Rozin Vadim Markovich,
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor,
Leading Researcher,
Institute of Philosophy of
the Russian Academy of Sciences
e-mail: rozinvm@gmail.com

Conceptualization of Foresight,
or a New Type of Social Action in Modern Culture

Abstract. The article focuses on prospects of anthropological transformation of man, visions of freedom, possibilities of social engineering, etc.  in the framework of the concept of foresight and transhumanism, as well as Russian philosophers’ points of view concerning  it, with a cultural outlook of the German author and philosopher H. Arendt being opposed to it.   

Keywords. Man, culture, foresight, transformation, social engineering, society, policy, humanism, transhumanism.

[1] See: New Identities of Man. Analysis and Forecasting of Anthropological Trends. Anthropological Foresight. Analytical report / ed.  by S.A. Smirnov. Novosibirsk: NGYEU, 2013.
[2] What Is Foresight? Trying to conceptualize [e-source]. Response to EU FOREN Guide. URL: http://stra.teg.ru/library/global/Prognoz/foresight/4.
[3] We are citing widely viewpoints of authors of the report, in case readers haven’t read it.   
[4] New Identities of Man… P. 10-11, 16.
[5] Smirnov S. Foresight: from Forecast to Social Engineering. Manuscript.
[6] New Identities of Man… P. 13, 14-15.
[7] The word expert comes from the Greek empiros. The essence of a public expertise should not boil down to congruent knowledge, but should result in a wide range of judgments and opinions of experts, with them (for example, scientists) belonging to the same community but having different viewpoints on a given question.
[8] New Identities of Man… P. 184.
[9] Ibidem. P. 79.
[10] Ibidem. P. 87. In our joint works with L. Golubkova on management we are sharing the same conclusions (See: Rozin V., Golubkova L. Paradoxes of Modern Times, or Deficit as Form of Power [e-source] // Culture of Culture. 2014. № 4. URL: http://cult-cult.ru/paradoxes-of-nowadays-or-deficit-as-a-form-of-power/ Access date: 2.12.2014).
[11] New Identities of Man… P. 88.
[12] Ibidem. P. 9.
[13] Ibidem. P. 29-31.
[14] Bibler V. Commoner and the Idea of Personality in the Culture of the Middle Ages // Man and Culture. Moscow: Nauka, 1990. P.  105, 106, 109-110.
[15] New Identities of Man… P. 193-195.
[16] Ibidem. P. 165.
[17] According to Arendt, features of the free ancient man coincide with the one worked out by me – of “a developing ancient personality” (See: Rozin V. Personality and Its Study. Moscow: Editorial URSS Publishing House, 2004, 2012).
[18] Arendt H. What Is Freedom //  Arendt H.  Between Past and Future. Eight Exercises in Political Thought. Moscow: the Gaidar Institute Publishing House, 2014, P. 251.
[19] Leon-Portilla M. Nagua Philosophy. Study of sources. Moscow: Inostrannaya Literatura, 1961. P. 266-275.
[20] Yu. Davidov is precise in noting the characteristics specified here: “Society (Lat. Societas – “social environment”, “sociality”, “social”) in the broad sense of the word means the whole of ways of interaction and forms of connections between people which reflects their comprehensive interdependence; and in the narrow sense – genetically and/or structurally defined type (kind, sort, subspecies, etc.) of communication being a historically formed integrity or as a relatively separate element of a similar one” (Davidov Yu. Society // New Encyclopedia of Philosophy. V. 3. Moscow: Misl Publishing House, 2001. P. 132).
[21] Arendt H. What Is Freedom. P. 235.
[22] New Identities of Man… P. 40-42.
[23] Ibidem. P. 38-39.
[24] Bondar A. Essentials and Key Questions of Social Philosophy of Engineering Technique. Khabarovsk: Aspect Publishing House, 2001. P. 204, 210.
[25] URL: http: // www. Nicbostrom.com.  P. 5-6.
[26] Arendt H. What Is Authority // Arendt H.  Between Past and Future. Eight Exercises in Political Thought. Moscow: the Gaidar Institute Publishing House, 2014, P. 163, 166-167, 169.
[27] Zhezhko-Braun I. Community Organizing Modal of Saul Alinsky // Philosophy of Management: Methodological Questions and Projects. Moscow: IFRAN Publishing House, 2013.