Contents

Editorial

Social philosophy

The Concept of Information Resonance in Social Structures as the Perspective of Understanding “the Elusive” Postmodernity
Vladimir Ignatyev
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2018-3.1-9-25
Abstract:

This article analyzes the possible chance of overcoming the limited capacity of the existing theories of modernity to the explanation of the newest tendencies of transformation of society. Asked about the need to update existing concepts, because all of them, according to the author, reflect already leaving the next stage of the post-industrial development. The author believes that the prospect of explaining the rapidly changing social world and his prediction tool could become a concept of informational resonance in social structures. The author draws attention to the crucial role of information increase the transformation of all parties social life. But its role remains underestimated in constructing adequate models of the contemporarily, and especially in predicting consequences for social life rapidly developing information technology. Analysis and forecasting of social and anthropological implications of the next phase of the information-computer and the sixth industrial revolutions did not follow the intensity of technological innovations and for studies of the dynamics and forms technical-technological change. The author introduces the notion of "information resonance in social structures" and analyzes the possibility of building a concept of this process. In doing so, it relies on the expertise of multidisciplinary research using the concept of resonance, wave and synergetic processes. Describes typical manifestations of resonant wave processes in social structures and their effects. The author suggests and formulates arguments proving that the "information explosion" and information overload are transforming social structures, affecting primarily the basic system of society is social interaction. The article argues that with "the cage" social system processes similar to the studied mutations in cytogenetic. According to the author, the similarity of these processes allows for the social structure and the structure of social interaction to build explanatory model by analogy, turning on an interdisciplinary level, then the transdisciplinary approach and synthesis of notional apparatus. At this level, build a new theoretical objects - "mutation the cells of the social system", and citosociology which are offered as a concept in the context of the prospects for the development of transdisciplinary methodologies.

Social Interactions in the context of Social History and Social Geography
Elena Abramova,  Maria Udalcova
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2018-3.1-26-37
Abstract:

The article substantiates the necessity of an interdisciplinary approach to the study of social reality. Various branches of social knowledge have been focusing on identifying the laws of social self-development and rational action. Both the external world and the sociological system of knowledge about it are of a pluralistic nature. There are different answers to the question: "What is modern society?" Today virtual social interaction is coming on the stage. Social nets have become a sphere of intense activity for the attention of target audiences, and network structures - structures of inequality. All phenomena of reality have certain social projections. The authors pay special attention to recording social projections of such areas of reality as history, geography, space, time and the appearance of such qualitative approaches in sociological research as temporality, spatiality and contextuality. Social history is the history of human relations. Social geography is the geography of the very space of people's interaction, which determines the choice of certain occupations and the way of life. Both social history and social geography become immediate phenomena of sociological theory and social practice. The authors demonstrate the growth in the importance of the organization of people’s life, its regionalization in connection with the increased need to manage these processes. The dominating characteristics of a particular regional space are living conditions and environmental conditions. These characteristics are differentiated both in different countries and within a particular country. These differences explain the continuing migration of the population from the less prosperous regions to the more prosperous ones. For Russia, the intra-country differences, which are valid for a long time, are of the utmost importance. Social management is presented as a special type of social interaction aimed at improving the quality of life of the population in various regional environments. The article shows “the scope” of dominating characteristics of the quality of life in the international research and in the regional studies within a country. Estimation of the country's human development potential will always be incomplete without assessing some vulnerability of some regions due to their geographical and historical conditions.

