Terrorism of the XXI Century: Actualization of the Problem in the Context of Globalization
Yuliya Bodrova
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2019-11.2.2-310-329
Abstract:

The article considers the problem of modern terrorism, which has been attracting the attention of researchers for several decades. Despite the worldwide actualization of this issue, the number of terrorist attacks is becoming more and more every day. The failure of counter-terrorism activities rests, first of all, in misunderstanding of the essence of this social phenomenon.The usual estimation of different sorts of actions in terms of “good” or “bad” distracts researchers from understanding the deeper causes of the origin of this phenomenon. The author pays special attention to the fact that terrorism, in its basis, is a complex phenomenon, which includes the elements of other events close to it. The paper provides a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis of terrorism, which allows to identify its various aspects as well as to show the interrelation between them (violence, fear, etc.). The author also draws an analogy between terrorism and such phenomena as terror, war and extremism. This interdisciplinary analysis allowed to expand the understanding of this “violence of the XXI century” without demonizing its main actors. The paper draws special attention to the problem of mutual influence of the mass media system and terrorist organizations. Is it possible for terrorism to exist outside the media? This issue affects a huge layer of modern problems: from the journalism ethics to the legitimacy of restrictions in the use of the Internet. The answers to these questions will help us to look at terrorism not just as a negative phenomenon of modernity, but as a self-regulating social symbolic space existing in the context of globalization.

Studying a Museum as a Category of Thinking: Experience of Application of the Dynamic Information Systems Theory
Alina Kildyusheva
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2019-11.2.2-420-438
Abstract:

First appeared in the ancient world as the temple of the Muses, the museum became an expression of the idea to preserve the unique objects of the natural and artificial world necessary to satisfy the spiritual needs of a man. Historically, the reality of the museum has been repeatedly changing; it has been able to easily adapt to changing conditions. We find different ideas about the museum in antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the new and modern times. At the moment there are various approaches to understanding the museum as a phenomenon. The museum is presented as a symbol, sign, core, instrument, mechanism, intermediary, reflection, translator, generator, potential, center, project, producer, field, space, keeper, part, element, result, clipboard, value, category of culture. At the same time, the museum acts as a social institution, a social object of management, a form of social memory, social information, a mechanism for fixing social experience, achievements of the epoch. The museum has close relations with culture and society and it is considered to be their product and reflection, allowing to travel through centuries and territories. The author considers the museum as a category of thinking, basing on P. Findlen’s thought about a museum as a mental category (intellectual experience of collecting and preserving “the past in the mirror of the present”), the thought close to understanding of the museum by Z. Stránský as one of the forms of a person’s specific relationship to reality, and the author also applies categories of the system methodology and the theory of dynamic information systems of V. Razumov and V. Sizikov. The author considers the museum as a category of thinking; using the triadic method. The system of interrelated concepts has been formed, reflecting the basis for the creation and existence of the museum. The paper creates the foundation for further discussions on the essence of this socio-cultural phenomenon.

Between Westernization and Identity: the Western Civilization and the Colonial System through the Eyes of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Natalia Palisheva
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2019-11.2.2-284-295
Abstract:

The nature of Western civilization has been interpreted in many ways in the majority of non-European societies, which faced it. This process was mostly pronounced in British India. The representatives of the new, colonialist-built elites had to reflect upon not only their own and European living principles, but also to discuss the topics concerning their submissive and fairly complicated position in that political system. The paper analyzes the personal views of a famous Bengali writer of the XIX century Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. He was not only a famous writer, but also an extremely successful person in the Bengali society of those times. After getting a perfect education, he achieved the highest point of his career. Then he started sharing his opinions in public, which, considering his social status and Bengali social structure of that time, was fairly venturous. Entering a public epistolary intercourse with one prominent European figure, he began to protect the Hindu religion from the outside attacks and he even questioned the well-known idea of Europe’s intellectual supremacy. With the help of his satiric writers, e.g. «Kamalakanta», he actually poured ridicule not only on the colonial position of his country, but also on the Western system of International Law. Remaining a bearer of Western world view and values, he did not challenge the key achievements of the European world, Bankim Chandra tried to reveal its various problems. Thereby the writer proposed his own way of overcoming one of the most essential colonial state questions – the dilemma between westernization and the drive for their own identity.

