Materials of the discussion about informal philosophical schools held in Alushta (1987–1989, 1991, 1993). The context of the Ukrainian SSR in the 1980s and the impact of Schools on Ukrainian philosophy during the period of independence are analyzed.

The authors of the article aim to show the ideological and historical origins of the idea of a social contract, as well as the fundamental difference between the modern version of the social contract and its historical predecessors. By distinguishing between the synodal and contractual principles of integration, the authors conclude that the social contract is not a purely modern political idea. The contractual principle as the basis of the organization and legitimization of power was systematically developed already in the (...) XIII-XIV centuries, taking the form of a socio-political program in the theory of the cathedral governance of the church. In contrast to medieval concepts, the modern social contract is not a consequence of God's established order, but the will of human individuals. Due to this determination of will, individuals limit their natural freedom for the sake of the possibility and good of common existence. (shrink)

Offered to discussion theme has to fundamental question of philosophical conscience self-definition, question about reliable beginning of thought. General starting point is acknowledging that modern European metaphysics assumes fundamentalism as a principle of thought. Considering this thinking strategy theses are put forward: 1) fundamentalism is impossible; 2) fundamentalism was not universal modern European strategy of thinking; 3) theoretical clarity and systematicity of thinking are to be opposed to fundamentalism; 4) fundamentalism and systematicity os thinking – are mutually exclusive. Because only (...) religious fate by definition corresponds with being, then modern European philosophy solves purely religious question using fundamentalism. But for philosophers as a topos of correspondence of being and thinking is knowledge. But till knowledge is reliable beginning of thought, and science is positivistic, untill then philosophy ought to be in permanent crisis. Hence philosophy, by opening new possibilities of being, more and more relies on new metaphysical topos – existential experience. The aim of neo-scepticism is to metaphysically defend existential experience. (shrink)

The article analyses the development of the idea of sovereignty, which is the result of six centuries of intellectual and political development that began in the early Middle Ages. Having studied the development of this idea from the idea of the plenitudo potestatis of the papacy in Gregory VII to the idea of the sovereign individual in Locke, the authors conclude that the modern understanding of popular sovereignty and the state is a consequence of the modern idea of sovereign individuals (...) that form a political community in the only possible way - on the basis of agreement. (shrink)

The article analyzes the problem of Ukraine's development since independence. A comparison of the way of organizing social reality in modern Ukraine and in the Soviet period is carried out. The main regulatory factor in the life of Soviet society was the principle of domination. Ukraine has inherited the principle of domination and retains its leading role in the current social order. Its various manifestations that determine the structure of Ukrainian society, in particular the growth of the bureaucratic class and (...) bureaucratic pressure on all spheres and sections of life, are analyzed. The dominance of bureaucracy contains latent violence, feeds corruption and minimizes social dynamics. It is also a phenomenon of power rent, which finds its expression in a kind of "privatization of the state." Another universal effect of the principle of domination is the doubling of social reality into apparent and hidden. The apparent reality becomes a space for the existence of ordinary citizens and the implementation of legal procedures, while the hidden one contains a system of real circulation of power, which is not regulated by any legal regulations, instead, controls all movements of the social body. The systemic role in the hidden society is played by cliques — informal groups of influential people who really control the course of events. The con- sequence of the principle of domination is the passivity and marginalization of the Ukrainian citizen, associated with the defect of political participation. Such non-participation in power is embodied in such forms of consciousness as hope, liking, and despair. Today, independence is not a given, but a chance that must be realized. The way to this is through the restoration of the role of the people as a sovereign power and the development of non-dominant regulatory factors of sociality. (shrink)