Abstract: The problems of the philosophical understanding of human have always been the priority in Paul Ricoeur's researches. In the present article Gurevich tries to describe the logic of the philosophical and anthropological views of that French researcher. Special attenion is paid to the problem of human subjectivity. Paul Ricoeur developed a whole framework of concepts to describe the connection between human and his inner world. Ricoeur's philosophy is related to Husserl's phenomenology, especially that of the period of Lebenswelt. Ricoeur's philosophy was also influenced by Heidegger's existentialism, Freud's psychoanalysis and Jean Nabor's 'reflective' philosophy. Paul Ricoeur noted that he tried to avoid following monistic or dualistic ontology but to focus on the semantics of the discourse between representatives of neurosciences and philosophers who declared themselves to be inheritants of the French reflective philosophy (from Maine de Biran and Ravaisson to Jean Nabor) and at the same time phenomenology (from Husserl to Sartre and Merleau-Ponty) and hermeneutics (from Schleiermacher to Dilthey, Heidegger and Gadamer). In his article Gurevich focuses on the anthropological theme in Paul Ricoeur's phenomenology. The French philosopher managed to find that very element in Husserl's philosophy that brought together phenomenology and existentialism. That allowed Ricoeur to reconstruct phenomenological concepts. In particular, Husserl interpreted the external aim (intention) as a cognitive act. That could be compared to the phenomenological way of thinking. However, Ricoeur believed intention to be an act of will which allowed him to bring together the elements of philosophical and anthropological ways of thinking and interpret a number of categories and concepts in philosophical anthropology. 

Keywords: situation in life, being, existence, philosophy, phenomenology, hermeneutics, existentialism, intention, culture, human, passion

Abstract: The objective of the present research is to describe a specific transgressive mode of the existence of the subject and consciousness. In order to achieve the objective, it is necessary to deconstrut the Cartesian subject and transcedental concept of consciousness. It is also necessary to express the constructive nature of the self-identical subject and universal consciousness not to show their falsehood but to open possibilities essentially of other configurations of subjectivity. Transcendentalism has to be exposed in the claim on universality and presented as one of the modes of the life of a subjectification existing along with others. Along with the traditional methods of ontologic research some methodological principles and ideas of structuralism, deconstruction and post-structuralism are used. The result of the research is the general description of the transgressive mode of subjectification as an alternative way of the existence of the subject and consciousness. In the transcedental mode the subject and consciousness are constituted as a self-identical unity with one center. In the transgressive mode subjectivity is revealed as an open and mobile configuration of a set of heterogeneous existence-semantic prospects.

Keywords: plurality, unity, prospect, perspective, meaning-making, transgression, transcendence, subjectification mode, consciousness, subject, neutralization, elimination

Abstract: The subject of study in this work is the understanding of fractal invariance of consciousness at the level of concepts, memes,  and mental constructs. The human mind is a coexistence of a subject's information component and qualitative component as a phenomenological foundation for the mental representations of reality that is reduced to the fractal nominator. These two components can be considered as the "variables" of consciousness that are filled in during the life cycle. The author of the article shows that self-similarity as the basic principle of fractality embedded in the language and any mental structures. The qualitative states with a variety of substantive meanings act as a link between the item and representation and express fractal characteristics. The methodological basis of the research is based on the fractal-synergy concept involving the study of self-organization and structural self-similarity at the level of systems and subsystems of existence. To analyze individual problems of consciousness the author has used cognitive-informational and phenomenological methods. The scientific novelty of this paper consists in considering the phenomenon of consciousness through the prism of fractal. The application of the fractal approach to the study of the phenomenon of consciousness allows to detect self-similarity of the whole in all of its parts and the existence of links, branches of global structures stored in the mind, to small parts (concepts).

Keywords: invariance, holographic, fractality, qualia, fractal, frame, meme, concept, representation, self-similarity

Abstract: The present article is devoted to the problems of the modern mankind. The author of the article makes an assumption that today's people are the last representatives of the humankind we are used to knowing, in other words, they are the humans of the epoch of Apocalypse. Such a situation is caused by the rapidly growing population of the planet, urbanization, scientific discoveries and consumer ethics of modern people. The research methodology involves analysis, synthesis, comparison, historical perspective and analysis of case studies. The novelty of the article is caused by the fact that so far very few researchers have studied the modern world in terms of the end of the world. The author of the article makes a hypothesis that the world is not only coming to Apocalypse but is actually experiencing Apocalypse already. However, the author assumes that it is some kind of a transfer of the humanity to a new stage of their development. 

