If we can and do have some self‐knowledge, how do we acquire it? By examining the ways in which we acquire self‐knowledge—by introspection—we can try shedding some light onto the nature and the breadth of self‐knowledge, as others have tried to do with other forms of knowledge. My aim is to show that introspection involves multiple (that is, at least two) distinct processes, a view I call “pluralism about introspection”. One of the virtues of pluralism is that it explains how (...) we can have such a wide variety of self‐knowledge despite our cognitive limitations. (shrink)

Using the latest educational technologies and active methods of social activity development in future specialists in the educational space under today’s conditions is significantly complicated by existing levels of the object and subject studies of various patterns. The authors studied a wide range of foreign and domestic interdisciplinary works and models which describe the implementation of research methodology of the individual socialization process to study the development of specialists’ social activity. Also, the authors defined the relevant patterns of students’ involving (...) in socially significant activities due to the changes in value-motivational aspects at different stages of social activity development at the higher education institution. The structural and functional components are determined, and the research parameters specifying the changes of value-motivational factors of social activity development in future socionomy specialists are substantiated. The article provides empirical diagnostics of values among the students of socionomic professions within the sociological and pedagogical research of social activity with the participation of 610 students from four Ukrainian higher education institutions. The diagnostics was carried out by means of the shortened version of the “Portrait Questionnaire of Values - PVQ-Revised”. It has been found out that the development of social activity in future socionomy specialists is mainly related to changes in motivational aspects at different levels of generality and complexity; it includes such constructs as values, goals, behavior plans which require a qualitative analysis of social factors and identification of relevant patterns of students’ involvement in socially significant activities. (shrink)

This volume brings together contributions from distinguished scholars in the history of philosophy, focusing on points of interaction between discrete historical contexts, religions, and cultures found within the premodern period. The contributions connect thinkers from antiquity through the Middle Ages and include philosophers from the three major monotheistic faiths-Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. By emphasizing premodern philosophy's shared textual roots in antiquity, particularly the writings of Plato and Aristotle, the volume highlights points of cross-pollination between different schools, cultures, and moments in (...) premodern thought. Approaching the complex history of the premodern world in an accessible way, the editors organize the volume so as to underscore the difficulties the premodern period poses for scholars, while accentuating the fascinating interplay between the Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin philosophical traditions. The contributors cover many topics ranging from the aims of Aristotle's cosmos, the adoption of Aristotle's Organon by al-Farabi, and the origins of the Plotiniana Arabica to the role of Ibn Gabirol's Fons vitae in the Latin West, the ways in which Islamic philosophy shaped thirteenth-century Latin conceptions of light, Roger Bacon's adaptation of Avicenna for use in his moral philosophy, and beyond. The volume's focus on "source-based contextualism" demonstrates an appreciation for the rich diversity of thought found in the premodern period, while revealing methodological challenges raised by the historical study of premodern philosophy. Contextualizing Premodern Philosophy: Explorations of the Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin Traditions is a stimulating resource for scholars and advanced students working in the history of premodern philosophy. (shrink)

Стаття присвячена синтезу доробку психології, психотерапії та філософських дисциплін, а також осмисленню їхньої теоретичної та практичної взаємодії. Аргументується адаптивна роль філософії у соціалізації людини в сучасному світі. Через світоглядні універсалії або категорії, філософія торкається та у певному сенсі відіграє керівну роль у кожному сегменті життя будь–якої людини, а через конкретну особистість – і в суспільстві загалом. Потенціал філософсько-антропологічного знання використовується включно і в інтересах кожної людини з метою повноцінного розвитку особистості. Викладено погляди на компенсаторну функцію філософії, що досі не виокремлювалася. (...) Визначаються властивості компенсаторної функції через їх роль та практичний вплив на людину. Надано обґрунтування необхідності сучасної психологічної допомоги на основі філософських теоретичних передумов. Терапевтичний вплив філософії на особистість є визнаним ще з античних часів та до сьогодення, але як окрема функція, притаманна розділу філософських знань, ще не була достатньо досліджена в науковому обігу та має потенціал до подальшого розгляду, в чому і полягає актуальність даної статті. (shrink)

