Introduction. In conservative political philoso- phy in Germany at the end of the 20th century, there developed two main approaches to social policy. The first one, paternalistic and corporat- ist approach continued the line that had been established in the 19th century and assumed the active participation of the state in regulating social support. The second, the market one, adopted American ideas of the second half of the 20th cen- tury and proposed limiting the scope of the welfare state in (...) order to save resources and avoid a nega- tive impact on the labor market. The purpose of the study is to analyze the argu- ments of the two directions of German conserva- tism at the end of the 20th century, their philo- sophical origin and their significance for politics. Methods. The article is based on the comparative historical approach, analysis of institutions and legal documents, and the hermeneutic method for studying the political, administrative and ideological context of the development of German conserva- tism at the end of the 20th century. Scientific novelty of the research. The article focuses on the intellectual heritage of German theorists, while the main attention of domestic and foreign researchers of conservative political philosophy of the late 20th century was attracted by American and British authors. Results. The key arguments of the paternalistic approach to social issues include pointing out the responsibility of elites for the well-being of the population and a strong state as a means of com- pensating for inequality in society. The arguments of the market approach are based on the appeal to the ideas of civic virtue and the protection of property as key forces that ensure social peace and well-being. Conclusions. In practice, the approach that offered the preservation and expansion of the welfare state prevailed, and favorable economic condi- tions, as well as institutional and ideological inertia, contributed to implementing solutions within the framework of this paradigm. But the ideas of the market approach have not lost their relevance, since the burden on the welfare state increases due to the aging of the population. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Hume: Between Leibniz and Kant (The role of pre-established harmony in Hume's philosophy) Vadim Vasilyev 1. Introduction In the history of eighteenth century European philosophy, Hume appears as an important connecting link between Leibniz and Kant. I mean, however, not only the well-known historical fact that Hume "awakened Kant from his dogmatic slumber" (and it was the "dogmatism" ofLeibnizian metaphysics), but I shall try to show that it (...) is true from the philosophical point of view as well. The first problem I would like to discuss is the actual relationship between Hume and Leibniz. Hume never openly criticized the views of Leibniz. On the other hand, Hume did not admit himself to be a follower of him. Did Hume everread any works ofLeibniz? Hume has never said thathe did. Hume also hasn't directly quoted these works, so it looks like Hume wasn't acquainted with them at all. Nonetheless, we can show that already in 1739 Hume had known Theodicée which can be considered as the main treatise ofLeibniz. In his Abstract Hume writes: The celebratedMonsieurLeibnitz has observed it tobe a defect in the common systems of logic, that they are very copious when they explain the operations ofthe understanding in the forming ofdemonstrations, but are too concise when they treat of probabilities, and those other measures of evidence on which life and action entirely depend, and which are our guides even in most of our philosophical speculations. In this censure, he comprehends the essay on human understanding, Ie recherche de la vérité, and l'art dépenser.1 The fragment is a rendering of the following passage from Theodicée: caril n'y a rien de plus impartaitqui nostre Logique, lorsqu'on va au delà des argumens nécessaires; et les plus excellens philosophes de nostre temps, tels que les Auteurs de l'Art de penser, de la Recherche de la vérité, et de l'Essai sur Volume XLX Number 1 19 VADIMVASILYEV l'entendment, ont été fort éloignés de nous marquer les vrais moyens propres à aider cette faculté qui nous doit faire peser les apparences du vrait et du faux: sans parler de l'art d'inventer.2 So, it is highly probable that Hume knew Theodicée. The ideas ofLeibniz in Hume's philosophy The most important philosophical ideas of Theodicée are: the definitions ofpossibility and oftwo kinds ofnecessity, a theory of"the best possible world" and a conception ofthe pre-established harmony. As we shall see, all these ideas, one way or another, were assimilated by Hume. In his Theodicée Leibniz states that a distinction should be made between two kinds of necessity and, correspondingly, between two kinds ofnecessary knowledge: metaphysical and moral.? ne faut done que bien entendre des distinctions, comme celle que nous avons pressée bien souvent entre le necessaire et le certain, et entre la nécessité métaphysique et la nécessité morale. (Theodicée, 284, par. 282) Metaphysical or mathematical truths are such that propositions which are opposite to them imply contradictions. Or les vérités de la Raison sont de deux sortes; les unes sont ce qu'on appelle les Vérités Eternelles, qui sont abolument nécessaires, en sorte que l'opposé implique contradiction. (Theodicée, 50, par. 2) Not so regarding the moral truths; the opposite statements may be false but they imply no contradictions and are possible: "? est vray qu'il n'y auroit point eu de contradiction dans la supposition que Spinosa fût mort à Leide, et non pas à La Haye; il n'y auroit rien de si possible" (Theodicée, 218, par. 174). The possibility is equivalent to logical consistency and what is possible may be distinctly conceived: puisqu'il y a bien des choses qui ne sont jamais arrivées et n'arriveront jamais, et qui cependant sont concevables distinctement, et n'impliquent aucune contradiction, comment peut on dire qu'elles sont absolument impossibles? (Theodicée, 257, par. 234) 20Hume Studies HUME: BETWEEN LEIBNIZ AND KANT Hume uses all these definitions. The following fragment is a good example. The non-existence ofany being, without exception, is as clear and distinct an... (shrink)

