Ideas and Ideals

This article addresses one of the key textual problems in Empedocles’ legacy: the localization of fragment B 115 D-K, which contains the doctrine of guilt, exile, and the reincarnation of daimon. Challenging the attribution of this fragment to the poem “Purifications,” which has been established since Diels, the study offers a new interpretation of it in the context of “Physics.” Based on the analysis of the internal argumentation of Empedocles’ verses, it is proven that the philosopher’s self-presentation as a suffering and guilty daimon in B 115 is logically and substantively incompatible with his image as a revered immortal god in fragment B 112, which traditionally opens the “Purifi cations.” This comparison is a decisive argument against their belonging to the same poem. An analysis of the evidence from ancient authors (Hippolytus, Simplicius, Plutarch) shows that they do not provide clear grounds for attributing B 115, while the data from the Strasbourg papyrus confi rm the presence of the theme of personal guilt and suffering in the fi rst book of Physics. On this basis, it is proposed to consider fragment B 115 as part of an extensive prologue to Physics, where the personal experience of the philosopher-daimon serves as a starting point for the exposition of universal cosmological principles.

The article is devoted to a philosophical analysis of social communications transformation in the context of universal digitalization, which means active integration of information technologies into all spheres of society. The relevance of the research is due to the signifi cant changes that this process causes in social relations, identity structures, and the very nature of interpersonal interaction. The present study aims to identify changes in traditional social communications during the transition to their digital variations. Namely, how digital technologies have changed the ways of communication, including both advantages (speed, the ability to communicate remotely) and disadvantages (loss of non-verbal signals, superfi ciality, misunderstanding). A comparative analysis was chosen as the methodological basis of the study, which makes it possible to identify key differences between traditional and digital communication practices. The work uses a three-level strategy that includes theoretical-conceptual, structural-functional and critical-refl ective dimensions, which ensures the depth and complexity of the approach. As a result of the research, the characteristics of modern digital communication practices have been identifi ed, which include technological mediation, simulation, global connectivity, asynchrony, and algorithmic determination. Their features are the hybridization of language, the clipization of content, and multiplicity, which together generate a fundamentally ambivalent nature of social consequences. The key theoretical result is the thesis about the synergetic relationship of these characteristics forming a self-reinforcing system. It is this consistency that explains the stability and paradoxical nature of the new communicative reality, where empowerment is inseparable from new vulnerabilities. The obtained result allowed us to comprehend the evolutionary changes in social communications in the context of active digitalization of society. As a result, the study interprets this transformation as a transition from existential meeting communication to instrumental operation communication. Conclusions. The study not only demonstrates signifi cant changes in social communications under the infl uence of digital technologies, but also reveals the urgent need for further study of the social effects and consequences of this transformation, as well as the development of philosophical and anthropological foundations for preserving the authenticity of dialogue in the digital environment.

The paper describes and discusses the phenomenon of imputed consciousness which manifests itself during a dialogue between a person and a large language model. The essence of the phenomenon lies in the fact that the electronic interlocutor is subjectively perceived as a ‘quasi-human’, and people’s emotional reactions during the dialogue with it do not differ from reactions to the responses of a living interlocutor. A possible scenario of the mass penetration of AI agents into everyday life, subjectively perceived by people as beings endowed with consciousness and emotional life, is discussed. Using literary works as examples, the author demonstrates that the phenomenon of imputed consciousness is primarily an ethical issue and raises the question of philosophical reconnaissance of a possible future, without which humanity will find itself unprepared for it.

Under the slogans of “enhancement” and “obvious” economic benefits, artificial intelligence is being introduced into all spheres of life. Legitimate questions arise about the impact of this process on humans and its risks. What happens to human thinking when we delegate thought to the opaque logic of AI? How is this process exploited by digital capital? Drawing on empirical research from 2023–2026, the author introduces the concept of “alienation of thinking” and identifies its mechanisms: statistical normalization, language unification, sycophancy, and cognitive rent. These mechanisms, in turn, form an algorithmic monoculture, making non-standard thinking statistically improbable. The proposed three-level model of alienation – at the symbolic, reflexive, and social levels – describes the process through which a person loses independent thought. In the economic dimension of the process, it is shown that the crisis of subjectivity is not a side effect of technological adoption, but a regular, systemic result of platform capitalism, which requires a predictable, manageable user. As a way to preserve subjectivity, the concept of co-autonomy is proposed: maintaining linguistic diversity, restoring reflexive control, and designing a dialogical environment.