The relevance of the work is determined, first of all, by a new perspective on the speech variability analysis depending on the influence of selected extralingual factors: gender, ethnicity, social status and age, which, of course, corresponds to the current state of the linguistic development and growing interest in disclosure of the influence of social factors on the functioning of language in different territories, as well as the application of an ecolinguistic approach to the analysis of Pittsburgh dialect sociolinguistic differentiation. (...) Second, our study is quite interesting in response about the sociocultural role importance of the Pittsburgh dialect in the overall linguistic picture of the United States of America. The aim of the work is to determine the main parameters of the concept of “language behaviour of Pittsburgh residents” and to establish patterns of language unit’s variation of the Pittsburgh dialect in accordance with the impact on their functioning of extralingual factors: gender, ethnicity, social status and age. The language behaviour of Pittsburgh residents is due to the influence of non-linguistic factors. The functioning of speech in this area, the implementation of phonetic processes and lexical units in communication directly depends on the social impact on speech. The novelty of the study is that for the first time on the material of the modern Pittsburgh dialect the regularities of variation of language mean of phonetic and lexical levels from the point of view of ecolinguistic approach to studying sociolinguistic differentiation of speech of Pittsburgh dialects speakers are determined. An analytical study was conducted and the variation of certain language tools used by Pittsburgh speakers according to their social affiliation was established. (shrink)

Gareth Evans has observed that one merely needs to ‘look outward’ to discover one’s own beliefs. This observation of what has become known as belief ‘transparency’ has formed a basis for a cluster of views on the nature of introspection. These views may be well suited to account for our introspective access to beliefs, but whether similar transparency-based accounts of our introspective access to mental states other than belief can be given is not obvious. The question of whether a transparency-based (...) account can be generalized beyond beliefs is part of the larger issue whether introspection of different mental states can receive broadly the same account—whether introspection is unified. My aim is to examine one particularly thorough attempt at generalizing a transparency-based account of introspection due to Alex Byrne. I argue that the resulting view does not offer a unified account of introspection, even across a handful of mental states. In doing so, I highlight two difficulties most views on introspection that try to offer a unified account would have to face, even if they are not based in belief transparency. The subsequent move away from introspective unification has ramifications for several other philosophical debates, such as the architecture of the mind and our rationality. (shrink)

Дослідження спрямоване на окреслення взаємозв’язків теорії та практики арґументації і теорії ухвалення рішень. Фокус уваги спрямований на виявлення специфіки модусів мультимодальної арґументації, що передбачає послідовне розв’язання таких завдань: а) доповнити та уточнити дефініцію терміна «арґументація» у контексті застосування арґументів в процесі ухвалення рішень; б) розвести смислове поле термінів «переконувати» та «запевняти» в контексті само-арґументації (self-argumentation); в) висвітлити роль особистісних особливостей дієвця у процесі вибору; г) дослідити особливості вербальних та візуальних арґументів у процесі ухвалення рішень. Автор виходить із браку досліджень, присвячених (...) прикладному застосуванню теоретико-арґументативного наробку у процесі ухвалення рішень. Прийоми та методи арґументації пропонується розглянути крізь призму само-арґументації, де суб’єкт шукає підстави та надає докази для переконання і запевнення самого себе. Актуалізація цієї проблематики дає можливість залучити теоретичні здобутки філософії дії та активності, феноменології, когнітивних та комп’ютерних наук з метою розширення поля дослідження та виходу за окреслені дисциплінарні межі. Для розгляду теоретико-методологічної та джерельної бази дослідження був використаний системний підхід. Для порівняння арґументативних теорій та підходів були застосовані компаративний метод та метод аналогії. Автором обґрунтована необхідність прийняття до уваги теоретико-арґументативного наробку в контексті теорії ухвалення рішень. Дослідження на межі цих царин зумовлюють актуалізацію проблеми людини, як дієвця, як автора власних рішень, на шляху до яких постає необхідність пояснення та арґументації. Була висунута та обґрунтована гіпотеза щодо розгляду суб’єкта як одночасно адресанта і адресата в арґументативному процесі, що дало можливість підняти питання само-арґументації. У процесі останньої було проаналізовано місце різних модусів арґументації, зокрема вербального та візуального, а також наведено приклади сфер їхнього прикладного застосування. Наукові наробки в арґументативній царині відрізняються прикладним застосуванням. Уміння будувати, аналізувати та виокремлювати арґументи дають змогу не лише ретроспективно поглянути на арґументативний процес та допомогти обґрунтувати вже ухвалене рішення, але й надати перевагу певній альтернативі безпосередньо у ситуації вибору. Діалогічний характер арґументативного процесу можна тлумачити крізь призму само-арґументації, у процесі якої використовуються не лише вербальні, а й візуальні аргументи. На підставі розглянутих першоджерел продемонстровано, яким чином візуалізація інкорпорується в процес ухвалення рішень. (shrink)

