Transformation of human transcendence in a consumer society (hermeneutic analysis)

Abstract

© Journal of Language and Literature. The aim of the article is a philosophical analysis of the implementation of essential, according to the author, human metaphysical need for transcendence in a consumer society. Through hermeneutical and comparative method we show that in the "era of post-transcendent" the transcendent can be substituted by the commodity form in which a modern consumer-person in addition to the use-value of goods also finds a converted metaphysical value. It is proved that the latter is affected by an advertising text, which actualizes metaphysical longing of a person for the transcendent. It is revealed that, despite the simulative nature of transcendence, the metaphysical goods value operates according to the principles of classical metaphysics of a man: a man can discover it only if he has an internal response to the metaphysical dimension. However, under the rule of consumer thinking a person realizes the act of transcendence in the hedonistic logic, without putting his own efforts and transforming himself.