The essay focuses on the aesthetic ideas of the informal association of the Russian artists known as “the World of Art”. The members of this association shared those clearly pronounced trends of aestheticism that had manifested in contemporaneous Europe as Art Nouveau, Secession, and Jugendstil. The main representatives and ideologists of the association, such artists as A. Benois, K. Somov, and M. Dobuzhinsky, sought to show, through both their art and their theoretical ideas, that most important in art is not (...) any social, domestic, political and other utilitarian perspective, but rather the artistic, aesthetic quality and beauty. (shrink)

Joule’s Energy Conservation Law was the first “meta-law”: a general principle that all physical equations must satisfy. It has led to many important and useful physical discoveries. However, a recent analysis seems to indicate that this meta-law is inconsistent with other principles—such as the existence of free will. We show that this conclusion about inconsistency is based on a seemingly reasonable—but simplified—analysis of the situation. We also show that a more detailed mathematical and physical analysis of the situation reveals that (...) not only Joule’s principle remains true—it is actually strengthened: it is no longer a principle that all physical theories should satisfy—it is a principle that all physical theories do satisfy. (shrink)

This paper examines the issue of Islamic political philosophy in terms of prophecy, revelation and divine law. It is important to note that philosophy, and Islamic politics are in a good relation with religion. In the present study I have developed this connection through the philosophical theories of the medieval philosopher Al-Farabi. What are the differences and similarities between philosophy and divine law, or between a philosopher and prophet? What are Al-Farabi’s most important political theories and what are the concepts (...) of virtuous city and democratic city? What is the philosophy of the Quran? Our study seeks to answer all this questions. The divine law sets the beliefs and actions of the Islamic community, while the theoretical aspects which relate to it are entrusted to the philosophers. Theology is a discipline which protects divine law and establishes the truth of a special revelation, political theology being complementary to political philosophy. Theology tries to develop a rational and coherent understanding of the divine law, to find out what is the prophecy and to differentiate the true prophets from the false ones. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Many studies have focused on the contributions and/or convergences among the ideas of Bakhtin, Vološinov and Medvedev, and other authors. Brazilian and foreign researchers have shown convergences between the thought of the German philosopher Ernst Cassirer and the aforementioned Russian thinkers. Cassirer problematizes what would give unity to culture, and this is a problem with which Bakhtin, Vološinov and Medvedev are also concerned. Thus, this article analyzes how this question (“what gives unity to culture?”) was answered, seeking convergences among (...) thoughts. We have gone through some of Cassirer’s writings to show how the philosopher has analyzed culture from a unity constituted by symbolization. Next, we see how this issue was addressed by Medvedev and Vološinov. Finally, we seek the way in which Bakhtin sought to understand cultural unity in the essay “The problem of content, material and form”. (shrink)

Peirce’s sign model is introduced as incompatible with structural semiology in the majority of semiotics textbooks. In this paper, I would like to argue against this general polarization of the semiotic discipline. I focus on compatibilities between Lucien Tesnière’s syntactic theory (verbal valency) and Peirce’s logic of relatives. My main argument is that structural linguistics is not necessarily dyadic, and that Peirce’s sign doctrine is perfectly structural. To define the structural approach in Peirce, I analyze the notions of form (structure) (...) and substance in Hjelmslev and Peirce. The aim of my argument is to contribute to attempts to introduce Peirce’s theory to the field of linguistics in the hope that such an integration will be beneficiary for general linguistics. To extend and support my argument, I provide some examples from biology where Peirce’s theory has been applied. I demonstrate an analogy between the biological structures of proteins and the structure of a sentence with Peirce’s own writings. I consequently introduce Peirce as the first structural semiologist and as the first biolinguist. (shrink)

Dans les cours italiennes du xve siècle, la danse et le combat, essentiels dans l’éducation du noble, participent à la définition de la place et du comportement des femmes et des hommes. Les maîtres à danser du Quattrocento, construisent et définissent la théorie et la pratique d’une danse savante et produisent un discours conforme à des normes politiques, sociales et genrées. Guillaume le Juif, définit précisément le rôle et la place de la femme qui danse. Antonio Corazzino, également homme d’armes, (...) poète et humaniste, exprime une vision de la bienséance, qui participe d'une conception plus générale des rôles attribués au genre. Les valeurs viriles assument une prééminence évidente dans l’évolution de la vie des cours. Les techniques du corps incarnent une réalité et un discours politique. Dans l'ensemble de son œuvre, le masculin et le féminin s’incarnent notamment dans les modèles de Mars et de Vénus, les deux faces de la Concordia discors, dans la femme qui danse et l’homme qui combat. (shrink)