From Socially-Problematic to Risk-Prognostic Analysis: Modern Changes in the Conceptual Apparatus of Social Sciences
Vsevolod Samsonov
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2018-3.1-38-51
Abstract:

The paper studies the transformation of the conceptual apparatus of modern social sciences, characterized by a shift from a socially-problematic to a risk-prognostic analysis. The author shows that these conceptual and theoretical changes are conditioned by the internal logic of sociology development, which has gradually transferred in the analysis of social phenomena from the study of unfavorable effects of social changes and symptoms of social deviations to the reasons that cause socially problematic situations. An approach based on the personal responsibility of “problem” individuals and social groups for their exclusion from normal social life was formed within the framework of social psychology and it is defined by a medical-criminological model that affirms the existence of “universal criteria for normality” and, accordingly, standards of behavior. In the framework of this approach, which was clearly manifested in social Darwinism, the main focus of problem-oriented studies is focused on the external symptoms of social ailments and the “deviant behavior” of individuals and social groups, or factors of their unsuccessful socialization, interpreted as a source of social problems. Theoretical and practical analysis shows consistency of the modern turn in understanding social problems, which is characterized by shifting the focus of research to an institutional-systemic level that generates conditions for the reproduction of social deviations and deprivations. According to the author, the analysis of risks in a sociological perspective takes over the baton of the development of problem-oriented research in social sciences. Modern sociology of risks was formed within the framework of critical reflection on the ideas of U. Beck (who understands risk as a rational strategy for transformation of uncertainty into certainty) and it is represented by sociocultural, constructivist, neo-institutional, administrative approaches. What unites these approaches is that risks are treated as products of social interactions that are deeply embedded in social structures, dependent on the external context and the conditions for the formation of subjective perceptions of risks, and the degree of vulnerability of different social groups, determined by their place in the social hierarchy of society. The critical direction in risk theory focused on the problem of risks interconnection and a system-institutional arrangement of society, emphasizes disproportionate vulnerability to the risks of various social groups, based on socio-structural inequalities, as well as imperfection of organizational structures created to minimize risks due to their greater fitness to the established institutional design, than to the challenges that they face due to their specific activities.

"That's my job – to make people start asking questions and unsettle the current state of things". Interview with professional rebel Saul Alinsky. Part 1.
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2018-3.1-52-83
Abstract:

This is а translation of the interview with Saul Alinsky published in Playboy in 1972 and reprinted by the New England Review May 27, 2018.  American professional social organizer, he unilaterally created the new field of social engineering and the new profession of radical-organizer. His two books became handbooks for several generations of organizers. Magazine Playboy sent Eric Norden to interview him. “I accompanied him from the East Coast to the West and into Canada, snatching tape sessions on planes, in cars and at airport…”

Philosophical anthropology, philosophy of culture

Kantian interpretation of narrativism
E.S. Maslov
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2018-3.1-84-96
Abstract:

The article explores the connection between modern narrativist philosophy of history and epistemology of Immanuel Kant. Both narrativism and Kantianism are interested not in reality itself, but in the ways of cognition of reality. Both assert that reality in one way or another is created by consciousness. According to Kant, human consciousness “creates” the object with the help of a priori concepts. Such theorists of narrative as Hayden White, Frank Ankersmit, Paul Ricoeur argue that narrative is a product of consciousness activity. Narrativity brings narrative structure and completeness to the material. Thus, narrativity is something similar to the a priori concepts of Kantian philosophy. Integrity is one of the main attributes of the narrative. Its analogue is the unity as a category in the “Critique of Pure Reason”. The integrity of the narrative is derived from intrigue as a unifying factor. One of the aspects of the integrity of the narrative is the self-identity of the character. For the historical narrative, the integrity of the character is often a problem, since the state does not have such a degree of inner unity as a person. Both Kant and narrativists raise the question of the correlation between reality existing in consciousness and reality outside consciousness. Unlike Kant's conception, in the philosophy of historical narrative the source material is not so unknowable as the Kantian “noumenon”: it is the level of historical sources and chronicles. As a result, in narrativism a view of narrativity as a distorting factor is possible, which is impossible for a priori concepts in Kantianism. Thus, from the point of view of Hayden White, one model of the interpretation of reality becomes dominant in the historical narrative, suppressing other semantic lines. The article is based on the concepts of analytical philosophy (Arthur Danto), philosophical hermeneutics (Paul Ricoeur) and poststructuralism (Hayden White, Frank Ankersmit, Keith Jenkins, Alan Munslow), and classical and postclassical narratology (Tsvetan Todorov, Seymour Chatman, Wolf Schmid).

