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Cassirer's concept of symbolic forms represents a cultural-philosophical approach in which specific modes of objectification, the symbolic forms themselves, establish an independent truth. This truth does not consist in a purely analytical truth, but in the fact that we live along these symbolic forms in a specific stubbornness. When we use language, we live and experience language in its specific autonomy. The same applies to the other symbolic forms developed by Cassirer. Both before the cultural-philosophical phase of creation and within the philosophy of symbolic forms, Cassirer refers to mathematics several times. An interesting tension arises as to whether Cassirer could have understood mathematics as a symbolic form in its own right. On the one hand, cultural-historical considerations in Cassirer's work speak in favour of this; on the other hand, Cassirer embeds mathematics as a mere formal science in physics and thus in the philosophical form of science as a whole. The article explores this tension—mathematics as a symbolic form—and shows that only indications within the framework of the historical-hermeneutical treatment would speak in favour of such an interpretation. Furthermore, the article argues that a specific, cultural-historical semiotics can be considered for mathematics in Cassirer's work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue focuses on two related topics in Ernst Cassirer's thought: objectivity and truth. Through this lens, the guest editors attempt to illuminate (a) the historical and systematic value of Cassirer's philosophical project, (b) the continuing relevance of his account of the plurality and universality of human understanding in view of the crisis of truth that currently permeates Western culture, and (c) the way Cassirer's style can inspire contemporary scholars who wish to evade the analytic-continental divide. Tobias Endres and Simon Truwant gathered twelve contributions from more analytic oriented authors from the philosophy of science and more continental oriented authors from the philosophy of culture. By bringing these scholars together on a shared topic, they hope to help bridging this divide that is also reflected within Cassirer scholarship by preoccupation with either his philosophy of science or philosophy of culture. The articles in this special issue are preceded by a ceremonial speech that Cassirer gave on the occasion of his assumption of the rectorate of the University of Hamburg on November 7, 1929 and that was translated into English for the first time by the guest editors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue focuses on two related topics in Ernst Cassirer's thought: objectivity and truth. Through this lens, the guest editors attempt to illuminate (a) the historical and systematic value of Cassirer's philosophical project, (b) the continuing relevance of his account of the plurality and universality of human understanding in view of the crisis of truth that currently permeates Western culture, and (c) the way Cassirer's style can inspire contemporary scholars who wish to evade the analytic-continental divide. Tobias Endres and Simon Truwant gathered twelve contributions from more analytic oriented authors from the philosophy of science and more continental oriented authors from the philosophy of culture. By bringing these scholars together on a shared topic, they hope to help bridging this divide that is also reflected within Cassirer scholarship by preoccupation with either his philosophy of science or philosophy of culture. The articles in this special issue are preceded by a ceremonial speech that Cassirer gave on the occasion of his assumption of the rectorate of the University of Hamburg on November 7, 1929 and that was translated into English for the first time by the guest editors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is puzzling that Alain Locke and Ernst Cassirer's philosophies of culture have been little explored. It is my contention that Locke and Cassirer posit a functional logic of value (among other ideas). Both establish the importance of functionality for developing a pluralist understanding of cultural value while also critiquing a lack of social belonging and retreat into mythic consciousness. First, I will present an overview of Locke and Cassirer's functional logic of value, speculating that the two met at the University of Berlin. Perhaps together they embraced freeing value from validity and vice versa, in the manner that Locke eloquently put it: Neither is the valuable necessarily valid, nor is the valid necessarily valuable. Although we have no evidence of such an encounter, it is difficult to believe that the two did not cross paths. Next, I will explore how both develop pluralist philosophies of culture. Notably, how race consciousness and kinship feelings-judgments add to our understanding and formation of the symbolic forms. In the final section, I will apply Locke and Cassirer's functional axiologies to address what I call the darker political myths within the United States' cultural context. Locke and Cassirer's philosophies of functional value work to resist attempts to make one's values into absolute or hegemonic ones. Overcoming closed and authoritative forms of mythic consciousness is a worthy endeavor given their current seductiveness and propensity to destroy rather than create cultural values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I propose an investigation of Ernst Cassirer's conception of truth, as set out in his inaugural address as rector of Hamburg University, in light of two key concepts of his philosophy, i.e., function and symbolic form. My aim is neither to give an exhaustive exposition of the subject, nor to attempt to elaborate a complete Cassirerian theory of truth. Rather, I want to focus on how the Cassirerian conception of truth can be useful in countering certain contemporary anti-scientific tendencies, particularly those born from the fear that modern science could destroy other cultural forms (especially religion). Specifically, I believe that Cassirer's conception enables us to identify criteria by which to distinguish science from non-scientific endeavours and to preserve the primacy of science in the cognitive enterprise, without calling social consensus into question (avoiding the risks of relativization), but also without resorting to positivistic dogmatisms that condemn everything that is not science to falsity or nonsense. By tracing back any kind of truth to its own contest of meaning and by identifying this context of meaning on transcendental and semiotic bases, Cassirer's conception opens to a pluralistic and pragmatic approach that leaves space for the possibility of non-scientific truths, which, while not being entitled to interfere with the scientific work, can still be considered legitimate and valuable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I will deal with the analogy between Cassirer's interpretation of relativity and his philosophy of culture. As to the structure of the paper, it will be divided into six parts. I will start with a brief introduction, after which I will succinctly outline Cassirer's reading of Einstein's theory, and in particular of general covariance. I will then focus on the presentation of his project for a "systematic philosophy" in the last chapter of Einstein's Theory of Relativity and subsequently delve into the lexical references to relativity made in Philosophy of Symbolic Forms. After this, I will tackle Cassirer's rectorship speech, where relativity and the philosophy of culture are explicitly interwoven, but with the important clarification (already provided in Einstein's Theory of Relativity and Philosophy of Symbolic Forms) that not all kinds of knowledge align with de-anthropomorphized objectivity. The final section contains the concluding remarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cassirer's view on ethical objectivity is puzzling. In his scarce comments on Kantian ethics, he defines the "pure will" as a "function of consciousness," which he considers a prerequisite for the possibility of objective ethical normativity embedded in empirical reality. In the existing body of literature, we find two different interpretations of Cassirer's account of ethical objectivity. The "meta-philosophical" interpretation takes objectivity as a telos that humanity gradually approaches, thereby emphasizing the historically relative truth standards to which the teleologically-evolving symbolic forms respond. The "Kantian" interpretation takes objectivity as a concept inherent to the conduct of the moral law, highlighting the evaluative and prescriptive aspects of his philosophical method. In this paper, I defend the thesis that, by interpreting Cassirer's ethics through the lens of Hermann Cohen's mature ethical theory, we can see that ethical deliberation in Cassirer involves a notion of universality that is a priori and depends on a substantiated concept susceptible to change. The proposed "contingent conception of universality" thesis accounts for both: the evaluative and teleological features of Cassirer's ethical theory, grounding an a priori account of ethical objectivity conceptualized relative to contingent truth standards that gradually improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I explore how Cassirer's early and mature epistemology, philosophy of science, and philosophy of culture make up a coherent and comprehensive view of the mathematical sciences that is fruitful for understanding contemporary science. In Cassirer's first systematic work, Substanzbegriff und Funktionsbegriff, the mathematical sciences are understood through the concept of function. This implies that scientific investigation aims at increased unity in a system of functional concepts, rather than at answering the substance-rooted question of what is. In his mature work, Philosophie der symbolischen Formen, Cassirer expands his inquiry to diverse notions of objects and principles of symbolic forming, recognizing the mathematical sciences as one of many ways of structuring experience, alongside other symbolic forms such as myth and ordinary language. Together, Cassirer's early and mature works detail the preconditions and idiosyncrasies of the unfolding of scientific objects and situate the mathematical sciences within the totality of human experience. Applying these insights to contemporary interpretations of science suggests connecting common misconceptions of science to challenges in translating objects between symbolic forms. I propose the concepts of domestication and mythification of science as instructive for clearing up such misunderstandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating Catholicism and Kanjan Serayong culture within the Pesaguan Dayak community exemplifies the dynamic interplay between religious and cultural rituals, particularly in funeral ceremonies, fostering communal solidarity and cultural resilience through a seamless blend of traditional and Catholic practices. This research aims to elucidate how these cultural and religious elements coexist and reinforce each other within the community. Employing qualitative methods, the study includes interviews with three Pesaguan Dayak Indigenous Leaders and informants, participant observations, and literature analysis guided by Victor Turner's theory of ritual structure. The findings highlight that both Catholicism and Kanjan Serayong culture places a strong emphasis on rituals, particularly funeral ceremonies, which are central to honoring the deceased and fostering communal solidarity. The study reveals a profound respect for sacred traditions and cultural heritage, showing that rituals reflect a seamless blend of Catholic and indigenous practices, indicative of cultural adaptation and resilience. This research underscores the need for further studies on cultural inculturation within Indigenous communities, comparative analyses across different cultural contexts, and interdisciplinary collaborations to enhance the understanding of Indigenous spirituality and cultural heritage preservation. Additionally, this study recommends involving local communities in the research process to promote mutual learning and effective cultural preservation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The current processes of deglobalization and decolonization in culture pose the task of rethinking and conducting a systematic and holistic analysis of the concept of collective identity from the perspective philosophy of culture. By utilizing culturalphilosophical paradigms, it becomes possible to overcome the limitations imposed by social constructivism and psychodynamic approaches to describing collective identity, and to describe collective identity as a stable objective interpersonal phenomenon. This article distinguishes between introgenic and extragenic types of collective identity, which differ in their sources of formation, significance for individuals and characteristics.Methodology and sources. This research is based on the methodological foundations of symbolic interactionism, Mikhail Bakhtin's dialogical model of culture, Jurgen Habermas's ̈ discursive approach, and the systemic-holistic analysis developed by Moisey Kagan.Results and discussion. Collective identity is considered as the result of aligning sociocultural experience with a system of values through communication. It involves the establishment of boundaries and the production of symbols that guide the process of identification. Cultural and ethnic identities are considered as introgenic types of collective identity, characterized by existential significance. Being dynamic, an identification leads to the formation of a stable and defined cultural or ethnic identity that seeks to maintain its boundaries and foundations even in the face of transformative influences. This is related to the processes of intersubjective interpretation, communication, and collectivity underlying their formation. Cinematic works do not merely reflect the world directly; they present it through languages and discourses, serving as reflections of reflections and social expressions that objectify the axiosphere. Cinema as a whole, and regional cinema in particular, reflects cultural values and identity, modeling ethnic diversity and illustrating the perspectives of cultural bearers. This way of representation liberates cultural or ethnic identity from distortions typical of exoticism and ethnographism that arise when describing local cultures through the eyes of the Other.Conclusion. Currently, collective identity is only achievable through communicative interaction and it is based on the awareness of shared opportunities to participate in identity formation. This implies an equal contribution from both individuals and the objectified system of values and symbols through collective memory.

