The serious leisure is considered as a living environment that is important for the development of agency at different ages. In the period of growing up, young people face many challenges that require them to actively make choices in the fields of education, profession, and relationships, and their previous experience of proactive interaction with the environment plays an important role, which can be relied upon when making responsible decisions. An important environment for the trial and implementation of agency can be the sphere of serious leisure as an activity that requires effort and long-term involvement and at the same time is characterized by great freedom of action. Awareness and integration of the experience of agency in the autobiographical narrative can serve as a basis for the complication and differentiation of the motivational system of the individual and further development of self-determination. Despite the wide representation of leisure studies, the choices made by young adults in leisure activities and attitudes towards them have yet to be explored. To study the manifestations of agency in serious leisure, 24 interviews with informants from the period of growing up were collected. The conducted deductive thematic analysis showed that the manifestations of agency can be found at the stages of initiation, implementation and termination of serious leisure, where they can be presented in the form of initiative, interaction, comprehension of events and decision-making, changes and organization of activities. The analysis of autobiographical narratives shows that the environment of serious leisure is saturated and promising for manifestations of agency at different ages.
The article examines one of the concepts of a consistent theory of morality — moral luck. It occurs when a person’s moral standing is determined by factors beyond his control, or, in other words, by luck. However, all actions and their consequences are, to one degree or another, determined by such factors. In this aspect, moral luck is opposed to moral responsibility and disrupts the natural practice of human interrelationships. The problem arises: how can one be praised or blamed for certain actions or their consequences if they are partially or completely independent of his individual choice? This article is devoted to consideration of this problem. On the one hand, it argues against resultant moral luck — the kind that is associated with the results of actions. To complete this, the “control principle” and the nature of human action are analyzed. On the other hand, arguments are defended in favor of the significant importance of considering the factor of moral luck for the actualization of people’s moral behavior.
Illusionism is a relatively recent theory of consciousness that has absorbed and consistently developed physicalist intuitions about consciousness. This approach gives sufficient grounds to consider it contrary to the basic ideas of realists regarding phenomenal consciousness, because according to illusionism there is no phenomenal consciousness, it is just an illusion. The author believes that the danger of this thesis for realists depends on which concept of illusion to adhere to. After a brief review of the illusionist approach, the article presents two possible contents of the concept of the illusion of phenomenality. The author then considers whether realists cannot agree with any of them. One of the possible understandings of illusion is the conceptual distortion of the data of experience or introspection in the course of their interpretation. Although this view is not basic for illusionists, it is implicitly and sometimes explicitly contained in their examples and arguments. In this case, realists can agree that phenomenal consciousness is an illusion, not only without weakening their position, but also emphasizing the special status of phenomenality, which allows a person to expand reality when faced with what is not in the world. When an illusion is understood as a distortion by introspection itself, before any conceptual reactions to its data, the position of illusionists turns out to be much more dangerous for phenomenal consciousness. However, even in this case, realists can introduce a number of counterarguments to which illusionism does not yet have answers acceptable to both sides. Although this discussion is complicated by ambiguities in the relation of definitions of key terms of representatives of these two approaches, which complicates its analysis, the author comes to the conclusion that realism has a chance, if not to adapt the illusion, then to demonstrate the problems and gaps of the illusionist position in connection with this concept.
The article presents possible grounds for intercultural dialogue. Due to the polarization of international relations and political tensions, the issue of the fundamental possibility of grounds for intercultural dialogue in modern times is being considered. The concept of intercultural dialogue is understood in the article as an integrative process based on the acceptance of cultural differences. The author argues that the use of modern sociological approaches is not always applicable as a basis for building dialogical relations, since such approaches do not reflect the cultural characteristics of individual communities. Sociological researches are often politicized, and the methods of classifying different cultural communities used in them need to be rethought. Also, sociological approaches to the interaction of different cultural communities are focused on long-term ideological work, but the existing problems show that quick and constructive solutions are needed. According to the author, other grounds for interaction between cultures and communities are required, more general and applicable at the current stage on a global transnational scale. The author identifies two main starting points for intercultural dialogue: scientific and environmental cooperation and economic cooperation. Each of these paths has ample opportunities in the modern world for implementation in the field of the global economy or in the field of scientific cooperation and environmental protection. On the basis of transnational economic cooperation, it is possible to find an economic consensus between states which often represents different cultural systems. International scientific and environmental elaborations also serve as a basis for constructive interaction in front of common environmental problems or by qualitatively new scientific developments. The two paths presented are points for formal interaction, which can further be an entry point of an integrative cultural dialogue.
