Philosophy and Culture - rubric History of ideas and teachings

Abstract: The article discusses J. St. Mill’s views on justice (mostly based on the fifth chapter of his work “Utilitarism”). Despite the general tendency of utilitarian ethics to treat justice as something having a secondary meaning, J. St. Mill tried to retain the high status which justice has in actual ethic experience. In order to achieve this goal he distinguished several types of “benefit”. Idea of justice corresponds to one of such benefits, in particular, to satisfaction of the safety need. Trying to reason his position and to make it accessible both for utilitarians and followers of traditional and common sense ethics, Mill forecasted a few problems which are actively discussed nowadays and formulated a whole range of contradictory judgments on morals, ways to define the right (morally bound) behavior and principles of justice.

Abstract: The article is some kind of a philosophical excursus into Milan Kundera’s works. Thinking with the Czech writer and being oriented at the existential canon, the author discussed the semantic nuances of a number of fundamental metaphysical ideas: transcendency, transcendentality and immanence; subjectivity and objectivity; eternity, immortality and eternal come back.

Keywords: Milan Kundera, of this world, transcendency, transcendentality, immanence, subjectivity, objectivity, eternity, immortality, eternal come back.

Abstract: the article is interpreting the origins of bourgeois philosophy in respect to its classical authors, Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). Their theories reflected the period when England, advanced European country in the 17th century, moved from feudalism to capitalism. That period in economy was the epoch of the initial capitalistic “accumulation”, very similar to the times of the “wild” capitalism in Russia back in 1990s under the government of Boris Eltsin. Eltsin’s “wild” capitalism is still remembered by Russians for its tough social consequences which are not fully overcome even now. Discussions in classical philosophy devoted to the “labour pains” of the bourgeois society will be certainly of interest to thoughtful readers.

Keywords: philosophy, Enlightenment, knowledge, science, natural sciences, history, Renaissance, philosopher, activity, Marxism.

Abstract: Review: the article defines the “iconic” figures we often recall when we philosophize about everyday life. Researchers of common life such as Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida and Bourdieu, were greatly influenced by Marx. According to the author, modern authors admire all forms of everyday life. The author analyzed Nietzsche’s revolution against Everyday life and noted that post-modernists viewed common life as a “remainder” which is left after industrial, political and ideological phenomena. Key words: philosophy, everyday life, human worlds, post-modernism, individual, being, power, commonness, meta textuality.

Abstract: Review: the article is devoted to historicism as the method of learning the evolution of law. The author covered some ideas related to law and philosophy and analyzed some philosophers’ views

Keywords: philosophy, historicism, evolution, revolution, law, poverty, romanticism, idea, natural, theory

Abstract: Review: in the history of the Western Christian religion the name ‘Calvin’ associates with the term ‘destination’ as directly as the name “Bacon” associates with the expression ‘knowledge is the power’, Descartes with cogito, Hegel with dialectic and Nietzsche with ‘superman’ in the history of Western philosophy. The article discusses different aspects of Jean Calvin’s theology and his influence on European culture

Keywords: philosophy, providentialism, destination, theology, faith, fate, course, despondency, pride

Abstract: Review: in his article ‘Michel Tournier and World without the Other’ Deleuze talks about a human being and the role of the Other in a human existence. Deleuze based on Robinson’s story described by D. Defoe in the 18th century and by M. Tournier in the 20th century. Depending on presence or absence of the Other Deleuze distinguished the two anthroplogical types which, in turn, produced the two different words: the world of existence, systems, order and corresponding items and meanings and the world of freed elements of nature, beyond any time and beyond anything material.

Keywords: philosophy, Deleuze, Tournier, anthropological types, the Other, imagination, perception, simulacrum, Defoe, human, Plato

Abstract: The author of the article evidently proved the social and cultural priority of the anthropic principle of formation and proportioning in learning proportions and harmonic relations. The article also covers the particular features of anthropic principles, measures and unit measures in different cultural ethnos, architecture and culture of Old Russia. The author also made an attempt to justify the existence of the universal law lying in the basis of the human body’s proportions.

Keywords: philosophy, anthropic principle of formation and proportioning in ancient times, antique culture, other cultural and ethical systems. Old Russian anthropic measurement systems, systems of anthropic module proportioning

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.7.8834

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2017.2.21891

Abstract: The article traces the evolution of M. Gershenson's creativity as a pioner of intellectual biography studies. His publication in the "Landmarks" , formulated the political credo of Russian conservative liberalism, put the author in row with such outstanding Russian thinkers like N. Berdyaev, S. Bulgakov, V. Ivanov, G. Florovsky, G. Fedotov and others.The conclusion was made that Gershenson 's historical conception allows us to consider him one of the founders and the first historian of the "Russian idea".His sociopsychological portrait of Russian intelligentzia became a basis of the subsequent reasoning of Russian religious historiosophy about the alternatives of Russian intellectual history and fates of its creators.The synthesis of intellectual history and psychology proclaimed by M. Gershenson, extended the subject field of research the history of social and political idea of Russia, carried out the deep revision of world view bases of Westerner sand Slavophiles as two poles of "Russian Europeism" .

Keywords: historiography, conservative liberalism, Slavophiles, Westernizers, Russian Intelligentzia, intellectual history, personal history, M. O.Gershenson, historiosofy, Russian Idea

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2018.1.25291

Abstract: The object of this research is the problem of impact of the Athos-Byzantine hesychasm upon the personality and works of the Russian publicist of the XVI century Artemy Troitsky. The subject of analysis is his compositions viewed in the context of cultural-historical and religious-social situation of the era. Examination of his life and works is conducted with consideration of scientific results on this problematic in the pre-revolutionary, Soviet, and contemporary literature. The author also reviews the sociopolitical aspects of the activity of Russian hesychasts that found reflection primarily in the non-possessors movement. The following conclusions were made: the works of Artemy Troitsky mark unambiguous hesychast influence; his hesychasm in multiple aspects differs from the theological-philosophical doctrine of the late Byzantine hesychasm, Palamism, and established as a result of hesychast disputes Byzantium in the XIV century; Artemy fully remains within the framework of Sinaitism – the mystical-ascetic teaching of Gregory of Sinai; his views indicate a particular moral-ethical and sociopolitical orientation that received its expression in the non-possessors movement.

Keywords: Christianity, Orthodoxy, Russian philosophy, asceticism, knowledge of God, poverty, hesychasm, Christian anthropology, Christian philosophy, Artemy Troitsky

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2018.2.25413

Abstract: The object of this article is the mystic-ascetic doctrine of the prominent representative of the religious tradition of Athos-Byzantine hesychasm Symeon the New Theologian. The author examines his role in development of the theological-mystic ideas that saw their final realization in the era of hesychast revival in Byzantine in the XIV century, which marked the continuous so-called hesychast disputes, followed by the victory of hesychast party led by Gregory Palamas. The works of Symeon greatly contributed into the development of this religious movements and its further systematization and conceptualization in Byzantine and Medieval Rus’, affecting the formation of the religious-traditional and philosophical-theologian culture of multiple countries that were a part of the Orthodox-Byzantine civilizational space. The main sections of this research are the following: overview of Symeon’s compilations and history of their translation; consideration of his role within the framework of the Orthodox-Hesychast tradition; brief research of the teaching of Isaac of Nineveh as his religious ancestor; analysis of the mystic-theological ideas of Symeon; determination of his role in development of the doctrine of late-Byzantine hesychasm; comparison of the key moments of his doctrine with the concept of Gregory Palamas; revelation of the religious-cultural meaning of the reception of his views in the Russian medieval thought.

Keywords: mysticism, theosis, orthodoxy, silence, asceticism, knowledge of God, palamism, hesychasm, christian anthropology, Simeon New Theologian

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2020.1.31953

Abstract: In the late XVII century in England has establishes the school of “political arithmetic”, which goal consisted in the analysis of social phenomena on the basis of quantitative indicators. Its main representatives became William Petty, John Graunt and Charles Davenant (1656-1714). The latter left a mark in the history of England as a philosopher, politician and publicist, who made a significant contribution to the development and implementation of the methods of “political arithmetic”. The object of this research is the views of the English thinker, reflected in his pamphlets and treatises of the 1690’s. The subject is the Davenant’s views on the principles and tasks of “political arithmetic” in the context of his political theory. Special attention is given to correlation between Davenant’s views on the development of “political arithmetic’ and his concept of public administration. The scientific novelty lies in the comprehensive examination of the political and economic views of Charles Davenant within the framework of his attitude on the method of “political arithmetic”. The author delivers a thesis on the importance of the political and epistemological context, which formed Davenant’s views on the quantitative indicators. Grasp of quantitative data Davenant correlated directly with the practice of administration. According to the philosopher, a public official having the capacity for “evaluation” and proper interpretation of data could avoid many mistakes in decision-making and reliance on “bad” advices. The thinker suggested that possession of quantitative data and their competent interpretation could increase the efficiency of administration.

Keywords: Thomas Hobbes, Early Modern period, English Enlightenment, public administration, political arithmetic, English political thought, social and political thought, William Petty, economic thought, scientific revolution

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2022.7.38372

Abstract: Among the key ideas of the Bengal Renaissance (XIX–early XX century) was one of a future India considered from the point of view of India's weal. An creative embodiment of the idea in Rabindranath Tagore’s poem ‘Where the Mind is Without Fear’ (1901) is analyzed in the article. Based on hermeneutical approach, the author traces an origin of the idea, its evolution in creative thought of the national-cultural renaissance in Modern India and its content in Tagore’s thought. The application of a principle of historicism helped to trace the emergence of ‘dreamland’ idea in Michael Madhusudan Dutta’s poetry, then its ‘antithesis’ in philosophy by Swami Vivekananda and next transformation into the image of future free India in Rabindranath Tagore’s poem. For the first time ‘Where the Mind is Without Fear’ has been philosophically considered in the broad context of the history of thought and culture in India from Rammohun Roy to Rabindranath Tagore. The poem is an application of social ideal of free society to future perspective of India; its practical embodiment is possible, but it depends from positive activity of Indian people. The poem represents a set of key ideas of the epoch such as renovation of spiritual life, overcoming of the dead rules, rational thinking of all life spheres, human liberation from traditional dependencies, finding of dignity and discovery of new ways of development. Moreover, Tagore maintains universal human problematic of freedom and circumstances of its embodiment in peoples’ life.

