Contents
Editorial
Social philosophy
Legal Spaces and their Missing Digital Boundaries
Wolfgang SassinThere is a fundamental difference between the human migration movements of the past and those of the beginning of the 21st century. The latter impose the need for a cultural assimilation of the migrants which they cannot master within one generation. This cultural transformation includes a human densification into a new living space, i.e. the essentially technology-based megapolises, which altogether represent the equivalent of an artificial planet. This new planet does not provide new resources or additional free spaces for an overall growth of material wealth. On the contrary, it asks for a drastic reduction of individual freedoms. The stability, even the survival of these mega centers is at stake without consistent subdivisions of the overall shrinking of spaces needed for all kinds of movements and of a consistent restriction of the exploding communicative interference within and between these mega centers. This essay is aimed at a first-hand analysis of a possible introduction of digital borders without which adequate legal spaces appear infeasible as an indispensable framework of this artificial new planet.
Russia as a Social State: Myth or Reality
V.I. BystrenkoAfter the dismantling of the Soviet socialist state, Russia was declared a social, legal, and democratic state in the Constitution (1993). By that time, there were already different models of social states in the world that had reached certain standards, but periodically experienced crises that questioned the regularity of the existence of such a state. The article reveals the concept of a social state in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, goals, tasks, objective and subjective diffi culties and contradictions of building a new type of state for Russia. The author considers the results of social transformations in the 1990s, the role of the state in them, the features of the Concept of the social state of the Russian Federation developed in 2004, and the main directions of social policy. The paper also analyzes the changes in the legal and socio-economic situation of citizens, the results of the “national projects” and the May Decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, the results of the activities of state bodies in the protection of human rights and freedoms as well as unresolved problems. The author reveals the ratio of indicators achieved by Russia with the world criteria and standards of the social state. The article is written on the basis of published sources: statistical documents of state bodies, reports of the government of the Russian Federation, reports of human rights Commissioners of the Russian Federation and other types of documents. The author comes to the conclusion that for Russia the social state remains the ideological basis of the next social experiments. Social justice has not really become a priority of the state. Much has been done to restore the state after the devastating 1990s, but the effectiveness of efforts to create a social state still raises questions. Russia does not meet the international standards of the social state by any criterion. The system – forming function of the social state is social, associated with the provision of the necessary decent living standards for all citizens, and this very function is not really fulfi lled. The article analyzes the economic, socio-political, objective, subjective, internal and external causes of the discrepancy between the ideals of an equitable society, theoretical concepts of real practice, the reasons, which hinder the solution of social problems in modern Russia, the prospects for the population. The author concludes that the construction of a social state in Russia, the Declaration of many important tasks and mechanisms for their implementation made the process of building up a traditional state with huge stratifi cation of the society, social, regional, property inequality and its own concept of social justice less hurtful to people. The construction of the social state favored strengthening of the liberal policy with regard to people.
Socio-Cultural Transformation of Religious Values in the Soviet Union in the First Half of the XX Century
N.L. LopatinaThe article examines the role of religion in a traditional society and particularly in the Russian one. The author considers religion as the foundation of culture, which defines the ethical principles and values in the society. The author reveals the reason of anti-religious struggle in Soviet society as a goal of cultural revolution, which task was to form international culture and a new man with new values and atheistic world outlook. Using the evidence of eyewitnesses the author shows the main measures taken by the Soviet power to form an atheistic society. The article highlights antireligious work in the village because all layers of Soviet society (workers, the intellectuals, etc.) descend from peasantry. The study provides testimonies of antireligious struggle during collectivization. Basing on these judgments, the author comes to the conclusion that the Soviet power managed to achieve the goal of cultural revolution. One or two generations were necessary to transform the society into the atheistic one. Even traditionally religious peasant society was subjected to deep socio-cultural transformations. The reasons for it were the following: policy of repressions, atheistic upbringing of the younger generation, and the formation of negative attitudes towards the older generation as archaic and retrograde. Atheism influenced the transformation of mental reasoning and values in Soviet society.
