Ideas and Ideals

The paper examines Aristotle’s place in one of the most signifi cant public education projects in late 19th to early 20th century Russia – the “Home Reading Programs” (1894–1914), published by the Moscow Commission for Self-Education.
The University Extension movement emerged as an attempt to overcome the class, geographic, and fi nancial barriers that prevented broad segments of the population from accessing systematic university knowledge. The “Programs”
offered readers structured courses in core academic disciplines, accompanied by recommended literature, methodological materials, and a system for assessing comprehension. Contrary to the widespread view that Aristotelian philosophy had weak reception in Russia, within the “Programs,” Aristotle’s philosophy occupies a central position in logic, psychology, political theory, law, history, literature, and aesthetics. Logic essentially in its Aristotelian version is treated as
the foundation of philosophical and scientifi c thinking. His political treatises are
used in the study of history and law, providing criteria for analyzing contemporary
political developments, patterns of political evolution, causes of coup-d’etat,
and actual governmental mechanisms. The Poetics serves as a basis for analyzing
literary forms and aesthetic theories. In the context of the “Programs,” Aristotle
appears not merely as an ancient author but as a relevant source of theoretical
models used to analyze both classical and modern sociocultural experience.
The “Programs” shaped an image of Aristotle as a universal thinker, a systematizer
of knowledge, the founder of scientifi c rationality, and the creator of
a scholarly tradition that retains methodological signifi cance for modernity.
Plato’s role is far more modest – he is portrayed as a mere philosopher of the past,
a dreamy author of idealistic doctrines that align philosophy with religion, and
of utopian political models. His philosophy is inferior to Aristotle’s in terms of
maturity and analytical rigor. The paper’s results demonstrate the signifi cance
of Aristotle’s philosophy in promoting models of intellectual culture through
the popularization and democratization of university education. They also offer
a new perspective on the scale and nature of the reception of Aristotelianism in
Russian culture within the context of educational initiatives of the time, and contribute
to a deeper understanding of the history of national education.

The article is devoted to the consideration of the problem of the relationship
between M. Heidegger’s ‘anti-metaphysical’ project and the so-called ‘indictment’,
which, with the assistance of a signifi cant part of representatives of
modern Western philosophy, seeks to present his philosophy as a metapolitical
project of affi rming the priority signifi cance of German’s ideas ‘soil’, ‘blood’,
‘destiny’, ‘spirit’ for world history. The author of the article presents the thesis
that the ‘anti-metaphysical’ project is a marker of the fact that accusations of the
national-socialist character of M. Heidegger’s philosophical thinking are groundless
and may relate only to his personal views, which had a more or less long-term
nature. The development of this thesis is based on the consideration of the criticism
of the fundamental ontology of M. Heidegger by the French phenomenologists
J. -L. Marion and M. Henry.
In the fi rst part of the article the author presents a historical-philosophical
view of M. Heidegger’s ontology of intentionality as an ecstatic sphere of the being
of the beings, or ‘Logos’, which acts as the main element in the structure of
the fundamental ontology and metaphysics of fi nitude “Being-Logos-Beings”.
The second part of the article proposes to examine M. Heidegger’s Dasein
in the context of his doctrine of the ‘human-guardian’ of beings in its being.
This doctrine serves as a basis for radically questioning the assertions regarding
the metaphysical content implicitly present in the philosophy of M. Heidegger.
This allows us to remove accusations from fundamental ontology, the metaphysics
of fi nitude and the philosophy of the event in the presence of “national-socialist”
contents in them and to point out the inaccuracies contained in the criticism
of M. Heidegger by J. -L. Marion and M. Henry..

The article attempts to theoretically comprehend Gnostic worldview as an intellectual phenomenon that accompanies the history of mankind from ancient times to the present. Gnosticism will be presented as a real participant in social
progress, paradoxically guiding its trajectory along the path of improving the social system through the denial of life-affi rming teachings and practices. Determining the essence of Gnosticism, you can probably repeat after the classic that
he has always been part of the force that “wanting evil, does good.” However, here, of course, one should take into account the shades of this mysterious phenomenon,
which, if desired, can be counted more than a dozen. Some of them are initially painted in more or less noble tones, while some look ominous and destructive. Therefore, it is necessary to state the immense scope of the circulation
of Gnostic ideas that require accurate and thorough identifi cation and verifi cation in order to develop an adequate attitude to the state of affairs in the spectrum
from politics and economics, culture and religion to science and philosophy, mass media and everyday activities of people. Note that the insuffi cient recognition of Gnosticism as an agent of serious transformations in various fi elds, as well as its weak conceptualization, primarily in secular science, create a tempting horizon for promising research. However, it is worth warning against a superfi cial attitude towards Gnosticism as a cultural spasm or religious scam with Eastern characteristics, which fl ared up brightly and
quickly disappeared two thousand years ago. This approach makes it diffi cult to see the essential characteristics of some important processes that are developing
before our eyes today.

