Ideas and Ideals

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.

Philosophy (as the world-view) was not the first way to create a description of the world. Before that there was a whole sequence of other descriptions.It is very important that the epos gradually displaced the myth, and logos displaced epos.By the 5 century BC, the truth was sought philosophically, and it is the Logos that becomes the language of philosophy and the new worldview.The author analyzes the words of Plato from the fourth book of “The Republic”, in which he talks about the subtle power structure of a person. We are talking about those forces - dunamis - which determine to which part of the society this or that person belongs. Those who rule must develop the logisticon - the power of the mind or, more precisely, the reason; defenders and guards - the power of thumos (spirit). But the rest of the free citizens of the city-state live on the force, called epithumia, that is, desire. The article discusses the movement back: from the change of worldview and revolutions to the very first coup - the battle of the Titans and Gods. Why philosophers, who in general do not recognize the gods, were on their side? The particular outrage of the Greek philosophers was caused by the way of thinking, used by the people of manual labor. The insignificance of manual labor is a serious ideological attitude, manifested through the public opinion of the ruling class, because it is manual labor that is a sign of the majority of society: farmers, artisans and merchants. In other words, we can interpret the revolution that took place in the world of the gods and raised Olympus over the Earth as the struggle of the previous cults with the new, with the cult of gods of the military aristocracy. But the author is convinced that the struggle for Olympus is not over yet. If you listen, you will hear that there is a battle for the Mind, changing the nature of man. Because we have made the choice: to be with the gods, to be their creation – Homo sapiens.

The author puts forward proposals for reforming domestic education on the eve of global changes in the global social system. The paper does not give concrete practical recommendations, but rather the methodology of such reforms, criticizing the competence-based approach. The author was guided by the idea that the new does not arise by the eradication or destruction of the old, but next to the old, gradually expanding and displacing the old. The article consists of three parts. In the first part, the author shares his thoughts on the transformation of the competence-based approach in order to bring it in line with the domestic theory and practice of education, which will combine the best achievements of the national tradition with Western experience. The second part is devoted to the guidelines of the reforming of education process. In the context of global transformations of the entire socio-cultural system, a new version of the cultural revolution in Russian society can become a reference point, which will prepare new industrialization, which is possible, however, only in favorable conditions. At the present time, it is necessary to at least keep all the best that we have in the educational system from further destruction. The third part of the article is devoted to the reflection on the reformation of the system of postgraduate education. The idea is to stimulate the process of networking between scientists from central and provincial universities, resulting in a mutual reinforcement effect: provincial scientists and educators will have access to the latest achievements of science, and scientists from capitals will get new opportunities to influence civil society in Russia.

The philosophical heritage of the great French philosopher Gilbert Simondon is being slowly but steadily mastered by domestic philosophy. In the present article, we will try to make out one of the important issues related to the key problem raised by Simondon – the problem of individuation, namely, the origin of individualized beings in the light of such concept – important for Simondon's philosophical strategy – as transduction, drawing also other concomitant ideas. In the course of the narration, it will be considered how transduction was understood in the psychological studies of the French scientist Jean Piaget. Also it will be shown that although Simondon wrote before the advent of studies relating to complexity, chaos and self-organization and did not speak directly about interdisciplinarity, it can nevertheless be said that his work can be considered as a direct precursor of these trends in science. Moreover, his work can offer them a kind of ontology, which substantiates the conclusions reached by these disciplines, given Simondon’s continued interest in cybernetics and thermodynamics, as precursors to these scientific strategies. An example of this is the specifically interpreted theory of phase transitions proposed by Simondon. Besides, Simondon believes that there are no permanent organizations, but there are only organizational processes. Transduction forms a link between such processes. It keeps the latter in a metastable state, which persists for a long time. Simultaneously, the mechanisms of transduction influence on organization and cause, at times, significant changes in it. Therefore, Simondon's reflections on transduction (in inanimate, living and social formations) are very important and modern.

