Pragmatic and valuable understanding of the phenomenon of freedom in times of crisis

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to show that when analyzing evolutionary changes in society, a pragmatist approach to the problem of freedom as a whole does not contradict a value approach, since an important value is the maintenance of vital activity and the free development of man and society. However, in a situation of radical transformation of global society, climatic threats and military-political confrontations between freedom and democracy, on the one hand, and totalitarianism and authoritarianism, on the other, higher transcendental values, which also have a pragmatic goal of survival of human civilization, come first. Pragmatism in the theoretical plane considers its repeatability and verifiability as an important criterion for the recognition of truth (R. Ferber) [5, 113], and in the practical plane – the possibility of realizing a person's ideas in practice. With this in mind, when considering the opposition between pragmatist and value approaches in the analysis of the problem of freedom, several approaches are possible. First, to recognize that narrow pragmatism is guided by selfish values in the process of allocating the resource of freedom, and thereby destroys productive social interaction is ultimately "useless." Secondly, to recognize that certain, even transcendental, values, the most important of which is freedom, are practically useful and such that do not contradict the idea of pragmatism. Therefore, they can be included in the pragmatist categorical system itself as a guide to action. At the same time, higher transcendental values are inexhaustible, and the aspiration to fully realize them can only be satisfied in the future. A pragmatic approach to the understanding of human freedom is an important tool for its adaptation to nature and society, however, a person adapts better to the natural and social environment in free competitive creativity and solidary co-creation with other individuals. A creative value approach to freedom means the free self-realization of a person on the basis of universal values at the expense of less and less use of non-renewable natural resources and greater use of intellectual and spiritual resources. The conceptual base and practical ability of the pragmatist approach is developed by expanding it at the expense of transcendental values, including the values of freedom. In times of crises and civilizational transformations, society can avoid wars, severe social upheavals, and restrictions on freedom if, listening to the humanitarian elite, it sufficiently understands the deep laws of human and social development, and applies them in its own life practice. It should also be added that the pragmatist criterion of truth demonstrates the degree of realization of practical ideas. As a result of the aggravation of crisis phenomena in the modern world, including large-scale military confrontations, as well as the growing threat of climate catastrophe, the focus of philosophical research is the problem of the correlation of pragmatist and value approaches to the problem of freedom. The pragmatist approach here can be expressed as a problem of human distribution of the resource of freedom in time (A. Schmidt), as a problem of quantitative freedom (C. Dierksmeyer), or one or another way of maintaining the distribution of the resource of freedom among citizens by the state (D. Frederick). The contradiction between pragmatist and value approaches is overcome by including in the pragmatist categorical apparatus evaluation procedures and practical schemes of human activity on the basis of higher transcendental values. At the same time, the pragmatic criterion of truth allows to overcome populism. If the realization of these values in the life of a person and society does not take place with the participation of the humanitarian elite of society through enlightenment and the introduction of progressive social practices, then mankind will acquire relevant knowledge in the conditions of destructive wars and environmental disasters.