The problem of values: specifics and structure
N.S. Novikov
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2018-3.1-97-111
Abstract:

The article considers the problem of values as the most relevant in the system of cultural and social studies of our age, a problem integrating in itself various aspects of the interaction between the human and the outside world. The value appears as a dynamic phenomenon, having an object-subject nature, formed in society and existing in it as the central link of spiritual culture, the core principle of the human activity. It is noted that the value as a social phenomenon cannot have an absolute final expression, which leads to the plurality of its definitions. The main elements of the value structure are distinguished: purpose, evaluation, significance, ideals and norms, the emergence of which is connected with the vital activity of human and society, as well as with the identification of the semantic side of the concept. Attention is drawn to the dichotomy of value, which carries within itself the comprehension of the world as the source of values and the discovery of a relation to it as an identification of the values of the source itself. It also reveals the duality of value orientations that carry within themselves, with one the one hand, internal, terminologically repeating meanings, on the other hand, the difference in understanding and practical realization of these meanings. The above contradiction in the comprehension and validation of values in the real life allows to appeal to the value principle in any kind of social confrontation, that is used in modern information, hybrid and other "bloodless" wars of our age. A special place in society is occupied by its armed forces, which carry out a specific type of activity, directly dependent on the state, regulating the entire system of relations of each of their representatives in situations of any degree of complexity and under any type of conflict. Such activity implies not only high professionalism, training, but also a stable system of values, which alone can lie at the base of every act that is at the same time the implementation of norms, ideals and values of subjective nature and the expression of state goals. Consequently, in the modern world, the category of value finds itself on the front line of the worldview, it is the central factor in almost all forms of activity, forming the spiritual culture of society, of each social group and of a person.

Philosophy of science and technology

About Unfalsifiable Scientific Statements and Ideas
S.Yu. Kolomiytsev
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2018-3.1-112-124
Abstract:

One of the main questions of philosophy of science in XX – beginning of XXI centuries is the problem of demarcation – how to distinguish between science and metaphysics. To solve the problem the philosophers of logical positivism suggested the verifiability criterion: scientific theory must be empirically verifiable. Philosophers of postpositivism criticized the verifiability criterion and suggested the falsifiability criterion: there must be possibility for the scientific theory of showing empirically to be false. We suggest a thought technical experiment and examples from the history of natural sciences which do not satisfy the falsifiability criterion and that is why must be declared as metaphysical but are not so. For example the ideas of atom, electron, “electrical matter” in physics and chemistry, infection and gene in biology were metaphysical, but now they are considered to be real and scientific. Such cases happened when the phenomenon is caused by something which can not be discovered at least by modern science, but it really exists. And even if the reason is real and can be discovered and become scientific in future, now it has status of metaphysical idea. So we conclude that neither verifiability criterion no falsifiability criterion can clearly solve the demarcation problem and separate science and metaphysics. Whereas the verifiability criterion can increase the quantity of scientific theories because of naming non-scientific theories as scientific (for example, the theory “All swans are white”, or “it storms because Neptune is angry”), the falsifiability criterion on the contrary decreases the quantity of scientific theories because of naming scientific theories as non-scientific. We conclude that neither verifiability criterion no falsifiability criterion can be the only clear criteria for solving the demarcation problem and distinguish scientific and metaphysic knowledge. The falsifiability criterion makes science constricted, and there are scientific ideas and statements which can not be shown to be false.