Keywords: Swami Vivekananda, Michael Madhusudan Dutta, the idea of the future, culture, liberty, freedom, Rabindranath Tagore, social philosophy, the Bengal Renaissance, Modern India

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2023.6.40720

Abstract: The subject of the study is the research work of M.N. Zhirkov, which became the first monographic study of the musical culture of the Yakuts. The object of the study is the problems of musicology first posed by the author of this study. The article discusses such aspects as the difficult fate of the manuscript of M.N. Zhirkov's research, which was unpublished for a long time, and at the first publication was not published in its full form, in addition, the experience of a new reprint of this work in the 9th volume of M.N. Zhirkov's "Collected Works". Special attention is paid to those areas of his work that at that time were in the circle of the most pressing theoretical problems of musical culture of the peoples of the former Soviet Union. The main conclusions of the study are the author's generalizations of the fundamental results of M.N. Zhirkov's work, which at the time of writing this work were advanced not only in terms of the level of development of Russian musicology, but now look quite modern in their relevance and fundamental nature. A special contribution of the author to the topic under development is the analysis of those parts of the study that were not published in the first publication of 1981. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time attention is drawn to the original full text of the original version of the "Yakut folk Music" by M.N.Zhirkov. The article summarizes the author's experience of the new edition of this unique work.

Keywords: musical folklore, Collected Works, edition, study, activity, musical culture, Yakut folk music, mutual influence, Mark Zhirkov, work

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.6.8080

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.7.7585

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2017.9.23837

Abstract: The subject of this research is the Hegelian concept of history of culture examined with consideration of the difference between “reconstruction” and “integration” as the key approaches towards the problem of historical knowledge within the framework of philosophical hermeneutics. The author highlights the phenomenological, speculative, and pragmatic models of understanding of the history of culture, which sequentially came into the fore in philosopher’s works during the evolution of his views upon the structure of the system of philosophy, as well as determines the prerequisites of the impact of the model of knowledge of the history of culture presented in the “Phenomenology of Spirit” upon the establishment of the concept of philosophical hermeneutic. The selected point of view on the specificity of understanding of the history of culture in Hegel’s philosophy, allows defining the main models of Hegelian historicism, as well as pose a question about the formation of their unity. The author concludes that the formulated in the “Phenomenology of Spirit” concept of “integration” retained the fundamental meaning for Hegel’s philosophy throughout his entire creative path.

Keywords: understanding, historicism, tradition, philosophical hermeneutics, Gadamer, history of culture, Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel, speculative philosophy, reflection

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2018.3.24609

Abstract: The object of this research is the modernization theory in the context of Russian history. Based on the historical, philosophical, sociological, and politological studies, is conducted the analysis of evolution of the “modernization” concept. The author examines the historicophilosophical meaning of the modernization theory, giving particular attention to the philosophical-historical views of the modern Russian scholars on modernization theory. The article considers some aspects of scholars’ views upon the philosophy of history, relationship between the society and the government, development of the economy, politics and ethics, the role of personality in historical process. The scientific novelty is defined by drawing special attention to the impact of peasantry upon the country’s modernization process. The terminology of modernization theory is attributed to the researchers of the XIX – early XX centuries. The process of establishment of the concept took place in the middle of the XX century. At the same time, modernization theory still remains at the stage of development and improvement, which is confirmed by the principle of historicism. In the course of examination of modernization on the Russian historical process, the author noted the phenomenon of permanent modernization. Modernization in Russia has begun with the reforms of Peter the Great and continued until Stalin’s reforms. The key factor that delayed modernization in Russia was the lack of necessary reforms in rural areas.

Keywords: society, science, modernization, Russian history, History, Modernization theory, revolution, evolution, reforms, peasantry

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2019.4.29249

Abstract: The subject of this article is the historiosophical and philosophical-anthropological views of A. I. Solzhenitsyn, who synthesized the autobiographic prose and artistic-historical research in his trilogy “Archipelago Gulag”. The article addresses the following tasks: 1) determine of the role of autobiographic character in historiosophical concept of A. I. Solzhenitsyn; 2) identify of the place of historiosophical ideas and philosophical-anthropological concepts of the trilogy “Archipelago Gulag” within the writer’s worldview; 3) outline the genetic affinity of Solzhenitsyn’s trilogy and the impact of the traditions of philosophical memoirs upon it. The new concepts created in the trilogy “Archipelago Gulag” were included into the treasure-house of philosophical and cultural codes of the modern age. It originated a new type of autobiographic character, which is not only a literary reflection of the author, but also an ethical construct that generalizes his ideological and moral stand. The inclusion of autobiographic, confessionary and philosophical reasoning into Solzhenitsyn’s book, turns it into a historiosophical masterwork, which depicts person’s life on the background of historical cataclysmic events.

Keywords: history of the Soviet Union, confession, autobiography, ethics, Solzhenitsyn, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of history, social philosophy, historical cataclysm, totalitarianism

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2018.9.27296

Abstract: The subject of this article is the comparison of the philosophy of freedom in its relation to the philosophy of state and society in the Russian and Western European classical liberalism. This comparative analysis in aimed ad identification of specificity of the Russian liberalism as a peculiar tradition within the framework of pan-European liberal movement. Based on interpretation of the concept of freedom within the framework of European liberalism, the author highlights the three traditions of European liberalism: Anglo-French that reduces freedom to its external manifestations; German that focuses on the dialectics of external and internal freedom; and Russian tradition of the liberal philosophy of freedom. The main conclusion lies in the proof of succession between the liberal philosophy of John Locke, Enlighteners and John Stuart Mill, which leads to the author’s assumption that the pinnacle of educational understanding of freedom is the liberalism of J. S. Mill. The author’s contribution to the study of problematic of the history of liberal philosophy is the determination in the philosophy – the chief theoretician of the Russian liberalism of the XIX century – B. N. Chicherin of the two new meanings of the concept of freedom, which are absent in the German philosophy of tradition that Chicherin leans upon: the social freedom and the freedom reproved in the absolute personal nature that may be referred to as spiritual. The article concretizes the interrelation between the philosophy of freedom and the philosophy of state: the Western liberal philosophy of state is interpreted as a mechanicalism, while the Russian interpretation of state is understood as teleological.

Keywords: liberalism, teleology, mechanism, freedom, Chicherin, Gradovsky, Mill, Kant, Locke, Russian liberalism

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2019.6.29563

Abstract: The subject of this research is the philosophical image of the devil as the progenitor and carrier of all evil, personified in the characters of Mephistopheles (Goethe’s “Faust) and Woland (Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita”). For achieving the set goal, the author determines the dialectics of internal and external in images of the devil; separates the common and peculiar in artistic depiction and philosophical interpretation of evil in the works of J. W. Goethe and M. A. Bulgakov; describes the role of devil’s forces in the Universe, as well as the problem of good and evil in both oeuvres. Research methodology contains the historical-philosophical analysis for objective completeness of the study; culturological and comparative approaches for establishing spiritual connection of the writers from historical eras. Throughout the XVIII-XX centuries, the image of the Duke of Darkness has experienced significant metamorphoses, substantiated by cultural, philosophical and moral changes. In Goethe’s perception, good and evil are absolutely equal in their power, but completely opposite to each other potentialities. He created a unique conceptual reality, which set the scale for philosophical and culturological interpretation of Satan in the XX century. The author traces an apparent correlation between the images of Mephistopheles and Woland. Mikhail Bulgakov in his novel, depicted the devil as power that often objectively doing good and punishing the unworthy, having developed a philosophical interpretation of evil applicable to the realities of Soviet Russia.

Keywords: theodicy, evil, good, the image of the devil, ethics, creative potency, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, historical cataclysm, Michael Bulgakov, semantic reality

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2020.10.33126

Abstract: The subject of this research is the existence of philosophical representations on the phenomenon of evil in antique culture and its perennial dialectical correlation with the good. This goal is achieved by interrelated solution of the following tasks: 1) determine the sources of antique philosophical perceptions of good and evil; 2) extract the essence of views of pre-Socratians, thinkers of the high classical period and certain representatives of Hellenistic philosophy upon the problems of good and evil; 3) assess the impact of antique ideas on good and evil upon the medieval philosophical views and modern philosophy. The scientific novelty consists in the first within the national historical-philosophical literature comprehensive assessment of the representations of antique philosophy upon the nature of evil. The author explores the genesis of these representations and their spiritual impact upon further development of world philosophy. Ancient Greece along with Ancient Rome, which absorbed its intellectual heritage, did not form the conceptually clear definition of evil; but the reviewed in this article philosophers, in diverse aphoristic forms of pre-philosophical knowledge and extant writings, left a number of paramount observations and reasoning that allow determining the establishment and advancement of the theory of evil in Middle Ages and Modern Age.

Keywords: Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, pre-Socratics, cosmogony, evil, good, philosophy of antiquity, Hellenistic philosophy, theodicy

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2017.1.21670

Abstract: The object of this research is the philosophical doctrine of French thinker of the early XIX century – Maine de Biran. The subject of the study is the views of the French philosopher on the origin and nature of human cognition. The author analyzes the works of Maine de Biran, dedicated to the origin and nature of our cognition. Arguing that the only person is capable of understanding itself, and through itself and all that surrounds it. Maine de Biran takes the idea of freedom, which is identical to the philosopher the idea of power and strength. The methodological basis of the study is the scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as phenomenological, bibliography and comparative-historical research methods. The author's special contribution into this work consists in the analysis of the major works of French and Russian philosophers of the early XIX century: Maine de Biran, Adolf Frank, A. I. Vvedenskiy, as well as the translation and analysis of works of the French scholar that have yet to be published.

Keywords: human essence, true activity, freedom, phenomenon, effort of will, cognitive processes, philosophical mysticism, spiritualism, spiritual life, psychological nature

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2017.1.68428

Keywords: human essence, true activity, freedom, phenomenon, effort of will, cognitive processes, philosophical mysticism, spiritualism, spiritual life, psychological nature

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2020.11.33456

Abstract: This article analyzes conceptual representations of the prominent foreign philosophers of law as a reality of social existence and a form of collective consciousness, which are traditionally attributed to philosophy and sociology of law. The goal of this research consists in the following: 1) assess the attitude of analytical jurisprudence towards theoretical integration of various aspects of law by analogy with the sociology of law; 2) follow the correlation between philosophical and sociological approaches towards interpretation of socio-legal meanings of modernity; 3) analyze the dependence of development of the philosophy of law, which was often searching for explanations in distinct underlying logic inherent to practice of law, on the sociology of law, which tends to comprehend law in relation to various aspects of organization of social life (including professional legal and administrative practice). The novelty of this of this work is defined by the following aspects. The article makes an attempt of comprehensive analyze of various approaches and theories, as well as assesses feasibility of examination of questions of social and legal nature in the context of sociology of law. Attention is given to the experience of Western law, which in the author’s opinion virtually implies national state law, i.e. what British philosopher, the founder of legal positivism John Austin, called independent political societies. The article reveals the question of critical potential of sociology of law, which criticized the assumption that nature of the social is not a problem for legal theory

Keywords: locality, transnationalism, globalization, pluralism, international law, national legal systems, sociology of law, philosophy of law, social philosophy, philosophical thought

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2021.1.34791

Abstract: The subject of this research is the philosophical conceptualization of evil in the Confucianism. This goal is achieved by solving the following tasks: 1) assessment of Confucianism as a synthesis of the philosophical views of Confucius and Mencius; 2) determination of good and evil as the contrasting concepts in the ethical space, which is based on the ideal of a “person of high nature” Junzi and the real world of a “petty person"; 3) evaluation of evil as the antipode of good, which is based on the sense of duty and regard of moral rules. The novelty of this research consists in the first within the Russian historical-philosophical literature comparative analysis of the views of Confucius and Mencius upon the nature of evil, examination of the genesis of such representations, and their relevance for modern philosophy. Representations on the nature of good and evil of Confucius and Mencius are based on the contrast within the ethical space of the ideal of a “gentleman” (due) and the reality of a “petty person”. The virtue of a “gentleman” is a means of achieving good; and the virtuous life leads to prosperity of the country. Evil of a “petty person” captured by selfish motives, leads to social demise and political disintegration. Mecius applies same moral principles, which govern the individual’s everyday life, to the political sphere of social existence. The thinker underlines circumscription of the monarchs, indicating that even the monarch – if not a “gentleman”, but merely a “petty person” – can be corrupted by evil, in which case the country faced demise.

