Contemporary Thinking Research Articles

Self-Consciousness as a Construction All the Way Down.

Contemporary mind and brain sciences provide theories and data that seem to confirm a hypothesis about human nature that we might formulate as follows. Human life is conditioned by a need that is no less important than elementary biological needs (such as survival and reproduction) or universal forms of social competition: the need to build and, indeed, defend a subjective identity whose solidity and clarity are the foundation of our intra- and inter-personal equilibrium and therefore of psychological well-being and mental health. In this article, distancing ourselves from a neo-Cartesian position still prevalent in the philosophy of mind and approaching instead the outcomes of contemporary cognitive sciences, we sketch the complex interweaving of the cognitive, emotional, and affective elements that are constitutive of subjective identity, with a focus on the role played in self-identity construction by Theory-of-Mind abilities. We will suggest that, at every stage of self-construction, individuals engage in processes of understanding others that have a largely innate basis. In this perspective, a mature self-awareness is somewhat secondary to the knowledge of others, an evolutionarily refined acquisition primarily serving as a defense mechanism.

Liberal Arts Education in the Anthropocene and the PBL Living Lab : Focusing on Korea University's Core Liberal Arts Course LIBERTY JUSTICE TRUTH Ⅱ

In this article, we discuss the meaning and possibility of convergence liberal arts education in the Anthropocene. This article introduces the development process of the LIBERTY JUSTICE TRUTH Ⅱ, core curriculum at Korea University, and describes the educational significance of PBL and the living lab, which are at the core of the course. The liberal arts education of the Anthropocene should move towards the transformation of social and technological systems for sustainability. PBL is gaining attention as a learner-centered educational methodology, and the ‘living lab’ is emerging as a methodology that expands the social and public role of universities by emphasizing active linkage and cooperation with local communities. The characteristics of the PBL process of the LIBERTY JUSTICE TRUTH Ⅱ course are as follows. First, it implements a student-centered teaching model. Second, it establishes a co-agents model that unites and cooperates through a network of actors with diverse perspectives, knowledge, and experiences. Third, it implements a living lab that solves social problems practiced by learners as citizens and educational subjects. In the Anthropocene, humans need to change their thinking and behavior and their relationships with other living and non-living beings. Since it requires students to think about and put into practice a fundamental transformation of the human condition, the design idea of the LIBERTY JUSTICE TRUTH Ⅱ course embodies the essence of liberal arts education in the Anthropocene. The course, which combines PBL and a living lab, has practical significance as a liberal arts education program for the transformation of contemporary thinking and behavior.

Burning approaches to tensing the present: a new political dimension of design

The contribution presents a preliminary reflection on the nature of design in our “post-political” scenario. It argues that design increasingly embraces critical thinking and antagonistic practices to push on social reality and bring about change. The document explores theoretical reconfigurations of design drawing on the ideas of contemporary thinkers and examines case studies of critical-making approaches that support the proposed critical framework. The primary objective of the contribution is to uphold the inherently political nature of design. It underscores the significance of “disagreement” as a foundation for the project. The investigation calls for critical thinking and the necessary process of “decolonization” within the field of design. The overall argument advocates for a political design that embraces dissent, criticality, and speculation, intending to reshape the boundaries of the discipline and address the crises and conflicts of our time.

Reimaging epistemology: A historical analysis of shifting paradigms

Over the past five decades, the field of epistemology has undergone a profound transformation that has challenged its traditional underpinnings. Previously, epistemologists ardently pursued the formulation of definitive rules for the attainment of absolute knowledge, basking in the quest for unwavering certainty. However, as time has passed, a collective realization has set in: the pursuit of undoubtable knowledge once the lodestar of epistemology has lost its luster and feasibility. This shifting intellectual landscape has brought the need for a fundamental reexamination of epistemology’s role and purpose to the forefront. The conventional role of epistemology as a proponent of unassailable principles for knowledge acquisition has waned. The once-central premise of epistemology, which claims the attainability of unshakeable certainty, now faces skepticism. Epistemologists grapple with a formidable question: Can we genuinely secure unquestionable knowledge in a world characterized by uncertainty and complexity? The prevailing sentiment among contemporary thinkers leans toward growing skepticism regarding the possibility of achieving undoubtable knowledge, necessitating a thorough reevaluation of the essence of epistemology. This profound reevaluation has given rise to two influential paradigms, the ‘psychologistic’ and ‘naturalistic’ projects, which seek to redefine epistemology’s scope and objectives, departing from traditional precepts. The field is currently undergoing a transformation within the crucible of these new paradigms, as this essay will delve into more deeply.

