In Search of the Basis of Conscious Existence (Thinking About a Book)

The article deals with the original concept of subjectivity, which is developed by the famous German researcher Dieter Henrich and is based on the traditions of German classical philosophy. The peculiarities of this concept are comprehended in the context of modern studies of consciousness and subjectivity and its ideo­logical potential for understanding and for criticizing analytical and phenomeno­logical concepts of consciousness, as well as naturalism in its various modifica­tions, is revealed. D. Henrich offers an alternative to the naturalistic way of studying subjectivity through methods and means of philosophical, speculative thinking itself, which he understands as “categorically disciplined striving be­yond the boundaries of the obvious and convincingly provable”. In fact, he brings us back to metaphysics. The author emphasizes that Henrich seeks to consider subjectivity consistently and comprehensively, from the first person point of view, precisely as the identity of subjectivity. Such ideological perspective specifically clarifies the problems of self-awareness, sociality, moral conscious­ness, the meaning of life and freedom, arising from a person’s self-knowledge and from thoughts perceiving way of thinking. All that, according to Henrich, forms the process of self-understanding of conscious life. The most valuable to the author is Henrich’s understanding of subjectivity as an integral phenomenon and of substantiation of a person’s importance as a subject that creates by his endless efforts the forms of culture and life. In this context, the concept of “the reality of freedom” which was proposed by Henrich and which is realized in the process of overcoming the reappearing dilemma of freedom and the deter­minism of the course of events in the world, looks very promising.