The failure of the project of socialism in the twentieth century led to what can be designated as a loss of horizon of expectations. People are increasingly focused on the present, and the future, if considered, is more as a source of fears and uncertainty, and not as an opportunity to implement human aspirations and projects. Various methods of “privatization” of their living space lead to escapism from more global social projects. Even the very idea of utopia becomes privatized as part of the current state of affairs. Thus, there is a crisis of ideas about the future, which calls into question how humanity will develop in the future. In this situation, the discourse about the future among modern leftists acquires important values for possible social changes that can be available to society. In addition, how these concepts affect the ideas about a person and his place in a socio-political system also play an important role. This article tries to reconstruct the current state of utopia in the left social and philosophical discourse. For this, an analysis of such socio-political concepts as “left melancholy”, “utopia as education of desires” and “real utopia” is carried out. The conclusion is made of varying degrees of relevance and importance of these concepts for society as a whole and a person in particular.
The matter of searching the ways to consolidate modern Russian society is of particular relevance in the context of social and cultural heterogeneity of the multinational population of Russia and its polycentricity as a state-civilization. The article is devoted to the study and the analysis of the distinctive social and psychological characteristics of moral-sacrificial and sociable Russians. The research aims to identify the socio-cultural “bonds” in the form of value orientations of modern Russian society that can contribute to the development and maintenance of its consolidating potential while preserving the cultural diversity of the regions and ethnic communities of the country. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is represented by the anthroposociocultural approach (N.I. Lapin), the concept of culture (V.S. Stepin), the concepts of “future shock” (E. Toffler), and capturing the trust crisis in modern societies (J. Baudrillard, P. Shtompka, Ch. Perrow). The empirical basis of the study includes data obtained as part of the 8th round of the All-Russian survey conducted by the Center for the Study of Social and Cultural Changes of the RAS Institute of Philosophy. The author analyzes the social and psychological characteristics of the target cohort of sociable and moral-sacrificial Russians in comparison with the cohort of other residents of Russia. The study reveals such distinctive characteristics of the target cohort as: a strong sense of community with the residents of Russia and the countries of the former USSR; an almost absent sense of closeness with the residents of Europe and Asia; cosmopolitanism; strong emotional attachment to Russia; a positive view of the social and cultural, economic and natural features of the country; high level of life satisfaction; support of the idea that Russia should develop in its own special way and the Western lifestyle will never take root in the country; a high level of trust in others; having a friend you can rely on in difficult situations. The results of the comparative analysis make it possible to identify the social and psychological characteristics of moral-sacrificial and sociable Russians, which may contribute to the development of the consolidating potential of heterogeneous Russian society and strengthen the state-civic identity of Russians.
The article offers an interpretation of hypothetical necessity, which is important for understanding Aristotle’s future contingent events, based on praxis. For this purpose, the concept of becoming, the ways of expanding knowledge and the consequences for them of incomplete information about the conditions for the occurrence of future contingent events are used. Hypothetical necessity is the basis of praxis, where it is created by choice and decision, which allows us to see our actions not as absolutely contingent. It is difficult to indicate the absolute meaning of hypothetical necessity outside the theory of essence and becoming. But its difference from simple (metaphysical) necessity allows us to form a basis for criticizing actions that generate future contingent events. They are determined by the conditions that act in us and can change along with our ideas about the current situation, about the good and about the ways to achieve it. An act is not necessary, and not completely contingent, although it becomes necessary after its commission. The fact that a person himself does not control the formation of moral conditional necessity, and for him changes in opinions and preferences are usually spontaneous, contains the basis for criticism of the act. The latter is justified by speaking about the realization of the essence, and condemned by pointing to moral conditional necessity associated with dubious circumstances, for example, with delusions, prejudices, laziness, lack of will, etc.
The article clarifies Foucault’s thesis on “the death of man”, identifies its weaknesses and relevance today. The background of this thesis and the misconceptions in its interpretation are briefly written out. It is not about human as a subject, a biological species or a biosocial being, but about Man as a historical a priori, or a modern episteme formed at the turn of the XVIII–XIX centuries. As a transcendental condition, it determines the nature of modern forms of knowledge and thinking, for example, German idealism, psychoanalysis, Marxism, and various kinds of naturalistic reductionisms. Human became possible thanks to the idea of transcendental finitude associated with Kant’s Copernican turn. However, his birth is associated with betrayal of the transcendental project — a mixture of the transcendental and empirical levels. The general structure of Man is a transcendence, defined on the basis of human sciences and their empirical objectivity. It is shown that, contrary to popular simplifying interpretations, the sciences of man are understood by Foucault specifically: they combine sciences (linguistics, social sciences, biology) with Man as a doubling. The stability and difficulty of overcoming a Person are set by the paradoxical nature of his structure, which mixes empirical and transcendental finiteness: empirical instances (language, labor, biological life) define a person in objective time, but are possible, like time, only thanks to the structure of cognition. A critique of Foucault’s idea of Man is given. Using the example of a cerebral subject identifying a personality with the brain, the relevance of a Person today is shown at least beyond philosophy in the concepts of subjects that rely on scientific knowledge and circulate in discourses and practices in the social space.