A characteristic feature of the consumer society is the cult of the body, which has replaced the cult of the soul. (J. Baudrillard). The author, wondering about the reasons for such a transformation, sees the explanation in the Hesychast controversies of the 14th century, the core of which was the famous theological controversy between Gregory Palama and Varlaam the Calabrian, the starting point for such a fi nale. The essence of this controversy was the question of the possibility of God’s Knowledge and its ways. The position of Varlaam the Calabrian was reduced to the impossibility of Knowledge of God due to Its absolute transcendence, while Gregory Palama, without denying this, in fact, defended the real possibility of living, direct communication with God, unthinkable for the Calabrian monk. To substantiate his position, G. Palama, based on the thoughts of previous fathers and teachers of the Church, as well as appealing to the experience of the Athonite hesychasts, wrote a number of works, primarily “Triads in Defense of the Sacred Silent” and “The One Hundred and Fifty Chapters”, which are the subject of analysis in this article. The theological discussion, having raised deep philosophical problems related to man’s place in the world, his destiny, and his relationship with God, revealed serious disagreements between the opponents. During the discussion, G. Palama turns to Orthodox anthropology, which goes back to the biblical understanding of man, whose purpose is theosis or restoring his original integrity. Varlaam the Calabrian, being a fan of ancient philosophy, adhered to the dualistic concept of man, which contrasted soul and body, in fact, reducing man to a rational principle. At the same time, both the dogmas of faith and the conclusions of ancient philosophers are equally authoritative and equally legitimate for him. V. the Calabrian, becoming one of the fathers of the Western Renaissance, thus opened the way to a secular New Age. The cult of the human mind and the autonomy of the human personality have brought the desacralization of the soul to its logical conclusion: replacing the cult of the soul with the cult of the body.

This article introduces and analyzes the “thanatological argument” in order to reveal and analyze the mechanisms that make it possible for a person to justify
his or her own fi nitude. The thanatological argument is understood as a philosophical justifi cation of the conditions under which a person is able to come to the conclusion about his or her own mortality. The author seeks to identify
how knowledge of death is included in the structure of human experience and to demonstrate that the introduction of this argument serves as a heuristically signifi cant conceptual optics that allows us to determine the various bases for
the formation of knowledge about death, both in the intersubjective dimension (through the experience of another, loss, empathy) and at the level of a priori structures of individual consciousness. The purpose of this article is the introduction and philosophical development of the “thanatological argument” within the framework of the analysis of epistemological and ontological ways of justifying
human fi nitude. Methodologically, the article combines philosophical interpretation with elements of conceptual analysis, which allows us to reconstruct the logic of how various authors justify the fi nitude of human existence.
The research is based on two mutually exclusive trajectories: the a priori and the inductive. Proponents of the a priori approach (M. Scheler, G. Simmel, M. Heidegger, M. Conche, E. Fink) identify knowledge of death as intrinsically
inherent to human existence, not requiring external experience of the death of another. Advocates of the inductive approach (J. Derrida, G. Marcel, J.-P. Sartre,
P.-L. Landsberg) argue that a clear recognition of one’s own fi nitude arises only through the perception of the death of the other, where the “gift of death” of the other becomes a necessary condition for the justifi cation of one’s own
fi nite existence. As a result of the conducted study, the author concludes that the introduction of the “thanatological argument” highlights its heuristic value as a
concept potentially useful not only for the development of philosophical thanatology, but also for interdisciplinary research in the fi elds of anthropology, psychoanalysis,
cultural studies, and other disciplines in which the theme of death occupies a central place.tology, but also for interdisciplinary research in the fi elds of anthropology, psychoanalysis, cultural studies, and other disciplines in which the theme of death occupies a central place. 

Frame analysis, which examines the biased nature of our ways of using signs in communicative processes and which is relevant to the modern synergetic picture
of the world, continues the long-standing traditions of hermeneutics and medieval exegesis. In acts of communication, frames of perception and presentation
are permanently converted: response presentations are formed on the basis of received and understood messages. Conversion processes generate an abundance of connotations with which the original meanings are overgrown. Sometimes they are destructive, often banal. But it is the competition of connotations that serves as a source of development. Perceptual frames are always
based on hidden premises (prejudices). The cultural and personal codes of thi bias are invisible to its bearers. In the lexicon of frame analysis, these initial dispositions
of perceptions can be presented as expectation frames. The clash of expectation frames with reality awakens emotions, with which the comprehension of the world begins. The possible cultural shocks in this connection constitute
the empirical material for identifying and criticizing the hidden prerequisites of perception, the features of its “optics”.
After Wittgenstein, researchers prefer the concept of a “door” to the frame of a dispassionate “mirror” as a generally accepted metaphor of cognitive relations in the New Age. It is set in motion by acts of doubt, but the lower door hinge, with its immobility, symbolizes bias as the absence of any doubts regarding preconceived contents, that is, frames of expectations. Now the world behind the looking glass is of interest, the door to which still needs to be discovered.
In connection with the modern emphasis on pragmatic aspirations, presentation frames have been better studied. Brands are of particular interest: they noisily claim the generally signifi cant value of presentations and are effective for manipulative purposes. Meanwhile, the lexicon of frame analysis should be introduced with a whisper of expectation frames. Lively games of frames of perceptions
and presentations constitute the main communicative body, while brands only close the lexicon from the side opposite to the original preconceived expectations.

