This article discusses the role of representative strategies in twentieth-century Russian culture. Just as Russia interacted with Europe in the Marquis de Custine’s time via discourse and representation, in the twentieth century Russia re-entered European consciousness by simulating ‘socialism’. In the post-Soviet era, the nation aspired to be admitted to the ‘European house’ by simulating a ‘market economy’, ‘democracy’, and ‘postmodernism’. But in reality Russia remains the same country as before, torn between the reality of its own helplessness and poverty, (...) and the messianic myth of its own greatness. Post-Soviet culture is a product of Stalinist culture. ‘Russian postmodernism’ was created less by artists, writers, poets, and film makers, than by theorists and critics. At the beginning of the 1990s, a need to describe contemporary Russian culture emerged. In this way, ‘Russian postmodernism’ arose from the desire to ‘sell’ projects in the West—from the simple obligation to describe socialist experience in concrete, transferable terms that Westerners could grasp. The nostalgia experienced by the post-Soviet era creates its own simulated postmodernism , in which the matrices of the construction and functioning of culture cease to be connected with specifically Russian (Soviet) history, and instead reproduce Western models almost exactly. We are facing yet another attempt at radical cultural modernization. If the first attempt (revolutionary culture) was the most original and fruitful, and the second (Stalinist culture, Socialist Realism) was less productive but still original, then the third, post-Soviet, attempt (rich in individuality, but lacking in original ideas or style) is for the moment the least productive and original. If we exclude sots-art (conceptualism) from ‘Russian postmodernism’, there would be nothing left. Clearly, an original cultural model in post-Soviet Russia will not take shape until original strategies for processing the country’s cultural past are developed. In their turn, these strategies can only result from a radical transformation of post-Soviet identity into a new, genuinely Russian one. (shrink)

This article discusses the role of representative strategies in twentieth-century Russian culture. Just as Russia interacted with Europe in the Marquis de Custine’s time via discourse and representation, in the twentieth century Russia re-entered European consciousness by simulating ‘socialism’. In the post-Soviet era, the nation aspired to be admitted to the ‘European house’ by simulating a ‘market economy’, ‘democracy’, and ‘postmodernism’. But in reality Russia remains the same country as before, torn between the reality of its own helplessness and poverty, (...) and the messianic myth of its own greatness. Post-Soviet culture is a product of Stalinist culture. ‘Russian postmodernism’ was created less by artists, writers, poets, and film makers, than by theorists and critics. At the beginning of the 1990s, a need to describe contemporary Russian culture emerged. In this way, ‘Russian postmodernism’ arose from the desire to ‘sell’ projects in the West—from the simple obligation to describe socialist experience in concrete, transferable terms that Westerners could grasp. The nostalgia experienced by the post-Soviet era creates its own simulated postmodernism , in which the matrices of the construction and functioning of culture cease to be connected with specifically Russian (Soviet) history, and instead reproduce Western models almost exactly. We are facing yet another attempt at radical cultural modernization. If the first attempt (revolutionary culture) was the most original and fruitful, and the second (Stalinist culture, Socialist Realism) was less productive but still original, then the third, post-Soviet, attempt (rich in individuality, but lacking in original ideas or style) is for the moment the least productive and original. If we exclude sots-art (conceptualism) from ‘Russian postmodernism’, there would be nothing left. Clearly, an original cultural model in post-Soviet Russia will not take shape until original strategies for processing the country’s cultural past are developed. In their turn, these strategies can only result from a radical transformation of post-Soviet identity into a new, genuinely Russian one. (shrink)

Hilbert-style axiomatic systems are presented for versions of the modal logics K, where {D, 4, 5}, with noncontingency as the sole modal primitive. The classes of frames characterized by the axioms of these systems are shown to be first-order definable, though not equal to the classes of serial, transitive, or euclidean frames. The canonical frame of the noncontingency logic of any logic containing the seriality axiom is proved to be nonserial. It is also shown that any class of frames definable (...) in the noncontingency language contains the class of functional frames, and dually, there exists a greatest consistent normal noncontingency logic. (shrink)

