The historical background of the 19th century electromagnetic theory is revisited from the standpoint of the opposition between alternative approaches in respect to the problem of interactions. The 19th century electrodynamics became the battle-field of a paramount importance to test existing conceptions of interactions. Hertz’s experiments were designed to bring a solid experimental evidence in favor of one of them. The modern scientific method applied to analyze Hertz’s experimental approach as well as the analysis of his laboratory notes, dairy and (...) private letters show that Hertz’s ‘‘crucial’’ experiments cannot be considered as conclusive at many points as it is generally implied. We found that alternative Helmholtz’s electrodynamics did not contradict any of Hertz’s experimental observations of transverse components as Maxwell’s theory predicted. Moreover, as we now know from recently published Hertz’s dairy and private notes, his first experimental results indicated clearly on infinite rate of propagation. Nevertheless, Hertz’s experiments provided no further explicit information on non-local longitudinal components which were such an essential feature of Helmholtz’s theory. Necessary and sufficient conditions for a decisive choice on the adequate account of electromagnetic interactions are discussed from the position of modern scientific method. (shrink)

Possibility studies is an emerging field of research including topics as diverse as creativity, imagination, innovation, anticipation, counterfactual thinking, wondering, the future, social change, hope, agency, and utopia. The Possible: A Sociocultural Theory contributes to this wide field by developing a sociocultural account of the possible grounded in the notions of difference, position, perspective, dialogue, action, and culture.

The problem of truth was raised in medieval Islamic philosophy within the framework of discussions starting from the question of whether our knowledge corresponds to the “actuality of affairs.” The notion of validity thus elaborated was comprehended as a quality of knowledge established through a comparison with “matters of fact.” What was intended is not coincidence with what is and has existence. Existence (wujūd) was generally understood in Islamic thought as one of the attributes (ṣifa) that a thing might or (...) might not possess while still being “a thing” (shay’), and since our knowledge embraces things independently of their accidental attributes, the question about truth was placed on a wider footing. Validity, from that point of view, testifies that our knowledge conforms with reality in the immediate meaning of the term – thing‐ness. This notion of reality (shay’iyya) does not necessarily exclude Divinity, for God in Islamic sciences is often comprehended as The Thing, although different in every respect (except that of thing‐ness) from all other things. The concept of “thing” serves to introduce something into the current of intellectual discourse rather than to state anything definite about it; to be a thing – that is, fixed and established – means to enter the field of discussion. (shrink)

In an essential way I make use of Frege’s and Vasilev’s ideas. N. A. Vasilev distinguished two levels in a logic. The abstract logic depends on gnoeologic assumptions while the empirical part of logic depends on ontological ones. Vasilev did not change the external logic but he did change the internal one. His system can be viewed as a non-standard syllogistics based on classical propositional logic . Vasilev’s ideas become plain if we discern cleary acts of predication and acts of (...) assertion, the relation of mental contents with the way things are. The second sourse of the idea seems to Frege’s differentation of mental process and assertion, statement . As a symbol of assertion for Frege serves a vertical stroke |. A horizontal stroke following it is correlated with holding a proposition, it makes the sign determined everywhere. In the string of signs the one following the vertical stroke does not express a proposition, it describes a possible state of affairs. (shrink)

The article refutes the widespread view that Dostoevsky's Christian beliefs were strictly Orthodox. It is proved that Dostoevsky's religious and philosophical searches' central tendency is the criticism of historical, ecclesiastical Christianity as a false, distorted form of the teaching of Jesus Christ and the desire to restore this teaching in its original purity. Modern researchers of the history of early Christianity find more and more arguments in favor of the fact that the actual teaching of Jesus Christ is contained in (...) that religious movement, which the church called the Gnostic heresy. The exact philosophical expression of the teaching of Christ was received in the later works of J.G. Fichte, whose ideas had a strong influence on the Russian writer. Like Fichte, Dostoevsky understands Christ as the first person who showed the possibility of revealing God in himself and gaining divine omnipotence and eternal life directly in earthly reality. In this sense, every person can become like Christ. Dostoevsky's main characters walk the path of Christ and show how difficult this path is. The article shows that Dostoevsky used in his work not only the philosophical version of true Christianity developed by German philosophy, but also the key motives of the Gnostic myth, primarily the idea that our world, filled with evil and suffering, is created not by the supreme, good God-Father, but by the evil Demiurge, the Devil. (shrink)

in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Language, ed. E. Lepore/B. Smith, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006, 1006-1019.

