Contributed research papers chiefly on various aspects of Indic philosophy, Vedic literature, etc.

The name of Pavel Ivanovich Novgorodtsev is not very widely known to the reader at large. It has only been in the last ten or twelve years that isolated studies of particular problems in his creative works have begun to appear.

'This book is a masterpiece of theoretical thought. It anticipates the actual achievements of much of what we now call sociolinguistics.

It was my good fortune to work on the journal Voprosy filosofii for five and a half years, from mid-1962 to the end of 1967. I underscore "good fortune" because this was an interesting and, as it became clear later on, quite an important period in the journal's history; the team on which I worked was full of life, active, industrious, full of good will, and did everything to make Voprosy filosofii a truly professional philosophical journal; and, finally, all of (...) us who worked at that time on the editorial staff were thirty-five years younger than we are now. (shrink)

The Party's strategic orientation toward an acceleration of socioeconomic development has posed a number of extremely important problems for Soviet society, of which the problem of activating the human factor has priority. When current tasks become more complex and new, more complicated tasks arise, it is inevitable that attention should turn to man.

Although research into the biosemiotic mechanisms underlying the purposeful behavior of brainless living systems is extensive, researchers have not adequately described biosemiosis among neurons. As the conscious use of signs is well-covered by the various fields of semiotics, we focus on subconscious sign action. Subconscious semiotic habits, both functional and dysfunctional, may be created and reinforced in the brain not necessarily in a logical manner and not necessarily through repeated reinforcement. We review literature that suggests hypnosis may be effective in (...) changing subconscious dysfunctional habits, and we offer a biosemiotic framework for understanding these results. If it has been difficult to evaluate any psychological approach, including hypnosis, this may be because contemporary neuroscience lacks a theory of the sign. We argue that understanding the fluid nature of representation in biological organisms is prerequisite to understanding the nature of the subconscious and may lead to more effective of treatments for dysfunctional habits developed through personal experience or culture. (shrink)

The article analyzes the creativity of one of the most famous Russian neokantians Boris V. Yakovenko. Despite the fact that the work of Yakovenko becomes the subject of analysis of an increasing number of researchers both in Russia and abroad, it has not yet taken place in a systematic analysis. The article attempts to consider the philosophical creativity of the Russian philosopher systematically, revealing both the main directions of European thought that had the greatest influence on the position of Yakovenko (...) and the main areas of philosophy to which the efforts of the national thinker were directed. These, according to the author, include the history of philosophy and the system of so-called transcendental pluralism. It is pointed out that the history of philosophy for Yakovenko is a single holistic process and therefore is the history of the development of philosophical ideas, and not the history of life and work of individual philosophers. According to Yakovenko, the general philosophical scheme of historical development looks like this: from Greek cosmism to German epistemology and the beginning ontological turn in modern philosophy. There is also the belief of B.V. Yakovenko that there is no national philosophy. In his opinion, philosophy, as well as science in General, can only be international. His second main thesis concerning the development of philosophy is that philosophy should be independent from other branches of human knowledge and knowledge. She must not be a servant of theology or science. The article also presents various stages of the Russian philosopher's development of his version of the concept of pluralistic philosophy. According to Yakovenko, only pluralistic philosophy is able to know the essence as the main object of philosophy. (shrink)

The need would seem to arise periodically in every discipline to turn to a new interpretation, an amendment of its basic notions, its starting premises. The fact that such a situation has now taken shape in ethics is testified to by the disagreements among professionals on what would appear to be the most fundamental questions: What is ethics? What is its status, its bounds, its object, its position among the other disciplines? What is morality? Is it necessary to distinguish between (...) morality and ethics? What is the sphere of existence of ethics — is it purely the ideal sphere, or the material as well? Some of the debates are terminological in character, and can be eliminated by simple agreement on the use of words. But there are also significant disagreements over positions, probably associated with the approach of our ethics to its new "paradigm.". (shrink)

He succeeded in doing what few succeed in: having his say in philosophy and leaving a mark that does not vanish with time but becomes ever more noticeable.

The recent exchange on the quantum justification of the Periodic System of the Elements in this Journal between Scerri [Foundations of Chemistry 6: 93–116, 2004] and Friedrich [Foundations of Chemistry 6: 117–132, 2004] is supplemented by some methodological comments.

Kak ėto nachinalosʹ -- Sozrevshie plody -- Otkrovenii︠a︡ fizicheskoĭ nauki -- Sumerki estestvoznanii︠a︡ -- Sokrovishcha drevneĭ mudrosti -- Kontury miroustroĭstva -- Soprotivli︠a︡i︠u︡shcheesi︠a︡ Nichto -- Prilozhenii︠a︡.

The philosophy of religion as presented by Hermann Cohen and Paul Natorp, the founders and main representatives of the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism, is an important and at the same time controversial part of their philosophical systems. The discussion around the problems of religion began within the Marburg School and still continues among those who study that School. The reason for this is that “fitting” philosophical thinking about the phenomenon of religion into the classical triad of any system of philosophy, (...) i. e. effectively formulating that phenomenon in logical concepts, ethical postulates and aesthetic principles touched the very foundations of that system. Drawing mainly on the rough notes and correspondence of Cohen and Natorp I argue that, in spite of internal and quite important differences over the problems of religion and its place in philosophical constructions, Cohen and Natorp, first, retained their commitment to critical idealism and remained loyal to their philosophical school to the end and, second, followed the principle of mutual respect, preserving their professional and human sympathy for each other. Besides, I substantiate my assertion that Marburg Neo-Kantians had different concepts of the special place of religion in the system of philosophy. The specific nature of this difference warrants the discussion not only of the boundary of reason and rationality but adds new dimensions to that boundary, filling it with content and thus broadening the very sphere of critical idealism. In the course of the discussion of the problems of religion, Paul Natorp and Hermann Cohen stake a claim to projects for the serious transformation of philosophy which they tried to implement in their later works. (shrink)

A little more than half a year remains before the Twenty-seventh Congress of the CPSU. As was stressed at the April Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, the coming congress will be a landmark stage in the development of the country. Its significance is determined by the character of the period being experienced and the scale of the tasks before us, which give special significance to the pre-Congress work of the Party. All this demands a profound scientific study of the (...) realities of the present day and a thorough comprehension of the prospects of socialist and communist construction, in particular of the profound qualitative shifts in the development and functioning of the economy and the social relations of developed socialism. (shrink)

On verbal epistemology of the neo-Nyaya school in Indic philosophy; includes Sanskrit text, Apūrvavāda from Nyāyasiddhāntadīpa of Śaśadhara.

In this article the author examines the problem of mental experiment extrapolation to musical art. Thus an attempt was made to determine the community of mechanisms of thought process in the scientific cognition and in the artistic creation. Author talks about peculiarities of music mental experiment and emphasizes its basic functions in musical thought. Therefore, the mental experiment in the sphere of aesthetic activity has its own specific character, whichis not identical with the notion of the mental experiment in the (...) scientific sphere and scientific experience. It shows the greatest importance of rethought the category of “mental experiment” in the musical creation sphere. The study of the mental experiment in the sphere of music, as one of the forms of non-verbal treatment, storage, creation and transfer of information, is of great value, meets the self-reflectiveness necessities of life of individual or the whole society. (shrink)