New discoveries in the life sciences have affirmed that the virtual script as well as its context-dependent reading and interpretation determine the final living creature. An extended understanding of Darwinian Theory is crucial for understanding life as semiosis in terms of Peirce and Eco’s semiotic models. The semiosis of living systems is potentially unlimited. Genes are not static and unchangeable scripts, but can always be reinterpreted by new interpretants that illuminate them from different points of view, depending on which properties (...) are relevant in a particular context. The encyclopedia is a term, in Umberto Eco’s semiotics, which represents the multidimensional space of semiosis that is governed by a self-sustaining production of interpretants. The paper will present the idea of understanding the Extended Synthesis in terms of a biosemiotic enyclopedia. (shrink)

Immanuel Kant’s Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and the Sublime is examined in the context of the emergence of the epistemological practice of scientific observation. By focusing on the genre-stylistic and semantic-structural features of the text the authors demonstrate the mechanisms of observation as well as the methods of describing the results characteristic of mid-eighteenth century science. The authors consider Kant’s treatise to be a hybrid text: on the one hand, it attests to the importance of the natural (...) science paradigm and the degree of its influence on the humanities in the modern period; and, on the other hand, it bears witness to the multi-genre character of philosophical treatises, combining as they do the considered and serious wisdom of philosophy, the precision of scientific terminology and the figurativeness of a work of fiction. Kant is perceived not only as a researcher and philosopher capable of bringing out the essence of the particular and changeable captured in observation, but as a writer with a consummate command of the apparatus for keeping the reader’s attention through linguistic devices and practices of image-creating. The authors demonstrate how the categories of the “beautiful” and “sublime” become a general framework for the description of the moral and mental properties of human nature. The authors show that Kant’s use of “aesthetic” wording in the title of his treatise does not announce that his aim is analysis of artistic perception and practices, but mainly refers to the form of his anthropological study and conceptualisation of scientific knowledge. Kant has transferred the technique of visualisation from natural sciences to the objects of philosophical inquiry, thus contributing to the development in the humanities of representative practices, the scientific method of observation as well as the corresponding epistemic and literary genre. (shrink)

The present paper attempts to demonstrate semiotic arguments against the sequence → structure → function paradigm in protein studies. The unidirectional deterministic thinking in biological processes has been challenged by several disciplines of life sciences (epigenetics, proteomics, etc.) and philosophy (process philosophy). Biosemiotics comprehends living organisms as actively participating in their present and somehow creating or shaping their future, having a plurality of options for acting. Determinism and unidirectionality are in contradiction with a biosemiotic approach towards life, mostly when considering (...) Peirce’s triadic concept of semiosis. In this paper, a Peircean biosemiotic approach is applied to proteins and to the process of protein folding. Two main concepts are presented to support the arguments against the SSF paradigm in protein studies: the NonReduction Theorem and the notion of folded continuum. A processual approach is proposed as the most suitable for descriptions of proteins and their functions. (shrink)

The present paper attempts to demonstrate semiotic arguments against the sequence → structure → function paradigm in protein studies. The unidirectional deterministic thinking in biological processes has been challenged by several disciplines of life sciences and philosophy. Biosemiotics comprehends living organisms as actively participating in their present and somehow creating or shaping their future, having a plurality of options for acting. Determinism and unidirectionality are in contradiction with a biosemiotic approach towards life, mostly when considering Peirce’s triadic concept of semiosis. (...) In this paper, a Peircean biosemiotic approach is applied to proteins and to the process of protein folding. Two main concepts are presented to support the arguments against the SSF paradigm in protein studies: the NonReduction Theorem and the notion of folded continuum. A processual approach is proposed as the most suitable for descriptions of proteins and their functions. (shrink)

The present paper attempts to demonstrate semiotic arguments against the sequence → structure → function paradigm in protein studies. The unidirectional deterministic thinking in biological processes has been challenged by several disciplines of life sciences and philosophy. Biosemiotics comprehends living organisms as actively participating in their present and somehow creating or shaping their future, having a plurality of options for acting. Determinism and unidirectionality are in contradiction with a biosemiotic approach towards life, mostly when considering Peirce’s triadic concept of semiosis. (...) In this paper, a Peircean biosemiotic approach is applied to proteins and to the process of protein folding. Two main concepts are presented to support the arguments against the SSF paradigm in protein studies: the NonReduction Theorem and the notion of folded continuum. A processual approach is proposed as the most suitable for descriptions of proteins and their functions. (shrink)

