Society 5.0: A self-devouring system

Abstract

The subject matter of the paper is a philosophical analysis of the civilization-cultural development strategy Society 5.0. The strategy emerged from the idea of the Japanese government formulated in 2016. A critical analysis shows that this development program contains systemic contradictions and risks. Nevertheless, the idea seems to be achieving the goals of modern humanism in the conditions of information civilization development. The research methodology stems from the principles of consistency, complementarity, fractality and the dialectics of the concepts which are as follows: culture and civilization, linear and nonlinear development, etc. There is much evidence that today the integration of mankind has become global. The process leads to, firstly, the changes in the scales of human subjectivity, and secondly, the attitude of man to chance and need. All these characteristics are fraught with threats to the holistic existence of mankind, and the possibility of people’s coming out of the crisis to the new levels of development. Private culture, which previously served as a powerful integrator of society, is losing the opportunity to carry out an ideological, and as a result, educational function in the conditions of an informational civilization. The transition of humanity from the monocultural to the multicultural way requires of relations between culture and civilization being based on the principles of complementarity. The construction of humanity as a self-organizing system is possible only through the management of civilization processes through culture, i.e., through the spiritual improvement of the human person. Evidence suggests that the principles laid down in the Society 5.0 development program do not meet these requirements. The program aims to implement the principle of positive feedback, as it tries to solve global problems of civilization with civilization practices. Theoretically, the achievement of harmonious relations between civilization and culture becomes possible on condition of the principle of complementarity. However, this principle also implies the rule of negative feedback.