Abstract: This article examines the specificity of establishment and functioning of self-position during childhood. Based on the analysis of some representations formed within the scientific cognition (about egocentrism of child’s reasoning, immatureness of knowledge on the objective permanency among children, late and inferential character of the abilities to feel their remoteness from mother, relative autonomy and independence in interpersonal communication), the author determines their discordance to the existing state of things. For developing the more suitable conceptual apparatus to examine the child’s self-consciousness, the article considers the strong and weak sides of the concept of Ulric Neisser, who introduces into the scientific discourse such viable terms as the ecological al and interpersonal “self”. As a result of the logical-methodological analysis of experimental data, are revealed the conceptual “traps” that distract the researchers towards the unbiased comprehension of the specificity of child’s self- and world perception, provoking the essential demarcation of the stages of establishment of the phenomenon and their further development noticed in the fact the first of them unfolds when the state of the carrier is holistic and unequivocal, while the other correlates with the state of duality. Thus, the author reveals the profound prerequisites of the conceptual discordance of the self- and world perception of a child and an adult. It is demonstrated that most reputable and currently popular representations on the crucial peculiarities of the child’s reasoning and world perception, associated with the name of Jean Piaget, in many aspects do not correspond with the reality. It is substantiated that the subconscious orientation of the researcher that the behavior of a young child is interpreted within the framework of the categorical scale of the world perception of an adult, provokes inaccurate outlook upon the interpretation of logics of the establishment of selfness within the cognitive development of a person.   

Keywords: reasoning, experience, selfness, development, ego, cognitive development , Unequivocalness , duality, establishment, methodology

Abstract: This article analyzes the problem of interpretation by Jean-Paul Sartre of his philosophical views within the literary and philosophical works. The scheme of understanding of the “conceptual characters” is viewed on the example of the characters of the prominent philosophical texts. The link between the literary oeuvres and philosophical treatises of Sartre is described. Particular attention is given to the connection between the fictional works of the litterateur with his philosophical concept of the “Other”. The author also emphasized the correlation of the writer’s literary heritage with the concepts of “freedom”, “responsibility”, and “choice”. The article demonstrates the problem of understanding of these concepts due to the difficulty to distinguish the views of the French existentialist that he endows his characters with, and the views of the characters “themselves”. In the course of analysis of the indicated question the author uses the methodology of Deleuze and Guattari described in their work “What Is Philosophy”. The definition of “concept” is partially removed from the frame of references of the French philosophers; and partially retains the imparted specificity. The possible demarcations of the conceptual and purely literary characters are the problem area in the works of the French writer, so is the comprehension of the litterateur’s views, enclosed into the storyline of come plays. The field of application of the used in the article definitions of “concept” and “conceptual character” is the teaching of philosophy, particularly explanation of the peculiarities of its language.

Keywords: Post-structuralism , Existentialism, French philosophy, Literary characters, Conceptual characters, Concept, Philosophical definitions, Guattari, Deleuze , Sartre

Abstract: The object of this article is the philosophical-historical views of the early Slavophiles, their perception of the main factors of social development, and Russia’s place in the world. The subject is the interpretation by the early Slavophiles A. S. Khomyakov and K. S. Aksakov of the persona and reign of Boris Godunov and his role in Russian history. The article examines the thinkers’ comprehension of the key directions in Godunov’s domestic and foreign policy, most remarkable events of his reign, as well as traces the link between the high evaluation of the persona and reign of Boris Godunov given by the Slavophiles with the assurance of the thinkers in the pivotal role of the nation in Russian history. The author applies the analysis of referential texts, comparison, classification; correlation of the historical and logical, system and comprehensive analysis of the problem. The scientific novelty is defined by the following: emphasis of the role of nation in Russian history; systematization of thinkers’ views on the persona and reign of Boris Godunov; analysis of the thinkers’ attitude to Boris Godunov and his actions; determination of the place of analysis of Boris Godunov’s reign within the philosophy of history of the Slavophiles.

Keywords: Boris Godunov, philosophy of history, religious philosophy, Russian idealism, Aksakov, Khomyakov, Slavophiles, Russian history, persona in history, people in history

Abstract: The article deals with the study of the phenomenon of the masses which is constituted in the contemporary social space. The author explicates a number of factors that impede the unequivocal social and philosophical definition of masses. Basing on the researches of Oswald Spengler, Gustave Le Bon, Gabriel Tarde, Elias Canetti, Herbert Marcuse, Jean Baudrillard and other thinkers, the author identifies two main trends in the interpretation of the mass phenomenon. According to the first of them, the mass is treated as an amorphous unorganized multitude, which has a transgressive character. In the context of the second trend mass forms of social life are considered as structured and orderly. Particular attention is paid to the peculiarities of the constitution of the masses, interaction of masses and power in the technological society.The study is based on the poststructuralist methodology that allows to interpret masses and power using such categories as "transgression", ontological "rest" and "excess". In addition, the author uses the method of comparative analysis and the interdisciplinary approach.The novelty of the research lies in explication of the dependence of masses characteristics on the specific of the social space which causes the masses constitution. The author introduces the concepts of "internal transgression topos" and "excess topoi", applying them to the analysis of social space elements. If the first of these elements are produced by a system of power relations with the aim of its self-preservation; the latter are used for the implementation of the strategy of eluding the mass forms of social existence.