Different theories of cross-cultural communication developed by researchers in the field of humanities including cultural anthropology, social psychology, cognitive science, etc., offer a variety of ways to classify national cultures. At the same time, many agree that there is a need for finding clear and measurable fundamental parameters underlying any national culture. The article substantiates the use of the parameter of individualism vs. collectivism, already tested in the framework of anthropology and philosophy of culture with regard to both Western and non-Western cultures, as an effective way for cultural comparison. The article aims to give an overview of various theories of cross-cultural interaction and their elements; to examine where they overlap or diverge; to look into the correlation between individualist/collectivist value orientations and behavior; and to study this parameter realization on a number of cases. The study is based on philosophical, anthropological, and cultural psychological theories, including the theory of guilt and shame cultures by R. Benedict, theory of self–presentations by R. Baumeister and D. Hutton, theory of personality’s self-construction by H. Marcus and S. Kitayama, as well as theory of cultural logics by A. Leung and D. Cohen. As an empirical confirmation of the above theoretical approaches, the article provides real-life examples, collected by the author. Literature was subject to categorical analysis. Empirical data was collected and analyzed using methods such as participant observation and discourse analysis. The comparative approach and hermeneutics techniques served as a general methodological prism. The study shows that, at least since the 1960s, specialists in the field of cultural studies have been increasingly discovering limitations and inconsistencies in theories that previously claimed to be universal: many of the models which originated in the West do not adequately represent non-Western cultures. The study proves the workability of the parameter of individualism vs. collectivism for interpretation of behavioral inconsistencies between people of different cultures. This parameter is compatible with a wide range of frameworks and shows a clear correlation between behavioral characteristics in different cultures and allows to interpret phenomena that were previously uninterpretable.