Adam Smith: His continuing relevance for contemporary management thought

This “Reflections on Europe” marks the end of the tercentenary of Adam Smith's birth as an opportunity to consider the relevance of his work beyond the epithet of “founding father of Economics.” Recognising the limited attribution his analysis has had thus far – at least explicitly – in modern management commentary, we discuss three themes in his work – labour relations, business ethics, and inequality – that are also germane to contemporary organizational thinking. In exploring how a Smithian lens affords a generative opportunity for advancing insight and debate around European management thought, we invite future scholars and practitioners to further engage with his ideas as a means of understanding business as inextricably economic, social, political, and moral.

By the Way

No one who reads Derrida closely could accuse him of “technophobia.” More than any other contemporary thinker, on the contrary, he has shown the limit of attempts to protect thinking and even being itself from technē. Yet, Derrida nevertheless insists that “deconstruction” is neither a “technique” nor the technology of thinking that modern philosophy calls “method.” What allows Derrida to exclude “technique” and “method” when he himself shows, in relation to Heidegger above all, that a certain technicity and methodicity always remain irreducible? After outlining its stakes (§I), this article seeks to raise this question by reconstructing Derrida’s engagement with Heidegger concerning the questions of technology (§II) and of method (§III) before turning to the techno-methodicity that Derrida attempts to dissociate from deconstruction in turn (§IV).

Strategic Surprise and Implications for State Defense

The article is based on a study carried out as part of the Long-Term Organizational Development Plan project by the Center for Security and Military-Strategic Studies of the University of Defense entitled "Armed Conflict". As part of the study, the issue of strategic surprise was analyzed and assessed, the aim of which was to find causal mechanisms and connections between the security of state defense and the phenomenon of surprise in the conditions of the 21st century. The article deals with the issue of surprise and its impact on state defense security. It describes strategic surprise as a principled aspect with implications and impacts on state defense. It examines the issue of surprise as a principle of military art in the context of contemporary strategic thinking.

Platono Teaiteto digresija šiandien, arba Sokrato laiškas nūdienos filosofams

This paper discusses the relevance of ancient thought by briefly reviewing the historical reception vicissitudes of Plato’s dialogue Theaetetus, and by considering what dialogue’s themes and motifs seem pertinent to contemporary thinkers. As in earlier times, Socrates’ critique of relativism and subjectivism, the problems of the justification of knowledge, as well as the holistic conception of knowledge remain undoubtedly valuable in the dialogue. In recent decades, research on the pedagogical motives of dialogue has also increased. Finally, it seems that never before have the protagonist’s proud words about scholē – the free, quiet time of thinking, unaffected by political urgency and conjuncture, as an essential condition for philosophical activity and life – sounded so insightful. This is what I call “Socrates’ Letter to Contemporary Philosophers”.

Graikiškosios filosofijos sampratos aktualumas: ko galėtume pasimokyti iš senovės graikų

The article is dedicated to the problem of relevance of the Classical Greek understanding of philosophy to contemporary philosophy. A distinction is made between the relevance of the Greek philosophy that has already been realized, or made actual, in the sphere of contemporary philosophy and culture, and the relevance of the Greek philosophy which is yet in need of realization, that is, which has a potential of being realized in the future. The author, mainly focusing on this latter kind of relevance, for it is more interesting from the philosophical point of view and suggests new ways to reinvigorate the contemporary field of philosophical thought, discusses the original Greek understanding of philosophy that can be discerned from the ancient Greek philosophical texts and the original Greek term for philosophy, philosophia. The author presents an analysis of the Greek word philosophia from the etymological and conceptual points of view, disclosing its several layers of meaning. It is argued that the Greek philosophical thinking employs a productive combination of pre-methodical and methodical thought, deriving from this combination a specific synergy that might also be useful to contemporary philosophy. A point is made that the original Greek notion of philosophy, understood as the love of divine wisdom, presupposes both modesty, stemming from the acknowledgment of one’s absolute ignorance of the most important philosophical answers, and intellectual passion. The author makes a claim that the original close and deep relation between the Greek philosophy and astronomy was instrumental in the original Greek understanding of the philosopher as a theōros of a special kind, that is, as a theoretic viewer of the entire cosmos who focuses on the whole of the cosmos (or reality in general), not on its individual constituents and details. What was expected of the Greek philosopher was the ability to deeply appreciate the beauty, unity, and underlying divine order of the cosmos, not the capacity to acquire the knowledge of concrete information related to it. The attention is drawn to the circumstance that the Greek philosopher’s aesthetic appreciation of the cosmos that took place at the moments of its theoretical contemplation had also a specific ethical aspect to it – an aspect that cannot be simply explained in terms of the Classical Greek virtue ethics and can be rather viewed in terms of the modern approaches to ethics. The relation between the ability to acknowledge one’s ignorance of the most important matters and the capacity to theoretically contemplate and aesthetically appreciate the cosmos in holistic terms is viewed by the author as potentially relevant to those contemporary thinkers who seek to reassert the unique status of philosophy, its special place among other disciplines, and to rethink the radical difference between philosophy and science. After discussing some other aspects of potential relevance of the Greek understanding of philosophy to contemporary philosophy, the author makes a conclusion that the Classical Greek understanding of the nature of philosophy should be viewed not as having to replace, but as being able to complement the current understanding of the nature and mission of philosophy.

