Ideas and Ideals

On May 14, 2023, the fourth international round table “Ideological Factors of Interstate Relations in Central Asia” was held at the Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management as a part of international research project “Factors of Interstate Cooperation in Central Asia. ‘The Great Game’ Index”. The expert meeting was devoted to a non-trivial issue for modern expert political discourse – ideology. It was understood by the speakers in a very broad context: everything that creates meanings and motivations in interstate interaction. Participants examined through the prism of multi-vector policy of countries of the region quantitative and qualitative indicators of the main non-regional actors in ideological sphere. Particular attention was paid to such value-dependent areas as cultural and educational cooperation, public activism, history and the media. In conclusion, a discussion was held on the prospects of the neo-republican system in the context of interstate relations in Central Asia.

At the round table, the participants discussed a number of issues concerning the organizational and fundamental aspects of the current educational reform. First, the goal of change is formulated either vaguely or purely negatively. Analysis of the situation shows that none of the major players in the educational process are ready to establish clear "rules of the game" and, therefore, do not demonstrate the enthusiasm to really reform the system of education. Also, analysis of the strategy that defines the direction of the current reform shows that it does not provide the basis for the concentration of resources to solve the problems of education and science, not counting the six universities, which will receive priority funding for the implementation of experimental programs, but it is not commensurate with the level of the challenges facing society in the educational sphere. It is also important to mention the fact that the choice of these universities reinforces the inequality of European and Trans-Ural universities. There is an obvious underestimation of humanities and philosophy. The key question here is whether the educational system should provide systematic knowledge or whether it can be structured to form certain individual competencies. It is also necessary to understand - and this is an extremely important issue - how the educational system should shape the national consciousness. Participants discuss whether it should build an anthropological model of Russian civilizational culture or continue to form individualistic values in the spirit of European rationalism. After all, it is no coincidence that serious worldview problems arose that required new courses at school and the course on "The Fundamentals of Russian Statehood" at institutions of higher learning. The main conclusion to be drawn from the discussion is that the proposed transformations do not correspond to the scale of the necessary reform and will not bring the results demanded by society.

Participants of the round table discuss some key problems of the current crisis situation in the Russian science and education, caused by thoughtless reforming of these spheres of domestic culture during the last decades. The situation is aggravated by the fact that there is a significant underfunding of science and, especially, education, if compared with developed countries. In addition, there is a negative reorientation of both spheres toward utilitarian goals. Another peculiarity of these decades is that the ongoing transformation is not based on a serious analysis of the current situation, but only on the proclaimed groundless future benefits, such as the European recognition of diplomas, or the wide mobility of teachers, etc. Such features of a present situation in a science and education are also discussed as orientation to the decisions of standard problems and thoughtless application of testing, value of ideology of making money instead of serious scientific career, situation when the official is not responsible for not absolutely correct indicators have been established, appreciable fall of level of the entrants entering high schools as result Uniform State Exam, etc.

The participants in the Round table “The Value of Scientific Journal” discuss a number of problems that are currently encountered by authors and publishers of corresponding journals. Will scientific journal be preserved in its present form in the competitive environment with drastic growth of electronic communications? Is a printed on paper journal the best way to present scientific results? Are its functions changing? What is the audience of authors and readers of scientific journals in recent time? These questions get different answers. The traditional functions of a scientific journal can now be carried out in new forms, and it is not clear what will remain of the habitual printed copy in the nearest future. In particular, this concerns the function of presenting scientific knowledge, which is gradually moving to specialized electronic portals. The issue of the relationship between socio-humanitarian journals and journals which present natural sciences is discussed separately. The standardization and formalization of the presentation of results for humanitarian articles is in most cases unacceptable, but it is this feature that is one of the most important when including the journal in most significant international databases. The same applies to journals that popularize science at the serious level. The problem of scientometrics’ objectivity is discussed. What does the fact of a higher citation level, for example, in economics, mean when Keynes and Marx are inferior to many modern researchers according to the Hirsch index? The participants discuss the problem of the scientific level of authors in Russian conditions, the problem of the lack of originality of publications, and some other issues.

