Change of Generations: Essence and Reality (Ontological Point of View)

The ontological interpretation of the phenomenon of “changing generations” is fundamentally different from the current understanding of “change of generations”. The ontological approach presupposes an answer to the most important question: to what extent does the “generation” represented in reality correspond to its “nature”, its “essence”, its “definition”. Hence, until recently, we observed precisely the “qualitative”, “essential” classification of generations – “lost generation”, “great generation”, “silent generation”, “baby boomers”, “Buddenbroks dynamics”, “Jefferson formula”. Today’s anonymous numbering of generations is X, Y, Z, Alfa, Beta, Gamma etc. – does not imply such a goal. Today’s (postmodern) vision is focused rather on the “digital-centricity” and “computer competence/familiarity” of new generations. From an ontological point of view, it is important to see to what extent in reality this or that generation reflects not so much itself as the “spirit of the times”, to what extent it is a “significant generation”, expresses a “needed future”, to what extent it contains the social pathos of “solidarism”, “humanitarian” and “civilizational” characteristics of human society. The “mental crisis” may be that the acquisition of “digital virtues” will be purchased at the price of an unacceptable ontological loss. “Homo non vult esse nisi homo.” – A person does not want to be anything other than a person (Nikolai Kuzansky). Ontological “definition” in this sense seems to hold every social “thing” in its “essential”, “programmatic” certainty. The conclusion suggests itself. An ontological view of the phenomenon of “new generations” can play the role of “methodological resistance” to the “digital reductionism” into which the human existence of “new” generations can easily plunge.