Among the various appropriations and discussions of M.M. Bakhtin’s work, his ‘philosophy of the everday’ has received increasing recognition in Western scholarship that has complemented his reputation as a literary theorist, aesthetician, and linguist. For example, some critics have suggested that Bakhtin’s work on literature springs from his understanding of the novel as a ‘transcendental metaphor’ for life. Others have attempted to adapt Bakhtin’s work on literature and its emancipatory practical orientation to critical social theory. Such interpretive endeavors might be (...) valid in their respective contexts. However, they in effect obscure the fact that Bakhtin starts his intellectual career as a phenomenologist intent on giving a non-aesthetic explanation of the world, i.e., as human beings experience it through cognition and practical action prior to the mediation of art. In one of his earliest pieces, Toward a Philosophy of the Act, Bakhtin sets out to advance the foundations of a prima philosophia, a philosophical ontology that would explain human existence through categories of being rather than through those of representation. No matter how much of Bakhtin’s early work draws on the legacy of other thinkers, such an intention, unequivocally expressed, testifies to his investment in the philosophy of the real, the practical, and the everyday. In Bakhtin’s early essays, the human being—the figure around which his whole philosophy of the 1920’s revolves—is explicitly portrayed as a living, breathing individual and is carefully distinguished from a literary ‘hero’. (shrink)

Among the various appropriations and discussions of M.M. Bakhtin’s work, his ‘philosophy of the everday’ has received increasing recognition in Western scholarship that has complemented his reputation as a literary theorist, aesthetician, and linguist. For example, some critics have suggested that Bakhtin’s work on literature springs from his understanding of the novel as a ‘transcendental metaphor’ for life. Others have attempted to adapt Bakhtin’s work on literature and its emancipatory practical orientation to critical social theory. Such interpretive endeavors might be (...) valid in their respective contexts. However, they in effect obscure the fact that Bakhtin starts his intellectual career as a phenomenologist intent on giving a non-aesthetic explanation of the world, i.e., as human beings experience it through cognition and practical action prior to the mediation of art. In one of his earliest pieces, Toward a Philosophy of the Act, Bakhtin sets out to advance the foundations of a prima philosophia, a philosophical ontology that would explain human existence through categories of being rather than through those of representation. No matter how much of Bakhtin’s early work draws on the legacy of other thinkers, such an intention, unequivocally expressed, testifies to his investment in the philosophy of the real, the practical, and the everyday. In Bakhtin’s early essays, the human being—the figure around which his whole philosophy of the 1920’s revolves—is explicitly portrayed as a living, breathing individual and is carefully distinguished from a literary ‘hero’. (shrink)

Among the various appropriations and discussions of M.M. Bakhtin’s work, his ‘philosophy of the everday’ has received increasing recognition in Western scholarship that has complemented his reputation as a literary theorist, aesthetician, and linguist. For example, some critics have suggested that Bakhtin’s work on literature springs from his understanding of the novel as a ‘transcendental metaphor’ for life. Others have attempted to adapt Bakhtin’s work on literature and its emancipatory practical orientation to critical social theory. Such interpretive endeavors might be (...) valid in their respective contexts. However, they in effect obscure the fact that Bakhtin starts his intellectual career as a phenomenologist intent on giving a non-aesthetic explanation of the world, i.e., as human beings experience it through cognition and practical action prior to the mediation of art. In one of his earliest pieces, Toward a Philosophy of the Act, Bakhtin sets out to advance the foundations of a prima philosophia, a philosophical ontology that would explain human existence through categories of being rather than through those of representation. No matter how much of Bakhtin’s early work draws on the legacy of other thinkers, such an intention, unequivocally expressed, testifies to his investment in the philosophy of the real, the practical, and the everyday. In Bakhtin’s early essays, the human being—the figure around which his whole philosophy of the 1920’s revolves—is explicitly portrayed as a living, breathing individual and is carefully distinguished from a literary ‘hero’. (shrink)

