Rhetoric of «worthless civilization»: lexemes of progress, decay and «devilish morality» in the texts of N.A. Berdyaeva

The subject of the study is the rhetorical organization of Berdyaev’s philosophical discourse based on lexemes and lexical-semantic fields associated with the concepts of progress, decay, and «devilish morality». The object of the study is the philosopher's texts from the late 19th – first half of the 20th century, which reveal the problems of civilization, morality and spiritual decay. The author examines the issues of semantic polarization of lexemes, the mechanisms of their amplification within rhetorical contexts and the ways in which these means produce emotional and evaluative tension in the text. Particular attention is paid not only to the lexemes themselves as units of language, but also to their pragmatic functioning in the text. The research methodology is based on a comprehensive approach in which lexical-semantic analysis is combined with discursive, pragmatic and stylistic interpretations, as well as historical and cultural analysis of the contexts of the emergence of Berdyaev's works. A special place in the methodological set is occupied by the analysis of metaphorical and mythological images through which the philosopher carries out criticism of modern civilization. The main conclusions of the study are that Berdyaev's rhetoric constructs the image of a «worthless civilization» through the systematic use of lexemes associated with progress, decay, and «devilish morality», and these lexical fields turn out to be not just descriptive means, but active pragmatic instruments of criticism. The polarization of semantics serves to create an evaluative contrast, which strengthens the apocalyptic tone of reasoning and transfers philosophical argumentation into the register of moral warning. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time the mechanism of semantic polarization is identified and theoretically substantiated as a key argumentation strategy for the philosopher, providing an apocalyptic moral-evaluative intonation in the text.

rhetoric of a worthless civilization, philosophical discourse, semantic polarization of lexemes, texts by N.A. Berdyaev, pragmatic functioning, apocalyptic moral-evaluative intonation, lexemes of progress, devilish morality, metaphorical images, lexical-semantic fields