The processes of changing the way of thinking, typical for modern people, and subsequently shaping a new “Homo clicking” individual are analyzed. The authors consider a specific mindset of “Homo clicking” illustrating it with some patterns and modes of action that characterize individuals in the human–machine interface. Under this frame, the influence of modern converging technologies upon human conduct is examined and functional redistribution between human beings and technical devices is outlined. In the literature, the latter phenomenon is referred to (...) as “life outsourcing.” This material is used to introduce several principles that form the basis for a new type of thought and actions of “Home clicking”: snapping, transforming trust into knowledge, and action reduction. Reducing the traditional classic understanding of a human act of thinking to a pattern of a thinking act as a need-satisfying act is described. In the last section, we introduce an extension of Searle’s Chinese room, which can be seen as a possible consequence of intensive exploitation of technologies. (shrink)

The relevance of the article is due to the authors attempt to apply some of the philosophical concepts of F.M. Dostoevsky to the comprehension of contemporary sociocultural reality. The purpose of this study is to clarify the reasons for the historically unfriendly attitude of Europe towards Russia by analyzing the works of F.M. Dostoevsky dedicated to this problem. In the process of writing the article, the published Diaries of the writer were used; diary entries unpublished during the writer's life; philosophical (...) reflections contained in works of art, as well as applied modern scientific and popular science literature dedicated to the work of F.M. Dostoevsky. In the course of the analysis, it was found that the writer considered historical, confessional and moral reasons to be the main factors in the rejection of Russia by Europe, while he especially singled out disinterestedness incomprehensible to Europe as a characteristic of the Russian people. The authors draws attention to the fact that all the reasons for Europe's "remarkable dislike" for Russia, about which F.M. Dostoevsky, directly or indirectly associated with the Orthodox faith. Therefore, an attempt to actualize the worldview heritage of the great writer will certainly lead us to a dilemma: either to move from thoughts and words to actions, to religiously enlighten both ourselves and Europe; or to enclose our Orthodox heritage in a historical and cultural framework, eliminating the source of the reasons for our rejection by the European public, with all the ensuing consequences. (shrink)

The article analyzes the main trends of the development of cross-border e-commerce, presents the position of the main characters: both supporters of «free trade» and protectionism on issues such as government regulation, as well as further development of cross-border e-commerce.

The expression “linguistic Kantianism” is widely used to refer to ideas about thought and cognition being determined by language — a conception characteristic of 20th century analytic philosophy. In this article, I conduct a comparative analysis of Kant’s philosophy and views falling under the umbrella expression “linguistic Kantianism.” First, I show that “linguistic Kantianism” usually presupposes a relativistic conception that is alien to Kant’s philosophy. Second, I analyse Kant’s treatment of linguistic determinism and the place of his ideas in the (...) 18th century intellectual milieu and provide an overview of relevant contemporary literature. Third, I show that authentic Kantianism and “linguistic Kantianism” belong to two different types of transcendentalism, to which I respectively refer as the “transcendentalism of the subject” and the “transcendentalism of the medium.” The transcendentalism of the subject assigns a central role to the faculties of the cognising subject. The transcendentalism of the medium assigns the role of an “active” element neither to the external world nor to the faculties of the cognising subject, but to something in between — language, in the case of “linguistic Kantianism.” I conclude that the expression “linguistic Kantianism” can be misleading when it comes to the origins of this theory. It would be more appropriate to refer to this theory by the expression “linguistic transcendentalism,” thus avoiding an incorrect reference to Kant. (shrink)

Full development of personality under socialism is ensured by the further improvement of the socialist system and the rising cultural and material levels of the Soviet people. The author demonstrates that a new, integrated approach should be taken to the problem of human health in Soviet sociopolitical strategy: the concept of human health should embrace philosophical aspects together with findings of the natural and social sciences. The author looks at the wide range of social, philosophical, and methodological issues which should (...) be taken into account in order to remove the obstacles from the road towards purposeful control of human and social health. Keywords: concept of health, socialism, health care, Marxism-Leninism, USSR, bioethics CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this? (shrink)