Diagnostics is becoming one of the most important kinds of epistemic practice: accurate and timely diagnosis is necessary not only for ill people, but for economic, social and political systems and institutions, culture, science, technology, and ecosystems. The analysis of researches into diversity of diagnostics used in various branches enabled the author to develop the outline of the philosophical theory of diagnostics, to identify its subject matter and problems, to name the categories and principles of the epistemological and methodological analysis (...) of diagnostics activities, and to characterize its essential components. Diagnostics is defined as the process of developing cognitive perception of the object being investigated (sought for) and identifying it with existing knowledge of the object (orobjects of the same type). Diagnostics has the following constituents: a) determining something known and constant in the unknown and inconstant; b) identifying the single and occurent with the “ready-made” classification schemes and explanatory patterns, i.e. identifying it with the common and consistent; associating new facts with the known, common and consistent by applying well-tried methods, algorithms and technologies. The author identifies two levels of diagnostics: factual (empirical) and discursive. Discourse is defined as a finite course of reasoning based on a common concept. Reasoning is defined as the search for an answer to a cognitively significant question through drawing a conclusion (making a deduction). The author also analyses the role of argumentative, interpretative (explanatory), qualifying and predictive reasoning in the diagnostic thinking. The specific character of the diagnostic search is determined by an all-important role played in its process by a priori normative (paradigmatic) knowledge, as well as by its orientation to the cognition of the single and individual. The article alsotouches upon the issue of relationship between diagnostics and research investigation. This enables the author to specify the nature of scientific work and identify the correlation of existing knowledge and innovations. (shrink)

The purpose of the study is to identify the influence of the temporality of Enlightenment on the genesis and evolution of classical ideologies of Modernity. The scientific novelty it consists in the fact that the classical ideologies of modernity are presented as competing strategies for the appropriation of time by collective subjects of historical dynamics. In conservatism, the object of appropriation is an idealized past, in liberalism – an intense present, in Marxism – a bright future. As a result, it (...) can be concluded that it was the presence of a trimodal ideology, which included conservatism, liberalism and Marxism, that created the prerequisites for the simultaneous existence and dynamic development of multiple Modernities implemented within the framework of a common cultural and civilizational project. (shrink)

The article critically examines the ideas of the Dutch philosopher and ethnologist Annemarie Mol. Her main work, “The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice”, is mainly subjected to analysis. According to the author of the article, A. Mol managed to offer his own version of the “ontological turn” and, perhaps, change the accents in the entire theoretical repertoire of actor-network theory (ANT). She, carrying out a “police investigation” in hospital Z, was able to show the multiplicity of ontologies of the (...) body and its disease / illness. What is called the illness is represented by a large number of actors – people, their relationships, tools, diagnostic methods, etc. – which together can be represented as an assembly or assemblage. The “choreography of the ontology” of such an assembly is contingent, since it may be different. (shrink)

We give a new proof of the following result : it is undecidable whether a given calculus, that is a finite set of propositional formulas together with the rules of modus ponens and substitution, axiomatizes the classical logic. Moreover, we prove the same for every superintuitionistic calculus. As a corollary, it is undecidable whether a given calculus is consistent, whether it is superintuitionistic, whether two given calculi have the same theorems, whether a given formula is derivable in a given calculus. (...) The proof is by reduction from the undecidable halting problem for the so-called tag systems introduced by Post. We also give a historical survey of related results. (shrink)

We describe approximation algorithms for MAX SAT with performance ratios arbitrarily close to 1, in particular, when performance ratios exceed the limits of polynomial-time approximation. Namely, given a polynomial-time α-approximation algorithm , we construct an -approximation algorithm . The algorithm runs in time of the order ck, where k is the number of clauses in the input formula and c is a constant depending on α. Thus we estimate the cost of improving a performance ratio. Similar constructions for MAX 2SAT (...) and MAX 3SAT are also described. Taking known algorithms as , we obtain particular upper bounds on the running time of. (shrink)

