Abstract

The article is devoted to such an ambiguous concept as «virtual reality». The growth of interest in the idea of virtual reality has caused widespread use of the term in different meanings. But it is not developed a unified philosophical concept of this phenomenon still. It is possible to speak about virtuality only contextually. In this paper we study the main stages of formation and development of the «virtual» concept in the field of scientific knowledge from European antiquity to the postmodern era. As a result two tenches of interpretation of a concept of virtus which are based on Plato or Aristotle’s interpretation of the over – empirical one were revealed. In the modern knowledge it was allocated three approaches to the interpretation of virtuality: ontological, private­scientific and approach, shaped by the development of computer and information technologies. Along with it, the retrospective analysis of the Indian philosophical thought for signs ideas virtuality in the ancient texts is carried out. These features were found in the concept of Maya. For the analysis were used the signs of virtual reality developed by N. A. Nosov: porozhdennost, a relevanced; an autonomy; an integrative.