У статті розглянуто основні соціальні екзистенціали, їх природу та зв'язок із екзистенціалами індивідуального рівня. Зроблено висновок про тенденції формування на Донбасі соціальної спільноти, яка заснована на єдності історичної долі. Аналізується зміна змісту соціальних екзистенціалів східно-українського соціуму під впливом збройного конфлікту на Донбасі.

The article deals with the problem of classification of wooden utensils from burials of Catacomb culture. The classification of this type of artifacts meets the problem of their persistence in ground. The information about most artifacts is limited to "reminds of wood from wooden utensil'. Nevertheless, there is representative selection of undamaged or archaeologically undamaged wooden utensils of Catacomb culture which allows to build classification scheme. Analysis of historiography showed that previously the classification of wooden utensils of Catacomb culture have (...) not been provided. But there are classifications for the utensils of other nomadic cultures of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages. We studied the works of G. Pjatyh, S. Mahortyh, O. Dudin, S. Ljashko, R. Litvinenko. For the development of the classification, the main features of wooden utensils were distinguished. They were organized into four groups: morphological, technological, functional and stylistic. Our typological scheme is based on the principles of morphological classification. All wooden utensils were divided into two groups: container and table-ware. The scientific novelty of the work consist in systematization of the information on the findings of wooden utensils in burials of Catacomb culture, clarifying of the the terminology for different types of wooden utensils and developing of unitary classificational scheme for this type of artifacts. (shrink)

The article presents the results of analysis of nine wooden utensils of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages in comparison with previous analysis of different authors. In eight cases remains were represented by deciduous trees. Comparison of this results with data from other investigators allowed to conclude that for making objects from wood used mainly local breeds. When selecting trees for making utensils, old masters have used certain principles such as ease of cutting and aesthetic preferences. For the manufacture of (...) wooden utensils, pastoral nomads used mostly local wood that grew in gullies and floodplains. Most often for the manufacture of wooden utensils used maple, which is recorded in the Catacomb monuments, Zrubna, Scythian and Sarmatian burials. The generally accepted view is of the greatest accessibility of oak as a material for the manufacture of wooden utensils. However, our analysis and findings of other studies suggest limited use of wood for making utensils. Only in one case, for making fixed tray was used oak bark. However, generally we have to assume that the old masters avoided the use of oak wood for cutting wooden utensils due to its physical properties and considering that the tools were quite simple for working with brittle kinds of wood. In two cases the data shows that for producing of the bowl chestnut wood was utilized. In the Steppe zone the willow and birch bark were broadly widespread. They could be used to make baskets and birch products, however, we do not have the results of relevant analyzes to talk about it with confidence. (shrink)

The problems of logistic costs management on domestic enterprises are considered. The essence and negative consequences of such problems are shown. The ponderability of highlighted problems is researched. The connection between determined problems is shown.

