This essay is devoted to the analysis of the scholarly achievements of Victor V. Bychkov, a renowned Russian expert in aesthetics. It demonstrates that he has analyzed systematically and in detail the history of implicit aesthetics of the countries of the Eastern Orthodox region and has subdivided it into four principal stages: Patristic aesthetics, Byzantine aesthetics, Old Russian aesthetics, and Russian theourgic aesthetics. He has devoted special monographs to each of the four areas. Bychkov has created a present-day version of (...) theoretical aesthetics—post-nonclassic aesthetics—which he subdivided into three principal sections: classic, aesthetics; nonclassics ; and aesthetic virtualistics. Based on his analysis of twentieth-century art, Bychkov has suggested the hypothesis "Culture-post-culture," has brought to light the metaphysical meaning of contemporary, art and has provided contemporary definitions of the subject of aesthetics, of principal aesthetic categories, and of the main principles of art. (shrink)

The subject of the study is the fundamental philosophical and aesthetic problems in the aesthetics of Pierre Simon Ballanche, who stood at the origins of French romanticism. Two layers of his creativity - explicit and implicit - have been identified and analyzed. It is shown that his ideas about the art of romanticism are verbalized in a strict academic style. The implicit layer, is associated with Ballanche’s artistic prose. It includes philosophical and aesthetic poems, testifying the originality of his aesthetic (...) position. Unlike most French romantics, who distance themselves from ancient culture as pagan in favor of Christianity and medieval art, Ballanche, in his talented paraphrases of mythological stories, romanticizes Antiquity, finding in it the beginnings of future Christian ideas of sublime love, mercy, sacrifice, beauty and goodness. The main conclusion of the study is the conclusion that art, according to Ballanche, plays a leading civilizational role in the cosmogonic-historical process. The core of Ballanche's implicit philosophical aesthetics is revealed - the original concept of palingenesis, interpreted by the author as a radical degeneration of the world for the sake of its future revival; it is precisely this stage of cultural and historical development that, in his opinion, marks romanticism. The author's special contribution lies in introducing into domestic scientific circulation, translated into Russian for the first time and analyzed the philosophical and aesthetic poems “Antigone”, “The Man with No Name”, “The Experience of Social Palingenesis. Orpheus". (shrink)

The essay explores the special features of French Symbolist aesthetics, which consist of the conceptions of symbolization as correspondence between the spiritual and objective worlds, suggestion, artistic synthesis and synesthesia, beauty, the beautiful and the sublime. The author analyzes the main trends of Symbolist aesthetics in France – the Neoplatonic/Christian and the Solipsistic symbolism – and traces their influence on art. She shows that the attitude toward aesthetic philosophy inherent in French Symbolism turned out to be the backbone for Euro-American (...) culture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. (shrink)

The essay introduces the reader to Russian contemporary research in the field of aesthetics. It provides a conceptual overview of key topics, discussions, main schools, and genres of the aesthetic scholarship present in today Russia.

The present text is Letter No. 187 written for the Trialogue Project, whose first volume, containing 170 letters, was published in Moscow in 2012., Addressed to Nadežda B. Mankovskaya and Vladimir V. Ivanov, the letter uncovers the chief line of the artistic symbolism in a monumental film tetralogy by Aleksandr Sokurov, a famous Russian filmmaker. The author shows how through the artistic interpretation of such historical personalities as Lenin, Hitler, and Japanese emperor Hirohito as well as such cultural-mythological (...) characters as Faust and Mephistopheles, the film director reveals varying aspects of the social display of an irrational element of Power. (shrink)

This paper presents a novel, Dynamic Syntax-based approach to the phenomenon of differential object marking in Kazakh, which can be extended at least to other Turkic languages displaying this phenomenon. It is demonstrated that the difference in the pragmatics associated with marked and unmarked direct objects, as well as the syntactic restrictions on the positioning of unmarked direct objects, can be elegantly and succinctly explicated through the application of the notions of fixed and unfixed nodes, without the need for proposing (...) special syntactic positions or additional pragmatics for the accusative case. (shrink)