Keywords: being, Mencius, Confucius, evil, good, ethical space, confucianism, due, noble man, little man

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2019.8.30462

Abstract: This article attempts to elucidate the nature of automation of labor in the context of works of the Russian revolutionist and founder of the Central Institute of Labor Alexey Gastev. The author depicts his legacy as an important conceptual resource with regards to comprehension of the constructive nature of automation, obscured in the context of the existent cultural background. Within the framework of this problem, the author articulates the human-machine system, as well as explicates the idea of “training” of psychophysiological qualities and the concept of socio-technical time within A. Gastev’s theory of scientific organization of labor. The research methodology contains the concept of “reappropriation” introduced by the contemporary theoretician Yuk Hui for designation of the ability to develop alternate forms of interaction with the technical objects; as well as the results of philosophical inquiries dedicated to the phenomenon of automation of labor, presented by such theoreticians as Paolo Virno, Bernard Stiegler and Benjamin Noys. The author determines that A. Gastev understands the work of human-machine system upon the conditions of training, presented as specific practices of materialization and modification of psychophysiology, as well fundamental shift in the nature of work of a technical object. This leads to the conclusion that automation does not represent an elemental process on substituting labor functions of a human, because its nature carries more constructive and holistic character. In other words, the nature of automation can be understood as a range of variable means of reappropriation or organization of the human-machine system.

Keywords: reappropriation, Time, Gastev, Taylorism, technique, automation, organization, labor, Production, behavior

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2018.4.24997

Abstract: Shamanism is the traditional religion of Buryats; it is the foundation of cultural space of the Buryat people. One of the peculiarities of Buryat shamanism is its dualistic character, existence of the two parallel confessions – “white” and “black”. For the majority of world religions is not common the emergence, development, and existence of two traditions in form of the two different branches, thus the study of genesis of such phenomenon in the Buryat shamanism represents great interest. The article makes an attempt to determine the factors that affected the division of main religion of the Buryats into the indicated coexisting branches. The religious theories originate and integrate into the cultural space in the course of the socio-historical evolution of the ethnos; therefore, these processes should be considered in retrospective of the history of particular nation. The method of this research is defined by the analysis of the historical path of development of the diverse ethnic groups that are a part of the Buryat people, as well as determination of discrepancies and similarities in their religious views. The author formulates a hypothesis of genesis of the dualistic nature of shamanism of the Buryats as a reflection of the cultural-historical evolution of the polyethnic Buryat nation. A suggestion is put forward that the identification of the two types of shamanism could reflect the views Bulagad ethnos that characterized their variant of religion as “white” in contrast to the views of Ekhired and Khori ethnic groups marked as “black” shamanism. Subsequently the aforementioned point of view was recognized as generally accepted.

Keywords: Ekhired, Ethnogenesis of Buryats, Geser epos, Black shamanism, Khori, Traditional culture, Rituals, Buryats, Bulagad, White shamanism

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2021.6.36196

Abstract: This article sheds light on the well-known enigma of the treatise “Consolation by Philosophy” by Severin Boethius: why in the conditions of being condemned to death the Christian thinker turns not to prayers or Bible, but to philosophy. Based on the analysis of sources, the author of the article indicates two essential points in the treatise, which in his opinion did not receive due attention in the existing research: 1) the treatise features a detailed sequence of “healing” the philosopher with its own justified semantic saturation and fully fits in comprehension of the role of philosophy in cleansing the soul of the believer and bringing person to genuine Christian righteousness; 2) this path begins with releasing the soul from sorrows and sufferings and ends with discussing the delicate theological questions. The conclusion is drawn that the entire structure of the treatise “Consolation with Philosophy” by Severin Boethius quite organically fits into comprehension of the role and tasks of philosophy in bringing a person to Christian righteousness, which at that time have been developed in Christian patristics. Such interpretation of the question at hand imparts a new sounding to the famous treatise and allows dovetailing the S. Boethius in the traditions of the early Christian patristics and giving an extended assessment to his works.

Keywords: free will, providence, eternity, time, purification of the soul, healing, theology, philosophy, The One, Creator

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2020.11.34454

Abstract: The subject of this research is the content of the Tibetan text – famous commentary work of the prominent Buddhist reformer and founder of the Gelugpa School Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) – “Ocean of Reasoning: a Great Commentary on the Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā” known as "Wisdom"." (“dBu-ma-rtsa-ba’i-tshig-leur-byas-pa-shes-rab-ces-bya-ba’i-rnam-bshad-rigs-pa’i-rgya-mtsho-zhes-bya-ba-bzhugs-so”). It analyzes the content of the chapter of preliminary guidelines Tsongkhapa's writing, and preambular part of Tsongkhapa's authorial commentary to “Mūlamadhyamakakārikā”, referred to as the “introductory part” of the “Ocean of Reasoning”. The research is based on the materials translated by the author from the Tibetan language, which is the first ever translation of the original text into the Russian language. Analysis of the works of Tsongkhapa allows concluding that it is the fundamental logical-analytical research of the “Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā” carried out in Indo-Tibetan scholastic tradition, with attraction of multiple Buddhist primary sources – Sutras and Shastras, including basic Indian commentaries to Nāgārjuna's thesis, written by the ancient Indian philosophers Buddhapalita, Bhāviveka, and Candrakīrti. This text is an important source for introducing into the modern philosophical discourse of the doctrine of Madhyamaka School, represented particularly by the Tibetan Prāsaṅgika interpreters through Je Tsongkhapa.

Keywords: dependent origination, suchness, selflessness, emptiness, Madhyamaka, philosophical schools, Mahāyāna, logical argument, Bhavaviveka, Candrakirti

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.1.10343

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2017.10.22107

Abstract: The object of this research is the work of the prominent figure of the Bourgeois Revolution in France, one of the most remarkable French philosophers and public character of the Age of Enlightenment Antoine Barnave. The deputy of the Constituent Assembly over the period of 1789-1791, supporter of the constitutional monarchy, executed by the Jacobins, has lived his short life outstandingly, being an orator, a lawyer, a public character, and a scholar. The article is dedicated to the study of another little-studied part of his scientific legacy – the geopolitical views. The author conducts a comparative, historical, and typological analysis of the most well-known work of Antoine Barnave – “The Introduction to the French Revolution”. Examination of his scientific heritage allowed revealing that Barnave had implemented the methodology based on fundamental geopolitical dualism of the continental and maritime powers that in the XX century was acknowledged as the basic law of geopolitics far before Karl Haushofer and Mackinder Helford. Thus, the author makes a conclusion about Antoine Barnave as one of the first classics of geopolitics, as well as the earlier existence of the methodology of geopolitical analysis and geopolitical knowledge.

Keywords: Land Power, Sea Power, continental-oceanic dichotomy, Tellurocracy, Thalassocracy, basic law of geopolitics, geopolitical dualism, Antoine Barnave, geopolitical theory, classics of geopolitics

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2017.8.23887

Abstract: The subject of this research is the teaching of Nil Sorksy placed in the context of evolution of the ideas and spiritual practice of the Byzantine-Athos hesychasm, which greatly influences the establishment of the Russian medieval culture and mentality. The article suggests analysis of the fundamental texts that belong to Nil Sorsky, which makes relevant the contained within them religious-philosophical problematic. A general overview of his literary legacy with consideration the socio-historical realities of the era is provided in the research. The author notes certain conceptual moments in development of the Russian Orthodoxy, associated with the famous disputes between Josephites and Nonpossessors. Special attention is given to revelation of the philosophical and psychological aspects of Nil’s teaching, as well as the peculiarities that accompanied his reception of the theoretical, and mostly, practical legacy of hesychasm. There is noted dominance of the ascetic-psychological and moral-ethical ideologies over the theological-contemplative. A conclusion is made on the direct correspondence of the spiritual-mystical and socio-political components in the Russian hesychasm.

Keywords: Christian anthropology, knowledge of God, Nil Sorsky, Orthodoxy, asceticism, mysticism, poverty, hesychasm, theosis, Christian psychology

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.1.63771

Abstract: The author of the article presents and describes the rule of the first successful decision. The author establishes that in the course of their development all cultures develop certain practices and patterns that can be explained only by that rule. According to the rule, a society fixates courses of actions that were the first ones to be performed but not the most efficient ones. If the action is successful enough, it is not changed but included in the system of more or less efficient patterns of social interaction.

Keywords: philosophy, culture, law, success, efficiency, limitation, internal logic, society, human, history.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2017.11.24537

Abstract: The subject of this research is the analysis and interpretation of the concept of teleology, proposed by the Baden School of Neo-Kantianism, particularly the works of Wilhelm Windelband and Heinrich Rickert, which is viewed in the context of polemic of the Neo-Kantians with positivism and realism, as well as idealistic metaphysics. The author conducts a detailed reconstruction of the comprehension of teleology the theory of cognition and methodology of the science of W. Windelband and H. Rickert. The suggested approach can be applied for the theoretical substantiation of assessment of the efficiency of humanitarian sciences. The author’s main contribution into the research of this topic lies in determination of the specificity of Neo-Kantian understanding of teleology. It is proven that Neo-Kantian teleology is based on the interpretation of goal as an unreachable ideal, thus the accent within the framework of teleology is made not on the development goals themselves, but rather the process of their achievement. Such comprehension of teleology is presented in the normativism of W. Windelband and doctrine of H. Rickert about the subject of cognition, in the context of which the values are viewed as an oughtness constituting the very act of assertion, but never developing into the status of existence, and therefore, remaining an infinite task for the consciousness. The author suggests calling such understanding of teleology the procedural. It is substantiated that the methodological doctrine of H. Rickert leans of the perception of the fundamental nature of teleology as the method of cognizing the world, due to which Rickert developed the new understanding of the method of historical sciences that he names teleological.

