IN SEARCH OF THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE: FACTS AND REFLECTIONS(DEDICATED TO THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, PROFESSOR V. F. OLESHKO)

In the context of the history of journalism in the Urals and the formation of the Ural Scientific School of Journalism, the formation of the scientist and philosopher V. F. Oleshko is shown. The author considers it as following the Philosopher’s stone. In the Old Russian tradition, khojenie (the walking) told about people who set out on a journey not because of war, famine, or to convey a message, but out of spiritual necessity. The facts of V. F. Oleshko’s biography show the need for their comprehension. The story of his life is considered as the formation of a science-oriented philosophical picture of the world.He became the leader of the Ural Scientific School of Journalism by “inheritance”, having defended his thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1998 under the scientific supervision of Professor V. A. Shandra.In the first quarter of the 21st century, philosophy and theory of journalism were closely integrated. In the author’s thoughts, gold is understood as the philosophy of journalism. The first steps towards the creation of a new, philosophical direction of the study of journalism are shown. The search for the Philosopher’s Stone in history is known as Magnum Opus (“The Great Deed”). The quintessence of the world, the most subtle substance in general, the “extract” of all the elements is man. A person as an object of journalism is the main component of any narrative, an actor, a hero of Existence.The Ural Theoretical School of Journalism carries the genes of both journalism and philosophy. V. F. Oleshko’s research demonstrates a phenomenon that the author calls scientropism. In his works, he examines current research issues such as dialogism, synergetics, meaning-making, reading culture, end-to-end digital technologies, digital anthropology, and freelance journalism. These examples show V. F. Oleshko’s approach to the Philosopher’s stone - the philosophy of journalism. The author presents a graph of scientific directions of philosophical journalism research.