The case for an eco-emancipatory politics to release the Earth from human domination and free us all from lives that are both exploitative and exploited Human domination of nature shapes every aspect of our lives today, even as it remains virtually invisible to us. Because human beings are a part of nature, the human domination of nature circles back to confine and exploit people as well—and not only the poor and marginalized but also the privileged and affluent, even in the (...) world’s most prosperous societies. Although modern democracy establishes constraints intended to protect people from domination as the arbitrary exercise of power, it offers few such protections for nonhuman parts of nature. The result is that, wherever we fall in human hierarchies, we inevitably find ourselves both complicit in and entrapped by a system that makes sustainable living all but impossible. It confines and exploits not only nature but people too, albeit in different ways. In Eco-Emancipation, Sharon Krause argues that we can find our way to a better, freer life by constraining the use of human power in relation to nature and promoting nature’s well-being alongside our own, thereby releasing the Earth from human domination and freeing us from a way of life that is both exploitative and exploited, complicit and entrapped. Eco-emancipation calls for new, more-than-human political communities that incorporate nonhuman parts of nature through institutions of representation and regimes of rights, combining these new institutional arrangements with political activism, a public ethos of respect for nature, and a culture of eco-responsibility. (shrink)

In this article, I discuss a relatively recent development of Russian interest in Kyiv as a place with symbolic and historical significance for Russian history, which makes it a desirable target in an ongoing war. I trace the changing attitude of Russian travelers towards Kyiv’s history from the mid-eighteenth to the early nineteenth century. Earlier generations of visitors came to Kyiv primarily to visit holy places, with no knowledge of the city’s historical significance, and because it was a more affordable (...) alternative to travel abroad. However, at the end of the eighteenth century, after Catherine II’s royal visit, the publication of guidebooks, and the ascend of history as a discipline, and interest among Russian educated elites, Kyiv’s past became an obsession for many Russian travelers. Their travel accounts were motivated by a search for the past glory of Kyiv. For Russian travelers and authorities, history became one of the key means of appropriation of Kyiv, with a new generation of travelers searching for material evidence connecting Kyivan Rus to the Russian past. However, they were unable to find much material evidence and often used their imagination to present Kyiv as a site of Kyivan Rus history, ignoring the city’s non[1]Russian heritage. (shrink)

The article analyses mystical teaching of Hasidism in the early works of Martin Buber (before publication of “I and Thou” in 1923) in the context of the concept of Orientalism by E. Said. Analysis is based on the M. Buber’s appeal to Hasidic sources in the 1900s-1910s (in particular, in his first two collections, “Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav” and “The Legend of Baal Shem”). Two factors allow examining Hasidism in the early Buber’s writings in the context of Orientalism: a growing (...) interest in the Orient in the circles of European Jewish intellectuals during late 19th cent, as well as the negative stereotype of traditional East European Jew (Ostjuden, “an Eastern Jews”) present in the modernized Jewish society. The article demonstrates that this stereotype is closely related to the criticism of Hasidism by representatives of the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah). In particular, the accusations of traditional Eastern European Jews of inclination to vanity and prejudice, as well as of subjugation to the infinite power of the miracle workers (tzadikim), clearly have a source in maskilic criticism of Hasidism. The Buber’s turn towards Hasidism took place in mid-1900s. It was connected with Buber’s interest in Oriental mysticism, and with his social activities as “cultural Zionist”. Overcoming the “Ostjude” stereotype turned out to be an essential part of Buber’s cultural program. Buber reconstructs Jewish mysticism as an integral phenomenon, the subject of academic study. According to Buber, the most striking manifestation of this phenomenon is the Eastern-Euro pean mystical movement of Hasidism. It is from Ostjuden that the source of Hasidic wisdom is linked, which in the essays of the cycle of “Judaism” is a true “light from the East.”. (shrink)

