Abstract: As it has been already noted in previous reviews, the books published by Canon + provide us a great insight into the current historical and philosophical process. This time the author has selected the two books out of the variety of new books published. These two books are devoted to the logic of historical and philosophical reflection and try to answer the question about the framework of categories used in researches as well as the unacceptability of modernization of philosophical categories when analyzing ancient texts and old philosophical ideas. This, first of all, refers to the challenge contained in V. K. Shokhin’s book ‘Agatology’. V. Shokhin suggests that we should return to the term that is related to the morals and appeared before the term ‘axiology’. However, it is not only the terminology V. Shokhin talks about. In his book V. Shokhin raises many questions needed to be discussed as soon as possible. The same goal is supported by the materials of the Russian scientific conference ‘History of Philosophy: Challenges of the XXIth century’. A lot of famous philosophical historians, both Russian and foreign ones, participated in that conference. The general attribute of the conference was the discussion. There were many views expressed by philosophers but all of those viewed only expanded the horizons of the philosophical framework. All kinds of analysis methods were used. The principle of historicism was not only the principle of formulating questions but also the subject of long and detailed discussions. At the same time, philosophical historians demonstrated that the cultural and sociological analysis could actually apply to studying the historical materials. Very different methods of interpreting the world were used and a special role of inter-disciplinary researches was underlined. The novelty of these publications is in their authors’ attempts to overcome the challenge of modern historical and philosophical process. The relation between history of philosophy and philosophy in general was also thoroughly studied and discussed. The methodological criticism of modern Eurocentrism is also discussed as an obstacle in many modern researches in the sphere of history of philosophy. It is stressed out that many particular philosophical researches in India, China and Arabian West are included in the discussion of global and overall civilization problems. The question about overcoming stereotypes in teaching history of philosophy is raised and particular grounds for creating a branch of philosophy called ‘agatology’ are provided.

Keywords: tsivilizatsiya, varvarstvo, mirovye religii, evropotsentrizm, oksidentalizm, gumanizm

Abstract: According to the author of the article, the main terms of the theory of civilization should be better studied analytically. In our academic literature this concept has replaced Marx’s division of history into historical periods according to the principle of social formation. However, social philosophers still haven’t reached an agreement on a single issue regarding the historical process of civilization development. For a long time civilization was understood as a transfer from savagery and barbarism to a human lifestyle. However, this opposition of barbarism to civilization raises many questions. One of them is, what barbarism is and why it managed to survive for so many years and still shows itself as the other side of civilization. Researchers haven’t clarified yet what this opposition means but start to compare different civilizations. The author bases his article o the methods of historical analysis and uses approaches of the comparative studies. When analyzing the problems under research, he appeals to the main achievements of social philosophy. He also uses the principles of philosophical understanding of human. The novelty of the article is in raising a whole number of polemic issues. The author carries out a critical evaluation of the most popular definitions of barbarism and civilization. He also tries to expand the criteria for defining particular civilizations. In this article the critics of Eurocentrism are accompanied with the analysis of the newest tends in cultural consciousness of the East. Orientalism is compared to Occidentalism. The author also analyzes the problems of the all-planet development of the humankind.

Keywords: culture, civilization, barbarism, savagery, civilization, world religions, Eurocentrism, Occidentalism, rationalism, humanism.

Abstract: The subject under review is a temporary form of a piece of cinematographic art. Artistic time continuum is viewed as the subject of synthesis and work material for creating a film. The author of the article makes a conclusion about the need to include the circular time into the pattern of the plot that has the conflict driving its internal development and goes through the thee stage – the exposition, development of the storyline through conflict to the climax and the falling action (resolution of the conflict). The authors shows that the circular time dominating in the plot creates a generalization which is very close to what a mythological consciousness deals with when particular sensual experience is tuned into a sign. The concept of the artistic time continuum is based on the ideas of Saint Augustine and Pavel Florensky. For the first time in the theory of cinematograph the artistic time is viewed as the subject of synthesis and working material for creating a piece of cinematographic art. The author of the article describes the importance of the circular time continuum for the plot. The circular time continuum creates the general outline of the storyline. Cyclicity is viewed as a result of existential issues being solved by human. Description of the role of the circular time in the structure of a piece of cinematographic art has allowed to view the terms ‘peripeteia’ and ‘plot pattern’ differently.

