Contents
Editorial
Social philosophy
Study of Sociality and the Problem of Social Action
Vadim Rozin
The article raises the question of the relationship of social study and social action. It is noted that at present, sociality is understood differently than during the formation of social sciences. This is not about social laws, but about non-linear processes that are described using a systematic approach and synergetics. In this case, a social technician relies on knowledge gained in the course of studying sociality, reconstructing a specific history of sociality, and social trends of today. The author sets the task to characterize the relationship between social characteristics identified by social researchers, such as economics, state, society, power, masses, culture. He shows that sociality can be represented as consisting of three areas. The first distinguishes three main subsystems: the state, society and the economy, and the state was the constituent element. In the second anthropological sphere, the author identifies a new European personality, communities, masses, society, understood no longer as in the first sphere, but in anthropological terms. Individuals and communities in the anthropological sphere, as a rule, operate in two modes - normative and parasitic (rent-building, the use of social structures for other purposes). In the third area, encompassing the other two, sociality is seen as a popular phenomenon. The point is that the state and society are not one, there are many of them, and they enter into various difficult relationships (struggle for territory and resources, competition, helping each other, exchanges of various kinds, etc.). The main processes of sociality are distinguished and characterized: globalization and modernization, the implementation of social schemes and concepts, the processes of “post” and “counter”, the process of setting and solving problems (“challenges” and “answers” to them). In the last part of the work, the author's version of the reconstruction of a concrete history of sociality, as well as social trends of the present, is proposed.
Could Civilization Elite Be Formed in Russia?
Vladislav Cheshev
The article discusses some features of the formation of the political and intellectual elite of Russia associated with the awareness of the civilizational characteristics of Russian society. Based on the experience of researching this topic by the domestic and foreign thinkers, the author raises a problematic question of whether Russia can be considered as one of the examples of a civilizational structure. Civilizations are very broad geopolitical associations, which form in their existence the corresponding elite strata. The text draws attention to the characteristics of the elites, their role in society. The elites of society are heterogeneous; they arise in different social strata. The elite appears as an informal association of such groups. The author points out the importance of the existence of political and intellectual elites, whose mutual support creates the necessary correspondence between worldviews and practical actions in society. The author draws attention to the ethical characteristics of elite groups, in particular, to the relationship of individual morality with the awareness and fulfillment of public duty imposed on elites by their position in the society. The author agrees with the opinion of V.O. Klyuchevsky, who pointed to the particularities of the formation of state consciousness of the princely elite of the period of Kievan Rus. It is not an ethnic consciousness, it begins with an understanding of the territorial community of lands and the people living on it, united by princely power. In the feudal period, the role of the intellectual elite with necessity was played by the Orthodox clergy, who turned not only to the formation of personal morality of people, but also to understanding the ideology of the Moscow state. The historically inevitable transition to the industrial stage of development required the formation of secular consciousness and a new elite capable of its development. The author points out the important role of historical consciousness as an ethical basis for intra-elite harmony and for the consensus of society and the elite. Under these conditions, a contradiction arises in the Russian elite between attempts to comprehend their own civilizational identity and orientation toward a Western model of development. The author points to the unresolved nature of this contradiction and its influence on the modern history of Russia.
Ground wars of the presidential elections in the USA
Irina Zhezhko-Braun
The 2020 presidential campaign of the Democratic party surprised both voters and analysts by setting new precedents and showcasing innovations in the art of political campaigning. Several different approaches to the organization of ground game (GG) were used in the campaign. This article aims to describe and analyze the main trends, strategies, and technologies of GG in presidential elections in the last twenty years with the aim of better understanding what is happening in the current one. It also details the main reasons why the attention to GG in presidential campaigns has significantly increased in the last few years: further polarization and even balance of political views in the country, an increase in the number of "independents" with the simultaneous decrease of party membership and influence, the emergence of multiple powerful players: interest groups, social movements and "shadow" (unofficial) parties. All these trends turned the recent presidential campaigns into a ground war in the competitive states and districts. The article deals with the innovations in organization of GG which have taken place in the period from George W. Bush's campaign all the way to Mike Bloomberg's recent attempt to enter the democratic race: multilayered marketing, microtargeting, phone bank programs, distributed or big organizing, philanthropy networking, etc. The main focus is on the organizational structure of GG and the methods of putting together a campaign coalition. The article describes the four basic organizational models of GG: a party infrastructure, a hierarchical network of social organizers, a campaign arranged as a social movement, buying support through sponsorship and philanthropy work. These models are not mutually exclusive. The 2020 primaries are analyzed with the help of these models. The article explains why and how one of the least promising candidates, Biden, became the presumptive nominee of the Democratic party. Our analysis of failed attempts to replicate the pervious campaigns also allows us to make a confident prediction that, if Biden’s compaign will be made in the mold of 2012 Obama campaign, it will not be successful.