The relationship between the unconscious and narrative identity remains unresolved within Russian philosophy. This study seeks to rectify this situation. The work’s scientifi c novelty is also determined by its interdisciplinary approach,
which integrates the traditions of phenomenology (E. Husserl), psychoanalysis (S. Freud), and philosophical hermeneutics (P. Ricoeur). This article conceptualizes
the unconscious as a noumenal source of subjectivity, inaccessible to direct signifi cation but manifesting itself through symptoms and affects. As a noumenon, the unconscious is inaccessible to direct reference, precedes symbolization, and serves as a space for the accumulation of “pre-refl ective” experience A hypothesis is advanced and substantiated regarding the dual function of the
unconscious in the structure of narrative identity: on the one hand, it serves as a “reservoir” for the formation of counternarratives that challenge established
self-narratives, while on the other, it constitutes the foundation of pre-reflective experience, ensuring the continuity of the pre-refl ective and the affective content
of implicit memory. It is demonstrated that the process of constructing narrative identity is linked not only to the symbolic horizon but also to affective experience
rooted in pre-refl ective experience, opening new perspectives for understanding the dynamics of personal identity construction.

The article is a continuation of the author’s publications on the topic of posthumanism, published in the previous issues of the journal and dedicated to the theory and practice of this ideological trend of social thought. In this article, the author systematized and identifi ed three directions of the
predecessors of posthumanism: geographical determinism, the theory of local civilizations and Russian cosmism. The fi rst predecessor, geographical determinism, is presented in the article by Johann Herder, Elise Reclus, Pyotr Alekseevich
Kropotkin and Lev Ilyich Mechnikov. The author shows that thanks to this trend of social thought, the ideas of humanism, based on ideas about a single history of mankind along the path of progress, began to be questioned. The second predecessor, the theory of local civilizations, is analyzed based on the works of N.Ya. Danilevsky, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee and L.N. Gumilyov.
The author analyzes in particular detail the legacy of the latter. The third predecessor of posthumanism, according to the author, is Russian cosmism, associated with the names of not only Russian scientists N.F. Fedorov, K.E. Tsiolkovsky and .L. Chizhevsky, but also with French philosophers such as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Jules Deleuze. The article concludes that the three predecessors of posthumanism prepared public consciousness and social sciences for an adequate perception of posthumanism.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies emerged in the United States in the 1990s. Presidential administrations from Kennedy to Biden issued executive orders strengthening affi rmative action (AA) policies, and these policies
were further developed through legislation and court decisions. The dissemination of AA policies occurred in two directions: from the top down, through government, and from the bottom up, through organized minorities. Large organizations created equal employment opportunity and AA departments, which became the precursors to modern DEI departments. Conceived as a temporary measure with limited scope, AA policies eventually evolved into permanent policies
encompassing all of society. Throughout its history, these policies have been criticized, with questions raised about their effectiveness and constitutionality. DEI and the associated reverse discrimination are viewed by the Trump administration as a problem that must be addressed immediately. Trump has issued executive orders aimed at ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs,
ending discrimination, and restoring merit-based opportunities. This article analyzes AA as a complex phenomenon that exists in several forms: a social movement
and its ideology, policies and social practices, a subject of sociology and organizational psychology, a body of law and case law, and an institutionalized profession. DEI is often referred to as a “diversity-industrial complex”. It represents
a complex structure that includes, in addition to DEI departments in organizations, training and consulting centers, online resources, think tanks, law fi rms, and much more. This article describes the DEI movement’s seizure of
power in organizations. It analyzes how DEI is being dismantled and the obstacles these efforts face. DEI, like the voke activism movement at large, when its existence is threatened, creates “backup airfi elds” – front organizations where they can operate and where funds can be funneled for the lean years. Each element of the diversity-industrial complex must be dismantled in its own way. To effectively and irreversibly abolish DEI, it is necessary to identify the full range of social forces and mini-institutions that underpin this ideology and policy, and fi nd ways to counter them.

