Georges Bataille’s Atheology and Negative Sovereignty
Grigory Siplivy
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2024-16.1.1-48-64
Abstract:

The article presents a brief essay on the analysis of three key concepts in the philosophy of Georges Bataille – heterology as the logic of exclusion, (a-)theology as an atheistic understanding of the death of God and the concept of ‘negative’ or ‘sacrificial’ Sovereignty. It seems that the key to understanding the various and heterogeneous philosophical, literary-poetic, cultural-anthropo­logical and socio-economic concepts of the French thinker is the prism of the heterological logic of exclusion, which opposes the internalization of the domi­nant ontological discourse. The heterology or ‘logic of exclusion’ used by Georg­es Bataille, is not so much a negative version of the traditional logic of ‘inclu­sion’, but is a logic of alternative extremes. It is precisely by striving to overcome the dominant metaphysical universalism of the general order of being (embod­ied, according to Bataille, in the concept of ‘being’ / ‘die Existenz’ in the philos­ophy of Martin Heidegger). In an effort to overcome the dominant metaphysical universalism of the general order of being, Bataille turns to various kinds of ‘de­nials’ and extremes – the left sacred or the sanctity of ‘foulness’, the metaphori­cal of the disgusting, erotic and violent forms of transgression, the cultivation ofthe experience of inner abandonment and ultimate despair, and, also, to his own concept of ‘sacrifice’, serving as a guide to the world of sovereign domination.

Thus, developing his concept of metaphysical ‘sovereignty’, Bataille turns not only to the existential, but also to the political sphere, largely contrasting his ‘metaphysics of sacrifice’ with the concept of ‘metaphysical domination’ ofthe German political and legal theorist Carl Schmitt. The nihilistic energy drawn from Friedrich Nietzsche and the ‘metaphysical negation’ taken from Hegel’s dia­lectic through the interpretation of Alexander Kozhev is used by Bataille for the purposes of his own ‘heterological’ logic of exclusion, desubjectivization and dissolution. However, negation for Bataille is not a target for itself, but a meth­odological tool on the way to the ‘Other’ excluded from any ontosemantic order.

Practical Tasks of Рosthumanism. Changes in Boundaries within Human Society
Yury Voronov
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2024-16.1.1-65-86
Abstract:

With the prevailing ideas of humanism in the public consciousness, many boundaries were created that divide people into categories. At the same time, on one side of the border there are those who are more deserving of the title ‘hu­man’ in comparison with those who are on the other side. Over the course ofhistory, these borders have been actively rebuilt, and the pace of their changes has become increasingly rapid in recent years.

The article examines changes at five such boundaries: between men and women, according to belonging to different religious denominations, to differ­ent nationalities and races, between healthy people and disabled people (includ­ing between the mentally healthy and the crazy), as well as changes in attitudes over time to the homeless and tramps. The author considers the consequenc­es of changes that have already occurred or are planned at each of these five boundaries.

The author believes that a mandatory factor in global economic development has always been the “friendly-alien” division. With the help of such division in economic activity, trust is generated, which is the most important institution nec­essary for the existence and development of the economy and social organiza­tion. Trust facilitates the interaction of economic agents and facilitates the func­tioning of monetary mechanisms.

Large-scale attempts to erase boundaries between people are being made through coups and revolutions, but they lead to the replacement of previous­ly existing boundaries between people with new ones. An attempt to eliminate classes leads to the creation of a new system of boundaries - property inequality. An attempt to eliminate property inequality and the exploitation of man by man leads to the creation of a new system of boundaries – by the place in the vertical of power, by membership in the ruling party, and others.

For this reason, with any reforms and radical transformations, it is advisable to anticipate the formation of new borders, and also to evaluate if they are muchbetter than the previous ones in terms of social justice and economic efficiency.

