History of the future as futurology in the discourse of modern Chinese fantastic literature

Abstract

Introduction. The article considers the historical, philosophical and ideological implications of the concept of the history of the future in the context of the development of modern Chinese fiction. The history of the future is interpreted as a conceptual tool for influencing culture and mass consciousness in the context of transformations of modern history and historiography. Fiction is seen as the development of social expectations in the field of mass culture and collective consciousness. The urgency of the article. The relevance of the article is due to the formation of the latest paradigm of historical narrative and discourse in modern information culture and their impact on the mass consciousness and correlation with ideology. The aim of the study. The aim of the article is to study the peculiarities of the interpretation of the functioning of the concept of the history of the future in modern historical narrative and discourse, as well as to clarify the intentionality of this process and its effects on mass consciousness and ideology. Methods used in the study: textual analysis of sources, historical and philosophical analysis, analytical and hermeneutical methods in combination with contemporary history of ideas and culturological approach.

The results research is based on the following considerations. The concept of the history of the future in the context of the research topic is interpreted not only as a form of representation and translation of historical knowledge and ideas, but also as a marker of the meaning-generating potential of the philosopher of history within the picture of the human world and his life (lebenswelt). Chinese fantasy discourse is interpreted not only as a part of literature and culture, but also as a necessary structural element of ideological constructions and the basis for the formation of worldview knowledge in the modern media space. The ambivalent nature of the instrumental humanism of modern Chinese fiction and its affinity with the ideology of transhumanism are emphasized. Particular attention is paid to fantastic discourse as a space for formalizing negative social, environmental and security expectations. There is a well-founded connection between the peculiarities of modern Chinese fiction and the mythology of the collective ancestral consciousness, which is inherent in the Eastern tradition in general. The ethical and ontological ambivalence of the ideological approach to history as the history of the future is formalized. It also points to the paradoxical nature of futurological prognosis in the latest Chinese fiction discourse, associated with the critique of Western anthropocentrism, which may justify the superiority of the total approach to social reality and the devaluation of fundamental humanistic values. The originality and novelty of the study is based on the interpretation of the concept of future history as a marker of transformations of modern history, philosophy of history and historiography, as well as the impact of these transformations on mass consciousness and culture, social ideology.

Conclusion. The effectiveness of the concept of the history of the future as a cognitive tool and at the same time a marker of ontologization of the narrative of literature and culture in general is determined by the methodological foundations of the latest theoretical historical research.

Liu Qixing’s Futurological and Social Problems in Memory of the Earth’s Past (2006-2010) and Contemporary Chinese Fiction in general cultivate a kind of non-anthropocentric humanism that can be greatly simplified and reduced to a set of social imperatives and ideological clichйs. In our opinion, such a critique of anthropocentrism can reduce the problem of choosing the future to agnostic-fatalistic worldviews. In the social dimension, this could mean the inevitable crisis of the model of democracy in societies and socio-political formations of cosmic proportions and those that have gone beyond the planetary cradle.