Caputo in Europe (If There Is Such a Thing): How Does “Radical Theology” Look from Over Here?

This work is a collection of contributions by different European authors discussing the work of US-American philosopher-theologian John D. Caputo. Though Caputo is by now a well-known figure in the USA, reception of his work in European academic contexts varies widely from place to place. This volume thus brings together fourteen theologians and philosophers in or from Europe to “gather Catholic and Protestant voices around Caputo’s work to evaluate the match with the European context” and, in so doing, “add to the European reception of Caputo’s radical theology” (1–2). Some might wonder if Caputo, though clearly a leading contemporary thinker, quite lends himself to this kind of reading as a “primary”

A kevesebb néha több?

At the time of the codification of first Hungarian Code of Criminal Procedure, the legal literature regarded the limited scope of second-instance revision as a limitation of appeal in favour of the defendant, and placed it in this sense inside the procedural doctrinal system. This idea, which is quite alien to contemporary procedural thinking, which focuses on speeding up and facilitating proceedings, raises the question: what are the principles on which the limited scope of review is considered as a guarantee for the defendant? In order to answer this question, my aim in the present study is to explore the system of principles that shaped the turn-of-the-century jurisprudence concerning the legal power of the second instance to grant review.

BUDUĆNOST RADA ILI BUDUĆNOST BEZ RADA: RAZMIŠLJANJA OD MARKSA DO DANAS

This text attempts to present and critically analyze two prevailing Neo-Marxist schools of thought on the future of work, that derive from Marx’s ambivalent attitude toward work and the role of technology in society. Contemporary thinking on the future of work is split between its humanization and overcoming alienation in a ca-pitalist society on one side, and anti-work and post-work theoretical perspectives that propose its abolition through automation and technological innovations introduced by capitalism on the other. A two-way evolution of the Marxist thought on the future of work will be presented in relation to the growing usage of digital technologies and the development of artificial intelligence, while the disagreement between the two schools of thought won’t be seen as a setback, but the focus will be shifted towards their joint contribution to reexamining the concept of work in social theory and political prac-tice. The question about the future of work will also be analyzed through the lens of gender, in order to draw attention to the position of the social reproduction work and the risk of it being perceived as a highly ethical and authentic form of work that does not require reorganization. An anthropological perspective that emphasizes the link between human communities and work, not in order to project the future society, but to examine the transformation of the concept of work in relation to social, economic, and political frames, that is, at the intersection of neoliberalism and the development of new technologies in the contemporary context, will also be taken into consideration. By analyzing the future of work through different paradigms, we are called to open a new chapter in social theory that will serve as inspiration for future political demands that would lead the society out of the capitalist system.

The security of the Republic of Poland and the war in Ukraine in contemporary leftist thinking in Poland

The subject of the article is the security of the Republic of Poland and the war in Ukraine in contemporary Polish left-wing thought, represented primarily by the Democratic Left Alliance and the New Left. The security of citizens is the basic determinant of raison d’état and at the same time a key challenge for authorities. The study covered the 21st century because it brought a change in 1) the international system – the Russian Federation questioned the post-Cold War order, 2) lowering the level of security in Central and Eastern Europe, and 3) bringing new challenges for Poland after Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine. The cognitive purpose of the article is the assessment of the international environment and threats to Poland made by the Left, as well as the postulated model of security, political and military security, and – in the context of the war in Ukraine – the attitude to the actions of the Polish authorities after 24 February 2022. It should be emphasized that the social democratic movement is a political environment that hopes to take political power in Poland after the expected electoral success in the autumn of 2023. The position of the Left on key matters for state security is interesting not only for researchers but also has a utilitarian meaning.

