Philosophy and Culture - rubric The rational and the irrational

Abstract: Being the mystical core of Christianity and meaning full concentration on one’s inner world, Hesychasm considerably influenced aesthetics in Byzantine and Old Russia. In particular, it gave rise to such a spiritual and aesthetical phenomena of Orthodoxy as the icon, the object and the intermediary of a praying meditation, with its peculiar artistic language based on luminescence, bright array of local colors, original disposal of artistic space, and etc. The article is devoted to the aspects of Hesychasm which particularly contributed to forming an aesthetical peculiarity of the Byzantine Old Russian culture.

Keywords: Hesychasm, mysticism, Christianity, Byzantium, Old Russia, aesthetics, art, light, the Fathers of the Church, patristics, prayer, religious practice, ascetic life.

Abstract: Review: the author compared one of esoteric tradition which is structured as a science, to regular sciences. It is shown that “esoteric sciences” do resemble regular sciences in a number of key parameters (devotion to learning, construction of “ideal” objects, detection of application environment, problems and facts, argumentation). The article covers special features of esoterics and how esoteric perception of the world is formed. The author suggested that “esoteric sciences” should be considered as “untraditional” type of science

Keywords: philosophy, science, esotericism, truth, practice, reality, conscience, episteme, personality, transformation, untraditional science

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2017.9.24046

Abstract: Consumption as gestalt This article is dedicated to examination of the characteristic features of modern gestalt of consumption. Particular attention is paid to the ontological importance of consumerism, as well as its social and anthropological effects. The article reveals the essence of consumption as an act of assuming the world, which is realized through the accumulation by the figure of individual-consumer of the universal relations of obligation. The author demonstrates the neurotic nature of consumption, associated with the global trauma of its permanent shortage, as well as explores such important contexts of existence of consumerism as the identification of the human and routine, inclusion into the machinery of desired production, subordination to the formations of the fashion system. In the context of postcultural and postmodern methodology, the article reviews the worldview role of consumption and its impact upon the formation of behavioral scenario of a modern man. The author studies the influence of the logic of consumption upon the global processes of objectification of human corporeality, which lead to the social representation of modern man as sexual body. Based on the conducted analysis, the conclusion is made about the gestalt of consumption as a mechanism for perceiving reality as a place for storing the instruments of human self-realization.

Keywords: social representation, shortage of consumption, fashion, desired production, appropriation, gestalt, consumption, sexuality, objectification, pleasure

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.6.7776

Abstract: The author of the article represents a comparat5ive analysis of the classical and modern approaches to the problem of rationality from the point of view of subject-object relations and construction of a scientific picture of the world. The author bases the conception of ‘communicative reality’ as well as develops the thought of the present stage of science being characterized by changes of the fundamental principals of science – in particular, transfer from closed system to the open self-developing system of the World.

Keywords: ‘new’ rationality, scientific picture of the world, subject of learning, object of learning, ‘communicative reality’, self-developing systems

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2017.10.21936

Abstract: It is traditionally believed that philosophy attempts to rationally, logically, and categorically comprehend one or another phenomenon, and due to rationalism, the humanity gradually advances in its development. There was practically no place for irrationalism that is difficult to be expressed through the language of philosophical rationality. Mysticism and irrationalism were proclaimed the non-philosophical absurd. Currently has emerged the need for reconsidering the original positions in understanding of the role of rationalistic and irrationalistic philosophical directions and principles of cognizing the world, because the disparaging attitude to all that does not fit the framework of logics, irrational aspects of spiritual life, and irrationalism as a whole, remains dominant within the public consciousness. However, the authors believe that the history of human society develops in continuous alternation of the two key phases: ratio with irratio, eras of dominance of rationalism with eras of dominance of irrational faith. The conclusion is made that the rationalistic and irrationalistic teachings apply different semantic categorical apparatus, and it should be taken into account in comparing and contrasting the different eras, as well as trends of realization of the meanings of human existence. Thus, characterizing the Middle Ages, it is valuable to speak the language of the most renowned author of that time – Aurelius Augustine, rather than the rational language of "killing" the essence of irrational faith in the one God. Philosophical pursuits of the XX and XXI centuries were not an exception, and manifested as the peculiar continuation of medieval strivings for combination and opposition of rationality and irrationality in such directions as pragmatism and existentialism.

