Russian author, Igor Vladimirovich Vishev, who introduced the concept of "immortology" (science of immortality) as well as "homo immortalis" (man immortal) into scientific use, celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the death of Russian intrepid immortalist philosopher, Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov.
PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE AND OPTIMISM
by: I.V. Vishev
In all times, whatever problems seize humans, there's never been a more important one than human life, death and immortality. Indeed, it has become the central problem for any world outlook, because it is impossible to reflect upon life without touching upon death, and the thought about the latter with will necesserily raise the issue of human immortality, otherwise hopeless pessimism and desperate tragic element will start to prevail. In order to "soften" this sad frame of mind, immortality was interpreted as immortalizing oneself in deeds, descendants and their memory or in different religious doctrines of postmortem existence and reward. But in any case the necessity and inevitability of actual death is presupposed, owing to divine plan, the incurability of human sinfulness, the force of objective laws in the course of spontaneous natural evolution or other causes. That's the subject, in its diverse aspects, disputed for centuries and millenniums.
But among the diverse views on the problem of human life, deaths and immortality there is a philosophical doctrine, which, in spite of all its contradictoriness and inconsequence, globally and radically challenged death in the name of the triumph of life and optimism. It is the philosophy of common task by Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov (1829-1903), the 100-year anniversary of whose death is now being commemorated. It is only 100 years, only one century! But still a lot has happened since then. In XX century, especially in the end of it and in the beginning of the following century a number of discoveries of a principled significance have been made, which made many of Fedorov's ideas extremely topical, put them on the agenda. Many, but, naturally, not all of them.
Fedorov belongs to Russian religious philosophers. Just this circumstance doomed his doctrine to nonconstructive criticism and kept it outside of positive perception. Both before and now, such aspects are emphasized in it, which really deserve critical attitude. However the philosophy of common task can by no means be reduced to them. We, unfortunately, too often overlook the admonition of the wise, which says that to reject this or that doctrine (the way, for example, Feuerbach did with Hegel's philosophy and its dialectics) does not mean to overcome it, one can «pour out the child together with the water». Naturally, Fedorov was the son of his time, paid tribute to these or those conceptions, which are now to a certain extent outdated. But it is other ideas that make Fedorov's philosophy of common task fairly valuable.
For milleniums people lived with a firm conviction that mortality was a human attribute and integral property, that only gods were immortal and people were mortal. Fedorov was the first to resolutely dispute the mortalistic paradigm. «Mortality, - he pointed out, - has become a general organic fault, a handicap that we do not notice any more, and we do not consider it to be a fault, or a handicap». Fedorov declared categorically for the elimination thereof. «Death, - he asserted is a property, a condition which has its causes, but it is not a quality, without which a human being ceases to be what he is and what he should be». It means, that a human being will sill be a human being when he gains the ability to live unrestrictedly long.
But indeed, «the stumbling-block» was Fedorov's idea about the resurrection of the dead, i.e. the philosophy of common task has set the aim to eliminate death not only in the present and future, but also in the past, in other words, the death that has already happened. It was the global opposition to death that was, according to Fedorov, to become the common task of all people, the basis for their unity. A really daring idea! And the first, quite understandable response is with Chekhov's words - «it can not be, because can never be».
Meanwhile, the main way to solve this problem and other connected with it was seen by this original Russian humanist thinker in «regulation» of the spontaneous course of natural evolution which generated death, in introducing human «consciousness and will» based on the achievements of technological advance, especially on its future successes, into these processes.
And one century later our modern science, once again to the disgrace of hasty sceptics, discoveres the actual directions and means of overcoming death, including the resurrection of the dead. It, first of all, an actual possibility of cloning of a human being, when a whole organism can be recovered from a cell; the telomere therapy which can eventually eliminate the natural limit of cell division; the regeneration of stem cells and embryo tissue permitting to substitute any organ without biological rejection; the decryption of the human genome, that opens the way to change the genetic gear of habitability to prevent aging and natural death; the further development of nanotechnology and many other things. So, already now it would be possible to develop the technology of mumification of the dead, for the cells of their organisms to be kept until the time when the cloning method is ripe enough. There many unsolved problems, quite justified fears and doubts in these different areas of research. But one can not but take into consideration that today's achievements of science are not at the final ones. So let us not look for difficulties in opportunities, but vice-versa, find opportunities in difficulties for the sake of the final triumph of life and optimism. This is the principle that Russian thinker Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov followed, who, by rights, deserved our deep respect and gratitude. His humanist ideas of victory above aging and natural death requiring fitting social relations for their implementation, doubtlessly, merit the interested attention of our contemporaries.
