Abstract: The object of this research is the study of philosophy as a discipline in modern France. The subject of this research is the development of the rational critical thinking in the context of philosophical course in modern France within problematic field of cultural self-identification. The author meticulously examines the impact of philosophy as a discipline that studied in French schools upon the development of critical thinking of the French authors, as well as the influence of rational philosophy, particularly Cartesianism, which principles are ingrained within the framework of the student course of philosophy on the cultural self-identification in France. The article applies the method of philosophical comparativistics, axiological and anthropological approaches, as well as general scientific principles of historicism and objectivity unity of historical and logical, ascent from the concrete to the abstract and the ascent from the abstract to the concrete. The main conclusion of the conducted research lies in the fact that philosophy, which in multiple aspect leans on the methodology of Cartesian school, is one of the essential subjects in the system of education in France, not only because in ingrains the general culture and basic values, but also teaches to organize the thinking process in accordance with certain order that irrevocably prevails in French tradition of expression of thoughts in the verbal and written forms.

Keywords: cultural identity, philosophy, cartesianism, Descartes, France, critical thinking, method, methodology, culture, axiomatics

Abstract: The object of this research is the views and representations of the philosophers Neo-Hegelians that advance the idea of socio-historical alienation. The subjects is the common discursive foundation of these representations and the analysis of its appropriateness and wholeness with regards to modern intellectual reality. The author generalizes the advancement of representations, tracing the historical evolution of Neo-Hegelian thought – from the philosophy of V. Kozhev and J. Hyppolite to J. Lacan and S. Žižek. Special accent is made on the distinction between anthropological objectification of social alienation and its subjective beginning, which forms in the course of historical movement of self-consciousness. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that as a result of monopolization by the Neo-Marxist discourse of the problem of alienation in the XX century, the Neo-Hegelian reflection over the indicated issue was not as much noticeable, but rather deformalized and disorganized. The author reconstructs the general, formalized image of the socio-historical alienation within the realm of Neo-Hegelian discourse. The research demonstrated that despite the development of Marxist theory of alienation, the authentic approach of Hegelian philosophy (“The Phenomenology of Spirit”, interpreted in dialectical-existential sense) in the area of social theory, remains relevant. The analyzed system of representations indeed can become the foundation for establishment of the full-fledged social theory of alienation.

Keywords: recognition, structural psychoanalysis, master–slave dialectics, Neo-Hegelian discourse, socio-historical alienation, appetency, dictatorship of significative, free existence, reflexive society, psychological type

Abstract: This article considers the so-called Fermi paradox, according to which we should have been, but never met another intelligent life. The essence of the answer lies in the fact that we could not and will not be able to establish a contact due to multiple reasons, particularly because there is not enough time due to the fact that any intelligent life in the end destroys either itself or its planet. Methodological apparatus includes the general philosophical and general scientific approaches, such as analysis, synthesis, comparative analysis, as well as the methods applied in biological sciences. The scientific novelty consists in suggestion of the biological perspective, rather than physicists’ approach that formulated the examined paradox. Based on such approach, a conclusion is made that any intelligent life, including human, with great probability ends its life on the same planet that it has originated.

Keywords: limit, planet, brain, evolution, organism, life, civilization, human, mind, development

Abstract: The author examines the distinction between matter and being in the doctrines of ancient philosophers (Heraclitus, Parmenides, Plato) and ancient mythology (orphic tradition), as well as its role in the axiological discourse. The article studies the role of unconscious thinking in the process of empirical being and determines the ontological grounds for cognizing the surrounding world of a human. Attention is focused on the comparative analysis of ontological grounds of the scientific knowledge of the Antiquity and Modern Age. The importance of axiological discourse in scientific cognition is substantiated. Based on the analysis of the fragments from the religious and philosophical texts of the ancient philosophers, is established that the initial disposition of matter, being, and formation is presented already in the religious way of worldview and relevant to the present time that underlines its archetypal character and conceptual rootedness. The distinction between matter and being allows realizing the crucially new explanation of the nature of value relation. The author examines the distinction between matter and being in the doctrines of ancient philosophers (Heraclitus, Parmenides, Plato) and ancient mythology (orphic tradition), as well as its role in the axiological discourse. The article studies the role of unconscious thinking in the process of empirical being and determines the ontological grounds for cognizing the surrounding world of a human. Attention is focused on the comparative analysis of ontological grounds of the scientific knowledge of the Antiquity and Modern Age. The importance of axiological discourse in scientific cognition is substantiated. Based on the analysis of the fragments from the religious and philosophical texts of the ancient philosophers, is established that the initial disposition of matter, being, and formation is presented already in the religious way of worldview and relevant to the present time that underlines its archetypal character and conceptual rootedness. The distinction between matter and being allows realizing the crucially new explanation of the nature of value relation.