Close insight into mathematical and conceptual structure of classical field theories shows serious inconsistencies in their common basis. In other words, we claim in this work to have come across two severe mathematical blunders in the very foundations of theoretical hydrodynamics. One of the defects concerns the traditional treatment of time derivatives in Eulerian hydrodynamic description. The other one resides in the conventional demonstration of the so-called Convection Theorem. Both approaches are thought to be necessary for cross-verification of the standard (...) differential form of continuity equation. Any revision of these fundamental results might have important implications for all classical field theories. Rigorous reconsideration of time derivatives in Eulerian description shows that it evokes Minkowski metric for any flow field domain without any previous postulation. Mathematical approach is developed within the framework of congruences for general four-dimensional differentiable manifold and the final result is formulated in form of a theorem. A modified version of the Convection Theorem provides a necessary cross-verification for a reconsidered differential form of continuity equation. Although the approach is developed for one-component (scalar) flow field, it can be easily generalized to any tensor field. Some possible implications for classical electrodynamics are also explored. (shrink)

The author investigates some Plotinus’ metaphors such as: war as the father of all things, universal life as a theatre performance, longings, works and horrors of bloody terrestrial life as a childish "external game", a battle as pyrrhic… All the mentioned metaphors are important for correct interpretation of ideas by the late Hellenistic philosopher. Plotinus’ doctrine of chaocosmic harmony is stated in its comparison with the data of modern science (of synergetics). The author of the paper confirms a conclusion that (...) the oriental ideas range exerted influence on the great Antique thinker’s creative work. This influence was mediated and included Plato as an intermediary. (shrink)

The builders of our new society will concentrate their primary efforts and energy on the improvement of the economic system of socialism, the growth of the productive forces, and the intensification of scientific-technological progress. To what extent it will be possible to accelerate the pace along this unbeaten path will depend on success in mobilizing the vast reserves of the socialist economy.

Biology's advance to leading positions in modern science and its growing significance in human self-awareness have sharpened the need for further analysis of the methodological problems of the science of life and for a philosophical interpretation of its positions and results. These two tasks are closely connected, though each has its independent role to play as well. Whereas a study of the logical and methodological foundations of biology deepens scientific notions about the means, possibilities, and directions of science, a philosophical (...) interpretation of its results, aspirations, and prospects contributes to our understanding of man as a whole, and to the clarification of his manifested attributes and forms of existence. Hence, there is not only an "academic," but also an ideological interest in the problems of biology. The scientific conception of the world today is in many respects determined by an evolutionary view of development. The revolutionary significance of Darwinism is today acknowledged by champions of practically all philosophical theories with a claim to scientific status and objectivity. Naturalistic currents in Western philosophical and methodological thought have been the most active: in elucidating and demonstrating the role of Darwinist principles. (shrink)

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Smirnov was born on March 2, 1931. He graduated from Moscow State University in 1954. From 1957 till 1961 he was a lecturer in philosophy and logic at the Tomsk University. Since 1961 his scientific activity continued in Moscow at the Institute of Philosophy of Academy of Sciences of the USSR. From 1970 and till the last days of his life V. A. Smirnov was lecturer and then Professor at the Chair of Logic at Moscow State (...) University. V. A. Smirnov played an important role at the Institute of Philosophy of Russian Academy of Sciences being the Head of Department of Epistemology, Logic and Philosophy of Science and Technology, and the Head of Section of Logic. Last years he was the leader of the Centre of Logical Investigations of Russsian Academy of Sciences. In 1990-91 he founded a new non-goverment Institute of Logic, Cognitive Sciences and Development of Personality for performing research, teaching, editorial and organization activity in the field of humanities. At the Department of Philosophy of Moscow State University and at the Institute of Philosophy V. A. Smirnov and his close colleagues have founded a Russian logical school which brought up many talented researchers who work at several scientific centres in various countries. (shrink)

LetEO be the elementary ontology of Leniewski formalized as in Iwanu [1], and letLS be the monadic second-order calculus of predicates. In this paper we give an example of a recursive function , defined on the formulas of the language ofEO with values in the set of formulas of the language of LS, such that EO A iff LS (A) for each formulaA.

Physical systems without time and dynamics have been considered. The principle of how to construct spacetime in a physical system without time and dynamics has been proposed. It has been found what can be objects in such a spacetime, and what can be an interaction between such objects. Within the framework of the considered class of systems, answers to the following problems of philosophy and physics have been found: the nature of consciousness and the connection of body and consciousness (mind-body (...) problem), the nature of time, the anthropic principle and the problem of fine-tuning the universe, the effectiveness of mathematics in describing physical phenomena, the limits of knowledge. There are a number of indications that our Universe is not based on one of the systems of the class considered. The considered class of systems makes it possible to find answers to questions that cannot be answered for our Universe. This shows that it is fundamentally possible to find answers to these questions for our Universe as well. (shrink)