The article examines the phenomenon of surrogacy, conducting an ethical analysis of the global ban on this practice, considering international trends, and presenting an analysis of the Russian specifics of its development. The global trend towards stricter regulation of surrogacy is analyzed, as reflected in the adoption of the Casablanca Declaration (2023), which calls for a global ban on the practice. It is demonstrated that Russia is also experiencing a tightening of control in the field of surrogacy. Meanwhile, financial interests in promoting surrogacy are driving attempts to control its perception through framing, representing it in a simplified and minimalistic way, adapting it to the existing socio-axiological context, and creating a positive image. This aims to interpret surrogacy as a humanistic practice based on the idea of a gift, displacing negative interpretations associated with the commodification and instrumentalization of the female body. The article also explores the prospects for liberalizing surrogacy in connection with the potential legitimization of new medical technologies in biomedicine, such as donating the body of a deceased woman (with diagnosed brain death) and the emergence of an artificial womb. It is shown that surrogacy reflects the reality of the birth of a new form of intimacy, which can be termed laboratory or biotechnological intimacy. In this context, technology is increasingly becoming a crucial actor in the constitution of private life. A conclusion is drawn about the convergence of morally ambiguous practices in the context of modern technoscience, which involves the objectification of the human body and increased control in the field of reproductive relations. The problem of a hybrid family model in the context of surrogacy is also examined. It is demonstrated that the practice of surrogate motherhood has a significant impact on the formation of a biotechnological image of childhood and the medicalization of social institutions.
The article presents an overview of modern theories and methodological approaches that expand the usual research practice of studying the colorism of cultural landscapes, offering special tools capable of recording how people actually see color in a cultural landscape, what they feel, how they remember and use it. Cultural landscapes, among which modern man spends most of his life, combine natural and anthropogenic layers, representing a special system of cultural matrices and codes directly linked to a particular territory. Regardless of type, size and structure, each cultural landscape has a characteristic color. The study offers an analysis of a number of ideas important for comprehending (1) the spatial imagery of cultural landscape colorism, (2) the mechanisms of perception and (3) the construction of its constituent color images. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the multimodal nature of the color image, its mobility and holism of perception. The methodological significance of geographical determinism theories for understanding the mechanism of colorism formation in the cultural landscape is discussed. The analysis presented in the article allows us to better understand the nature, highlight the key features of cultural landscape colorism and determine its significance for human beings. The shift of emphasis from the study of the relationship between color and objects to the relationship between color and man sets a special vector of research: not “from above”, but “from within”, “at close range”, from the position of an observer immersed in the color environment. Such a change in optics, along with theoretical aspects, is important for applied projection into various target spheres of the cultural landscape. In particular, for the formation of color environment corresponding to the expectations and demands of various social groups of modern society.
The response article to the book by S.A. Nikolsky “Soviet Philosophical and Literary Analysis” is a dialogue between Oleg Leibovich and Alexander Kazankov. The conversation covers a wide range of topics related to reading the specified treatise. Firstly, the possibility of classifying S.A. Nikolsky’s philosophical analysis as a real anthropological type is discussed. According to modern Russian sociologists, the Soviet man emerged in the 1960s and his presence in society can be confirmed by mass surveys. However, this scientific approach is not interesting for S.A. Nikolsky, as both interlocutors point out. For a philosopher, it is not a question of whether or not the Soviet person existed, but rather who he was and what his role in literature was. Even if you assign it the status of a noumenal thing-in-itself or a hypothetical Bigfoot, it is a legitimate subject for literary and philosophical analysis. S.A. Nikolsky’s methodology allowed him to identify two fundamental features in the image of the Soviet man: clandestine and submissive. According to the author, these human qualities were discovered by Russian literary classics (I.S. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoevsky, N.S. Leskov, etc.). During the discussion, it turns out that the existence of substantial human qualities is problematic, and clandestinity and submission are socially conditioned features of the ethos of the Russian writing intelligentsia itself. The interlocutors conclude their discussion of S.A. Nikolsky’s treatise on Soviet man with a discussion on the actual “Sovietness” of Soviet man.