Imagology: paying respect to subconscious images of Man and of the world
Aleksandr Gnes
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2019-11.2.2-272-283
Abstract:

The main object of imagological research is perception of the ‘other’ by representations of various cultures. The question is ‘what’ and not ‘who’ represents a culture. The key concept in imagology is that of ‘archetype’, which is fixated through centuries in folklore (fairytales, mythology and epics). It is exactly the archetype which predetermines the images dominant in this or that folk. Imagologists presume that an image is not static and constantly changes. The change in the spiritual condition of a folk, stipulated by certain events, triggers the respective archetypes. A phenotype, just like an image, does not remain unchanged, either; it changes under the influence of natural forces, such as genetics and environment. An image, on the other hand, evolves under the influence of three main characteristics of sapiens: the capability of creative thinking, speech, and creative activity (the capability of creating essential objects). In the self-consciousness of every nation, there are certain elements of nature (landscape types, rivers, mountain peaks, steppes etc.) which represent an integral part of archetype. They occupy a particular place in songs, poems and legends (e.g. Rhine for the Germans, Volga for the Russians or the Carpathian basin for the Hungarians). The individual and collective perception of the ‘other’ is often selective, i.e. when only a certain part of the whole is scrutinized, which naturally results in the appearance of prejudices and stereotypes, even given a careful study of this isolated element. The ‘other’, is, according to imagology, not synonymous to ‘hostile’, it all depends upon the individual characteristics (content) of the ‘other’. Realization of the contours of one’s own and foreign cultures allows better communication with the ‘other’. In his article, the author illustrates the potentially useful nature of imagological applications, in order to clarify the inalienable discrepancy between interests and values in the field of inter-ethnic and inter-national relations.

Let’s Check Harmony with Algebra Again, Shall We? About J. Bigelow’s Article “Music, Mystique and Shakespeare’s Sonnets”
Konstantin Kurlenya
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2019-11.2.1-31-43
Abstract:

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.

Music, Mystique and Shakespeare’s Sonnets
John Bigelow
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2019-11.2.1-11-30
Abstract:

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.

“Paths to Liberation” Philosophy: Shunyavada and Taoism
Irina Rodicheva
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2019-11.2.1-111-132
Abstract:

The article attempts to consider the theories of «liberation» in the ancient Eastern philosophy, which, on the one hand, clearly reflect the similarities and differences between the Buddhist teaching of Shunyavada and Taoism, and on the other hand define the basic principles of two philosophical schools in question. Despite the emphasis in the text on the difficulty of comprehending such key concepts of the philosophy of «liberation» as «Tao» and «Shunyata», since they cannot be subjected to analysis of formal logic and rational definition possessing «intangibility», «ambiguity» and, one might even say, «transcendence»of meanings and definitions, the author in his work considers these terms using the dialectical method, its form of thinking embodies the unity of the basis of opposites «and this and that». The theoretical, methodological and comparative researches of the basic concepts of madhyamik’s «Shunyata» and emptiness of «Tao», covered in the article and taken as independent units of philosophical discourse, have shown that it makes sense to speak of the close relation of considered concepts, since there are two aspects of emptiness in each of them: «theoretical» that defines the classification of approaches and meanings of emptiness, and «practical» that reveals the methods (means) and strategies of self-improvement. As a result of the research, the author has proposed an understanding of emptiness in both considered philosophical systems through the model of «circular motion»: in relation to the Buddhist teaching of Shunyavada, it embodies non-duality, emptiness of samsara and nirvana, in respect of the Taoist teaching, it symbolizes «the internal state of interdependence and mutual permeability», the relativity of all things and phenomena, i.e. their emptiness. It has also been defined that Madhyamikas and the Taoists interpret the path leading to «liberation» (Skt. mokṣa) or enlightenment (Chin. «min») as median. Nevertheless, the interpretations of this path are diverse in the ancient Indian and ancient Chinese traditions, since, in relation to the Taoist doctrine, the Middle way is to overcome duality through harmonizing the «yin» and «yang» that create the continued integrity by dint of presence (dissolution) in each other. Folding and reaching the center, they give birth to a new «undetected» state of harmony and peace, namely the state of «the Great emptiness of Tao». In contrast to the Taoist Middle path, the Buddhist Middle way involves the complete elimination of opposites since everything is relative and identical to Emptiness (Skt. Sūnyatā) and it does not lie through «following naturalness» as indicated in Taoism, but through following «the eightfold path» (Skt. Arya aṣṭāṅgika mārga) that leads to understanding the illusory nature of all things, since one of the most important features of dharma as a constituent element of samsara is emptiness (Skt. Sūnyatā).