Keywords: artistic time continuum, circular time, theory of dramatic art, plot, plot pattern, peripeteia, piece of cinematographic art, eternity, non-linear time, dynamic process.

Abstract: The author of the present article analyzes the political philosophy of a French intellectual and state activist Francois Guizot (1787 – 1874), its sources, methodological bases, key principles and central issues considering the socio-political environment in France after Napoleon. The autho of the present article analyzes the main approaches of the philosopher to the key issues of the philosophical discourse at the age of Restoration (1814 0 1830) such as the sovereignty issue, the balance between freedom and order, legacy of the Revolution and its role in the political system of France, contradiction between freedom and equality. The methodology of the article is based on the history of ideas which principles allow to reconstruct Guizot’s intellectual style as well as to discover the influence of his ideas on succeeding philosophers. Analysis of the theoretical heritage of Guizot has allowed to re-integrate his philosophical concept into the modern political-philosophical discourse which may help to reveal the philosophical sources of French liberalism and demonstrate the relation between this ideology and democratic tradition as well as to see a complex reflection on the status of philosophical issues in the political practice.

Keywords: Fracois Guizot, political philosophy, Restoration, sovereignty, freedom, power, political theory, France, state institution.

Abstract: The subject under research is the phenomenon of transgression in the scientific discourse as a source of scientific work. Scientific work has its own bifurcation points at which completeness and order of scientific discourse are broken. In such crisis situations scientific discourse turns into the transgressive regime of existence. The present regime is described by the neutralization of the existential-conceptual framework established by scientific discourse. As a result it becomes possible to discover other configurations of meaning and existence in scientific discourse. According to the author, transformation of scientific discourse into the transgressive regime of existence is a specific ontological condition of scientific work. In his research the author uses standard methods of ontological research that are usually used in both classical ontology and modern non-classical ontology. He also uses a few research methods offered by the synergetic approach. The transgressive regime is not typical for science, even for modern post-neoclassical science. However, transgression is a necessary condition of scientific work. Scientific discourse transforms into the transgressive regime, firstly, when a modified variant of scientific discourse has a crisis and secondly, when scientific discourse approaches to philosophical discourse. Both cases are the ‘bifurcation points’ at which scientific discourse loses its balanced nature and established constitution.

Keywords: scientific discourse, transgression, transcendence, existential-conceptual perspective, bifurcation, modified variant, transgressive regime, paradoxical element, scientific work, constitution.

Abstract: The subject studied is the development of Adam Smith’s ideology in the course of his studying science, education, law, philosophy, religion and other branches of knowledge from the Ancient Times to the Early Modern Period. When studying the Ancient Times, Adam Smith adopted the concept of natural equality of all people from sophists of the older generation. The same ideas became famous in France before the revolution of 1789 in the teachings of utopian communists. Adam Smith got an opportunity to get to know them during his trip to France in 1764 – 1767. Smith disproved of their criticism of the private property institution but adopted their concept of natural equality of all people and used it to criticize the vestiges of feudalism in England. The author of the present article has used the method of materialistic dialectics and empiric analytical methods combining deduction wit induction and using each approach according to the targets of the present research. The author has also analyzed the historical struggle between Adam Smith’s theory and different teachings of communism throughout the XVIIIth – XXth centuries and arrived to the conclusion that Adam Smith’s ideas definitely won that centuries-long struggle. In the end, the ideas of scientific communism turned out to be as utopian as all the previous teachings of communism. However, after many generations of struggle the teaching of communism has managed to change the world and destroy the colonial system of imperialism. The Great Patriotic War was won under the banner of communism and soon the nation will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of Victory Day in 2015. Te author’s research of Adam Smith’s ideas from the point of view of the historical struggle of the XVIIIth – XXth centuries is a one-of-a-kind research in the academic literature.