Introduction. The article is devoted to the phenomenon of modern Chinese theater and aims to explore the ways of its evolution – from imitation of European avant-garde forms of theatrical art to the formation of an original artistic language. An important goal is also to identify the factors that have determined the unique aesthetic and meaningful characteristics of modern Chinese theater.Methodology and sources. As a result of the application of the comparative analysis method, the article compares the theatrical concepts of Ibsen, Stanislavsky and Brecht, which influenced the image of modern Chinese theater.Result and discussion. The special role of the European theatrical avant-garde is shown, namely, the concept of Brecht's dialectical drama, which became widespread in China at the end of the XX century. Over a twenty-year period (from 1959 to 1979), three so-called «Brecht booms» took place in China, radically transforming Chinese traditional theater. However, despite the high popularity of Brecht's ideas, the Chinese Theater did not turn into a literal translator of the European avant-garde, but formed its own artistic style based on traditional structures of audience perception. The key role in this process was played by the national cultural context – socio-political and mental – which determined the specific forms of adaptation of the cultural meanings of the European theater. The history of Chinese avant-garde theater lasts for more than forty years and began in the early 1980s. After experiencing a period of direct borrowing, Chinese theatrical figures came to rethink the European heritage in the context of their own culture. As a result, it was the middle path of Chinese theater development that turned out to be the most productive – a path that absorbed the outstanding artistic ideas of Stanislavsky and Brecht, the modern Western avant-garde, but also without rejecting traditional artistic principles. This is how Chinese theatrical culture has developed with its own unique style.Conclusion. The 20th century became the era of the interchange of Eastern and Western theatrical traditions, which largely shaped the world cultural landscape, in which the interaction of Brecht's theory and traditional Chinese culture forms a special topos.

