Knowledge society or arts-and-religion society? Dispute about the nature of human beings

Abstract

It is commonly believed that ‘knowledge society’ is a new phenomenon, discussed in literature since late 1980s. However, while the term ‘knowledge society’ seems new, indeed, the author argues, following the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, that the phenomenon denoted by this term was shaped two and a half thousand years ago by Greek philosopher Socrates and his disciple Plato. The discussion on the phenomenon of knowledge society, making a significant imprint on the shape of modern world, could not be fully understood without reference to its origins or the nature of its overarching goals. Knowledge society is, in fact, a society based on ascetic ideals adopted by Christianity a few centuries after Socrates and Plato. The prevalence of those ideas signifies, from Nietzsche's perspective, a malady of mankind and Western culture. However, it may be overcome through reliance on aristocratic ideals and knowledge based on those ideals. The author begins his arguments on the subject by characterising the knowledge society which is embedded in globalisation processes and a vision of ‘new cosmology’, its theoretical rationale. Then he explains how those phenomena go back to ascetic ideals formulated by Socrates and shows, in the context of disputes about human nature, one possible direction in which knowledge society may evolve: towards arts-and-religion-based society.