Ideas and Ideals

The article is devoted to the consideration of the problem of the relationship
between M. Heidegger’s ‘anti-metaphysical’ project and the so-called ‘indictment’,
which, with the assistance of a signifi cant part of representatives of
modern Western philosophy, seeks to present his philosophy as a metapolitical
project of affi rming the priority signifi cance of German’s ideas ‘soil’, ‘blood’,
‘destiny’, ‘spirit’ for world history. The author of the article presents the thesis
that the ‘anti-metaphysical’ project is a marker of the fact that accusations of the
national-socialist character of M. Heidegger’s philosophical thinking are groundless
and may relate only to his personal views, which had a more or less long-term
nature. The development of this thesis is based on the consideration of the criticism
of the fundamental ontology of M. Heidegger by the French phenomenologists
J. -L. Marion and M. Henry.
In the fi rst part of the article the author presents a historical-philosophical
view of M. Heidegger’s ontology of intentionality as an ecstatic sphere of the being
of the beings, or ‘Logos’, which acts as the main element in the structure of
the fundamental ontology and metaphysics of fi nitude “Being-Logos-Beings”.
The second part of the article proposes to examine M. Heidegger’s Dasein
in the context of his doctrine of the ‘human-guardian’ of beings in its being.
This doctrine serves as a basis for radically questioning the assertions regarding
the metaphysical content implicitly present in the philosophy of M. Heidegger.
This allows us to remove accusations from fundamental ontology, the metaphysics
of fi nitude and the philosophy of the event in the presence of “national-socialist”
contents in them and to point out the inaccuracies contained in the criticism
of M. Heidegger by J. -L. Marion and M. Henry..

The article attempts to theoretically comprehend Gnostic worldview as an intellectual phenomenon that accompanies the history of mankind from ancient times to the present. Gnosticism will be presented as a real participant in social
progress, paradoxically guiding its trajectory along the path of improving the social system through the denial of life-affi rming teachings and practices. Determining the essence of Gnosticism, you can probably repeat after the classic that
he has always been part of the force that “wanting evil, does good.” However, here, of course, one should take into account the shades of this mysterious phenomenon,
which, if desired, can be counted more than a dozen. Some of them are initially painted in more or less noble tones, while some look ominous and destructive. Therefore, it is necessary to state the immense scope of the circulation
of Gnostic ideas that require accurate and thorough identifi cation and verifi cation in order to develop an adequate attitude to the state of affairs in the spectrum
from politics and economics, culture and religion to science and philosophy, mass media and everyday activities of people. Note that the insuffi cient recognition of Gnosticism as an agent of serious transformations in various fi elds, as well as its weak conceptualization, primarily in secular science, create a tempting horizon for promising research. However, it is worth warning against a superfi cial attitude towards Gnosticism as a cultural spasm or religious scam with Eastern characteristics, which fl ared up brightly and
quickly disappeared two thousand years ago. This approach makes it diffi cult to see the essential characteristics of some important processes that are developing
before our eyes today.

A characteristic feature of the consumer society is the cult of the body, which has replaced the cult of the soul. (J. Baudrillard). The author, wondering about the reasons for such a transformation, sees the explanation in the Hesychast controversies of the 14th century, the core of which was the famous theological controversy between Gregory Palama and Varlaam the Calabrian, the starting point for such a fi nale. The essence of this controversy was the question of the possibility of God’s Knowledge and its ways. The position of Varlaam the Calabrian was reduced to the impossibility of Knowledge of God due to Its absolute transcendence, while Gregory Palama, without denying this, in fact, defended the real possibility of living, direct communication with God, unthinkable for the Calabrian monk. To substantiate his position, G. Palama, based on the thoughts of previous fathers and teachers of the Church, as well as appealing to the experience of the Athonite hesychasts, wrote a number of works, primarily “Triads in Defense of the Sacred Silent” and “The One Hundred and Fifty Chapters”, which are the subject of analysis in this article. The theological discussion, having raised deep philosophical problems related to man’s place in the world, his destiny, and his relationship with God, revealed serious disagreements between the opponents. During the discussion, G. Palama turns to Orthodox anthropology, which goes back to the biblical understanding of man, whose purpose is theosis or restoring his original integrity. Varlaam the Calabrian, being a fan of ancient philosophy, adhered to the dualistic concept of man, which contrasted soul and body, in fact, reducing man to a rational principle. At the same time, both the dogmas of faith and the conclusions of ancient philosophers are equally authoritative and equally legitimate for him. V. the Calabrian, becoming one of the fathers of the Western Renaissance, thus opened the way to a secular New Age. The cult of the human mind and the autonomy of the human personality have brought the desacralization of the soul to its logical conclusion: replacing the cult of the soul with the cult of the body.