In the Club of Rome report Come on! Capitalism, Short-Termism, Population and the Destruction of the Planet (2018) Kant, along with other “old” Enlighteners, is presented as the father of a world-view which led to the destabilisation of the environment in which humanity exists. The authors of the report argue that the “old Enlightenment” with its individualism, faith in the market and a consumerist attitude to nature should be scrapped. I maintain that this assessment of Kant’s philosophy is groundless and (...) that his ideas allow us both to conduct a more profound diagnosis of the crisis and to propose a more solidly founded strategy of overcoming it. First, I sum up the position of the authors concerning the loss of sustainability of development which they attribute to the philosophy of Enlightenment. Next, I outline the history and content of the notion of “sustainable development” and offer an analysis of the sources of progressivist commitment to the conquest of nature which lie outside Modern Times in the idea of the “cultural mandate”. Then I present the Kantian diagnosis of the causes of the crisis which attributes it to humankind’s failure to “mature”. I compare the idea of “the full world” formulated by the authors of the report with the idea of the “the world come of age” and their diagnosis of “capitalism — short-termism — depletion of resources” with the Kantian assessment of the attempts to escape from the predicaments of the present into the past or the future. I draw attention to Kant’s solutions to some of the specific problems indicated in the report. Instead of the strategy of “return of the cultural mandate”, proposed at this time by the authors of the report, the Kant­ian answer to the crisis is a “Copernican turn” and re-direction of the cultivating effort to the inner moral development of the human being. (shrink)

What the causes of aging are and which factors define lifespan are key questions in the understanding of aging. Here, it is argued that cellular life involves (i) inevitable accumulation of damage resulting from imperfectness and heterogeneity of every cellular process, and (ii) dilution of damage when cells divide. While severe damage is cleared by protective systems, milder damage can only be diluted. This is due to the high cost of accuracy, the greater number of damage forms compared to protective (...) systems, and the constraints on cellular life inherited from the prokaryotic world. This strategy also applies to cancer cells, which are particularly dependent on damage dilution. Imposing restriction on cell division necessarily leads to aging. Interventions that extend lifespan act through metabolic reprogramming, thereby changing both damage composition and the rate of damage accumulation. Thus, heterogeneity leading to myriad mild damage forms represents the cause of aging, whereas the processes that affect the damage landscape and damage accumulation are lifespan regulators. (shrink)

Scientists often use multiple independent methods of identification to distinguish reliable results from those produced in error. This process is referred to as ‘robustness analysis’. I argue that even though robustness analysis is useful for differentiating natural phenomena from artifacts, it fails to differentiate experimentally produced effects from artifacts. I argue that to bypass this problem, we can re-frame the role of robustness analysis to focus on cross-comparison between methods of production. Focusing on the production relation provides information about how (...) changes in conditions alter given effects, without first having to make a distinction between effect and artifact. (shrink)