Keywords: essence of being, truth, orphism, Aristotle, Parmenides, axiology, ontology, being, matter, thought

Abstract: The subject of this research is the problem of understanding of the nature of human personality in the philosophical and religious heritage of Reinhold Niebuhr. The object of this research is the philosophical-religious works of R. Niebuhr in his anthropological dimension. The author contextualizes Niebuhr’s comprehension of human based on the intellectual situation of the early XX century and its challenges that to a certain extent led to devaluation of human. Special attention is given to the logics of structuralizing the representations on human as a unique integral being from the perspective of the multiple components that comprise this unity. For achieving the set foal is used the method of analytical reconstruction. Comprehensive approach in analyzing the anthropological categories of R. Niebuhr becomes the basic instrument in contemplation of Niebuhr’s concepts of personality as such. The scientific novelty of this article is substantiated by suggesting of the concept that generalizes Reinhold Niebuhr’s understanding of human at the level of his ontological structure. The anthropological problematic represents the center of the thinker’s works. Starting point of perception of the nature of personality for R. Niebuhr lies in the opposition to materialistic and idealistic concepts. All that belongs to the body is related to nature, which is characterized by vitality. The nature identifies personality. For controlling the natural vitality, a person uses the mind, which is a conceptual force that generates consciousness. This connection is viewed as dialectical, rather than dualistic within the framework of a monistic understanding of human. Spirit is the integrative function of personality. Namely the sphere of spirit is correlated with the human ability to self-transcending. The common human feature, associated with the ability to self-transcending, is his freedom that helps to supersede the sphere of the natural. Human consciousness is not only the transcendence of natural processes, but also of oneself, which stimulates the endless changes and development of the abilities that characterize human existence. The human essence is in neither his natural vitality, his ability to reasoning, nor ability to self-transcending, being just the constituent parts. The essence consists in the relations arising between these parts. Personality is incogitable without its socio-historical surrounding, which suggests the paradoxicality of its existence. Human freedom is the basis for his memory, through which he incorporates himself with the society, and sublimates himself above the determinism of natural processes and becomes the source of interpretation of the world, history and society. Relations between the personality, history and society, according to Niebuhr’s system, are interpreted using the concepts of "organism", "artefact" and "drama". Personality in the works of R. Niebuhr is a unique inseparable combination of the matter, animal component and spirit, conditioned by the natural and socio-historical context.

Keywords: spirit, body, personality, person, human, anthropology, Reinhold Niebuhr, reason, memory, holism

Abstract: The subject of this research is the analytical tradition of the philosophy of education, which is based on the analytical tradition in philosophy in the spirit of logical positivism as the language analysis leaning on the logics. It forms a set of ideas aimed at the pragmatic analysis of expressions of the natural language, identifying of the rules of their application in life, norms of functioning of the language, its various forms in contexts of non-scientific areas of culture – in everyday life, politics, art, education, etc. The starting works became “The Language of Education” by Israel Scheffler (1960, United States) and “Ethics and Education” by R. S. Peters (1966, Great Britain). The article represents a review of this direction in the context of its disciplinary and institutional establishment and evolution in the United States and Great Britain since the middle of the XX century. The author analyzes the periods of development of the philosophy of education and their peculiarities, and underlines the origination of reception of the analytical tradition of the philosophy of education, an attempt of its comparison with other postmodern trends, as well as progressing transformation into the post-analytical philosophy. Reference of the analytical philosophy to the relevant questions of modernity disputes the established stereotype as a conservative and purely academic discipline that is artificially isolated from the social and cultural life.