Dialectical strategy in pyrrhonism
D.K. Maslov
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2018-3.1-125-143
Abstract:

The paper undertakes a précising consideration of the skeptical “dialectical strategy” in Sextus Empiricus’ variation of Pyrrhonism that nowadays enjoys a high acceptance among the scholars. (In doing this the author is much indebted to R. La Sala’s interpretation of dialectical strategy). The key principles of the strategy consist in borrowing presuppositions of dogmatists and using them against the dogmatists themselves for the argument’s sake, without an endorsement of those presuppositions by Sextus. Thus, the author takes these dialectical principles into a scrutiny in respect of 1) normative premises borrowed from the dogmatists as well as 2) how they were utilized by Sextus in his argumentative practice. Normative presuppositions used by Sextus can be divided into logic rules, rules of justification and the notion of things “by nature”, i. e. how they exist independent from cognizing agents. Sextus takes advantage of logic in order to construct valid arguments in accordance to dogmatists’ theories. Particularly, he applies a method of diaeresis for division of genus into parts as well as the implication rules articulated in Stoic logic. Further, premises as to the things “by nature” are considered. Theywere thought to be self-identical, unchangeable and devoid of any inherent contradiction. Taking this premise for granted, Sextus manages to demonstrate all diversity and disagreement on any question (modes of Aenesidemus) and come to conclusion that knowledge has not yet been attained since there is a huge disagreement. As to the rules of justification, Sextus uses the Agrippa’s Trilemma and states that according to the dogmatists’ rules any proof has not been the case since the principles of justification are not met. Finally, the skeptical methods of exposition and argumentation come to the fore. Sextus uses the sumperigra>fein rule (La Sala) and undermines the most general concepts of dogmatists coming to the particular ones.

Philosophical analysis of the Language

Hierarchical Optics of Language: the Greek Breakthrough
Oleg Donskikh
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2018-3.1-144-170
Abstract:

The article analyzes a number of stages of the formation of a generic and non-specific vocabulary in the period from 9-8 to 5-4 centuries BC in Ancient Greece. Cosmogonies of the period of ordering mythological representations in Egyptian, Phoenician and Greek cultures are taken as a source material. The article considers the interaction of basic metaphors that allow this ordering to be carried out-metaphors of genealogical (birth and change of generations) and metaphors of artisan-demiurge. The formation of the legislative space is investigated, yet namely this space allows to outline the first reflective steps in relation to mythological thinking. These steps are initially carried out within the limits of traditional mythological images. The most important stage of the movement towards general words in the process of the emergence of artificial concepts in the early philosophical systems – "apeiron", "ontos", "logos", "physis", which begin to be ordered through interaction with each other. In parallel with the personified mythological concepts the abstract concepts are gradually lining up and organizing systematically. From a beginning  they allow to integrate mythological ideas and present them in the abstract form. In the next phase, a fundamental role is played by the activity of sophists, whose attention is focused on the game with the general concepts, yet the content of these concepts starts to lose the reference to the outside world. At the same time, the language is discovered as an independent system. This is the content of the third stage of reflective activity. The attempt of Socrates to escape from sophistic relativism and return the contents to the general concepts leads to the overturning of the relations of names and reality, when it turns out that the general concepts are enclosed in the soul, and they are preset the understanding of the world. Plato and Aristotle are implementing this setting and transform this work with concepts into a separate sphere of activity, creating dialectics and logic that underlie the methodology of reasoning and research in different spheres of intellectual activity.

Bilingualism through the prism of Philosophical Reflection
E.B. Taskaeva
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2018-3.1-171-181
Abstract:

The article deals with the phenomenon of multilingualism and its most common case – bilingualism – from both the linguistics and philosophical points of view. More than a half of the global population at present are multilingual, i.e. they use two or more languages in their daily lives. The related changes in culture and ways of thinking require scientific research and philosophic reflection. The article briefly covers approaches applied by researchers of language and language ability to defining the nature of bilingualism.  Linguists and psychologists choose different criteria in order to determine the level of language fluency that allows to characterize someone as bilingual. Some scientists believe that even a minimum competence in listening, speaking, reading, or writing means that an individual is bilingual, while others consider a native-like fluency in two languages to be a necessary condition.  Using as a basis mainly the ideas of the 20th century’s analytic philosophers, the author attempts to offer a philosophical explanation to the mechanism that enables bilinguals to switch between their languages. The key philosophic idea that helps to explain the phenomenon is the concept of a language as a means of expressing thoughts and the only possible form for the existence of thoughts. The main language structure in which a thought can be expressed is a sentence, because it allows to establish relations between any objects of the world. The main criterion of bilingualism is not the ability to speak another language, but the ability to think in that language, whereas the criterion of the ability to think in a language is a skill to build sentences in that language.