Keywords: urbanization, consumption, city, science, population, Apocalypse, man, human, norm, catastrophe, market

Abstract: The article explores the attitude of Paul Kurtz (1925-2012), who is considered by many to be the father of the secular humanist movement, towards philosophical critique of the scientific methodology and humanistic values. The author analyzes Paul Kurtz’ understanding and interpretation of the works of such philosophers as Søren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger, Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan, and his counter-arguments used against the following concepts: radical subjectivism, irrationalism, anti-humanism and philosophical pessimism. In her research Ponochevnaya has used the methods that are usually used in humanitarian disciplines. These methods include the comparative historical, conceptual problematic, classification and system-forming methods. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that for the first time in the academic literature the researcher conducts a fundamental analysis of Paul Kurtz' views on the key issues of existential and post-modern philosophy. The main conclusion of the research is the definition of ideological contradictions between humanistic and pragmatistic traditions, on the one hand, and philosophy of existentialism and philosophy of French post-modernism, on the other hand. 

Keywords: subjectivism, anti-humanism, Martin Heidegger, Soren Kierkegaard, Paul Kurtz, secular humanism, postmodernism, pragmatism, anthropology, irrationalism

Abstract: Eary Pythagorean cosmology focused on the philosophical idea of oder (τάξις). The main objective of the present research is to define to what extend the Pythagorean concept of τάξις was a revolutionary idea. In this article Lechich gives a definition of  τάξις as the term used for describing order in ancient Greek philosophy and emphasizes axiological elements hidden in that term. The researcher 1) shows the difference in Alcman's and Anaximander's concepts of the world total, 2) extends the description of these differences in terms of early Pythagorean cosmology, and 3) compares the results of the present research to the ideas of other major Pre-Socratic philosophers. The researcher achieves the objectives of the research based on existing philological and historical critical analysis of Pre-Socratic fragments. Using the method of phenomenological analysis, the researcher tries to find mental phenomena-precedents in these fragments and at the same time avoid projecting definitions and concepts of modern sciences on these fragments. The novelty of the article is caused by the fact that the author makes a statement about Pythagorean interpretation of order having no precedents in ontology and axiology. According to the researcher, the tendency to project the idea of τάξις (which was developed by Plato later) on the concepts of more ancient philosophers has no reasonable grounds, mostly because such projection may create the wrong opinion that ancient philosophers had negative axiology of 'the shapeless'. 

Keywords: Greek philosophy, early Pythagorean school, Pre-Socratic philosophers, cosmos, universe, cosmology, world total, axiology, order, disorder, materia

Abstract: In his article Aliev makes an attempt to look at the general, special and universal mechanisms of transformation of the different political cultures in terms of political globalization.Political studies of the transformation of political culture in the globalization process are of particular importance because the transformation of different political cultures in the process of political globalization may lead to unexpected results.The political culture of the modern world in the society of global relations contains elements of traditional political culture of each particular state.The concept of "political culture" is investigated within the framework of the various sciences. It should be noted that the concept of political culture is used in the current political science to understand what distinguishes the political cultures of different countries. This article attempts to light the essence of political culture, and in particular the problems of its formation in modern Azerbaijani society. The author of the article also talks about the different approaches to the study of political culture in Azerbaijan.

Keywords: traditional political culture, transformation, diversity of political cultures, society, political globalization, political cultures, philosophy, values, civilization, Eurocentrism

Abstract: Studies in intellectual and cultural history deal with the ideas of the Renaissance Neo-Platonism in a much different way during the late 19th century and 20th century. One of the main figures of these researches is Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499) who is well-known for the historiosophic conception of prisca theologia and also for his translations of all Plato’s and Plotin’s works and writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus as well as commentaries on them. Interpretations of Ficino’s thought change dramatically the complex epistemological attitudes to the Renaissance. The article focuses on the works devoted to the philosophy of Marsilio Ficino and analyses the immanent theoretical and contextual (social, institutional) background for the emergence of the Renaissance studies in Anglo-Saxon intellectual world in the middle of XX century as a separate and self-consistent field of research. It is shown that the crucial point in this process is the appearance of German immigrant scientists in the Anglo-Saxon intellectual context  and the successful institutionalization of their research projects and programs. Thus the history of humanities manifests itself through continuity and interaction between intellectual influences and social expectations which could not be reduced mechanically to the constellation of the ideas of autonomic disciplines established in the national scientific contexts.

