Home – Home – Jornals – "Philosophy of Education" 2015 number 4

The purpose of the article is to consider virtual civil society in the context of modern geopolitics. Existence of civil society is a basis of the democratic structure of the state, and its formation ensures irreversibility of democratic changes. Presently, there takes place a process of understanding of institutionalization of the basic structural elements of civil society; the ways of development of the Russian state and its relations with civil society are actively analyzed. Despite a large number of studies devoted to this problem, the concept of civil society is a debatable one both in the domestic and foreign philosophical science. This problem is especially topical in Russia as the problem of formation of civil society is especially important in the conditions of formation of democracy and solution of practical problems of formation of civil society. For this purpose it is necessary to find out the methodological bases of the theory arising round this issue, because the institutional nature of formation of civil society, the role of its structures and functions in society are not clear. The aspiration to construct "from above" an organic concept of civil society in Russia shows its inefficiency. The profound social changes happening in the modern world created new social reality. As a part of the outside world, the social reality possesses the character of objective reality, therefore its studying has to be guided not by comprehension of how it is given to us in our sensual representations and illusions, but by the knowledge of the characteristics inherent to it and existing out of and independently of human consciousness. The reality is attributed to everything that can arise, that exists and is passing. However, the reality belongs to the last foundations which do not need proof and justification. Development of new means of communication fosters the creation of new relations in society and new social reality, the virtual one. The problem of virtual reality, i.e. virtualization of society gains relevance in connection with continuous growth of the number of Internet users. People unite into communities to be convinced of correctness of their views. In the course of self-organization people pass three stages. The first is the discovery of the like-minded people, the presence of the people with whom it is worth uniting into a certain group. The second step is joining of like-minded people into a group. The third is collective activity. The Internet now solves the first problem. For further development of civil society, it is needed the real, not declared readiness of people to make their contributions. To increase the level of civil activity of people, it may be of help a greater transparency of the Internet when it is clear who and how votes in the Internet polls, which people belong to the community of interest for the blogger. The ability to civic consciousness is a question of convenient instruments of self-organization, for example, social networks on the Internet, and, not so importantly, a question of personal qualities of people, their consciousness. Technically, everything is ready in Russia to emergence of civil society. It remains to turn it into a broad socially oriented practice.