Home – Home – Jornals – "Philosophy of Education" 2016 number 3

The article deals with the objectives of Russian education in the context of the transition from the productive to the post-productive society. The author focuses attention on the fact that this transition makes probable two scenarios of development of the genus Homo: the appearance of a subject open to creativity and the emergence of a «homo chewing». The first perspective is a real «anthropological revolution», because for the first time in history the person gets an opportunity to break free from the forces of «economic necessity» and become engaged in the implementation of internal motives. Realization of the second alternative will mean the descent of human being to the animal level. Thus, today the planetary community is in a state of bifurcation, when the future of the whole of humanity is being decided. Its fate depends, to a large extent, on the goal-setting performed by education. The author considers that in the interest of socio-cultural development of mankind is the appearance of homo creator, a person open to creativity, free from the consumer fetishism, experiencing pleasure from the very creative process. The system of values of homo creator should have a dual nature, combining the interests of the individual and society and recognizing that everyone has the right to freedom and self-realization. This type of person should have creative thinking, which is characterized by: a) the ability to produce new ideas and images, b) criticism, c) openness towards the accumulated human culture, d) the ability to perceive the habitual from an unexpected direction, e) capacity for dialogue. Based on the humanistic perspectives of the development of mankind, the author argues that the orientation of education to the formation of the «homo economicus» is incorrect. The adoption of such goal of education in Russia will lead to the formation of «rooting» in the social and cultural reality of the person, combining initiative and responsibility with a purely market assessment of any individual. However, if the Russian system of education is able to make homo creator a mass social type, Russia will gain a chance of not only saving its own otherness in the face of threats of “archaization” and (or) unification of its cultural spaces, but also becoming a social and cultural leader of the modern world. For the cultivation in Russia of «creative person», it is necessary: 1) free and accessible education which is focused not on the professional training but on the formation of creative personality, 2) creation of Open Knowledge networks (educational sites, digital libraries, associations of co-creators, discussion platforms etc.), 3) organization of incubators of «guides to the future».