Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the ideas of F. Alexander who created a so-called medical psychoanalysis. Alexander tried to establish the direct but in many ways correct connection between physical sickness and psychological state of a man. Being the follower of Freud, Alexander nevertheless spoke against many statements of classical psychoanalysis and was quite independent in developing his own theory. Appearance of psychosomatics as an independent branch of psychology and science in the 30th of the last century was not an accident, either. It was the time when medicine was criticized for a mechanic approach to human when an individual was explained just as a simple combination of cells and organs. The idea of human as the integration of mind and body was developed and later undertaken by the founders of humanistic psychology and neofreudism. In his article the author uses methodology of classical psychoanalysis that proves the psychogenic nature of many physical diseases. The author also bases himself on neofreudistic methods and considers achievements of social psychology on the matter. He also uses the principle of historicism that allows to interpret Alexander’s teaching in close connection with achievements of modern psychoanalysis. The novelty of the article is in the attempt to understand Alexander’s theory taking into account the current condition of medicine and psychology. This allows to prove that the psychoanalytical method offered by Alexander cannot be limited to simple correlation of statistical data proving that there is a certain connection between human body and mind. Alexander’s method allows to understand the deep sources of pathology.

Keywords: psyche, body, spiritual death, spiritual inspirations, sickness, passions, emotions, affects, psychosexual development, meaning.

Abstract: The subject under review is the content of different images of morals that initially have the devilish wit — moral temptation of a man which, in its turn, creates the grounds for a fantastic split of the reality in a man’s mind and, finally, his focusing on the feeling of catastrophism. The first impulse towards such a temptation is an unusual talisman ‘La Peau de Chagrin’ (The Magic Skin) which ‘brings bad luck’. In fact, this talisman divides man’s death into parts and provides more insights into personalities of the main characters throughout the entire book. The research method used by the author is based on the combination of several types of analysis including historical, philosophical, psychological, literary and comparative analysis. The scientific novelty of the research is in the description of the two types of morals that have been initially inacceptable for a man. One of such types of morals is for a lonely scientist. It guarantees many years of long life and illusory happiness that is usually safe for a man and a society. The other type of morals is for a man who wastes his life in vain. This type of morals destroys personal values and turns a man into a dangerous element of a society. In conclusion the author states that both types of morals, scientific-like and imaginary, are a deformation of the basic moral nature of a man and temptation of the devil. As for the old antiquary who presents these two types of morals (and whose image is the main subject under research of the present article), he appears to be someone like a devil himself, a kind of criminal, murder and ‘pseudo-savior’ who manages to destroy his victim’s system of morals prior to the victim’s death.

Keywords: Honore de Balzac, La Peau de Chagrin (The Magic Skin), old antiquary, Raphael de Valentin, man and devil, fantastic, talisman, image, desire, deceit and demonism.

Abstract: The subject under review is the consciousness and consciousness phenomena. As they are given to us, consciousness phenomena are complex systems of meanings and direct perceptions. Socialconstructivistapproach represents that outside of social consciousness the aforesaid phenomena wouldn’t have been perceived as meaningful. Phenomenologist Alfred Schutz says that each person comes to the word that has been already established, created by the society and ‘illuminated with meanings’. Psychologists trace back the development of cogitation and child’s perception of the world and note that a child cannot establish the world of meaningful phenomena without adults. Research methodology combines historical genetic method and the method of theoretical reconstruction, on one hand, with the critical analytical method on the other hand. Theauthor also uses phenomenological methods and interdisciplinary approach to studying consciousness phenomena. Studies of consciousness and consciousness phenomena have a number of methodological difficulties that may turn into real philosophical issues. Theauthorofthepresent article shows that the social constructivism approach to consciousness phenomena is one of the attempts to provide the solution of the aforesaid issues. The author analyzes such solutions using psychological and social research data as well as phenomenological methods.

Keywords: philosophy, consciousness, consciousness phenomena, phenomenology, social constructivism, psychology, social studies, sociality, a priori, transcendentalism.

