philosophy of the Ural State University (T. I. Oyserman, P. P. Haydenko, E. V. Ilyenkov, M. K. Mamardashvili, A. S. Bogomolov, V. S. Gorsky, Z. A. Kamensky, K. N. Lubutin). The authors of the article show that the «history of philosophy» does not represent knowledge of the past, but always turns into an occasion and a way to reflect on the prospects of modern humanity. Historical and philosophical research is a necessary step towards self-identification of the cultural community in any country. The opposition of scientism and anthropology in the 20th century as directions in philosophy, the use of historical and philosophical studies by K. Jaspers, F. Nietzsche and M. Heidegger to influence the actual ideological attitudes of contemporaries is analyzed. Carl Jaspers’ methodology, which is outlined in his works «The Spiritual Situation of Modernity» and «World History of Philosophy», where he shows the psychiatric diagnosis of the historical epoch, is considered. Martin Heidegger’s methodology, outlined in his later works: Machenschaft, a universal technological efficiency of everything from details to works of culture, biological tissues and human relations as projects by social engineers, is also used for the first time. The concept of «machinism» is considered on the material of the translation of M. Heidegger’s manuscript «The Vision of Meaning» which is first involved in the scientific circulation in Russian literature by the authors of the article. Separately, the main signs of machinism (such as: engineering thinking, technology, standardization, computerization, digitalization, universalization), the position of a person, his place and role in the «living machine». In times of machinism, a person is not yet ready to recognize himself as a machine, he understands himself as a living being and tries to assert himself, showing his feelings about survival. The conclusion concludes that the humanities always find themselves between standards on the one hand and on the other, they hear the voice of being. The role of the humanities is shown neither as a prevention of the omnipotence of scientific and technological progress, but as a non-standardization of education and culture. It is proposed to return to the history of philosophy as a theoretical science from the disordered empirical descriptions of the teachings of some philosophers by others by choice and taste without a vision of world philosophy as a whole.
M. Mandelbaum and Historiography of Philosophy