The publication of «Selected Records from 1965 to 1989» has exposed the reader to poetry of Vladimir Bibikhin’s poetry as a key to understanding the patterns of culture. In these rec­ords, Bibikhin discussed the formation of the canons of national poetry and its peculiarities. In his poetry, Bibikhin emulated the poetic style and essence of Russian poetry, surrounded by the aura of myth and replacing moralistic content with existential themes. These poems delved into the ethical-metaphysical question of how presence in existence is possible without arro­gance or violation of the rights of others. Bibikhin reflected on the relationship between poetry and prose during the formation of national literatures. He insists on the non-conditionality of the distribution of forms of poetry and poetic expression, political construction as a source of the national language, and the role of bodily movements, such as walking, running, and swimming. The exploration of these movements, discovered during the implementation of a cultural and missionary national programme, gives rise to both stable forms of verse and new genre-thematic complexes. The Records demonstrate how poetry allowed the poet to unveil the underside of the myth of the poet, revealing the role of conceptualizations in the development of creative individuality and the associated rhythm. A comprehensive examination of Bibikhin's expertise in verse and his poetry addresses several related questions: how late Sovi­et independent philosophy initially interpreted cultural creativity, not predetermined but aimed at the formation of universal social organization; how hermeneutic efforts were directed towards metacritique of social rituals; and how composing verses helped explain the regulari­ties of text interpretation in different periods, thus elucidating the specificity of pivotal epochs in culture as eras of problematizing this interpretation.

This paper revisits debates on a tension in Cassirer's philosophy of culture. On the one hand, Cassirer describes a plurality of symbolic forms and claims that each needs to be assessed by its own internal standards of validity. On the other hand, he ranks the symbolic forms in terms of a developmental hierarchy and states that one form, mathematical natural science, constitutes the highest achievement of culture. In my paper, I do not seek to resolve this tension. Rather, I aim to arrive at a better understanding of how it arises, and of the different options that it presents for understanding the development of culture. I discuss three recent attempts at resolving the tension, put forward by Sebastian Luft, Samatha Matherne, and Simon Truwant, respectively. Based on a reconstruction of Cassirer's system of symbolic forms that centralizes the concept of function, I show that the most promising of these attempts, formulated by Truwant, is not successful. I then turn to Cassirer's philosophy of the cultural sciences, the implications of which for the present problem have not yet been sufficiently explored. I argue that in this context, Cassirer develops the contours of an alternative to the function-based view of cultural development. I conclude that this alternative does not resolve the tension either, but that it allows for a reconceptualization of the teleology of culture as open. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tattva Journal of Philosophy's July 2024 issue features articles from various philosophical disciplines, including philosophy of culture, history of philosophy, philosophy of gender, moral philosophy, and philosophy of religion. The articles cover a range of topics, such as the misrepresentation of gender fluidity in retellings of Krishna's lore, Descartes' views on God's existence, Judith Butler's notion of performativity, and moral naturalism in contemporary analytic philosophy. The journal aims to attract scholars from different philosophical and sociocultural traditions to keep readers informed about the latest developments in philosophical research. [Extracted from the article]