Keywords: Christianity, faith, reason, religion, irrationalism, rationalism, theology, Middle Ages, philosophy, mysticism

Abstract: The article describes the ancient arians’ way of thinking. According to the author, it reflects the very particular way ancient arians perceived and understood the world as well as their attitudes to it. This form of mentality was characterized by a certain limitation, - subjectivity. Arians’ mentality has the following characteristics: objectivity of mental processes, extrapolation of truth to fiction, combination of the rational and irrational. Their intellect descended from the stage of perceptive understanding of the world to the stage of expalantion and interpretation.

Keywords: mentality, subjectivity, world view, subjectivization of nature, conscious, fiction, truth, duality, methods and ways of thinking, paradoxes, paradigms

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.1.16257

Abstract: McDonaldization as a form of rationality The object of this research is the nature of McDonaldization, while the subject is McDonaldization as a form of rationality, which is common to a post-nonclassical world outlook and in-demand by the ideology of consumerism. Basing on the types of formal rationality proposed by George Ritzer, the author analyzes the locality and universality of the process of McDonaldization, and reveals the dependency of associated with it practices with the environmental circumstances and requirements of the economic development. The content and peculiarities of the reasonable and practical rationality, correspondence of the value and targeted within rationality, limits of the rational, and irrationality of the rational are being researched during the course of this work. Scientific novelty consists in the proposition of thesis on the dependency of McDonaldization as a specific form of rationality from the peculiarities of the modern development. The problematics of this article allows formulating a number of statements: 1) thesis on the need for further research of the principles of McDonaldization and their effect upon the broad spectrum of social phenomena is substantiated; 2) problem of demand for McDonaldinized practices by the consumer society gains significant relevance.

Keywords: macdonaldisation, rationality, reasonable rationality, practical rationality, macdonaldisation practices, formal principles, efficiency, calculateamount, predictability, the control

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.1.67429

Keywords: efficiency, formal principles, McDonaldinized practices, practical rationality, reasonable rationality, rationality, McDonaldization, calculability, predictability, control

Abstract: The author of the article views the opportunity to discuss such a model of Cosmos which would include both human and his social environment. The author suggests that this discussion should be based on systemic substrate and ideal conceptions

Keywords: philosophy, cosmogenesis, model, principle, divergence, identity, sequence, harmony, substrate

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2022.1.37429

Abstract: This article provides the original perspective on esotericism. Two author distinguishes between the two polar directions of esotericism – "transcendental" and "latent" (mental); as well as introduces the two postulates characteristic to the first direction that in previous research received the name of "classical". The article discusses what binds esotericism and philosophy, religion, and art; outlines the common aspects of these fields of knowledge and life activity are indicated (personal origins, design of reality, semiotic and psychological nature of reality); examines the cases of interaction, and what caused the decline of interest in esoteric teachings. The research consists of two parts. The first part explores the three cases that reveal a close link between esoteric, philosophical, scientific and literary thought, as well as the fact that esoteric ideas and concepts often enrich philosophy, science and art. The second part discusses the key reasons for the slump in esotericism: new cultural challenges that to which there is yet no esoteric answer, interception of esoteric discourse in a number of directions of contemporary art and philosophy. However, this pause is temporary, since esoteric path is one of the ways to prevail in personality culture; it can be assumed that esotericists will soon eliminate the existing gap. On the example of current interest in vampires, the author discusses certain peculiarities of the phenomenon of mysticism, which indicate that the phenomenon of vampirism is real, perhaps related to the forms of communication widely used in modern life.

