Problem of the meaning of human life: philosophical and artistic aspects

The article deals with the eternal problem of the meaning of life, its philosophical and artistic aspects. For modern people this problem is represented as a result of the crisis and degeneration of the dominant practice of social life, its system of values and meanings. In this context, the task is to form a new post-bourgeois system of values. There are three main stages in development of philosophical thought and spiritual culture - classical, non-classical, postmodern. Each of them forms a definite idea of the essence of the world and humanity, the logic and significance of history. The aesthetic layer of the problem finds expression in a series of classical images of heroes, sages, saints, scientists, revolutionaries. The article shows that art and artistic creativity often outstrip science in understanding the essence and prospects of social development, giving a tough assessment of the prevailing type of social action. We take the classical dichotomy of Hamlet and Don Quixote as a basis for representation of the artistic plan of the problem.