* Hatha yoga is commonly thought to be a pure, ancient Indian spiritual discipline that transcends cultural, temporal and spatial boundaries or a spiritual discipline corrupted by Indians (for export) or Westerners (for import) to accommodate Westerners. Calling these beliefs into question, Max Popov's Radiant Bodies shows how hatha yoga was transformed from sacred practice into a health and fitness regime for middle-class Indians in India in the early and mid-20th century. Popov tells the story of this transformation (...) through the lives and accomplishments of eleven key figures: six Indian yogis (Shri Yogendra, Swami Kuvalayananda, S. Sundaram, T. Krishnamacharya, Swami Sivananda and B. K. S. Iyengar), an Indian bodybuilder (K. V. Iyer), a rajah (Bhavanarao Shrinivasrao), an Indian diplomat (Apa Pant), an American-born English journalist (Louise Morgan), and a Russian-born yogi trained in India (Indra Devi).Their accomplishments are placed within the context of such Western trends as the physical culture movement, the commodification of exercise, militant nationalism, post-World War I anxiety, the mystique of science, jazz age popular entertainment, and the quest for youth and beauty. Through a series of biographical narratives placed in a rich cultural context, Popov not only brings to life the formation of modern hatha yoga as an exercise system in the early 20th century but also its transformation over the course of the 20th century into an embodied spiritual practice. Popov draws on extensive research from rare primary sources to present a cutting edge interpretation of the history of modern hatha yoga. Radiant Bodies is a thoughtful book for the educated general reader that would also be of special interest for religion scholars and yoga professionals and practitioners. (shrink)

The relationship between human and cosmos is still quite a mystery. The ancient intuition about interconnectedness of human and cosmos was replaced by a worldview in which human is part of nature primarily through the continuity of the body with the outer nature. The mind is seen as a unique phenomenon mysteriously emerging from matter. To this mystery responds philosopher Bernardo Kastrup by proposing an ontology that turns the mind-matter relationship on its head: the matter is part of the mind, (...) and not vice versa. This article briefly examines the historical evolution of understanding of the relationship between human and cosmos, introduces the ontology called analytical idealism by B. Kastrup and discusses how idealistic ontology can help us understand our relationship with the cosmos on a deeper level. (shrink)

Purpose of the article Mentally demanding job of a media creator exposes an individual to a high amount of stress. The latter one disturbs the balance of external expectations and internal capabilities, leading to disruption of psychological well-being and reduction of the quality of life. The key to proper stress management is usage of positive coping strategies. The aim of this paper is to research the usage of coping strategies by the students of mass media – the future media creators. (...) Methodology/methods By means of a standardized questionnaire, we examined the use of positive and negative coping with stress strategies on probands – the future media creators, i.e. students on the faculty of mass media. The questionnaire was distributed personally in amount of 105 with a 95% return of 100 questionnaires. As the sampling method we used the choice of participants based on availability. Findings The results showed that probands elected more positive strategies, and thus they are able to handle stress in a healthy and rational way. As the trend of feminization is constantly evolving in the media, we also examined ability of female students to cope with stress. Our assumption, that women handle stress better than men, was not confirmed. They chose rather negative strategies. On the other hand, the male part of probands was inclined to choose positive strategies. Behind the ability to handle stress in a positive way, in the case of media creators, probably lies the complexity and integrity of personality, and other factors. Limits of research The main limit of presented research is the composition of research sample, i.e. students even though they study in the programs of the mass media, are not the representative sample of the group of media creators in practice. Therefore, we suggest executing similar studies on the sample of the media creators that are already working in the field of media to verify our findings. (shrink)

