Ideas and Ideals

The article presents the experience of methodological and cultural-historical reconstruction of one of the main works of I. Kant “Critique of Pure Reason”. The author outlines the problems associated with difficulties in understandingthis work: what is the general idea of “Critique of Pure Reason”, how to under­stand reason, different sources of knowledge, things in themselves, and fi nally, a combination of rational and sacred arguments. The author shows that Kant relies on the pictures of reality of Aristotle and Nicholas of Cusa, rethinking them, and also analyzes the works of Galileo, which made it possible to make a conviction in the priority of a priori ideas. A hypothesis is formulated about how Kant understood the mind: culturally, following the Enlightenment. The main strategies of thought are outlined, with the help of which Kant creates “Critique of Pure Reason”, while his ideas are compared with the views of Aristotle and Nicholas of Cusa. These include: rethinking transcendental ideas (not similarities and mathematics like those of Nicholas of Cusa), but thinking through the con­ditions of conceivability, reflection of the foundations of knowledge (this is the critique of reason); the introduction of schematisms of thinking, as explaining the connection between a priori ideas and intuitions; a special interpretation ofmind and reason, allowing them to include rules, categories and ideas; projection of the rethought ways of thinking of philosophers onto the mind (for example, Kant transfers to the mind the ability to build a system of scientifi c knowledge,which he borrowed from E.B. de Condillac); elucidation of the conditions ofconceivability, they allowed Kant to find the mind as a whole and to find out the condition of contemplation and action of the mind (according to Kant, these are “self-consciousness” or the idea of the “synthetic unity of apperception”).

The article explores the question of how the ideas about the source of cre­ativity were been changing among European thinkers. In the classical period in Ancient Greece the idea prevailed, coming from Homer, Hesiod and Pindar, that poets derive the content and form of poetic works from Muses, who give them the opportunity to create at their will. At the same time, a common place was the idea that poets do not always bring the truth to the world. Plato, analyzing the work of poets, speaks of two sources – pleasure and inspiration, but only the gods choose when the poet speaks on their behalf. He also clarified the con­tent of poetry by relating it to the different Muses. Aristotle moves away from an external source, placing the source of creativity in the creator of the work, who obtains special abilities, and Aristotle calls imitation (mimesis) the main mode ofcreativity. Yet at the same time he takes imitation as not limited by visible real­ity, since the poet speaks of what could have happened, not of what actually has happened. Christian thinkers, from apologists to scholastics and mystics, agree that God is the source of creativity. But their views differ considerably in the de­tails. Thus, for instance, in Thomas Aquinas works we find a peculiar synthesisof the Aristotelian concept of mimesis and Plato’s breakthrough to the divine. The Renaissance desacralization of the world ultimately leads to an exclusively rational conception of association, which allows us to explain the emergence ofthe new only as the creation of wrong associations. Kant, turning to the theme of genius, finds himself in a difficult situation between two positions: on the one hand, he cannot accept the traditional idea of divine inspiration, on the other hand, the purely empirical idea of association built on tabula rasa material. He had to fi nd some third way. He finds it in the a priori given principle of the ability to think the particular as subordinate to the general, which manifests itself in two aspects – as determining and as reflective. The poet has an idea of some goal and some indeterminate idea of the material and, guided by his genius and not lim­ited by any rules, freely expresses aesthetic ideas.

The article presents a brief essay on the analysis of three key concepts in the philosophy of Georges Bataille – heterology as the logic of exclusion, (a-)theology as an atheistic understanding of the death of God and the concept of ‘negative’ or ‘sacrificial’ Sovereignty. It seems that the key to understanding the various and heterogeneous philosophical, literary-poetic, cultural-anthropo­logical and socio-economic concepts of the French thinker is the prism of the heterological logic of exclusion, which opposes the internalization of the domi­nant ontological discourse. The heterology or ‘logic of exclusion’ used by Georg­es Bataille, is not so much a negative version of the traditional logic of ‘inclu­sion’, but is a logic of alternative extremes. It is precisely by striving to overcome the dominant metaphysical universalism of the general order of being (embod­ied, according to Bataille, in the concept of ‘being’ / ‘die Existenz’ in the philos­ophy of Martin Heidegger). In an effort to overcome the dominant metaphysical universalism of the general order of being, Bataille turns to various kinds of ‘de­nials’ and extremes – the left sacred or the sanctity of ‘foulness’, the metaphori­cal of the disgusting, erotic and violent forms of transgression, the cultivation ofthe experience of inner abandonment and ultimate despair, and, also, to his own concept of ‘sacrifice’, serving as a guide to the world of sovereign domination.

