Ideas and Ideals

The article studies the historical and logical relationship of the transformational and transactional functions of economic activity: it determines the belonging of the abovementioned concepts to the categorical core of economic science; it specifies their characteristics and volume; examines the features of realization of the studied functions in various historical conditions. As the primary method, we used the structural-logical analysis of empirical and theoretical research results on the topics covered. Transformational activity, according to the author, expresses the dialectical unity of production and consumption. The transaction is analyzed as a technological (O. Williamson) and/or legal (J. Commons) link between these processes. The origin of transactions is associated with the emergence of a transformational surplus designed to meet rising needs. The available historical and ethnographic data allows us to trace this phenomenon retrospectively to the moment of the formation of social production. The economic content of transactions is derived from the dual nature of transformational activities aimed at (1) the creation of material products and (2) the objectification of technological information that determines distribution (transport, trade, housing and communal services, etc.). Their implementation is provided by administrative and legal services expressing ownership of the exchanged goods. It increased the efficiency of transactional support of human life with the use of money as a virtual bearer of economic information and a universal measure of the value of a commodity. In conclusion, the author raises a question about the nature of technological and economic shifts in the modern market economy, coinciding with the outstripping growth of transaction costs. Using the world-system approach of F. Braudel makes it possible to put forward a hypothesis about the transactional revolution that preceded the industrial revolution and is manifested in the rapid increase in financial assets. 

The paper examines the relationship between wealth, knowledge and digitalization as a source of growth in the wealth of countries and individuals. It analyses the interrelation of those factors at micro and macro levels. The study employs elements of logical, comparative, graphical, and correlation analysis. The study shows the links between the income gap, the knowledge gap and the digital divide, forming a poverty trap at the individual level. The author notes that on the micro level, it is necessary to have access to at least two of the three factors to increase wellbeing. The paper shows that all three of the above-mentioned factors are subject to the Matthew effect, and restrictions from major market players may increase the divergence of economic development. At the macro level, the relationship between GDP per capita, the knowledge index and the digital competitiveness index is shown. Two clusters of countries have been identified for the development of knowledge and digital competitiveness. The first cluster, with a high level of digital competitiveness and knowledge, consists mainly of developed countries with high per capita income and China, the second cluster includes mainly middle-income developing countries, as well as developed countries lacking a penetration of digital technologies and the development of knowledge. As a result of the correlation analysis, it was revealed that the dependence of GDP on the level of knowledge is greater than its dependence on the development of digital technologies. However, there is a noticeable relationship between the knowledge index and the digital competitiveness index. The author concludes with the indirect impact of digital technologies on well-being at the macro level through the development of knowledge. For the countries of the cluster, represented mainly by developing countries with average incomes, there is an increase in the interdependence between GDP per capita, the development of knowledge and digital technologies, which indicates the potential for the development of the countries of this cluster in the implementation of the policy of knowledge development and rational policy on digitalization. It is necessary to focus not on the use of borrowed technologies, but on the development of own digital solutions for which the advancement of the field of knowledge is critically necessary. The policy of the knowledge sphere development should focus on increasing the status of the scientist and teacher, strengthening the interaction between a scientist-teacher and student. It is necessary to shift the emphasis from simplifying the education system to developing the creative and research potential of the student and the subsequent implementation of the gained research skills in small and medium-sized businesses.

This research in the area of social philosophy is a creation of an integrative theory, which addresses the question of what makes a marriage a lasting marriage. Sources of information are scientific results of different specialists in the field of close relationships and marriage. In the process of research and reflection, the following social-scientific theory arose: the dynamic of a lasting marriage is realised through such drivers as Meaning, Love, Commitment, Trust and Ritual. This dynamic is realised by interaction of these drivers. Love constitutes the foundation for all close relationships. The metaphysical basis, meaning, is necessary for the emergence and existence of commitment. Commitment fosters and encourages love as an attitude. Ritual is commitment expressed by actions and is responsible for loving actions. The most vivid and experimental of them is the sex act, in which all drivers of the dynamic of a lasting marriage are realised practically. It takes meaning from the highest purposes, such as morals, expediency, duty. Sex is an expression of love, and its repetition again and again is indeed a ritual. And in order to support the exclusivity, frequency and custom of this love and ritual commitment is crucial. For full realisation of sexual intimacy, which arises from love, ritual and commitment, we need trust. This way the sex act is an existential means for the interaction of all drivers of a lasting marriage.

            Contribution of this work consists in unifying already studied and known drivers into a joint structure, where each of them in its own right contributes to emergence, maintenance and strengthening of close relationships.

