Kocherova A.V. Compositional and Color Precursors of Abstract Art in Early Wassily Kandinsky's Painting 'The Blue Rider'

The object of the research is an artwork by Wassily Kandinsky painted in 1903 (oil on cardboard 55,0 x 65,0 sm. Zurich, private collection). The subject of the research is the formula and color composition of the painting that illustrates the theory of color movement in space offered by Wassily Kandinsky. The author of the article gives an insight into such aspects of the theory as the relation between the compositin of picture elements and their color. Based on the analysis of The Blue Rider Kocherova demonstrates how the composition of color forms on the picture plane affects the way the picture is being perceived. Kocherova gives a relevant reference to graphic and pictural techniques described by Kandinsky in his theory. The purpose of this research is to define how undeveloped theoretical provisions of the color theory were already expressed in early paintings of the artist. The methodology of the research is mostly based on the philosophical and cultural analysis. This research is the only analysis of Wassily Kandinsky's The Blue Rider published in Russian. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author bases her analysis on the concept offered by the artist himself including his views on the role of color, dot, line, basic forms and plane in painting. The author pays a great attention to the role of color and what it symbolizes in painting. She defines the style of early Kandinsky's painting as 'color lyricism'. The research has allowed to discover that at the early stage of developing his creative style Kandinsky used the same forms, lines and colors that he would later describe in his theoretical research. For example, The Blue Rider has a so-called 'cold calm' composition because of prevailing horizontal axes and the combination of opposite colors, blue and yellow in the image of the main character. The plot is depicted as an illustration of a creative process. The artist's idea is to show the mission of an artist as a prophet who can foresee future changes and create new aesthetic values. To sum it up, the author of the article refers to The Blue Rider as the must-to-know painting that played an important role in Wasilly Kandinsky's creative life because it proved the main theoretical provisions of Kandinsky's theory and illustrated his personal attitude to the world and artist's mission. 

Lutsenko V.E. The doctrine of Maine de Biran about the origin and nature of our cognition

The object of this research is the philosophical doctrine of French thinker of the early XIX century – Maine de Biran. The subject of the study is the views of the French philosopher on the origin and nature of human cognition. The author analyzes the works of Maine de Biran, dedicated to the origin and nature of our cognition. Arguing that the only person is capable of understanding itself, and through itself and all that surrounds it. Maine de Biran takes the idea of freedom, which is identical to the philosopher the idea of power and strength. The methodological basis of the study is the scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as phenomenological, bibliography and comparative-historical research methods. The author's special contribution into this work consists in the analysis of the major works of French and Russian philosophers of the early XIX century: Maine de Biran, Adolf Frank, A. I. Vvedenskiy, as well as the translation and analysis of works of the French scholar that have yet to be published.

Gurevich P.S. Nietzsche about the lust for power

This article is dedicated to analysis of the phenomenon of power and lust for power in F. Nietzsche philosophical heritage. The German thinker spoke from the perspective of the philosophy of life. He believed that the excessive dedication to rationality has hurt the European humanity. Representative of this direction attempted to understand life from itself. They advocated on the side of feelings and instinct. Nietzsche wanted to make his book “Will to Power” a programmatic work. But he left just a number of notes and aphorisms, which formed in the course of preparation of the book to completion. However, the combination of sparse notes reveals an explicit cognition of such complicated phenomenon as power. All of the existing human knowledge as a whole is the determination of will to power. The article is firs within the Russian philosophical literature to make an attempt of interpretation of Nietzsche’s views upon power in form of a specific field of his heritage. Nietzsche claimed that will to power can be examines as human basic instinct, but at the same time was looking for opportunity to explain the lust for power as a need, feeling, and passion. In philosopher’s interpretation of passion, we can notice strive for differentiation of this phenomenon from instinct. Interpretation of the tyranny of spirit particularized, and as a final accord of this reasoning about power, Nietzsche names it a demon. It is the universal passion that used by the politicians for consolidation of despotism. The article presents a distinct phenomenology of power.  

Khusyainov T.M. Online employment in Nizhny Novgorod Region: socio-demographic portray of a local “freelancer”

The goal of this work is the perception and analysis of certain data from the sociological survey of online employment – the socio-demographic characteristics of the online employees residing in Nizhny Novgorod and Nizhny Novgorod Region. The author highlights the gender and age structure of this category, family status, level of education and its discipline (technical, humanitarian, or natural scientific), as well as defines the fields of activity selected by the online employees depending on the gender and sphere of education. The research was conducted over the period of February-May of 2013; 160 respondents were polled. As demonstrated by the results of the survey, the main category of the online employed population is represented by young people with high education; similar to other spheres, gender margin is gradually fades away, but still evident in the choice of activity: women lean more towards working with the texts, while men are prone to programming. Although, it is not a strict rule.  

Sakaev V.T. The problems of xenophobia and migrant-phobia within the youth environment (on the materials of sociological survey of the students of Kazan Federal University)

This article examines the results of sociological survey of the problem of xenophobia and migrant-phobia within the youth environment. The object of this research is the students of Naberezhnye Chelny Institute of Kazan Federal University, while subject is their ethnic and migration tolerance. The survey helped to determine the following: students’ attitude towards the ethnic diversity of the region; level of social distance with the representatives of other nationalities; students’ opinion about the facts of ethic discrimination and their evaluation of the status of cross-national relations; as well as establish the main sources of information about the cross-national relations. The author was able to clarify the students’ perception regarding the content of the notion “foreign migrant workers”, their assessment of the importance of foreign work migration and risks of migration, as well as general correlation between the religious, ethnic, local, regional, and national identity of the students, including relation to the concept of “Russians” and characteristics of the Russian Federation as the state.