Ideas and Ideals

The article is a comprehension of one of the tenets of philosophical materialism, one of the three conservation laws - the energy conservation law. It is an integral part of modern natural science. The author emphasizes the ontological status of the mathematical foundation of the law of energy conservation, and gives unexpected and very interesting extrapolations and applications of it. The author insists that the law of energy conservation does not have only an ontological and epistemological, but also a moral dimension. The author begins his article with admiration for the beauty and harmony of mathematics and deals with many fascinating and demonstrative mathematical achievements in the development of the greatest minds of mankind - Pythagoras, Leibniz, Newton, Fibonacci, Bach, Newlands, Mendeleev and others. Simplicity and elegance of Mathematics were also appreciated by naturalists. The author cites the position on this account of two prominent representatives of empirio-criticism of the second half of the XIX century - Ernst Mach and Richard Avenarius - with their conceptual methodological platform of the “principle of economy of thinking” as a fundamental regulative science. In the future, the author tries to highlight the amazing aspects of the law of energy conservation within the framework of Plato’s philosophical theories about the “world as eidos”, Descartes about the potential of “innate ideas”, Hegel’s philosophy of history, the concept of L.N. Gumilev about ethnogenesis and passionarity and V. I. Vernadsky biosphere theory with his “law of constancy.” From the standpoint of the law of energy conservation the author substantiates providentialism within the framework of Christian apocalyptic dogma. The entire content of the article is not just permeated by the personal assessment of the author on all the mentioned personalities and their theoretical constructs, the author takes the liberty to present his original conceptual idea on this topic to the readers.

Shakespeares Sonnets (1609) contains several rhyming patterns that were regarded at the time as ‘anomalies’. In a list of ‘Rules’ for poetry published in 1585, the very first prohibition laid down by King James VI of Scotland was that a syllable should never be rhymed with itself. In 1603 James VI of Scotland became James I of England. And yet, in Shakespeare’s sonnets, the very first of King James’s prohibitions is broken  ̶  rarely, but repeatedly. If Shakespeare’s successive sonnets are aligned with the successive notes in musical scales for the canonical series of the Renaissance ‘modes’, then the locations of Shakespeare’s rhyme-anomalies coincide reliably with the locations of the notes that are significantly discordant with the tonic according to a musical theory that was published in 1619 by the astronomer Johannes Kepler. Kepler’s master-work The Harmony of the World (1619) was dedicated to King James I of England. This work opens with a Dedication to King James, in which King James’s celebrated political successes were credited to his understanding of the ‘celestial harmonies’.    It is argued here that Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence constitutes a ‘microcosm’ that formally echoes Kepler’s theory of the ‘macrocosm’ and ‘the harmony of the spheres’. If Shakespeare could somehow have brought the formal patterning in this ‘microcosm’ to the attention of potential patrons in the Jacobean Court, then he could reasonably have hoped that this might curry favour with those among them who shared ‘Platonic’ interests like those of Kepler.

The article focuses on the arguments given by an Australian researcher John Bigelow who aspires to prove the existence of regular relations between the compositional structure of William Shakespeare’s cycle of 154 sonnets and the system of modal scales in the version of Shakespeare’s outstanding contemporary, composer and theorist Thomas Morley, which served as a basis for musical theory of that time. It is noted that J. Bigelow managed to prove the rightfulness of his own assumptions allowing to disclose such relations. One of the brightest examples he draws is the relations between the first eight sonnets and sonnet 145 and the interval structure of the corresponding modal scales and peculiarities of the triton sound as well as the auditory perception of certain non-tempered thirds and fourths. At the same time, the article points at a certain inaccuracy of Bigelow’s arguments and his lacking the principle of universality as the reasons and observations given by the researcher concern only the smallest part of the cycle and not the whole one. Nevertheless, Bigelow’s conclusions are certainly worth the attention, and one may continue the research of the sonnets cycle in the given direction which might probably lead to a fuller understanding of its compositional structure.

The profile federal regional department (Russian Federation Ministry for Nationalities Issues and Regional Policy) since its establishment has been in a difficult situation in the matter of its activity object. This is proved indirectly by its numerous (five times!) renaming. Difficulties finally reached such a level that it was decided in October 2001 to abolish it. In 2004, the ministry was re-created, but in September 2014 it was abolished again. Between the articles 41 and 47 of the Budget Code of the Russian Federation of January 1, 2000, there was a contradiction in the matter of the content of "own revenues" category. The developers had to eliminate the contradiction, but in such a way that, as far as possible, the volume of the region's own revenues should be increased in accordance with the political line. And indeed, in the amended article 47 of the Budget Code of January1, 2005, "incomes received by budgets in the form of gratuitous income, with the exception of subventions" were also attributed to the budget's own revenues. The greatness of the idea is that a significant increase in the region's own revenues is achieved by simply changing the definition. But this decision was not radical enough, and the concept of "own revenues" is completely excluded from the draft of the new edition of the Code. It is a tendency, though!

What is Marxist philosophy? About thirty or forty years ago the answer could be found in any textbook of philosophy. Philosophy is "the science of universal laws of motion and evolution in nature, human society and thought." The inseparable connection between philosophy and "various branches of positive science" was postulated as well as its status as a universal method of all sciences, and so on. But here is the casus – there are no works of Marx himself, where his philosophy of Marxism as such would be stated. Kant has three of his "Critiques", Hegel has "The Science of Logic." So N. Mikhailovsky once asked: "In what work did Marx expound his materialistic understanding of history? ... Where is such work of Marx? – There isn’t any." Lenin, at the beginning of his revolutionary career, sarcastically giggling, replied to Mikhailovsky that the philosophy of Marx is "dissolved" in his numerous works on economics, politics, history, etc., and it is, so to say, their "dry residue". Indeed there is little reason to fully trust the quality of the analysis of the leader of the world proletariat and his conclusions.

The problem of adapting of the educational activities of religious organizations to the existing system of education in Russia is an important issue. The problem is investigated on the basis of the postsecular philosophy. The article analyzes the problem and describes the adaptive mechanisms for resolving the controversial moments in educational sphere. The analysis includes certain models of adapting the educational activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in order to integrate it into the existing system of education in Russia.

The article is dedicated to the discussion of controversial issues of modern noospherology. Global deformation of the biosphere under the influence of human activities has led to the fact that Humanity has no alternatives to the transition to the noosphere. The article also justifies the need for the following items: a) to interpret the noosphere from the perspective of co-evolution of society and nature; b) to replace the orientation towards sustainable development into the orientation towards the co-evolutionary development.

In his response to the article by Hans-Jochen Luhmann “Physics of Ukrainian Crisis”, Wolfgang Sassin stresses the fact that Europe and EU are not the same. The absence of an adequate concept of Europe plays the central role for the author. Without defi ning such a concept in view of forthcoming global challenges, he does not see ways of a major European contribution to solving vital problems of humanity.