Abstract: This work is dedicated to the examination of the Tibetan language sources on the confessional comparativism of Central Asian Buddhism. This direction of the traditional philosophical thought, having originated in India, received wide recognition in Tibet, particularly during the scholastic period of development of the Buddhist philosophy. It is mostly presented in the works of polemic character (dGag lan) dedicated to the discussion of contradictory moments in views of the main religious-philosophical schools of Buddhism, as well as historical-philosophical literature (grub mtha’) that provides a comparative-philosophical analysis of the philosophical schools of Indian Buddhism. The article is performed leaning on the referential Tibetan language sources viewed within the context of existing tradition of the Central Asian Buddhism. The research determined that the confessional Buddhism comparativism was responsible for the two key functions: propaedeutic and hermeneutic. The first implied that through the interpretation of simpler philosophical systems, the student was preparing for comprehending the more complex philosophical systems. The second solved the task of classification of the philosophical doctrines in accordance with how fully they reflect the concept of the Sermon of Buddha, which substantiated the supremacy of the own system over others. Theoretical space of the philosophical-religious doctrines of Buddhism was organized based on the principle of inclusivism, when the theoretical constructs of schools, so-called the “lowest”, were defines as incomplete and included into the general theoretical scheme of schools as the teachings that prepare adherers towards understanding of their own (complete) doctrine.

Keywords: hermeneutics, debate, scholasticism, history of philosophy, comparative analysis, Gelug, Tibetan Buddhism, Mahayana, Madhyamaka, propaedeutics

Abstract: The subject of this research is the content and direction of the modern cultural processes that lead to the qualitative changes of local cultures, as well as the global cultural space as a whole. The goal of this work consists in determination of trends and prospects of the modern cultural dynamics. The authors examine the essence and content of the processes of globalization and unification of cultural space, virtualization and simulation of sociocultural reality, formation of quasi-society on the basis of Internet communication, features and peculiarities of functionality of the new “galactic of the social-network communication”. Methodology of the study includes the general development trends of the modern culture; its near and future prospect are analyzes from the perspective of the philosophy of life, symbolic interactionism and system-structural approach. A number of conclusions was made during the course of this work: with regards to modernity, can be acknowledged the homogenization of cultural landscape, emergence of the generalized cultural field as a result of globalization – a planetary trend of cultural dynamics. A positive impact of these processes can be observed from the perspective of the philosophy of life of Georg Simmel, according to which the flow of life sweeps away the created by it, but having become confined cultural forms, and leans towards the new, previously unknown. The signs of formation of that new detects another important and noticeable direction in transformation of the modern culture – virtualization and concurrent simulation of the entire sociocultural reality that grasp the economy, politics, social sphere, cultural and leisure, and mass communication. Virtual reality gradually obtains the status of primacy in relation to reality; and the manipulations with the symbols of things substitute the actions with the things themselves. The third trend in cultural dynamics that has powerfully asserted itself is the formation and rapid development of the “galactic of the social-network communication” that generates the quasi-society.

Keywords: quasi-society, Internet communication, simulation, virtualization, development trends, local cultures, globalization, cultural dynamics, modern culture, network communities

Abstract: This article examines the phenomenon of skyscraper as a specific cultural event of the XX – beginning of the XXI centuries. A modern skyscraper represents a symbolic condensation of the ley trends of contemporary globalizational culture, manifesting as a peculiar avant-garde of the cultural, political, and economic processes of the indicated timeframe. Indefiniteness of the spatial sizes, height of the skyscrapers is associated with the Tower of Babel that symbolizes the lust for power, and founds its realization in the high-rise buildings of the XX century in both, the countries with socialist and capitalist social structures. Symbolism of the architecture of a skyscraper is interpreted using the hermeneutic and structural methods of analysis that allow revealing the symbolic meaning of the highness as a method of manifestation of power, as well as explicating the “pseudo-paradoxicality” and particular visuality of the contemporary high-rise buildings. Excessiveness of the modern skyscrapers, their visual “transparence” and relative independence from the cultural landscape allow concluding that the phenomenon of skyscraper signifies a cultural and technological avant-garde of globalizational processes of the transformation of modern cultural environment. The scientific novelty consists in demonstrating how such processes, taking place throughout the several recent decades, are able to recode the urban landscape of a modern metropolis in accordance with the model of “total amnesia”.