In this paper, we examine the epistemological and ontological assumptions algorithmic hiring assessments make about job seekers’ attributes (e.g., competencies, skills, abilities) and the ethical implications of these assumptions. Given that both traditional psychometric hiring assessments and algorithmic assessments share a common set of underlying assumptions from the psychometric paradigm, we turn to literature that has examined the merits and limitations of these assumptions, gathering insights across multiple disciplines and several decades. Our exploration leads us to conclude that algorithmic hiring (...) assessments are incompatible with attributes whose meanings are context-dependent and socially constructed. Such attributes call instead for assessment paradigms that offer space for negotiation of meanings between the job seeker and the employer. We argue that in addition to questioning the validity of algorithmic hiring assessments, this raises an often overlooked ethical impact on job seekers’ autonomy over self-representation: their ability to directly represent their identity, lived experiences, and aspirations. Infringement on this autonomy constitutes an infringement on job seekers’ dignity. We suggest beginning to address these issues through epistemological and ethical reflection regarding the choice of assessment paradigm, the means to implement it, and the ethical impacts of these choices. This entails a transdisciplinary effort that would involve job seekers, hiring managers, recruiters, and other professionals and researchers. Combined with a socio-technical design perspective, this may help generate new ideas regarding appropriate roles for human-to-human and human–technology interactions in the hiring process. (shrink)

In his later work, Metafizicheskie predpolozheniia poznaniia. Opyt preodoleniia Kanta i kantianstva [Metaphysical Presuppositions of Knowledge. An Attempt to Overcome Kant and Kantianism], Evgeny N. Trubetskoy tried to overcome the Kantian tradition in philosophy in order to advance his conception of all-unity and the philosophy of absolute and unconditional consciousness. Despite insisting on the distinction between the “historical Kant” and Neo-Kantianism, in reality Trubetskoy was strongly dependent on the Neo-Kantian interpretation of Kant’s philosophy, which meant that his fight against (...) Kantian philosophy was really fought against a conception of Kant he unconsciously adopted from the Neo-Kantians. Evidence of this can be seen in his interpretation of the theory of knowledge and its tasks, his thesis concerning the antimetaphysical direction of Kantian philosophy, and his insistence on the presence of the transcendental method in Kant’s philosophy. (shrink)

A peculiarity of early medieval geometrical texts was that alongside Euclid's Elements they transmitted remnants of the corpus of Roman land surveyors and metaphysical digressions extraneous to geometry proper. Rather than dismissing these additions as irrelevant, this essay attempts to elucidate the cultural grounds for the indiscriminate mixture of the three disciplines -- geometry, surveying, and metaphysics. Inquiry into the broader context of early medieval culture suggests that neither geometry nor surveying was treated as an independent discipline. Texts on geometry (...) and surveying were studied mainly because they were thought to provide good opportunities for enlarging the scope of meditation on spiritual subjects. Accordingly, the main concern of this essay is to show how Christian symbolism influenced both the composition and the study of geometrical texts. The essay is based on a wide range of sources: treatises on geometry and surveying, pictorial representations of Creation, and philosophical literature in which geometry was used in arguments about ontological doctrines. (shrink)

In their article, A.M. Dorozhkin and S.V. Shibarshina focus on the concepts of problem, task, and features of a creative personality as a single isolated agent. To a certain extent, such view is “opposed” by the socio-epistemic approach, since today it is extremely difficult to consider a person outside the socio-cultural context. In my paper, I discuss the distinctive features of the concepts of tasks and problems in connection with the fields of science and education. As an example of a (...) kind of creative adaptation practice, to which modern scientists are forced to resort (taking into account difficult socio-economic realities), I consider “tayloring” – a type of activity of “creative” written justification of the importance and usefulness of basic research (J. Calvert). The collective and institutional aspects of modern science, which play a role in the possible limitation of the process of generating new (creative) ideas in science, are discussed (P. Stanford). I agree with A.M. Dorozhkin and S.V. Shibarshina, that the method of epistemological randomization is most specific for the field of philosophy. Following C. Rovelli, it is emphasized that philosophy can serve as an important “creative resource” for scientific activity. (shrink)

This paper is an attempt to construct a bridge between dialectics and mathematics, to interpret main dialectical laws in terms of the theory of dynamical systems. Negation is interpreted as a discrete shift along the dynamical system trajectory. For conservative systems, double negation law is trivial as in formal logic; for non-conservative systems, this law means slow evolution of the system under consideration. There are also mathematical interpretations for the transition from quantity to quality and interconnection between opposites.

