A synthesized approach to the study of human problems in Soviet philosophy of the 1980s: historical and philosophical analysis

The article analyzes the attempt to develop a synthesized concept of man, or the «unified science of man», undertaken in the 1980s by a group of Soviet philosophers led by academician I.T. Frolov. The complex interdisciplinary study of the human phenomenon, first presented to the academic community in this period, included not only the traditional synthesis of philosophical data with the data of natural and social sciences but also the experience of co-optation of certain religious philosophy provisions into philosophy. Some scientists put forward a hypothesis about the convergence of science and religion in the future. However, the idea of abandoning a strict materialistic worldview was not accepted by the academic community. The article reconstructs and analyzes the basic provisions of the «unified science of man»: ideas about the anthropological ideal, the origin of man and the correlation of biological and social principles in his nature, the interrelation of freedom and necessity, external and internal freedom, the meaning and purpose of life, the relationship of personality and society. The paper concludes that in the 1980s there was developed a strategy in the USSR for the holistic solution of the philosophical problems of man based on the creative development of classical Marxism, which could subsequently lead to the transition of Russian philosophical anthropology and philosophy in general to a whole new level. Due to external circumstances, this work was actually stopped at the very beginning, and the task declared paramount in terms of scientific and social significance was never solved.