Existential challenge of the society of the XXI century: F. M. Dostoevsky versus information technologies

The paper offers a view of F. M. Dostoevsky as a thinker who realized in his artistic texts two epistemological positions of consciousness in relation to himself and the world around him. In the first position, there is a rigid division of experience of consciousness between subject and object; it involves rationalization, intellectual research and self-description, characteristic of dramatic and tragic characters (Raskolnikov, Ivan Karamazov, Kirillov, etc.). In the second position of consciousness as experience of continuity, there is no alienation of a person from the world, other people and their essence. The context of such experience of consciousness is a deep existential sense of the unity of man, the world, God (Elder Zosima, Alyosha Karamazov, Sonya Marmeladova). Among the modern civilizational challenges in the era of global change in all forms of society’s life, it is the existential challenge that becomes the key - determining the future development of world culture. The development of man and society in the modern era clearly reveals two directions: external, technological and internal - personal, interhuman, spiritual. Against the background of the explosive development and germination of information and network technologies into the life of the individual and society with their algorithmization and logging of any actions - both machines and humans, existential insights and epistemological discoveries of Dostoevsky, which are in direct connection with each other, are of particular importance. They are based on the humanistic ideals of world literature and culture of the mid-late nineteenth century: the integrity of the indestructible human soul, unconditional love for one’s neighbor, the absolute value of each individual and a deep belief in the possibility of her spiritual rebirth in any life circumstances and escape from the abyss of existential crises. Thus, the ideas of Dostoevsky, embodied in his works, resist the growing trends of algorithmization and formalization of the social life of modern society. And these ideas are especially needed now, along with the ideas of great writers and thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to preserve the quality and strengthen the humanity of man-made civilization.