Noting that among the changes wrought by globalization is a constantly accelerated influx of new knowledge and information. The majority of this information remains poorly analyzed, is not clearly understood, and is often unused. The author believes that, apparently, mankind is entering a new epoch of inevitability ofthinking by essences, instead of particulars, i.e. to an epoch of ontological thinking. In work, proceeding from a possibility of synthetic judgements a priori, the author considers ethnocultural contradictions with the help of a (...) technique of ontological knowledge, i.e. aprioristic synthesis. Ethnocultural relations are considered by the author as a component of the general global process of various mutual relations in their historical development. Using a method of ontologic synthesis, the author synthesizes three essences: ● morals, as essence of accumulation of experience; ● the natural right, as essence of comprehension of experience; ● the legal right, as essence of application of experience. Morals is only the precondition for the growth of human mentality; firstly, from morals up to the natural right, and then to constitutional, legal and other laws. Interethnic contradictions arise not on the basis of ethnocultural, religious and confessional distinctions, but on absence of a legislative foundation for harmonization of interstate and international life. With a view of sustainable development, the main strategic priorities of modern activities should be the development of scientifically proved laws and the effective monitoring system of their performance. (shrink)

This article discusses the image of philosophy in modern world in the context of synthesis of the various intellectual and cultural traditions. The author explores the correlation between philosophy and politics, knowledge and power as a certain discursive practice that in an organic part of Western European culture; demonstrates the limits on establishing dialogue between philosophical traditions, schools and strands of thought. Leaning on the ideas of Kant and Foucault in viewing the phenomenon of Enlightenment, the author analyzes the role (...) and place of a philosopher in the political and intellectual environment. The procedure of double sample realized by the philosopher holds the risk of losing its position on the pedestal taken by intellectualism and serve ideology instead, since orientation towards socially-pragmatic actions inevitably requires involvement into a political game. It demands conscious demarcation of the two types of decisions made: on the one hand, it is an existential choice pertinent to the held by philosopher intellectual position; while on the other – a socially-pragmatic, associated with interval choices, not affecting the ultimate grounds of existence. Due to the fact that preservation of the autonomy of philosophical territory in the era of globalization is an acute problem, there is a need for extremely cautious attitude to any attempts of shifting traditions and cultures, which usually assign primary role to the “philosophical reason”. (shrink)

The article is devoted to two talented representatives of the Russian university philosophical community of the first quarter XX century: Vasily Sesemann and Ksenia Miloradovich. It’s shown that their university routes are very similar, as far as it was possible for male and female biographies of that time. The most complete list of their original works published before 1922 is given. The thematic focus of their publications and journals in which they were published is compared and the translation activity is (...) analyzed. This allows us to see that in publications names of the “youth”: Vasily Sesemann, Ksenia Miloradovich, Sergey Hessen most often are supported by famous philosophers N.O. Lossky and S.E. Radlov. Based on the material of Ksenia Miloradovich's essay about the Philosophical Society, it’s emphasized that they were acquainted with each other in the philosophical workshop. The publications of Miloradovich and Sesemann made in the genre of reviews and not previously mentioned in their personal bibliographies, were revealed. It’s also shown that two historical events: the First World War (1914-1918) and the revolution of 1917 influenced the publishing capabilities of both philosophers. Nevertheless, until 1922 they continued to be active participants in the processes of reviving philosophical publications and the philosophical society. Lives of Sesemann and Miloradovich had the pathos of the drama of political arrests that trimmed their philosophical biographies, but both managed to make their contribution to the history of Russian philosophy. The article emphasizes that the enthusiasm of their creativity and the drama of their destinies can serve as an example of vitality and loyalty to the work. (shrink)

This comparative analysis of multiple variants of the aesthetics of simulacrum as equal and autonomous participants in the postmodern polylogue presents a principle of creation of a 'third reality', which unites foreign and Russian elements. Making an artifact out of an artifact leads to a theory of artistic relativism. This type of simulacra give artistic cross-cultural results with an additional aesthetic effect representing fragments of a postmodern mosaic culture.