Chaos-related obstructions to predictability have been used to challenge accounts of theory validation based on the agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental data. These challenges are incomplete in two respects: they do not show that chaotic regimes are unpredictable in principle and, as a result, that there is something conceptually wrong with idealized expectations of correct predictions from acceptable theories, and they do not explore whether chaos-induced predictive failures of deterministic models can be remedied by stochastic modeling. In this paper (...) we appeal to an asymptotic analysis of state space trajectories and their numerical approximations to show that chaotic regimes are deterministically unpredictable even with unbounded resources. Additionally, we explain why stochastic models of chaotic systems, while predictively successful in some cases, are in general predictively as limited as deterministic ones. We conclude by suggesting that the way in which scientists deal with such principled obstructions to predictability calls for a more comprehensive approach to theory validation, on which experimental testing is augmented by a multifaceted mathematical analysis of theoretical models, capable of identifying chaos-related predictive failures as due to principled limitations which the world itself imposes on any less-than-omniscient epistemic access to some natural systems. (shrink)

Query processing in ground definite deductive is known to correspond precisely to a linear programming problem. However, the “groundedness” requirement is a huge drawback to using linear programming techniques for logic program computations because the ground version of a logic program can be very large when compared to the original program. Furthermore, when we move from propositional logic programs to first-order logic programs, this effectively means that functions symbols may not occur in clauses. In this paper, we develop a theory (...) of “instantiate- by-need” that performs instantiations only when needed. We prove that this method is sound and complete when computing answer substitutions for non-ground logic programs including those containing function symbols. More importantly, when taken in conjunction with Colmerauer's result that unification can be viewed as linear programming, this means that resolution with unification can be completely replaced by linear programming as an operational paradigm. Additionally, our tree construction method is not rigidly tied to the linear programming paradigm-we will show that given any method M that can compute the set of atomic logical consequences of a propositional logic program, our method can use M to compute , the set of all atoms that are consequences of a first-order logic program. (shrink)

Traditionally, in the literature on robustness analysis objects are classified as genuine phenomena (natural objects, events, and processes) or artifacts (results produced in error). But much of biological measurement requires the manipulation of local experimental conditions in order to produce new effects. These types of intervention-based regularities are neither natural objects nor artifacts; characterizing them as either fails adequately to address key ontological properties as well as their role in scientific practice. It is argued that a new classification, based on (...) methodological considerations, can be useful in order to characterize experimental productions. Experimentally-useful context-sensitive objects are referred to as ‘artefacts’. To show how the new classification works and why it is instructive for scientific practice, two case studies are discussed. First, the puzzle of arsenic-consuming living organisms is analyzed, where under a set of specific experimental conditions a given organism was found to replace phosphorous with arsenic in its DNA. Second, ecological epigenetic measurement is discussed to show the complexity of variant effects in the context of lab, field, and computer measurements. It is argued that the line between artifacts and artefacts is fluid because theoretical, experimental, and practical considerations vary. (shrink)

When describing variation at the lexical level in sign languages, researchers often distinguish between phonological and lexical variants, using the following principle: if two signs differ in only one of the major phonological components, then they are considered phonological variants, otherwise they are considered separate lexemes. We demonstrate that this principle leads to contradictions in some simple and more complex cases of variation. We argue that it is useful to visualize the relations between variants as graphs, and we describe possible (...) networks of variants that can arise using this visualization tool. We further demonstrate that these scenarios in fact arise in the case of variation in color terms and kinship terms in Russian Sign Language, using a newly created database of lexical variation in RSL. We show that it is possible to develop a set of formal rules that can help distinguish phonological and lexical variation also in the problematic scenarios. However, we argue that it might be a mistake to dismiss the actual patterns of variant relations in order to arrive at the binary lexical vs. phonological variant opposition. (shrink)

Philosophy of history is analyzed here from the point of its epistemological and ontological meaning. The author considers that the ontological point of view makes it possible to conceptualize the history as the unity of its all times - Past, Present and Future. The connection between these three times based on their relation to the concept of Eternity which has been symbolically formed within the mythological, religious and utopian Weltanschauung. The necessity of these relations transforms philosophy of history into a (...) special kind of ontological historical knowledge. The study of history from the prospect of unity is only possible within the historical interpretation of Future as an epoch of bridging the gap between Time and Eternity. Author calls this philosophical concept the Time of Freedom. (shrink)

The article analyzes the initial stages of the shaping of design. Like the situation when the shaping of science was preceded by the emergence of methodology, a similar process had been taking plac...