Keywords: cognition, effectiveness, humanitarian sciences, methodology, mechanism, teleology, Neo-Kantianism, historical method, science, assessment of science

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2021.3.35052

Abstract: This article explores the Hegelian concept of cognition of the history of culture reflected in the “Phenomenology of the Spirit” in the image of Lady Destiny. Therefore, the author offers a new translation version of one of the fragments of Hegel's “Phenomenology of Spirit”, which is of fundamental importance for understanding the message of the work and its structure. Special attention is given to the Hegelian perspective on historical cognition, peculiarities of the language of “Phenomenology of Spirit”, and the role of imagery in describing the “experience of consciousness”. The author substantiates the statement that recognition of the universal correlations and integrity of history serves as the prerequisite for its comprehensibility. The article indicates the dependence of the developed by Hegel concept of nature and purpose of the philosophy on his doctrine of historical consciousness. A detailed analysis is conducted on the image of Lady Destiny and its role within the conceptual structure of the “Phenomenology of the Spirit”. The author describes the role of this image in the Hegelian concept of cognitions of the history of culture, analyzes the place of imagery means in describing the experience of consciousness, adjusts the traditional representations on the nature and peculiarities of the system of Hegel's philosophy. Emphasis is placed on the importance of personal aspect in the Hegelian concept of historical cognition and it correlation with the central for Hegel’s philosophy intuition of history as a complete whole. The research employs a set of historical-philosophical methods, as well as comparative analysis of the historical-cultural phenomena. In translation of the Hegelian text, the author resorts to etymology for clarification of the available Russian translations.

Keywords: Fate, Understanding, Imagery, History of Culture, Language of Philosophy, Historicism, Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel’s philosophy, Phenomenological Experience, religion

Abstract: Francois Quesnay developed a concrete system of economy, philosophy and politics during French Enlightenment. Later Marx said it had been the prerequisite of the French Revolution. Marx also admitted Quesnay to be the founder of political economy of the New Time. Adam Smith also based on physiocratic teachings about economy when developing his English version of political economy

Keywords: philosophy, politics, economy, Marxism, Adam Smith, physiocracy, revolution, bourgeois, enlightenment, French

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2021.3.35851

Abstract: The subject of this research is the categories of good and evil in philosophy of the representatives of the Early Modern Age (on the example of the works of T. Hobbes, B. Spinoza, and G. W. Leibniz). These philosophers conceptualized the dialectic of good and evil leaning on the shifted paradigm at the turn of the Middle Ages and the Modern Age. However, the article advances a hypothesis that despite a fundamental turn in the philosophy of the Modern Age, the prevalent n medieval philosophy dialectic of good and evil had a strong impact upon the views of the philosophers of the Early Modern Age. The research employs the dialectical method and metaphysics, which allowed viewing the categories of good and evil from the perspective of the logical-philosophical position of their contradiction, as well as revealing their initial nature and the role in human world. The novelty of this study consists in the fact that in a certain sense it explores the dual dialectic: on the one hand, it is a longtime problems of good and evil, while on the other hand, the philosophy of good and evil of the Early Modern Age is ambiguous and contradictory, when the previous paradigm is no longer relevant, although a new philosophical concept of good and evil is yet to be formed. There is a good reason why the author chos the ideas of T. Hobbes, B. Spinoza, and G. W. Leibniz – their approaches towards the problem of good and evil in the traditions of the Early Modern Age mark the key milestones in the research of these categories in the transitional historical period.

Keywords: Leibniz, Spinoza, Hobbes, New Time, philosophy, evil, good, dialetics, Medieval, theology

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2023.5.40083

Abstract: The study of literature from the point of view of the search for archetypal images and the study of artistic creativity from the standpoint of structuralism are two important trends. Both of these trends have emerged in the contexts of different scientific paradigms. The origin of archetypal criticism is associated with the figure of Herman Northrop Fry, and the basis of archetypal criticism is psychology, namely the concept of psychoanalysis, founded by Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung. While the origin of structuralism is associated with linguistics and the name of Ferdinand de Saussure, who first began to consider language as a system of signs in which each element defines other elements and is itself determined by them. With all the difference in origin, in general, both theories do not contradict each other – on the contrary, they complement each other. Archetypal literary criticism and structuralist theory of art have deep internal theoretical connections in several ways: both theories look for repetitive elements in literature, both consider literature as a space of memory about the past. Archetypal literary criticism and the structuralist theory of art direct the appeal to the psychology of man as the creator of works of art. Both directions are also largely based on the idea of binary oppositions: within the framework of the archetypal criticism of the pair, many archetypes are grouped into pairs, whereas within the framework of structuralism, the idea of structure itself is based on elementary concepts opposed to each other; finally, both methods have been criticized for the same shortcomings, such as the denial of author subjectivity and the denial of human progress. This article attempts to show that the theory of archetypes in literature and the structuralist theory of art complement each other, and how exactly this complementarity is achieved.

Keywords: both, Flaw, complementarity, integrity, repetition, structuralism, archetype, literary criticism, memory, psychology

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2023.5.40818

Abstract: The research subject in the present article is A. Comte’s and H. Spencer’s beliefs, who are considered the representatives of early positivism. The particular emphasis is made on the ethnicity issues. A. Comte distinguished three stages of the human consciousness elevating: theological or fictitious, metaphysic or abstract, positive or real. The scientist claimed the quality of a society as a whole is directly related to the level of the individual development. Moreover, moral ideas, which have to be free from theology and metaphysics and based on the new philosophy of positive thinking, have a powerful influence on the society development. As a result, moral principles have to be guided by social solidarity and be a society’s logical controller. However, the societal progress rejected the scientist’s notion. According to H. Spencer, social morality arises from natural one whereby altruism and social equity are built on the concern of the kind preservation. The higher the society is organized, the greater the level of the equity is. The researcher provides the example illustrating an ideal society in which a well-functioning organ evolves better than others which in turn means “social equity” principle is implemented. The scientific novelty of the article is determined by the first comparative analysis of A. Comte’s and H. Spencer’s moral-ethnical concepts as well as defining the most controversial theses in their theories. There has been found out that the key difference in the philosophers’ ideas is their seeing into the real nature of morality, having its ground either in the human mind (Comte) or natural environment (Spencer). The definition of the society as an entity with its characteristics resembling a biological organism is considered to be significantly similar in their views. Secondly discovered similarity is the definition of the human history as a progressive process in which individual human mind, morality and a society as an entity are evolving simultaneously. The present paper also puts forward the conclusion that the ideas about the history as a progressive process resulted at a “positive” stage turned out to be the most debatable issues.

Keywords: Auguste Comte, public justice, positivism, development of society, the foundations of morality, ethics, morality, Herbert Spencer, human consciousness, systematization of morality

Abstract: The article is devoted to the basic image of Antique philosophical perception of the world, - Universal Mind. The author studied how the conception of the Universal Mind changed from one philosopher to another. By doing so, the author clearly showed the ontological development of views on the Universal Mind as well as demonstrated how it influenced formation of ethical and intellectual virtues of wise men.

Keywords: mind, nous, fate, virtue, cosmos, consciousness, wise man, Demiurge, element of nature, stoicism

Abstract: the article is devoted to the concept of symbol, as established by F. Schelling based on critical analysis of views of Kant and the Romantics. The key idea is to show the difference between the words of similar meaning – allegory, scheme, symbol.

Keywords: philosophy, symbol, allegory, scheme, myth, fantasy, imagination, spiritual contemplation, culture, mythology

Abstract: This is an extract from the book by the French anthropologist and ethnologist Claude Levi-Strauss in which he had summed up his 20-years of experience in studying myths. The author analyzed the classical theories of myths in psychology (such as Freud’s and Jean Piaget’s theories). It is underlined that the study of myths inevitably raises more profound and difficult questions related to understanding human culture and being.

Keywords: philosophy, psychology, myth, understanding, culture, human

Abstract: Based on the studies of the archives, the author dispels certain myths about V. P. Sventsitsky’s biography. The article describes the genesis of his relations with Russian religious philosophers of the beginning of the 20th century and evident influence on the latter. It is the first description of the Christian preacher’s contribution to theology and philosophy. The author also gives a full insight into Sventsitsky’s basic ideas and teaching including the social program and teaching about freedom and eschatology. The author speaks of the need to include Sventsitsky in encyclopedias and to study his teachings at higher schools.

Keywords: philosophy, Sventsitsky, freedom, creativity, power, war, eschatology, theology, Christianity, sociality

Abstract: In order to understand such socio-cultural problems of modern age as globalization, identity crisis, postmodernization, hybridization and others, it is necessary to clarify the logic of formation and development of Modern and Post-Modern values. In order to do it, the of the article discusses the basic approaches to definitions of ‘Modern’ and ‘Post-Modern’ in the theory of philosophy as well as their reflection in the real life.

Keywords: cultural studies, culture, society, modernization, post-modernism, identity, enlightenment, problem, postcolonialism, de colonization.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2022.10.39095

Abstract: The author analyzes the formation of questioning in two cultures (Ancient and Middle Ages) by the example of questions and answers in the works of Plato and St. Augustine. The author points out two reasons that triggered this process: firstly, the formation of an ancient personality, which was characterized by independent behavior and creativity, and secondly, the need not only to present new knowledge and pictures of the world to listeners, but also to convince them of the correctness of the proposed innovations. The questions and answers in Plato's dialogues are considered; in addition to the task of persuasion, they mark the stages of Plato's construction of concepts, while probably taking into account the objections of Plato's listeners, and the contradictions arising from the proposed definitions, and the understanding of various empirical cases, and the possibility of thinking them all as a whole. Questions, on the one hand, were a kind of reflection of cognition (dialectics) Plato of complex phenomena, on the other hand, helped Plato's listeners to develop a seemingly similar process of cognition. The analysis of questioning in Augustine's "Confession" allowed the author to distinguish three semantic contexts: the first one is the certification of new theoretical constructions, the second context is thinking, here the questions, on the one hand, mark the stages of creativity, representing a form of reflection, on the other hand, initiate listeners' own thinking, the third context is religious, it is both repentance and the conviction of those who waver in faith. If most questioners usually have questions that help thinking and work for persuasion, then the third context can be very different.

Keywords: independence, activity, listeners, reality, understanding, reflection, conviction, mind, questioning, communication

Abstract: Modelling of modern cultural policy should have an adequate philosophical basis. Works by Russian philosophers of the end of the 19th — first quarter o the 20th centuries contain several heuristic models of cultural policy. Based on the defined types of modeling of cultural policy we can define and choose the basis, ideas, conceptions and principles of modern state cultural policy. The main methods used in the research include: analysis of philosophical texts, modeling and detection of ideal types of cultural policy.