Moral Economy: Identification and Comparison of the Theoretical Approaches
Evgeny Zhernov
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2019-11.2.1-190-208
Abstract:

The purpose of the study is to identify and compare the revealed theoretical approaches to the moral economy in order to substantiate the fundamental foundations of the integrative anthroposocial approach. Closely interrelated moral anthropic origin and moral social order are given as such foundations. The subject of the study is the existing approaches to the moral economy. The study is a theoretical analysis of the approaches to the moral economy, united by the author in two aggregated schools– anthropic-moral and socio-economic. The research methodology is the integrated approach for a comprehensive examination of the subject; general scientific principles of complementarity, diversity and unity. The results of the study, which constitute the scientific novelty: 1) it is revealed that there are the corresponding concepts of a moral person – Homo moralis – in all approaches reviewed, and it allows to establish the moral anthropic origin as the first foundation of the moral economy; 2) in the analyzed approaches, the main forms of sociality are revealed and characterized, functioning as “village community”, “religious community”, “Orthodox labour brotherhood”, “social institution”, which allow to define moral social order as the second foundation of the moral economy. The theoretical and practical significance of the study is that by identifying and comparing the existing approaches to the moral economy, its anthroposocial nature is defined 1) as the effective economic activity of a new person of high moral character; 2) as a set of intersubject economic relations based on the ideas of moral humanism. As a result, it becomes possible to compare existing approaches to the moral economy, when there is a person in its centre who respects humanistic morality in interpersonal relations of the economy of the society.

Neuropsychological Methods in the Penitentiary System in Terms of Neuroethics
Galina Timoshenko,  Tatyana Sidorova
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2019-11.2.1-171-189
Abstract:

The article states the problem of protecting individuals from discrimination when using neuropsychological methods in the penitentiary system. In the field of ethical reflection in neuroethics, the authors propose to consider not only new opportunities to influence human consciousness and mental health, which are used in modern neuroscience, but also to include methods that have a rather long history. The penitentiary system was chosen as an object of study, which makes it possible to weigh the regulatory capabilities of neuroethics in the special conditions of a priori coercion and involuntary position. The paper considers the action of principles of respect for the dignity of the individual, voluntariness in the expression of consent to participate in psychodiagnostic and psycho-correction activities. The question of expressing informed consent for neuropsychic effects is by analogy considered with biomedical intervention. The authors describe the experience of applying neuropsychological methods on the examples of using a polygraph (a lie detector) and neuro-linguistic programming. The study shows that the polygraph is widely used not only in investigative and judicial practice, but also in diagnostics when people are applying for a job, moving to a higher (or different) position at work, entering educational institutions of the penal service. The authors highlight the idea that in the situation where the client is dependent on a psychologist, in order to undergo the procedure the problem of the voluntary expression of consent should be solved in accordance with the principle of vulnerability. It is stressed, that for the members of vulnerable groups, it is obligatory to use the rules, which take into account the specifics of their situation. Despite the improvement of the process of lie detection using a polygraph, there is no confidence in the accuracy and reliability of the data obtained. However, the results can be interpreted to the detriment of the individual, like the results of other methods of psychodiagnostic research, in the absence of proper ethical principles. Neuro-linguistic programming allows collecting of data on subconscious motives and having a targeted impact on a person. When using this method, there is also the problem of expressing informed consent, taking into account the specifics of the penitentiary institutions. A person may not fully realize the results of neuro-linguistic programming. The general trend in Russia is expanding the use of NLP and polygraph methods, which indicates a desire to acquire neuropsychological tools that will quickly achieve a visible result, without much concern about the ethics of getting the information, its reliability, and long duration. The authors have come to the conclusion that the focus on humanization of the penitentiary system in Russia with the help of the psychological service gives positive results. However, there is a danger of using methods of psychodiagnostics and psychocorrection for manipulative and ethically questionable purposes, which leads to a loss of confidence in them.