The Controversy Surrounding the Kyoto Protocol: Rational Activities of Homo Socialis
Galina VasilyevaThe article explores the Kyoto Protocol, which was the first global-level agreement on climate change issues. The document demonstrated how effective international cooperation could confront the environmental threats. The object of the study is the solution of ecological problems on the basis of ethical attitude to nature. The subject of the research is academic and political debates on the problem of global climate change as an integral part of the historical process. The purpose of this article is to study the role of the Kyoto Protocol in shaping the environmental form of public consciousness. The goal predetermined the objectives of the study: to analyze the views on environmental problems of the representatives of different theoretical approaches in international studies; to study their discussions surrounding the Kyoto Protocol. In accordance with the purposes, the study is conducted in a synchronic-diachronic aspect. The chronological scope of this work includes the period from the 1980s, when the environmental agenda was formed, until now. The practical significance of the study is that it can be used in the study of the principles of bioethics, in the development of recommendations for human adaptation and adaptational costs. Comprehension of the document gives the necessary empirical material for philosophical analysis. In ecology the anthropological aspect, the role of legal requirements to the human activities is clearly manifested. The study is conducted within the boundaries of socio-cultural anthropology, based on axiological means that help to revive the value-semantic role of environmental problems. The combination of historical-typological, historical-functional methods helps to simulate general and local types of ecological culture. The Kyoto Protocol was replaced by the Paris Agreement, but the Kyoto Protocol (1997) was not once referred to at the recent UN global conferences on climate change. It was noted that the developing countries should comply with the commitments formulated in it until 2020. In Russia and in the West, the academic work devoted to this document is published. The author considers the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol in the context of the philosophy of economics and geophysical sciences. The paper explores the legal regulation of climate change issues in different regions of the world, human freedom and freedom of economic activity. The author studies the main stages of the document implementation in connection with the climatic, social and economic policy of Russia. The paper also analyzes the nature of economic activity, the type of economical thinking in the international context. Mass-media constantly mentions the agreement, which enables to resolve situations caused by irresponsible human activities. Therefore, the discussions around the Kyoto Protocol allow to present the ideal and real needs, interests of the society.
Social practices
A Candid Conversation with the Feisty Radical Organizer. Playboy Interview with Saul Alinsky. Part II
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…”
Problems of national discourse
Ethno-Social Potential of the Territory: a Special Case of the Jewish Autonomous Region
O.A. Molyarenko, Juri Plyusnin, M.I. Chernov, S.G. KordonskyThe paper estimates the modern ethno-social potential of the administrative territory - the Jewish Autonomous Region, highlighting the importance and system-forming role of the Jews. The first introductory article of the cycle presents the author's concept of the ethno-social potential of the territory. Ethno-social potential is an integral part of social and, more broadly, human potential. The concept is defined by the authors as the possibility and ability of representatives of various ethnic groups to use ethnically specific cultural and historical traditions and economic practices as resources for achieving the goals of social development of both individual ethnic groups and the entire local society. The authors describe the methodology of phenomenological social research. The main qualitative methods are immediate observation and interview. The results are based on the empirical materials of field research. The article outlines the historical and socio-political prerequisites of the formation and current state of the ethno-social composition of the Jewish region. The main reasons for the uniqueness of the region are, firstly, in several successive stages of the settlement of the empty areas of the Amur lowland by ethnically diverse populations. Secondly, the unique state status of the Jewish people in this territory does matter. The Jewish national district has been the first nationwide state formation of Jews for two millennia that defines a special nature of the interstate relations between Russia and Israel. The settlement of the territory continues in the post-Soviet period. This is also a unique experience for modern Russia. The constitutional status of the region is being discussed. Autonomous administrative territory is represented by the only subject of the Russian Federation. This provides a unique position of the region in the administrative-territorial system of the Russian Federation. The consequence of this is the impossibility of changing this status of the Jewish Autonomous Region without changing the Russian Constitution. The first co-author of the article (S.G. Kordonsky) proposed the original concept of “multinational Jewish people”, the methodological foundation of which is his “fan matrices theory”.