Keywords: philosophy, science, antiphon, equality, utopianism, Stalin, economics, market, state institution, communism.

Abstract: The author develops and substantiates the concept of the co-existence of nations and ethnoses in the course of historical process. The author views nation and ethnos as essentially different social phenomena that have their peculiar genesis, socio-dynamic development and ontological grounds. According to the author, ontological differences between nation and ethnos are not always clearly seen based on the materials of the previous two or three centuries of the European history. These differences are much better seen based on the examples of the development of early political communities of the Ancient times and Classical Antiquity. According to the author, the periods of the rise and decline of a state institution has been evidently accompanied with the periodic (cyclic) actualization and de-actualization of ethnoses and ethnic identities. The periods of the progressive development and rise of political communities (state institutions and civilizations) have been accompanied with the cyclic weakening of ethnic groups and ethnic identity. The author offers the terms ‘early nation’ and ‘proto-nation’ to describe early political communities. The methodological base of the present research is the comparative social and philosophical analysis of the main theories and concepts of socio-genesis combined with the comparative study of the early forms of state institutions and social communities of the political genesis that were created by particular forms of state institutions and were different from the initial ethnic substrate. The fact that the early states had a developed system of evident class, estate and cast groups which genesis and reproduction were directly related to the state and governmental institutions allows to make an assumption that the early states also had a system-forming social community which genesis was also related to the political sphere. According to the author, these communities called ‘early nation’ or ‘proto-nation’ were created when the common social space of a traditional community was split and elites of warriors and hierophants became independent and led to the formation of political institutions. Early political communities started to differentiate from the early ethnos as a result of objective differentiation of different spheres of human existence. Early political communities that appeared as a result of the formation of the first urban localities as political, cultural and trading centers demonstrated a more obvious difference from the initial ethnic substrate that existed in the form of a traditional rural community. This proves the author’s hypothesis according to which national and ethnos are long-coexisting but at the same time esse ntially different social phenomena that have their peculiar genesis, socio-dynamic development and ontological grounds.

Keywords: ethnos, nation, early nation, proto-nation, socio-genesis, globalization, primordialism, constructivism, ethnocultural fragmentation, state institution.

Abstract: The subject being studied is the ideal typical approach of Raymond Aron to studying industrial societies. Raymond Aron created that method in the 50th of the 20th century when working on lectures about industrial societies and analyzing their economic and social structure, political regimes and culture. The method was opposed to the principle of the linearly ascending social progress followed by many Marxists of those times both in the Soviet Union and abroad. Aron’s method was based on the comparison of the industrial policy in different counties and classification of the types of industrial growth and therefore was also called ‘descriptive – generalizing’. The author of the present article touches upon this topic for the purpose of solving modern issues regarding future interaction between different historical communities. The author’s methodology included, first of all, comparison of Aron’s intent and his conclusions that were not always the same; and secondly, comparison of Aron’s liberal views with the views on the same matter showed by the French non-traditional left party. The novelty of the article is in the fact that the author addresses to a very interesting historical and philosophical issue about the struggle against Marxism and liberal concept of history on the 50th of the last century. The author concludes that Aron initially wanted to destroy Marx’s theory of progress but later came to the solution that allowed ‘reverse Marxism’ when Aron put Western capitalism at the peak of the historical development instead of the Soviet socialism. The other conclusion made by the author completes the first one and touches upon Aron’s concept of the heterogeneity of cultures in the world. Based on the ideas of the non-traditional left party (presented by Castoriadis and Ellul), the author show that the process of rationalization of modern societies involves the sphere of culture, too. This creates a strong ideological opposition to Aron’s thesis about national cultures being independent from the industrial growth.

Keywords: history, industrial society, historical types, science, technology, progress, politics, economics, rationalization, non-traditional left parties.