Sociospatial Identity as a Result of Identification Practices of Globalizing Society: a Synergetic Approach
Elnara Dumnova
The article considers the problem of the stability of the national mentality in the context of globalization and, as a consequence, the renewal of mechanisms and results of identity construction, the emergence of its new types. A methodological justification for the study of this problem is presented, the basis of which is the author's concept of sociospatial identity, which makes it possible to identify some immanent characteristics of the process of identity formation. Firstly, identity is the result of functioning of mental structures at different levels of social organization, that is, the national mentality and mindsets. Secondly, specification of various types of identities is very tentative. Living space is characterized by multilayered and mosaic patterns and contains many determinant factors of both mental structures and identity. In this connection, the totality of these factors forms a synthesized single identity, indicated as sociospatial identity. Thirdly, an important identity transforming circumstance is that it is transcending national borders in the process of its formation. The construction of identity is considered from the standpoint of the synergetic approach, which makes it possible to reveal regularities of sociocultural processes in conditions of non-linear development, reflecting the disequilibrium of the social system and its components. Factors determining the transformation of identity are considered, among the endogenous ones are the mental structures of society that determine identity of various types in the process of their functioning; ethnic composition of the population; the formation of the civic state as an alternative to the national one. The main exogenous factors are globalization and migration, as well as glocalization. These factors determine multidirectional trends in the process of identity construction, which is depicted through the analysis of the modern sociophilosophical discourse of the formation of post-national identity (B. Anderson, U. Beck Z. Bauman, G. Delanti, C. Calhoun, J. Habermas). Children of migrants, born in the host country, are carriers of sociospatial identity, entailing flexibility and layering. The uniqueness of sociospatial identity lies in its multi-faceted nature, accommodating various types of identity.
Do We Want Changes? Resorting to Karl Jaspers’ Metaphor of the “Shell”
Kirill Golikov
In the article the author raises the problem of social disadaptation of a modern man referring to the ideas of German existentialist philosopher Karl Jaspers. A rigid view of the world (Jasper’s metaphor of the “shell”) is seen as a basic reason for a man’s resistance and suffering in the face of changes. Philosophical significance of the phenomenon is ambivalent, since constructing the shell out of routine life, long-standing values, emotional and behavioral scenarios of a man, it also contributes to one of the subconscious defense mechanisms preventing pain and blocking out the uncertainty of the outside world. The article discusses how the inner rigidity is formed, as well as how it can be overcome as a phenomenon that obstructs the expression of life both on the individual and interpersonal level. The a superindividual challenge, introduced by Jaspers to describe and point to a superindividual challenge to undergo a profound transformation of personality, is analyzed in the modern historical and cultural context. The author argues that it is possible to loosen the shell not only when forced or when an existential crises requires it, but also through a conscious effort towards personal development. Thereby, the importance of further development of Karl Jasper’s philosophical ideas is justified in terms of “soft” limit situations. Namely, travelling, experiencing alterity in communication with the other, as well as encountering information that describes a blocked-out aspect of reality. The author concludes that the shortcut to increasing vitality goes through one’s conscious effort to loosen the rigidity and requires experiencing what one resists the most or what is being avoided due to its emotional intensity. Personal responsibility for encountering the uncertainty of life will let one achieve higher awareness, deeper feelings and more active engagement in the world. In keeping with Karl Jasper’s ideas, the author claims that the unlimited windows of opportunities open up if man puts enough effort to unlock his potential through an alchemic transformation of one’s own taboos, restrictions and conditioning.