The newness of this research consists in the dynamics of interaction which creates an existential structure which maintains and fosters a lasting marriage, as an emerging property.

Philosophy of love as a subfield of moral philosophy and history of philosophy questions the very foundations of how people love each other. Within the philosophical debate, not only the sources of love but forms and types are questioned. Does the source of love correspond to a concrete form of love? What is the difference between parental love and friendship love? What is the main difference between romantic love and the abovementioned? A philosopher from Chicago, Raja Halwani made a methodological and pithy impact in the debate. On the one hand, his main achievement in the recent debates is the distinction between two kinds of love: romantic love 1 and romantic love 2. Halwani notes that the main disagreement among philosophers stems from the fact that philosophers usually don’t see this difference. And if philosophers would keep this difference in mind, it would clarify our debates. On the other hand, professor Halwani doesn’t propose a conceptual novelty but interestingly refines the current debates on love’s aspects. These debates are debates concerning the main characteristics of love and how we can defend these characteristics. Halwani clarifies the central concepts of romantic love such as “constancy”, “exclusivity”, “uniqueness”, “irreplaceability”. The philosopher devoted special attention to reflections upon how exactly we can apply existing moral theories to love. At the end of the article, an attempt is made to compound many of Halwani’s statements about RL1 and RL2 in a unified table.

The paper is devoted to Value Sensitive Design (VSD). This approach, widely presented in foreign scientific and specialized literature, has not been reflected in the Russian-language discourse. The authors of the study consider the theoretical foundations and methodological tools of VSD, clarify the conceptual apparatus, and also carry out a critical analysis of some of its main provisions (in particular, the question is raised about the absence of a philosophical theory of values, the eclecticism of the modern approach, insufficiently developed methods of cooperation with engineers, designers and potential stakeholders). VSD is viewed in the context of technology assessment and socially responsible innovation. We are talking about a diverse set of practices for the rational shaping of technologies, taking into account the values of society, suggesting a more active and conscious involvement of ordinary citizens (not experts) in the discussion of issues related to the development and design of technologies. An understanding of values with an emphasis on ethics and morality raises the question of achieving a balance between competing values and choosing the desired values, taking into account the diversity of interests of direct and indirect stakeholders. In this regard, two main goals of the VSD stand out. On the one hand, it involves identifying and critically analyzing desirable or limiting values that have been (intentionally or unintentionally) inscribed into existing technologies. On the other hand, VSD offers practical recommendations on how to deliberately and purposefully inscribe socially approved values into the design of new equipment, software, databases, and algorithms. Finally, the article defines the directions of possible applied research: (a) the development of the theory and methodology of change management through structuring the change management process according to the hierarchical principle of interaction, as well as identifying persons and groups that are affected by organizational changes and how; (b) fundamental aspects of human-machine interaction, in particular, human-robot interaction (HRI), which is of great practical importance for the design and production of socially responsible service robotics.

In the system of classical arts, music has always been perceived as a human actional breakthrough to understanding the Universe. The musical language, considered as a cultural universal, is the basis of intuitive cognition, a felt view of the axiological unity of Truth, Goodness and Beauty. The article offers an analysis of the formation of the main philosophical theories of the ontological nature of musical creativity in their historical continuity.

In the history of ideas, the phenomenon of musical creativity has been perceived as a special kind of revelation. This reveals the obvious importance of the aesthetic approach in understanding the transcendental world; the objectified connection of man with ontological processes. Modern theories of universal evolutionism represent the development of the Universe as a single system based on the unity of its laws. It is in our time that comprehension of the essence of musical creativity opens a fundamentally new page in the philosophical understanding of the centuries-old history of music. The key point is the idea of the Μελῳδός aspiration to the Λόγος, the tendency to move from particular theoretical constructions and critical assessments to considering the phenomenological foundations of music, fundamentally presented, in particular, in the works of A. Losev and T. Adorno.

In the XX century, there was an obvious surge in the formulation of generalizing musicological concepts, and it was in the XX century that the philosophy of music received qualitatively new worldview foundations for its comprehensive interpretation. In this respect, the study of the epistemological nature of musical creativity has reached, it would seem, its peak.

However, comprehension of the investigated theories allows us to draw conclusions only about the possible approximation of a true understanding of the essence of musical creativity as a special cognitive practice. This turns out to be possible on the methodological basis of cumulative generalization, taking into account the religious, aesthetic, cultural, psychological, educational and other approaches in comprehending the value of the “world of sound”.

