Existential Features Research Articles

Unendlichkeit (Infinity)

This entry argues that, in his poetic as well as theoretical and scientific writings, Goethe adopts a dialectical position vis-à-vis one of the dominant philosophical concepts of the modern age: infinity (Unendlichkeit). While the concept of infinity came to be embraced by the end of the eighteenth century in literature and philosophy, as well as in the powerful tool of infinitesimal calculus, Goethe consistently emphasized the need for a dialectic between the finite and the infinite in which the internal force driving humans and nature beyond all limits must be balanced or counteracted by an equal force drawing them back towards the world of finitude. Goethe depicts this dialectic as both an inherent law of nature and an ethical and existential feature of humanity.

The Courtyard as an Element of the Urban Environment as Perceived by Yekaterinburg Residents

Social and cultural changes have brought about a new understanding of the space–time continuum within which modern cities are evolving. A comfortable urban environment contributes to the development of a sustainable urban environment, to the psychological health and social well-being of citizens, as shown by the observation of life in public spaces. In our study, the courtyard is treated as a specific human habitat that satisfies a wide range of people’s needs due to the unity of physical, social, and existential features of the place. It is the environment that is present throughout a person’s life, is biographically tied up with his history and that of his family, and therefore reflects his individuality, expresses identity, and stimulates personal authenticity. To assess Yekaterinburg residents’ perception of the yard space as an element of the urban environment, which is the aim of the study, the authors exploited the method of a questionnaire based on two measures, namely architectural semantic differential and incomplete sentences. It was found that the image My Courtyard was the most uncomfortable and “frozen” of all the urban elements and My City was the most comfortable and dynamic. The respondents perceive the house and the adjacent area as a complete unit. The coincidence of the Ideal Courtyard image in all groups of respondents indicates that this image is universal and does not depend on the place of a person’s actual residence. The study can contribute to formulating recommendation to develop the courtyard space and universal models for improving adjacent areas, taking into account the psychological characteristics and needs of the population.

Existential Elements in the Character of the Underground Man

The study titled "Existential Elements in the Character of The Underground Man," examines the particular existential elements portrayed by Fyodor Dostoevsky in his work “Notes From Underground”, such as absurdity, alienation, freedom, anxiety, or misery etc. In other words, this article investigates the “Notes From Underground” from an existential standpoint. Under the umbrella of the Qualitative method, the study in hand employed textual analysis of selected excerpts from Notes From Underground. The lenses of existential ideas such as freedom, absurdity, alienation, and anguish are utilized to extend and expend the study topic and objectives. This research critically explores various reasons for the protagonist, for instance, the Underground Man's isolation, absurdity, anxiety, alienation, and freedom amongst others, as well as how these existential features contribute to his sufferings in the novel.

Antinomicity of the Good-Truth-Beauty Triad on the Internet

The presented article outlines vectors of transformation of basic values of Good-Truth-Beauty in the network. The epistemological, moral-ethical, and aesthetic aspects are offered, which allows revealing the forms of representation of initial values in the Internet culture. In particular, the planes of the intersection of the axes “good/evil”, “truth/lie”, and “beautiful/ugly” in social media are presented. The authors are concerned about the assertion of equivalence and blurring of the boundaries between good and evil, which can lead to permissiveness that is covered by anonymity, symbolism, and nominalisation provided by social networks. The article explores the articulation of the problem of evil in the Internet through the use of the heuristic potential of aesthetic experience. An analysis of modern aesthetic forms of the representation of evil in network culture through the prism of such basic values as Goodness-Truth-Beauty is carried out. It is shown how these values are deformed and sometimes turn into their opposite with the help of aesthetic means. It is shown that modern propaganda, which is carried out in social networks, actively uses existential features of perception and experience of truth. In the course of the study, the opinion is substantiated that reflexive judgment allows to attract aesthetic means to the moral understanding of manifestations of evil in the absence of stable standards and moral guidelines in social networks.