Siberian Intersectionality: Discursive and Non-Discursive Practices of Patriarchal Oppression in the XVII century
Ivan Sokolovsky
The social situation of the Russian and aboriginal women in Siberia in the XVII and beginning of the XVIII centuries is covered in the domestic historical literature rather poorly. One can hardly name any more or less bright works devoted to this issue but the article by N.N. Ogloblin. This article was published in 1890. Since that time the approaches to the issue have been changed. In modern historiography, the problem of social understanding of gender differences is viewed through the prism of gender theory. The feminist approach shows that the privileged position of men in society, which is called “patriarchy”, is provided not only by institutions, direct violence, etc., but also deeply embedded in the language speech practices that determine the place of women in the social structure. The author considers specific historical material showing the position of women reflected in nicknames, hidden ratings, stinging proverbs and sayings, rumors and interpretations. Analyzing the practice of real relations, it often turned out that women were completely powerless, even deprived of the right to dispose their own destinies and their own bodies. The situation was even worse with the aboriginal women, who experienced double and triple oppression. The position of the Russian women of the privileged classes could have been somewhat better, she might have had not only more resources, but also rights.
Women were often used as tools for male activities, they were dealing with difficult negotiations or carring out men’s will to control other women and their actions.
A single article can’t embrace the complex and multidimensional world of gender relations in Siberia in the XVII century. It requires further studies.
Science and education in modern culture
“Offline Theorizing” in Understanding the Phenomenon of Education in its Theoretical Images
Viktoria Vikhman, Mark Romm
This article is aimed at finding the optimal strategy of abstract-speculative understanding of the phenomenon of education in the reflections of its real and potential theorizations in conditions of continuously transforming, stochastic social reality. Based on the above-mentioned framework conditions, the procedure of studying the phenomenon of education (we called it “offline theorization”) in the research “offline mode” is proposed by referring to the idea of fixing abstract “stop frames” of theoretical images of the education phenomenon. Educational reality in the social context is wisely drawn in the form of a “film” of the available theoretical context of the phenomenon of formation lasting and continuous, consisting of ideal “stop-frames” of theoretical images of the phenomenon of education. And as an abstract “stop-frame” of theoretical images of the phenomenon of education is a huge array of diverse, multi-disciplinary, methodologically loaded theorizations (theoretical images of the investigated phenomenon) recorded by the researcher in the available theoretical context.
In the process of understanding the phenomenon of education in a wide catalogue of its possible theorizations, it is proposed to take into account the analytical assumption of the existence of three interrelated, continuously developing and modifying flows: 1) social reality per se, 2) its social phenomena (in particular the phenomenon of education) and 3) theoretical images of the latter. Besides, this last flow not only exists as such, but it is also inextricably connected to the first and second flows on the basis of principles of direct and reverse connection. Analytically it is allowed to exist for the third - ideal - flow of theorizations, unequal in degree of analytical and methodological elaboration and adequacy of reality and facts, but in quite distinct authors’ conclusions reflecting a wide list of real and potential social mutations, deformations and foresight of development of the required future education as a social phenomenon. The authors’ concept of “theoretical-reflexive lag” is analyzed, reflecting the time distance between the procedure of analytical reflection of the phenomenon of education in its theoretical images and the objective state of the social reality itself at the moment of fixation of the “stop-frame” of theoretical images of the phenomenon of education.
Adaptivity as an Institutional Characteristic of Agents in Higher Education
Maksim Golovchin
It is well known that higher education undergoes multiple transformations, which affect the organizational culture of every participant. The article discusses the adaptation of educational agents to the institutional changes taking place in higher education. The author puts forward a hypothesis of the connection of inconsistent and forced educational reforms with the general non-adaptability of agents to them.
The author considers the possibilities of using adaptive environments and conditions – the concept of bounded rationality (H. Simon, O. Williamson, F.A. Hayek, I.U. Zulkarnaev, etc.) and the concept of adaptive rationality (A.D. Chernyavsky, V.L. Tambovtsev, V.V. Volchik, O.S. Sukharev, etc.) on the basis of generalized data of the types of educational agents that contribute to a change in institutional conditions: nonconformists (moderate and extreme), opportunists and conformists (moderate and extreme). The author highlights the main (attitude to innovation) and additional (role in innovation and reaction to innovations) features that are characteristic of this or that type of agent in higher education. The proposed mathematical apparatus for aggregating these traits into an integral indicator is the index of intentionalization.