Keywords: linguistic analysis, values of education, goals of education, paradigm, history of philosophy, education, philosophy of education, analytical philosophy, reception of analytical philosophy, evolution of ideas

Abstract: The subject of this research is the philosophical polemics between Buddhism and Indian School Nyaya- Vaisheshika on the question of the existence and characteristics of an actor as it presented in the 8th book Vasubandhu's "Abhidharmakosa-Bhasya" (IV-V centuries) – “Pudgalavinishchaya”.It is one of the polemic compositions regarding the existence and characteristics of an actor, in which found their reflection the discussions of that topic between the “Orthodox” Buddhists on one hand, and Buddhists-“Heretics” (Pudgalavadin), Nyaya- Vaisheshikas, philosophers-grammarians, Sankhyaikas on the other hand. The article uses the comparative-historical method, comparative analysis, popular methodology of philosophical translation from Sanskrit into the Russian language. Vaisheshikas acknowledge the existence of the eternal irrevocable atman. The main argument of Vasubandhu is that if it did exist that the states of mind also will be eternal and irrevocable, which, apparently, does not correspond with the reality. On the contrary, the states of mind (citta) are momentary, because consist of the momentary dharma, generating from each other in cause-and-effect relation (within the flow of volatile dharma). The scientific novelty lies in conducting the first translation from Sanskrit into the Russian Language of a substantial chapter from “Pudgalavinishchaya" of Vasubandhu with the commentary of Yashomitra, dedicated to the question of the existence of the actor, as well as philosophical analysis of the provided fragment of the text.

Keywords: anatman, atman, non-self, self, Yashomitra, Pudgalavinishchaya, Vasubandhu, subject, Vaisheshika, Vaisheshikas

Abstract: The object of this research is the phenomenon of war memorial heritage in national culture. The subject is the genesis of the phenomenon of war memorial heritage in national culture over the period of mid XIX – XXI century. The article sets a goal to analyze the evolution of representations on the war memorial heritage as a complex of objects that preserve memory about the events of military history and their participants based on the reference and encyclopedic literature published during the different epochs of national history, as well as current national legislation. The research allows determining the common and distinctive characteristics within the conceptual apparatus of pre-Soviet, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods. In the course of examination of the period after 1991, the author refer to the federal legislation, because it reveals the definitions related to war memorial heritage, allowing carrying out a more in-depth analysis of the problem at hand. The war memorial heritage implies the architectural and sculptural constructs with or without the ashes of the military personnel that were established for retaining the memory about the events and participants of military history. The analysis of pre-revolutionary encyclopedias allowed concluding about the descriptive interpretation of the material, with maintenance of its accessibility. The terms had extremely broad definitions, at times being synonymous to each other. Soviet period is characterized with the renewal of conceptual apparatus dues to dissemination of the “class approach”. The post-Soviet terminology forms primarily under the influence of legislators rather than the scholars, affecting the quality of definitions that leads to their vagueness. At the present stage, Russia marks the formation of a special cultural policy associated with preservation and popularization of the war memorial heritage. Based on the analysis however, it manifests as a continuation of the tradition that existed in pre-revolutionary time, attributed to honoring of the fallen defenders of the Motherland. A particular attitude of the government to the war memorial heritage impacts the development of special terminology; its formation is not in the hands of the scholars (military personnel, propagandists, legislators, officials, public figures, etc.), which does not allow to fundamentally analyze and reveal the specific variety of the war memorial heritage in Russia. In addition, it is worth noting that the scientific research with regards to the national war memorial heritage is capable of making the government policy more efficient, form an integrated legal platform, recovering from the presence of multiple normative legal acts that at times duplicate and contradict each other.

Keywords: Walk of fame, Eternal fire, War cemetery, Memorial headstone, Memorial sign, Monument, Memorial construct, Theory of culture, War memorial heritage, Terminology