On the Ontological Purpose of Man

The position is substantiated that the possibility of overcoming chaos in the value sphere and the infinity of the processes of “revaluation of values” is associated with the search and acquisition of a person’s existential purpose. If in religious teachings the processes of transcendence, movement towards the “super-rational” and “supernatural” act as a condition for the formation of absolute values, then in philosophy different types of transcendence are considered. In the modern situation, in the conditions of the “struggle against metaphysics,” it becomes relevant not only to determine meaning and significance, but also to substantiate the right to the existence of the transcendent. At the same time, it is shown that the contradictions of the rapidly developing, high-tech world are the basis for searching for ways to reach the transcendent. The concept of the transcendent is explicated in the process of considering eternal philosophical problems, such as: the search for the integrity of the world; defining the boundaries of knowledge and transformation of reality; man’s acquisition of his own existence. It is shown that the fight against various kinds of “centrisms” leads to the formation of a new integrity, the basis of which is permanent variability and multidirectionality. The success of goal-oriented rational activity ultimately leads to the formation of such problems, the overcoming of which is possible only if one goes beyond the limits of empirical reality. The value of thought lies not in the fact that it reflects the objective world, but in the possibility of a person introducing personal, original things into the world he describes. Consequently, both in religion and in philosophy, a person is endowed with an “ontological purpose”, and the question of gaining/giving up the search for being is in the horizon of his (man’s) decisions. It is concluded that without access to the transcendental, the search for personal existence, value foundations, and cognitive truths is impossible, since all forms of activity carried out within the phenomenal world will lead to stagnation. The transition from phenomenal to noumenal being is necessary in order to set a different hierarchy, form other evaluation criteria and methods of systematization.