Keywords: transparency, height, sacralization, power, representation, symbolization, thing, skyscraper, topological amnesia, globalization

Abstract: This article examines the main approaches towards the understanding of wisdom. The first approach consists in identifying wisdom as a knowledge about your ignorance (Socrates’ “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”). The author analyzes the key formulation of this approach:  theory of intellectual humility and theory of epistemic accuracy. Practical approach consists in determining wisdom as the knowledge of how to live properly, and realization of this knowledge in practice. Hybrid concept is the theory of profound rationality, because it includes the instance of knowledge and instance of moral life. The theory of universal wisdom views wisdom as a holistic concept, which combines theoretical and practical. The methodology contains conceptual analysis, method of ascension from abstract to concrete, comparison, and synthesis. It is demonstrated that against all of these theories, there is always an objection that, perhaps a number of criteria that must be met by a sage, is not exhaustive or is excessive. As an alternative, the author suggests the disjunctive definition of wisdom that perceives wisdom as a mild disjunction of the theoretical and practical wisdom.  

Keywords: Sharon Ryan, theory of profound rationality, intellectual accuracy, intellectual humility, practical wisdom, theoretical wisdom, wisdom, theory of knowledge, Dennis Whitcomb, Jason Baehr

Abstract: The subject of this research is the role of unconscious reasoning in the process of cognition and realization of the value relations. The author thoroughly examines the “ontological function” of the unconscious as an interlink between the existing and its conscious in form of the actual being, as well as the term “unconscious” in teachings of Freud and Aristotle. The author reveals the ontological grounds of understanding world that surrounds a human. Attention is focused on the formation of psychological motivation in realization of the value relation. The article substantiates the need for considering the psychological factors in establishment of the scientific image of the world. Based on the analysis of philosophical concepts of the unconscious thinking, it is determined that the unconscious being can be interpreted as a mediating link in ontological perception of the existing and its apprehension. Concept of the unconscious allowed clarifying the ontological structure of formation of the surrounding world from another perspective, as well as give a crucially new explanation to the psychological nature of value relation.

Keywords: demand, existing, Aristotle, Freud, being, unconscious, axiology, value relation, matter, soul

Abstract: The subject of this research is the analysis and interpretation of the concept of teleology, proposed by the Baden School of Neo-Kantianism, particularly the works of Wilhelm Windelband and Heinrich Rickert, which is viewed in the context of polemic of the Neo-Kantians with positivism and realism, as well as idealistic metaphysics. The author conducts a detailed reconstruction of the comprehension of teleology the theory of cognition and methodology of the science of W. Windelband and H. Rickert. The suggested approach can be applied for the theoretical substantiation of assessment of the efficiency of humanitarian sciences. The author’s main contribution into the research of this topic lies in determination of the specificity of Neo-Kantian understanding of teleology. It is proven that Neo-Kantian teleology is based on the interpretation of goal as an unreachable ideal, thus the accent within the framework of teleology is made not on the development goals themselves, but rather the process of their achievement. Such comprehension of teleology is presented in the normativism of W. Windelband and doctrine of H. Rickert about the subject of cognition, in the context of which the values are viewed as an oughtness constituting the very act of assertion, but never developing into the status of existence, and therefore, remaining an infinite task for the consciousness. The author suggests calling such understanding of teleology the procedural. It is substantiated that the methodological doctrine of H. Rickert leans of the perception of the fundamental nature of teleology as the method of cognizing the world, due to which Rickert developed the new understanding of the method of historical sciences that he names teleological.

Keywords: cognition, effectiveness, humanitarian sciences, methodology, mechanism, teleology, Neo-Kantianism, historical method, science, assessment of science

Abstract: This article examines the question of interrelation of the cultural policy with political culture in methodological aspect. Particular attention is given to the circumstance that being a part of political culture, perceived as an acquired by humanity experience of creative solution to the problems of communication and interaction between the subjects of cultural creativity, the cultural policy manifests as the means of achieving the goal indicated above. It is essential to follow these problems in our controversial time, when the entrenched within the social practice economic globalization, requires the search for adequate forms of its universal general cultural realization, capable of simultaneously keeping the distinctness of the separate ethnic cultures. Methodology of the research suggests necessary immersion into the history of political culture that actualizes its lessons. The illustrative material applies the current situation in the Western world, as well as globalization processes of regional character in the Ancient Eastern culture. The author attempts to not only provide the theoretical formulations, but also connect the conceptual assumptions with the actual modern practice, particularly with such tasks as the globalization and modernization of various ethnic cultures within the currently necessary and available limits.

