Ideas and Ideals

The article deals with the social and socio-political processes taking place in Central Asia. The new understanding of social solidarity in the traditional Eastern society and the emerging transition to the model of national statehood of Uzbekistan based on the principles of interaction with civil society are discussed. The problem is that social solidarity in the modern era of democratic freedoms is built in the context of finding a balance between the need to strengthen the national state and the natural process of development of civil society, but for the Eastern States this “balance” has always had its own specifics. The aim of the study is to analyze the opportunities and barriers of social and socio-political processes based on the appeal to solidarity as a social mechanism that allows effective integration of society. At the same time, there is a political and ideological component of social solidarity, which is often used as a slogan. The authors analyze the factors and conditions of social solidarity development. Social solidarity itself is interpreted as a factor in the development of national statehood. At the same time, Uzbekistan is increasingly becoming the initiator of unification and solidarity of states and societies throughout Central Asia and the East. On the basis of the conducted interview data, the authors present the assessment of social changes by the expert community, and show how the intelligentsia accepts the concept of solidarity. Social solidarity, from the point of view of the intelligentsia, will allow: to reduce social tension in the multicultural/multi-ethnic Uzbek society, with the territorial designation of the borders remaining from the Soviet era, as well as the remaining clan system; it will lead to the growth of civil society institutions: non-profit, non-governmental organizations, and, accordingly, it will reduce the role of power structures. Finally, it will benefit the socio-psychological atmosphere in the society, support positive social attitudes. The authors have come to the conclusion, that there is a new scientific problem related to the search for criteria of social solidarity (or the state of the process), and the need to conduct a survey of public opinion, to understand what different social groups think on this issue.

The article considers the problem of modern terrorism, which has been attracting the attention of researchers for several decades. Despite the worldwide actualization of this issue, the number of terrorist attacks is becoming more and more every day. The failure of counter-terrorism activities rests, first of all, in misunderstanding of the essence of this social phenomenon.The usual estimation of different sorts of actions in terms of “good” or “bad” distracts researchers from understanding the deeper causes of the origin of this phenomenon. The author pays special attention to the fact that terrorism, in its basis, is a complex phenomenon, which includes the elements of other events close to it. The paper provides a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis of terrorism, which allows to identify its various aspects as well as to show the interrelation between them (violence, fear, etc.). The author also draws an analogy between terrorism and such phenomena as terror, war and extremism. This interdisciplinary analysis allowed to expand the understanding of this “violence of the XXI century” without demonizing its main actors. The paper draws special attention to the problem of mutual influence of the mass media system and terrorist organizations. Is it possible for terrorism to exist outside the media? This issue affects a huge layer of modern problems: from the journalism ethics to the legitimacy of restrictions in the use of the Internet. The answers to these questions will help us to look at terrorism not just as a negative phenomenon of modernity, but as a self-regulating social symbolic space existing in the context of globalization.

The nature of Western civilization has been interpreted in many ways in the majority of non-European societies, which faced it. This process was mostly pronounced in British India. The representatives of the new, colonialist-built elites had to reflect upon not only their own and European living principles, but also to discuss the topics concerning their submissive and fairly complicated position in that political system. The paper analyzes the personal views of a famous Bengali writer of the XIX century Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. He was not only a famous writer, but also an extremely successful person in the Bengali society of those times. After getting a perfect education, he achieved the highest point of his career. Then he started sharing his opinions in public, which, considering his social status and Bengali social structure of that time, was fairly venturous. Entering a public epistolary intercourse with one prominent European figure, he began to protect the Hindu religion from the outside attacks and he even questioned the well-known idea of Europe’s intellectual supremacy. With the help of his satiric writers, e.g. «Kamalakanta», he actually poured ridicule not only on the colonial position of his country, but also on the Western system of International Law. Remaining a bearer of Western world view and values, he did not challenge the key achievements of the European world, Bankim Chandra tried to reveal its various problems. Thereby the writer proposed his own way of overcoming one of the most essential colonial state questions – the dilemma between westernization and the drive for their own identity.