Psychological Continuity as an Ontological Criterion of the Subject’s Personal Identity
Stanislav Bulanov
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2024-16.1.1-87-102
Abstract:

In the current article the author considers the problem of the subject’s per­sonal identity. The analysis of this concept seems to be very relevant, since in today’s public space the concept of identity is used, firstly, as non-problematic, and, secondly, as completely politicized. The analysis of the concept of identity is important because philosophy can look at the subject’s identity without preju­dice and thereby depoliticize its concept. And ontology as a branch of philoso­phy is able to carry out a truly fundamental and comprehensive research of the concept of the subject’s identity. Personal identity turns out to be an ontological concept because the subject exists as identical to itself, and consistent reflection on the modes of existence of the subject inevitably leads us to discover the con­cept of its identity.

The subject of the article is the subject’s personal identity. On the basis ofphilosophical methodology and on the method of historical analysis, the author of the study considers personal identity as something non-self-evident, placing it in the conceptual framework of subjectivity proposed by Levinas. The personal identity of the subject is endowed with the status of a mediator, smoothing out the collision of the same and the other. In this research, human identity appears as both a space and the result of a collision of familiar experience and new im­pressions – in the terminology of Levinas – identical and different. The tempo­ral structure of the subject’s identity is revealed. The concept of an ontological criterion of personal identity is put forward and four historical concepts that of­fer such a criterion are considered: Locke, Hume, Kant and Parfit. Thus, four ontological criteria are found – consciousness, memory, transcendental criterion and psychological continuity. Each criterion is analyzed, integrated into the on­tology of the subject’s personal identity and the role of each criterion is traced in the organization of its temporal structure. The results of the research are the reconstruction of the discovered concepts in the status of ontological criteria ofpersonal identity, their comparative analysis is carried out. It is concluded that Parfit’s psychological continuity is the most consistent of all the analyzed criteria because it simultaneously affirms the possibility of the subject’s personal iden­tity and outlines the boundaries of the application of this concept. Though psy­chological continuity doesn’t fit in Levinas’ conceptual frame because it doesn’tsolve existential and ontological problems, that exist around concept of personal identity.

The “Sonic Flux” as Мaterialism Going to the End
Polina Dronyaeva
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2024-16.1.1-103-128
Abstract:

The article analyses both the book of American philosopher ChristophCox “Sonic Flux: Sound, Art and Metaphysics” and a wide range of criti­cal publications dedicated to this book. The project “Sonic Flux” belongs tosonic materialism (a branch of “New Materialism’) also known as “Deleuziansound studies”. For Cox this means a development of “immanent metaphys­ics” launched by G. Deleuze. But while continuing the project of Deleuze,Cox inherits his predicaments. Their range is as broad as the specter of Cox’ssources covering philosophy, arts, theory of perception. Debates around theproject “Sonic Flux” highlighted such problems as the way Cox understandsmaterialism and how he understands access to reality. Cox’s correlation of fi­nite and infinite; particularity and universality, and anti-historicism are highlyproblematic for critics. Since Cox claims to develop a theory of sound art weassess his ideas from this perspective. This allows us to focus on modernism,anonymity and anti-humanism, central to Cox’s project but not to its criti­cism. A less important aspect – resentiment in Cox’s style – turned out to behelpful in drawing conclusions that the whole project “Sonic Flux” is builtupon a range of assumptions. Cox himself names some of them while weindicated some others.

The main conclusion of the article is the idea that the project “Sonic Flux” cannot provide an adequate theory of sound art nor contribute to sound stud­ies because it is too embedded in the worst kind of modernism and structural­ism. Such important notions of sonic materialism as autonomy and anonymity of sounds perfectly fit the tradition of Modernism while being completely alien to the sound studies.