Territory of Social Wellbeing. Interaction of Ethno-Social Groups in the Jewish Autonomous Region
Juri PlyusninThe paper considers peculiarities of settlement of the present Jewish Autonomous Region by different ethno-social groups. The author discusses the conditions and factors determining intergroup relations. The article defines and describes the types of conflicts (contradictions) among different ethno-social groups that determined the role and importance of these groups in the region. The author outlines six successive stages of the territory settlement by different groups over the last 200 years. It is highlighted that large groups of settlers and the periods of their settlement did not overlap in time. These are the groups of the Cossacks and the Old Believers, the Transsib builders and workers involved in the industrial development of the region, the Jews and the Tajiks, the representatives of the Caucasian peoples. All groups differed according to the following important characteristics: the origin and previous ethnic history, cultural stereotypes and economic practices of households, they also had confessional differences. Finally, the groups had different population and demographic characteristics. Basic relations were established between those ethno-social groups which were specializing in different economic spheres and developing different resources: commerce, entrepreneurial activities, handicrafts (Tajiks, Armenians, Chechens, Dagestani, Azerbaijani, and also Old Believers), budget and administrative resources (Jews, Russians and Armenians). All the above mentioned factors contributed much to the special character of relations among ethno-social groups in the region. The relations can be characterized as contrasting and conflicting. They determine a unique socio-demographic status of the region and allow to assess the ethno-social potential of the territory. Diversity and contrast provide the overall high social potential of local society, where the Jewish ethnos stands out against the background of all the others. The modern territory of the region is divided into several “zones of influence” of different ethno-social groups. It resembles “a patchwork”. The region, as an administrative entity, is divided into three parts, loosely linked. The northeastern part, the Middle Amur lowland, has been inhabited by Russians and Jews, and now Tajiks are pouring into the region. The northwest of the region, the mountain-taiga territory of the Small Hingan, is controlled mainly by Russian representatives of the period of Soviet development and a small Russian Old Believer community. The south of the region, the territory adjacent to the Amur, forms a “zone of influence of the frontiers”: these are the descendants of the first-settlers – the Cossacks and the current military men. The Azerbaijani and the Chinese also have great influence here. Territorial “patchwork” creates several “spheres of influence” for different ethno-social groups. They are supposed to have a competition for the administrative resource among the groups controlling these parts of the territory. The Jewish group holds the key positions here, the representatives of which for various reasons occupy a central place in the current system of economic relations and political-administrative relations. There is a discrepancy between the real situation and the external ideas about the region, its political, social and demographic status and ethnic potential. According to the estimates and official statistics on the number of Jewish population in the region, the influence of the Jewish ethnic factor turned out to be significantly larger than it appears from the outside. The influence of the Chinese factor, on the contrary, turned out to be significantly less important not only in the socio-political sphere but also in the economy. The factor of interethnic relations turned out to be very significant and has an undoubtedly positive significance. The factor of confessional differences between the key ethno-social groups ─ several Russian groups, Jews, Tajiks and Chinese ─ is equally positive.
Jewish Communities and “the Jewish Factor” in the Jewish Autonomous Region of Russia
M.I. ChernovThe article covers the current situation in the Jewish community of the Jewish Autonomous Region (JAR) and the significant place of the “Jewish factor” in the social structure of the region. The Jewish factor is not always confined to ethnicity. Surveillance and in-depth interview were the main research methods used by the author. The study is conducted due to a grant from the “Khamovniki” Foundation for Social Research. Despite a small number of Jews living in the region (according to the data of the All-Russian population census and the estimated data of Jewish communities themselves), the “Jewish factor” is significant in the regional life. Jews and the “Jewish factor” are present in all areas of the autonomous region. They are an important part of the administrative, cultural, and business elite of the JAR. Thus, it is Jews and Jewry that are a kind of band which binds together the fragmented territory of the JAR. A unique new ethno-cultural community with its own special features and self-identification is being formed on a Jewish basis. Non-Jews by birth often perceive Jewish culture, the history of specific features of the JAR as part of their own identity. Within this new community, there exists and develops a traditional Jewish communal infrastructure with a synagogue, a kosher public catering, education, etc. The presence of a small, but actively functioning Jewish Orthodox community contributes to the preservation of the Jewish core and Jewish character of the JAR, as well as the consolidation of broader social groups (including government officials), Jews and non-Jews around the Jewish historical and cultural heritage of the region. Jews and the Jewish factor in the JAR are the connecting link for the heterogeneous economic-geographical and ethno-social structure of the region. The functioning of the Jewish communities of the JAR contributes to the formation of a “multinational Jewish people” in the JAR (according to the concept of Simon Kordonsky). The development of Jewish communities and the consolidation around them ensure strengthening of the ethno-social potential of the Jewish Autonomous Region.