Abstract: The subject studied is the role of political trickster as a possible stereotype of political behavior in the Russian political environment of the late XXth. Cultural dimension of the political life is the ground for forming a matrix of possibilities of political leaders at this or that sage of social development. Culture and the collective request of the population for the implementation of a particular cultural paradigm by political elites are a direct consequence of the formation and development of the information society and transformation of collective consciousness. Political situation at the beginning of the 1990th in Russia created conditions for the appearance of both cultural heroes and tricksters in the political life of the country. In this regard, the author analyzes the political activity of A. Lebed and R. Kadyrov as the examples of political tricksterism and cultural heroism. The analysis of the political behavior of political actors is a new methodological approach which appears as a result of the development of the inter-disciplinary approach and principles of methodological pluralism. Based on the cultural analysis carried out, the author makes an assumption that on the political arena a cultural hero and a trickster are syncretical manifestations of the political reality in unstable situations. The solution of the unstable situation and overcoming of the political turbulence define the importance of the relation between a trickster and a cultural hero.

Keywords: trickster, mythological analysis, political behavior, cultural hero, culture, mythological consciousness, cosmos, R. Kadyrov, A. Lebed, chaos.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the phenomenon of cultural trauma as a reflection of the collective identity crisis experiencing by the society under the conditions of its modernization ‘transit’ to the industrial stage of development. Overcoming of the social crisis and restoration of the previous identity or acquiring a new identity are shown as a unique traumatic process that has its own logic of development and affects, first of all, the central system of values and the institutional system of society. According to the author, without the analysis of the socio-cultural trauma it would be impossible to develop relevant ‘coping strategies’, i.e. particular patterns used by the society to overcome this trauma. Speaking of the methods used in the present research, it is necessary to note that in addition to Edward Shils’ concept of ‘center and periphery’, for the first time in academic literature the author analyzes Piotr Sztompka’s concept of cultural trauma as one of the methodological bases for studying socio-cultural dynamics of modernization in general and imperial modernization of Russia in particular. According to the author, analysis of Russian philosophical and philosophical-legal heritage of the second half of the XIXth –beginning of the XXth centuries (involving the following ‘immigrants’ decades as well) will allow to see efforts of Russian philosophers to ‘see, understand and present’ to the society the cultural traumas experienced by them, ‘coping strategies’ of dealing with these traumas including active (‘cultural –creative’) and passive (‘ritualistic’) strategies. Even though those efforts did not play the essential role in society’s understanding of ongoing social transformations, today they allow us to better understand the ‘hidden flows’ of the socio-cultural development of the imperial modernization of Russia.

Keywords: cultural trauma, collective identity crisis, modernization theory, transformation of values, system of values of society, institutional system of society, coping strategies, the age of changes, social crisis, transition epoch.

Abstract: The subject studied in the present article is the correspondence of a philologist Emil Staiger and philosopher Martin Heidegger discussing Eduard Morike’s poem ‘To a Lamp’. The author of the article focuses on both the poem and different interpretations of the poem offered by Heidegger and Staiger and methodological grounds of the difference in their interpretations. Analyzing the difference in interpretation techniques used by Heidegger and Staiger, the author describes the difference between philosophical and philological approaches to a literary text in general. To analyze the difference in Heidegger’s and Staiger’s interpretations of the poem, the author uses not only the method of comparative analysis but also a hermeneutic insight into intentions of each interpreter. The scientific novelty of the research is in viewing this particular discussion between Heidegger and Staiger as the part of a wider discussion between the two branches of science that have different strategies of interpreting poetic works. Trying to be objective in her analysis of each researcher’s position, the author of the article, however, arrives to a conclusion that Heidegger’s interpretation was closer to the true poetic meaning of the poem studied.

Keywords: Heidegger, Staiger, Morike, ‘To a Lamp’, Goethe, lucet, videtur, style, ‘the art of interpretation’, phenomenology.

