Cultural studies or philosophy of culture: the origins of methodological conflict

The article characterizes modern discussions of the relationship between cultural studies and philosophy of culture. The origins of modern non-classical philosophy of culture, interconnected with axiology, are revealed. The difference in understanding of culture by I. Kant and the neo-Kantians of the Baden School is disclosed. Whereas Kant’s notion of culture is formed within the framework of classical understanding of man and reason, in Rickert’s philosophy of culture, reason is reduced to rationality, which is supplemented by attribution to absolute values. In the opposite way, the positivist version of modern cultural studies was formed. It was connected with the development of evolutionism and neo-evolutionism up to L. A. White. The connection of the cultural-historical theory, running back to L. S. Vygotsky and E. V. Ilyenkov, with the classical philosophical tradition is shown. The prospects of overcoming multiple images of culture in modern science and philosophy in the context of overcoming forms of social and spiritual alienation are outlined.