Who Are the “Evreytsy” (Jews), or Experience of Cultural Synthesis in the Amur Region
Leonid BlyakherThe article is devoted to the analysis of cultural synthesis, which emerged in the Jewish Autonomous Region. Cultures-participants in this synthesis are the cultures of the Amur peasantry and Jewish settlers of 1920s - 1930s. The first community was formed in the last decades of the XIX century in the conditions of mass migration of the peasantry to the Amur lands. Huge benefits, relative weakness of power on the eastern outskirts of the Russian Empire led to the formation of a unique community based on the principles of self-organization, distancing itself from any authority. But that community was destroyed during the Sovietization and suppression of anti-Bolshevik uprisings. As a result of the repressions and flight of peasants to China, the region turned out to be uninhabited, and the “relic” of the community participated in the synthesis, reproducing the most archaic and sustainable social and economic practices (setting for autarky, mutual support, egalitarianism, network principles of social interaction, hunting, fishing and gathering in terms of self-sufficiency). The resettlement of Jews from the former “Pale of Settlement” for Soviet power had a completely utilitarian meaning: the reduction of overpopulation in the western regions, the settlement of the “empty” Far East. There was an additional reason for the resettlement of “working Jews” – it was necessary to detach a former resident of the “Pale of Settlement” from the community based on religion. As a result, the project of creating a new Jewish culture was implemented – “national in form and socialist in content”. At the same time, the internal ties and economic practices of the new settlers were formed under the strongest influence of the local peasantry. As a result there appeared such a structure where the Jewish component was responsible for communication with the outside world, and the peasant one was responsible for the economy of the region and communication inside the community.
History of philosophy
The Problem of the Research Method in the History of Philosophy
R.S. PlatonovThe article sets a goal to give clear methodological principles for historico-philosophical research with regard to the specificity of the research. On the one hand, to bring historico-philosophical work closer to intersubjective scientific practice, on the other, to determine its differences from the hermeneutic problem of understanding per se. For this, it is making a small overview of the development of hermeneutics in the European tradition of XIX-XX centuries, uncovering the difference of the hermeneutic process as unlimited and subjective from scientific research as local and intersubjective. The proposed methodology is described in two main aspects. The first aspect is the method of working with a text. The method of philosophical conceptual analysis is taken as a basis and given its adapted version in which the problem of clarification of philosophical concepts is compared with the problem of clarification of key concepts of the text and their interconnection. The main methodological technique of the analysis is to clarify the meaning by investigation the use of words in the text by means of opposition and differentiation of semantic refinements/details, as well as generalization, that is, the identification of the common semantic core of different concepts. The obtained results are recorded in terms of the meta-language of the research. The end of this analysis is a clear structure of the text, explicating basic conceptions and problem points of the conceptions. The second aspect is the limitation of object material. The necessity of exclusion of the historico-cultural and intellectual contexts is corroborated as external constructs in relation to the concrete research. Linguistic conceptions can be considered as such constructs, if they build self-sufficient explanatory schemes of language development. The limitation is carried out primarily by means of the formation of the corpus of texts: 1) establishing a thematically linked group of texts by one author; 2) using only well-preserved texts in which a narrative is not broken. The first limitation saves from complications of the research by multiplication of conceptions, allows us to make a minimum of meaning’s deformations of the word when the context of its usage is examined. The second limitation also saves from complications of the research and demands that the textual context of a word usage was free to the maximum extent from reconstruction. As a result, the presented method is defined as textual conceptual analysis.
Time and Eternity in the Ontological Models of Parmenides and Heraclitus
Tatyana DenisovaThe article gives a systematic analysis of the positions of two outstanding and traditionally opposed to each other representatives of the Greek natural philosophy Parmenides and Heraclitus regarding the problem of time as a world-forming principle. The article is focused on the ground of the following ideas. First, attempts to consider ontological essence of time (not only its empirical manifestations and instrumental uses) were already made in early Greek philosophy. Secondly, the tradition of contrasting the views of Parmenides and Heraclitus concerning the main principles of the world order is hardly justified. The article shows that the Parmenides’ idea of the static nature of being doesn’t exclude the movement and the formation of things, and the metaphysical dynamics of being according to Heraclitus does not reduce the existence of things to an infinite becoming without the opportunity to get true being. Thirdly, images of time and eternity, one way or another, are presented in both conceptions. Time is considered as a condition and basis for the existence of individual things, manifested in their conversion and movement. Out of time, that is, in eternity, there is the Whole that includes all the existent and possible individual things. Thus the conceptions of Parmenides and Heraclitus represent two parts of a single ontological model of the order of the Cosmos.