Thus, developing his concept of metaphysical ‘sovereignty’, Bataille turns not only to the existential, but also to the political sphere, largely contrasting his ‘metaphysics of sacrifice’ with the concept of ‘metaphysical domination’ ofthe German political and legal theorist Carl Schmitt. The nihilistic energy drawn from Friedrich Nietzsche and the ‘metaphysical negation’ taken from Hegel’s dia­lectic through the interpretation of Alexander Kozhev is used by Bataille for the purposes of his own ‘heterological’ logic of exclusion, desubjectivization and dissolution. However, negation for Bataille is not a target for itself, but a meth­odological tool on the way to the ‘Other’ excluded from any ontosemantic order.

With the prevailing ideas of humanism in the public consciousness, many boundaries were created that divide people into categories. At the same time, on one side of the border there are those who are more deserving of the title ‘hu­man’ in comparison with those who are on the other side. Over the course ofhistory, these borders have been actively rebuilt, and the pace of their changes has become increasingly rapid in recent years.

The article examines changes at five such boundaries: between men and women, according to belonging to different religious denominations, to differ­ent nationalities and races, between healthy people and disabled people (includ­ing between the mentally healthy and the crazy), as well as changes in attitudes over time to the homeless and tramps. The author considers the consequenc­es of changes that have already occurred or are planned at each of these five boundaries.

The author believes that a mandatory factor in global economic development has always been the “friendly-alien” division. With the help of such division in economic activity, trust is generated, which is the most important institution nec­essary for the existence and development of the economy and social organiza­tion. Trust facilitates the interaction of economic agents and facilitates the func­tioning of monetary mechanisms.

Large-scale attempts to erase boundaries between people are being made through coups and revolutions, but they lead to the replacement of previous­ly existing boundaries between people with new ones. An attempt to eliminate classes leads to the creation of a new system of boundaries - property inequality. An attempt to eliminate property inequality and the exploitation of man by man leads to the creation of a new system of boundaries – by the place in the vertical of power, by membership in the ruling party, and others.

For this reason, with any reforms and radical transformations, it is advisable to anticipate the formation of new borders, and also to evaluate if they are muchbetter than the previous ones in terms of social justice and economic efficiency.

In the current article the author considers the problem of the subject’s per­sonal identity. The analysis of this concept seems to be very relevant, since in today’s public space the concept of identity is used, firstly, as non-problematic, and, secondly, as completely politicized. The analysis of the concept of identity is important because philosophy can look at the subject’s identity without preju­dice and thereby depoliticize its concept. And ontology as a branch of philoso­phy is able to carry out a truly fundamental and comprehensive research of the concept of the subject’s identity. Personal identity turns out to be an ontological concept because the subject exists as identical to itself, and consistent reflection on the modes of existence of the subject inevitably leads us to discover the con­cept of its identity.

The subject of the article is the subject’s personal identity. On the basis ofphilosophical methodology and on the method of historical analysis, the author of the study considers personal identity as something non-self-evident, placing it in the conceptual framework of subjectivity proposed by Levinas. The personal identity of the subject is endowed with the status of a mediator, smoothing out the collision of the same and the other. In this research, human identity appears as both a space and the result of a collision of familiar experience and new im­pressions – in the terminology of Levinas – identical and different. The tempo­ral structure of the subject’s identity is revealed. The concept of an ontological criterion of personal identity is put forward and four historical concepts that of­fer such a criterion are considered: Locke, Hume, Kant and Parfit. Thus, four ontological criteria are found – consciousness, memory, transcendental criterion and psychological continuity. Each criterion is analyzed, integrated into the on­tology of the subject’s personal identity and the role of each criterion is traced in the organization of its temporal structure. The results of the research are the reconstruction of the discovered concepts in the status of ontological criteria ofpersonal identity, their comparative analysis is carried out. It is concluded that Parfit’s psychological continuity is the most consistent of all the analyzed criteria because it simultaneously affirms the possibility of the subject’s personal iden­tity and outlines the boundaries of the application of this concept. Though psy­chological continuity doesn’t fit in Levinas’ conceptual frame because it doesn’tsolve existential and ontological problems, that exist around concept of personal identity.