The depiction of pictures as specified points in a functional space is achieved by vector encoding. Picture-selective neurons are added to the declarative memory in the process of learning. New neurons are recruited from stem cells through their proliferation and differentiation. Electrical stimulation of the temporo-parietal cortex produces subjective scenes of the past similar to imagery.

This paper analyzes the creative interaction between Ivan Bunin and Lev Shestov. After providing constructive feedback on observations and reflections from the preceding scholarly literature on the subject the author argues that the main point of convergence between the writer and the philosopher is their works on Leo Tolstoy. The study includes a textual analysis of the elements of Shestovian discourse that were discovered in Bunin’s essay The Liberation of Tolstoy. The author argues that the ending of The Liberation of (...) Tolstoy can be understood only in the context of existentialist discourse. Bunin's objections to the Shestov's view of Chekhov’s creative work have been studied in detail. In general, Bunin does not appear to be a “disciple” of Shestov, as he is engaged in a philosophical dialogue with him on equal terms. Existentialism is the closest philosophical tradition to Bunin’s thought than any others that arose in the twentieth century. (shrink)

Phylogenetic systematics is one of the most important analytical frameworks of modern Biology. It seems to be common knowledge that within phylogenetics, ‘groups’ must be defined based solely on the synapomorphies or on the “derived” characters that unite two or more taxa in a clade or monophyletic group. Thus, the idea of synapomorphy seems to be of fundamental influence and importance. Here I will show that the most common and straightforward understanding of synapomorphy as a shared derived character is not (...) sufficient and eventually must be rejected in favor of Nelson’s relational interpretation of such term. Arguing for this point and using three examples from previously published Apes’ genomic matrices, I explicitly demonstrate that the relationship )) with Hylobatidae as a sister taxon, may be successfully recovered by three-taxon statement analysis and three-taxon statement average consensus analysis even if all of the evident standard shared derived molecular characters of the relationship )) with Hylobatidae as a sister taxon, have been excluded from the molecular alignments. Neither conventional Maximum Parsimony nor Maximum Likelihood or Bayesian Inference can do this in such situation. Thus, our results show that the relationship )) with Hylobatidae as a sister taxon has appeared, in some way, behind standard shared derived characters: the last ones could be excluded, but the relationship remains the same. (shrink)

The article analyzes the conception of a trading zone as a space of action and belief coordination. P. Galison proposed the conception based on anthropological and linguistic analogies. The article reviews the anthropological analogies aimed at building up the conception and the legitimacy of their use. The conclusion is that the analogies used are not accurate enough. If the tribes interacting in trading zones have a common history, material culture, and practices, they can hardly have significant differences. If they are (...) not in possession of all these characteristics, they are unlikely to remind us of different groups of scientists who participate in common researches. The article also contains the hypothesis that acceptance of a common habitus is a condition subject to which the scientists can arrange the mutual understanding space. It issues new challenges to the scientific community, as all people related to university education also accept the scientists’ habitus. (shrink)

The two volumes of letters by Mikhail Lifschitz, recently published in Russian, reveal for the first time certain aspects of his relationship with György Lukács and his general intellectual and cultural role in the long history of Soviet aesthetics. The first volume contains all the known letters between Lifschitz and Lukács; the second volume contains the letters from Lifschitz to three of his younger colleagues. Both volumes throw considerable light on the development of Marxist aesthetics in the Soviet Union from (...) the 1930s to the 1980s. The extensive commentaries and notes provide context for the various discussions in the letters and situate the main issues under consideration within the wider historical and social context of the period. (shrink)

In his reply, E. Borisov fixes the points of diversion between him and his critics and sketches the directions in which his argumentation will proceed. Among the issues mentioned are the problems of the interpretation of comparative constructions (whether they are about objects or sizes), semantic contribution of the modal operator "O" (introduced by Borisov), ways of retrospective reports of affitudes.