Keywords: philosophy, cultural policy, models, subjective, objective, dialectics, Russian philosophy, culture genesis, ideals, processes.

Abstract: Having gone through mythological and philosophical stages of formation, Tyche’s image now symbolizes the spontaneous life of both cosmos and society. However, for a wise man this image is an essential condition of self-improvement and way to find stability and self-concentration in our unpredictable world.

Keywords: philosophy, accident, fate, polis, nomination, happiness, teleology, providence, mind

Abstract: The author of the article views Henri Bergson’s philosophy as an actual negotiation of the Hegel Philosophy. Based on the author, Bergson’s philosophy directly or indirectly contribute to the development of philosophy in the 19th century. The concept of duration proposed by the French philosopher allowed to overcome the irrationality of the Hegel rationalism and to start moving to the new dimension of the metaphysical explanation of the world based on the conception of the process duration.

Keywords: philosophy, metaphysics, archetype, rationality, irrationality, Hegel, Bergson, science, positivism, contradiction

Abstract: The article is devoted to the development of Aristotle’s ideas and creative work. The author describes the two stags of such development. At the first stage, the Stagirite, Aristotle entered into controversy with Plato and gave description of categories as well as definitions of the first and second essences. At the second stage he created the rules for discussion and learning and refused from linguistic conceptualization. At the beginning of the article the author also discusses principles of philosophical and methodological reconstruction of creativity and thinking.

Keywords: philosophy, item, knowledge, truth, subject, reality, reasoning, learning, definition, standard.

Abstract: The author of the article compares Nikolay Berdyaev’s and Semyon Frank’s views on knowledge and the process of cogitation. The author describes the connection between these two terms and will categories, creativity and intuition. The author also compares the main features of knowledge and cogitation described by Berdyaev and Frank.

Keywords: philosophy, soul, Frank, creativity, will categories, Russian emigration, knowledge, cognition.

Abstract: Turgot has ended the social and economic program of bourgeois innovations developing under conditions overripen feudalism of bourgeois concepts. Innovators acted within the framework of French Enlightenment. They prepared ideological revolution back in 1789. Turgot raised the economic theory up to the highest level, anticipating Adam Smith in some teachings — for instance, in his approach to origins of labor theory of price, relationship and turnover of national capitals in agriculture, trade, and et. As the minister of finances, Turgot implemented market measures of freedom of entrepreneurship activity overcoming opposition of the old philosophy adepts. His polemics with Louis the King about the administrative reform outlined distribution of forces during pre-revolutionary period. However, after Turgot lost his position, reactionists tried to eliminate all his work and reform. But then revolutionists of the 1789 adopted Turgot’s ideas and put them into life. Marx described Turgot as a great person both as an administrative figure and founder of social and economic theory. Even in modern Russia Turgot achievements help us to understand complicated processes of market economics.

Keywords: philosophy, Louis the 16th, capital, farmer, merchant, gobmeen man, banker, Luther, Dante, labor.

Abstract: The author considers the conceptual framework used in philosophical anthropology and describes how these concepts were formed and which role they play in modern philosophy of science. The author suggests that the conceptual framework should be expanded and include new categories.

Keywords: philosophy, human, human nature, human essence, human subjectivity, individual, individuality, personality, philosophical anthropology, personal wholeness, break-up of the human being

Abstract: The article is devoted to the world outlook sources and socio-cultural prerequisites for formation of principles of duty and social responsibility in Japanese labor and corporate ethics. The author of the article analyzes historical realities and memories in philosophy and ethics during Tokugawa epoch (1603 -1868) due to the aforesaid problems. Japanese labor and corporate ethics has roots in XVII-IX centuries and is thought to be one of the causes of such successful modernization of Japan, the phenomenon of ‘economic miracle’ after the Second World War and stable and intensive development of the country throughout years as well as the spiritual element of modern Japanese discourse of corporate social responsibility.

Keywords: philosophy, ethics, culture, archetype, labor, lesson, duty, responsibility, ie, Japan.

Abstract: Turgot has ended the social and economic program of bourgeois innovations developing under conditions overripen feudalism of bourgeois concepts. Innovators acted within the framework of French Enlightenment. They prepared ideological revolution back in 1789. Turgot raised the economic theory up to the highest level, anticipating Adam Smith in some teachings – for instance, in his approach to origins of labor theory of price, relationship and turnover of national capitals in agriculture, trade, and et. As the minister of finances, Turgot implemented market measures of freedom of entrepreneurship activity overcoming opposition of the old philosophy adepts. His polemics with Louis the King about the administrative reform outlined distribution of forces during pre-revolutionary period. However, after Turgot lost his position, reactionists tried to eliminate all his work and reform. But then revolutionists of the 1789 adopted Turgot’s ideas and put them into life. Marx described Turgot as a great person both as an administrative figure and founder of social and economic theory. Even in modern Russia Turgot achievements help us to understand complicated processes of market economics.

Keywords: philosophy, Louis the 16th, capital, farmer, merchant, gobmeen man, banker, Luther, Dante, labor.

Abstract: The problem of finiteness of human existence was deeply considered by Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida who became interested in this sphere during the last period of development of his philosophy. Levinas assumed that in the face of Infinity human can actually go beyond the course of history due to his inner feeling of time and parental qualities. Derrida was greatly influenced by Levinas’ ideas but at the same time he interpreted the problem of finality of human from the point of view of his grammatology. He spoke that human was constantly striving for survival which expressed itself at an existential level, in leaving traces and a constant dialogue with a cultural tradition.

Keywords: philosophy, Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, existence, being, finite, infinite, human, culture, religion.

Abstract: The name of Pont de Nemours associates with the spread of physiocratic ideas in Europe. The first major success was reached when the French government made a step from mercantile politics defending interests of manufacturers, to stimulation of national agriculture farming. However, very soon this measure was canceled. Representatives of the physiocratic teaching found their followers in Switzerland, Sweden and a number of other countries. Attempts to get Ekaterina the Great interested was a failure. Russia was strengthening its positions in the world as a result of military success of Orlov, Suvorov, Rumyantsev. The peasant servage only developed. The most active and bold peasants ran away to the South and East an djoined Kazakhs there. The Tsar government had enough power to struggle with both foreign enemies and to keep the peasants serve. The dispute between followers of physiocratic teaching whether a free game of market laws or this or another form of the state regulation was more effective for national economy was started again in Russia during the rule of Eltsin. Eltsin ‘shocking therapy’ led to heavy losses in economy and a catastrophic fall of living standards. Eltsin’s successor, Putin, renewed the forms of state control which were appropriate for the Russian economy. Lock’s successor, Pont de Nemours established theoretical grounds for the bourgeois idea of sovereignty and opposed it to the feudal conception of the divine origin of a King.

Keywords: philosophy, Pont de Nemours, Enlightenment, servage, despotism, market, competition, Munnich, Orlov, Suvorov.

Keywords: philosophy, Louis the 16th, capital, farmer, merchant, gobmeen man, banker, Luther, Dante, labor.

Abstract: The article contains the summary of the XII International Likhachev Readings held on May 17-18 2012 in St. Petersburg University of Professional Unions. The Readings were devoted to the transformation processes in all spheres of culture as well as various aspects of globalization. The author of the article pays much attention to the critics of the multi culturalism conception, the problem of world unity and cultural diversity, combination of economics and culture, anthropological crisis of the consumer society and integration processes. The main idea uniting all these topics is the concept of cultural dialogue as the grounds for harmonic and efficient interaction of cultures at a modern stage.

Keywords: philosophy, globalization, dialogue of cultures, multi culturalism, personality, cultural integration, civilization, humanitarian education, human transformation.

Abstract: Russian culture which accounts for over thousand years of existence was formed in the epoch of early Middle Age. In this connection, it is important to pay attention at its genesis during which particular typological features were established. Till the middle of the 15th century south was had been the most important vector of the civilization development which was due to the Byzantium and South Slavic influences. After Constantinople fell and the Balkans were conquered by the Turks, Russia turned to the Latin West which has been playing an important role in is development ever since.

Keywords: philosophy, culture, civilization, Russian culture, Byzantine culture, European culture, genesis, typology, multi-vector, multi-factor, westernization.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.2.15006

Abstract: The most complicated problem in Descartes’s metaphysics is the problem of combination of two diverse substances – thinking and extension – in one and indivisible person’s constitution. A solution of this problem proposed by Descartes was not satisfied his contemporaries and even became the main argument in favour of disclaimer all Cartesian system. The article attempts to show that Descartes’ interpretation of passions as the unity of mind and body turns out reasonable and very actual interpretation for modern philosophy, especially in connection with widely debated discussions which take place around the problem of body. To carry out the declared task, it was required to reconstruct an anthropology of Descartes which was positioned by him as the leading philosophical discipline. That is why a complex historico-philosophical and culturological methodology – including along with standard approaches of scientific research hermeneutics and structuralistic techniques of textual analysis – is applied in the article. The concept of passion considered as the principal moment of the Descartes’ anthropology allows us to supplement his traditional idealistic understanding of the person as the thinking substance and – connecting together body and consciousness which were divorced in ego cogito – to return to initial psychophysical unity of human being. Cartesian tactics of substantial division anthropologically appears not as the fundamental metaphysical principle, but as the supplementary methodological way of logical and discursive projecting of reality.

Keywords: passions, body, consciousness, thinking, extension, René Descartes, mind-body problem, anthropology, substance, dualism

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.2.67503

Keywords: telo, soznanie, myshlenie, protyazhenie, Rene Dekart, psikhofizicheskaya problema, antropologiya, substantsiya, dualizm

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.3.10903

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.3.64164

Abstract: The article is devoted to the problem of the physical in Rene Descartes’ philosophy and successively views the process of formation of the cartographic description of the physical. The cartographic description of the physical was first used by Descartes in the XXth century and then developed by Gilles Deleuze and Jean-Luc Nancy as well as a number of other philosophers. The purpose of the present research article is to define the focal points of the body functioning in Cartesianism, some schemes of the body field and its literal machinery (Descartes’ ‘body-machine’). However, the author of the present article deviates from the dualistic interpretation of the physical in Cartesian philosophy. The author appeals to the metaphoric structure of Descartes’ texts and focuses on the analysis of particular figures of speech and style used by Descartes. The author views the relation between the internal and the external in a different light and shows that Descartes never limited the internal only to the inside of the body. Moreover, the author of the article shows that in Cartesianism the body functions mostly as the object of loss and this causes radicalization of the body: there is no object more significant than the one that has been lost. ‘Cartesian’ body is always functioning and organically redundant yet this redundancy reflects the radical emptiness of the body. This physical discourse where discussions about the body inevitably touch upon the ‘foreignness’ of the body is called ‘Cartesian note’ by the author.

