The presented work is the first attempt in Ukrainian socio-philosophical thought to conceptualize postmetaphysical thinking (both in Habermasian and postmodernist interpretation) as a necessary condition for the formation of the postsecular state of social consciousness.
The dissertation is devoted to the research of postsecular turn in social cognition, which reflects a new type of relations between secular and religious spheres in modern society.
The work is the result of rethinking postmetaphysical thinking as a necessary condition for the formation of a postsecular paradigm.
Two approaches to the critique of metaphysics are singled out and characterized: the epistemological approach of the scientistic elimination of metaphysics and the ontological approach of negative metaphysics, which together create horizons of postmetaphysical thinking. The epistemological approach, which emphasizes the conditions and procedures of cognition, prefers the structural-formal analysis of the metaphysical method of cognition, refusing to consider the subject area of metaphysical thinking as important. Ontological critique of metaphysics, without denying the importance of its subject area, takes the form of meaningful overcoming of metaphysical thinking as one-sided and insufficient.
A distinction is made between antimetaphysical and postmetaphysical strategies of philosophizing, the latter of which is not a rejection of metaphysics, but a restriction of its privileged access to absolute knowledge. Postmetaphysical thinking is a way of renewing philosophy, which on the one hand denies any worldview or philosophical system the ability to know the limits of existence, and on the other – refocuses philosophy on understanding the existing, everyday, not related to supernatural human existence. Thus, postmetaphysical thinking creates the conditions for changing the role of philosophy: from the owner of the true knowledge of life in general to the mediator in interdisciplinary and intercultural communication.
Two aspects of the connection between postmetaphysical thinking and the formation of the postsecular paradigm have been identified. The first, derived from Kantian philosophy, is the use of the "court of reason" in relation to philosophy, including secularist, which limits its powers in describing the structures of existence. The second, found in Nietzsche's words about the "death of God," contributes to the weakening of theology, which also abandons ontological statements and moves to hermeneutic practices. Thus, there is a weakening of metaphysical claims to universal truth on the part of both philosophy and theology, which ultimately leads to the possibility of their dialogue "on an equal footing."
It is substantiated that the completion of metaphysics means a loss of confidence in any metanarratives, including secularism. The prefix "post" is used to the present era, it concerns the end of secularism, but not the end of secularity.
The results obtained are of essential practical importance for resolving issues related to conflicts on religious grounds, and can serve as an argument for the implementation of the political principle of "equality of citizens of the state with their cultural differences."
Thus, the dissertation clarifies the role of postmetaphysical thinking in the formation of the postsecular paradigm.