This article provides a methodological tool for studying central civil service management structures (CCSMS) and their role in de-politicizing the civil service, thereby contributing to evidence-based civil service management. This tool can be used in comparative studies of CCSMS across, but also within countries, since civil service management functions are often split between several central organizations in one country. The comparative study of CCSMS is particularly useful for contemporary policy makers in EU member states, who currently face the challenge of (...) reforming civil service systems due to EU pressure. There is therefore an urgent need to establish which type of central structure would effectively support the EU’s favored values of professionalizing and de-politicizing the civil service. Stemming from theory on organizational autonomy, our typology focuses on two key dimensions of the CCSMS that support these values: decision-making autonomy over individual civil servants and structural accountability. (shrink)

Since the first degrees of musicality of mankind, the music became a sphere of investigation for naturalists (Darwin), economists (Karl Bücher), philosophers (Spencer, Schopenhauer, Cioran), who tried to explain, through their theories, the process of the beginning and settlement of this phenomenon as well as its influence on the human being.Schopenhauer will consider art, and especially music, as the only liberating form from delusion and suffering, from the omnipotence will to live. Making a strange parallelism between music and the will (...) to live, Schopenhauer will find between these two a report of identity: “the world is an incarnation of music as well as an incarnation of Will: There is no art besides music that expresses an ideal aspect of Will, the Will itself in its purest essence”.If at Schopenhauer the music expresses the Will itself in its purest essence, at Emil Cioran “the metaphysical madness of the musical experience… weakens the will to live and the vital main springs”.Through music Emil Cioran found the way to himself, to his ego and his profound musical nature.The moments of separating of the delusions world are for the human being moments in which the entire existence feels like a melody and all of the being’s sufferings assemble and melt into “a convergence of sounds, into a musical enthusiasm and into a warm and resonant universal community”, into a “sweet and rhythmic immateriality”. (shrink)

Since the first degrees of musicality of mankind, the music became a sphere of investigation for naturalists (Darwin), economists (Karl Bücher), philosophers (Spencer, Schopenhauer, Cioran), who tried to explain, through their theories, the process of the beginning and settlement of this phenomenon as well as its influence on the human being.Schopenhauer will consider art, and especially music, as the only liberating form from delusion and suffering, from the omnipotence will to live. Making a strange parallelism between music and the will (...) to live, Schopenhauer will find between these two a report of identity: “the world is an incarnation of music as well as an incarnation of Will: There is no art besides music that expresses an ideal aspect of Will, the Will itself in its purest essence”.If at Schopenhauer the music expresses the Will itself in its purest essence, at Emil Cioran “the metaphysical madness of the musical experience… weakens the will to live and the vital main springs”.Through music Emil Cioran found the way to himself, to his ego and his profound musical nature.The moments of separating of the delusions world are for the human being moments in which the entire existence feels like a melody and all of the being’s sufferings assemble and melt into “a convergence of sounds, into a musical enthusiasm and into a warm and resonant universal community”, into a “sweet and rhythmic immateriality”. (shrink)

This article investigates one of the major problems of modern political philosophy – the problem of justice in its fundamentally important methodological measurement in the Context of Ukraine. It’s consistently shown that justice belongs to a prominent place among the moral and social values: particularly its people owe to each other, because it is the scale, which measured freedom, equality and human rights.For this purpose it is analyzed the relationship and difference of methodological changes in grasping the concept of justice (...) in the works of K-O-Apel, J.Habermas, O.Höffe, R.Forst. It was found that Habermas interprets a new essence of solidarity and justice as normative principles of a democratic state where the requirement of respect for the dignity of each based on the acceptance of the inviolability of his body, life and property. It is proved that O.Höffe draws attention to the need of fundamental changes in the understanding of social justice, emphasizing the pre-modern, paternalistic sense of distributive models. Іn the writings of R.Frost social justice gain a political dimension, just as political or social relationship can exist only in case of their full justification, respect for human dignity. In the latest theories of justice is said that the victim of injustice is firstly the one who is ignored both in the process of manufacturing and distribution of public goods. To conclude: only the justice of exchange permits us to solve the immediate, practical dilemma: should one hand over a part of one’s freedom to social, state, authoritative structures, or be independent of them and be unable to resort to their assistance in case of emergency. People, perforce, mutually abandon part of their freedom as legal agents in order to enjoy their right for freedom. If this abandonment is universal, such exchange may be considered just. By insisting that everything individual is also social because it requires and is embedded into social context, R.Forst presents intersubjectivity as a fundamental dimension of human existence that shows itself in our ability to self-determination, i.e. freedom, but within the limits of human community. Also his point is that our obligations are no less rooted in our existence than our rights, and law has no priority over good and depends on moral good as a defining factor of justice. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Many studies, aiming to analyze the philosophical roots of the ideas of the so-called “Bakhtin Circle,” have shown some convergences between the thought of the German philosopher Ernst Cassirer and the ideas outlined by the Circle’s authors. Therefore, in this article, we seek to compare Cassirer’s theories about “cultural sciences” with Bakhtin’s reflections on these same sciences. Throughout the article, we point out similarities and differences in the discussions presented by the two authors. We highlight a clear similarity in (...) the ways in which the authors (Cassirer and Bakhtin) approach the object of human sciences as opposed to the object of natural sciences, based on the idea of “personification” and “thingification” (Bakhtin) and knowledge of the “other” and knowledge of the “thing” (Cassirer). We concluded that this similarity would be due to the reading that both authors would have made of the works of Scheler, Dilthey and Rickert. (shrink)