The article is a sketch of a theoretical approach (or, more precisely, a research program) to human culture, which is based on the human-dimensionality, given as a set of irremovable natural limitations that man, as a natural being, imposes on everything thought, felt, made, changed, stored and used by him. Culture is presented as a multidimensional net/meshwork of cultural objects understood as an assemblages/re-assemblages that involve human-dimensional and non-human-dimensional artifacts, non-human actants, and humans as a condition and carriers of practices Humans act as mobile nodes of net/meshworks, moving along certain trajectories of their everyday habitat, the “enculturation” of that habitat is determined by the configurations of “awaiting” artifacts and “waylaying” non-human actants on their paths. A human, moving along his trajectories, assembles practices with artifacts of the environment, forming cultural objects; by the latter, as well as by the cultural objects one carries, a human can link with the cultural objects of other humans on the same or intersecting routes. Thus, couplings and multi-couplings of cultural objects are formed, which recreate a complex and constantly reassembling multidimensional net/meshwork. Configurations of relatively reproducible couplings in the net/meshwork we call retentions, the presence of which determines the state of culture; in the case of the coercion of retentions to be reproduced, we speak of a state of civilization. The first part of the article sets out the conceptual logic of the approach; the second part (which is an essay) provides a sketch of the analytical optics possible with this approach.
In the article dedicated to the anniversary of the outstanding Russian philosopher Academician Ivan Timofeevich Frolov, an attempt is made to give a general assessment of his work from the perspective of today. His main scientific achievements are briefly listed. Emphasis is placed on the area of his philosophical studies that is increasingly coming to the fore as the most relevant: the future of man and new technologies. A general description of I.T. Frolov’s approach to the problem of human interaction with new technologies, especially biotechnologies is given. It talks about I.T. Frolov’s criticism of neo-eugenics, which was essentially directed against the transhumanism that arose in the last decade of his life. He considered any manipulation of human genetic nature, which is motivated by commercial or political considerations, dangerous to the survival of humanity. It is noted that I.T. Frolov considered it possible to proceed to the creation of organisms with a programmed set of genetic characteristics only if such conditions as achieving social homogeneity of society and the progress of the scientific study of human biology are met. The evolution of philosophical and socio-political views of I.T. Frolov is traced, the main stages of their development are identified. Characteristics are given of the concept of humane democratic socialism, which I.T. Frolov always adhered to. In conclusion, it talks about the ideas associated with the conditions and prospects for the revival of Russia to which I.T. Frolov came in the last years of his life. Among such ideas, he included historical reconciliation, which would allow the best of all stages of the country’s development to be included in the national identity, and a focus on the priority of man in all aspects of the life of Russian society.
Today, we return to the history of Russian philosophy not so much to once again emphasize its dependence on European methodological frameworks, but rather to comprehend its cognitive value and positively evaluate its contribution to the development of Russia’s intellectual culture, the Russian philosophical language, and Russian speech. In December 2024, the philosophical and scientific communities will celebrate the anniversary of the natural philosopher, scholar, and Doctor of Medicine and Surgery, Daniil Mikhailovich Vellansky, whose original works and translations influenced the development of 19th-century Russian philosophy and science. Vellansky’s passionate methodological call for the theorization and philosophical systematization of medical knowledge was notably different from the practice-focused Russian medicine of his time, which sought to understand the human organism through “experimental” approaches. Although Vellansky’s natural philosophical reflections — drawing from but not merely replicating Schelling — were criticized among medical scientists, his philosopher colleagues, such as Moscow University professors I.I. Davydov and M.G. Pavlov, showed genuine interest in his attempts to apply Schelling’s teachings to “physical subjects.” By placing the intellectual legacy of D.M. Vellansky in the broader context of contemporary issues in philosophy and the methodology of science, particularly in the epistemology of medicine, we gain a fresh perspective on his idea of the “wholeness of Man”, which he established as the foundation of medicine as an science. This thought of Vellansky’s is particularly relevant today in the context of modern interdisciplinary research programs (for example, the ecologization of medical practice), which take into account the human-sized character of scientific knowledge.