Keywords: Rene Descartes, cartesianism, body, the physical, metaphor, anatomy, Cartesian note, physical cartography, dualism, Jean-Luc Nancy.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.3.17724

Abstract: This article is devoted to the Austrian scientist Ernst Mach’s philosophical heritage. The reason for its writing is 100th anniversary of his death and the relevance of his works for the contemporary science. They had a great influence on understanding the nature of the cognition and forming non-classical space and time ideas. The main accent is made on the epistemological breakthrough based on his ideas: transference of cognition subject from transcendental to natural world; empirical knowledge as a sum of natural and mental processes («sets of feelings»); forming empiriocriticism as a direction that stimulated neopositivism appearance; relative nature of space and time that resulted in both Einstein’s theory of relativity and the relational concept of space and time developed in science nowadays. The author proves that Mach’s suggestion to consider the basic purpose of science as adapting an idea to experience gives a negative result due to the unilateral direction of the cognition process and the emergence of «model-dependent realism». As for the methodology of his works, they were written from the position of dialectics because of Mach’s argument with Newton and Kant’s metaphysical approach to a priori and absolute categories. The author makes a conclusion from the research that it was Mach who proposed the idea of the unity of subject and object in the form of their «principal coordination». This approach forms the foundation of understanding the cognition process in modern epistemology.

Keywords: Subject, Object, Cognition, Experience, “complex of sensations”, Space, Time, “economy of thinking”, Relativity, Non-classics

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.3.67725

Keywords: Subject, Object, Cognition, Experience, “complex of sensations”, Space, Time, “economy of thinking”, Relativity, Non-classics

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.3.10906

Abstract: The article is devoted to the cultural and educational aspects of the development of philosophical ideas of the thinker of the XIX century Nikolay Markov. The author of the article decribes the history of his becoming a philosopher, religious figure and a teacher. Proceeding from conditions of the cultural and educational development of Russia of that time, the emphasis is made on the specifics of interpretation of philosophical concepts and terms at the different historical periods. The author proves that conceptual provisions of Nikolay Markov coincided with the leading philosophical views of those times. In his research the author has used the methods of historicism and comparison. These methods allow to carry out the analysis of influence of being on the development of philosophical ideas of Nikolay Markov and a role of his philosophical and educational doctrines in the history of philosophy and culture of Russia.Using these methods the author will be able to achieve the following goals:1. To investigate the conceptual grounds of Nikolay Markov's philosophical doctrines revealing ideological fullness of history of philosophical and educational development of Russia in the second half of the XIX century.2. To demonstrate that the philosophical culture of Russian people has always been the real treasury from which thinkers adopted ideas for the development of philosophical concepts of their own educational development.Conceptual grounds of Nikolay Markov's philosophical doctrines were based on the best ideas of the leading European philosophers and teachers. They help us to open ideological fullness of history of philosophical and educational development of Russia of the second half of the XIX century. In addition, these philosophical ideas reflet the influence of being on the development of philosophical doctrines in Russia. Therefore, his philosophical ideas have a large scope of philosophical, educational, cultural and esthetic views on various aspects of their perspective. The philosophical culture of Russian people has always been the spokesman of human wisdom both for Russians and foreigners that is brightly reflected in Nikolay Markov's philosophical ideas and concepts. Therefore the philosophical culture of Russian people is the real treasury from which thinkers take ideas for the development of their own philosophical concepts.

Keywords: culture, education, philosophy, metaphysics, history, religion, ethics, ontology, theology, gnoseology

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.3.66382

Keywords: culture, education, philosophy, metaphysics, history, religion, ethics, ontology, theology, gnoseology

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.4.11946

Abstract: Eary Pythagorean cosmology focused on the philosophical idea of oder (τάξις). The main objective of the present research is to define to what extend the Pythagorean concept of τάξις was a revolutionary idea. In this article Lechich gives a definition of τάξις as the term used for describing order in ancient Greek philosophy and emphasizes axiological elements hidden in that term. The researcher 1) shows the difference in Alcman's and Anaximander's concepts of the world total, 2) extends the description of these differences in terms of early Pythagorean cosmology, and 3) compares the results of the present research to the ideas of other major Pre-Socratic philosophers. The researcher achieves the objectives of the research based on existing philological and historical critical analysis of Pre-Socratic fragments. Using the method of phenomenological analysis, the researcher tries to find mental phenomena-precedents in these fragments and at the same time avoid projecting definitions and concepts of modern sciences on these fragments. The novelty of the article is caused by the fact that the author makes a statement about Pythagorean interpretation of order having no precedents in ontology and axiology. According to the researcher, the tendency to project the idea of τάξις (which was developed by Plato later) on the concepts of more ancient philosophers has no reasonable grounds, mostly because such projection may create the wrong opinion that ancient philosophers had negative axiology of 'the shapeless'.

Keywords: Greek philosophy, early Pythagorean school, Pre-Socratic philosophers, cosmos, universe, cosmology , world total, axiology, order, disorder, materia

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.4.66464

Keywords: Greek philosophy, early Pythagorean school, Pre-Socratic philosophers, cosmos, universe, cosmology, world total, axiology, order, disorder, materia

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.4.62657

Abstract: 1930’s laid the foundation for international protection of cultural heritage — the one UNESCO based his activity on. The main feature of this period was an attempt of a complex solution of any issues in this sphere. The author of the article analyzes the main initiatives of International Council of Museums that took the form of conferences, charters, international legal acts as well as unrealized projects of international conventions in the sphere of cultural heritage protection. The author also traces back prerequisites for formation of the international system of memorial protection since XIX.

Keywords: cultural research, memorial, archeology, protection, restoration, thievery, war, landscape, norm, convention.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.5.11709

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.5.64925

Abstract: The author of the present research article analyzes Nikolay Karamzin’s attitude to philosophy. In the academic community and for general readers Nikolay Karamzin is well known as a historian, a writer and a journalist. He is not so well known as a philosopher. Meanwhile, Karamzin had a very serious education in philosophy. He dealt with philosophy in Schaden’s boarding school and Friendly Academic Community and also studied it himself. He traveled around Europe and met many famous philosophers while traveling. He used his knowledge in philosophy to develop his own world view, to describe principles of cogitation and to study the historical process. Describing Karamzin’s philosophy, the author of the present article draws our attention to the historical environment at the turn of the XIXth and the XXth centuries in Russia and in the West as well as the influence of the Enlightenment and Enlightened Absolutism on the philosophical community of that time. Philosophy is an essential element of Karamzin’s creative work. It is impossible to understand his contribution without taking into account his philosophical views. Russian philosophy has certain peculiarities. One of these peculiarities is its openness and interaction with other spheres such as literature, literary criticism, natural sciences and history. According to the author, Karamzin should be necessarily viewed as a philosophizing historian.

Keywords: Karamzin, Enlightenment, philosophy, world view, principles of cognition, social issues, revolution, sovereignty, Western Europe, Russia.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.5.11611

Abstract: The subject of the present research article is the concept of chronotope. Based on the provisions and conclusions of the Russian philosophers of the XXth century who founded the theory of chronotope (A. Ukhtomsky and M. Bakhtin) and the theory of the semantic world (V. Nalimova), the author of the present article sets a goal to create the ontological interpretation of the concept of chronotope that would define chronotope as the semantic world of the entity and the entity would be revealed as chronotope. The author defines the semantic world as the unity of spatial (matter, image, location, change) and time-related (existence, history, attribution to a particular culture-historical epoch, singularity of existence) features of the entity. The methodological basis of the research involves negative dialectics (according to which a contradiction does not necessarily have to be eliminated unlike in Hegel's positive dialectics), Heidegger's and Sartre's phenomenology and Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics. Appealling to the semantic world of the entity, it is possible to reveal its image, meaning, history, attribution to a particular epoch, involvement into the unity of the world and human culture. Applying his own theory of chronotope as a universal ontological category, Politov offers such terms as ontological interpretation, semantic world, entity basis, appeal to the semantic world. According to the researcher, the ontological category of chronotope as the semantic world can be used to create an integral description of any entity such as a handy thing, household item, artwork, culture-historical epoch, past event or human himself.

Keywords: chronotope, semantic world, ontological interpretation, ontology, historicity of existence, appeal to existence, existing basis, Bakhtin, Nalimov, Ukhtomsky

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.5.66518

Keywords: chronotope, semantic world, ontological interpretation, ontology, historicity of existence, appeal to existence, existing basis, Bakhtin, Nalimov, Ukhtomsky

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.6.62765

Abstract: Ideological grounds of Roman-Catholic Modernism and Russian Christian Modernism (‘Neo- Christianity’) doctrines included symbolism. The article raises a question about M. Herbert’s ‘symbolism’ and its role for the Russian Christian modernism combined with the problems of traditional religious consciousness during that period (1880-1910) The author also touches upon the relation between Catholic modernism and Herbert’s philosophy. French modernism was closely connected with pragmatism and Russian researchers studied both phenomena at the same time. Discussion of the Russian religious intelligentsia (1909-1910) turned out to be related to epistemological problem just as Herbert imaged. Both Herbert and modernists became disappointed in ‘symbolism’ as a mediatory mean of denoting the transcendental.

Keywords: philosophy, Neo-Christianity, Herbert, symbolism, Divine, Savoyard symbol, Modernism, Merezhkovsky, theology, consciousness.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.6.15384

Abstract: The article “Three Lives of N. S. Voytkinskaya” describes the versatile personality of Nadezhda Savelyevna Voytkinskaya. There are practically no research dedicated to her; thus, the goal of this article is to familiarize the Russian scientific society with the creative and scientific heritage of this artist, philosopher, and interpreter. This work suggests to percept the various manifestations of N. S. Voytkinskaya creative aptitude not just through the different stages of her creative evolution, but rather as separate and independent paths of development (three lives). The authors’ contribution consists in the attempt to introduce her works into the scientific circulation. The first part of the article is dedicated to the description of the main milestones of her biography; the author actively attracts the archive materials for the purpose of giving fullness to the picture. The second part describes Voytkinskaya’s contribution into the Russian visual art; she appears as an artist, who under the circumstances has to reject the visual art. This becomes one of the greatest tragedies of her life. The third part present a review of Voytkinskaya’s literary work, in which she appears in two images – as an interpreter, and as an author of popular science books. In the fourth part, which is the most important in the authors’ opinion, Voytkinskaya appears as a philosopher. A significant conclusion of this research consists in a synthetic view upon N. S. Voytkinskaya, which combines various aspects of manifestation of her creative nature that are usually studied separately.