The Academic Reception of Austrian, German and Swiss Reform Pedagogy Representatives in Hungarian Educational Science in the Interwar Period. Quantitative Content Analysis of the Magyar Paedagogia (1918–1939)

By remarkably dissenting from the contemporary mainstream educational thinking, reform pedagogy played a pivotal role in shaping the educational landscape of Europe and North America. This influence was also reflected in the professional periodicals of these geographical areas. Focusing on the Central European macroregion, my paper aims at examining the references to the different representatives of three (at least partly German-speaking) countries’ reform pedagogy within the pages of the prominent Hungarian educational journal, Magyar Pedagógia (Hungarian Pedagogy). The study applied computer-assisted deductive content analysis in order to identify the key figures of reform pedagogy in the text of the journal. The results indicate a notable increase in the number of the mentions subsequent to the Trianon Treaty. These reform pedagogy representatives frequently co-occurred in the same writings, with the work school (Arbeitsschule) being highlighted as a key nexus where their ideas converged.

Economics as Religion and Christianity as oikonomia: Giorgio Agamben and the Homo Sacer

Among the contemporary thinkers who try to think of economics not just as having a non-empty intersection with religion but as being intrinsically religious, Giorgio Agamben occupies a singular place. Indeed, one of the main theses of his major work, Homo Sacer, is that the modern rupture between “sovereignty” and “government”—which lies at the heart of his political diagnosis of our contemporary situation—can be traced back to classical Trinitarian theology. Since this rupture is allegedly responsible for today’s Western understanding of economics, this implies that, according to the Italian philosopher, our current crisis has Christian theological roots. In this paper, I first discuss the argument put forward by Agamben to assert that, at least since the Trinitarian controversies of the second century, Christianity has become intrinsically oikonomia, that is, it understands history as the unfolding of a providential dynamic which, he claims, anticipates today’s celebrated “invisible hand” of decentralized markets. Next, I offer critical reflections upon this argument by questioning whether contemporary mainstream economics can be reduced to the “market fundamentalism” with which it is often confused. The article concludes by questioning, in turn, whether all Christian traditions boil down to the historical trend that Agamben characterizes as leading to today’s problematic mainstream economics.

Choral ballad by Peteris Vasks «Litene»: aspects of sound and pitch organization

The relevance of the article lies in highlighting the basic principles of organizing the sound tissue in the central work of the middle period of the Latvian composer Peteris Vasks' creativity, namely a ballad «Litene» for mixed choir a сappella.
 The main purpose of the article is to identify the peculiarities of the sound and pitch organization of the choral tissue in the ballad «Litene» by Peteris Vasks and to determine its influence on the process of genre renewal.
 The methodology includes methods of structural-functional and historical analysis to: trace the characteristic features of the ballad genre at different stages of development and identify individual features of its embodiment in the choral works of Peteris Vasks; establish the constructive features of the organization of the musical tissue and ways of its correspondence with the textual basis of the piece.
 Results and conclusions. Thus, in the context of contemporary musical thinking, the pitch structure becomes an object of creativity, along with themes, rhythm and timbre, and this opens up and fills new gaps in the interaction of compositional techniques in the search field. Peteris Vasks, like many other well-known contemporary composers, is looking for his own individual and stylistic aspects of the pitch organization of the sound tissue and, choosing combinations of individual elements from the well-known composition techniques of the twentieth century, transforms them into a new sound «palette». The composer lets them into his own sound world, where they subsequently become an integral part, acquire stylistic features.
 In the context of the unfolding of tragic events, the ballad «Litene» presents an array of expressive means that has already been used in previous choral ballads, namely, a combination of aleatoric movement that provokes the formation of sonorous phenomena and reliance on artificial symmetrical harmonic formations. However, it is here that the interaction of these techniques has the most impressive effect. The symmetrical soundscapes, built from a series of low-tertiary links using interval steps of «semitone-tone», are revealed first horizontally in each of the voices. Gradual vertical textural compaction, thickening is localized in the zones of climaxes, which are accompanied by an increase in tension. The activation of aleatory movements, the thickening of sonorous and sonorous phenomena, which supplant pitch manifestations with sound-image elements and streams of external noise (shouts, whistling, speaking, grotesque laughter, glissandos to extremely high and extremely low sounds), contribute to the embodiment of emotions of a huge tragic range. It contains the swirling waves of unbearable pain, despair and fear of an inevitable tragedy, the death of an entire nation from a criminal destructive force, and reflects the path to oblivion until the last, desperate collective groan. The work is imbued with such catastrophic feelings and meanings, its sound space created by Peteris Vasks on the fragments of phrases, words, exclamations, whispers, wails, screams and terrible, frozen, dead silence.
 The choral ballad «Litene» occupies a special place in the work of P. Vasks. This work is about human pain, about terrible injustice, about suffering and death. At the end of the work, there is no prayerful enlightenment characteristic of the composer's music. In the preface to the work, the composer said that he chose a number of techniques that he believed most truthfully reflected the unhealed wounds of his people—the pain that does not go away.