The article discusses the position expressed by Peter Engelmeyer, the fi rst Russian philosopher of technology, that signs, language and thinking can be subsumed under the concept of technology. The author shows that there is indeed a problem here, to solve the problem it is necessary to understand and distinguish between the concept of technology and non-technology, represented by signs, language and thinking. Based on his studies of the nature and genesis of technology, he characterizes the latter as a cultural and historical formation, a solution to unsolvable problems and tasks, as an artifact that allows solving such problems and creating new natural processes that were previously unobservable and even non-existent, and fi nally, as a conceptualization of technology. Characterizing signs, the author shows that the meaning and the sign as a whole, as a concept, in contrast to the artifact, as a product of activity, relate to the inner, to the life world of a man. For a better understanding of this thesis, a case is considered – a story told by K. Jung in his last book, on the material of which the concept of the life world and the scheme explaining Jung’s act are introduced. Regarding language and thinking, two cases are distinguished: in one they are not technology, in the other, if rules and methodology are used, they can be considered as intellectual technology. The last part of the article discusses hybrid types of technology, specifi cally neural computers. The author shows that in a neurocomputer, due to technical imitation of the neural network and training, a model is created that allows, at the request of a person, to take information from the Internet, construct written speech according to the rules of language and reason according to the rules of logic. At the same time, this model does not replace natural intelligence, which lives and unfolds in people and in social communications. Since people are constantly improving computer technology and trying to replace natural intelligence with artifi cial intelligence, the neurocomputer as a model becomes more and more perfect in terms of the product (the results of linguistic communication and thinking).

In the 20th century, philosophy saw a number of rediscoveries of the idea of culture and, accordingly, the formation of approaches to its study. Given the extremely “confused and ambiguous social history” (T. Eagleton) of this idea, the article reveals its presence in the thoughts of different generations of Russian philosophers. The article is based on the materials of the book “Philosophical Generations” (Moscow, 2022), which contains a collection of autobiographical narratives of Russian philosophers of the mid-20th – early 21st centuries. Based on the memoirs and thoughts of philosophers about their time, the development of the concept of “culture”, its semantic emphases and fl uctuations in the second half of the 20th century are studied. The rich material presented in this “chronicle of the Moscow philosophical community” allows us to trace the specifi cs of philosophical solutions to the “problem of culture” and the reverse impact of structural transformations of culture, art, and aesthetics on philosophy. The search for a relevant philosophical language to describe cultural dynamics in an era of constant and multiple crises deserves special attention. The author of the article suggests looking for ways to place the problem of culture in a philosophical context associated with tradition, modernity and new methodologies in the humanities.

In search of the specifi cs of the domestic approach to the phenomenon of culture, the author turns to the analysis of discussions around the ‘philosophy of culture’, ‘cultural studies’, ‘cultural research’, ‘dialogue of cultures’. Particular attention is paid to the humanitarian discussions of the 1980-1990s, in particular, the discussion around the relevance of the Silver Age, the ‘cult’ of which fell precisely on these years, is reconstructed. The conducted research made it possible to identify, on the one hand, the generational specifi city of the theoretical positions and formulations of the issue of culture presented in the book (fi xing points of misunderstanding and breaks), and on the other, to catch traces of their interactions.