The positions of Christian Wolff and Im­manuel Kant on the possibility of proving the existence of God require some examination. Wolff’s critique of the physical-theological proof and his proposed ways of improving it are here analysed. God is central to Wolff’s philosophical system and the fundamental prerequisite of his theoretical and practical philosophy. Although Wolff insists that the natural law is inherent in human nature and can therefore be comprehended by human reason without turning to divine revelation, in reality God (...) is the creator of this natural law and the cause of its perfection. Accordingly, faith in the true God in Wolff’s philosophy is obligatory for achieving the supreme degree of virtue, whereas pagans and atheists can achieve only its lowest degree. Kant criticises traditional proofs of the existence of God both in his pre-critical and critical periods. The author looks at the role God plays in Kant’s practical philosophy. Comparing the positions of Kant and Wolff, the author finds many similarities between them. Chief of them is that although both thinkers saw the moral/natural law as universal and obligating regardless of a person’s faith in God, in fact faith in God turned out to be an inevitable consequence of the true moral attitude of the individual. (shrink)

The article concerns one of the principal and most important concepts of Kant’s philosophy, namely the concept of postulate. Kant’s understanding of this term differs from the previous tradition. For Kant, postulates are originally subjective propositions necessarily supposed as objective ones. Otherwise, systematic theoretical cognition and compliance with the moral law become impossible. However, this peculiarity of Kant’s terminology is often ignored, which causes misunderstanding of the role and functions of Kant’s doctrine of postulates as a whole.

The article concerns the main lines of reception of the philosophical ideas of B. Spinoza. Estimates of the work of this thinker, his role and importance have undergone significant changes in the course of the development of Western European and Russian philosophical thought. It focuses on the study of the transformations occurred in the approach and nature of evaluations of the main philosophical ideas of Spinoza in the Western European philosophical space, primarily in Germany and France. At the same time, (...) we can state that the peak of interest in the philosophy of Spinoza in these national traditions seriously diverges in time. Initially, we can talk about the predominance of interest in Spinoza’s philosophy on the part of German-speaking thinkers. For a long time, Spinoza’s philosophy was characterized as atheistic and, in connection with this, was subjected to fierce criticism. It is the German enlighteners who are credited with reviving interest in Spinoza’s philosophy at a new level. At the same time, the philosophical views of this thinker not only cease to be assessed as atheistic, but are sometimes perceived in the exact opposite way - as imbued with genuine religious faith. F. Schleiermacher can be considered here as a striking example of such an approach to Spinoza’s philosophy. In the future, interest in Spinoza’s philosophy was maintained in the German-speaking philosophical space due to the reception of his ideas by Hegel, Feuerbach, and Neo-Kantians. In French-language philosophy, interest in Spinoza wakes up much later - in the middle-second half of the 20th century, which is associated primarily with such name as Deleuze. However, this “French Renaissance” of Spinoza’s philosophy can be considered as no less significant than the Renaissance of the age of German Enlightenment. It was “French Spinozism” that brought the study of Spinoza’s philosophy to the international level, significantly expanding their conceptual framework. (shrink)