The author’s typology was tested on the basis of an expert survey among university professors of the Vologda Region conducted in 2019 (53 experts were interviewed). Based on the analysis of expert assessments, it was revealed that representatives of the teaching staff suffer from losses due to their non-involvement in a number of transplant-institutions. This is increasingly manifested in professional activities. As a result of the calculations, it was revealed that the most common are characteristics of moderate non-conformism and opportunism of agents, which, most likely, indicates inadaptability of teachers in the existing conditions.
The author gives recommendations how to introduce a flexible system of adaptation of teaching staff to create comfortable working conditions in the face of general turbulence in the state policy.
Philosophy of science
The Relationship between Philosophy of Mathematics and Physics of Q. Meillassoux
Elena Kosilova
The article is about Meillassoux’s ideas regarding mathematics. According to Kant, our cognitive abilities are fundamentally limited. We cannot know what is beyond our cognitive abilities. There is no guarantee that the knowledge of a thing in itself does not require the abilities, that a man simply does not have. In addition, according to Kant, mathematics requires intuition. Meillassoux argues that mathematics offers the opportunity to explore the properties of things in themselves. He argues that the laws of logic and physics are contingent, while the laws of mathematics are reliable. The article states that the laws of mathematics cannot be reliable while of the laws of logic are contingent. In addition, the laws of physics are essentially connected with those of mathematics, and we should carefully clear up the question of the extent to which they can be contingent with the same laws of mathematics. Hilbert does not accidentally introduce the idea of a predetermined harmony between mathematics and physics, and Wigner points to this also. We cannot assume that mathematics provides an outlet to things in themselves, and physics is a strictly empirical science that studies only contingency. It is necessary to distinguish in physics the invariant and variable parts for a given mathematics. In addition, it is pointed out that modern mathematics does not always set itself the goal of describing the world, and even more so the thing in itself: a significant part of it is engaged in the construction of models that can describe the phenomenon under study only approximately. The issue of the ontology of Meillassoux’s mathematics is investigated and its proximity to modern Pythagoreanism is indicated. The conclusion states that modern formal mathematics overcomes Kant's limitations, but does not overcome transcendental limitations at all.
Ontology and theory of knowledge
Positioning of the Problem of Knowledge in Scholasticism
Rodion Savinov
The article is devoted to the question of significance of the problem of knowledge in scholasticism and the inner structure of the questioning about knowledge. The time of studying of epistemological theories formed by scholastics – both Medieval and Post-Medieval – has come quite recently, it seems that due to the “ontological” interpretation of the principles of scholasticism and the belief that “being” completely and directly determines “consciousness” in this intellectual culture. At the same time, the author shows in the first part of the article that the problem of cognition occupied a prominent place in the structure of scholastic texts, and, on the one hand, it was a foundation of the main arguments in theology and philosophy, on the other hand, epistemic problems constitute a special complex of logical and psychological treatises in the Corpus Aristotelicum. The significance of this problem was of the utmost importance, not only thinkers who were “rationalists” (e.g., Duns Scotus or Ockham), but “mystics” as well (e.g., a proponent of the theory of divine illumination of intelligence, Henry of Ghent) devoted much effort to the interpretation of cognitive mechanisms, terminus and the possibilities of knowledge, connection of its different types. This tradition existed for several centuries, and it was characterized by significant conceptual unity, the method of understanding epistemology was explicitly described in the scholastic tradition and it was generalized with the help of certain markers that indicated questions and solutions that were proposed by the scholastics – the second part of the article is devoted to that task, based on the latest investigations of both Russian and foreign researchers. It is shown that the complex of questions can be divided into three main groups: (1) the problem of “intentionality” (in the medieval sense - the first and second intentions), (2) the problem of cognitivity (how to determine the meaning of the existing cognitive potencies: “intellectus agen” and “intellectus patient”), and (3) the problem of mental objects (the formal status of multilevel intentional formations representing things). These topics remained basic with all the differences in scholastic concepts of knowledge, forming the basis for the discussion of these issues in both Medieval and Post-Medieval Scholasticism.