Keywords: semiotics, philosophy, mysticism, life, vision, consciousness, reality, esotericism, art, religion

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2022.6.38095

Abstract: The subject of this research is, first of all, the ontological and phenomenological aspects of the prototype as a category and a kind of phenomenon in the field of art and poetic imagination. The research is carried out mainly on the material of the phenomenological-dialectical concept of A. F. Losev and the phenomenology of the poetic imagination of G. Bashlyar. The historical, philosophical and theological contexts of the concept of the prototype of Losev are revealed. The emphasis is made on the ontological meaning of expression and the prototype, on the ontology of aesthetic and art. Losev's concept, as well as the "direct ontology" of the poetic image in the concept of Baschlyar, are applied to the artistic material that organically meets them. These are the texts of N. Gogol: "Sorochinskaya Fair", "The Night before Christmas", "Terrible Revenge", "Old World landowners", "Viy". The theme of the prototype as an archetype revealing the deep semantics of art has been sufficiently developed, in particular, based on the material of K. Jung's analytical psychology. The novelty of this study includes several aspects. Firstly, based on Z. Freud's approach to the close connection of the infantile-personal and the archaic in the psyche in the interpretation of this artistic material, Freud and Jung's approaches are combined, it is concluded that archaic and eroticism in the primordial element are merged into one whole, therefore it is not necessary to categorically oppose these two approaches to each other, at least when referring to archetypal material. Secondly, this study focuses on the ontological and phenomenological aspects of the prototype, which are not given enough attention in various studies. Thirdly, the study combines concepts such as phenomenological-dialectical (Losev), phenomenology of poetic imagination (Bashlyar), intertextual analysis (Weiskopf) in relation to the subject of the prototype, which in their interaction allow us to more fully reveal the primitive element of art. All this can contribute to the creation of a holistic concept of the prototype in art and in the sphere of poetic imagination.

Keywords: anima, the phenomenology of poetic imagination, firsthand experience, dream, the game of the prototype, art form, archetype, semantic energies, expression, prototype

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2017.4.22905

Abstract: The article raises the task of discussing the methodological problems stated in the book of P. G. Nosachev, which represents a panorama of contemporary Western studies of esotericism, previously unknown to the Russian reader. P. G. Nosachev demonstrates different approaches to the analysis of esoteric experience; the author of the article chooses one, the most controversial approach called in the book "classical rationalism" and refers to its analysis and consideration of alternatives. For the author, it is especially important to distinguish between the irrational and the non-rational, where by the non-rational we mean those features of the inner world that do not accept logical-conceptual forms.The author of the article stands on the positions of ideological openness with the desire for a holistic vision of the studied subjects, leans toward the dialogical form of perception of other people's experience, applies the notions "idealism and materialism", "rational and non-rational" for the qualification of the cognitive situation. The main methodological pathos of the article is to oppose reductionism. The author believes that the struggle of materialism and idealism, buried in the XX century, has not gone anywhere, and remains relevant. "Classic rationalism" is essentially materialism, and quite aggressive, although it is not inherent in Marxists, but in academic scientists. The attempt to speak exclusively "on behalf of science," understood according to the model of natural science, prevents the researcher from understanding the unfamiliar subjectivity. The article raises the question how to approach the understanding of foreign mystical experience, if you do not have one. The article demonstrates the two perspectives: the first is related to the desire to "advance into someone else's subjectivity" using fantasy, relying on the narrative of the bearer of experience, but with the subsequent return to one's own positions; The second angle assumes at least a short-term assumption from the researcher of the "ontological reality" of the figurative series experienced by the mystic. The author makes a conclusion on the need for taking into account the specifics of the subjectivity itself, treating this experience with respect, and not only with "rationalistic criticism", as well as considering the constant transition in the subjective experience from the rational to the non-rational and back.

Keywords: subjectivity, non-rational, irrational, rational, Plurality of worlds, esoteric experience, research methodology, reductionism, materialism and idealism, fantasy

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.1.62042

Abstract: The author raises a question about the grounds for considering this or that philosopher’s creation to be close to rationalism. The author suggests that in order to answer this question, we should follow the same gnoseolological and methodological values that fokrmed the basis of classical philosophical rationalism. Moreover, the author’s research is based on the opinion that the subject of cogitation is experience in a wide meaning of the word and this is why the empiric projection of cogitation makes an attempt to find the criteria for fulfilling these values. Based on that, the author forms the definition of experience and defines the basic values of rationalism and studies possible ways of relations between cogitation and experience from the point of view of logics and their contents. As a result of the study, the author makes certain assumptions about the relation between the structure of the thought and the structure of experience.