The article explores modern transformations of science. First, the author analyzes a popular thesis of the “epochal break” in the development of this social institution, the specifics of its manifestation, the chronology of the changes (mainly the period of 1970-80 is analyzed). On the basis of a critical analysis of numerous publications of foreign authors the article discusses in detail such concepts as “science of the 2nd kind”, “post-normal science”, “triple helix”, “postmodernist primacy of technologies”. The author pays special attention to the analysis how the above mentioned changes correlate with modern Russian science. Much attention is paid to the influence of neoliberal ideology and economic policy on the sphere of science, because science policies in developed economies are imbued by neoliberal spirit, the science sphere is rapidly commercializing, production and knowledge dissemination practices are increasingly being translated into market principles of planning, financing and evaluating results. This leads to the deep deformation of the traditional for science ethical principles and rules of conduct in the professional scientific community. The majority of reforms in the field of fundamental science in Russia since 1992 have been planned and carried out also in the mainstream of neo-liberalism; in particular, the volume of freely circulating information in the institutes of the RAS has significantly decreased due to the introduction of restrictions on the part of research customers, as well as increased competition among researchers.

The article focuses on the arguments given by an Australian researcher John Bigelow who aspires to prove the existence of regular relations between the compositional structure of William Shakespeare’s cycle of 154 sonnets and the system of modal scales in the version of Shakespeare’s outstanding contemporary, composer and theorist Thomas Morley, which served as a basis for musical theory of that time. It is noted that J. Bigelow managed to prove the rightfulness of his own assumptions allowing to disclose such relations. One of the brightest examples he draws is the relations between the first eight sonnets and sonnet 145 and the interval structure of the corresponding modal scales and peculiarities of the triton sound as well as the auditory perception of certain non-tempered thirds and fourths. At the same time, the article points at a certain inaccuracy of Bigelow’s arguments and his lacking the principle of universality as the reasons and observations given by the researcher concern only the smallest part of the cycle and not the whole one. Nevertheless, Bigelow’s conclusions are certainly worth the attention, and one may continue the research of the sonnets cycle in the given direction which might probably lead to a fuller understanding of its compositional structure.

Shakespeares Sonnets (1609) contains several rhyming patterns that were regarded at the time as ‘anomalies’. In a list of ‘Rules’ for poetry published in 1585, the very first prohibition laid down by King James VI of Scotland was that a syllable should never be rhymed with itself. In 1603 James VI of Scotland became James I of England. And yet, in Shakespeare’s sonnets, the very first of King James’s prohibitions is broken  ̶  rarely, but repeatedly. If Shakespeare’s successive sonnets are aligned with the successive notes in musical scales for the canonical series of the Renaissance ‘modes’, then the locations of Shakespeare’s rhyme-anomalies coincide reliably with the locations of the notes that are significantly discordant with the tonic according to a musical theory that was published in 1619 by the astronomer Johannes Kepler. Kepler’s master-work The Harmony of the World (1619) was dedicated to King James I of England. This work opens with a Dedication to King James, in which King James’s celebrated political successes were credited to his understanding of the ‘celestial harmonies’.    It is argued here that Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence constitutes a ‘microcosm’ that formally echoes Kepler’s theory of the ‘macrocosm’ and ‘the harmony of the spheres’. If Shakespeare could somehow have brought the formal patterning in this ‘microcosm’ to the attention of potential patrons in the Jacobean Court, then he could reasonably have hoped that this might curry favour with those among them who shared ‘Platonic’ interests like those of Kepler.

The article attempts to consider the theories of «liberation» in the ancient Eastern philosophy, which, on the one hand, clearly reflect the similarities and differences between the Buddhist teaching of Shunyavada and Taoism, and on the other hand define the basic principles of two philosophical schools in question. Despite the emphasis in the text on the difficulty of comprehending such key concepts of the philosophy of «liberation» as «Tao» and «Shunyata», since they cannot be subjected to analysis of formal logic and rational definition possessing «intangibility», «ambiguity» and, one might even say, «transcendence»of meanings and definitions, the author in his work considers these terms using the dialectical method, its form of thinking embodies the unity of the basis of opposites «and this and that». The theoretical, methodological and comparative researches of the basic concepts of madhyamik’s «Shunyata» and emptiness of «Tao», covered in the article and taken as independent units of philosophical discourse, have shown that it makes sense to speak of the close relation of considered concepts, since there are two aspects of emptiness in each of them: «theoretical» that defines the classification of approaches and meanings of emptiness, and «practical» that reveals the methods (means) and strategies of self-improvement. As a result of the research, the author has proposed an understanding of emptiness in both considered philosophical systems through the model of «circular motion»: in relation to the Buddhist teaching of Shunyavada, it embodies non-duality, emptiness of samsara and nirvana, in respect of the Taoist teaching, it symbolizes «the internal state of interdependence and mutual permeability», the relativity of all things and phenomena, i.e. their emptiness. It has also been defined that Madhyamikas and the Taoists interpret the path leading to «liberation» (Skt. mokṣa) or enlightenment (Chin. «min») as median. Nevertheless, the interpretations of this path are diverse in the ancient Indian and ancient Chinese traditions, since, in relation to the Taoist doctrine, the Middle way is to overcome duality through harmonizing the «yin» and «yang» that create the continued integrity by dint of presence (dissolution) in each other. Folding and reaching the center, they give birth to a new «undetected» state of harmony and peace, namely the state of «the Great emptiness of Tao». In contrast to the Taoist Middle path, the Buddhist Middle way involves the complete elimination of opposites since everything is relative and identical to Emptiness (Skt. Sūnyatā) and it does not lie through «following naturalness» as indicated in Taoism, but through following «the eightfold path» (Skt. Arya aṣṭāṅgika mārga) that leads to understanding the illusory nature of all things, since one of the most important features of dharma as a constituent element of samsara is emptiness (Skt. Sūnyatā).