Since 2009 the “Novosibirsk Model of the United Nations” at the Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management has been held by the Department of the World Economy, International Relations and Law as an important methodological and practical element of education in International Relations, International Regional Studies and the World Economy. The experience of modeling the activities of the United Nations is important for students to understand how the decision-making process in modern international system works and why in international relations everything is not going as well as we would like, but not as bad as it could be. The round table discussed the role of the UN in the modern world, the history of the organization and the contradictions, put in the basement by its founders when it emerged; the causes of the current UN crisis and the prospects for its elimination; the role of the UN in the past and present armed conflicts; in ensuring international security and protecting human rights; the United Nations activities in the field of the world economy on the example of the UN Global Compact on Social Responsibility, as well as other issues related to international relations at the present stage. It is noted that in the ordinary mind the expectations of the UN are extremely high. The UN has formed the image of a powerful and influential organization, the world government,

The round table discussed how philosophy interprets the concept of will and whether it is possible, basing on this understanding, to create a methodology for a psychological understanding of the will. It is stated that so far in the domestic tradition there is no methodology that would overcome the crisis associated with the inability to develop this concept. The category of will is considered in the key of the historical and philosophical traditions; it plays an important role both in ancient and medieval philosophy, and in the philosophy of modern times. Special attention was paid to the Schopenhauer approach, who believed that everything is an objectification of the will. The will was also discussed in its relation to such a category as the soul, and in this case the will becomes a part of the soul; and the concept of the will was also considered in its relation to the notion of power: in this case the will is the awareness of desire and aspiration for its realization.

This article is devoted to the problem statement for the interdisciplinary research of “the will" concept. As the main methodological principle of research, the author uses the archaeological method of Michel Foucault, whose method was used by Giorgio Agamben in the study of “the will" concept. The main part of the article gives an integrated cultural-historical psychological analysis of “the will" concept in Russian philosophy and psychology. The author comes to the conclusion that “the will" concept exists only in the Russian-language philosophy or in translations of European philosophical studies into the Russian language. Thereby this fact indicates that the translations created the concept confusion: “the wish” was interpreted as “the will”. Basing on the works of modern psychologists (E.P. Ilyin, V.A. Ivannikov), the author comes to the conclusion that the philosophical understanding of the will in the XX century was forgotten, and the psychological understanding is deficient. The author pays special attention to the theory of the will suggested by the Russian psychologist K.D. Kavelin, whose work was not noticed during his lifetime and it is forgotten by modern psychology. In conclusion, the author proposes to direct the philosophical efforts to create the foundations for defining “the will" concept, giving the opportunity for applied psychological work with this concept.

In the article the words “mir”, “volya”, “svet”, “pravda”. On the material of the Ancient Russian literature it is shown that each of these words has at least two substantially distinct meanings, and two (or three) meanings influence each other, creating game of senses inexpressible in other languages. At the same time, these words define the semantic core of national self-identification in modern times, forming the certain attitude to the key principles of life. In XIX-th century in Russian poetry “volya” is opposed to the Western “svoboda” (liberty) as the Christian goal to specific political position. The ambivalence of the national consciousness is presented by the fact that the ideal peaceful beauty of the mundane cooperative communal life coexisted with a free desire to get beyond the world-community and earthly world. Yet both ideals were receiving internal justification, intersecting with Pravda-truth as well as with pravda-justice.

The round table participants discussed a number of interrelated questions: how can we evaluate the relationship between the Church and society in Russia at the present stage? What is causing the obstacles for the dialogue between the Church and other social groups in modern Russia? Is there a possibility for such a dialogue in modern Russian society? What is the actual and possible role of intelligentsia in the formation of a neutral space for such a dialogue? The participants discussed different aspects of the problem: the history of the church and society relations, the problems of these relations at the present stage, the role of the church in the life of modern Russian society, the problem of the dialogue between the Church and atheists. The participants also discussed the burning problems of the Church's participation in the formation and education of youth, issues of influence of the church on the processes of cultural development, the acute problems of the fight between the Orthodox church and religious extremism, the danger of which influence, especially on young people, is often underestimated. In the final analysis, there is a multi-dimensional picture of the relationship between the institution of the Church and civil society represented by different social groups.

At the round table the theme "Siberia as a megaregion" was discussed which had first been announced at the Krasnoyarsk forum. A number of problems are analyzed, starting with the geographic boundaries of Siberia, and thus identifying the geopolitical settings of the mega-region. The depth of historical time was discussed, as well as the common history, and the problem of coexistence of different peoples. Besides, the problem of comparison of different megaregions, and the problem of their correlation with states was considered. What can be seen as the commonality, the identity of the mentality of the population of megaregion? The difference was discussed between megaregion and macro-region, which is primarily determined economically. Specifically was considered from different aspects the problem of the center of the gravity of megaregion with respect to Siberia. The role of innovation in the energy sector was analyzed as the key of a gradual transition from oil and gas to coal. Focusing on demographic and economic issues the participants related, in particular, to the programmes of complex development of Siberia, which were quite badly performed, and on the geopolitical consequences of current trends of population migration to the European part of Russia.