Cryptotypes in the English Language (based on the analysis of publications of the English and American press about robotics and artificial intelligence)
E.A. Kolomeytsev
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2018-3.1-182-197
Abstract:

The article explores the interrelation between the cryptotypic meaning and frequency in the English language using an example of broad contexts from the English-language press dedicated to artificial intelligence. The author studies interrelation of classical rules, the foundations of speech and new trends in speech which arise under the influence of changes in our society. The author examines the problem on the basis of the analysis of the British and American press, taking into account both current publications and those published ten years ago. In the course of the research, the author draws attention to the connection between cryptotypes and frequency using the example of publications on artificial intelligence, which has become quite characteristic of the modern society. As a result of the analysis, the author comes to the conclusion that the existing rules of speech do not contradict new phenomena, but, on the contrary, they form the basis for creating new words and sentences which can satisfy the needs of the modern language. It means that violation of the classical canons, when constructing sentences using new words or when narrating about something new, is not a linguistic mistake, but it shows the evolution of a language which is forced to adapt to modern requirements. The analysis of the frequency occurring in the course of use of the spatial relations cryptotype, expressed with the help of demonstrative pronouns this / these-that / those, indicates the predominant expression of the idea of proximity in English in similar constructions. The author of the article notes that a speaker or a writer subconsciously constructs sentences using the pronouns which seem appropriate to him in this particular situation. The idea of cryptotypes can be traced here, since the speaker demonstrates his attitude to artificial intelligence, as to something remote, despite the fact that in the spatial sense, the object is in close proximity to him. The relevance of this study is supported by the fact that, today, the English language is constantly being supplemented by new words, terms, concepts and language constructs. Because of this, the classical foundations and rules are gradually changing, that indicates a close connection of the language with its speakers.

The 100th anniversary of the Komsomol

The Round Table: ‘100-th anniversary of the Komsomol’
Abstract:

The round table discussed a wide range of issues related to the history of the Komsomol, paying special attention to a historic change in the tasks and structure of the Komsomol organization. In the course of the conversation participants demonstrated different positions and approaches, as well as fundamentally different assessments of the Komsomol activity. They discussed the role of youth in the life of the state, the ways of assessments of historical events in general, and unpredictability of our history.

The final period of the Komsomol activity: Historiography of the problem and its Legal assessment
S.G. Gorin
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2018-3.1-223-232
Abstract:

The article considers the issues of historiography of the final period of the Komsomol activity and the legal aspects of its self-dissolution in 1991. The author analyzes some facts and conditions of crisis phenomena in the Komsomol at the level of stating the problem. The author perceives the Komsomol as part of the political system of Soviet society, and therefore its crisis is considered in the context of a systemic crisis that affected all party-state structures. The author notes that in the newest period of Russian history, questions concerning the causes and circumstances of the crisis and the subsequent dissolution of the Komsomol have not been considered in scientific publications. For a quarter of a century there has not been published a single book on the reasons and legal grounds for self-dissolution of the Komsomol. Bibliographic and source study of research work on the legal sciences show that the role of the Komsomol was considered to be fragmentary at best. At the same time, both foreign researchers and representatives of Russian youth demonstrate their interest to the problem. It is noted that the subjective factor that caused the decision of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Komsomol and the XXII Extraordinary Congress of the Komsomol on the completion of the activity of the All-Union Organization has not been investigated at all. In 1990-1991, before the collapse of the Union, everyone in the society, including the Komsomol, advocated the development and implementation of a strong state youth policy at the all-Union and regional levels, but due to the worsening of crisis phenomena in power and society, it did not lead to anything. There is still no serious analytical publication on how and under what circumstances the leaders of the Komsomol Central Committee and regional organizations of the Komsomol abdicated youth entrusted to them.

In the memory of the scientist