The main object of imagological research is perception of the ‘other’ by representations of various cultures. The question is ‘what’ and not ‘who’ represents a culture. The key concept in imagology is that of ‘archetype’, which is fixated through centuries in folklore (fairytales, mythology and epics). It is exactly the archetype which predetermines the images dominant in this or that folk. Imagologists presume that an image is not static and constantly changes. The change in the spiritual condition of a folk, stipulated by certain events, triggers the respective archetypes. A phenotype, just like an image, does not remain unchanged, either; it changes under the influence of natural forces, such as genetics and environment. An image, on the other hand, evolves under the influence of three main characteristics of sapiens: the capability of creative thinking, speech, and creative activity (the capability of creating essential objects). In the self-consciousness of every nation, there are certain elements of nature (landscape types, rivers, mountain peaks, steppes etc.) which represent an integral part of archetype. They occupy a particular place in songs, poems and legends (e.g. Rhine for the Germans, Volga for the Russians or the Carpathian basin for the Hungarians). The individual and collective perception of the ‘other’ is often selective, i.e. when only a certain part of the whole is scrutinized, which naturally results in the appearance of prejudices and stereotypes, even given a careful study of this isolated element. The ‘other’, is, according to imagology, not synonymous to ‘hostile’, it all depends upon the individual characteristics (content) of the ‘other’. Realization of the contours of one’s own and foreign cultures allows better communication with the ‘other’. In his article, the author illustrates the potentially useful nature of imagological applications, in order to clarify the inalienable discrepancy between interests and values in the field of inter-ethnic and inter-national relations.

The paper investigates organized Russian freethought as a specific sociocultural phenomenon. We make an attempt to construct a cohesive pattern of the development of the Russian Humanist Society (RHS) from its beginning (May, 1995) to the present moment. We consider the organization structure, social image, nature of practical activity, worldview of RHS members. To create an accurate account of activity of Russian humanists we have analyzed a large body of publications, including magazine articles, electronic publications, policy papers, treatises authored by leaders and theoreticians of the organization. Conveyed facts have been cross-checked for objectivity. RHS as nationwide union of secular humanists became the first Russian civil society that aimed to "uphold and develop the concepts of secular humanism, associated with thinking and spirit, humane way of living". We show that the specificity of theoretical and practical activities of RHS in many respects is connected with philosophical ideas of Paul Kurtz. Within the framework of our research we describe the RHS interpretations of the terms "atheism", "religion", "humanism", "religious and secular humanism". We prove that currently there is a deep crisis in the RHS, despite its remarkable methodological and discussion activity in the mid - 90's – the beginning of 2000's, and intense commitment to publishing, research and education. We conclude that Russian humanist movement in its current state cannot compete with Orthodox Christianity or other persistent ideologies either in the public sphere or in the private one. Nonetheless, the history of the RHS represents an important part of the complex processes of secularization underway in Russia.

The article considers alternative globalization as a form of international social and humanitarian movement that proposes to develop the theoretical and methodological "optics" of the perception of the dynamics of the Modern-World system (XVI-XXI centuries) in order to develop programs and practices that reduce the risks of negative scenarios of the crisis of the modern world economy, world order and geoculture. The author pays special attention to the process of dismantling postmodernist ideologies of the XIX-XX centuries as the most important practice of "resetting" the forms of social consciousness. In particular, the author believes that the “paradigm of alter-globalization” should work out: a) a new methodological and disciplinary canon of the social sciences and humanities; b) the modern forms of the energy channeling of antisystemic movements; c) alternative to the ideologies of Modernity - nationalism, racism, national socialism, colonialism, populism - ideological patterns of thinking. It is important to remember that history is an open and free process, and it continues beyond the socio-historical forms of modernity, which legacy also needs to be treated creatively, without breaking the social “fabric” created by it, but distinguishing intentions and forces that can revitalize its socio-historical dynamics. In the end, modernity, striving with all its might to break with the traditions of previous eras, has become a tradition itself, showing its historical certainty / limit of ideas, technologies, and practices.

