DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.9.16312

Abstract: The object of the research is civil philosophy that is usually understood as the philosophy of politics (or state). At the same time, today civil philosophy is often related to civil society and development of civic position. Moreover, civil philosophy is viewed not only as a branch of applied (i.e. practical) philosophy but also as a wide scope of studies of ontological, axiological, anthropological and social philosophical issues. The contradiction in interpretation of the epistemological status of civil philosophy is solved by pointing out the civic nature of sayings of ancient sages, discussing the mission and role of philosophical schools in civic education, the Renaissance civic humanism, the theme of civic world as the starting point in civil philosophy of Bacon, Hobbes and Locke as well as civic context of the Englightenment principle of common sense and reason. Based on the results of the analysis, the researcher concludes that philosophy is qualified as civil philosophy not only according to the main themes (patriotism, the human rights, etc.) but mostly according to the appropriate and accepted interpretation of the main anthologiums and topical issues. In his research of the phenomenon of civil philosophy Tyugashev has used the socio-cultural approach viewing the existence of philosophy in the society taking into account all the variety of its socio-cultural forms. Civil philosophy is included in the scope of spiritual and practical forms of philosophy which also involves public philosophy, popular philosophy, school (academic) philosophy, 'home' philosophy, etc. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the researcher has described civil philosophy as an element of civil society. He suggests that we should view civil philosophy as the constitutive element of civic awareness and civi spiritual culture co-existing with civic mythology and civil religion, civic art and civic science. According to the author, civil philosophy is the worldview reflection of civil society that is implicitly established in the Constituion. 

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.8.15838

Abstract: In his article Tyugashev reconstructs Hume's model of philosophy taking into account the importance of the practical aspect of Hume's philosophy which is expressed in the orientation at reformation of philosophy based on empirism and application of the experimental approach. The fundamental provision is Hume's concept of human as an intelligent, active and social creature. As a result of imperfection and limitation of human mind, it is necessary to prove philosophical insights by the facts of everyday life and philosophical conclusions should be evaluated from the point of view of social consequences of their practical implementation. Hume outlined the practical turn of metaphilosophy towards the provisions of ancient philosophy when spiritual and practical aspects of philosophy were integral. The author of the article reconstructs David Hume's metaphilosophy by using the socio-philosophical model of the genesis of spiritual activity according to which particular branches of philosophy (science, art, religion, mythology, etc.) are being viewed as a result of the reflection of social practice. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author defines and systematizes David Hume's views on the structure of philosophy as a spiritual activity constituting part of social life. The author shows that David Hume differentiated between fundamental philosophy and applied philosophy, philosophical theory and empirical philosophy (observational and experimental philosophies) and described everyday philosophy, popular philosophy and folk philosophy which conclusions proved to be true in the course of social progress. 

DOI: 10.7256/2409-8728.2015.7.16208

Abstract: Object of research is the complex of views of F. Nietzsche on the North and specifics of his culture in comparison to culture of the South. Proceeding from the concept of climatic zones of culture and positioning itself as person of the European North, F. Nietzsche highly appreciates heritage of the Mediterranean culture referred to the South and looks for ways of development of the forgotten its achievements. In comparison with the South it characterizes such elements of northern culture as the nature, a cultural landscape, the relation to work and the world, Protestantism, music and philosophy. Tematization of nitsshevsky philosophy of the North is based on global approach which considers a complementarity of axes "the West - the East" and "the North - the South" in world development. Novelty of the conducted research in the analysis of "the northern text" in F. Nietzsche's philosophy from the point of view of global opposition "the North - the South". It is shown that F. Nietzsche carries out frontal comparison of northern and southern cultures on separate elements. Estimating northern culture as degeneration of the southern culture, North potential it sees in validity of social activity and ability of a reflection in the hidden layers of culture of the South.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2015.6.15239