The article is devoted to the consideration of the problem of the relationship between M. Heidegger’s ‘anti-metaphysical’ project and the so-called ‘indictment’, which, with the assistance of a signifi cant part of representatives of modern Western philosophy, seeks to present his philosophy as a metapolitical project of affi rming the priority signifi cance of German ‘soil’, ‘blood’, ‘destiny’, ‘spirit’ for the world history. Appeals to the meaning of M. Heidegger’s philosophy of the event as a refl ection on the historicity of the accomplishment of the truth of Being itself, which has nothing in common with the will to power, which is the apogee of the metaphysical style of thinking, are rejected by these representatives as false and bewitching concepts designed to obscure and hide the ‘true’ intentions of the philosopher. The author of the article presents the thesis that the ‘anti-metaphysical’ project is a marker of the fact that accusations of the national-socialist character of M. Heidegger’s philosophical thinking are groundless and may relate only to his personal views, which had a more or less longterm nature. The development of this thesis is based on the consideration of the criticism of the fundamental ontology of M. Heidegger by the French phenomenologists J. -L. Marion and M. Henry. In analyzing the views of the abovementioned authors, the fi rst part of the article presents a historical-philosophical view of M. Heidegger’s ontology of intentionality as an ecstatic sphere of the being of the beings, or ‘Logos’, which acts as a main element in the structure of the fundamental ontology and metaphysics of fi nitude “Being-Logos-Beings”.

The article attempts to determine the specifi cs of the semiotic hierarchy of neo-Protestantism and to identify its structure. The object of the research is the dogmatic and praxeological complexes of neo–Protestantism, and the subject is the structure of their semiotic hierarchy. Semiotic methodology is used as a basic methodology in the study. The terminology used in the hierarchy is defi ned and explained.  The concept of hierophany is studied as the basic one in religious semiosis. The author gives its confessional concepts (Orthodoxy, Catholicism). The historical biblical facts of hierophany are considered. Their semiotic structure is investigated. There is a genetic similarity between the facts of the biblical science of hierophany and the concept of hierophany in neo-Protestantism. The consistency and complementarity of all three semiotic concepts are emphasized. The work also lays the prerequisites for the study of semiotic transformation – semiotic drift. The result of the study was the identifi cation of specifi c features of the semiotics of neo-Protestantism, which allows it to go beyond value judgments from the standpoint of religious semiotics and overcome its theological and social marginalization.

The paper offers an understanding of the trends and prospects for the development of modern fl at ontology on the example of object-oriented philosophy. The main attention is paid to the concepts developed within the framework of the object-oriented ontology project in the works of G. Harman, L. R. Bryant and T. Morton. The phrase ‘weird realism’, proposed by object-oriented ontology, claims to describe both the socio-cultural transformations of the modern world and current trends in modern philosophy. The work reconstructs the key provisions of object-oriented ontology, fi xes the contradictory consequences of ontological egalitarianism, object-centrism, and criticism of correlationism. The philosophy of object-oriented ontology offers an immaterialistic model of reality, defi ned by an irreducible variety of a multitude of equivalent, but ‘withdrawn’ objects from direct human access. Object-oriented ontology denies the ideas of holism, proclaims ontological egalitarianism, and fi xes the identity of human and ‘non-human’ beings.  The paper notes that the philosophy of objectoriented ontology balances between schematism (through the ‘fl attening’ of being) and metaphorization, objectivity and subjectivism, holism and mereology, the statics of identical and incoherent objects and the dynamism of their internal activity. The criticism of correlationism in the works of representatives of object-oriented ontology takes the form of a rethinking of anthropocentrism. The incorporation of non-human beings as full-fl edged actors expands the possibilities for the co-evolution of man and nature, the fi eld of human moral responsibility. The author discovers that the object-centricity of object-oriented ontology contains signs of ecocentrism and panpsychism, and the ‘democracy of objects’ takes the form of conceptual animism. The recognition of the selfworth of ‘non-human collectives’, the statement of their intertwining with humans expand the possibilities for mapping natural and socio-cultural objects, but raise issues that require comprehensive discussion. The author comes to the conclusion that despite the contradictions, the philosophy of object-oriented ontology encourages a rethinking of classical philosophical issues, contributes to understanding the socio-cultural transformations of the modern world.