The article analyzes the portrait of Count Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky, painted in Rome in 1766 by the famous artist Pompeo Girolamo Batoni. The portrait has features characteristic of portraits of travelers making the Grand Tour of Europe. In the second half of the 18th century, these were usually young aristocrats completing their education. Young people studied at the best universities; acquired extensive communication experience during their stay in major European centers; improved their skills in horseback riding, dancing and swordsmanship in famous academies, and also acquired knowledge of the art of antiquity by visiting Italy. In the portraits of travelers, Batoni emphasized the elegant dignity of the persons depicted; motifs of ancient architecture and sculpture of Rome testified to their good taste. Kirill Razumovsky also commissioned a portrait from the artist during his Grand Tour. However, the Russian count was already a mature man of 38 years old, who experienced a rapid rise in his youth, when he turned from a shepherd boy into a nobleman, and the collapse of hopes for receiving the hereditary title of hetman in Little Russia shortly before his Grand Tour. Comparison of Kirill Razumovsky portrait with the portrait of the young British traveler Thomas Dundas, which is close in composition, reveals the peculiarities of Pompeo Batoni’s work: by making only minor changes in the composition of the works, the painter skillfully conveyed the inner world of the depicted persons.

Тhe meaning of visual representation includes perception of information through the visual image. This form of information delivery to the general public was known in pagan cultures and asserted itself in Christianity. Since the late 20th century the concept of visualization united in itself not only religious and artistic images, but also the vision of mass culture. The performed research places emphasis on the establishment and the development of visual representation in Russia’s art culture of the ХVIII-XIX centuries. During the reign of Peter the Great, in a succession of state reforms and due to the influence of samples of European art, a transformation of national art culture occured. In this context, maritime art is viewed as one of the visual representation forms. The seascape, as a separate genre of painting, originates in the Dutch landscape. The first marinas were brought by Peter the 1st to decorate palaces and country residences. The victory in the Battle of Chesme (1770) and the joining of Crimea to the Russian Empire prompted Catherine the 2nd to invite J. P. Hackert to perpetuate the glory of Russian weapons. The artist became the first marine painter on Russian soil and performed a series of twelve paintings.

The flourishing of the national seascape in Russia took place in the 19th century. The first who took the post of artist at the Ministry of the Sea was I.K. Aivazovsky. Since then the seascape acquired special significance and perpetuates the sea victories of Russia. A subtle metaphysical meaning is present in some romantic landscapes by I.K. Aivazovsky. Sea battle paintings acquired clear realistic features in the painting of A.P. Bogolyubov. The artists are concerned not only with the image of the sea, but also with the architecture of the ship, which forms a separate painting genre: the ship portrait genre. The image of the ship in the paintings of the XIX-XX centuries combines the lines of scripture and poetry, focusing the attention of the viewer on a deep semantic reading of the landscape.

The article is dedicated to ocean liners, the ambitious projects of the 1930s. The Interwar period was the golden age of transatlantic shipping, primarily due to technical improvements, for example, increased engine power and changes in ship hull shape. However from an artistic point of view, liners also proved to be an important field of application. Many European architects, sculptors, and decorators were involved in the design of the exterior of the liners and their interiors. Most of the masters who participated in the development of a special “liner style” were practitioners of art deco. The spectacular, varied art deco proved to be the most appropriate style, corresponding to the problems which had been set before the artists by the client companies. The subject of the research is to identify the relationship between the “liner style” of the 1930s and art deco, determining the place of the transatlantic liner projects in the culture of the XX century. The object of the research is the design conceptions in general, as well as works of art in the interiors of the liners. The author’s aim is to demonstrate the high importance of these projects for the understanding of the Art Deco era, to characterize the complex approach of masters to the design of liner exteriors and interiors, to consider and compare the most outstanding design solutions. The research methodology includes historical and descriptive, comparative methods, cultural, historical, and culturological approaches. The main attention in the article is given to the French “Normandy”, a recognized example of this style. To expand the context and the possibility of generalization, the focus is also made on two English liners: “Queen Mary” and “Queen Elizabeth”. Among the artists the author points special attention to a French master, Jean Dunant. Dunant’s panels made for the Normandy cigar lounge are considered examples of a decorative style, inspired by the exoticism of archaic or Oriental cultures.

The article presents an analysis of the modern theoretical disputes on the problem of socio-cultural adaptation of migrants in the host society. The main trends in the development of both foreign and domestic discourse are considered. In modern humanitaristics, two main trajectories of sociocultural adaptation of migrants have emerged: assimilation and transnationalism, which served as a criterion for structuring the most significant concepts.