In this paper I discuss a prehistory of the recent metaphilosophical research and provide an overview of its most important areas. I review the ways of understanding of philosophy by the authors of the Early Modernity and contemporary continental philosophers and outline a trajectory of metaphilosophical discussions in analytic philosophy of 20th century. I try to show that the recent surge of metaphilosophy research in it could be explained by a search for a new identity of analytic philosophy after wide (...) disappointment in the “linguistic turn,” as well as after criticism of Quine and his followers of various aspects of the common method of conceptual analysis, and expansion of the field of inquiry. I argue that contemporary analytic philosophy is much closer to the classical and modern tradition than to the early analytic philosophy. And the most important question for contemporary metaphilosophers seems to be a question about possible substitutes of an old-fashioned conceptual analysis. Some authors propose to get rid of armchair methods at all and follow experimental line of research. This, however, could be destructive to the philosophy as a separate discipline. That’s why it is important to pay utmost attention to those philosophers who try to save armchair philosophy. As Timothy Williamson is one of the most interesting authors working in this vein, I asses his role in the recent metaphilosophical research. I give a brief review of his book “Doing Philosophy” (2018) and draw attention to the fact that its main ideas are briefly expressed in his paper “Armchair Philosophy”, published in this issue of the journal. I claim that the importance of Timothy Williamson’s work is best explained by its role in realizing that philosophers now have to make a hard choice between dissolving philosophical methodology in methods of experimental sciences and trying to find way of justification of armchair philosophy. (shrink)

The article offers an attempt to understand the present state of Kant’s legacy in Russia on the threshold of the Tercentenary. An explanans is found in the metaphors of “ tabula rasa ” and “unplowed virgin soil,” first used by Leibniz in relation to Russia in his letters and memoranda addressed to tsar Peter I and other members of the Russian elite, which became the country’s “absolute metaphors to live by” up to present time. Several known and unknown episodes from (...) the history of the reception of Kantian ideas, his followers in Russia, and the transformation of the urban environment of Kant’s life in Königsberg, as it was becoming Kaliningrad, are presented through the prism of this metaphor. Without hoping to make specific recommendations of any use from such metaphorical grounds, this study aims to emphasize the depth, interconnectedness, and basic, metaphysical tension of the relationship between Europe and Russia, which cannot be terminated at will by either side, or by a third party. In a situation where the sides are doomed to dialog, Kant, appropriated by Russia as its “subject,” occupies the unique position of mediator of philosophical understanding and peaceful action. (shrink)

In this article, the potential for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to be appraised as an object of beauty is critically examined through the lens of philosophical thought. Tracing beauty’s evolution from Platonic ideals to contemporary interpretations, the analysis contends that AI’s emergence offers a unique illustration of beauty in the modern age. Confronting the challenge of assigning beauty to entities devoid of consciousness or emotional depth, the argument unfolds to suggest that the intricate design of AI’s algorithms and its technological advancements (...) constitute an emergent form of beauty, one inherently tied to human intellectual endeavor. The article proposes that with time, as with historical art forms, the aesthetic qualities of AI may gain broader acknowledgment, implying that technological advancements necessitate an ongoing revision of established beauty norms. The historical evolution of beauty has been traced in details, and an extended literature review has been provided, serving as the foundation for a comprehensive exploration into the potential for AI to be recognized as an object of beauty. The harmony, elegance, and problem-solving capabilities of AI algorithms have been meticulously evaluated, with a comparison made to classical elements of beauty in an effort to contextually situate AI within longstanding aesthetic traditions. Furthermore, the analysis has been extended to consider the emergence of artificial and digital beauty, alongside an investigation into the parallels drawn between divine and artificial intelligence. As part of a deeper inquiry, the possibility of human emotions, such as awe and love, being authentically directed towards AI has been scrutinized. In conclusion, a reflection has been presented on the transformative role of AI in reimagining the conceptual landscape of beauty, prompting readers to thoughtfully engage with an extended review and the philosophical and cultural implications emerging from AI’s evolving influence on the field of aesthetics. (shrink)