Keywords: philosophy, rational, rationality, experience, culture, fundamental, methodology, expression, empiric, reduction.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.2.14626

Abstract: The article is devoted to the study of ontological possibilities Zoroastrian map of the constellations. Special attention is paid to comparative interpretation reconstructed by P. Apian Zoroastrian map of the sky and the traditional map of the Greek sky. The article also discusses the final stage of formation 12-membered of the Zodiac, is developing the concept of “zodiac recipe.” The article also assesses the graphic reconstruction 1533 as the source, reflecting the essence of the tradition of the constellations formed during the period of cultural contact media astronomical knowledge of Ancient Mesopotamia with representatives zarvanytsia religious traditions.The paper uses a comparative analysis of the sources related to the subject of research, critical analysis of previously published works of domestic and foreign researchers.In the first article shows the possibility of the existence of Zoroastrian map of the constellations and the possibility of its influence on the formation of the Greek tradition of the constellations. The main findings of the article are that the fixation of the Zodiac in his finished (actually today), occurs during the interaction between the Zoroastrian and Mesopotamian culture.

Keywords: zodiac model, a map of the constellations, the Greek zodiac, Mesopotamian zodiac, Avesta, the Zoroastrian, zarvanytsia religion, horoscopy astrology, ancient astronomy, zodiac card

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.2.67502

Keywords: karta sozvezdii, grecheskii Zodiak, mesopotamskii Zodiak, Avesta, Zoroastrizm, zervanitskaya religiya, goroskopnaya astrologiya, drevnyaya astronomiya

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.3.13906

Abstract: The research subject of the present article is the mystical phenomenon in modern philosophy, natural science and theology. Zhirtueva underlines that the interest towards mysticism is a result of the search for the way out of the anthropocentric cultural crisis as well as of a number of findings in the sphere of modern physics and psychology that have made the global academic community to revise their views. The author of the article notes that so far there hasn't been a single-value estimate of the phenomenon of mysticism. The author examines views on mysticism in materialistic and idealistic philosophy, classical and post-classical science, secular and theological religious studies. The research methodology involves a comparative philosophical and theological analysis. The following research methods have been used: comparative-analytical method, analysis and synthesis, inividuation and generalization. The main results of the research include the following solutions of the aforesaid problem. 1. Classical philosophy and science view mysticism as an illusion of consciousness and therefore deprive it of the right to be the theme for a scientific research. 2. Modern non-classical science draws an analogy between the modern scientific picture of the world and the experience of immanent mystical traditions demonstrating that it is possible to combine science and mysticism. 3. Theology approves of the true experience of transcendent immanent (antinomic) mysticism. The author also outlines a distinct differentiation between mystical perception and scientific cognition.

Keywords: the mystical phenomenon, Absolute, phenomenal world, immanent mysticism, transcendent-immanent mysticism, subject-object relations, egocentric consciousness, enlightened consciousness, quantum physics, holographic universe