 Sociocultural adaptation is a complex multidimensional process and has a singular character, which is reflected in the plurality of its possible scenarios. This is the reason for the research methodology presented by the synergistic and systemic approaches that allow studying various adaptation models of migrants in relation to a “fluid” social environment. The plasticity of modern society caused the nonlinearity of the adaptation process, which makes it difficult to identify patterns and fixed mechanisms of its course. In this regard, the synergetic approach made it possible to study the factors of choosing an adaptation model and the peculiarities of its implementation from the point of view of social consequences explicated at different levels of social organization.

A number of concepts are analyzed to identify exogenous and endogenous factors of the determinants of the adaptation model. These include motivation, type of migration, social expectations of the host community, and the involvement of a migrant in migrant social networks.

The comprehension of sociocultural adaptation is presented in the context of its influence on the process of transformation of the identity of migrants and the formation of new types of identity in the conditions of the recipient society.

The following possible trajectories of the formation of the identity of migrants are distinguished, depending on the choice of the adaptation model:

- firstly, the replacement of the object of identification while maintaining the existing type of identity as a result of the implementation of the assimilation strategy of adaptation. The result of this process is the identification of the migrant with the new culture and society, the feeling of being a part of them;

- secondly, in the case of plans for a short stay in a foreign cultural environment, there is a preservation of the existing identity;

- thirdly, there is a transformation of existing types of identity and the construction of new ones, replacing the previous ones, which reflects the transnational strategy of adaptation.

The subject of the article is the problem of the ontological boundary of religious extremism as a socio-cultural phenomenon. The methodological basis of the research is the non-classical linguistic semantics of Frege – Russell. Within its framework, meaning, concept and sign are distinguished for the subject of thought. This methodology complements the predominance of the activity approach in the research of religious extremism. Such methodological unilateralism creates the illusion of the scholastic nature of the investigated problem, when the scientific result is expected to comment, clarify and systematize the known knowledge about religious extremism. As a result, religious extremism is considered metaphysically as an unchanging phenomenon that has no spatial and temporal boundaries. This research was conducted in two stages. The first one highlights the essential signs of religious extremism. The traditional triad of signs “subjects, sphere of activity, implementation methods” is supplemented by the fourth: “the purpose of activity”. Based on the analysis, religious extremism is defined as extreme actions of religious elements in the political life of society, aimed against the structural elements and ideology of secular society. The article rejects the provisions on uncritical identification with religious extremism of the following social phenomena: violation of national legislation on freedom of conscience and religious associations; religious fanaticism; religious sectarianism; nationalism. At the second stage of the research, the spatial and temporal boundaries of religious extremism are comprehended. Spatially religious extremism is typical for both post-industrial and traditional societies of the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The article puts forward historical-religious arguments and an argument against the thesis of the timeless nature of the existence of religious extremism. Based on the formation of a secular society on the economic basis of an industrial society since the second half of the XIX century, four factors of the emergence of religious extremism have been identified: secularization of public consciousness; desacralization of power; inversion of violence; limited support. As a result of the conducted research, the metaphysical consideration of religious extremism as an unchangeable phenomenon has been overcome and its conceptual understanding has been deepened.

The article presents the results of a sociological study of the problems of professional and life self-determination of young people in the context of digitalization, one of the goals of which was to identify the ideas of modern youth about life prospects, goals and values. In the course of the study, a survey of young people aged 14–35 years was conducted in ten subjects of the Siberian Federal District. The survey was conducted in October-November 2021.The sample totaled 5,092 males and females representing various social groups: schoolchildren, students of primary vocational education institutions, secondary vocational education institutions, higher educational institutions and working youth. The article provides a comparative analysis of the views of various groups of young people regarding future prospects, goals and values. In the course of studying the issue of future planning horizons, the authors came to the conclusion that modern youth, regardless of which group they belong to, for the most part plan their future from several days to 5 years away. As a result of the study, it was found that the achievement of material well-being and the creation of a family are the most important life goals of students and working youth, while schoolchildren chose education and future professional success as priority goals. Respondents of almost all groups of young people named a high level of intelligence and moral support of relatives as the main factors contributing to the achievement of their goals. The availability of start-up capital is noted as an important success factor by representatives of working youth. The results of the study allow us to conclude that for different social groups of young people, meaningful life values are formed on the basis of different semantic structures, which are based on different combinations of patriotism, nepotism, economic well-being and creative, spiritual realization. The article analyzes the degree of satisfaction with various aspects of the life of modern youth. A high degree of dissatisfaction with certain aspects of life among the category of working youth was noted. A positive trend marked the growing importance of patriotic values and a growing understanding of the importance of developing intellectual abilities, education, and continuous self-development. The study of life prospects in the context of values, goals and meanings is important, as it allows one to assess the direction, motivation and trends of the choices of modern youth.