Gurdjieff’s anthropology: the concept of conscious human evolution

Ryazan State University named for S. Yesenin, department “Philosophy”, 390000 Ryazan, Russian Federation

^* Corresponding author: nesmeyanoff.e@yandex.ru

Abstract

The main purpose of the article is the disclosure of the ideas of Gurdzhiyev’s anthropological doctrine in which the possibility of spiritual transformation of the person and his conscious evolution are emphasized. The author claims that in the conditions of dissociation of approaches and positions in the anthropological thought there is a need of appeal to the anthroposophic systems designed to fill onesidedness of such directions as psychoanalysis (in many respects absolutizing a role of unconscious processes), the behaviorism (concentrating on behavioral aspect of human existence), the existentialism (emphasizing hopelessness “abandonment of life in the world”). According to the author one of such systems is Gurdzhiyev’s system of conscious evolution of the person, the so-called “The Fourth Way” which is eligible for the status of the translater of the experience of Gnostic tradition in the 20th century.