Ideas and Ideals

The duality of a man's relationship to Deity as the "I" and "we" turns into a dual character of any social cohesion, that is both free and repressive at the same time. The concept of genetic connection between "we" and "I" is a perfect reflection of the ideal foundation of empirically given communities. It is an abstract unity, "we", which has elevated beyond "I", and submitted itself to its tyrannical "must" provoking an uprising of "I". Manifestations of obligation are empathy, legitimation, sacralization. The conflict of “I” and “we” values inherent to the very basis of the ideal society is different for specific communities. Social empiricism has different understandings of genetical connection between "I" and "we." It has always been a cyclical conflict of "I" and "we" as an alternation of anarchy and despotism. In today's society it has acquired the form of the conflict between capitalism and socialism, but has retained its sacred source – Understanding of God (Bogoponimanie). The idea of coordination and non-hierarchical position of "we" and "I" is the concept of the ideal society, which depends on the right Understanding of God (Bogoponimaniye). The evolution of Understanding of God (Bogoponimaniye) changes the ratio of transcendence and immanence of the sacred Divine image; however, its antinomy will never be overcome and it is given objectively in the collective consciousness. Therefore, the absolute ideal theosis of a man coexists with the optimization ideal "service to the people" which includes the requirements of social subordination and discipline. Disclosure of the God’s immanence to a man softens the brutality of the legal and moral norms. Their arbitrary softening leads to chaos and social disasters. The ideal society is formed with the help of a unity of principles: service to the people, solidarity, and freedom. Service to the people is antinomic: a man is obliged to promote the growth of the Good and prevent the world from the Evil. These requirements are mutually exclusive. The first one requires following the Grace of God, and the second one - following the "law." Service to the people needs both strengthening the "law" and its weakening. Saving the world from the Evil is uppermost coercion of freedom in human actions. The reference to antinomianism of the optimization ideal turns into the assumption, that anthropological perfection as the growth of the Good frees a man from the objective social order.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the role of mercantilism in the context of economic policy during the crisis of the XVII century. Traditionally, the study is carried out within the mercantilism
economic history discourse. However, the author has given his analysis not only from the standpoint of the theory of fi nance but also from the standpoints of historical sociology, demography and climate. The
author believes that mercantilism can be: a political practice, a perceived need, and a destructive fi nancial technology. The negative aspects of mercantilism as an economic policy and a fi nancial technology are mainly considered in the article. The basic requirements of mercantilism ideology provoked an aggressive foreign policy: intra-wars and the seizure of colonies. It is concluded that mercantilism has metaeconomic reasons: demographic and climatic. The policy of mercantilism was the result of European societies being caught into the Malthusian trap in the XVII century due to overpopulation and global cooling. There are two ways out of the Malthusian trap. The fi rst one involves external aggression with the aim of increasing the proportion of ever diminishing amount of resources of the world economy during the crisis. The second way is the creation of a new, broader resource base through innovations and cheap labor of the marginalized layers of the population. The practical application of the mercantilism ideology in the XVII century became a self-fulfi lling prophecy, which stigmatized the category of “duty” and thus destroyed the people’s credit system in the preceding era in England. Credit money was replaced by metal cash in circulation and marginalized workers labor became the prerequisites of the industrial revolution.