The article analyses both the book of American philosopher ChristophCox “Sonic Flux: Sound, Art and Metaphysics” and a wide range of criti­cal publications dedicated to this book. The project “Sonic Flux” belongs tosonic materialism (a branch of “New Materialism’) also known as “Deleuziansound studies”. For Cox this means a development of “immanent metaphys­ics” launched by G. Deleuze. But while continuing the project of Deleuze,Cox inherits his predicaments. Their range is as broad as the specter of Cox’ssources covering philosophy, arts, theory of perception. Debates around theproject “Sonic Flux” highlighted such problems as the way Cox understandsmaterialism and how he understands access to reality. Cox’s correlation of fi­nite and infinite; particularity and universality, and anti-historicism are highlyproblematic for critics. Since Cox claims to develop a theory of sound art weassess his ideas from this perspective. This allows us to focus on modernism,anonymity and anti-humanism, central to Cox’s project but not to its criti­cism. A less important aspect – resentiment in Cox’s style – turned out to behelpful in drawing conclusions that the whole project “Sonic Flux” is builtupon a range of assumptions. Cox himself names some of them while weindicated some others.

The main conclusion of the article is the idea that the project “Sonic Flux” cannot provide an adequate theory of sound art nor contribute to sound stud­ies because it is too embedded in the worst kind of modernism and structural­ism. Such important notions of sonic materialism as autonomy and anonymity of sounds perfectly fit the tradition of Modernism while being completely alien to the sound studies.

         The article analyzes the European utopias of the XVII century on the ba­sis of the actor-network approach. The assemblage point of a utopian society is directly the idea of a social order, which is formed on the basis of scientific knowledge embodying instrumental reason. The study of man, societies, and natural phenomena allows the authors of utopias to offer a more rationally or­ganized, ordered, from their point of view, social world that provides satisfac­tion of the needs of both the individual and society. The social order based on scientific knowledge is conceived by the authors of utopias as a marker of civili­zation, thanks to which the utopian society as another (‘alien’) social order is en­dowed with positive characteristics. The authors believe that the construction ofthe utopian ‘social’ takes place within a closed network in space and time, which prevents the threat of the collapse of order, isolating cultural influence from the outside, as well as guaranteeing the immutability/stability of a given algorithm of social relations in a chronological perspective. The authors identify the func­tioning in utopias of the regime of everyday life reproduction, excluding mo­bilization, orienting the inhabitants of utopia on the values of everyday work, moderation and harmony. The article shows that the construction of a society based on scientific knowledge determines the features of social stratifi cation in the form of a meritocracy of knowledge legitimized by natural religion. The au­thors believe that the ‘assembly of the social’ based on egalitarian principles ex­tends mainly to economic processes, while the public sphere is designated in the form of an aristocracy of intellectual labor. The expert community carries out total regulation of the activities of archaic/primitive by nature social institutions. The authors think of the collected models of utopian society as universal, po­tentially suitable for all communities experiencing problems with building a so­cial order.

Since late antiquity and till Early Modern time tyranny had been an issue of agreat importance for any set of ideological concepts as well as for any system ofpolitical philosophy. During this millennium-long period theories of tyrannical rulehad stimulated the development of political philosophies and caused paradigmaticshifts of political and legal reasoning in general. In its initial point (i.e. since IV AD)a conventional understanding of tyranny had framed itself within a Platonist(Patristic) description of a tyrant as a degenerated person who subjected his ownreason and will to perverted passions. So to prevent tyranny a ruler ought to re-subject his passions and carnal impulses to the reason embodied in divine and hu­man laws. The earlier versions of this theory (e. g. presented by Alcuin or Agobardof Lyons) had focused on the need for spiritual perfection of rulers while the laterones (e. g. those of John of Salisbury and Aquinas) noted the legal aspects of anissue first of all. The development of this so to say normative paradigm of theo­rizing had reached its peak in writings of John of Salisbury and Thomas Aquinason the right of subjects to resist tyranny. A set of inner antinomies had preventeda successful accommodation of those theories to legal & political practice whilethe need for such an accommodation increased. A shift to a new paradigm of po­litical thought had begun in the theories of state of Bartolo da Sassoferrato andAzzo and continued in the political philosophy of Italian civic humanists and Ma­chiavelli. According to them a tyranny emerges from a conflict between the needs of political systems & rulers and the lack of available resources (both natural andsocietal) rather than from a moral perversion of the ruling persons. An adequateanalysis of a tyrannical – and vice versa of a good – government thus required em­pirical circumstances (not just eternal laws) to be taken into account.