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The chronotope of O.E. Mandelstam's Poems about the Unknown Soldier has at least three levels: (1) the level of internal time-space as immanent to the subject, the author-hero; this is the level of subjective refraction of events in individual consciousness/thinking; (2) the level of external time-space: the historical and natural beginning of world life (historical and physical cosmos) in their correlation; here worldly life is presented as if outside any of its perception from the outside, "by itself"; and (3) the mythical-symbolic dimension shining through the other two; the events here are interpreted in their parabolical content, including in the aspect of the philosophy of culture and intertextuality as a kind of "new mythology". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Husserl names the dynamics of cultural objectifications with the term sedimentation, which includes the formulation of the discovered meaning in material sensory expressions and the reactivation of these passively existing meanings. This paper analyzes this concept of sedimentation and places it in the context of Husserl’s thoughts on the crisis of culture. Unlike the usual interpretations of Husserl’s philosophy of culture which state that the crisis of sciences arises from the inadequacy of their ‘scientificity’ and inability to solve the problems of the meaning of life, I argue that the crisis can be understood as the result of the duality of sedimentation. Sedimentations not only preserve knowledge, but also create the illusion that knowledge reproduces itself. When reflecting on the crisis of culture, Husserl turns from theoretical philosophy to practical philosophy.

Introduction. Culture manifests itself in texts, one “reads” them, communicates with them. This communication takes place with varying degrees of competence; a high degree of competence is a necessary requirement for “reading” a cultural text in research practice. The article presents a metatheoretical construction on the basis of the analysis of the semiotic theory of the “text of culture” of the Tartu-Moscow school. The aim of the analysis is to develop a cultural-philosophical research practice. The author addresses the following tasks: justification of the necessity of metatheoretical constructions around Lotman's semiotics of culture; categorisation of the “text of culture”; characterisation of the semiosis of the “text of culture” as the necessary generation of the metatext; outlining the principles of research "reading" of the “text of culture”. The article is of a theoretical and methodological character.Methodology and sources. The methodological basis of the research is the traditions of Russian cultural semiotics and the Tartu-Moscow semiotic school. The main parameters for the selection of scientific publications: the degree of semiotic problematization of the cultural text; the possibility of explicating the concepts being sought; the perspective of meta-theoretical constructions.Results and discussion. The study allows us to formulate theoretical and methodological conclusions. The necessity of developing semiotics of culture in the Tartu-Moscow school is justified by the increasing complexity of modern culture as an open dynamic system, and by the un-realized methodological purpose of the institution. The “text of culture” is the most important notion of cultural-philosophical research. Its necessary categorization opens perspectives for the development of procedures of semiotic analysis of artifact as the “text of culture”, and for the interpretation of its semiosis, taking into account the mechanisms of functioning of immanent structures. The most important direction of cultural-philosophical analysis of the cultural text is its semiosis, which is treated as the sign functioning of the artifact-text within the boundaries of an open system that is culture as “one”.Conclusion. Principle aspects of the proposed cultural-philosophical practice: 1) the categorical system of semiotics of culture has to include the position of “text of culture” which fixes genetic relationship of text and culture; 2) “semiosis” of artifact as “text of culture” naturally generates metatextual space of culture as a result of systems openness within the borders of culture as “the one”.

The author analyses the philosophic and anthropological notions embodied in the works of the great Spanish artist Diego Velázquez. In the author’s opinion, not only written texts have an underlying philosophy of their own, but creations of visual arts just as well. They, therefore, can be a subject to philosophical analysis. It certainly does not mean that they may be literally translated into a verbal text, but that they have a meaning and a message of their own, closely linked in their own way to their historical background, the spirit of the epoch in which they were created. That is what makes them topical for modern thinkers and explorers of visual arts. The author pays special attention to such subjects, constantly present in Velazquez’s works, as «The Mirror» theme, the correlation between the rational and the emotional side of human nature and, consequently, the essence of certain «anthropological constants» and, finally, the problem of human being as bearer of moral values.