Purpose. The research is aimed at understanding the philosophical and journalistic heritage of M. Scheler during 1914-1919. "The philosophy of war" is regarded as the middle link between the phenomenological and anthropological stages of its philosophical evolution. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is the philosophical legacy of Max Scheler, as well as the work of domestic and Western researchers devoted to this issue. Problems of Weltkriegsphilosophie become comprehensible based on the historical, logical and comparative principles of historical (...) and philosophical analysis, which allowed to theoretically reconstruct the cultural and historical context, philosophical sources and ideological intentions of the German philosopher. Originality. For the first time in domestic historical and philosophical thought, it proved that the works by Max Scheler of the First World War played an outstanding role in the formation of philosophical anthropology as a separate philosophical trend. Conclusions. The basis of the Weltkriegsphilosophie by Max Scheler is the philosophical comprehension of the war in which the thinker tries to see the high sacral meaning, where the sacrifices that the nation brings to the altar of victory are not in vain: the nation is rallying this sacrifice, its readiness for it. According to Scheler, war is the most effective means of forming the so-called "love communities", to which he refers combat brotherhood, family and nation as a "collective personality", which recognizes itself through war. The philosopher is disappointed to some part with militaristic enthusiasm in his later military journalistic works and calls for a spiritual and moral renewal of Europe, fed from Christian roots. At the heart of this renewal should be the principle of personal solidarity, based on the Christian idea of love. However, Catholic universalism is an insufficient means for the formation of a "love community" and a new man who is co-creator of God that constitutes the main core of the philosophical anthropology of Max Scheler, which emerges in the 20s of the twentieth century. Based on this, the article affirms the existence in Sheler’s works of an intermediate stage between his phenomenology and philosophical anthropology – Weltkriegsphilosophie. (shrink)

_Purpose._ The authors aim to reveal the influence of philosophical and esoteric principles on the formation and further development of Roberto Assagioli’s concept of psychosynthesis. _The theoretical basis_ of the study is determined by the latest methodological approaches in the study of the relationship between philosophical, psychological, and esoteric approaches in the study of the unconscious and the formation of a harmonious personality. _Originality._ For the first time, a systematic analysis of the anthropological foundations of Roberto Assagioli’s work has been (...) carried out in Ukrainian philosophical literature, the specificity of the connection between esoteric teachings and psychosynthesis has been revealed on the basis of a thorough study of primary sources and biographical evidence of the life and work of the famous Italian thinker. _Conclusions._ Psychosynthesis, which is one of the leading directions of modern psychology, has a rather multicultural philosophical and methodological basis. Its founder Roberto Assagioli, while developing his concept, was influenced by theosophical-esoteric, pragmatic kabbalistic, and Eastern religious concepts and practices. Unlike psychoanalysis, which saw the unconscious as physiological-naturalistic determinants of the human psyche and behavior, psychosynthesis considers the unconscious as a hidden potential for self-development of the individual. Roberto Assagioli went through a long and difficult way to finally form his own concept, which became the basis of the psycho-techniques of disidentification and work with subpersonalities, which help to discover the true transpersonal self, which is the source of human self-improvement. Modern discussions about the relationship between psychosynthesis and various forms of parapsychology once again testify to the synthetic nature of Assagioli’s teaching, which combines various psychotherapeutic practices. This is what gives psychosynthesis a new push for development in the conditions of wars, disasters, loneliness, and related psychological disorders. (shrink)

The mastery of contemporary scientific and technological revolution is both a consequence and a condition of the purposeful control of social processes. Bourgeois social sciences failed to elaborate a comprehensive theory of social control since they ignore the social subject of the cognition and control of social processes. The scientific concept of social control arises due to the Marxist-Leninist analysis of the subject-object dialectic in the historical process with the formation of the advanced socialist society.

Purpose. The article is an explication of the features of the anthropological teaching of Peter Hacker in the context of analytical philosophy with consideration to the context of European philosophy within the framework of the Oxford School of ordinary language philosophy. The theoretical basis of the research is determined by the latest research in the English-language analytical philosophical tradition, rethinking the place of anthropological problems in the system of philosophical knowledge. Originality. Referring to primary sources, we reconstructed the philosophical and (...) anthropological teaching of Peter Hacker in the unity of its basic principles and theoretical and practical results. We determined philosophical origins of the key ideas of his philosophical anthropology and substantiated their originality, systematicity and logical argumentation. His philosophical position is defined as anthropological holism, synthesizing the reinterpreted ideas of Aristotle and Wittgenstein. Conclusions. Peter Hacker is the creator of the original version of Analytic Philosophical Anthropology. His anthropology is based on criticism of Cartesian dualism and physicalism, which underlie modern neurosciences and which he tries to overcome on the basis of Wittgenstein’s philosophical "logotherapy". The conceptual framework of his holistic anthropology is a rethought conceptual scheme of the Ordinary language philosophy. Hacker considers consciousness not as a separate mental reality, but one of the powers of human nature – an intellectual ability, which, along with emotional and moral, belongs to a person as an integral socio-biological being. Asserting the free will of man, the Oxford thinker criticizes various forms of determinism, especially its most common form in modern science – neurobiological determinism, which is built on false philosophical foundations. This criticism allows the modern British philosopher to build an original, systematic and logically consistent anthropological concept that asserts the immutability of the highest human values – goodness, love and happiness. (shrink)