The purpose of the article is to describe secularism, secularization and secularity in their relationship with the metaphysical and post-metaphysical philosophizing. The objective of the research is to analyze and compare the sense of the term secularism, secularization and secularity in metaphysical and post-metaphysical philosophizing. The scientific novelty of the research is that secularism is seen as an ideology derived from secularization and inextricably linked with the metaphysical constructions of modernism and secularity as a natural consequence of the ongoing process (...) of secularization in the post-metaphysical paradigm of thinking. Post-secular philosophy is philosophy after secular ontology and epistemology have been criticized; after we have been aware of the secular as a framework that relentlessly dictates the specific outlines of our experience, but which we are free to deploy in any way that impresses us; after we have taken in quotation marks all the usual secular divisions and wondered whether it is possible to live, feel and think differently. Speaking of post-secular philosophy, it is impossible to avoid the question of what is meant by secular, which in this post-secular seems to be overcome. To answer this question, it is necessary to distinguish between secularism, secularization and secularity, because these concepts are not equivalent. The author understands secularism as an ideology that presupposes the disappearance of religion, the “disenchantment” of the world, the liberation of man and humanity from all sorts of charms, especially religious. Secularization is the positive way in which society responds to the call of its own religious tradition. Secularization does not eliminate religion as such, but only some forms of religiosity that are incompatible with the new vision of reality. Thus, by secularization the author means a certain process of changing the status of religious faith in the public consciousness. Secularism is an ideology according to which a person criticizes everything religious, including religious institutions, and also believes that non-religious and anti-religious principles should be the basis of human morality. The term secularity refers either to the state of consciousness of a modern subject who has ceased to be religious or for whom religious faith has been replaced by modern experience; or the state of modern institutions and practices that operate outside any connection with religion. Completion of metaphysics means loss of confidence in any metanarratives, including secularism. The prefix “post” applies to the present era, when we speak of the end of secularism, and by no means the end of secularity. (shrink)

The article talks about the postmodern education system, its focus on the modernization of distance learning in connection with quarantine, which requires new integration approaches to the organization and content of the educational process in higher education institutions. Innovative pedagogical technologies of distance learning are analyzed, in particular, the essence of inverted learning technology is described. A systematic approach to the integration processes in postmodern education as a result of the search for new innovations and the organization of distance learning (...) as a universal and most humanistic form of learning, which initiates multivariate strategies for the innovation process in the hyperspace of European education and cultivates the integration of educational values. The author's ideas on creating optimal conditions for the adaptation of a particular applicant for higher education to the requirements of the distance learning and professional environment with an innovative information technology system are substantiated. The optimal conditions for the information-technological system of activating interactive communication of all participants of the educational process not only of a certain university, but also outside it, thanks to Smart-learning are determined. Innovative changes in personnel management of postmodern education as the main factor of effective strategy of management of distance learning, capable to be provided only by competitive teachers with a high level of display of creativity in professional skill are outlined. Algorithms of optimal actions of personnel management on introduction of innovative technologies of distance learning in the conditions of quarantine taking into account prevention of conflicts and crisis states at participants of educational process in the conditions of pandemics and unexpected educational changes are developed. (shrink)

Modest Nonconceptualism: Epistemology, Phenomenology, and Content. By Schmidt Eva.

This article aims to contribute to a critical ontology of social objects. Recent works on collective intentionality and norm-following neglect the question how free agents can be brought to collectively intend to x , although x is not in their own interest. By arguing for a natural disposition to empathic understanding and drawing on recent research in the neurosciences, this article outlines an ontological framework that extends collective intentionality to questions of oppression and status asymmetries. In a contribution to this (...) journal, Wisnewski (2005) unfortunately mischaracterizes the problem of meaning in social criticism. Implementing status problems in studies of collective intentions and construing social facts as both subjective and objective in character helps explain why agents can have persistent "misunderstandings" of social objects. (shrink)