The genesis of modern technogenic culture is determined by the impact of global trends of the era of ‘Industry 4.0’, marking the advent of smart technologies actively developing within the framework of a digital ecosystem. This article
investigates the infl uence of artifi cial neural networks on contemporary sociocultural spaces and social institutions. It provides a retrospective analysis of the evolutionary path of neurotechnologies from early experimental studies of
mid-last century to current advanced achievements such as multilayer artifi cial neural networks and deep machine learning technologies. The author notes that the current stages of transformational processes differ signifi cantly from previous phases of industrial evolution due to the total spread of intelligent machines and network information infrastructures, which exert a decisive infl uence on all
spheres of human activity, ranging from production cycles to everyday life patterns of population.
A detailed study of the effects of these methods on key areas of human activities, including state governance sector, industry, healthcare, commercial activities, education process, and creative industries allows considering positive impacts of wide-scale introduction of neuroalgorithms, among them an increase in decision-making effi ciency, improvement of diagnostics and therapy of diseases, optimization of manufacturing processes, and expansion of possibilities for obtaining quality educational services. However, potential threats and risks associated with large-scale use of neurotechnologies are also highlighted, such as issues related to personal data protection, compliance with bioethical norms and legal regulations. There is a need for a comprehensive approach to further deve lopment of this fi eld of knowledge, involving integration of efforts from representatives of various scientifi c disciplines, development of strict regulatory legal acts, and implementation of reliable technical means for ensuring information security aimed at minimizing risks and providing reliable functioning of neurotechnology solutions. These trends pose before the scientifi c community several urgent problems concerning cybersecurity risk assessment, development of technical
ethics standards, and evaluation of long-term socio-economic effects of innovative technological revolution.

The article examines the problem of building an interethnic dialogue in Russian society in the context of external migration. It reveals the main contradictions in the formation and management of cultural diversity at the current stage
of development of Russian society, which include the presence of a sociocultural frontier, the lack of language profi ciency among migrants, and the specific nature of their views on adaptation. The article substantiates the importance of
migrants’ choice of integration strategies for adaptation and the possibility of their incorporation in the format of intercultural dialogue. The article examines the essence of intercultural dialogue as a social practice that involves mutual understanding and two-way engagement, as well as the necessary conditions for its maintenance. It identifi es signifi cant contradictions that can potentially hinder intercultural
dialogue, but can be addressed through effective and consistent management decisions. The article also explores the concept of interethnic dialogue from the perspective of interaction between representatives of different ethnic
cultures, on the one hand, and the local population, who represent the national culture, on the other. The article analyzes the role of ethnicity and ethnic identity
in the process of incorporating migrants. The strengthening of ethnic identity through the closure and reproduction of ethnicity in a new sociocultural environment
is a way of preserving the cultural identity of an ethnic group. Based on the author’s research experience and the analysis of existing studies by other scholars, it can be concluded that Muslims, who make up the majority of external
migrants in Russia, have the most stable ethnic identity and the least ability to integrate. This circumstance makes it extremely diffi cult to engage in an intercultural
dialogue, which involves the mutual infl uence of cultures. The local population is an equally important participant in the dialogue, and in particular, their willingness to engage in dialogue and their awareness of the inevitability of
the transformation of the sociocultural space as a consequence of this dialogue, which determines the prospects for an empirical study of these populations to
determine whether their mutual social expectations underlying the intercultural dialogue align.

The article examines the phenomenon of innovation as a key element of evolutionary processes in both natural and social systems. In recent years, increasing attention has been given to the concept of “innovation as a process,” rather than merely as a result. Considering modern approaches to understanding the emergence of innovation, the article analyzes the typology of innovations depending on their functional signifi cance and context of implementation in natural and social evolution: neutral; destructive; adaptive; ambivalent. A comparative characterization of innovation in natural and social evolution is provided. In the context of evolutionary transformations in the natural world and in
society, the authors analyze two processes and the outcomes to which they lead to. First: the pace of natural evolution is signifi cantly slower than the dynamics of social evolution, which headы towards the emergence of irreconcilable confl
ict. Second: the pace of social evolution is so high that society is practically unable to establish a steady balance among its structural elements, and humans are unable to adapt in a timely manner to the ongoing transformations, which also results in the emergence of a confl ict of human (or humanity’s) adaptation to changes.
The authors have shown that despite differences in mechanisms, the natural world and society exhibit similar patterns in the formation and development of innovations. However, human activity imparts specifi c features to these processes: consciousness, controllability, and cultural determinism. The phenomenonf innovation in social evolution does not follow a linear logic of ‘progress.’ The research conducted allowed the authors to conclude that managing innovation is one of the key tasks of the philosophy and practice of social development in the context of modern societal development.