Chinese Communist monocultural policies, notably the re-education camps for the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, have recently been condemned for violating human rights. In response to critics, the Chinese Communist Party frequently replied that one should not impose Western concepts of democracy, liberty, and human rights on the Chinese people. Nevertheless, instead of introducing Western philosophies criticizing the current Chinese Communist monoculturalism; with the help of a modern reinterpretation of the Classic of Rites, this paper aims to construct a Confucian Multiculturalism and argues that: (1) the Classic of Rites explicitly warned against cultural assimilations of “barbarians” into the “civilized” Empire, (2) the Classic of Rites acknowledges cultural diversities, and (3) although the Classic of Rites does not explain clearly why the imperial court should tolerate cultural diversities, a Kantian reinterpretation of the Chinese concept of 敬 Jing implies the respects for minority rights. In doing so, this paper formulates Confucian Multiculturalism as a new model of the Chinese philosophy of culture which asserts cultural diversity.

Copyright of Logos: A Journal, of Religion, Philosophy Comparative Cultural Studies & Art (08687692) is the property of Logos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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The subject of this study is the works of modern Christian painting, graphics and sculpture on the example of the collection that became part of the Yenisei Museum-Reserve in 2021. The relevance lies in the clarification of a number of theoretical aspects of the dialogue between contemporary art and religion on the example of the interaction of the priest Andrei Yurevich with Siberian artists. The novelty lies in the description of the socio-cultural context of the formation of the collection in the 2000s. In order to identify the main trends in Christian art, the typology method was applied, and an interview was also conducted with the founder of the collection, priest Andrei Yurevich, and with art historian M. V. Moskalyuk, the original works in the Yenisei Museum-Reserve were examined. The theoretical results include the reconstruction of the history of the formation of the collection, the stages of its development (from the private initiative of the priest to the parish museum, later to the diocesan museum and, finally, inclusion in the state museum). Based on the analysis of individual works from the collection, a typology of the main trends in contemporary Christian art is developed. In the last part of the article, various options for updating the considered works in the exhibition activities of the Yenisei Museum-Reserve were developed. In particular, the special significance of paintings that reveal the local history of Eastern Siberia is shown, the possibility of a comparative demonstration of the collection's works with the works of artists of the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries is assessed. In conclusion, the regularity of the collection entering the state museum is emphasized in connection with the new approach to the definition of the concept of museum, which involves working with different communities, including believers.

Stanislaw Lem recognizes the far-reaching role of chance both in gaining knowledge and in explaining the development of cultural norms. The consequences are explored by him in fiction and non-fiction.