Ancestral Sin is not Pelagian

Various thinkers are concerned that the Orthodox view of Ancestral Sin does not avoid the age-old Augustinian concern of Pelagianism. After all, the doctrine of Ancestral Sin maintains that fallen human beings do not necessarily or inevitably commit actual sins. In contemporary literature, this claim could be articulated as a denial of the ‘inevitability thesis.’ A denial of the inevitability thesis, so contemporary thinkers maintain, seems to imply both that human beings can place themselves in right relation to God as well as the Pelagian denial that all require Christ's work to attain this right relation to God. This article demonstrates that the Ancestral Sin, along with a denial of the inevitability thesis, is neither Pelagian nor Semi-Pelagian. I show that the doctrine of Ancestral Sin denies (Semi-) Pelagianism in various ways. I show that, for Ancestral Sin to entail (Semi-) Pelagianism, one must commit to several assumptions, each of which is plausibly deniable and none of which Orthodox thinkers affirm.

The values of biological diversity: A perspective from China

Following its signature and ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity, China has made great progress in conserving biodiversity, and its role in global biodiversity conservation has gradually transformed from follower to key participant, and the country is becoming an active contributor. Given its long history, huge population and rapid industrialization, it is an extraordinary achievement to accomplish so much in such a relatively short period. The reason for this success partly lies in the country's social system, notably state ownership of land, and an omnipotent government. However, traditional Chinese culture, and the contemporary efforts of researchers in China also play a role. Against this background, the present paper provides an overview of the Chinese understanding of the values of biodiversity, and explains the interconnections between traditional philosophy, on the one hand, and contemporary Chinese thinking and action, on the other. The first section briefly traces the evolution of scholarly exploration of the values of biodiversity, outlines the latter's contribution, and examines indicator systems used to evaluate these values. The second section examines the core ideas found in traditional philosophy, which provide contemporary Chinese society with the conceptual resources it needs to fully understand the values of biodiversity. The last section explores the main mechanisms through which traditional philosophy influences contemporary thinking and behavior regarding environmental protection (including biodiversity conservation).

Reapprendre à voir: Images, Symptoms and the Media of Appearance

Emmanuel Alloa interviewed by Benediktas Vachninas Emmanuel Alloa, Professor of Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art at the University of Fribourg, is one of the most active contemporary thinkers in the field of new visual studies. His areas of research include aesthetics, phenomenology, theories of image, theories of media, and the French philosophy. Professor Alloa has authored and (co)edited numerous books, of which, the most important ones are Looking through Images. A Phenomenology of Visual Media (Columbia University Press, 2021), Dynamis of the Image. Moving Images in a Global World (De Gruyter, 2020), Partages de la perspective (Fayard, 2020), Resistance of the Sensible World: An Introduction to Merleau-Ponty (Fordham University Press, 2017). He is the recipient of the Latsis Prize 2016 and the Aby Warburg Prize 2019 and currently serves as President of the German Society of Aesthetics.In 2021, Professor Alloa gave an online cycle of lectures titled Orbis Pictus. A Media Phenomenology in an Image World at Vilnius University. This year, I had the pleasure to hold an online conversation with Professor Alloa as he kindly agreed to discuss the topic of images and his project of symptomatology. The interview encompassed questions about the relation of an image with the image theories, the differences between the symptomatological approach to images and the visual semiotics, Derrida’s contribution to the problem of mediality, and the role of images in the philosophy today.This interview was taken on the 20th of June, 2023

Political Participation in China: Towards a New Definition and Typology

Political participation has become an important topic in contemporary political thinking. Western scholars’ views that reflect experiences in Western societies have become predominant theoretical articulations on political participation. This study offers a critical review of the conceptual frameworks of political participation in democratic and non-democratic societies. Drawing on previous research, it has developed a new definition and typology of political participation in China. It eschews voluntarism in the Western definition of political activities and participation to creatively propose a well-developed definition of political participation in China for which it constructs a ladder model. This study summarises Chinese political participation according to four categories: non-participation, tokenism, active participation, and radical participation. This study proposes a typology that motivates us to think of many issues, including online interactions. This study makes a much-needed contribution to the literature on the theoretical development of political participation in China.