Purpose. The paper considered the explication of the concept of "Sinn des Lebens" within the framework of Western philosophy and psychology of the ХІХ-ХХІ centuries. On the basis of this, the role of this concept in contemporary theoretical discussions and psychological and psychotherapeutic practices is understood. Theoretical basis. The authors believe that understanding the concept of "Sinn des Lebens" is possible only based on the synthesis of modern analytical philosophy methods with the methodological guidelines of modern psychology, in particular logotherapy. (...) Originality. The authors have proved that the problem of "meaning of life" is not an "eternal problem" of philosophy, but arises only in the early nineteenth century as a reflection on European secularization and widespread individualistic values and becomes extremely relevant gaining different interpretations at the beginning of the twentieth century based on the crisis of the sensory values of modern man. Conclusions. The concept of "Sinn des Lebens" originated in the philosophy of the German Romantics and gained philosophical significance only in the works by Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Russian philosophy and literature give priority to the meaning of life in ethical and anthropological studies, focusing on its religious intentions. Analytical philosophy and existentialism appear to be diametrically opposed to the life-purpose anthropological problems, but they attempt to solve this problem by understanding the absurdity of human existence and language from different angles of view. The most reasonable concept of meaning in psychology can be considered Frankl’s logotherapy, which, despite certain drawbacks, remains the most significant in modern Western psychology. Modern philosophical studies on the problems of the meaning of life, despite their prudent analyticity and systematic nature, have not found credible criteria and means of human life self-reflection yet and have further incentives to develop their methodological and philosophical considerations. However, the diversity of interpretations of the concept of "meaning of life" that exists in modern scientific literature needs further reflection. (shrink)

Due to the decentralised nature of blockchain technology, NFT art has changed notions of authorship and ownership, diminished the role of art world experts, and influenced the global art market. However, the question of whether NFTs can be considered art at all remains open to debate. In order to distinguish NFTs from other digital and non-digital artworks, we will first provide an overview of what NFTs are and what kind of digital space they belong to. Secondly, we will analyse the (...) conditions that an NFT must fulfil in order to be considered an artwork, according to its inherent characteristics. The results will show that, firstly, an NFT artwork depends on its artistic concept; secondly, its representational content has to be a visual interpretation of the NFT concept and related to data according to the concept; and finally, the concept defines the whole ecosystem and the aesthetic properties of NFT artworks. (shrink)

Discussions about the achievements and limitations of the various approaches to the development of intelligent systems can have an essential impact on empirically based research, and with that also on the future development of computer technologies. However, such discussions are often based on vague concepts and assumptions. In this context, we claim that the proposed `three-world ontology'' offers the most appropriate conceptual framework in which the basic problems concerned with cognition and computation can be suitably expressed and discussed, although the (...) solutions of some of these problems seem to lie beyond the horizon of our current understanding. We stress the necessity to differentiate between authentic and functional cognitive abilities; although computation is not a plausible way towards authentic intelligence, we claim that computational systems do offer virtually unlimited possibilities to replicate and surpass human cognitive abilities on the functional level. (shrink)

Die Evolution bildet Strukturen von zunehmender Präzision und Macht. In diesem Prozess tragen die Stärkeren den Sieg über die Schwächeren davon und werden zu neuen Evolutionsträgern. Als künstliches Gebilde wirkt sich die Technologie auf das Leben und die Evolution oft beeinträchtigend aus, weil diese als natürliche Erscheinungen aufgefasst werden. Allerdings ist Technologie auch lebensfördernd, wenn sie die Evolution unterstützt. Es wird vermutet, dass die rasante Entwicklung der Technologie eine neue Epoche der Evolution einläuten wird. Mit Hilfe der Technologie sollen die (...) gebrechlichen biologischen Evolutionsträger durch eine neue Art nichtbiologischer Träger von enormer Intelligenz und Macht ersetzt werden. Dieser Artikel erörtert die Plausibilität und die Schwächen solcher faszinierender Projektionen, die von einigen als vollkommene Befreiung der Vernunft verkündet werden, während andere sie als Zeichen der endgültigen Selbstzerstörung des Menschen auslegen. (shrink)