Keywords: Social philosophy, Geopolitics, Multiculturalism, Ancient Eastern history, Universal human values, Unification of ethnic cultures, Globalization, Cultural policy, Political culture, History of culture

Abstract: This article analyzes the interpretation of historical cognition in semiotics of the culture of Y. M. Lotman. Special attention is given to the semiotic interpretation of the notions of “historical fact” and “historical event”. The author determines the place of Lotman’s semiotics in the context of classical (positivistic) and nonclassical (linguistically and hermeneutically oriented) philosophy of history and theory of historical writing, as well as clarifies the link between the interpretation of cultural communication in Lotman’s concept and semiotic aspect of historical cognition. The research reveals the similarities and differences of Lotman’s semiotics of history with the modern post-culturalist philosophy of history formulated in the works of H. White, F. Ankersmit, and C. Köllner. During the course of this study, the author applied the comparative method, problem-thematic way of analysis and presentation of material. It is demonstrated that the suggested by Lotman interpretation of the key notions of the historical writing theory (historical fact, historical process, historical reality) overcomes the extremes of objectivism and relativism in understanding of the historical past. The process of historical cognition is described in Lotman’s works in accordance with the model of cultural communication, in other words, as a dialogue between history and modernity that suggests the existence of common language between the culture of the past, which comprises the object of historical interest, and the culture of the present, the part and bearer of which is a historian.

Keywords: narrativism, constructivism, semiosphere, Lotman, Moscow-Tartu school, semiotics of culture, semiotics of history, historical fact, historical event, historical process

Abstract: The subject of this research is the phenomenon of human freedom that defines his essence. In social sphere, the ontological freedom manifests paradoxically: firstly, informatively, as a self-determination and independence and of an acting subject from the external forms that becomes a substantial factor, which destabilize the system balance of social space; secondly, functionally – in practice of social competition, and in sociocultural meaning – in disruption of the impediment for a human social rules a traditions. The result of competition lies in the conflicts of interpersonal character; the outcome of breaking the traditions – social revolutions. Complex approach, which integrates the various spheres of creative activity of a man, defines the cross-disciplinary system of research, focusing on application of the axiological method. The scientific novelty consist in determination of the guarantors of stability of the social sphere of existence, among which are the system of traditional values formed in the process of cultural and historical evolution of the society, and the level of development of the moral grounds in person’s consciousness. Based on the aforesaid, it is concluded that the social evolution is the most preferable way of social transformation.

Keywords: social revolutions, conflict, system balance, competition, social sphere, ontology of consciousness , phenomenon of freedom, values, conservative system, morality

Abstract: This article analyzes the phenomenology of art of R. Wollheim and the true meaning of paintings. The object of the research is the visual art with its immensely rich world. Visual art is one of the forms of interaction using the visual images. The subject of the research is the representation of paintings of the Soviet realism era through the prism of R. Wollheim’s concept. The author thoroughly examines the concept of the model of thought (Ur-painting), according to which painting is an intentional action that suggests the existence of such thing as a universal human nature, which unites an artist with his audience. The concept of R. Wollheim fulfills the phenomenological reduction, isolating the essence of art as an activity. Visual art sends us to the thematizing factors that are an integral part of the act of providing with meaning, and directly associated with the artist’s intention. The author pursues correlation between the perception and interpretation of paintings based on the example of the work by Aleksandr Deyneka “The Skiers”, comparing the view of a modern person and a person from the social realism era. A conclusion is made that the painting is perceived differently from the perspective of a person of socialist realism and a person of present time: a “collective individual” is inspired by the painting, it mobilizes his efforts, reflecting a mental state of the artist. In the XXI century, the audience gives assessment to the composition structured by the artist, as well as space and artwork in general.

Keywords: visual representations, dual meaning, recognition, model of thought, perception, socialist realism, visual art, aesthetics, wellbeing, phenomenology