Immediate consequences operator on generalized quantifiers

The semantics of a multi-adjoint logic program is usually defined through the immediate consequences operator TP. However, the definition of the immediate consequences operator as the supremum of a set of values can provide some problem when imprecise datasets are considered, due to the strict feature of the supremum operator. Hence, based on the flexibility of generalized quantifiers to weaken the existential feature of the supremum operator, this paper presents a generalization of the immediate consequences operator with interesting properties for solving the aforementioned problem.

Features of Modern Ukrainian Military Prose (on the example of Bohdan Zholdak’s film story “Ukry” and Yevhen Polozhii’s novel “Ilovaisk”)

The purpose of the article is to study the artistic features of Bohdan Zholdak’s military prose "Ukry" and Yevhen Polozhii’s "Ilovaisk". The methodological basis of the study is complex and is based mainly on the tools of traditional literary studies (comparative-typological, comparative-historical and specific-textual types of literary analysis) using elements of motivational analysis. The article examines military prose as a phenomenon of modern Ukrainian literature; genre diversity of works dedicated to the realities of the anti-terrorist operation and the war in Donbas; the main problems that writers raise. It is determined that Bohdan Zholdak’s film story “Ukry” shows “a noble, active, strong hero who defends freedom, justice and universal ideals.” Zholdak’s style (burlesque-postmodern) depiction of characters is considered with their positive and negative sides, true language and emotions. Yevhen Polozhii’s novel “Ilovaisk” was analyzed, based on the memoirs of soldiers who survived the Ilovaisk pocket. It is determined that the writer turns to the traditional plot and depiction of heroes, using the features of existentialism and naturalism, often resorting to contrast in the reproduction of pictures of frontal and peaceful Donbas, and ideological beliefs of older and younger generations. It is proved that in the works of modern Ukrainian literature there is a deep rethinking of the war, which poses a potential threat not only to the individual country and its inhabitants, but to humanity in general. The authors affirm the idea of peace as the highest human value.

Digital Dialogue in Learning: Cognitive, Social, Existential Features and Risks

Digitalization of socio-cultural phenomena, including the education system, generates transformations of their qualitative characteristics and parameters, which requires research from the standpoint of methodological analysis and assessment of their possible consequences on humans and society. A significant element of the digital environment, in general, and educational, in particular, is the dialogue, the role of which has both cognitive and ideological, existential, social aspects. The purpose of the research is a philosophical analysis of the digital transformation of dialogue in the context of the educational process, an assessment of its potential and impact on the individual. The research methodology has a complex, interdisciplinary character and is associated with the application of an existential approach to understanding the essence of dialogue (M. Bakhtin, M. Buber, G. Marcel, E. Levinas), the theory of the development of individual thinking by L.S. Vygotsky, developed by the author of the theories of electronic (digital) culture and based on modern developments in the field of the introduction of digital tools in education. The study shows that dialogue in the digital learning environment becomes not so much a form of rapprochement, integration of subjects, as a form of autonomy, isolation, individuals, which changes the nature of learning and has social and existential consequences. This creates the need to transform the digital learning environment when using it from the position of supplementing it with ethical, socio-psychological and emotional components and support tools for the student. Based on the existential-axiological analysis, the positive and risky features of digital dialogue as one of the phenomena of electronic culture and online learning tools are revealed. The concept of digital dialogue in learning, the characteristics of its features, functions, role and influence on the learner in the digital environment are presented. The difficulties of dialogic learning characteristic of the digital environment are revealed, recommendations of a methodological and methodical nature for application in the education system are presented.

A Pastoral Theology of Dwelling: Political Belonging in the Face of a Pandemic, Racism, and the Anthropocene Age

ABSTRACT The recent pandemic has accompanied a surge of protests against racial injustice in the United States and around the world, which together are occurring during a growing recognition that the world is in the midst of a sixth extinction event. These three events (and others) have in common the question of how we (human and other-than-human beings) shall live or dwell together on this one earth. In this article, I first sketch out the various existential features of dwelling. This sets the foundation for moving to a pastoral theological perspective on dwelling and its relation to the pandemic, racism/classism, and the Anthropocene Age.