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.3.66381

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.5.12046

Abstract: Post-religious emotionalism is one of the most nettlesome topics today. There have been researches undertaken both to study psychophysiological sources of emotions and to describe contemporary cultural forms of emotions. In his article Goryunov offers to pay ttention to the very beginning of the epoch of Enlightenment when the sensuality raised by religious rituals tried to find a place in the new secular world. Peter Sloterdijk's thoughts on the general cynicism and Jean Baudrillard's observation of the loss of emotionality are interpreted by the researcher as the description of unsuccessful experience of the transfer from clerical sensuality to secular sensuality. As the opposition to these views, the researcher describes the ideas of Epicurus, the ancient philosopher. Goryonov also performs a brief analysis of one of the attempts to avoid the aforesaid problem, i.e. Kant's suggestion to view natural human affects as the substitution for high feelings experienced by religious people during praying or church service. The main idea is to allow strong irrational feelings to be felt and shown. Affects or passions cannot be stopped by the reason. On the contrary, the reason is influenced by them, too, and therefore takes the religious side fast. This is why the researcher suggests that we should replace church rituals with the aesthetic experience of high feelings. In his research Goryunov has applied the methods of the phenomenological analysis, deductive and inductive logic, technology of the historical comparison and hermeneutics. The article presents the researcher's attempt to describe the initial stage of Enlightenment not as the history of ideas but the history of emotions and the rapid transfer from religious sensuality ro secular sensuality based on Kant's affect theory. Conclusions. Firstly, the transfer from the clerical picture of the world to the secular world view involves not only the adoption of new ideas but also a new model of feelings and emotional experience. Secondly, this is a long and difficult transfer because our emotions are not regulated by our mind so well. Sometimes this creates particular phenomena such as cynicism. Thirdly, the model of emotional adaptation to new post-religious views offered by Kant and based on the concept of emotions typical for those times allows to overcome the cynical 'burnout' of emotions.

Keywords: world view, philosophy, enlightenment, reason, passion, feeling, emotion, affect, religion, ritual

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.5.66517

Keywords: world view, philosophy, enlightenment, reason, passion, feeling, emotion, affect, religion, ritual

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.6.62770

Abstract: The author of the article describes a complex dynamic structure of a creative situation and shows the relation between creative situation and learning situation. Based on a philosophical approach and the theory of complex systems and phenomenological approach, the author also offers a new description of an insight, an important element in creating and learning activities. The author describes a pre-insight state of mind and its role in the creative process. The author also shows that a creative situation includes not only an individual mind but also his social environment. More than that, existential views influence the individual and social context, too. The role of a creative situation and creation of something new are being analyzed based on the definitions of chaos and self-organization.

Keywords: philosophy, creativity, knowledge, complexity, situation, insight, chaos, work, definition, meaning.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.7.9931

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.7.65286

Abstract: Under the influence of scientific theories and philosophical teachings on the music writing practice of the 20th century the so-called stochastic music was created (from the Greek στοχασμός which means ‘guess’) when the music was composed using mathematical probability systems (statistical distribution of music parameters, elements and etc.). Stochastic music was mostly developed during the period of prosperity of aleatory music, which a composing principle that allows the process of music creation and performance to be influenced by chance. Like no other composing method of the previous century, stochastic composing method had serious philosophical grounds that made artists to rethink their creative experience and offer a totally new creative paradigm which had never been in art before. As Iannis Xenakis, Lejaren Hiller, Karlheinz Stockhausen and other adepts of stochastic music believed, that music writing tecnique reflected the basic principles of universal development which composers tried to follow in their music. Composers addressed to stochastic music to find a new mean of music expression that would correspond to their internal world views being formed under the influence and philosophy oft he 20th century.

Keywords: music, science, philosophy, stochastics, aleatory music, chance, composition, music writing technique, composing method, composition.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.8.20172

Abstract: The subject of this research is the evolution of attitudes upon the phenomenon of mass culture within the framework of the Russian cultural and philosophical discourse of the XIX-XXI centuries. The author considers the presented concepts from the perspective of their historical conditionality, differentiation, paradigm, and effectiveness. Special attention is paid to the modern status of the problem. Without the dedicated, detailed, and methodologically-oriented determination of boundaries and conceptual cultural layers, the further development of the Russian scientific thought alongside the more efficient existence of Russia itself is impossible in the modern circumstances. Due to this fact, this research is based on the theoretical constructs and reasoning of the phenomenon of mass culture within the Russian philosophy and culturology. The scientific novelty first and foremost consists in the fact that analytics does not focus on a certain stage of cultural reflection of the phenomenon, but is built on the gradual (including comparative) understanding of its specificity in the context of pre-terminological and precisely terminological periods that cover just over 200 years.

