Freedom in the Era of "New Normal": Ontological Instability as a Factor of Development

Abstract

The article undertakes a philosophical reflection on how the category of freedom is transforming under the conditions of the "new normal." The subject of the research is the category of freedom as a fundamental ontological category. The author analyzes the ontological shift from stable being to permanent changeability, relying on quantum physics, the thermodynamics of non-equilibrium processes, synergetics, and the achievements of modern science, which serve as the foundation for a neo-positivist philosophical paradigm. The thesis is presented that ontological instability, traditionally perceived as a threat to subjectivity, becomes a necessary condition for the unfolding of freedom as a process of self-development in contemporary realities. Thus, freedom changes its ontological status and becomes a substantial characteristic of the new subject of post-industrial society, without which the emergence of a creative social subject capable of adapting to a dynamic reality and new forms of spiritual production is impossible. The dialectic of chaos and order is examined in the context of post-nonclassical rationality, and freedom is interpreted as an art of navigation in the flow of becoming. Special attention is given to the existential dimension of freedom, the identity crisis as a resource for liberation, the socio-philosophical aspects of managing uncertainty, and the ethical implications of freedom as risk. The author analyzes basic historical concepts of the idea of "freedom," considers the main models of unfolding freedom in different cultural and historical realities, justifies the need to transition from an essentialist to a process-existential model of freedom at the current stage, which is adequate to the challenges of the contemporary era, and shows that embracing the fragility of the world opens up the horizon for a genuine subject. The transformation of the category of freedom occurs within the unfolding of the "new normal," characterized by the development of diverse centrifugal forces. A logical development of social processes in the "new normal" is the identity crisis, which the author analyzes from the perspective of the development of the phenomenon of "multiple identities." "Multiple identities" become not only a new form of personal identification in the modern social space but also a new way of articulating the category of freedom.