The concept of man-made civilization: problematization and characterization

The article begins with an analysis of the concept of technogenic civilization by V.S. Stepin. The problems that arise when considering this concept are indicated: how are synergetic and systemic discourses related to cultural studies, can modernity and its prerequisites (antiquity and the Middle Ages) be compared as separate cultures, is it correct to take modernity and the traditional type of culture as a whole for analysis, while they consist of different cultural formations. It is suggested that the explanation of modernity, taking into account technogeneity, does not imply a cultural comparison, although it can also be used, but as one of the aspects of the solution, but rather the genesis of modernity, including in terms of clarifying the problem of technogeneity. A scheme of such genesis is being outlined. The transition to a New Time, according to the author, included the formation of states with different structures and faiths, the formation of new social communities with the proclamation of equality and freedom of their participants, the change of the sacred picture of the world to nature, obeying natural, eternal laws. These processes, including a new cultural project, were conceptualized by Francis Bacon, who formulated the project of mastering nature under the condition of restructuring human consciousness, creating a new science (natural science) based on it "new magic" (in fact, engineering), industry based on scientific knowledge and engineering, and all this had to be provided by a new a social organization. Two concepts of nature and technology, characteristic of that time, differ ‒ "vital" and "mental" and the competition between them. In the second half of the XVIII century, mental technology began to displace vital technology, which gave rise to the first environmental crisis in Europe, which was a prerequisite for the formation of engineering and technology, as well as the first industrial revolution. Their distinction is carried out. The essential characteristics of a technogenic civilization are summarized. The work ends with a discussion of the crisis of man-made civilization.

civilization, culture, technogenicity, project, realization, sociality, crisis, problems, mind, technic