Much has been said about the accuracy of the famous predictions of the Russian chemist Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendeleev, but far less has been written on how he made his predictions. Here we offer an explanation on how Mendeleev used his periodic system to predict both physical and chemical properties of little-known and entirely unknown chemical elements. We argue that there seems to be compelling evidence in favour of Mendeleev genuinely relying on his periodic system in the course of issuing (...) his predictions—a point recently contested by Woody Science after the practice turn in the philosophy, history, and social studies of science, Routledge, Abington, 2014). In particular, by using the known properties of a number of near neighbours of the three entirely unknown elements, we seek to show how the very format of his table enabled it to function as a powerful tool for Mendeleev in arriving at his predicted values. We suggest that Mendeleev’s use of the periodic system in making his prediction gives an illuminative example of what Woody calls “theoretical practices” in science. (shrink)

A quick question! Who’s the first name that comes to mind when the periodic table is mentioned? Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendeleev is the obvious and universal answer. And the second name? Most of you would probably agree with my answer: Eric R. Scerri, Lecturer in Chemistry and History and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and founding editor of this journal, devoted to the philosophy of chemistry, another of his specialties.Through the years I have followed Scerri’s (...) work on the periodic table, reading his numerous articles and reviewing his two previous books (Scerri 2007; Laing and Kauffman 2007; Scerri 2009; Kauffman 2011). In his latest book he comprehensively but succinctly examines this true cultural iconic symbol of science that is used by artists, advertisers, and of course, scientists in all fields. It is almost as familiar to the general public as the chemical formula for water, and an understanding and appreciation for it is essential to the physi. (shrink)

The heated debates and severe conflicts between the atomists and the anti-atomists of the latter half of the nineteenth century are well known to the historian of science. The position of Dmitrii Ivanovich Mendeleev towards these nineteenth century debates on atomism will be studied in this paper. A first attempt will thus be offered to reconcile Mendeleev’s seemingly contradictory comments and ambiguous standpoints into one coherent view.

In recent decades, memory has become one of the major concepts and a dominant topic in philosophy, sociology, politics, history, science, cultural studies, literary theory, and the discussions of trauma and the Holocaust. In contemporary debates, the concept of memory is often used rather broadly and thus not always unambiguously. For this reason, the clarification of the range of the historical meaning of the concept of memory is a very important and urgent task. This volume shows how the concept of (...) memory has been used and appropriated in different historical circumstances and how it has changed throughout the history of philosophy. In ancient philosophy, memory was considered a repository of sensible and mental impressions and was complemented by recollection-the process of recovering the content of past thoughts and perceptions. Such an understanding of memory led to the development both of mnemotechnics and the attempts to locate memory within the structure of cognitive faculties. In contemporary philosophical and historical debates, memory frequently substitutes for reason by becoming a predominant capacity to which one refers when one wants to explain not only the personal identity but also a historical, political, or social phenomenon. In contemporary interpretation, it is memory, and not reason, that acts in and through human actions and history, which is a critical reaction to the overly rationalized and simplified concept of reason in the Enlightenment. Moreover, in modernity memory has taken on one of the most distinctive features of reason: it is thought of as capable not only of recollecting past events and meanings, but also itself. In this respect, the volume can be also taken as a reflective philosophical attempt by memory to recall itself, its functioning and transformations throughout its own history. (shrink)

Zipf's law states that if words of language are ranked in the order of decreasing frequency in texts, the frequency of a word is inversely proportional to its rank. It is very reliably observed in the data, but to date it escaped satisfactory theoretical explanation. This article suggests that Zipf's law may result from a hierarchical organization of word meanings over the semantic space, which in turn is generated by the evolution of word semantics dominated by expansion of meanings and (...) competition of synonyms. A study of the frequency of partial synonyms in Russian provides experimental evidence for the hypothesis that word frequency is determined by semantics. (shrink)

From the editors of Voprosy filosofii:From August 17 to 22, the Eighth International Congress on the Logic. Methodology, and Philosophy of Science will convene in Moscow. The theme of this congress is "Man, Science, Humanism."The work of the congress will be organized in the following sections: 1. Foundations of mathematical reasoning. 2. The theory of models. 3. Foundations of calculability and recursion theory. 4. The theory of sets. 5. General logic. 6. The general methodology of science. 7. Foundations of probability (...) and statistical inference. 8. Foundations of the physical sciences. 9. Foundations of the biological sciences. 10. Foundations of psychology and the cognitive sciences. 11. Foundations of the social sciences. 12. Foundations and philosophy of linguistics. 13. The history of logic, methodology, and the philosophy of science.Two symposia are planned for the congress: "Science and Ethics" and "The New Style of Scientific Thinking in Natural Science." In addition to the main sections, several round tables will be organized at the congress on the following topics: J. The methodology of solving global problems of the modern epoch: a systems approach. 2. Methodological and social problems of computerization. 3. Factors in the development of modern scientific knowledge. 4. Methodological problems in the all-around development of man.The journal Voprosy filosofii has published a number of articles related to these problems over the past year . Soviet scholars are taking an active part in the preparation and organization of this congress. The journal plans in subsequent issues to publish materials for the congress under the most varied rubrics. In this issue, with D. P. Gorskii's article "The Concept of Real and Ideal Types," we are opening a special section in which we shall publish basic materials devoted to the Eighth International Congress on the Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to consider critically the humanistic potential of Olympism. We consider the concepts ‘human’ and ‘humanism’ from an existential perspective. Existentialism argues that human beings exist in a state of freedom. Freedom, as the basis of being human, holds a human fully responsible for his or her own existence. This responsibility assumes an active mode of behaviour, predicated on human effort. It can also include the making of specific artifacts such as creating creations. According to (...) Mamardashvili, creating creations are unique cultural mechanisms that remain in the boundaries of morality, beauty, thought and so on, adding quality to human existence. The article argues that the desire to be fulfilled as a human being is the moral basis to which Olympism directs Olympic athletes. Moreover, Olympism expresses the human’s need of self-overcoming, constant self-perfection which is necessary aspect of the humanity. Thus, the humanistic potential of Olympism lies in the fact that it allows for the creative space in sport which is itself a place for human realization. Therefore, Olympism can be characterized as opera operans, creating creation. (shrink)