Nikolai Zhinkin's review of Ernst Cassirer is so far the earliest document of the discussion in Russia about Cassirer's conception of myth and his theory of symbolic forms. The text is published from Zhinkin's archive. Zhinkin here notes a reorientation of Neo-Kantianism that reveals its hidden relativism and stands as a symptom of its downfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article seeks to contextualize the media theory by the Russian linguist and philosopher of culture Yuri Rozhdestvensky on the map of media ecology, by comparing and contrasting his interpretations of some of the key aspects of the discipline--media messages, semiotic content of speech technologies, media laws and rules, and human-media relations--to those in works by Marshall McLuhan. The author concludes that in developing similar subject matter, Rozhdestvensky and McLuhan arrived at opposite judgments about the axiology of speech media: their cultural value, evaluation of their social impact, and digital prognosticating. The media theory of Rozhdestvensky can enrich the MEA paradigm and broaden its horizons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The philosophical discourses of violence developed in the 20th century can be grasped in two fundamental paradigms: the paradigm of force (Simone Weil) and the paradigm of domination (Horkheimer and Adorno). This article aims at situating René Girard's theory of the culture within the paradigm of violence as an immediate force, stemming from Simone Weil's phenomenological description of force in The Iliad. Simone Weil can be read as a model for modern reflection on violence in different ways. One of them can be identifying her interpretation of The Iliad as a starting point for the critique or even unmasking of blind reifying violence through the philosophy of culture: an example of this kind of translation can be found in Girard and his analyses of the figure of the scapegoat and rituals of violence, (sanctioned within myth), transferring violence into a sacral sphere. The pivotal point of the comparison is the concept of kydos, "the triumphant fascination of superior violence," developed by Girard in Violence and the Sacred. The Greek term, which connects violence, understood in the mode of immediate force, with the magical and sacral dimension, serves as a key concept for comparison of the two thinkers' conceptualizations of force. It allows interpretation of the conceptual tenets of Girardian theory, such as unanimity, symmetry, mimesis, and myth in the light of the key concepts of Weil, such as reification, symmetry, unawareness, and the blind mechanism of force. It also allows us to point out the discrepancies between the two conceptualizations (above all, the tensions between the rationality and irrationality of violence) and to grasp Girard's theory as a philosophical commentary on Weil's insights. This is going to fill a space on the map of modern discourses of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vladimir Solovyov was a philosopher of culture who sought to understand the essence of the most central and deep cultural crisis, as he spoke of Russia in the twentieth century. He has often been interpreted as a close follower of Schelling, someone who just took the basic methodology and concepts from Schelling without any deep contemplation of his own. The goal of this article is to reconsider one of the most widespread misconceptions, according to which Solovyov is a Russian Schellingian. Despite a certain resemblance in style and occasionally similarly sounding arguments, Solovyov was not just a rewriter of Schelling or his ardent follower. The second aim of the paper is to reconstruct the concepts of culture in Solovyov and Schelling. The two aims are strongly connected. In this respect, this paper is less an attempt to summarize Solovyov and Schelling and compare their ideas, than a speculative attempt to speak about the philosophy of culture and to represent the philosophy of Solovyov and Schelling. On my reading, despite many terminological and argumentative parallels, Solovyov and Schelling were pursuing fundamentally different tasks. Their systems cannot be viewed as identical, as it is often the case; rather, Solovyov's philosophy begins where Schelling's ends. The fundamental difference between the two systems will be demonstrated based on the analysis of two writings: Schelling's Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom and Solovyov's Lectures on Divine Humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a survey of approaches and conceptual means elaborated in recent decades in the studies of pluralistic tendencies in Indian culture. The concepts of inclusivism, perspectivism, antologizing and polyphony are discussed in a close relation with the specific context in which they were introduced, as well as with the implicit presuppositions of the scholars who elaborated them. In particular, the interpretations of inclusivism introduced by Paul Hacker and Gerhard Oberhammer were inextricably intertwined with the views on Indian religions these scholars developed. The concept of perspectivism was introduced in a philosophical context, mainly with respect to Bhartṛhari’s and Jaina philosophy. Antologizing and polyphony can be characterized as a more cautious way to conceptualize pluralistic tendencies in Indian traditional discourse, because they focus on narrative strategies that enable expressing alternative views in the frames of a single text. From a historical point of view pluralistic tendencies might be stipulated by the diverse social reality in Ancient India where heterogeneous cultural phenomena coexisted in a process of mutual reinterpretation and adaptation. Another possible presupposition of perspectivism could be the cyclic concept of time that was predominant in Indian traditional discourse. In Indian intellectual systems pluralistic practices were usually legitimized with the view that there are different levels of truth. Though instances of inclusivism can be discovered in the cultures of different regions, it was in India that inclusivism became a dominant trend in the cultural history.

Philosophy of culture as a discipline exploring the way of human existence in the world is based on general metaphysics and philosophical anthropology. Taking into account the formal subject and the method, philosophy of culture is a type of metaphysical explanation that aims to indicate the final ontological reasons for the existence of culture, and therefore it is called the “metaphysics of culture.” The metaphysical perspective of explaining the phenomenon of culture is an original contribution to the contemporary discourse on culture. The understanding of culture requires solving the dispute about the understanding of the world, and above all about the understanding of human being. It is only in such a broad perspective that a fact of culture can be justified by pointing to its causative, exemplary and deliberate cause. In this context, the special attractiveness of the metaphysics of culture is revealed, which, paradoxically, manifests itself in the lack of autonomy in relation to general metaphysics and philosophical anthropology. Thanks to this, explanation of a fact of culture is placed in the field of cognitive realism, pluralism and in the context of understanding human being as a person. In this way, the metaphysics of culture provides a final justification (in the ontic order) of a fact of culture, while culture, as an intellectualization of nature, can form the basis for the particular aspects present in such rich forms in the area of the particular sciences.

