The Future as a Philosophical Problem

Abstract

The article examines the future as a distinct philosophical problem inseparable from the broader issue of temporality. It demonstrates that the Enlightenment belief in linear progress was an uncritically accepted metaphysical premise rooted in the externalist ontology of modernity. Drawing on the philosophy of Plato, Aristotle, and the Neoplatonists, Heidegger's phenomenology, quantum physics, and postmodern thought, the article shows the plurality of possible temporal models and, consequently, the plurality of images of the future. It analyzes the consequences of the revision of the classical concept of time in 20th-century physics, namely the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. The conclusion is that the choice of a particular philosophy of time is an essential prerequisite for any serious forecasting, planning, and social architecture of the future. Finally, the article substantiates the need to develop a consensual Russian philosophy of time as the basis for a sovereign model of historical anticipation grounded in Orthodox metaphysics and the Russian historical tradition.