Metaphysics of labor in Russian culture: part two

Abstract

This paper is a continuation of a large study in two parts on the metaphysics of labor in Russian culture, literature and philosophy. In the second part of the work, the team of authors, continuing to consider the phenomenon of labor in synchronism and diachrony, addresses а person and its attitude towards work in a postmodern society. The phenomenon of labor is analyzed in close connection with economic, moral, axiological spheres of life of the modern man. One of the main issues in a current situation of globalism is the issue of relationship between categories of “labor” and “leisure”. Can civilization be built on a foundation of leisure and not labor? Global transformation of the axiological status of labor has occurred in the culture of modern society. This process has got not only economic metrics associated with production and consumption, but also affects an axiological layer of culture associated with existential experiences of the individual. Man does not just work to satisfy his physical needs; the teleology of labor is always important, which implies answers to the questions: “For what does a person work?” and “For what is he ready to spend his free time of his life?” In a postindustrial, networked, consumer society, principles of the global Protestant work ethic, which constituted the foundation of capitalist civilization, no longer work. The study involved analytical, historical, descriptive and systematic methods of analysis.