Anthropological analysis of the prerequisites for the emergence of formalism

The article attempts to identify the philosophical-anthropological prerequisites for the emergence of formalism in domestic culture. Through artistic examples, it illustrates the transformation of human self-consciousness under the influence of this movement, analyzes its philosophical and worldview content, and identifies and characterizes the differences between formalism and related literary movements of the early last century. The subject of the study is the philosophical-anthropological content of Russian formalism – the set of hidden notions about man that underlie formalist theory. Specifically, it analyzes: the anthropological prerequisites for the emergence of formalism as a response to the crisis of traditional self-consciousness in the modern era; the technique of "defamiliarization" as a strategy for combating the automation of perception, reflecting the transformation of human consciousness under the influence of industrialization and urbanization; the rejection of authorial intention as a symptom of the decentering of the subject in early 20th-century culture. The subject is limited to the framework of domestic culture of the Silver Age (1910–1920s) and does not extend to the methodology of formalism as such. The methodological foundation consists of historical-literary analysis of primary texts by formalists, a philosophical-anthropological approach to uncover hidden anthropology of "defamiliarization," and comparative-historical and contextual methods within an interdisciplinary approach to the culture of the Silver Age. The novelty of this work lies in the comprehensive examination of Russian formalism as a phenomenon reflecting the deep transformations of human self-consciousness in the modern era, rather than merely as a methodological direction in literary studies. Unlike traditional studies focused on the analysis of formal techniques and theoretical concepts, this work is the first in domestic science to synthesize historical-literary analysis with a philosophical-anthropological approach. It reconstructs the hidden anthropological program of formalism. The article demonstrates how the proclaimed rejection of content and authorial intention conceals a radical rethinking of the nature of human perception in the context of industrial society. A particular novelty lies in the interpretation of the technique of "defamiliarization" as an anthropological strategy for resisting the automation of consciousness caused by urbanization, mechanization, and the destruction of traditional values.