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the phenomenon of the ‘New Sin­cerity’ as a kind of new ethics and its problematisation in relation to the consum­er society. Is the so-called ‘New Sincerity’ really a qualitative change in the human sensibility of 21st century society in a globalised world, or, on the contrary, is it becoming another trademark where signs of naturalness are successfully com­mercialised?

A genealogical analysis of the concept of New Sincerity was carried out inorder to realise the objective. Semiological analysis and hermeneutics of cor­poreal signs were then used to demonstrate the artificiality of the notion of‘naturalness’ itself. A critique of representational theory, on which the NewSincerity relies as an accurate external reflection of internal processes, was also undertaken.

The study revealed that the representatives of the New Sincerity are embed­ded in the capitalist logic of communication. Using various examples, particu­larly from the blogosphere, the signs of naturalness and sincerity that are suc­cessfully commercialised in contemporary show business and the blogospherewere identified. In particular, the difference between the showbiz epatage ofthe ‘old’ and the ‘new’ ethics of Lady Gaga and Ashley Halsey was revealed. Inthe first case, the outrage is a well-considered part of the stage persona, in thesecond case, it is a consequence caused by the affective behaviour of the staras a manifestation of the New Sincerity. Using the example of a video fromthe everyday life of the Korean K-Pop group BTS, it was found that successfulediting creates a feeling of the idols’ life ‘as if in the palm’ for the fans, at thesame time it removes such important aspects of everyday life as, for example,the sexual life.

The theoretical significance of this study lies in the attempt to reflect on the new cultural trends that are unfolding in contemporary society. The practical sig­nificance of the study lies in the possibility of applying the findings to self-reflec­tion and the formation of a clear view of the world in which we live.

The purpose of the article is to establish the peculiarities of the habitus ofthe ruling elite in modern Russia. The methodological basis is the position ac­cording to which certain points of view, type of thinking, habitus correspond to the social position. As a method of collecting information, one of the varieties of document analysis is thematic analysis. According to the results of the study, the following characteristic of the habitus of the ruling elite of modern Russia was given. The ideological attitudes of the Russian elite are oriented towards the patterns of Western culture, but the stability and depth of the referential orien­tation towards the West of the Russian elite groups depends on the political and economic situation. The ruling elite of Russia is conservative, it is generally sat­isfied with its position in Russia. The same reason leads to its negative attitude to any significant social transformations. The conservatism of the Russian elite leads to the rejection of analytical thinking, with the help of which reality is de­composed in order to construct from its parts the future that is fundamentally different from the present. The ruling elite strives to see the world as integral and organic. The elite strata, at least, are suspicious and distrustful of the intel­lectual abilities and moral qualities of the Russian population. Attributing certain stable socio-psychological qualities to the population (irresponsibility, low ability to self-organize and adapt to changing socio-economic conditions, infantilism, inadequate assessment of reality) indicates a deep gap between the elite and oth­er social groups, which, given such an obvious stigmatization, becomes not only political or economic, but also psychological. And this, in turn, is an additional conflictogenic factor. Failure to take into account the peculiarities of the situa­tion of opposing social groups, which is a consequence of socially determined stigmatization, will be perceived as an arrogant and dismissive attitude, which often becomes the detonator of social clashes. Such a negative and exaggerated assessment of the socio-psychological qualities of the population is reflected in the quality of public administration. In the latter, there is a tendency to primitiv­ization and one-sidedness of influence, a constant search for simple solutions. The failures caused by this are justified by the immaturity of the people, their low moral qualities, which only intensifies the social gap and differentiation.