The object of the research of this article is the modern philosophical discourse on the problem of identity of personality. The subject of the study is the substantial approach of R. Swinburne and his place in this discourse. The author analyzes R. Swinburne's approach and, in particular, its main advantages – the ability to solve the problem of personality reduplication. However, as the author of the article shows, the substantive approach itself is not devoid of vulnerabilities. First of all, he (...) is vulnerable to criticism using the verification principle. Swinburne believes that his approach is not consistent only with a strong version of the verification principle. However, as the author of this article shows, even a weak version of the verification principle is a problem for Swinburne's substantive approach. The author presents his own alternative to the substantial approach for overcoming the reduplication argument and interpreting hypothetical situations associated with it. Such an alternative is the perdurant theory of personality. The article presents a study in the field of the history of modern analytical philosophy. Therefore, the key research method used is historical and philosophical. In particular, the study used a textual analysis of the works of philosophers, first of all, R. Swinburne, according to several sources, a reconstruction of his views was carried out. The article also uses the method of comparative analysis, in particular, a comparison of empiricist approaches and a substantive approach to the problem of identity of personality is made. The article is devoted to the substantial concept of identity of R. Swinburne's personality. Despite the fact that this concept represents an important alternative to solving the problem of identity, it has not been studied much, especially in the Russian history of philosophy. The novelty of the article also lies in a detailed analysis of the verification counterargument in relation to the substantive approach. The author of the article also presents his own alternative to the substantial approach, which allows overcoming the indicated difficulties. As a result of the research, the author comes to the conclusion that the substantial approach only partially solves the problem of asynchronous identity of personality, and is most vulnerable to criticism with the help of the verification argument. (shrink)

The transition to the market economy, which began in Russia more than 30 years ago, has dramatically affected the performance of the Russian academic sphere. The market transformation in the country coincided with significant changes in the global academia. Bureaucratization and obsession with performance indicators have been very welcomed by the Russian system and have been incorporated in various academic excellence programs adopted in the country. A closer look at these programs reveals that the real driving force behind the initiatives (...) is not public spiritedness of the country’s policymakers but wishes of various groups to be engaged in the rent-seeking activities of contemporary Russia. The present paper focuses on the interplay between the predatory publishing industry and the apparent encouragement of fraudulent practices by some universities in Russia. It highlights the problem of “predatory universities” and explains the evolution of such strategies in the academic sphere of the country. The Russian case allows to look at the problems of the global academia from a new angle. It should be acknowledged that the predatory publishing industry is much greater than it seems within the initial “open access” model. It is clear that the authors are very often not less predators than the publishers, and this predatory ecosystem has been significantly expanded beyond the merely publisher-author interactions. Moreover, the noticeable players in these predatory markets are universities and governments that play with the systems designed by the leading citation databases and global ranking organisations, which apparently also benefit from these arrangements. (shrink)

The article is devoted to the study of the history of the "innovation ecosystem" concept formation and provides a simplified schematic representation of the system as five interacting modules. Innovations are assumed by national governments and companies as a source of long-term sustainability. In the past decade, there has been an increased interest in identifying approaches that would accelerate the development and deployment of innovations. The attention of the academic and business communities representatives to the innovation ecosystems underlines the fact (...) that it is ecosystems and IT platforms that implement them that are the most promising candidates for the role of an organizational structure for the accumulation and scaling of new knowledge in the era of the industrial revolution. (shrink)

Zipf's law states that if words of language are ranked in the order of decreasing frequency in texts, the frequency of a word is inversely proportional to its rank. It is very reliably observed in the data, but to date it escaped satisfactory theoretical explanation. This article suggests that Zipf's law may result from a hierarchical organization of word meanings over the semantic space, which in turn is generated by the evolution of word semantics dominated by expansion of meanings and (...) competition of synonyms. A study of the frequency of partial synonyms in Russian provides experimental evidence for the hypothesis that word frequency is determined by semantics. (shrink)

ch. 1. Vnitri cheloveka -- ch. 2. Vne cheloveka.

Throughout the 20th century, the theory and history of performing arts repeatedly attempted to systematize various phenomena in the field of interpretation of works of academic music. The number of performing styles and types in various researches has risen dramatically, until the beginning of this century when it was reduced to a single concept - to the category of an individual style. This topic was discussed mainly in research papers devoted to the theory of pianism. The results of their observations (...) and conclusions can be applied to the performing arts in general. The article mentions the works of K.A. Martinsen, D.A. Rabinovich, V.P. Chinaeva, A.V. Malinkovskaya and others. The topic of musical perception is addressed both in musicology and in musical psychology. This research offers a new vector for studying of musical perception, linking the features of musical imagery created by the performer and the nature of perception. The following aspects are revelated: patterns that allow us to talk about the types of musical image, the principles of its construction and the types of perception. This is an affective image created on the principle of contrast. It corresponds to the psychophysical type of perception. The contextual image is guided by the principle of connections. It corresponds to the aesthetic type of perception. The integrative image is formed, focusing on the principle of the whole. It corresponds to the symbolic type of perception. A hermetic system of typology is considered to be impossible; artistic practice will largely oppose it. However, these tendencies are able to shed light on the nature of musical perception and allow to continue the scientific discussion of the current topic of musical performance. (shrink)