I.V. Vishev ,
Doctor of Philosophy,
Professor of Chair of Philosophy
South-Ural State University (Chelyabinsk, Russia),
A member (academician) of the Academy of the humanities
Link to Russian Translation of "Philosophy of Life & Optimism":
http://imminst.org/f...e=post&id=26671
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VISHEV, Igor Vladimirovich (born 5.05.1933, Volsk, Saratov region), doctor of Philosophy, professor, member of the Humanities Academy, expert on philosophical anthropology and religion. In 1947 as a result of an accident (strong chemical burn of the face and the eyes with metallic potassium) he completely lost his eyesight. In 1958 he graduated from Faculty of philosophy of Moscow State University and went to work at the Chelyabinsk Polytechnical Institute. He worked as an assistant, a senior teacher (1964), a senior lecturer (1968) a professor of the Chair of philosophy (1989). In 1964 he protected his candidate dissertation entitled «Social and Moral Sense of the Ten Biblical Commandments», in 1990 on the basis of the collection of his scientific works he protected his doctor's dissertation in the form of a scientific report entitled «The Problem of Death and Immortality of Man: Formation, Evolution, Prospects of Solving». Dr Vishev's main scientific interest is the development of the concept of practical immortality of man, whose basic idea is the necessity and the possibility of achieving biological and social conditionality not limited by any species limit of individual life under an indispensable condition of preservation of optimum parameters of corporal and spiritual ability to live, i.e. solving the triple task of strengthening the person's health, preservation of his youth and achieving practical immortality. Dr Vishev traced the evolution of "mortality" materialism which acknowledged the inevitability of death, into immortality materialism which proved the reachability of real personal immortality, and the prospect of transition from mortality model of progress based on indispensable change of generations, to immortality model of progress which presupposes the elimination of the mechanism of generation changes as an indispensable factor bio-and sociogenesis and at the same time the continuing growth of mankind. He introduced the concept of "immortology" (science of immortality) as well as "homo immortalis" (man immortal) into scientific use. He published more than 200 scientific and methodical works, including 12 books and 5 publications in foreign languages. He took part in the 9th International Congress of Gerontologists(Kiev, 1972) and the XIX World Philosophical Congress (Moscow, 1993).
Dr Vishev is married with two children, three grandchildren, he is fond of skiing and skating, swimming, playing chess and many other games, solving crossword puzzles, gardening, the car driven by his son, works on a computer.
His basic works: Radical Prolongation of People's Lives. Sverdlovsk, 1988; The Problem of Personal Immortality. Novosibirsk, 1990; Immortality of Man. Is it reachable? Minsk, 1990; Problems of Immortality: Book 1: The Problem of Individual Immortality in the history of Russian Philosophical Thinking of XIX-XX Centuries. - Chelyabinsk, 1993; Homo Immortalis - Man Immortal. Chelyabinsk, 1999; The Problem of Immortality Man in Russian Philosophy: Persons and Ideas: Manual. In 2 parts. Chelyabinsk, 1999, 2000; On the Way to Practical Immortality. Ì., 2002.
Basic publications about I.V. Vishev: Yurchenko I. Is the Circle of Youth Closed? // Sovietskaya Russia, 1981, September, 30; Golovanov L. The Glove Has Been Thrown// Book review, 1990, November, 9; Fonotov M. Invitation to Immortality // The Chelyabinsk Worker, 1991, July, 6; Zhuravloyva S. Igor Vishev - a Bolshevik Who Believes in Immortality // The Chelyabinsk Worker, 1995, February, 25; Chistoserdova N. A Legend about Love // Vecherniy Chelyabinsk, 1999, April, 13; Korotkaya T. Immortality is Possible // Komsomolskaya Pravda, 2000, April, 21; Popov L. Can Man Live Forever? // the Urals Courier, 2001, March, 14; Popov L. Man Can and Must Become Free from Death // Aloye Pole, 2001, November (#8).
Link to Russian Translation of Vishev's Resume:
http://www.imminst.o...t=0
