ABSTRACT. The article discusses the impact of modern technologies on a person’s lifeworld: the anthropological transformations generated by large-scale digitalisation and virtualisation. The goal is to understand the specifics of modern technologies’ impact on a person and their lifeworld. Three groups of problems are analysed. The first group is related to the replacement of the real being by the virtual (the concept of ‘subontology’), to the identification of the effect of superdetermination by the virtual. The second one is aimed at analysing technological rationality. The third group involves the consideration of the virtual person phenomenon and its distinctive features. The methodological basis is the principle of sociocultural determination. It allows us to identify 1) the impact of the modern digital era on the lifeworld and 2) anthropological shifts that form a new type of person. The authors conclude that the subontology generated by digital algorithms and network interactions sets the suprapersonal scale of control. The new type of person is characterised by the presence of ‘digital skills.’ In the current situation, the boundaries between the real and the virtual are blurring. Socio-humanitarian reflection reveals and makes it possible to comprehend the negative consequences of the virtualisation of the lifeworld.

Keywords: virtualisation, subontology, technological rationality, virtual person.

How to cite: Gennadyevna Leshkevich, T., & Vladimirovna Kataeva, O. (2023). Virtualisation of the lifeworld and anthropological changes of the person of the digital era. Knowledge Cultures, 11(2), 92–109. https://doi.org/10.22381/kc11220236

Received 14 April 2023 • Received in revised form 20 April 2023
Accepted 25 April 2023 • Available online 1 August 2023