Philosophy of the Modern Era and Postmodernism
Valery Savrey
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2023-15.4.1-11-26
Abstract:

In the history of philosophical thought the past twentieth century was marked by a great turning point caused by the collapse of the previous intellectual, cultural, and attitudinal paradigm characteristic of the classical modern era. Acting as the destroyer of this paradigm, postmodernism prioritized the “effectiveness of language”, freeing it from morality and truth, and reducing it to the transmission of information regardless of the degree of honesty or dishonesty of the position taken by the interested party. It is in the philosophy of postmodernism that language in its functional and especially in its axiological relation has undergone a violent degradation. Unlike postmodernism, the philosophy of the modern era has never ceased to live the history and heritage of world philosophical thought, the importance of which in the history of cultures and civilizations has always been recognized as the beginning of all subsequent intellectual and technical achievements of mankind. The key place in the article is occupied by the analysis of Heidegger’s fundamental ontology, which creates a “theology without God” and rejects divine reality, without the realization of which the only possibility remains despairing pessimism. In postmodernism, language ceases to be an instrument of cognition of reality, remaining an instrument of the strategy of persuasion. Thus, philosophy should not abandon its own purpose in the search for teleological meaning in the evaluation and interpretation of human being in the world. The new conceptualization of the existence of the world and man was formalized in the philosophy of existentialism and postmodern. These approaches to the interpretation of man, his language, thinking, consciousness and faith inherent in the philosophy of J.-P. Sartre, N.A. Berdyaev, K. Jaspers, M. Heidegger, J. Derrida, M. Foucault and R. Rorty form the subject of this article. The author shows that it is the philosophy of classical modernity, based on Christian doctrine with its orientation to the life of the future century, is an alternative to postmodernism.

On the Structure of the Philosophical Teachings of Epicurus
Vladimir Brovkin
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2023-15.4.1-27-39
Abstract:

The a rticle discusses three versions of the question of the structure of Epicurus’ philosophy. According to the fi rst version, Epicurus’ philosophical teaching consists of three parts: physics, ethics and canonics. An established tradition in the history of philosophy speaks in favor of this version. An important role in the formation of this tradition was played by such authors as Cicero, Seneca, Sextus Empiricus, Diogenes Laertius. According to the second version, Epicurus’ philosophical teaching is limited to two parts: physics and ethics. The Canonics is not considered as a separate section. It is part of physics. The basis for this version is the emphasis in the texts of Epicurus on two teachings: about nature and lifestyle. The two-part structure of epicureanism is also reported by some late Antique authors. According to the third version, the philosophical teaching of Epicurus does not have a strict division into separate parts. First of all, this is evidenced by the lack of clear statements of Epicurus about the structure of his teaching. It also follows from the texts of Epicurus that he adheres to a holistic view of philosophy, in which there is no special need to divide it into separate parts. In addition, works are attributed to Epicurus, the classifi cation of which is not reported. This may indicate a weak elaboration by Epicurus of the question of the structure of philosophical teaching. It was found that Epicurus does not share Plato’s and Aristotle’s representations about the classifi cation of sciences. Epicurus contrasts the representation of the division of sciences into theoretical, practical and productive with the opinion of the division of sciences into useful – contributing to the acquisition of serenity and useless – not contributing to the achievement of this goal. Epicurus’ disagreement with academics and peripatetics on this issue contributes to the assumption that Epicurus does not share other representations of his opponents, including the three-part structure of philosophy.

Historical Review of Russian Biographies of Aristotle (Second Half of the 18th – Early 20th Centuries)
Oksana Egorova
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2023-15.4.1-40-55
Abstract:

