How to Get Between Scylla and Charybdis? The Third Way of Philosophical Explanation

The article is devoted to the analysis of the phenomenon of philosophical explanation and its role in the development of philosophical thought. The author investigates the reasons why philosophers have traditionally sought to overcome two opposing extremes, proposing a “third way” as an alternative to both positions. The study considers various historical examples of such an approach, from Kant – who sought to overcome the opposition between rationalism and empiricism – to contemporary philosophers. The question of the nature of philosophical progress is examined through an analysis of the relationship between critique, contradiction, and rationality. Using the example of the debate between proponents of dialectics and rationalism, particularly K. Popper, the article discusses whether philosophy should be understood as a process of gradual error elimination or as the formation of a complex, historically layered structure. It is argued that philosophy does not ultimately resolve contradictions but rather incorporates them into its own internal dynamic, which renders traditional models of cumulative progress insufficient for its description. The specific nature of philosophical explanation is analyzed as a distinct cognitive practice, oriented not so much toward eliminating contradictions as toward their explication and understanding. It is shown that philosophical explanation arises in response to the internal contradictions of philosophical experience and seeks to uncover the grounds that make this experience possible. It is demonstrated that philosophical explanation is characterized by temporal asymmetry: it is carried out retrospectively, from a historically deferred perspective. It is emphasized that explanation inevitably generates new oppositions and thus contributes to the development of philosophical thought. It is shown that the temporal delay of explanation is a condition of its productivity, allowing it to avoid a logical circle and to create a new understanding of the past. As a result, philosophy emerges as a historically conditioned practice in which explanation serves as a means of reinterpreting and problematizing its own conceptual structures.