Berdyaev’s “Culture – Civilization” Dualism as an Antagonism between Spiritual Freedom and Material Utilitarianism

The object of the study is the cultural concept of N.A. Berdyaev, his doctrine of the categories of “culture” and “civilization” under conditions of technological progress. The author examines its content in detail through three analytical dimensions: origin and essence, logic of development, and value orientation, and also clarifies the nature of the conceptual tension between these categories. Special attention is paid to the key provisions of Berdyaev: culture is rooted in the sacredness of sacrifice, expresses spiritual freedom and individual creativity, developing according to the hierarchical logic “from above to below”; civilization, on the other hand, has a secular origin, is associated with the practical development of nature, relies on instrumental rationality, and is formed according to the democratic logic “from below to above”. The study is based on a comprehensive approach including cultural analysis, philosophical hermeneutics, and existential methodology. A special contribution of the author to the topic is a holistic threedimensional analysis of the opposition between culture and civilization, which reveals their fundamental contradictions and emphasizes that the dichotomy acts as an analytical tool, not an absolute, since in modern culture the spiritual and the material, the sacred and the profane are interpenetrating. The novelty of the study also lies in the fact that it substantiates the need for balance and dialectical unity of spiritual development and material practice, and also shows that understanding dualistic tension is an important step toward comprehending and overcoming modern cultural challenges. A key result of the study is the substantiation that, in the context of digitalization, Berdyaev’s ideas about the enslaving nature of civilization acquire new meaning.