Der Aufsatz versucht, durch eine Gegenuberstellung verschiedener Ansichten uber die Entsteheng der Kunst einen neuen Zugang zum Denkansatz Croces zu gewinnen. Seine Philosophie des Geistes als eine Abwandlung des Hegelschen Erbes wird mit der proklamiert materialistischen Abwandlung bei Adorno verglichen, die beiden philosophischen Standpunkte wiederum mit Hegels eher feindlichen Positionen, wobei es sich zeigt, dass in Fragen der Kunst unerwartete Verbundnisse auftreten. Croces Begriff der Intuition bringt Schwierigkeiten auf dem Gebiet der Kreativitat und Imagination, ist aber noch immer ein grossartiger (...) antireduktionistischer Ansatz. (shrink)

This chapter first surveys general issues in the epistemic internalism / externalism debate: what is the distinction, what motivates it, and what arguments can be given on both sides. -/- The second part of the chapter will examine the internalism / externalism debate as regards to the specific case of the epistemology of memory belief.

The acquisition of a new skill usually proceeds through five stages, from novice to expert, with a sixth stage of mastery available for highly motivated performers. In this chapter, we re-state the six stages of the Dreyfus Skill Model, paying new attention to the transitions and interrelations between them. While discussing the fifth stage, expertise, we unpack the claim that, “when things are proceeding normally, experts don’t solve problems and don’t make decisions; they do what normally works” (Dreyfus & Dreyfus, (...) 1988, pp. 30 – 31). This leads us to offer an account of the “perspectival deliberation” that arises for experts and masters and that is distinct from the calculative deliberation characteristic of the lower stages of skillfulness. (shrink)

Opening an entirely new dimension of Platonic studies, this volume addresses major themes: the nature of law, property, and acquisitiveness; Socrates' famous "demonic voice"; the poetic claim to inspiration; and the psychology of the...

We presuppose a position of scientific realism to the effect (i) that the world exists and (ii) that through the working out of ever more sophisticated theories our scientific picture of reality will approximate ever more closely to the world as it really is. Against this background consider, now, the following question: 1. Do the empirical theories with the help of which we seek to approximate a good or true picture of reality rest on any non-empirical presuppositions? One can answer (...) this question with either a 'yes' or a 'no'. 'No' is the preferred answer of most contemporary methodologists -- Murray Rothbard is one distinguished counterexample to this trend -- who maintain that empirical theories are completely free of non-empirical ('a priori') admixtures and who see science as a matter of the gathering of pure 'data' obtained through simple observation. From such data scientific propositions are then supposed to be somehow capable of being established. (shrink)

What are the most fundamental features of the world? Do minds stand outside the natural order? Is a unified picture of mental and physical reality possible? The Mind in Nature provides a staunchly realist account of the world as a unified system incorporating both the mental and the physical. C. B. Martin, an original and influential exponent of 'ontologically serious' metaphysics, echoes Locke's dictum that 'all things that exist are only particulars', and argues that properties are powerful qualities. He also (...) spells out the implications of this view for philosophical conceptions of causation, intentionality, consciousness, and the mind-body problem. Martin emphasizes the importance of non-conscious 'vegetative' systems, which provide clear examples of intentionality in the form of representational use. The slide from representational use to consciousness involves a change in the material of use, but not the form of representation. A concluding chapter provides an argument for the view that an ontology of particular substances and properties leads ineluctably to monism: the bus we board with Locke takes us directly to the world of Spinoza and Einstein. Along the way, we are led to understand the nature of minds and conscious states of mind in a way that avoids both reductionism and dualism. (shrink)

In this concise yet powerful book, one of the twentieth century's most respected political philosophers presents a controversial reassessment of the political ideas and intellectual legacy of Edmund Burke. A practicing politician and powerful writer, full of ideas, Burke was intent on getting those ideas translated into government policies. But he was too much the impatient practitioner to set out his principles in a single book in the manner of Locke or Hume, leaving both admirers and opponents ample scope to (...) reinterpret his work in different ways. Macpherson, however, finds Burke's views on political economy to be the one consistent factor in his thinking. Today Burke is often viewed as one of modern conservatism's founding lights, and in an era of global capitalism unfettered by national borders, Macpherson's reassessment of Burke's ideas is perhaps more timely than ever. (shrink)

First published in 1986, Knowledge, Belief, and Witchcraft remains the only analysis of indigenous discourse about an African belief system undertaken from within the framework of Anglo-American analytical philosophy. Taking as its point of departure W. V. O. Quine's thesis about the indeterminacy of translation, the book investigates questions of Yoruba epistemology and of how knowledge is conceived in an oral culture.