Abstract: The main subject under research is the problem of escapism and escapist consciousness and their role in human life. The author shows that as long as one of the most famous synonyms to escapism is the expression ‘escape from reality’, escapism is associated with the opposition of the ‘real world’ to the ‘escapist reality’ (the world of fantasy, dream, self-deceit, virtual world and subjective reality constructed by the individual consciousness. The author describes reasons, sources and types of escapism, singles out and defines terms that are ‘related’ to escapism such as sublimation, alienation and others. The author also offers a classification of escapism as ‘passive’ and ‘active’, ‘external’ and ‘internal’ and ‘moderate’ and ‘radical’. The main research methodology used by the author of the article is the interdisciplinary approach to the problem of escapism. The aforesaid approach allows to fully explore the concept. Scientific novelty is in raising the question about escapism and escapist consciousness as one of the fundamental features of human existence. The author suggests that we should view escapistconsciousnessas a form of human consciousness when the focus of activity is shifted from the real world perception to perceiving and experiencing events of the virtual or imaginary world. Theauthoralsodemonstratesthatescapistconsciousnessintends not only absorption in actions and events of the human inner world but also deliberate creation of the virtual world as the target of the ‘escape’. The author shows that the main reason of escapism is the absent or insufficient ‘reason for existence’ or ‘meaning of life’ and therefore escapism is the ‘escape’ in search for meaning.

Keywords: escapism, escapist consciousness, Self, meaning, hyper-reality, virtual reality, self-deceit, romanticism, dissociation, personal identity.

Abstract: As an existential emotion, fear has a special place in human life. The subject under research is the development of fear concepts both by psychoanalysts and existential philosophers. The author of the article describes the main views on the problem, peculiarities of developing a theory of fear and the role of the term ‘fear’ in different researches. Fearshows itself in different situations and has a universal ontological meaning. The author tries to show different sides of fear as the emotion felt in the process of personality formation. Using the method of hermeneutic analysis of texts, the author studies reasons and sources of fear as well as particular ways to overcome it. Courage is one’s ability to prove human existence plays a special role in the process of overcoming fear. Only courage can help one to cope with the fear of existence. The author also makes a hypothesis about a beneficial effect of anxiety on the formation of one’s personality and human in general.

Keywords: fear, awe, horror, anxiety, courage to be, death, personality, existentialism, psychoanalysis, freedom.

Abstract: In the present article the author highlights the problem of almightiness as an ideal state of mind and absolute freedom. Almightness is viewed from the two points of view: from the point of view of possessing (i.e. exploitation of things) and from the point of view of relations (i.e. unity with the world and God). In both causes almightiness is related to one’s value. Value is the very structure of consciousness that defines the paradigm of relations of human with himself and the other world. This structure can be presented in the form of functioning laws, moral laws, taboo and in the form of relations with the divine. Inthelattercasethe structure itself always remains non-continuous and open leaving the opportunity to create the value together with God, i.e. in the space of almightiness. Withinthegivencontexttheauthordiscusses the theories of Self formation and linguistic researches relating to the period of language formation. Today this is the first attempt in philosophical anthropology to look at human from the point of view of his almightiness. The author base her conclusions on psychological and linguistic research data. In the present article the author presents the platform for a new approach to human studies.

Keywords: significance, almighty, all possibilities, Self, God, reflection, mask, emotion, sign, subject.

