Philosopher constructing an era (To the 90th anniversary of Academician V. S. Stepin)

The article analyzes the contribution of the outstanding modern philosopher, teacher, organizer of science, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, honorary professor of the Belarusian State University Vyacheslav Semenovich Stepin (1934–2018), author of fundamental works in the field of philosophy and methodology of science, social philosophy, philosophy of culture and cultural studies, which was given the opportunity to construct an era. The main achievements of the philosopher are noted: a detailed analysis of the structure of scientific knowledge, the creation of a holistic concept of its dynamics; discovery of the procedure for constructive justification and solution of the problem of the genesis of paradigmatic samples as part of the theory; analysis of the structure and functions of the foundations of science. The scientist presented them both as an aspect of the internal structure of scientific knowledge, and as a kind of mediating link between scientific knowledge and cultural tradition. From this point of view, he identified in all components of the foundations of science special layers of meanings that express their sociocultural conditionality and ensure the inclusion of new scientific theories and facts in the flow of cultural transmission; development of the concept of philosophical knowledge as reflection on the basic values of culture, disclosure of mechanisms that provide heuristic and predictive functions of philosophy in scientific research: identification and detailed analysis of historical types of scientific rationality (classical, nonclassical, post-non-classical science); development of a concept of types of civilizational development that synthesizes the positive content of “formational” and “civilizational” approaches to the analysis of society. An analysis was carried out from these positions of the basic values of modern, technogenic civilization and possible scenarios for its development were developed. Dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Academician V. S. Stepin.