This article is devoted to the research of discourse of emancipation in American artistic consciousness on examples of abolitionist novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe and painting images of XIX century. The topicality of the research is due to insufficient study in Ukrainian philosophy of the ideas of abolitionism and the emancipation of black Americans through the prism of literary images, especially painting images. Among the research tasks are: to analyze topics of slavery and emancipation, ways of representation (...) of racist and abolitionist ideology in the novel’s plot and artistic images; to analyze types of images of “blacks” in literature and painting. Novelty of work is in the reconstruction of emancipation discourse, which confronts with discourse of racism and black Americans’ discrimination in the American literature and in painting images of XIX century. The novel of Harriet Beecher Stowe became a bestseller in Europe and America, the symbol of revolution, it stirred up people’s consciousness in many countries which used different forms of dependency and obligation during XIX – XX century, and later it entered the list of classics of children’s literature. Using the novel as an example, the author shows that the two opposite discourses – colonial and anti-colonial are the basis of the controversy of the protagonists, which reflects the social and political controversy over the position and status of black Americans. Ideas of women’s emancipation from gender, social and labor oppression are reflected in the images of black slave women, and in the XX century they became the ideological basis of “black feminism”. Using examples of the novel and painting, the author examines racial and gender stereotypes, the problem of the relationship between “white” and “black”, the problem of preserving the family and women’s resistance to male domination in conditions of slavery, the problem of the formation of national identity in America after the abolition of slavery. The author analyzes the plots in European and American painting, which reflect not only “colonial” images where black Americans are represented as racial and cultural Others, but also “emancipation” images, which symbolically state the resistance to slavery or confirm the subject’s freedom. It is researched in the article that the active development of the emancipation topic in the artistic consciousness shows the change of social status of racial Others in the public consciousness of the XIX century, which was the result of abolitionist and women’s movements for minority rights in America. (shrink)

У статті автор розглядає актуальне питання сутності явища інклюзії в сучасній педагогіці у філософському розумінні. Акцент тут зроблено на ролі філософії як смислового орієнтиру в інклюзивному навчанні. Розкривається також значення та роль різнобічних наукових поглядів щодо соціальних інклюзивних цінностей та виноситься на розгляд соціокультурний аспект явища інклюзії в освіті відповідно до освітньої політики в Україні в останні роки, а саме: відповідність соціальних очікувань та реалій сприймання поняття «іншості» не лише в процесі навчання та виховання дітей з особливими освітніми проблемами, а (...) й соціальної інклюзії у сучасному суспільстві. Сформульовано висновки щодо філософського змісту інклюзивного навчання. (shrink)

У статті обґрунтовано економічну та технологічну доцільність використання в енергетиці збагаченого палива. Запропоновано підхід до корегування ціни вугілля, який забезпечує врахування теплоенергетичних властивостей палива та надає можливість визначати показники конкурентоспроможності кам'яного вугілля на ринку первинних енергоносіїв.

It is a common intuition that I am in a better position to know my own mental states than someone else's. One view that takes this intuition very seriously is Neo-Expressivism, providing a “non-epistemic” account of first-person privilege. But some have denied that we enjoy any principled first-person privilege, as do those who have the Third-Person View, according to which there is no deep difference in our epistemic position with regard to our own and others' mental states. Despite their apparently (...) deep differences, I argue that Neo-Expressivism and the Third-Person View differ in their location of first-person privilege. This difference in the source of first-person privilege allows the key elements of each of these views to be compatible, and can even be combined into a single view about the nature of introspection and self-knowledge. The compatibility of these two views that otherwise appear to be in direct opposition is methodologically significant, highlighting several dialectical lessons that clar.. (shrink)

In her exciting and thought-provoking book, The Rationality of Perception, Susanna Siegel tackles some bedrock issues concerning the nature and epistemology of perception: its rationality and relation to inference. Examining those issues from the perspective of everyday perception, where our vanity, fears, wishful thinking, general outlook, etc. can influence what we believe ourselves to see, Siegel offers a constructive defence of the claim that ‘both perceptual experiences and the processes by which they arise can be rational or irrational’ and goes (...) on to analyze these processes in terms of inference. (shrink)

Wolfgang Krause war einer der Begr nder der deutschsprachigen Runologie. Die Runen sind nicht nur sprachhistorische Zeugnisse; ihre Analyse erschlie t auch das Alltagsleben. Somit geh rt die Runologie zum Nukleus der Kulturwissenschaften am Schnittpunkt Linguistik, Philologie, Arch ologie und Geschichte. Hier werden Krauses wichtigste Schriften versammelt. Die Einleitung arbeitet zudem die Relevanz f r aktuelle wissenschaftliche Fragen heraus.

