FROM THE HIERARCHY OF NEEDS TO THE HIERARCHY OF DUTY

Abstract

Introduction. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (known as Maslow’s Pyramid) has been the subject of analysis in many studies (N. R. Bukeikhanov, S. I. Gvozdkova, A. P. Nikishechkin, Z. K. Anaeva, S. I. Khaidaeva), which has not lost its relevance so far. It expresses the hierarchy established in modern society (based on the Western value system), expressing the priorities of individualism, hedonism, and consumerism. Russian culture, based on Christianity (as a basic religious and ethical system), proceeds from the opposite priorities of conciliarity, solidarity, and sacrifice. The latter find expression, in particular, in the ethics of duty, the opposition of which to the ethics of individualism is the subject of the study. The purpose of the study is to construct a hierarchy (Pyramid) of duty, opposite to the Pyramid of Needs, and in some parameters related to it. Methods. The historical and genetic research method is used to identify the main aspects of forming value hierarchies. The method of socio-cultural reflection is used to build the Pyramid of Duty. In order to correlate the Pyramid of Needs and the Pyramid of Duty, a comparative historical research method is used. Christian ethics (basic for Russian culture) is used as the main system of value coordinates. The works of Russian religious philosophers (V. S. Solovyov, N. F. Fedorov, N. A. Berdyaev) serve as the methodological basis for the study. The materials for the study are works of literature and art. The scientific novelty of the research. The article is not limited to a critical analysis of the Pyramid of Needs, but, based on it and in connection with it, offers an alternative hierarchy of values, built (based on the priorities of the national Christian philosophical tradition) into the Pyramid of Duty. Results. Maslow’s Pyramid is aimed at striving for what is “equal” to me (to search for and realize my identity) as the highest and last goal. The Pyramid of Duty proceeds from this aspiration, identifying it as fulfilling a duty to oneself (one’s destiny, destiny, God’s plan), but does not stop at it, considering it to be the initial and “end-to-end”. It is inscribed in all other human purposes, opening up, developing (“growing up”) through their implementation. The Pyramid of Duty is aimed at striving for something that is “bigger” than me, that goes beyond the boundaries of my self, not allowing it to turn into egocentrism, egotheism. This is the fulfillment of a duty (coming from a sense of responsibility) to close and distant people. Together with the first step, the latter form the “circles” of my responsibility in the human world proper (increasingly going beyond the boundaries of my self). The next circle is my duty to the earthly homeland, that is, to the natural and super-natural existence, in which the actual human real being is born and actualized. This includes responsibility to nature and history (past, ancestors, traditions, established national culture). The highest step is the duty to the heavenly homeland, to God. The duty to God is fulfilled through the fulfillment of one’s divine destiny (the connection of the initial and highest stage), through the fulfillment of duty to close and distant people, to one’s earthly homeland (all this is expressed in the relevant Christian commandments); through God-creation. Thus, all the steps of the Pyramid of Duty form an interconnected, hierarchically built whole, ascending along which a person becomes “more” than he is, becoming a God-man.