The article is devoted to the methodology for studying the “human – animal” interaction. The subject of the study is a comparison of the actor network theory and dialectical methodology from the position of their applicability to the study of subject-object relations in the system of interactions “society – nature”. The problem is the contradictory position of animals in the “society-nature” system, since animals can be both part of nature and part of modern society. The article uses comparative analysis as a research method. The problem of researching the “human – animal” interaction is, fi rst of all, a problem of research methodology, the choice of research methodology.

As a result of the study, certain shortcomings of the actor network theory were identifi ed, which do not allow it to become a universal methodology for studying both social interactions and “man – nature” interaction. It is also shown that the dialectical-materialistic approach has not lost its relevance as a universal methodology for studying social and natural processes.

As a conclusion, it is believed that the analysis of the interaction of actors through the scheme “Actors – problems-obstacles – goals of actors” has some methodological signifi cance, when moving away from the concept of equality of actors, but in general the actor-network approach has a fundamental drawback, which consists in leveling out the differences between actors. Therefore, the actor network theory can only be used as an additional method, making the main reliance on a more classical methodology, including the dialectical method.

The article is devoted to the methodology for studying the “human – animal” interaction. The subject of the study is a comparison of the actor network theory and dialectical methodology from the position of their applicability to the study of subject-object relations in the system of interactions “society – nature”. The problem is the contradictory position of animals in the “society-nature” system, since animals can be both part of nature and part of modern society. The article uses comparative analysis as a research method. The problem of researching the “human – animal” interaction is, fi rst of all, a problem of research methodology, the choice of research methodology.

As a result of the study, certain shortcomings of the actor network theory were identifi ed, which do not allow it to become a universal methodology for studying both social interactions and “man – nature” interaction. It is also shown that the dialectical-materialistic approach has not lost its relevance as a universal methodology for studying social and natural processes.

As a conclusion, it is believed that the analysis of the interaction of actors through the scheme “Actors – problems-obstacles – goals of actors” has some methodological signifi cance, when moving away from the concept of equality of actors, but in general the actor-network approach has a fundamental drawback, which consists in leveling out the differences between actors. Therefore, the actor network theory can only be used as an additional method, making the main reliance on a more classical methodology, including the dialectical method.

This article is devoted to the study of the history of translations of Aristotle’s heritage into Russian. For a complete picture, the article examines in general terms the degree of familiarity of the Old Russian reader with the corpus of his texts (in particular, with treatises on animals, “Categories”, “Politics”, “Physics”, “Topics”, etc.). However, key attention is paid to supplementing the general “List” of pre-Soviet translations of Aristotle with texts, a signifi cant part of which had not previously appeared in the scientifi c literature. The most valuable among the discovered works are the translations of the “Hymn to Virtue”, the inscription to the statue of Hermias in Delphi and Aristotle’s “Testament”, as well as the lost translations of “Poetics” made by A. F. Merzlyakov. Conclusions are made that the described translations for the most part do not have scientifi c value, since they are unprofessional and are often made using secondary literature. However, this does not exclude their historical signifi cance. Bibliographic information about the translations themselves, their volume and translators, as well as the texts of the translations of the “Hymn” and the inscription on the statue of Hermias, for convenience, are presented in the form of appendices and are given at the end of the article.