Keywords: body, excess, crowd, modern society, social space, transgression, masses, power, topos, technique

Abstract: The subject of this research is the concepts of identity and self-identity of an individual viewed through the prism of epistemology of an observer, suggested by the Austrian-American mathematician Heinz von Foerster – one of the founders of the radical constructivism. The article demonstrates the close connection of Foerster’s philosophy with the phenomenological sociology and the concept of intersubjective world of Alfred Schütz. The author offers to demarcate the concept of identity and self-identity of a human based on the analysis of self-references of an individual. Identity is considered a result of the double sequence interpretation in the process of structuring the reality. The applied by Foerster in his concept definition of “responsibility” is apprehended as way out to self-identity of a person. The research was conducted within the framework of cybernetic trend of radical constructivism of Heinz von Foerster and phenomenological sociology of Alfred Schütz. The scientific novelty consists in examination of such concept as human identity in terms of the designed, intersubjective world: the article describes the intercorrelation between the developing individual and designed by him social reality through analyzing the self-references of that individual, which in turn, manifest as the foundation of the design process. The author draws a distinction between identity and self-identity of an individual, justified by the two levels of self-reference.  

Keywords: intersubjectivity, phenomenological sociology, constructivism, self-reference, reference, theory of observer, observer, epistemology, identity, self-identity

Abstract:   This article examines death as a temporal phenomenon capable of influencing the process of emergence of the particular types of social interaction, structures, and institutions. The image of death has its own history and relates to social practice, which is traced in transformation of forms of the creative embodiment of death. In social life, people rely on the diverse models of the perception of time that define the dominance of the collective or individual, attitude to the tradition and the past, publicity of cemeteries, and designate the grounds for eschatological interest towards the postmortem existence. The goal of this work consists in pursuing correlation between the perception model of the historical time with the social representations on death and social becoming: structure of social life and modes of existence. Thus, the author uses the method of phenomenological reduction, intentional analysis, and modelling. The scientific novelty is defined by application of the phenomenological approach towards examination of death as a phenomenon of social existence. Each model allows coordinating social interaction with regards to death, as well as social becoming as a whole. The author considers the three model that determine the link between time, social representations of death, and social becoming: existence without death; existence towards death; existence from death. The author indicated the transition in modernity from the liner model of time perception to pendulous; from Western-centrist worldview to Eastern-centrist; as well as their synthesis. Temporality of death is associated with the changes taking place in the current social life: activation of suicidal behavior, growth of deviation.  

Keywords: social representations, eschatology, crisis, social, becoming, time, death, vital world, instance of death, image of death

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the examination of the New Black Aesthetic trend and determination of its basic peculiarities. It originated in 1960’s in the United States as a response of the Afro-American population to the autocratic discourse of the white culture. Having emerged as a part of the “Nation of Islam” movement, the New Black Aesthetic rapidly transformed into the independent art movement, becoming comprehensible through the specific set of categories. The starting point of conceptualization of the aesthetical practice in terms of the considered trend lies in persuasion that the result of art must be the transformation of social life. It reconciles the New Black Aesthetic with the philosophical positions of pragmatism and neo-pragmatism. The article also separately examines the problematic of subversive relation to the New Black Aesthetic from within the Afro-American community, concentrated in the concept of “cultural mulatto”. The author refers to the framework of multimodal materials of the indicated aesthetical trend, using the visual-semiotic, content, and historical-comparativist analysis.  The author introduced into the discourse of Russian aesthetic research the description of one of the most significant aesthetic projects of the XX century – New Black Aesthetic (NBA), as well as characterizes the political and historical context of its establishment, key peculiarities, and impact upon the contemporary cultural movements.

Keywords: Protest, Hip-hop culture, Anger, Cultural mulatto, Hip-hop, Aesthetic specificities, Black arts, New Black Aesthetic, Philosophy, Aesthetic

Abstract: The subject of this research is the practices of production and application of the technical knowledge that underlay the cognitive situations in the area of modern technologies and undergone substantial changes if compare to the traditional technologies. The main focus falls on the modern technical objects, as well as the specificity of knowledge related to these objects; and transformed compared to the preceding stages of development of the technical knowledge epistemic procedures that occur in the sphere of modern technologies. Special attention is given to examination of the phenomenon of knowledge as an object of technical research. Methodological foundation includes the technical-scientific approach, in the context of which knowledge is viewed in unity of the fundamental and applied aspects, as well as epistemological analysis. The article demonstrates that the most significant transformation of cognitive situation within the modern technical knowledge caused by the progress of modern technologies consists in the fact that the knowledge itself becomes a technical object. Technical knowledge is no more limited by the sphere of design and use of machinery and mechanism, this must be comprehended in a broad sense, as such knowledge that allows obtaining the planned result based in the causal relationships. Cognitive activity in the area of modern technologies is described as a combination of epistemic practices, in other words, methods of work with technical objects aimed at increasing the efficiency of such knowledge that they are structured upon. The author determines the universal for modern technical knowledge epistemic practices of the reverse engineering and cyclic verification.

Keywords: technology, technical object, cyclic verification, reverse engineering, epistemic practice, technical knowledge, epistemology of technology, philosophy of technology, technoscience, epistemology