The subject of the proposed paper is the disclosure of prerequisites and determinants of the implementation of the soteriological concept of studying the interdisciplinary course of bioethics, the structural model and synectic algorithm of its comprehension and epistemological map of formation of soteriological competence of the future specialist during the study of bioethics. The methodological basis for the implementation of the proposed project is the theory of research-oriented professional education and, thereafter, technology of advanced learning, which provide wide opportunities to (...) study the course of bioethics in the form of observation of remote virtual experiments on the portal Go-Lab; GRAASP environment for the implementation of author's developments and pedagogically structured programs in the process of performative interaction between teacher and students. The scientific novelty of the material is to substantiate the content of anthropological competencies of future specialists in biomedical specialties and the strategies of obtaining them on the basis of the principles of hermeneutic didactics. Conclusions. Today, obviously, the task of bioethics is not only to protect nature and human life, but also to participate in the realization of the high mission of Salvation. This defines the research field of bioethics as a space of secret dialogue, in which it is desirable to find a place not only for the voice of clinicians, pharmacists, engineers, philosophers, public figures, but also the pastoral voice of the Church. (shrink)

In thesis VI of Walter Benjamin’s On the Concept of History, we find the sentence of danger in which the dead are, which we can think of as a threat of a second death, or symbolic death of the oppressed tradition of which the historiographer has to be alert. Now, if there is a second death it is because there is a life after natural death, that is a survival [Nachleben] of the past in the present. This survival, in the (...) context of the theses of 1940, is possible to weave it with the notions of historical experience [Erfahrung] and the transmission thereof. Faced with the danger of the absolute disappearance of what has been truncated, the German author exposes the need to save it, that is, to carry out a redemption, a remembrance. In this sense, redemption would operate as a second chance, or second instance, of those who have already had a natural death, and who therefore survive, are in their "over-life", which is on the verge of disappearing. Redemption, in these terms, is reconfigured as a form of resistance, then, against the possible annihilation that would bury definitively those signifiers, those memories. Here we will essay thinking this possibles intersections between the benjaminians notions of survival, historic experience and redemption, and the lacanian notion of second death, for being able to think the duality of natural and simbolic death and life, the failed of natural death -the possibiliy of redemption that allows- and the absolut and irreversible character of second death. (shrink)

Regardless of its ontological status and seemingly subsidiary role, the beyond—real, oneiric, imaginary, or otherworldly—constitutes, I intend to argue, an indispensable and complementary component of any dystopian reality. Paradoxically, it may be claimed that what lies outside a given dystopia—beyond its impassable boundaries—determines, ultimately, whether we deal with the Orwellian or the Hollywood type of "bad world."1 Contrary to the latter, the former systematically compromises and eliminates one kind of the beyond after another, leaving its inhabitants with neither space nor (...) time nor discourse that could allow them to imagine that they are behind the confines of dystopia. No matter how far Winston Smith... (shrink)

Focusing on the broadly conceived principle of hospitality, the essay offers an analysis of Joshua Barnes's Gerania, a highly original but little-studied late seventeenth-century utopia set in India and featuring the Pygmies as utopians and Homer as their lawgiver. It is argued that Barnes's utopia offers a radical alternative to the policy of closure and isolation adopted in early modern utopian commonwealths. Its peculiar construction results in the unique openness of the narrator's discourse to an alien word and of the (...) ideal world to outsiders, their outlandish beliefs, rules and artifacts. (shrink)

The main result of this paper were announced in Kosheleva — Kreinovich [7, 8]; for other algorithmic aspects of Hilbert's Third Problem see Kosheleva [6]. The authors are greatly thankful to Alexandr D. Alexandrov , Vladimir G. Boltianskii and Patrick Suppes for valuable discussions, and to the anonymous referee for important suggestions. This work was partially supported by an NSF grant No. CDA-9015006.

The concept of protosemiosis or semiosis at the lower levels of the living goes back to Giorgio Prodi, Thomas A. Sebeok and others. More recently, a typology of proto-signs was introduced by Sharov and Vehkavaara. Kull uses the term of vegetative semiosis, defined by iconicity, when referring to plants and lower organism semiosis. The criteria for the typology of proto-signs by Sharov and Vehkavaara are mostly based on two important presuppositions: agency and a lack of representation in low-level semiosis. We (...) would like to focus on an alternative approach to protosign classification. In particular, we aim to provide a sign-typological characteristic of proteins (in analogy to Maran’ s classification of environmental signs). Our approach is focused on representation, that is, we only consider the relation between a sign and its object. We are considering representation independently from the role of interpretant and interpretation (which is an epiphenomenon of agency). Two hypotheses are investigated and accordingly evaluated in this paper: (I) Proteins are indexical protosigns. (II) Proteins are iconic protosigns. The conclusion our argumentation leads to supports the hypothesis (II). (shrink)