The problem of normality in psychiatry has not been solved yet. Therefore, a philosophical understanding of the notion of the norm and abnormality becomes particularly important. These two concepts should be discussed together. To solve the problem the author uses the method of analysis of norm and abnormality in psychiatry and fiction. In psychiatry there are only disorders. Their classification was historically developed by means of social construction. The conceptions of normality are different in three kinds of psychiatry. In the state psychiatry it is the absence of social complaints to the person, in commercial psychiatry it is the patient’s mental comfort, in the scientific psychiatry the statistical criterion takes place. Science fiction is a kind of literature where the normality is specially questioned. The author shows that the statistical criterion does not work in defining the norm. We can distinguish the following criteria of normality: 1) normality as a possibility of communication. In the psychiatric situation the communication of the doctor and the patient is also possible. For this, the psychiatrist must carefully and delicately grasp the biased vector of patient’s senses. When the patient turns off, the doctor’s task is to carefully go round and avoid the defense, without breaking it. 2) Normality as a possibility of mutual interaction. For a patient, the interaction with the members of the family is important, as well as with the big society in the process of inclusion. 3) Normality as an adequacy. It is an adequate person who has a non-rigid personal basis, which allows him/her to open himself/herself to a new experience. The psychiatrist must constantly increase the patient’s adequacy with the same accurate ways, as in communication with him. The novelty of the approach is, first of all, to exclude the statistical criterion of the norm and to introduce the criterion of mutual understanding and interaction. The notion of adequacy is also introduced, based on the attitude to the world, openness to it and willingness to interact with it. Fantastic worlds are a model of abnormality, and the subjects of fantastic works are a mental laboratory for understanding and overcoming the mutual abnormality of different cultures and minds.

Two main themes are considered in the article: the author's understanding of sociality and the results of his research into the formation and the first stages (antiquity and the Middle Ages) of the development of European sociality. The understanding of sociality is defined by means of the characterization of the sociological approach, in which four basic features are distinguished. The first feature is axiological interpretation of sociality (righteous - unfair, conformity - inconsistency with the model or ideal) and the establishment of alteration or improvement of sociality. The second feature is the analysis of mass behavior and social order. The third is the study of sociality, beginning with ancient culture; the idea of the nature of sociality and the identification of its laws; a dilemma: what sociology does study or, more precisely, should study - modernity or postmodernity. The fourth feature - sociology considers sociality as a phenomenon of modernity, i.e. studies the mass behavior of people as such, outside the historical and cultural context. Outlining the results of studying the formation and development of the first stages of European sociality, the author first of all distinguishes between proto-sociality, by which he understands the previous state and the preconditions of sociality, where specific forms of social awareness have not yet emerged, and sociality proper. He points out two reasons for analyzing sociality: first, this analysis avoids illegal historical reconstructions (upgrades), when it is considered that sociality has always been, and secondly, it gives an opportunity to understand what is fundamentally new in the process of the emergence of sociality. Only in sociality there is a personality, without which the first type of sociality would not have taken place - polis sociality. Here the thinking is formed, for the first time it allowed to divorce social life and knowledge about it (putting social life as an object in the schemes and knowledge, the person as a person could begin to think out sociality and set the task of improving it). Further, the characteristics of the three main types of sociality are considered: the ancient sociality, which assumes the decision-making within the framework of the policy by free citizens; imperial sociality, subordinating polis sociality to the centralized management of the emperor and medieval sociality, which whimsically united both of these types of sociality. The bridge is shifted to the next stage of the study - the New European sociality and its postmodern crisis.

The article is devoted to the understanding of a settlement agreement as a responsible act of the conflict parties. Both parties, which concluded it, are responsible for the implementation of the terms of the settlement agreement. The agreement is based on reconciliation. The philosophy of the act is reinterpreted in various foreign and domestic works, scientific articles. The author considers the conclusion of a settlement agreement as a responsible act, using the conceptual apparatus of Bakhtin's philosophy, identifies the conditions, under which not only the probability of concluding a settlement agreement increases, but also its implementation is possible. Theoretical analysis will allow to consider the settlement agreement as a derivative of the responsible act. The act of concluding a settlement agreement forms a new reality, where there is no conflict, contradictions in the conflict of interests are settled within the framework of the points of the settlement agreement. The parties of the settlement agreement take responsibility for the implementation of the agreement, the level of legal awareness and responsibility of the parties shows the true intentions of the parties. A person, who has violated the terms of the settlement agreement, denies his own act to conclude peace, forgetting about responsibility, allowing himself to exist within the “non-alibi- in-being”. Under the conditions of legal nihilism, a person is not always able to realize the value of a moral image. Thus, despite the triviality of the thesis, the higher the legal culture in the society, the better the mediation mechanism in the conflict works, the more interested the members of the society in maintaining their own moral image are. The fulfillment of the terms of a voluntarily accepted settlement agreement is an example of a “non-alibi-in-being”.

The 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.