The variability of images of the future has expanded significantly with the advent of big data and unique generative pre-trained transformers that is a type of natural language processing models. The social imaginary gradually becomes sociotechnical, and agents of artificial sociality are included in the construction of various images of the future, reproducing stereotypes from the data used to train large language models. Big data and related technologies feature in various visions of the future, including utopias, dystopias, and realistic scenarios of an achievable and livable “good society”. The emergence of the sociotechnical imaginary and generated images of the future initiates ethical and philosophical reflection, which is not limited to applied problems. However, there is also a need for exploratory studies, the results of which can be useful for further theoretical research. This article presents the results of a comparative analysis of the Russia future images generated by the GigaChat (Sberbank, Russia) and ChatGPT (OpenAI, USA). The utopia from GigaChat is focused on achieving technological leadership of Russia, and the utopia from ChatGPT is based on traditions. Dystopia according to GigaChat is a society of environmental disasters with a high level of socio-economic stratification and a low level of intellectual potential. ChatGPT constructs a Russian dystopia around an insidious small elite who, in various ways, including rewriting history, are trying to preserve their position of power. The “good society” from GigaChat is a utopia with restrictions, and from ChatGPT is an open multicultural society with a mixed economic system, focused on sustainable development and maintaining the mental health of citizens. The article demonstrates that different value and normative emphases in neural network images of the future are determined by the characteristics of the algorithms and the data used to train large language models.
The nostalgic experience of a place of power is considered using the example of the White Sea Biological Station named after N.A. Pertsov. Number of research examining the influence of place on human behavior, development and health, as well as its resource capacity, has increased dramatically in recent decades. We tested two research questions: what is the structure of the nostalgic experience of a place of power and what valence does it have? The study respondents are aged 16–25, 10 are female and 25 are male. We used the content analysis of interview texts with the identification of categories and codes, as well as the Janis coefficient to assess the valence of the nostalgic experience of a place of power. The results of the study showed that the structure of in the nostalgic experience of a place of power using the example of the White Sea Biological Station includes three main categories, mentioned in order of importance: Unique Environmental Conditions, Significant Events and Close People. The results of the study indicate the dominant positive valence of the White Sea Biological Station as the nostalgic experience of a place of power (the Janis coefficient — 0.11) and also that the nostalgic experience of a place of power can be ambivalent. On the one hand, it promotes movement forward by encouraging reflection on the past, where difficulties have been overcome more than once. On the other hand, if a person is prone to unhealthy thinking patterns, the benefits of remembering the past are neutralized, leading to fixation on it. The research results can be used in psychological counseling and psychotherapy, as well a part of training and programs to improve the level of personal potential and coping with difficult life situations.
The article provides an overview of studies devoted to the search for options for the optimal place of residence and its equipment for elderly and senile people. Currently, most of the older generation prefer to stay in their own house or apartment. It is shown that a home should provide not only security and stability, but also the potential for the development and realization of one’s own individuality. The emphasis on safety and the prevention of household injuries does not fully reflect the real needs of older people. Some of the most significant characteristics of a home include the condition of the home, energy efficiency, temperature control, safety, proximity to nature, good lighting and privacy. Somewhat less frequently mentioned is the need to adapt premises to age-related changes - the safety of the bathroom, the expansion of corridors and doorways, the installation of handrails, the use of non-slip flat surfaces, sound insulation and natural ventilation of the room. Russian respondents point to the importance of the convenience and beauty of a home, its safety, historicity, reflection of individuality and connection with nature. At the same time, they draw attention to the fact that often younger family members take on not only financing, but also the choice of elements of the environment of an elderly relative, taking into account the potential deterioration of his physical and psychological functioning in the future, and do not take into account his desire for autonomy and the realization of his own desires. The negative consequences of such a scenario include a decrease in the vital activity of an elderly person, loss of independence, refusal to take responsibility for one’s life, and an increased tendency towards helplessness. The need for a transition from the paradigm of compensation and protection to the paradigm of salutogenesis and development of a person of late age is pointed out.
The article is devoted to the environmental method in the artistic practices of the Dutch studio Rietveld Architecture-Art-Affordances. The studio, founded by architects brothers Ronald and Erik Rietveld in 2006, is participating in the transformation of the modern aesthetic field, drifting along with cognitive science at the turn of the century from an understanding of cognition in terms of information processing to its interpretation as a process of co-evolution of the organism and the environment. Analyzing the projects “The End of Sitting” (2014) and “Breaking Habits” (2017), the author demonstrates the heuristic potential of ecological thinking in the enactivism of F. Varela, E. Thompson and E. Roch and the ecological psychology of J. Gibson for contemporary art and design. Particular attention is paid to the intensification of the interaction of body and environment in the landscapes of affordances created by RAAAF to undermine rigid ways of being, and re-figurate behavioral patterns. In the artistic practices of the studio, the author discovers ecological styles of designing new environments of existence and experiments with contact surfaces of experience.