Keywords: models of mass culture, Russian cultural studies, Russian philosophy, Russian cultural and philosophical discourse, modern culture, mass culture, philosophy of culture, concept of mass culture, evolution of ideas, theory of culture

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2016.8.68133

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.8.15826

Abstract: The discourse on overcoming metaphysics is a special philosophical genre that has been popular over the past two centuries. Besides, each time there is a shift in the interpretation of the metaphysical that raises the question about what metaphysics is and whether it exists at all. Badiou makes a supposition that the reasons for the resumption of attempts to overcome metaphysics lie in the fact that metaphysics by definition is the reign of the essentially undetermined. This allows to consider the question of metaphysics from the standpoint of the problem of power. The article focuses on the analysis of the rhetoric on overcoming metaphysics as a philosophical genre and Heidegger’s idea of metaphysics as the will to power which allows to analyze this rhetoric as a struggle for power. The author of the article concludes that it is necessary to distinguish between the forms of critical attitude to metaphysics. Antimetaphysical philosophy (that is aimed at overcoming and rejection of metaphysics) does not only have the metaphysical nature itself but is archi-metaphysics. It struggles with uncertainty and meaninglessness in metaphysics trying to establish a new will to power. Postmetaphysical philosophy does not seek to establish the will to power of a philosophizing subject by replacing the “senselessness” of metaphysics with a particular philosophical “meaning” but transforms the entire field of philosophy in such way that power relations no longer play a significant role.

Keywords: critical philosophy, philosophy of the subject, Heidegger, postmetaphysical philosophy, Badiou, antimetaphysical philosophy, overcoming metaphysics, power, metaphysics, will to power

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.8.66927

Keywords: critical philosophy, philosophy of the subject, Heidegger, postmetaphysical philosophy, Badiou, antimetaphysical philosophy, overcoming metaphysics, power, metaphysics, will to power

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.9.7116

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2013.9.63147

Abstract: Spinoza is thought to be the most consistent representative of philosophical rationalism. However, it does not mean that Spinoza always followed the rationalistic ideal in his philosophy. The article studies the relation of basic theoretic concepts in Spinoza’s philosophy to empiric interpretation of the rationalism in thinking. For this purpose, the author of the article views the empiric meaning of these concepts adopted by Spinoza from traditional theoretic philosophy and thought over in accordance with his own system of philosophy. On one hand, the study showed uncertainty or insufficient consistence of Spinoza’s rationality lying in the basis of these concepts. On the other hand, it has been proved that within the framework of Spinoza’s philosophy, those concepts admitted theoretical empiric interpretations.

Keywords: philosophy, empiric, meaning, rational, infinity, substance, scholastic, speculative, ontological, existence.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.9.12595

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.9.65488

Abstract: The purpose of the present research is to better understand the reasons of the ongoing shifts in the relations between society, audience and theatre. The author of the article focuses on the development of the theatrical language and renewal of theatrical notions. Issues related to the transformation of the theatrical language (as the part of culture) grow especially important at the turning points of history when the picture of the world is changed not gradually but as an explosion. Using the method of the comparative analysis, the author of the article studies how Konstantin Stanislavksy system which was created the turn of the 19th and the 20th centuries has been developing further throughout the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century. In particular, the author analyzes the practical experience of the Perm Academic Theatre of Drama. The author had a chance not only to visit many theatres of the former USSR but also attend rehearsals of Georgy Tovstonogov, Anatoly Efros, Mark Zakharov, Yuri Lyubimov and Pyotr Fomenko. The author has been observing the creative performances of the Perm Theatre for several decades. She recorded rehearsals, kept the track of changes in performances and studied the audience’s perception. Reconsideration of theatrical concepts is not simply a change of a director’s conceptual framework, but spontaneous response of an artist to the particular circumstances and changes in natural science and philosophy. The performance does not only gain a new form but also present a new view of life. The article will be of interest to art critics, culture experts, theatrical figures and the audience as well as everyone who are interested in the theatre and the relation between the theatre and society.