Keywords: Neo-Platonism, Renaissance, history of knowledge, knowledge transfer, Marsilio Ficino, German emigration, Renaissance studies, history of Ideas, Ernst Cassirer, Paul Oscar Kristeller

Abstract: The paper follows E. Cassirer’s exemplary study (Philosophy of the Enlightenment, 1932) of classical aesthetics making in the 18th century as a kind of a pattern, a model of forming of a branch in the humanities. Philosophical experience of that time is valuable and interesting because it had been formed before the emergence of positivism and the specific “matrix” that became later a notorious concept of science and “the unified scientific method”. During the Enlightenment the priority of rational knowledge is being established and the humanities, aesthetics in particular, do not loose their value as an independent, special type of scholarship. This considerably enriches the category of “subject” in the theory of cognition where it is for ages considered as an utmost abstraction — the transcendental subject — the main condition of true knowledge. Classical aesthetics aim to turn the very sensory into an object deserving cognition along with rational knowledge. This lays the foundations of knowledge in the humanities as an independent type of learning which has its own ontology and, as a consequence, its own principles, methods, methodology, philosophical premises and history. First of all, it is an interpretation of a special role and the nature of subject and object as abstractions of another level, a philosophic-empirical one, where they are presented in cultural, historical and social contexts, in the system of values and social norms. Cassirer’s views are under scrutiny to see how he treats ideas of N. Boileau-Despréaux, J. Goethe, Voltaire, D. Diderot, G. Lessing, I. Kant, A. Shaftesbury, and also an explanation of systematic aesthetics by A. Baumgarten who turns to G. Leibniz’s and Ch. Wolff’s ideas.

Keywords: cultural and historical epistemology, the humanities, systematic aesthetics, classical aesthetics, philosophy of the Enlightenment, philosophy, scientific method, subject, transcendental subject, empirical subject

Abstract: In the 17th century memorials of other confessions made a great impact on the development of Orthodox book-publishing in Rzeczpospolita and Moscovia and were one of the factors of the development of confessional identity of Orthodox Christians. The influence of Protestantism that prevailed at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries was replaced with the impact of Roman Catholic theology by the middle of the 17th century brought to Mosow by Kiev orthodox intellectuals and books. Orthodox bookmen adapted texts of other confessions to Orthodox tradition and used numerous editing methods and techniques. These methods are analyzed by the author of the article using the example of 'The Large Catechism' published by an activist of the 'brotherly movement' in Rzeczpospolita Lavrentiy Zizaniy Tustanovskiy (Moscow, 1627), 'Man's Peace with God' by an archmandrite of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra Innokenty Gizel (Kiev, 1669) and 'The Crown of Faith' by a Belorusian theologist Symeon Polotsky. The methodological basis of the research involves the confessionalization concept (Konfessionalisierung) introduced by the German historical school (E.W. Zeeden, H. Schilling) and the concept of 'polymorphous' Orthodox culture of the late 16th - early 18th centuries offered by an Italian researcher Giovanna Brogi Bercoff. The author of the article also emphasizes the influence of 'external', i.e. non-Orthodox memorials on the development of Orthodox confessional identity of the 17th century. However, the author refers to the identity that can be reconstructed based on the analysis of the memorials of Orthodox book-publishing. According to the author, the fact that 'external' non-Orthodox sources were widely used can be a proof that Kiev (to a greater extent) and Moscow (to a lesser extent) Orthodox Christians of the 17th century were at the stage of searching for their confessional image and that image was finally developed as a result of the creative dialogue between Orthodoxy and other confessions. 

Keywords: Lavrentiy Zizaniy Tustanovskiy, Rzeczpospolita, Russia, borrowings from other confessions, Orthodox books, confessionalization, Innokenty Gizel, Symeon Polotsky, Evfimiy Chudovskiy, confessional identity

Abstract: The present article is devoted to deconstruction as the leading category of post-modernism as well as the method of composing post-modernistic literary and art texts aimed at critisizing traditional analytical thinking, decentration of different kinds of centralisms, removal of binary oppositions and search for conceptual multiplicity. Moreover, the author of the article describes such features of post-modernistic texts as intertextuality, nonclassical interpretation of past traditions in the ironic, playful or parodical form. The author also tries to define the general and specific features of deconstruction in foreign and Russian literary and art texts. Based on the analysis of philosophical, cultural, literary and art researches, the author describes the features of deconstruction. The author has used the comparative method to analyze foreign and Russian post-modernistic texts of literature and art. The author concludes that while American and Western European post-modernists perform the deconstruction of the ideology of the consumer society, Russian post-modernists deconstruct the consumption of products of the Soviet ideology. Americans and Western European post-modernists use deconstruction in order to create a free player space, to make the most important issues of human existence to be the aim of the play, and to view traditions from the point of view of the democratic pluralism, while Russian post-modernists deconstuct such 'national metanarratives' as 'ideologism', 'totalitarianism', 'utopism' and 'literature-centrism'. These allow to understand our traditional 'eternal' issues using nontraditional means such as obscene words and shocking naturalistic and physiological descriptions. The author's conclusion that deconstruction acts as a mean of creating a new language capable of describing framentary, orderless, unstable and hyperreal post-modern world is crucial for understanding and adequate perception of post-modernistic texts.   