Existential challenges due to severe pre-eclampsia when becoming parents

ObjectivesTo deepen the understanding of parents’ existential challenges and experiences when having a premature infant due to the mother's pre-eclampsia. DesignTwo empirical studies based on reflective lifeworld research (RLR), were conducted to investigate parents’ experiences of having a premature infant due to mother's pre-eclampsia. A further abstraction was possible. The two essences were synthesised into a general structure. Then, a philosophical examination of the existential issues was done using Karl Jaspers' concept of limit situation and health theory outlined by Dahlberg and Segesten. SettingMaternity ward and neonatal intensive care unit. ParticipantsNine mothers and six fathers. FindingsThe findings revealed the experiences of a vulnerable group of parents in the maternity ward and in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The parents faced a paradoxical experience. They experienced mothers' severe illness and in some cases accompanied by the possibility of death, at the same time they experienced the joy of becoming parents. The premature birth and the mother's severe symptoms revealed the intertwinement of biological and existential features. Pre-eclampsia restricted the mothers from fulfilling the major project in their lives: to become real mothers. These experiences were elucidated by the concept of limit situations as suffering, struggle, death, and paradoxes of life as well as the health theory with its biological and existential dimensions. Key conclusionSome parents experienced closeness to death and the beginning of life as almost intertwined. These two fundamental facets of life are connected to existential features and challenges. The study also underlined the antinomies of life; suffering and facing severe illness that could cost both the mother's and infant's lives, and at the same time feeling the happiness of becoming parents. Implications for practiceHealth professionals should know how these experiences affect parents. They should be sensitive when approaching mothers and fathers in such situations. The families’ vulnerability must be considered within the physical space of health services. If the parents needs to talk, time and staff should be available to meet their needs.

Этика Ю. М. Федорова как часть тюменской этико-философской исследовательской традиции

Introduction. In the Russian philosophical tradition, domestic philosophical concepts are rather poorly considered at the moment. In fact, there is no coverage of regional specific features: the problems that worried and united Russian philosophers within the boundaries of one or another temporalterritorial locality. The purpose of the article is to consider the views of the Tyumen philosopher-ethicist Yuri Mikhailovich Fedorov in the context of their relevance at present and in the context of a continuous research tradition. Methods. The author proceeds from the methods of hermeneutics, which are obligatory in this case, and also uses L. Laudan’s theory of research traditions, M. Foucault’s optics and the concept of permanent modernity. Scientific novelty of the research. The author clarifies Yu.M. Fedorov’s views through the specified methodology, considering his works in the context of a continuing philosophical tradition, with a special emphasis on the methods of subjectification. Results and conclusions. Taking into consideration the results of analytical reading of Yu.M. Fedorov’s key work “Universe of Morality”, it is concluded that the author’s concept, which combines the features of idealism, cosmism, structuralism, semiotics and existentialism, with some reservations (indicated in the article), suggests an adequate model of subjectification for a person of the XXI century.

«Я не участвую, не существую в мире…»: диалог с символизмом и экзистенциализмом в стихотворении Бориса Поплавского «Снова в венке из воска»

The article discusses aesthetic and philosophical synthesis in the late lyrics of B. Poplavsky, namely the combination of the features of symbolism and existentialism in the poem «Again in a Wreath of Wax» (1931-1934) from the posthumous book of poems «Snowy Hour». It has been revealed that the work of the poet of the “Paris note” is an example of the “borderline” poetics. Its motive-shaped system and space-time structure are considered. Time and its death-refraction are the central motifs of the miniature, which correlate with the symbolist themes of intoxication, the delimitation of the external and internal worlds, etc. In this case, the ek-stasis situation plays a special role, setting the development of a lyrical plot based on the hero's understanding of the surrounding reality and his presence in it as non-being and non-existence. The core motive of the work is overcoming the world and self-immersion. The borderline (double-world) situations of the lyric hero are examined in the light of the philosophical and literary searches of the poet himself, as well as on the basis of their comparison with the ideas of J.P. Sartre and N. Berdyaev. The poem, in accordance with its name, is a wreath with two "knots". The latter are borderline situations working as the limits for the development of some lines of the lyrical plot. The hero of the poem is ultimately presented as dissolved in time, melted like snow, and under-embodied, as an anthropomorphic soul without a full shell, which, building on the traditions of Russian symbolism, acts as a living dialogue and a form of existentialist reasoning.