This paper offers a contextual, textual and conceptual study of Kant’s notion of humanity and its current interpretations. Its argument is directed against the interpretation of humanity as merely “the capacity to set oneself an end - any end whatsoever”. Kant’s sources, his usage of the word ‘ Menschheit ’ and its conceptual functions suggest a more complex reading that includes not only individualist, but also collectivist, essentialist and personalist meanings. These four meanings are separated – and brought together – (...) by insurmountable metaphysical divides between the phaenomenal and the noumenal, as well as between part and whole. The paper begins by a survey of recent interpretations, then proceeds to explicate the contextual background for Kant’s concept, then draws attention to various use ‘ Menschheit ’ finds in Kant’s texts. The conclusion points at the potential Kant’s substantial and complex notion of humanity has for enriching our understanding of many pressing issues of today. (shrink)

This article discusses the conditions for delimitation of modernity and futureculture, as well as the concept of modernity. Vadim Belyaev claims that what the author refers to as futureculture, in fact does not go beyond the boundaries of modernity; these are rather the processes of promodernity and countermodernity. Vyacheslav Maracha polemicizes with Belyaev’s statements. Belyaev substantiates his critical rhetoric, gives characteristics to his interpretation of modernity, and claims that the author did not explain the thesis on the completion of (...) modernity and the establishment of futureculture. The author partially agrees with the criticism and provides additional arguments: characterizes the definition of modernity used by him; distinguishes between the new worldview, semantic reality of culture, and projects of modernity, realization of these projects and objective reality results from implementation of the projects of modernity and responses to new challenges of the time, as well as construction of the social institutions of modernity. The latter statement is illustrated on the example of the formation of state institution, the study by Martin van Creveld “The Rise and Fall of the State”. The conclusion is made that all plans and fundamental structures of modernity can no longer ensure normal flow of modern life, but rather generate problems and social destructions. Objectively, modernity has been reborn and is nearing completion. The author formulates certain ideas and meaning that reveal the formation of the future culture. (shrink)

The paper begins with a restatement of Chalmers’s “hard problem of consciousness.” It is suggested that an interactionist approach is one of the possible solutions of this problem. Some fresh arguments against the identity theory and epiphenomenalism as main rivals of interactionism are developed. One of these arguments has among its corollaries a denial of local supervenience, although not of the causal closure principle. As a result of these considerations a version of “local interactionism” (compatible with causal closure) is proposed. (...) It is argued that local interactionism may offer a fruitful path for resolving the “hard problem.”. (shrink)

An online game of chess against a human opponent appears to be indistinguishable from a game against a machine: both happen on the screen. Yet, people prefer to play chess against other people despite the fact that machines surpass people in skill. When the philosophers of 1970’s and 1980’s argued that computers will never surpass us in chess, perhaps their intuitions were rather saying “Computers will never be favored as opponents”? In this paper we analyse through the introduced concepts of (...) psychological affordances and psychological interplay, what are the mechanisms that make a human-human interaction more meaningful than a human-computer interaction. We claim that an HH chess game consists of two intertwined, but independent simultaneous games—only one of which is retained in the HC game. To help with the analysis we introduce the thought experiment of a Preferential Engagement Test which is inspired by, but non-equivalent to, the Standard Turing Test. We also explore how the PET can illuminate, and be illuminated by, various philosophies of mind reading: Theory Theory, Simulation Theory and Mind Minding. We propose that our analysis along with the concept of PET could illuminate in a new way the conditions and challenges a machine must face before it can replace humans in a given occupation. (shrink)

This article provides the original perspective on esotericism. Two author distinguishes between the two polar directions of esotericism – "transcendental" and "latent" ; as well as introduces the two postulates characteristic to the first direction that in previous research received the name of "classical". The article discusses what binds esotericism and philosophy, religion, and art; outlines the common aspects of these fields of knowledge and life activity are indicated ; examines the cases of interaction, and what caused the decline of (...) interest in esoteric teachings. The research consists of two parts. The first part explores the three cases that reveal a close link between esoteric, philosophical, scientific and literary thought, as well as the fact that esoteric ideas and concepts often enrich philosophy, science and art. The second part discusses the key reasons for the slump in esotericism: new cultural challenges that to which there is yet no esoteric answer, interception of esoteric discourse in a number of directions of contemporary art and philosophy. However, this pause is temporary, since esoteric path is one of the ways to prevail in personality culture; it can be assumed that esotericists will soon eliminate the existing gap. On the example of current interest in vampires, the author discusses certain peculiarities of the phenomenon of mysticism, which indicate that the phenomenon of vampirism is real, perhaps related to the forms of communication widely used in modern life. (shrink)

Günther PATZIG: Gesammelte Schriften, Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen, 4 vols: I, Grundlagen der Ethik, pp. 303; II, Angewandte Ethik, pp. 191; III, Aufsätze zur antiken Philosophie, pp.319; IV, Theoretische Philosophie, pp. 278.