The article reviews some multi-genre texts of Russian intellectual literature (the 18th – early 20th centuries), containing structured biographies of Aristotle: dictionaries and encyclopedias, textbooks, educational and scientifi c publications. The author singles out seven main chronological periods in the history of the philosopher’s biographies’ creation, as well as their features and source base, with special attention to the authors’ personalities. A separate block examines the key biographies of Aristotle written in the Soviet era. In the main part of the article the author describes each of the selected periods chronologically in every detail, and considers the history of the individual biographical works’ creation. It is noted that the content of the studied texts varies from full-fl edged biographical sketches to brief notes, listing only the main facts or stages of Aristotle’s life. The conclusion is made about the auxiliary nature of these works, where the philosopher’s biography was often referred to when compiling thematic encyclopedic and dictionary articles, or historical references for educational purposes. At the same time, this information was borrowed mainly from foreign encyclopedic publications and popular science works devoted to Aristotle. The above features of the content of the studied texts allow us to call them Russian biographies of Aristotle only conditionally. Among the designated authors there are scientists from various fi elds, philosophers, publicists, theologians and popularizers of science. However, among them there were no professional researchers who purposefully studied the biography of Aristotle. The most signifi cant for the Russian culture of the studied period are the works of S. Ya. Nechaev, G. Voskresensky, S. S. Gogotsky, S. G. Kovner, E. F. Litvinova, S. N. Trubetskoy.The article reviews some multi-genre texts of Russian intellectual literature (the 18th – early 20th centuries), containing structured biographies of Aristotle: dictionaries and encyclopedias, textbooks, educational and scientifi c publications. The author singles out seven main chronological periods in the history of the philosopher’s biographies’ creation, as well as their features and source base, with special attention to the authors’ personalities. A separate block examines the key biographies of Aristotle written in the Soviet era. In the main part of the article the author describes each of the selected periods chronologically in every detail, and considers the history of the individual biographical works’ creation. It is noted that the content of the studied texts varies from full-fl edged biographical sketches to brief notes, listing only the main facts or stages of Aristotle’s life. The conclusion is made about the auxiliary nature of these works, where the philosopher’s biography was often referred to when compiling thematic encyclopedic and dictionary articles, or historical references for educational purposes. At the same time, this information was borrowed mainly from foreign encyclopedic publications and popular science works devoted to Aristotle. The above features of the content of the studied texts allow us to call them Russian biographies of Aristotle only conditionally. Among the designated authors there are scientists from various fi elds, philosophers, publicists, theologians and popularizers of science. However, among them there were no professional researchers who purposefully studied the biography of Aristotle. The most signifi cant for the Russian culture of the studied period are the works of S. Ya. Nechaev, G. Voskresensky, S. S. Gogotsky, S. G. Kovner, E. F. Litvinova, S. N. Trubetskoy.

J. G. Hamann’s Conversion as the Key to His Work
Alexey Streltsov
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2023-15.4.1-56-72
Abstract:

The article deals with the mechanism of the religious conversion of the 18th century Königsberg writer J.G. Hamann as well as the infl uence of this event on his subsequent literary activity characterized by an insightful critique of the Enlightenment project. In his autobiography not geared toward the public, this conversion has features of a typical Pietist conversion with its peculiar language as well as normative accents on feelings along with the lowered role of reason. His debut work “Socratic Memorabilia”, however, which was addressed to I. Kant and I.K. Berens, served as vindication of his new “Weltanschauung”, and enables one to interpret his conversion as a transition to a new conceptual scheme with its own distinct interpretation of texts, ideas, and events. Theological-philosophical foundations of Hamann’s conversion have greater signifi cance than its psychological aspects. Within this framework, the former life is then viewed from a different perspective. However, it is the text and the author behind the text (rather than internal feeling of the heart) that is primary to Hamann. This text presupposes subsequent authorship of Hamann himself. Thus, the London conversion experience of Hamann may not be reduced to ecstasy, elimination of cognitive and rational capacities, but rather viewed as “metanoia”, a change of thinking, way of life, and worldview. From this perspective it is more appropriate to view the ensuing philosophical career of Hamann as activity in a different framework rather than conceptualization of personal experience of conversion. While his efforts were directed at a variety of subjects (theology and philosophy of history, aesthetics, philosophy of language, correlation of faith and reason, critique of political basis of the Enlightenment), the very thrust of his thinking was governed by a conceptual scheme, which in turn also implied a different lifestyle (attitude to professional activity, family, and marriage), incongruent with the conventional notions of the time.

