Cartesian paradigm of tne subject crisis as an «epistemic shift»

Philosophy

Abstract

The paper focuses on the analysis of Cartesian paradigm of the subject and its critical reflection in the Postmodern. The methodology of the research is an integration of the two schools such as classical philosophy of rationalism and structuralism. Moreover, not only the fundamental works of the representatives of these schools would be regarded, but the works of their methodological successors as well. The scientific consideration of human nature and identity and the subject and subjectivity begins right from the classical philosophy of rationalism. Structuralism set out the cornerstones for the studies of mechanisms of functioning of the subject and social that is logically continuedin poststructuralism. Apart from that, at the heart of poststructuralism there is a methodological differentiation of the Premodern, the Modern and the Postmodern that is of great importance for the research. The main provisions of Cartesian subjectivity, which became the basis for the subsequent criticism in the 20th-century philosophy, are designated in the paper. It is concluded that the epistemological transformation of the subject in the poststructuralist methodology leads to the «epistemic shift» and isolation of the three forms of the subject, such as the Renaissance episteme, the classical episteme and the modern episteme that will present the Premodern, the Modern and the Postmodern. The gradual devaluation of the subject, which can be seen in epistemes, leads to a crisis of identity, the alienation of man from himself and to what might be called the death of the subject.