Keywords: history of Russian literature, Russian Institute of Art History, Bestuzhev courses, art, Russian translators, lithography, history of philosophy, Russian philosophy, Philosophy of art, Soviet writers

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.6.67932

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.6.9781

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.6.65122

Abstract: The article is devoted to the life and creative work of a little-known Russian Nietzschean philosopher of the Silver Age Fedyor Kuklyarsky(1888 — 1923).Kuklyarsky studied the problems of the history of philosophy and culture and was rather pessimistic about the future development of the world culture. In his cultural research Kuklyarsky developed the concept of the cultural crisis. Kuklyarsky also agreed with Leontiev regarding the coming death of Europe under the burden of cultural goods and creation of the distinctive character of the Russian type of culture. He was the author of the following published works: Philosophy of Individualism (published in St. Petersburg in 1910), The Last Word. On the Philosophy of Modern Religious Rebellion (published in St. Petersburg in 1911), Condemned World. Philosophy of the Human-Fighting Nature (published in St. Petersburg in 1912), Philosophy of Culture. Ideals of Human Culture in Terms of the Tragic World Perception’ (published in Petrograd in 1917), Criticism of Creative Cognition (Substantiation of Antinomianism) (published in Chita in 1923). For the first time in historiography of Russian philosophy the author of the article provides verified and updated biographical information about Fedyor Kuklyarsky whose tragic fate made us forget even his name for many long decades.

Keywords: Kuklyarsky, Russian philosophy, philosophy of culture, cultural crisis, Rozanov, Leontiev, Nietzsche, Nietzscheanism, philosophy of individualism, ideology.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.6.14070

Abstract: The subject under research is the process of the conveyance of the ideas of Byzantine hesychasm in the culture of the medieval Rus and Crimea. The author underlines that being a mystical teaching about 'divinization' of human, hesychasm expresses the inmost essence of Orthodoxy. Since the very times of Kievan Rus, hesychasm has been the essential part of the spitirual culture of Eastern Slavic peoples, thus contributing to the development of their sanctity ideal. In this article Zhirtueva examines the stages of the perception of the ideas of Byzantine hesychasm and creative interpretation of these ideas in Kievan Rus, Moscovian Rus and Tauris. The methodology of the research involves the comparative philosopho-theological analysis. The research methods include the comparative analytical method, analysis, synthesis, generalization, inidividuation and historical narrative. As a result of the research, the author concludes that the process of the conveyance of the ideas of Byzantine hesychasm underwent the two stages in medieval Rus and Crimea. In the VIIIth - XIth centuries the two centers of Byzantine hesychasm were created as a result of the aniconic movement. Those were the so called 'cave monasteries' of Tauris and Kiev Pechersk Lavra. In the XIVth - XVth the original school of 'Moscow hesychasm' (nestyazhatelstvo or the teaching of non-possession) was created due to 'hesychasm debates'. In Old Russia hesychasm was presented as ascetic hesychasm oriented at individual 'divinization' of human and political hesychasm aimed at realizing the ideal of the conciliar unity of the mankind.

Keywords: Kiev Pechersk Lavra, sanctity ideal, prayer from the mind and heart, non-possession (nestyazhatelstvo), political hesychasm, divinization, hesychasm, Trinity Monastery, cave monasteries, Tauris

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.6.66615

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.7.19389

Abstract: This article discusses the problem of correlation between ethics and religion, considering K. N. Leontiev’s concept of “transcendental egoism” and the disputes about the role of moral in culture, which took place in Russia of the late XIX century due to the works of Dostoevsky and other Russian writers. The author determines the specificity of ethical and religious consciousness, underlines the difficulty of their possible harmonic combination, and substantiates the necessity of turning to the analysis of the existed in the history of culture assessments of the problem of correlation between ethics and religion for better understanding of the processes that appear in the modern Russian society. The author points out the need for consideration of the universality of ethnical consciousness, which hinders the interpretation of the moral as one of the components of religious culture. The innovative character of the conducted analysis manifests in comparison of the concept of “transcendental egoism” with the approach of “autonomous ethics” towards the substantiation of morality and utilization of the extensive historical-philosophical and historical-cultural context.

Keywords: transcendental egoism, autonomous ethics, philosophical ethics, Christian culture, interpretation of Christianity, religion, ethics, culture, V.V. Rozanov, K. N. Leontiev

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.7.68057

Keywords: transcendental egoism, autonomous ethics, philosophical ethics, Christian culture, interpretation of Christianity, religion, ethics, culture, V.V. Rozanov, K. N. Leontiev

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.7.12324

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.7.65288

Abstract: The given article presents an attempt to describe Chizhevsky’s philosophical and anthropological views in terms of modern science. The importance of the research is caused by the fact that there were certain views and opinions of Chizhevsky that had a heuristic value for the science. Moreover, those views and opinions are proving to be true by the modern (scientific and other) theories and practices which allows us to see them in a different light today. Therefore, the present research is important for both science and philosophy. Chizhevsky’s metaphysical views on human are being analyzed taking into account the history of the development of the main grounds of the global evolutionism (the theory of the evolution of the Universe and synergetic studies). The following methods were used in the research: analysis of text- based sources (including materials from the funds of the 1703 Archive of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation), comparison, analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction, classification, generalization and historical method. The scientific novelty of the research is in the successive and systematic analysis of Chizhevsky’s philosophical and anthropological views in terms of the universal evolutionism, i.e. the most important paradigm of modern science allowing to create the general scientific picture of the world. The general conclusion made by the researcher is that Alexander Chizhevsky’s metaphysical views on human specify and develop modern concepts. The only exception is Chizhevsky’s deterministic approach to human and the antinomia of science and humanity reflected in Chizhevksy’s works.

Keywords: philosophy, philosophical anthropology, cosmism, Chizhevsky, science, universal evolutionism, evolution of the Universe, synergetic studies, determinism, accident.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.7.12000

Abstract: The author of the present article makes an attempt to demonstrate a stable consistency and structure of Nietzsche's philosophy and emphasizes the fact that the dominating interpretations of this philosophy are rather unsatisfactory. The famous provision about Nietzche's teaching being poetically inconsistent, incomplete and contradictory is proved to be wrong. The author underlines that in order to develop the right understanding of Nietzche's philosophy, it is necessary to view it as a coordinated doctrine. Nietzche's philosophy is being reconstructed by the author through successive analysis of the main points of Nietzche's teaching (metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of history and culture, psychology, ethics, aesthetics and politics). Systematic interpretation and solution of so called 'contradictions' of Nietzche's philosophy are possible only within the framework of hermeneutic philosophy. The focus on the context and peculiarities of the concepts Nietzche operated and the principle of interpreting each fragment as the part of his entire legacy lead to the conclusions that are absolutely different from traditional studies of Nietzche. The irreversible relation between the key terms and theses of Nietzche's teaching becomes obvious. According to the rules of philosophical architecture, his metaphysics of the will to power creates the basis for all his provisions and statements including gnoseological, ethical, aesthetical or other issues. This sets a new goal both for an individual and society, the highest forcefulness and magnificence like human, and allows to find efficient methods to achieve this goal. Meanwhile, the academic literature rarely offers such an analysis and even rare researches that can be actually found in literature do not meet their goal objectives.

Keywords: gnoseology, Nietzsche, reevaluation, Nietzsche's systematic interpretation, nihilism, ethics, aesthetics, history of philosophy, philosophy of culture, political philosophy

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.7.66784

Keywords: gnoseology, Nietzsche, reevaluation, nihilism, ethics, aesthetics, history of philosophy, philosophy of culture, political philosophy

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.7.62948

Abstract: Adam Smith was lucky to receive brilliant and versatile education. He received his primary education in his native Scottish town Kirkcaldy and then studied in such great universities as the University of Glasgow and Oxford. In 1759 he published his first significant work that made him famous. Then Smith gave lectures at universities in his native land — those were lectures in ethics, law, politics and economics. At the University of Glasgow Smith actively participated in the first political economy club ever created. In 1764-1767 Smith and his student visited Paris where Smith got an opportunity to expand his knowledge communicating with famous intellectual leaders of the time such as Turgot and others. In 1767-1776 Smith created his most significant work ‘The Wealth of Nations’ that gave him the fame of the pioneer of classical English political economy. However, Smith did not manage to solve the contradiction between the two most important categories in his works — altruism and egoism. Studying the history of ideas, Smith disagreed with Plato’s and Aristotle’s conception about inherited differences between people and talked about natural equality of all people instead.

Keywords: philosophy, University of Glasgow, Watt, Yum, Pitt, egoism, altruism, Protagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.8.12443

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.8.65394

Abstract: Appealing to René Descartes’ works, the author of the article considers the exposition of the body in the structure of being. Comparing concepts of ‘extension’ and ‘body’, the author sets a goal to analyze the spatial model of physicality in Cartesianism. Thus spatiality of a body is viewed here ontologically as the ‘extension of the physical being’. Cartesianism views the physical body as a part of the structure of being and for this reason the body ontology here is the ‘ontology in the true sense’ as Jean-Luc Nancy noted. Generally following the topological method of the description of physicality that dominated in Descartes’s texts, the author at the same time combines the topological method with the phenomenological analysis offered by Merlot Ponty. Indeed, Descartes analyzed the body exclusively spatially, but it would be incorrect to consider that the space determines the body. It is rather that Cartesianism views the body as the ‘alienation of space’. This is what Descartes used to develop the concept of the ‘body-machine’, i.e. the concrete body with particular functions. The author of article also comes to a conclusion that Descartes’s deductive method originates in anatomic practices. Anatomy studies the ‘body divided into parts’ rather than the body as a whole allowing a researcher to define the main elements of the general mechanism of the physical body.

Keywords: René Descartes, Cartesianism, Jean-Luc Nancy, body, ontology, being, space, extension, body-machine, Maurice Merleau-Ponty.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.8.19747

Abstract: The subject of research is the problem of death in the philosophy of Georges Bataille. The theme of death in Bataille is inextricably linked to the theme of community. It is from this context comes the definition of community as "sovereign" and "sacred". Any community, any movement of cooperative experience is being established around some sacred core that can turn "a category of death into a principle of life, the category of decline – in the principle of an excess of vitality", which corresponds with the ambivalent nature of the sacred: it is both high and low, pure and revolting, the sacred and the cursed. In most cases, in the works of Bataille concepts are not static: rather, they constantly travel along the surface of the text, escaping because of their very dynamic from any ordering, so we do not set ourselves the task of holistic analysis of the topic of death, but sought only to outline the metaphoric of his texts. Attempt to represent the experience of the sovereign community of Georges Bataille by combining the two perspectives: in real (community of Surrealists, "Counter-attack", "Acetal", "College of Sociology") and the ideal community. Bataille shows that the community does not require the integrity, it rather suggests the loss of the “part of your own being”, creating yourself by means of your own death. This is what the philosopher calls "the practice of joy before death".

