About theoretical and pedagogical thought in Russia

The purpose of the work is to study the state of theoretical and pedagogical thought in Russia (epistemological and methodological aspect), which is defined as critical. Theoretical pedagogy does not create anything new (and essential) in relation to a person who is growing and being educated (the subject of pedagogy). The reason is following the positivist epistemology, the possibilities of which were exhausted in the 20th century (human epistemology as a biopsychosocial reality). The work's methodology is based on A.A. Gagaev’s idealistic-substrate reflection. The research provides a critique of the educational approach that fails to take into account the middle-range psyche and behavior of humans and instead introduces them into the worlds of liberal-pragmatic existence (the Western positivist-competence-based model of education). The research provides an illustration of the harmfulness of this concept in education (based on the opinions of A. Peccei, K. Jaspers, and other sociologists about the human being in the Western community). The research postulates and substantiates the need to address the epistemology of man as a universal being in Russian pedagogy (the idea goes back to the works of V.I. Vernadsky, R. Lanza, K.E. Tsiolkovsky, P. Teilhard de Chardin et al.). Man as a universal subjectivity (universal semantics and intentions in human psyche and behavior), man as an inherently (by birth) determined spirituality (the idea of Plato), contemplation(non-targeted intuitive-logical cognition) as a person's ascent to himself, non-interference pedagogy (an idea that dates back to the works of L.N. Tolstoy), and the metaphorization of pedagogical language (the retention of large meanings) – these epistemological constructs are proposed as tools for a new universal-social pedagogy. They are intended to help retain the essential aspects of human development and education.