L’évolution forme des structures de degrés d’organisation et de pouvoir de plus en plus grands, processus dans lequel les plus forts l’emportent sur les plus faibles et continuent l’évolution. La technologie est une création artificielle qui met souvent en danger la vie et l’évolution entendues comme phénomènes naturels, mais la technologie conserve aussi la vie et agit avec l’évolution. Cependant, certains soutiennent que la technologie fera bien plus que cela, et qu’elle ouvrira une époque tout à fait nouvelle de l’évolution. (...) La technologie remplacera les porteurs biologiques fragiles de l’évolution par une nouvelle espèce de porteurs non biologiques doués d’une intelligence et d’un pouvoir très grands. Cet article examine la plausibilité et la faiblesse de telles projections fascinantes que certains annoncent avec fierté comme la libération finale de l’Esprit, tandis que d’autres les appréhendent comme les signes de l’autodestruction finale de l’Homme. (shrink)

Evolution creates structures of increasing order and power; in this process the stronger prevail over the weaker and carry the evolution further. Technology is an artificial creation that often threatens life and evolution conceived of as natural phenomena; but technology also supports life and it works together with evolution. However, there are claims that technology will do much more than that, and bring about an entirely new epoch of evolution. Technology will replace the fragile biological carriers of evolution by a (...) new kind of nonbiological carriers of immense intelligence and power. The present paper discusses the plausibility and weaknesses of such fascinating projections that some people proudly announce as the final liberation of the Mind, while others fear them as signs of the final self-annihilation of the Man. (shrink)

Academic misconduct is widespread in all cultures, and factors that influence it have been investigated for many years. An act of reporting peers’ misconduct not only identifies and prevents misconduct, but also encourages a student to think and act morally and raises awareness about academic integrity. The aim of this study was to determine factors that prevent students from reporting academic misconduct. A questionnaire to assess views on reporting the academic misconduct of a colleague was developed and sent to all (...) students enrolled at the University of Rijeka, Croatia. Results indicate that a tendency to protect fellow student and to comply with other opinions is the most influential factor that prevents students from reporting peers’ misbehavior. Furthermore, scientific discipline, gender, and age are all significant factors in students’ intention to report peer misconduct. Understanding the factors that influence students’ willingness to report academic misconduct enables faculties, administrators and students to strengthen the ethical culture in the academic community. (shrink)

The paper adopts an inter-theoretical socio-cultural and -material perspective on the relationship between human + machine learning to propose a new way to investigate the human + machine assistive assemblages emerging in professional work (e.g. medicine, architecture, design and engineering). Its starting point is Hutchins’s (1995a) concept of ‘distributed cognition’ and his argument that his concept of ‘cultural ecosystems’ constitutes a unit of analysis to investigate collective human + machine working and learning (Hutchins, Philos Psychol 27:39–49, 2013). It argues that: (...) (i) the former offers a way to reveal the cultural constitution of and enactment of human + machine cognition and, in the process, the limitations of the computational and connectionist assumptions about learning that underpin, respectively, good old-fashioned AI and deep learning; and (2) the latter offers a way to identify, when amplified with insights from Socio-Materialism and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, how ML is further rearranging and reorganising the distributed basis of cognition in assistive assemblages. The paper concludes by outlining a set of conjectures researchers that could use to guide their investigations into the ongoing design and deployment of HL + ML assemblages and challenges associated with the interaction between HL + ML. (shrink)

Representation of quantum states by statistical ensembles on the quantum phase space in the Hamiltonian form of quantum mechanics is analyzed. Various mathematical properties and some physical interpretations of the equivalence classes of ensembles representing a mixed quantum state in the Hamiltonian formulation are examined. In particular, non-uniqueness of the quantum phase space probability density associated with the quantum mixed state, Liouville dynamics of the probability densities and the possibility to represent the reduced states of bipartite systems by marginal distributions (...) are discussed in detail. These considerations are used to study ensembles of hybrid quantum-classical systems. In particular, nonlinear evolution of a single hybrid system in a pure state and unequal evolutions of initially equivalent ensembles are discussed in the context of coupled hybrid systems. (shrink)

By the end of the 20th century educational issues had become of global character due to the fact, that it is education that makes the basis for the social dimensions of the 21st century. The importance of educational issues can be explained by the post-industrial society being oriented at rising the significance of information and knowledge as being the main resources for the society development, at the priority of intellectual activities, resulting in changing the roleand place of education in the (...) society, at turning education into the strategically important sphere of our lives. (shrink)