Abstract: The article examines the cultural and philosophical and socio-philosophical significance of polycentric urban planning strategies in the framework of the historical process of urbanization. Network and polycentric urban planning began to develop in the 19th century, was associated with a new course for the conscious and planned development of cities and assumed an even distribution of public facilities and communications, the unification of urban space with connecting axes, the integration of transport and engineering infrastructure. These trends in urban planning were caused by interrelated technological, economic, social and political factors, such as scientific and technological progress, the industrial revolution, rapid urbanization. The purpose of the article is to determine the social and cultural significance of urban planning strategies implemented in some European capitals of the XIX century in the context of the general process of urbanization. The scientific novelty of the article is determined by the correlation of the topic under consideration with the problems of modern urban structures. The article is based on an interdisciplinary, complex and systematic theoretical approach. A theoretical analysis of urban planning strategies and urban space development was carried out in order to identify the most promising and progressive trends in urban planning that anticipated the modern principles of urban space formation. The conclusions of the article include the characterization of the influence of polycentric urban development on the formation of a psychosocial environment and typical characteristics of the spiritual life of citizens. A review of studies on socio-cultural and philosophical problems of urbanism helps to identify the impact of polycentric urban planning, including on modern society, residents of modern cities.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the problem of technicalization of human nature studied in the works of an American historian, sociologists and philosopher of technology Lewis Mumford.  The Western philosophical tradition marks the existence of the traditional juxtaposition of technology and nature, technology and human. The impact of scientific and technological progress upon human mind and his corporeal nature is incontestable. However, the evolution of technology itself reflects the intentions of development of intellectual culture. Thus, technology is initially ambivalent with regards to human, producing disintegrating and organizing influence simultaneously. Technology separates human from nature and forms new subject and value systems. The article applies a descriptive method of research, gives characteristics to the most significant works of L. Mumford, as well as utilizes hermeneutic approach and method of structural analysis of his writings. The author’s main contribution consists in versatile analysis of L. Mumford’s interpretations of the philosophical problems of technology. Multiple existing research emphasize his negative evaluation of technology: he correlates process of technicalization with dehumanization, militarization and strengthening of totalitarian means of social organization. Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that throughout his path, L. Mumford has substantially modified the context of studying technology: in his early work “Technology and Civilization (1934) Mumford optimistically determines the modern “neo-technological” type of social development. The conclusions are made on the sociocultural and socioeconomic meaning of technology, with focus on the anthropological problem of the impact of technology upon human nature.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the theory of interconnections between architecture and tectonics of the XX century and the transformations taking place in social space, and thus, in the individual mental life of a person. The study was conducted based on the works of one of the most prominent representatives of anthropological approach in the architectural philosophy – the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk. His philosophical concept Sloterdijk builds through determination of the essence of consciousness of a modern human, which reflects the phenomena of social restructuring along with the transformations in sociopolitical and cultural life. The article examines the analyzed by the philosopher strategies and patterns common to urban development and architectural engineering of the XX century. Methodology contains the descriptive characteristics of P. Sloterdijk’s architectural philosophy in the Russian-language scientific literature; hermeneutic analysis of his works; and comparative analysis of his ideas with the theories of other prominent representatives of the architectural philosophy. The scientific novelty is substantiated by the insufficient knowledge on Sloterdijk’s architectural philosophy in the Russian-language scientific literature. In conclusion, the author systematizes and generalizes Sloterdijk’s key ideas pertinent to interconditionality of architecture of the XX century with the sphere of psychosocial, as well as compares his philosophical concept with the content of theories of other architectural philosophers.

Abstract: The subject of the research is the problem related to representation of symbols and images of ancient Greek culture in creative work of one of the most famous English architects and scenewrights Inigo Jones (1573 - 1652). The author interprets the influence of ancient Greek culture in terms of the development of Inigo Jones' creative method that is characterised with the eclectic interaction of two oppositely directed styles, Baroque and Palladianism. Another issue to be analyzed is the phenomenon of consciously constructed symbolic values that use the images of ancient Greek culture to transmit state policy of Stuart dynasty in Britain at the beginning of the XVIIth century. Inigo Jones' hypothesis about the origin of Stonehenge the present article is devoted to is a good example there of. The methodology of the research involves description of Inigo Jones' architectural and scenographic methods, historiogrpahical review of research literature on the matter and analysis of Inigo Jones' treatise on the origin of Stonehenge. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author focuses on understudied hypotheses of Inigo Jones about Stonehenge in terms of the allegoric representation of the myth about Stuard dynasty. The conclusions made by Khasieva in her research reveals little-known aspects of symbolisation of ancient Greek culture in Inigo Jones' works as well as the role of that hypothesis in terms of Inigo Jones' strategy of developing the image of state and monarch. 

Abstract: The subject of the present research is the interpretation of Dostoevsky's fiction by literary critics V. Woolf and L. Strachey. The Bloomsbury Group's interest in Dostoevsky's fiction was mainly predetermined by the overall Europe's fancy for the Russian culture and received a considerable impression of the colonial orientalism, however, signified the stage of the true acquaintance of British intellectuals with the Russian literature. Even though Woolf and Strachey had mostly the same evaluation of Dostoevsky's poetics, they had rather different opinions on the comic element of his fiction. The research methodology involves both a review of a number of works written by Woolf and Strachey and hermeneutic analysis of these texts considering historical and cultural environment that influenced the perception of Dostoevsky's fiction by the Bloomsbury Group. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that humour in Dostoevsky's fiction is an understudied topic in the European criticism of the early XXth century. By reviewing Woolf's and Strachey's articles the author of the present research draws conclusions about differences and similarities in Woolf's and Strachey's interpertation of humour in Dostoevsky's fiction and analyzes the grounds for their critical positions.