The World of Human Happiness and Its Philosophical Origins
Irina Stanislavova,  Galina Solovyova
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2023-15.4.1-73-87
Abstract:

The subject of this research is various ideas about happiness in the history of philosophy. Happiness is a concept of a special kind, the importance of which in motivating human activity is extremely great. The subject arouses a constantly renewed interest among philosophers, psychologists, educators, sociologists and other specialists throughout the foreseeable intellectual history of mankind from Antiquity to the present day. All people strive for happiness, understanding it as a guarantee of a prosperous existence, but they put the most diverse meaning into this concept. Happiness has always been the most important motive of human actions, therefore it is necessary to clarify the actual content of this phenomenon in the conditions of the modern spiritual situation of the time of the confrontation of cultures and civilizations. The purpose of the work is an attempt to analyze from the historical and philosophical positions the intellectual and emotional-spiritual state of a person in which he feels happy. Each historical epoch put forward its own ideals, so intellectuals offered new formulas of happiness. The philosophical origins of the concept of happiness investigated in the article allow us to consider and substantiate its substantive aspect from various positions (theological, social, psychological). The methodological basis is the general scientifi c methods of cognition (historical, system-structural and dialectical, due to the complexity and internal inconsistency of the subject) in combination with the philosophical and anthropological approach. The main method of research is the historical-deductive method, a method of comparative analysis of philosophical approaches to solving the problem of happiness in various historical epochs. In conclusion, the authors assert that happiness is a deeply experienced complex integral physical, mental, intellectual, social and spiritual state that depends on the person himself. A person’s happiness is himself, his life created by him, in which all the acquired values of culture fi nd their true place and meaning. The results of the study can be used in the process of educating young people and teaching philosophy and humanities in various educational institutions.

The Second Russian Revolution and N.A. Berdyav’s Utopian Project of Spiritual Aristocracy
Vladimir Boyko
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2023-15.3.1-56-78
Abstract:

Throughout many years Berdyaev discusses the problem of spiritual aristocracy formation in Russia. The Russian philosopher defends an imperishable value of spiritual aristocracy, as he doesn’t see a direct connection between the socio-historical environment and the emergence of “knights of spirit”. In his works he underlines the priority of the universal objective Divine will, calls for renewing Christianity and all aspects of public life, connects religious revival only with the development of a person. Berdyaev believes that the ‘people-nation’ can be aristocratic if it is ready to subordinate their own actions to the absolute Divine will. In 1917-1918 the idea of a hierarchical structure of any reality defines a train of Berdyaev’s thought. The being of the free person is closely connected with cosmic hierarchy. Creativity and social equality are not compatible, creativity demands inequality; the nature of creativity and the essence of the person are aristocratic. The Russian thinker welcomes the overthrow of autocracy. He denies class foundation of the ongoing revolution, exposes bourgeois, non-creative base of the socialist idea. Berdyaev sees the cause of ‘the sacred realm’ downfall in the estrangement of Russian people from the state power, absence of spiritual aristocracy in Russia. He accounts for the victory of democracy as an external condition of spiritual knighthood’s making, whose thoughts are directed outside of the empirical world, a necessity and compulsion realm. The Russian philosopher hopes that the democratic revolution will release spiritual forces of the people, whose ascending creative movement will be accompanied by the formation of national spiritual aristocracy. But in July 1917 Berdyaev ascertains that Russia is sacrificed to revolutionary element. He considers the propensity of the Russian person to social utopias as a consequence of centuries-old slavish existence of the people, the absence of the sense of duty and responsibility in the Russian national character. The victory of Bolsheviks in race for power by autumn of 1917 has confirmed Berdyaev’s worst fears: the triumph in Russia of a bourgeois ideal of prosperous habitation in the material world, ideals of equality and justice over a hierarchical principle of the universe design acted as a characteristic symptom of Russian people’s degradation, transformed the project of national aristocracy of spirit into a utopia. The article also shows how the adherents of Marxist ideology have turned this project into a caricature on the philosophy of history.