Keywords: decentration, intertextuality, multiple meaning, irony, parody, play, absurdity, metanarrative, hyperreality, simulacrum

Abstract: "Humanity" doesn't descend from heavens with the Holy Spirit but comes through real animals (ancestors of the mankind) led by instincts. Humanity developed as a result of the need to release from total domination of reflex reactions, on the one hand, and opportunities predetermined by their phenotype, on the other hand. These were the real conditions of creation of the first historical form of culture – the cult. Involvement in cult actions transformed our ancestor into human, consciousness being one of his attributes.  Reconstruction of the initial forms of cult is based on successive comparison of ritual practices with the sensuality genesis separating human from animal as a being with a completely different perception of the world and feelings. As a new form of experience, cult (of motives, values, and derived emotions) sets priorities for the relations above material communications (thus creating its own "virtuality") and is a result of the defensive instinct when man began to focus on community values (as the way to general survival) and was deprived of established mechanisms of behavior, and therefore had to be based on common reactions and community relations. 

Keywords: cult, culture, affects, emotions, Numinosum, archaic thinking, magic, sacral, the unconscious, homo sentiens

Abstract: The article reviews a remarkable book by P.A. Nazareth about an outstanding leader of out time Mahatma Gandhi. The book describes Gandhi’s versatile activities as a political figure and statesman for the first time in world literature. It reconstructs the history of his development as a political leader. Gandhi is presented in this case as a unique person. A historian or a researcher in modern politics will find in this book valuable material about the great country that currently becomes a major power capable of influencing global events. The author uses the method of comparison of two books – by P.A. Nazareth and the book by a prominent American psychoanalyst, one of the founding fathers of psychohistory Erik Erikson. Comparativist techniques permit to show Gandhi’s significant influence on many cultural workers and transformations in other countries.The methods of psychohistory and political philosophy in general are compared for the first time in modern literature. P.A. Nazareth refers to the works of E. Erikson. But he goes his own way, thoroughly investigating Gandhi’s political activities. At the same time, the book portrays the image of a unique man who was involved in very dramatic historical events. Being a historical analysis, P.A. Nazareth’s book responds to modern global transformations. This is its undoubted value.

Keywords: satyagraha, philosophy of nonviolence, public activity, politics, spiritual leader, thinker, Gandhi, psychohistory, colonialism, history

Abstract: The article analyzes two books published by the Institute of Philosophy of the RAS, P. Ricoeur «Chelovek. Obshchestvo. Tsivilizatsia. Sovremennaya filosofia» [Man. Society. Civilization. Modern philosophy] (M.: Kanon+, 2015) and «Chelovek vchera i segodnya [Man yesterday and today]: interdisciplinary studies. Issue 8» (M.: IPhRAS, 2014).Much attention is paid to the monograph dedicated to Paul Ricoeur, a prominent French philosopher. Reflecting on the book, the author attempts at singling out in each essay the most significant and breakthrough ideas related to evaluation and development of multiple philosophical ideas of Ricoeur. This fundamental work guided by Prof. I.S. Vdovina, a major specialist in world philosophy who united the efforts of various specialists, will undoubtedly be a prerequisite for deeper research into topical worldview problems of our time.The book «Chelovek vchera i segodnya [Man yesterday and today]: interdisciplinary studies. Issue 8» edited by M.S. Kiseleva deals with the theme of existential choice. The authors are engaged in theoretical and methodological studies of choice practices, based on the texts by Augustine, Abelard, S. Kierkegaard, J.-P. Sartre, A. Camus, F. Dostoyevsky, N. Berdyaev, D. Chizhevsky and turning to modern live phenomena.The approaches of personalism, existentialism and phenomenology are employed in assessment of scientific works. Varied philosophical practices are actualized, permitting to ensure the dialogue of ideas in the works of P. Ricoeur. The interdisciplinary approach to analysis of the problems of personal life and intellectual choice is used.The novelty of the material is conditioned by the desire to present the whole diversity of the philosophical ideas of P. Ricoeur. They remain significant in the new century, too. The experience of interpreting various philosophical themes in the works by Ricoeur raises philosophical reflection onto a new level, permits to correlate it with modern philosophical knowledge. The novelty in approaching to the theme of choice is related to analysis of alternative decisions that often have to be made in the situation of absurdity.

Keywords: existential choice, philosophical-anthropological project, phenomenology, personalism, existentialism, philosophy, being, humanism, faith, personality