This article may be completely devoid of academic pathos and full of everyday irony, but such an approach can probably be justified by the situation that has developed in the educational space of the country today. The situation itself is so glaring that speaking in the "exemplary language" of high-ranking officials and extensive constructions of wordplay like the "bright future" of our education does not arouse any desire. Under these conditions, in this article we try to analyze some problems that (...) exist in the system of humanitarian education in Ukraine. In particular, we address the issue that the country's educational strategy (if it exists at all) is a continuous "experiment" based on the continuous testing of various educational strategies in the world on the Ukrainian education system and in which children and teachers are subjects. Such experiments, even in experimental sociology or psychology, are called "inhuman." After all, only "our" education system adopts a new strategy, as soon as the next Minister of Education appears with his innovations and his own vision of the situation; it lacks either logic or any relationship between higher and secondary schools; it is there that the level of state funding of the humanitarian bloc is declining and depreciating, which could lead to complete cultural degradation. We focus on the latter. Because it is the humanities education, and the same humanities, at any time, in any country have been leaders and indicators of the level of social and cultural development in general. The purpose and objectives of the study are to identify and analyze some of the problems that exist today in the field of humanities education and which cause the symptoms of its "disease". (shrink)

The phenomenon of war occupies one of the leading places in socio-philosophical and cultural studies. War also has an ambiguous position in human life. On the historical map we see the ongoing waves of armed conflicts, which inevitably lead to fatal consequences for countries, peoples and human beings. War mainly appears in the form of horrors and tragedies. However, in philosophical studies, war is considered from different angles. Philosophers often emphasize the ambiguity and multidimensionality of war. In this work, the (...) authors analyze the phenomenon of war, given a certain “attractiveness” and even the “necessity” of this phenomenon for humans. The authors also summarize the available range of answers to the question of where the desire for violence comes from, that is, the so-called “thirst for war”. It is this desire that gives rise to a constant stay of people in a state of war. The results of this study show that war is indeed an important phenomenon, which can also be considered one of the fundamental attributes of human nature. Analyzing various approaches that explain the causes of war the authors note that the source of any armed conflict is precisely the “militancy” in the very essence of homo sapiens. Human beings must constantly fight for their existence. And such a struggle often takes various forms, which can be considered as concrete variants of the same phenomenon. This phenomenon at the theoretical and philosophical level is fixed in the concept of war. Despite the natural sense of horror that the word “war” evokes at the level of everyday consciousness, pain and hope, death and freedom, faith in human and the justice of the universe, as well as a willingness to fight for this justice, are simultaneously hidden under this “ language shell”. All these internally contradictory meanings are united within the framework of the philosophically processed concept of war, and are also embodied in many different “wars” that a person constantly wages due to his / her specific “being structure”. Human, therefore, is a “warring creature,” or, as the authors propose to denote this feature, “homo militaris”. (shrink)

One of the key problems facing bioethics concerns those cases where, due to the limited human and technical resources of medicine, patients are in fact doomed to die. The reason for withdrawing treatment may be the futility of using the available means, as well as the burden of certain procedures. In the contemporary world, euthanasia is offered as an alternative to withdrawing treatment, that is, direct causing the death of a patient, killing. They distinguish these two types of practice by (...) analyzing the duties of the physician, the intentions of all subjects, the differences between action and inaction. The obligation to save the patient at all costs should be rejected because of the non-humanity of this principle. That is why, however, the doctor faces a dilemma: to leave the patient to natural processes, or to kill him or her directly. The intention in both cases is to solve a problem in which the treatment of the patient becomes futile, and the withdrawing sooner or later leads to death. Euthanasia in its passive form may procedurally coincide with the withdrawing treatment. Withdrawing treatment is the decision, and therefore, it is more an action than inaction. It seems that the choice between euthanasia and withdrawing treatment is purely technical. The author of the article suggests comparing the mechanisms of decision making in the application of euthanasia and withdrawing treatment, looking at the purpose of these decisions and the means of its reaching. In the case of euthanasia, the purpose of action or inaction is to relieve suffering, and the means is to cause death. In the case of withdrawing treatment, instead, the goal is also the good of the patient, but death is not a means but a side effect. Therefore, the author recognizes that withdrawing treatment is a more moral practice than euthanasia, which is a direct killing and is justified by the low value of one’s life. (shrink)