Abstract: The author of the article would like to appeal to the sources of Christian interpretation of relations between soul and body and analyze a number of works written by Ambrosius (Saint Ambrose), a famous religious figure of the IVth century BC. According to the author, his works reflect the turn from the ancient philosophy to the Christian world view. Christian denial of the body is usually associated with the Platonic tradition. Nevertheless, a Christian and an ancient philosopher have different views on the world and the place of body and soul in this world. Even though relations between soul and body may look alike, they are explained by different reasons. Ambrosius who used anonymous quotations of Plato and Plotin acquired the image of a ‘Christian neoplatonist’. The author notes that this image creates many doubts so she suggests to view his works not from the point of view of a philologist who only studies general vocabulary but from the point of view of a philosopher whose main goal is to pay attention to peculiarities of Ambrosius’ Christian views and his contradiction to the previous intellectual tradition even if the same terms are used in both. As a result of comparing works written by Ambrosius and Plotin, the researcher finds out quite a number of contradictions that are to be taken into consideration when studying the dependence of Christian Patristics on Neo-Platonism. Ambrosius views the opposition between body and material not as a condition but as a consequence of Adam’s spiritual failure. He views the spiritual failure not as a part of the natural cosmic process but as a catastrophe of the nature. From the point of view of Ambrosius, human soul is not just emanation of transcendental Creator.

Keywords: body, material, soul, spiritual failure, corporeity, Fathers of the Church, Aurelius Ambrosius, creationism, Neo-Platonism, Plotin.

Abstract: The author of the article views proactivity as a stable characteristic of mature personality. When it is normal, proactivity is presented as self-determined behavior, willingness to make active influence on the environment and life circumstances, ability to predict certain events, to set personally important goals and try to achieve them. The author studies personal determinants of proactive (i.e. self-determined) behavior of people suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. The author specifies that the following factors decrease or destruct proactivity of the patients: disadaptive stereotypes in the sphere of interpersonal communication and deficit of life-meaning orientations (including feeling satisfied only about current events, reduced ability to set long-term goals, absence of the feeling of control over one’s life and low internal control). The author also shows the role of delusionary symptoms in distorting patterns of proactive behavior when a patient is sick with schizophrenia and has tendencies towards avoidance of social contacts and autism. The majority of the listed above features correlate to low praoctivity which, in its turn, has a negative impact on the level of social functioning of patients. The author suggests that we should view the above mentioned problems as targets of the psychotherapeutic process aimed at restoration of social and cognitive functions of patients suffering from schizophrenia.

Keywords: proactivity, proactive behavior, schizophrenia, personal predicates, life-meaning orientations, stereotypes, self-determination, internality, goal-setting process, social functioning.

Abstract: The subject under research of the present article is the rating scale system of evaluation of the quality of teaching at higher school. The authors focus on the problems which rise when implementing the foresaid evaluation system at Russian high schools not only at the qualitative but also at the quantitative levels. The importance of the research is dictated by the fact that in the age of information society it appears difficult to realize the high level of dynamic performance, availability, variability, differentiability and control over the educational process especially at the Bachelor’s level. Education process is viewed as a complex dynamic developing system. Research methodology is based on the rating method of evaluating the quality of functioning of complex systems including the quality of knowledge in the system of education. The author analyzes the two methods for evaluating the degree of complexity of didactic and expert modules — the method of heuristic judgments and the method of coordinated judgments. Rating evaluation method allows to reduce evaluation errors by rating the quality of education according to the many-point rating scale. The following rules for converting rating points to scoring points are applied by the authors when using a 5-point and 100-point evaluation scales with the level of error probability being equal to 0.0025 (no more than one error per four hundred cases): 2-point rating correspond to 48 scoring points and less, 3-point rating falls within the range from 52 to 68 scoring points, 4-point rating falls within the range from 72 to 88 scoring points and 5-piont rating lies in the range from 92 to 100 scoring points. There are no valid evaluations of the quality of the functioning of the system (for example, the system of education) in the ranges from 48 to 52, from 68 to 72 and from 88 to 92 with the level of error probability of 0.0025. According to the authors, when the rating falls within these ranges, it is necessary either to arrange for additional evaluation, for example, re-examination when a student wants to get a better grade or make a decision either to a student’s or a teacher’s benefit. Probability of evaluation error has the limits that are created by the justified choice of degrees of complexity of expert modules. These degrees of complexity, in their turn, depend on the degree of complexity of related system (or didactic, in case of education) modules.

Keywords: rating scale system, rating, competences, evaluation error, module rating evaluation, didactic module, expert module, method of heuristic judgments, method of coordinated judgments, complex system.