Using the two cases of the Icelandic Health Sector Database and Russian initiatives in biobanking, the article criticizes the view of narratives and imaginaries as a sufficient and unproblematic means of shaping public understanding of genetics and justifying population-wide projects. Narrative representations of national biobanking engage particular imaginaries that are not bound by the universal normative framework of human rights, promote affective thinking, distract the public from recognizing and discussing tangible ethical and socioeconomic issues, and harm trust in science and (...) technology. In the Icelandic case, the presentation of the project in association with national imaginaries concealed its market identity and could lead to the commodification of biodata. In the Russian case, framing in terms of "genetic sovereignty" and "civilizational code" offers pretexts for state securitization. Adherence to normative framework of human rights and public discussion of genetics in an argumentative and factual mode can counter these trends. (shrink)

In the decision of modern problems of education and, first of all, removal of extreme measures of unification and autonomic of its development the significant role is got with strategy of optimum forming of a harmonious parity of sensual and rational approaches in the organization and conducting educational processes in preparation of youth for a life. Educational process is indissoluble unity sensual and rational as preparation of the person for a life it is necessary includes as purchase versatile and a (...) profound knowledge and skills, and the certain personal attitude (feelings, behaviors) it to the world, other people and to itself. If sensual approaches are characterized mainly by problems of formation of practical knowledge of the person about the validity, progresses of its first-hand experience and the attitude to a life within the limits of culture of the nearest environment rational approaches at the most are focused on progress of intelligence of the person, on formation of its capacity completely to capture and interpret great volume of the information. Both that, and another approaches contain the dignity and the lacks. Therefore, in rational strategy of education scholastic theoretical speculations quite often replaces everyday, practical knowledge. As a result, the person not always correctly understands and estimates the importance of the decision of those or other problems in sphere of the activity and development of the country.Rational approaches dominate over modern education systems. Rational domination in educational processes shows that there is a gap between scientific and personal models of an image of the world of the modern person. All this considerably affects moral consciousness of modern youth and its civil socialization. For this reason, it is important to lead at reforming education systems to conformity (harmony) of sensual and rational approaches. (shrink)

The most developed and the latest-to-mature mental skills represented in the creation of mono- versus polysemantic contexts are related respectively to the left and right frontal lobe. A polysemantic way of thinking is responsible for the subject's successful integration in the polydimensional world. The functional insufficiency of this right-hemispheric way of thinking displays a predisposition toward the development of mental disorders, including schizophrenia.

The article discusses the notion of metrical dualism as a phenomenon of the reader's perception of verse. The author analyzes the prosody and metrics of Marina Tsvetayeva's poems "Неподражаемо лжет жизнь". However, the aim of this study is not to interpret the metre of Tsvetayeva's verse, but rather to obtain a model of reading verse and thus show how the reader's perception of metre changes. Thus, the author consciously has not considered the metric or the logaoedic interpretations of this poem, (...) while approaching the text from the point of view of the reader's perception which is always aimed at the revealing of symmetric structures. This approach makes it possible to take into account such aspects as the variety of metric interpretations, the dynamic development of verse metre, the internal and external metrical boundaries in text, etc. The analysis of Tsvetayeva's verse reveals the interaction of two rhythmic patterns in the text, which is connected to the general meaning of the poem that tells the reader about the deceitfulness of life. (shrink)

This article attempts two things. First, it aims to reassess the literary criticism that Georg Lukács produced in the 1930s while he was living in the Soviet Union in light of his earlier, and much-esteemed, The theory of the novel. Second, in order to carry out this reassessment, it examines the place of Hegelian aesthetics in Lukács’s theorization of realism in the 1930s criticism, in relation both to contemporary Soviet writings on the subject and to his own earlier, ostensibly Hegelian (...) work. I argue that, at least in terms of the place of art in the historical dialectic, the later work is more consistent with Hegelian philosophy than The theory of the novel. (shrink)