Keywords: Hegel, inner experience, sovereignty, sacred, event, community, death, Georges Bataille, Other, philosophy of laughter

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.8.68135

Keywords: Hegel, inner experience, sovereignty, sacred, event, community, death, Georges Bataille, Other, philosophy of laughter

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.8.12375

Abstract: The beginning of the XXth century was marked with the tendency towards modernization of Christianity in the Catholic West and in Russia. The process of preparation for that phenomenon started in the second half of the XIXth century and went on with different instensity. At the beginning of the XXth century it evolved into direct contacts at the private level in the course of which information was exchanged. During the period since 1904 to 1914 Fernand Portal sent his students to Russia to study Russian religious environment as well as to perform ecumenical mission. Portal's students made acquaintances and established contacts with both neo slavophiles an dreligious authors and intelligentsia in general. This fact has allowed to raise a question about the influence of the Roman Catholic modernism on the religious movement of the first decade of the XXth century in Russia. By analyzing the first translations from French into Russian (articles written by Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Joseph Wilbois) made especially for the present research as well as researches of Georges Nivat and Danilova about Slavophilism among the followers of Portal's teaching and the correspondence between 'Neo Christians' and a 'Neo Catholic' Zdziechowski published in her previous articles, Vorontsova specifies the nature of contacts between 'Neo Christians' and Ferdinand Portal's students. As an illustration, Vorontsova publishes the translation of the letter written by the 'Neo Christianity' leader Dmitry Merezhkovsky for the Journal of Portal's followers. This is the first translation of this letter published in Russian academic literature. As the topic for an individual research, the author of the article also touches upon the relations between 'Neo Catholics' and 'Neo Christians' in the first decade of the XXth century. The author presents the translation of Dmitry Merezhkovsky's article from the 'Catholic Journal of Churches' and uses the direct quotation of a French article of Joseph Wilbois on the religious consciousness in Russia. The author of the article concludes that contacts of 'Neo Christians' with the followers of Portal's school had different tasks and goals and proves the fact of mutual influence of those that was especially evident in the first decade of the XXth century.

Keywords: Portal's school, modernism, Slavophilism, Neo-Christianity, Neo-Catholicism, Joseph Wilbois, Gustave Morel, Albert Gracie, followers of Portal's teaching, Russian Church

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.8.66929

Keywords: modernism, Slavophilism, Neo-Christianity, Neo-Catholicism, Joseph Wilbois, Gustave Morel, Albert Gracie, Russian Church

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.9.12807

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.9.65489

Abstract: The article is devoted to the ideas of Marshall McLuhan and Ayn Rand. The author of the article studies their fundamental works and the influence they made on their contemporaries and succeeding generations of Americans. Both Marshall McLuhan and Ayn Rand were intellectual stars of their times who managed to attract not only the academic audience, researchers and analysts but also the general public. They had good contacts with mass media, managed information and were media personas in general. They managed to create the cult out of their names and teachings and attracted followers including American elite. Each of them had their own original views on the social progress and vision of the future. Gradually their ideas were spread beyond the USA and became popular all over the world. The author of the present article carried out a comparative analysis of works created by these North American philosophers with reference to the American philosophy. The style and content of their fundamental works, peculiarities of the target audience of both philosophers trends in philosophy created by both Marshal McLuhan and Ayn Rand were studied. This is the first article to compare the ideas and personalities of the two brightest American philosophers of the 20th century. Based on the results of the research, the author concludes that Marshall McLuhan’s technological determinism was continued in creative work of David Cronenberg and the Wachowski Brothers, works written by Manuel Castells and searches of modern leaders of IT-industry. Ayn Rand’s philosophy of objectivism can be found in political and economic theories of many American conservatives including the right wing of the Republican Party (the Tea Party movement). Both Marshal McLuhan’s and Ayn Rand’s ideas created the grounds for the Californian ideology and new philosophy of the American ‘geeks’ of Silicon Valley.

Keywords: Marshall McLuhan, Ayn Rand, media theory, philosophy of objectivism, ‘Understanding Media’, Atlas Shrugged, rational egoism, technological determinism, American philosophy, the Californian ideology.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.9.17195

Abstract: This article analyzes the arguments by means of which the Western European philosophers of the XIX century explained the qualitative asymmetry between the pain and pleasure. The anatomical and physiological confirmation of the existence of such asymmetry was acquired only in the XX century: pain represents an independent type of reception with a separate system of conductors and receptors (nociceptors); however, there is no specialized conductors and receptors of pleasure. Thus, the discovery of the qualitative asymmetry of pain and please represents a notable case of the successful philosophical “foresight”. The general philosophical interest contain the following question: why the success was achieved specifically in this area, and why it never gained the due recognition. As the examples of various approaches, the author considers the philosophies of pain and pleasure suggested by A. Schopenhauer, S. Freud, E. von Hartmann, and F. Nietzsche; as well as analyzes their arguments in confirmation of the asymmetry of pain and pleasure, source of doubts and theoretical controversies, and suggests formalization using the mathematical symbolics. The author proves that the recognition of the qualitative asymmetry of pain and pleasure was hindered by the linguistic obstacle – the circumstance, which states that in European languages, the pain and pleasure are the symmetric directions of single modality. This lead to multiple theoretical regressions and controversies in the views of A. Schopenhauer, S. Freud, E. von Hartmann, and F. Nietzsche upon the qualitative asymmetry of pain and pleasure. And therefore, the major philosophical discovery did not gain the due assessment.

Keywords: Suffering, Formalization, Philosophical anthropology, Philosophy of pain, Pleasure, Reception, Psychoanalysis, Modality, Pain, Axiology

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.9.68204

Abstract: This article is devoted to the study of the principles of the socio-economic structure of society in the philosophical concept of global constitutionalism. The author argues that any socially-philosophical concept involves building your own model of socio-economic structure of society. Contemporary socio-philosophical concept, designing our own model of socio-economic structure of society must be defined with the basic principles of formation and functioning of its economic basis (at the level of the nation state and in planetary scale) and socio-political superstructure. The author identifies the main principles of the socio-economic structure of society in the philosophical conception of global constitutionalism: the increasing complexity of the socio-economic structure of society; the establishment of law as the Foundation of the socio-economic structure of society; the consolidation of the system of democratic values of the Western sample as the Supreme value of the socio-economic structure of society; the establishment of competition and market selection (the free market) as the basis of socio-economic structure of society. The paper examines criticism of the socio-economic structure of society in the philosophical conception of global constitutionalism formulated by supporters of alternative conceptions of globalization (e.g., alter), as well as the opponents of globalization "on the left" (proletarian internationalists, Marxists), and "on the right" (anti-globalists).In this scientific article the author used a number of scientific research methods, in particular: comparative law; formal logic; statistics; legal history; modeling; description.

Keywords: anti-globalization, Marxism, global constitutionalism, philosophical concept, society, structure, economic, social, principles, alter-globalization

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.10.19977

Abstract: This article explores the relation of A. F. Losev to the transcendental understanding of being in the philosophy of Hegel. Basing on the observation of V. O. Troitsky, according to which the Russian philosopher avoids using the notion of “haecceity”, the author reveals the position of A. F. Loves regarding Hegel’s philosophy, as well as underlines the specificities of Russian philosophy in the global historical-philosophical process. Special attention is given to the analysis of Hegel’s concept of the structure of reasoning, as well as Losev’s doctrine on correlation of the symbol and artistic image. The author proves that the noted by the Russian researcher peculiarity of Losev’s use of the philosophical terminology is caused by the nonrandom factors, but rather its fundamental position on the key issue of ontology. For the first time in scientific literature, the author reveals the peculiarities of the aesthetical doctrines of the German and Russian philosophers that are substantiated by their ontological preferences. This work also reconstructs the historical-cultural context of the differences, detected between the philosophers, in the assessments of opportunity regarding the philosophical cognition of the Absolute.

Keywords: symbolism, certainty, structure of reasoning, transcendentalism, Hegel, A. F. Losev, Haecceity, symbol, artistic image, specificities of the Russian philosophy

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.10.68283

Keywords: symbolism, certainty, structure of reasoning, transcendentalism, Hegel, A. F. Losev, Haecceity, symbol, artistic image, specificities of the Russian philosophy

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.10.12623

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.10.65534

Abstract: The subject under research is the phenomenon of transgression in the scientific discourse as a source of scientific work. Scientific work has its own bifurcation points at which completeness and order of scientific discourse are broken. In such crisis situations scientific discourse turns into the transgressive regime of existence. The present regime is described by the neutralization of the existential-conceptual framework established by scientific discourse. As a result it becomes possible to discover other configurations of meaning and existence in scientific discourse. According to the author, transformation of scientific discourse into the transgressive regime of existence is a specific ontological condition of scientific work. In his research the author uses standard methods of ontological research that are usually used in both classical ontology and modern non-classical ontology. He also uses a few research methods offered by the synergetic approach. The transgressive regime is not typical for science, even for modern post-neoclassical science. However, transgression is a necessary condition of scientific work. Scientific discourse transforms into the transgressive regime, firstly, when a modified variant of scientific discourse has a crisis and secondly, when scientific discourse approaches to philosophical discourse. Both cases are the ‘bifurcation points’ at which scientific discourse loses its balanced nature and established constitution.

Keywords: scientific discourse, transgression, transcendence, existential-conceptual perspective, bifurcation, modified variant, transgressive regime, paradoxical element, scientific work, constitution.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.10.12556

Abstract: The article is devoted to the cognitive theory offered by Theophan Prokopovich as one of the representatives of the New European concept of knowledge and cognition. The author of the article analyzes Prokopovich' views on the source of human knowledge in terms of the development of modern philosophy. Nikitina also studies the model of the relationship betwen true religion and true knowledge as it is seen by the philosopher. In her article Nikitina provides an insight into the religious content of Theophan Prokopovich's cognitive concept. Philosophical views of an intellectual are represented as an integrity consisting of numerous theoretical and practical provisions, each of them being substantianted in Prokopovich' works written in different styles and for different philosophical, political, religious and social purposes. Philosophical views of Theophan Prokopovich are compared to New European philosophy in order to prove their topical nature and practical importance. The author of the article provides a comparative analysis of the views of Prokopovich and Locke on the problem of innate ideas. For the first time in the academic literature the author describes Theophan Prokopovich' cognitive concept as an element of the integral system of his philosophy but not as an individual theoretical concept. The author also proves the relation between his philosophy and philosophical and intellectual environment of those times as well as Prokopovich' ability to independently form views and concepts of the most important ideological issues of that epoch. The purpose of the present article is to demonstrate Prokopovich' understanding of cognition as well as the relationship between his philosophy and true religion.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.10.67071