Philosophy of the History
Slavophiles in Retrospect of the Eurasian Discourse
Igor Likhomanov
The article deals with the problem of interrelation of Eurasian and Slavophil teachings on the basis of discursive analysis. In modern Russian scientific literature it is widely believed that the Eurasians developed the philosophical views of the early and late Slavophils. The author of the article believes that this opinion is wrong. Critics of Eurasianism of the 20-30s of the last century, among whom there were many representatives of Russian religious philosophy, decisively denied the Eurasians the right to call themselves successors of the religious and philosophical tradition of the early Slavophils. Foreign researchers also don’t have a unanimous opinion on this issue. This is largely due to the lack of clear criteria by which a particular set of ideas can be included in the Eurasian tradition or excluded from it. The specificity of the Eurasian doctrine is revealed only in the field of the Eurasian discourse itself. And only within this field is the problem of the presence or absence of ideological continuity between the Slavophils and the Eurasians solved. Eurasian discourse is an integral part of the philosophical discourse about Russia, which is structurally formed around the problem of the world-historical meaning of its existence in the coordinates “East – West”. Eurasian discourse is a complex of different in form and scattered in time statements relating to the problem of ethno-cultural and socio-cultural synthesis of the Eastern Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Turkic-Mongolian cultural worlds in the space of Northern Eurasia. The application of discursive analysis to this problem clearly proves that the Slavophils were not the precursors of Eurasianism. Representatives of modern neo-Eurasianism see the traditional relationship between Slavophiles and Eurasians in the concept of L. Karsavin's “symphonic personality”. However, careful analysis proves that the similarity between the Slavophil concept of “conciliarity” and the concept of “symphonic personality” is purely external. For the Slavophils, “conciliarity” was revealed as the mystical property of the Church to achieve unity without formal legal procedures on the basis of free Christian consent and brotherly love. Eurasians also used this concept to justify the political dictatorship of a small group of oligarchs, expressing the opinion of a ruling stratum, united by a common ideology. Thus, the concept of “symphonic personality” was the complete opposite of the Slavophil concept of “conciliarity”.
Historiography of the Problem of Reception of Western European Education Ideas in the 18th Century Russia
Ivan Kokovin
The article considers the problems of historiography of the reception by the Russian cultural space of elements of political ideas that are characteristic of Western European education in the 18th century. The author analyzes the sources, main stages and ways of forming historiography of reception of the ideas of Western European enlightenment. It is noted that its formation is inextricably linked with the process of formation of the Russian state culture and national ideology.
In this context, the views of prerevolutionary, soviet and post soviet historians are examined: V.O. Klyuchevsky, P.N. Milyukov, S.F. Platonov and others. The author studied the peculiarities of the process of perception by the Russian intellectual space of Enlightenment ideas. It is emphasized that with the collapse of the Marxist research paradigm, a qualitative leap in the development of the historiography of the Russian Enlightenment took place, which, however, did not end with the emergence of an integral concept of the process of reception of elements of the West European Enlightenment in Russia. The author shows the differences in explanatory constructions in prerevolutionary, soviet, post – soviet historiography. There is a marked increase in the current need to create a complete reconstruction of the reception in all areas of humanitarian knowledge.
The author believes that the prevailing approaches among humanities make it impossible to move to a new level of historical description of the problem.
The article considers: discreteness of the problems of reception of the ideologies of Western European education, the absence in their studies of elements of the analysis of cultural prerequisites for the formation of Russian Enlightenment, ignoring the fact that the emergence of a modern ideology on Russian soil should have been preceded by the process of forming terminological tools. It is concluded that the prerevolutionary, soviet, post – soviet historiographic tradition does not contain elements of transformation of elemental space which prepared the perception of the ideas of European enlighteners by Russian culture. In the array of Russian historiography, there were only certain elements that could become the basis of a new historical approach. It is concluded that for the development of historiography of the problem, it is necessary to create an interdisciplinary, comprehensive research paradigm that affects the linguistic, cultural, historical and politico-ideological aspects of the problem.