Abstract: The author of the preset article views Nietzsche’s interpretation of religion, first of all, Christianity, from the point of view of its relation to the central topic of his philosophy, the phenomenon of nihilism. The history of the religious development in Nietzsche’s teachings is rather understudied. The author provides an insight into this aspect of Nietzsche’s teaching from the point of view of the fundamental conflict of ‘life approval’ and ‘life denial’ – ‘Rome and Judea’. In the course of the research the author has described and analyzed Nietzsche’s views on such problems as the genesis and purpose of religion, the essential difference between paganism and Christianity, social and cultural causes and the base for Christianity, relation to Judaism, metaphysical and psychological-anthropological grounds of Christianity, death of God and the situation of nihilism in the Early Modern Period. Nietzsche’s philosophy is shown from the point of view of its systematic interpretation. The main thesis made by the author is that Nietzsche views Christianity genealogically, i.e. not as it is but as a major exponent and accumulator of the ‘metaphysical defect’ of the denial which was distanced from the values of the real life and began to serve the opposite targets.

Keywords: nihilism, religion, Christianity, criticism of Christianity, Jesus, Judaism, death of God, Nietzsche, paganism, reappraisal of values.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the term ‘phenomenal concept’ offered by Brian Loar. The author of the present article proves that Loar’s concept does not contradict to Wittgenstein’s philosophy. Quite on the contrary, Loar’s concept of the ‘phenomenal concept’ is a necessary stage in solving the problem of the explanatory gap. However, conceptual dualism in Loar’s interpretation cannot be the final solution of the aforesaid problem, it only takes the problem to a new conceptual level. The ‘gap’ between phenomenal concepts and physicalistic/functional concepts must be explained (or covered) materialistically. The conceptionof thin and thick implicit physical and phenomenal concepts offered by Ned Block allows to take a step in this direction. It can be assumed that a better synthesis of Wittgenstein’s second philosophy and metaphysics of phenomenal properties and concepts would completely solve the problem of the explanatory gap. The main research method used by the author of the article is the analytical method of the modern philosophy of consciousness. The author also conducts a brief comparative analysis of different approaches to phenomenal concepts and analyzes the definition of the phenomenal concept offered by Brian Loar as well as the application of that concept for solving the problem of the explanatory gap in terms of other approaches. The author proves that the concept of the phenomenal concept does not oppose to late Wittgenstein’s philosophy, in particular, his private language argument. The author also points out that there is a chance to fully solve the problem of the explanatory gap.

Keywords: phenomenal concept, theoretical concept, explanatory gap, semantic premise, phenomenal property, phenomenal experience, Brian Loar, conceptual dualism, dualism, a posteriori physicalism.

Abstract: The subject studied is the culture of post-modern and the type of civilization it refers to. Modern social and humanitarian researchers have certain disagreements on the aforesaid matter. The author of the present article suggests that we should identify culture of post-modern as a phenomenon of trans-civilization as the period of transition from the industrial civilization to the post-industrial civilization. Trans-civilization epoch is defined by the author as the epoch when the old order declines and the new order of things is created. By analyzing the key principles of the culture of post-modern such as de-structurization, de-centration, de-realization and de-construction, the author describes the trans-civilization nature of the culture of post-modern as the culture of the destructive and constructive chaos. The research methodology includes the synthesis of hermeneutic, axiological and system approaches. The main theoretical base of the research is the inter-disciplinary theory of self-organization (synergetics) aimed at studying phase transitions of complex open systems of different nature from one steady state into another. The scientific novelty of these ideas is presented in the main conclusions that all come down to the statement that being a semantic expression of the destructive and constructive chaos, the culture of post-modern cannot be regarded as a ground of a particular civilization and therefore it is the culture of trans-civilization epoch. However, the culture of post-modern cannot be reduced only to transitional or palliative values and meanings of the receding and arriving cultures, it also has its own values and meanings that define its semantic and axiological singularity. The culture of post-modern is not a single example of the culture of destructive and constructive chaos. Similar principles and features can be found in other cultures of trans-civilization epochs. According to the author, these cultures should be called ‘liminal’. The synthesis of the terms ‘trans-civilization epoch’ and ‘liminal culture’ appear to be promising both in theoretical and particular historiographic aspects.

Keywords: post-modern, trans-civilization epoch, industrial civilization, post-industrial civilization, liminality, destructuration, decentration, derealization, deconstruction, phase transition.