This article examines the pragmatic comprehensibility of indirect reporting. The research problem is to determine how Russian EFL learners (linguists and non-linguists) are able to turn original utterances expressing the intentions of native speakers of American English in direct speech into indirect reports to a third party. Two major issues are analyzed: adequacy of semantic content and preservation of pragmatic enrichment. The study was carried out employing the framework of Kecskes’Socio-Cognitive Approach(2008, 2010, 2014, 2017). Twelve stimulus-utterances belonging to three communicative (...) types (statements, questions, commands/requests) were video-recorded. Qualitative and quantitative analyses revealed that the participants met with some difficulties preserving the speaker’s intention while interpreting attached pragmatic enrichment and perlocutionary effect. Both cohorts of Russian EFL learners were able to preserve the semantic content relatively efficiently, but encountered substantial difficulties inferring a complex pragmatic content. (shrink)

The article represents the research of the existing stage of Ukrainian language and cultural development, aims both to reveal the peculiarities of up-to-date linguistic and cultural dynamics and to provide the analysis of practical experience of the contemporary nations in terms of protection and preservation their cultural identity. The authors evaluate the influence of globalization processes on the development of national language and culture, outline the prospects for development of the Ukrainian national identity in the conditions of global competition of (...) different language and cultural systems and make the conclusion that globalization and competition of different linguistic and cultural traditions provide significant impetus for the renewal and development of the Ukrainian language and culture, the growth of its information resource and expansion of functional sphere of the Ukrainian language. As a result of investigating the current state and peculiarities of Ukraine's linguistic and cultural dynamics, the authors emphasize the fact, that the peculiarities of the modern Ukrainian language and cultural situation are characterized by the spread of the phenomenon of "bilingualism" among a significant part of its citizens and recapitulate that in the conditions of global competition of different linguistic and cultural traditions, Ukrainian round-the-clock multimedia news sites, various analytical, information-thematic, search-abstract and entertaining Internet resources actively promote the representation of national and cultural identity of the country, represent Ukraine as a modern, independent, and authentic nation. (shrink)

The article concerns history, its origins, goals, and end. The article focuses on two concepts of historical development. One is the concept of the “end of history” by Francis Fukuyama. The article’s authors consider in detail the main provisions of this concept. However, the main emphasis is on the critical reception of this concept within the framework of the philosophy of liberation (represented by Arturo Andrés Roig). Roig’s criticism reveals the Eurocentrism inherent in this concept and shows that it carries (...) the main features inherent in the European worldview and European mentality, which is why it is initially perceived as unsuitable for the Latin American continent. The second concept of historical development analyzed in this article is the earlier concept of the “Axial Age” by K. Jaspers. This concept is often perceived as one of the most striking anti-Eurocentric concepts. At the same time, Jaspers himself is regarded as the founder of the dialogue of cultures and intercultural philosophy and a supporter of civilizational pluralism. The article consistently analyzes three aspects of this concept - the motivation for its creation (presented by Jaspers himself), the criteria for identifying historical and prehistoric cultures (and the associated identification of three centers of the axial period), and the question of the possibility of a new axial age. The article argues that Jaspers’ concept can rightly be called Eurocentric rather than anti-Eurocentric, since both in the initial motivation for creating this concept and in the process of its development and vision of the prospects for the possibility of a new axial age, Jaspers proceeds from the presuppositions characteristic of the European worldview, which is universalized by him and presented as objective and the only correct ones. Ultimately, the study shows that the fight against Eurocentrism is a logical continuation of the latter and carries all the main features of the European mentality. (shrink)

The coming to office of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil has brought to the fore the need to understand the rise of the far right and to come to terms with the conflicted legacies of more than a decade of rule under the Workers’ Party. This forum brings together six leading intellectuals from different traditions on the left and introduces their reflections on the contradictions and complexities of the Workers’ Party, the 2008 crisis, the June 2013 protests, the weakness of the (...) Brazilian left, corruption, and on how to characterise Bolsonaro’s regime. Their interventions offer crucial insights that are relevant today not just to Brazil, or even Latin America, but to the politics of the left worldwide. (shrink)