The paper treats the character and significance of J.W. Goethes personality in Simon L. Franks interpretation. The study is based upon principles of historicism and development; it uses the methods of the unity of historical and logical, comparative-typological and textual methods. The paper demonstrates why the Russian philosopher turns to examine the works of the German thinker and the role of Goethes ideas in becoming of Franks philosophical system. It clarifies Georg Simmels influence on methodological approach to the definition of spiritual personality with respect to the conceptual distinction of objective and subjective culture. The paper also analyses Franks distinction between two types of genii - pure genii of life and purely objective genii, - and applying that method with respect to understand Goethes spiritual personality. Frank was very far from idealising the Goethes particular personality, but he had rather found in what he called the Goethes type an aspiration for the harmonious unity of personal and sobornoye (catholic, universal, communal - Russ.) being. Accomplishing of such a type - as far as he had been capable - was considered by the Russian thinker not only the life purpose of any spiritual personality, but as well as a peculiar prescription against the crisis of the contemporary culture. The paper also reflects on Franks participation (publications and lectures) on occasion to 100 years anniversary, since Goethes death. In appendix, there are lecture notes of Franks lecture 1932, dedicated to Goethes spiritual personality that are published for the first time. The conclusion is made that considering Goethes impact on Simon Frank - as well as any influence, caused by not a systematic philosopher, but an artist-thinker in general - one should take into consideration not only the reception of separate ideas and concepts, but significance of the personality as a whole. It is said about the unique synthesis of living personal development and the objective creative work results.

The article discusses the notion of culture as it appears and is conceptualized in the works of G.P. Fedotov. The analysis focuses on two articles by Fedotov published in Russian migr journals, "The Holy Spirit in Nature and Culture" of 1932 and "Eschatology and culture" of 1938, and in his magnum opus in a Western context, The Russian Religious Mind of 1946. The author proposes to analyze Fedotov's ideas as a theology of culture due to the profoundly religious meaning the Russian migr thinker attributed to cultural products and production, regardless of their religious intention. By implication, Fedotov understood culture in a religious framework as the human experience of and response to the divine, though not necessarily as dependent on firm belief. Viewing Fedotov as a theologian of culture enables us, furthermore, to compare him with other thinkers across the West-East cultural gradient, most notably Paul Tillich. This approach contextualizes Fedotov in a post-Schellingian pan-European idealist tradition, to which Russian thinkers' analyses of religious experience and imagination have made seminal contributions, in particular from Vladimir Solov'ev on. The article discusses these issues within the framework of the perspectives of global intellectual history, entangled history ( histoire croise ), and transnationalized Russian studies.

The article looks at the concept of value in Heinrich Rickert’s philosophy of value and attempts a systematic study of this concept in the context of the fundamental problems in Roman Ingarden’s ontology of value. The result is a systematised presentation of Rickert’s notion of value and a series of conclusions concerning fundamental aspects of his philosophy of culture. The essential discrepancy that the comparison reveals concerns the formal character of Rickert’s philosophy of values, which implies a great deal of openness and freedom in the understanding and implementation of values. Another fundamental difference exposed by Ingarden concerns the ontological status of values.

The paper reconstructs the concept of culture that emerges from Heinrich Rickert’s neo-Kantianism, uncovering its major historical-problematic, methodological, and philosophical implications. The central theme of the first section is the idea that modern culture is uniquely characterized by “fragmentation”. It also unpacks the programme of Rickert’s philosophy of culture, which pursues the task of reconstructing the lost unity of culture. The second section explains the methodological implications of the problematic relationship between value and reality established in cultural goods and evaluations. Finally, the third section reconstructs the Rickertian system of values, with its peculiar effort to reconcile historicity and value absoluteness. The last part develops a critical discussion of the Rickertian project.

This article aims to address the issue of interculturality from the point of view of everyday life, as the preferred place of interaction between subjects coming from different cultures. The aim is to show that such interaction is essentially conflictive. This conflictuality, typical of everyday intercultural encounters, will show its paradoxical character insofar as it exhibits, together with its evident negative side, a positive one. The negative side is given by the existence of a hostility that can escalate to violence, in the sense of injury or harm that provokes victims. The positive side is related to the fact that conflict has the potential to be a source of learning and growth, since it can contribute to diminishing both fear and error, which are at the origin of much of the hostility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]