The article analyzes the project of scientific justification of language Reforms, realized by the Soviet regime in 20s and 30s, elaborated by Russian and Soviet linguist Evgenij Polivanov (1891-1938). Polivanov claims that a Soviet linguist should not limit his interests to the “general linguistics" and become an active “language builder" and “language politician". The reforms should be carefully planned by the experts in language sciences who master as well the methodology of dialectical materialism. In the polemics against Nikolai Marr's Japhetidology (...) Polivanov argued that linguistics is a strict science and its deductions are not contradictory to Marxism, as the latter is primarily a materialist philosophy. His minimal program consisted in explaining his views on the evolution of language in the Marxist terms. The evolution of language is explained by the influence of internal and external factors. The socio-economical factors are not influencing the language in a direct manner, but their analysis allows to change the channel of language evolution. According to Polivanov, the introduction of Marxism into linguistics will make possible to explain the relationship between intralinguistic and extralinguistic factors and will transform the sciences of language into “social engineering of the future". (shrink)

The aim of the present paper is to show that the fundamental transformation of Russian society that had been realized by the Soviet government since the early twenties included not only the reforms of scientific institutions or the creation of a new educational system but also a radical reevaluation of the social role of the expert knowledge. It proposes a transversal analysis of the institutional history of the Soviet science and its complex relations with the state apparatus in order to (...) show that the research policy of the twenties should be considered not only as an attempt to stimulate a “catch up growth,” but rather as an anticipation of some essential problems discussed in the contemporary social epistemology. The early Soviet government had a very particular vision of “social engineering” that was both utopian and extremely pragmatic. The Soviet Union was considered as the first truly “scientific state,” based on the idea that the historical development could be accelerated due to a party lead popular mobilization. The result of this conviction was the policy of “state-sponsored evolutionism” that created a high demand for the experts in all fields of knowledge. First, it focuses on the dualism of scientific institutions in the twenties when the “old” Academy of Sciences composed of the scientists formed under the Old Regime was disputing the role of the leading research institution with the newly created Communist Academy. This period could be described as the era of “New Scientific Policy” or some kind of “primitive accumulation” of the expert knowledge. Later it explores another dualism that existed since the creation of the Soviet Union: it consisted of the opposition between two rival projects of state building. The first one was promoted by State Planning Committee and made an emphasis on the administrative division based on economical basis, the second one was a project of People’s Commissariat of Nationalities, that proposed a creation of multiple soviet “national states” based on the principle of self-determination. Both projects required a large amount of data in various fields of knowledge and promoted a creation of new research institutions and favored the pioneering study in both central economy planning and social engineering. The aim of this article is to place the soviet experience in the comparative perspective, claiming that the communist modernization should be analyzed in the context of elaboration, in Foucault’s terms, of new “governmental technologies” which are supposed to be the products of new research institutions directly or indirectly influenced by a modern state. (shrink)

In ‘Quantifiers and Propositional Attitudes’ (1956), Quine demonstrated that the naïve model-theoretic formalization of belief ascriptions de re, applied to cases of recognition failure, produces two unwelcome effects: 1) the seeming inconsistency of belief systems ascribed to rational agents, and 2) the contradictoriness of some (apparently well justified) belief reports. In the paper under discussion, Domanov claims that proof-theoretical formalization of belief ascriptions, based on the constructive type theory, precludes those effects. I challenge this claim by showing that the formalism (...) used by him reproduces at least the first of them. I suggest that this is so because of the identifying of variables from different contexts in Domanov’s definition of context extension functions. (shrink)