The article deals with investigation into the conditions of the success ofnational movements. The analysis is based on comparing contrastive cases – the relatively successful Lithuanian and the relatively unsuccessful Belarusian na­tional movements, as well as the policy of “Russification” of ethnic Lithuanians. The rise of national movements in the western part of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19^th century took place in the context of the restrictivemeasures by the imperial government against the Polish language and the Catho­lic Church and the decline in prestige of the previously dominant social group – the Polonized gentry after the defeat of the uprising of 1863–64. The success of the Lithuanian national project is due to the Catholic clergy of the territories inhabited by the ethnic Lithuanians – as an infl uential social group that enjoyed authority among the local population as well as among the local nobility. Con­sidering government measures against the “harmful Polish influence” as well as the project of a “Reverse Union” (a certain united Orthodox-Catholic confes­sion under the authority of orthodox clergy) in the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire, ethnic Lithuanians as a flock were for the local Catholic church a community that provides not only infl uence and prosperity, but also existence itself. In order to distance itself from the “Polishness”, the Catholic clergy pro­moted the idea of a catholic Lithuanian nation. The anti-Polish orientation of Lithuanian nationalism, the relatively low number of ethnic Lithuanians, signif­icant linguistic and religious differences between Orthodox Slavs and Catholic Lithuanians also reduced the imperial administration’s interest in ethnic Lithua­nians as an object of Russification. In the case of the Belarusian national move­ment, there was no such an influential social group in the second half of the 19th century, for which Belarusians as a nation would be a community provid­ing basic social needs. The Greek Catholic Church, which could have become a national Belarusian church, joined the Russian Orthodox Church in 1839 and it was abolished later. The similarity of the Belarusian language, on the one hand, with Russian, and on the other hand, with the Polish languages led to its percep­tion as a kind of “deviation from the norm”, significantly reducing its prestige as a literary language.

The successful term “stereotype” was substantiated by the journalist W. Lippman and became firmly established in scientific use. Researchers have studied the processes of stereotypes functioning. This is an important part ofthe collective consciousness, protecting a person from unfamiliar information.Stereotypes help save time and life resources for processing new information.But the negative side of stereotypes lies in the creation of mental templates forthe perception of reality. It is easier for a group to simplify information thanto waste time understanding the essence of another’s otherness. Informationthat contradicts stereotypical patterns is ignored, simplified, and distorted in terms of content. “We-group” begins to aggressively defend the meanings ofits stereotypes from an alternative opinion. The opponent can be subjected toharassment and physical destruction.

The structure of stereotypes and scenarios of stereotyping are considered byus from the standpoint of structuralism. “We-group” is socially differentiated.

For extras and dominant members of the group, the rules of the social game are written. The meaning of the stereotype can turn into a tool for managing citi­zens, into a weapon against members of the “they-group”. The spontaneous part of the process of stereotyping lies in the routine existence of stereotypes, with the help of which people explain the complex phenomena of life. It is a routine practice of inventing and reinforcing language clichés. The manageable part ofstereotyping is the use of these clichés for political gain. “We-group” is always in a state of stereotypical attitude. The group can choose a stereotyping scenario – a scenario of tolerant neighborhood or a scenario of negative solidarity. The first determines the path of development of a tolerant attitude towards non-Chris­tians, the search for new knowledge about the culture of “outsiders”, the devel­opment of practices of new socio-cultural experience. The second is the way ofintensifying intercultural and interfaith tension, leading to armed confl icts.

The reason for interfaith conflicts is the use of creeds for personal gain. At the everyday level, conflicts arise due to cultural incompetence, the simpli­fication of knowledge about the culture of “strangers”. In Siberia, despite the existence of stereotypes, interfaith relations are peaceful. This is emphasized bythe heroes of in-depth interviews representing different confessions. Their per­ception of non-Christian neighbors is based on an understanding of personal merit, and not on a stereotyped understanding. Spiritual leaders confirm the idea of intercultural rapprochement of Siberians as members of a multi-confession­al community. Tolerance is a social practice of neighborhood that develops the spiritual sphere of community life.