Keywords: obshchestvo moderna, khristianstvo, gnostitsizm, yazychestvo, inoveriya, priroda cheloveka, identifikatsiya

Abstract: This is the afterword to the translation of the article written by an American sociologist and cultural philosopher Edward Tiryakian ‘Three metacultures of modernity: Cristian, Gnostic, Chthonic’. The author of the afterword analyzes views of an American scientist on the role of religion in a modern society. He also provides an insight into the content and problem points of his concept of three metacultures and discusses functional features of religious metacultures of Christianity, Gnosticism and Paganism, relations of ‘unorthodox’ religious views to the Orthodox Christian metaculture that caused internal contradictions in the Western civilization and made it susceptible to changes. The author analyzes philosophical and anthropological aspects of Edward Tiryakian’s concept. According to Edward Tiryakian, dynamics and variety of different cultures I a modern society should be viewed from the point of view the cultural-historical, functional-conceptual and structural-analytical approaches. Based on the author of the present article, the concept of three metacultures offered by Edward Tiryakian has certain limits because it does not take into account all the variety of religious and cultural movements (in particular, Manichaeism and Hermeticism) and completely ignores the secular culture with all its natural scientific, social and historical elements. Tiryakian’s analysis of three metacultures is clearly based on philosophical and anthropological grounds. Accordig to Tiryakian, human is an element of the socio-cultural structure and actor of the socio-cultural development, this is the peculiarity of his dual nature when the physical is accompanied with the social. Culturalization has the main meaning for formation and development of human nature. Accompanied by the process of socialization, culturalization creates the two main aspects of the secondary, social-historical nature of human, but at the same time it has an essential impact on the primary, physical nature of human. Under the influence of the socio-cultural environment, particular manifestations of human physicality appear. An individual identifies himself with a particular metaculture and at the same time gets involved into contradictory relations between different metacultures.

Keywords: Edward Tiryakian, society of post-modern, metaculture, Christianity, Gnosticism, paganism, unorthodox religious views, human nature, culturalization, identification.

Abstract: As it has been already noted in previous reviews, the books published by Canon + provide us a great insight into the current historical and philosophical process. This time the author has selected the two books out of the variety of new books published. These two books are devoted to the logic of historical and philosophical reflection and try to answer the question about the framework of categories used in researches as well as the unacceptability of modernization of philosophical categories when analyzing ancient texts and old philosophical ideas. This, first of all, refers to the challenge contained in V. K. Shokhin’s book ‘Agatology’. V. Shokhin suggests that we should return to the term that is related to the morals and appeared before the term ‘axiology’. However, it is not only the terminology V. Shokhin talks about. In his book V. Shokhin raises many questions needed to be discussed as soon as possible. The same goal is supported by the materials of the Russian scientific conference ‘History of Philosophy: Challenges of the XXIth century’. A lot of famous philosophical historians, both Russian and foreign ones, participated in that conference. The general attribute of the conference was the discussion. There were many views expressed by philosophers but all of those viewed only expanded the horizons of the philosophical framework. All kinds of analysis methods were used. The principle of historicism was not only the principle of formulating questions but also the subject of long and detailed discussions. At the same time, philosophical historians demonstrated that the cultural and sociological analysis could actually apply to studying the historical materials. Very different methods of interpreting the world were used and a special role of inter-disciplinary researches was underlined. The novelty of these publications is in their authors’ attempts to overcome the challenge of modern historical and philosophical process. The relation between history of philosophy and philosophy in general was also thoroughly studied and discussed. The methodological criticism of modern Eurocentrism is also discussed as an obstacle in many modern researches in the sphere of history of philosophy. It is stressed out that many particular philosophical researches in India, China and Arabian West are included in the discussion of global and overall civilization problems. The question about overcoming stereotypes in teaching history of philosophy is raised and particular grounds for creating a branch of philosophy called ‘agatology’ are provided.

Keywords: philosophy, history of philosophy, axiology, agatology, Eurocentrism, philosophical traditions, history of ideas, ‘spirit of the time’, science, philosophical categories.