Multiple viewpoints have been expressed regarding the principle nulla poena sine lege. Some scholars advocate the inviolability of this maxim because it safeguards personal freedom—an opportunity to do everything not prohibited by law. However, its critics assert that rigid adherence to the principle nulla poena sine lege may do more harm than good. They argue that the maxim, while prohibiting judges from punishing non-criminal acts, makes it impossible for courts to deter them in a timely manner, which, in certain cases, (...) may have a detrimental effect on society. To determine the correct approach to nulla poena sine lege, the paper considers its history in continental criminal law and then analyses the principle theoretically. The examination reveals that two contradictory interests—the need to safeguard personal freedom and the need to combat lawful, yet socially harmful, acts through judicial punishment—cannot be completely ignored in practice. Therefore, the findings suggest a balancing between these interests and propose a way to achieve this compromise. (shrink)

The sentence cited in the title - in what follows, I refer to it as (S) - occurs in a story Russell tells us in On Denoting. It represents the class of sentences containing a comparative predicate applied twice to a single object in the scope of an epistemic verb. The problem with sentences of this type is that the received tools of logical analysis do not allow both to accurately reflect their surface structure and to take into account some (...) intuitions about our use of them in standard cases. For instance, as Kripke has shown, Russell's own analysis conflicts with our intuition since it renders (S) as an ascription of a de re belief about the size of the yacht. I argue that an analogous flaw have alternative analyses involving the notion of size, viz. ones offered by Kaplan and Salmon. In 2013, I proposed an objectual analysis of (S) which makes no use of the notion of size. That analysis has certain counter-intuitive implications, too. Recently, Gorbatov proposed a version of the objectual analysis based on interpretation of the adjective larger in (S) as a cross-world predicate in terms of Wehmeier's cross-world subjunctive modal logic (CSML). I argue that Gorbatov's analysis is counterintuitive, too, for it ascribes to the utterer a quite uncommon belief involving a particular possible world. Nevertheless, I find the idea behind his proposal - the interpretation of larger in (S) as a cross-world predicate - fruitful, and offer an alternative version of analysis of (S) in terms of CSML. The analysis I propose renders (S) as an ascription of an objectual attitude rather than a propositional one. I sketch the semantics of objectual attitude ascription involving a cross-world comparative predicate and argue that the analysis I propose is free from disadvantages of the analyses mentioned above. (shrink)

The purpose of the study is to identify the possibility of using the sensorimotor method for modeling variable situations of the use of physical force by police officers and organizing the level structure of the sequential use of variable situations for training cadets and students of educational organizations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. The scientific novelty lies in identifying the effectiveness of sensorimotor method in situational training of police patrol officers, which makes it possible to rank simulated (...) situations of the use of physical force, including combat techniques of struggle by levels of complexity, and thereby realizing the didactic principle of consistency and accessibility of learning educational material. As a result, the effectiveness of the use of the developed sensorimotor method for teaching police patrol officers to use the physical method was proved. (shrink)

Sots-art, the mock use of the Soviet ideological clichés of mass culture, originated in Soviet nonconformist art of the early 1970s. An original and provocative guide, Endquote: Sots-Art Literature and Soviet Grand Style examines the conceptual aspect of sots-art, sots-art poetry, and sots-art prose, and discusses where these still-vital intellectual currents may lead.

We prove a strengthened version of Shavrukov’s result on the non-isomorphism of diagonalizable algebras of two $\Sigma _1$ -sound theories, based on the improvements previously found by Adamsson. We then obtain several corollaries to the strengthened result by applying it to various pairs of theories and obtain new non-isomorphism examples. In particular, we show that there are no surjective homomorphisms from the algebra $(\mathfrak {L}_T, \Box _T\Box _T)$ onto the algebra $(\mathfrak {L}_T, \Box _T)$. The case of bimodal diagonalizable algebras (...) is also considered. We give several examples of pairs of theories with isomorphic diagonalizable algebras but non-isomorphic bimodal diagonalizable algebras. (shrink)

The essay focuses on the extrasystemic elements in an artwork's system. It shows that the artistic details and elements, if separated from the overall artistic whole, gain certain independence and autonomy, as they belong to a different semantic space. These non-systemic elements have specific implicitness and hiddenness, but significantly affect the aesthetic character of the artwork. They play the role of generating informational “redundancy,” a multivariate artistic message.