The topic of happiness is one of the oldest in philosophical researches. Now it is the subject of interest, in particular, for bioethicists, scientists who are looking for the principles of proper treatment of human life, health, and death. The concept of happiness acquires special significance in the quality of life bioethical conception. The author of the article outlines the origins of the understanding of happiness adopted by the supporters of this conception, as well as gives examples of its application (...) by them. The quality of life bioethical conception adopted utilitarian vision of happiness, developed mainly by J. Bentham and J. S. Mill. According to it, happiness is identified with benefit or pleasure, which can be measured and maximized. In the XX century utilitarians began to consider autonomy – the ability of a person to manage his or her own life and death – as an important element of happiness. The influence of the preference utilitarianism is also noticeable. In obedience to it they see happiness in the ability of person to realize his or her rational and autonomous desires. The medical conditions that does not allow it are interpreted as lack of happiness. Thus, they justify not only the admissibility of withdrawing treatment that doesn’t give the expected result, but also of euthanasia. Killing a person, in terms of the quality of life conception, may not be a lack of happiness if the other alternative is to continue living in conditions that do not allow a person to realize his or her preferences, or does not coincide with his or her ideas of a decent life. The lives of persons who do not manifest rationality and autonomy are interpreted as inhuman, as wrongful, and the person as deprived of the right to happiness. Critics of the quality of life conception point to the subjectivity of the criteria by which happiness is measured. The second reproach is the reference to the absence of a hierarchy of values. That is why they give pleasure and absence of suffering too much importance. (shrink)

Bioethics is an interdisciplinary science that deals with the moral aspects of medicine, biotechnology and the value of life in general. Quality of life concept is the basis for one of the models of bioethics. Its supporters understand the value of human life by relying on the categories of its qualitative characteristics. They argue that the value of life is relative and depends on certain criteria, and prove the permissibility to terminate it in some cases. Quality of life conception is (...) criticized, above all, by those scholars who rely on religious ideas of the equal value and inviolability of all people’s lives. This article reveals several examples of such criticism in the works of Polish and American authors: T. Biesaga, H. Ciach, G. Hołub, P. Kieniewicz, R. P. George and P. Lee. Citing the arguments of that Christian thinkers, the author forms her own attitude to the problem. The ethical and ontological sources of quality of life concept, namely utilitarianism and naturalism, become the main object of criticism. It is significant that in the utilitarian appeal to maximize happiness as pleasure and calculate the gain or loss they see an attempt to establish the primacy of the overall well-being over an individual’s life as well as a reason for killing those individuals whose lives do not meet quality criteria and impair overall well-being. They also criticize such a consequence of the naturalistic view as reduction of the personality to its manifestations. The absence of such manifestations becomes for the supporters of the quality of life concept the basis for conclusion about a low quality of life of some individuals. One more critical remark towards the quality of life concept concern erasing of differences between humans and animals and their interests. The technocratic attitude that permits any manipulations of a human life if only they can be performed is criticized too. The author demonstrates that the fundamental fault of the quality of life concept which is criticized by all its opponents is a limited understanding of human nature and human life. (shrink)

Excerpt from Der Systemgedanke bei Kant und Fichte Es ist klar, dass diese ganze machtige Entwicklung der exakten Wissenschaften eine radikale Umwalzung und Neubegrundung der Philosophie zur Folge haben musste. Die neue Gewissheit der Er kenntnis, die hier waltete, die neuen Begriffe und Methoden galt es philosophisch zu begreifen. Diese Aufgabe sprengte den Rahmen der alten aristotelisch-scholastischen Philosophie und fuhrte zu der philosophischen Entwicklung, deren Hohepunkt wir im transzen dentalen Idealismus Kants erblicken. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of (...) thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.". (shrink)

Review of Fitzi, G.. The Challenge of Modernity: Simmel’s Sociological Theory. Routledge.