Abstract: Philosophy is the central issue in Pitirim Sorikin's book 'Social and Cultural Dynamics' as the main types of cultures - ideational, sensate and idealistic - differentiate based on their philosophical grounds and represent the types of philosophical cultures that influence the order of social life. Based on the ideas of cultural and social dualism, Pitirim Sorokin initially described philosophy as a cultural phenomenon. Understanding culture as the internal and external experience, Pitirim Sorokin was able to introduce the concept of philosophical mentality that is usually expressed in items, life style and behavior. As a result of his researches, Pitirim Sorokin proceeded to describing philosophy as a social phenomenon. Such an ambivalent vision of philosophy as a cultural and social phenomenon creates the perspective to view culture as a sociocultural phenomenon. In his research the author of the article uses the version of the sociocultural approach that describes society as an assembly of cultures. Based on that approach, Pitirim Sorokin's method of philosophical research can be defined as a sociocultural phenomenology. The author of the article emphasizes the importance of the principle of isomorphism for describing the invariant structure of the cultural phenomena (philosophy, religion, science and art) as well as the need in preliminary theoretical development of associated abstrac models. The author of the article also uses quantative methods to analyze statistical data provided by Pitirim Sorokin and to compare the influence of different cultural mentalities in the XVIth - XXth centuries. The author of the article: 1) provides his interpretation of Pitirim Sorokin's teaching on social and cultural dynamics as the experience in the research of sociophilosophical dynamics, i.e. development of the society from prehistory to the modern age as it was determined by the fluctuations of philosophical cultures; 2) shows the philosophical nature of cultural mentalities described by Pitirim Sorokin and associated cultural types - idealistic, ideational and sensate cultures; 3) pays attention to the relation between interpretation of culture as the internal and external experience and solution of the so called 'main question of philosophy' about the relation between the ideal and the material; 4) through summarizing ideas of Pitirim Sorokin, the author also demonstrates the need to introduce the terms 'philosophical mentality' 'philosophical behavior', and 'philosophical activity' in metaphilosophy; 5) systematizes Pitirim Sorokin's views on the sociocultural content of the phenomenon of philosophy; 6) describes a complex spiritual and practical structure of the phenomenon of philosophy including both mental formations of different levels and behavior and lifestyle that have been changing during long historical processes of social and philosophical revolutions; 7) corrects Pitirim Sorokin's statement about the triumph of sensate culture in the modern period and the decline of sensate culture in the XXth century and concludes that sensate culture will only strengthen its positions in the future. 

DOI: 10.7256/2409-8728.2015.6.15753

Abstract: The subject of the research is the definition of activity based on the summary of specific definitions of activity that are usually used in different spheres of thought including ordinary thinking (so called common sense), philosophy and various scientific disciplines ('life sustaining activity', 'tool use by animals', 'muscle activity', 'cyclonic activity', 'catalytic activity', 'volcanic activity', 'higher nervous activity', 'cardiac activity', etc.). Such a great variety of terms that have the word 'activity' raises a question whether the word 'activity' has a definite meaning. What if these are homonymous terms and the word 'activity' has absolutely different meanings? On the other hand, it is also possible that when someone is talking about 'volcanic' or 'play' activity, he or she observes common features of the general definition of activity. Therefore, there is a question whether there is a common definition of the word 'activity'. What does 'activity' mean? This is the question the present article is devoted to. The researcher builds the definition of activity as an abstract object based on common features of activity stated in different definitions of activity and spheres of culture according to the methodological orientation at sociocultural harmonization of terms in scientific disciplines and cultural subsystems offered by I. S. Alekseev. The scope of the sociocultural approach allows to cover all kinds of activity conceptualization and to define what they have in common. The definition of activity as an abstract object can be viewed as a general sociocultural definition used to reveal particular features of specific activities in different spheres of thinking. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the author demonstrates the process of anthropologization of philosophical definitions of activity that reduce it to human activity. The researcher also defines a range of definitions of activity in natural sciences in relation to different natural phenomena. The author also focuses on the general philosophical definition of activity in Kant's and Hegel's works. The author offers a definition of activity as a special kind of movement, i.e. reflective movement (the author uses the natural scientific definition of the term 'reflection').