Background. The article discusses the problems of didactic knowledge in the current conditions of transformation of Russian education system in the first quarter of the 21st century. Objectives. Three circles of problems are considered, including: the place and role of didactic knowledge in the system of educational sciences; sources and essence of transformations of didactic ideas in the modern world; promising directions for the development of didactic knowledge. Methods. The leading logic of the study is the comparison of the paradigmatic and traditional historical approaches to the analysis of didactic phenomena, the result of the synthesis of which include the concepts of “modernity” as an attitude and of “regimes of historicity” of knowledge. Results. As a result of the article, two typical “regimes of historicity” are presented, characteristic of didactic research and reconstruction, as well as a system of “spheres”, each of which includes a set of problems, interpretations and strategies for the development of didactic knowledge. Conclusions. Didactics is multidimensional and multifunctional, it combines three time plans into a single whole — past, present and future, responding to the current challenges of contemporary reality.