The purpose of the study is to identify and compare the revealed theoretical approaches to the moral economy in order to substantiate the fundamental foundations of the integrative anthroposocial approach. Closely interrelated moral anthropic origin and moral social order are given as such foundations. The subject of the study is the existing approaches to the moral economy. The study is a theoretical analysis of the approaches to the moral economy, united by the author in two aggregated schools– anthropic-moral and socio-economic. The research methodology is the integrated approach for a comprehensive examination of the subject; general scientific principles of complementarity, diversity and unity. The results of the study, which constitute the scientific novelty: 1) it is revealed that there are the corresponding concepts of a moral person – Homo moralis – in all approaches reviewed, and it allows to establish the moral anthropic origin as the first foundation of the moral economy; 2) in the analyzed approaches, the main forms of sociality are revealed and characterized, functioning as “village community”, “religious community”, “Orthodox labour brotherhood”, “social institution”, which allow to define moral social order as the second foundation of the moral economy. The theoretical and practical significance of the study is that by identifying and comparing the existing approaches to the moral economy, its anthroposocial nature is defined 1) as the effective economic activity of a new person of high moral character; 2) as a set of intersubject economic relations based on the ideas of moral humanism. As a result, it becomes possible to compare existing approaches to the moral economy, when there is a person in its centre who respects humanistic morality in interpersonal relations of the economy of the society.

The article states the problem of protecting individuals from discrimination when using neuropsychological methods in the penitentiary system. In the field of ethical reflection in neuroethics, the authors propose to consider not only new opportunities to influence human consciousness and mental health, which are used in modern neuroscience, but also to include methods that have a rather long history. The penitentiary system was chosen as an object of study, which makes it possible to weigh the regulatory capabilities of neuroethics in the special conditions of a priori coercion and involuntary position. The paper considers the action of principles of respect for the dignity of the individual, voluntariness in the expression of consent to participate in psychodiagnostic and psycho-correction activities. The question of expressing informed consent for neuropsychic effects is by analogy considered with biomedical intervention. The authors describe the experience of applying neuropsychological methods on the examples of using a polygraph (a lie detector) and neuro-linguistic programming. The study shows that the polygraph is widely used not only in investigative and judicial practice, but also in diagnostics when people are applying for a job, moving to a higher (or different) position at work, entering educational institutions of the penal service. The authors highlight the idea that in the situation where the client is dependent on a psychologist, in order to undergo the procedure the problem of the voluntary expression of consent should be solved in accordance with the principle of vulnerability. It is stressed, that for the members of vulnerable groups, it is obligatory to use the rules, which take into account the specifics of their situation. Despite the improvement of the process of lie detection using a polygraph, there is no confidence in the accuracy and reliability of the data obtained. However, the results can be interpreted to the detriment of the individual, like the results of other methods of psychodiagnostic research, in the absence of proper ethical principles. Neuro-linguistic programming allows collecting of data on subconscious motives and having a targeted impact on a person. When using this method, there is also the problem of expressing informed consent, taking into account the specifics of the penitentiary institutions. A person may not fully realize the results of neuro-linguistic programming. The general trend in Russia is expanding the use of NLP and polygraph methods, which indicates a desire to acquire neuropsychological tools that will quickly achieve a visible result, without much concern about the ethics of getting the information, its reliability, and long duration. The authors have come to the conclusion that the focus on humanization of the penitentiary system in Russia with the help of the psychological service gives positive results. However, there is a danger of using methods of psychodiagnostics and psychocorrection for manipulative and ethically questionable purposes, which leads to a loss of confidence in them.