The coming to office of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil has brought to the fore the need to understand the rise of the far right and to come to terms with the conflicted legacies of more than a decade of rule under the Workers’ Party. This forum brings together six leading intellectuals from different traditions on the left and introduces their reflections on the contradictions and complexities of the Workers’ Party, the 2008 crisis, the June 2013 protests, the weakness of the (...) Brazilian left, corruption, and on how to characterise Bolsonaro’s regime. Their interventions offer crucial insights that are relevant today not just to Brazil, or even Latin America, but to the politics of the left worldwide. (shrink)

1. Prof. PhDr. František Daneš, DrSc. ; Prof. PhDr. Eva Hajičová, DrSc. ; PhDr. Pavel Jančák, CSc. ; Prof PhDr. Miroslav Komárek, DrSc. ; Doc. PhDr. Iva Nebeská, CSc. ; Prof. PhDr. Bohumil Palek, DrSc. ; PhDr Jaromír Povejšil, CSc. ; PhDr. Marie Těšitelová, DrSc. ; Prof. PhDr. Oldřich Uličný, DrSc. ; Prof. PhDr. Radoslav Večerka, DrSc. -- 2. Jan Balhar, Zoe Hauptová, Milan Jelínek, Jan Kořenský, Jiří Kraus, Jaroslav Kuchař, Zdena Palková, Petr Sgall, Dušan Šlosar, Ludmila Uhlířová.

“The Case of `The Yellow Notebook'” contains reminiscences of Wittgenstein's conversations with the philosopher Tatiana Gornshteyn (1904-80) on his visit to Leningrad in 1935. The reminiscences are contained in a document written by her daughter Ludmila. It records a story about a “Yellow Notebook” of his work (in the genre of his so-called Blue and Brown Books)—a notebook that, it is claimed, Wittgenstein gave to Tatiana and was subsequently lost. Attempts have been made to find it in Russia and (...) all have failed. Biographical and historical context is provided in an introductory essay by the translator. (shrink)

Richard Janko's acclaimed translation of Aristotle's _Poetics_ is accompanied by the most comprehensive commentary available in English that does not presume knowledge of the original Greek. Two other unique features are Janko's translations with notes of both the _Tractatus Coislinianus_, which is argued to be a summary of the lost second book of the Poetics, and fragments of Aristotle’s dialogue On Poets, including recently discovered texts about catharsis, which appear in English for the first time.

Surging from the ontopoietic vital timing of life, human self-consciousness prompts the innermost desire to rise above its brute facts. Imaginatio creatrix inspires us to fabulate these facts into events and plots with personal significance attempting to delineate a life-course in life-stories within the ever-flowing stream – existence. Seeking their deep motivations, causes and concatenations, we fabulate relatively stabilized networks of interconnecting meaning – history. But to understand the meaning and sense of these networks’ reconfigurations call for the purpose and (...) telos of our endless undertaking; they remain always incomplete, carried onwards with the current of life, while fluctuating with personal experience in the play of memory. Facts and life stories, subjective desires and propensities, the circumambient world in its historical moves, creative logos and mythos, personal freedom and inward stirrings thrown in an enigmatic interplay, prompt our imperative thirst for the meaning of this course, its purpose and its fulfillment – the sense of it all. To disentangle all this animates the passions of the literary genius. The focus of this collection is to isolate the main arteries running through the intermingled forces prompting our quest to endow life with meaning. Papers by: Jadwiga Smith, Lawrence Kimmel, Alira Ashvo-Munoz, William D. Melaney, Imafedia Okhamafe, Michel Dion, Franck Dalmas, Ludmila Molodkina, Victor Gerald Rivas, Rebecca M. Painter, Matti Itkonen, Raymond J. Wilson III, Christopher S. Schreiner, Bruce Ross, Bernadette Prochaska, Tsung-I Dow, Jerre Collins, Cezary Jozef Olbromski, Victor Kocay, Roberto Verolini. (shrink)

Ṣadr, Muḥammad Bāqir; Islamic philosophy; 20th century.

Experiencia, cuerpo y montaje: una lectura sobre la subjetividad como problema semejante entre la filosofía de Walter Benjamin y el teatro-danza de Pina Bausch. Resumen de Tesis de doctorado en Filosofía de Ludmila Hlebovich.

Classical Sanskrit commentary on Brahmasūtra; includes original Sanskrit text with English translation.