Latest Developments of Existentialism

In this paper, Pareyson provides an analysis of the existential features of the philosophies of Jaspers and Heidegger, that he considers as the two greatest philosophers of the second half of the twentieth century. In Jaspers, Pareyson identifies the idea that truth is both singular and one, meaning that it can be grasped only through a personal interpretation and never in absolute terms. This implies that truth and person are inseparably tied to each other and that existence carries transcendence in itself: just as truth transcends our personal knowledge of it, Being itself transcends our personal existence. Moreover, Pareyson sees Heidegger as the initiator of an existential ontology that poses a fundamental relation between the human being and Being itself; hence, the philosophical discourse on human existence inevitably turns into a discourse on Being. Therefore, Heidegger finally manages to overcome traditional metaphysics and its forgetfulness of the question of Being itself, by giving such question a central role within philosophical reflection. In conclusion, Pareyson maintains that Jaspers and Heidegger are able to make the voice of Being been heard, in contrast with the humanist and nihilist tendencies of twentieth century philosophy.

НОВОЗЕЛАНДСКИЙ ТЮРЕМНЫЙ ЖАРГОН В ФУНКЦИОНАЛЬНОМ АСПЕКТЕ

The article examines the functional potential of New Zealand prison jargon. It is shown that the functioning of this socially determined form of New Zealand English is conditioned both by its existential features and the needs of New Zealand prison community. The conclusion is made that this corporate social jargon performs three basic functions (communicative, emotional and cognitive ones), each of which can be subdivided into individual, specific sub-functions.

Interogating the parameters of existential ethics: A selected review of sartre, beauvoir and camus

This paper interrogates the parameters of atheistic existential ethics. Specifically, it evaluates the ethical implications of the concepts of freedom and subjectivity in the select works of French existential philosophers, namely; Jean Paul Sartre, Simone De Beauvoir and Albert Camus. The paper primarily choose the trio based on their atheistic inclinations with the key objective of examining the justifiability of the foundation of their existential morality. With subjectivity at its core and possibility always on the horizon, these existentialists have sought to explain how we create values. Such values have no absolute meaning but rather emerge from our own subjective projects and concerns and not from God or any ultimate Being. The paper argues that atheistic existentialism has not been able to account for the moral dimension of human life, and thus, have no basis for an ethical theory if they deny that humans are bound God’s commands. It suggests that the idea of God's non-existence casts a serious doubt on the possibility of any notion of moral foundationalism. The basic features of existentialism found in their works seem, at least superficially, to undermine the possibility of ethics which they profess. The paper maintains that if God does not exist, we will not be provided with any absolute values or commands that could either approve or disapprove our actions. It concludes that a self created being has no moral foundation and no compelling moral force since his existence cannot be founded on no higher or ultimate Being.

EXISTENTIAL PARADIGM OF B. ANTONENKO-DAVIDOVICH PROSE

The article outlines the most characteristic features of existentialism as an artistic phenomenon in the world literature, emphasizes the features of Ukrainian existentialism, which is characterized by its national peculiarity. The special attention is devoted to the particularities of the perception of revolutionary reality by various types of characters of B. Antonenko-Davidovich's early period creativity. A separate emphasis is placed on the contrast between the two types of consciousness, which in the author’s works forms a kind of opposition and is the link that connects the works of the early and post-rehabilitation periods of the author's prose. On the background of the “Vartovyi Chapenko” (“Guard Chapenko”) essay, a transitional element between the two types formed by the revolutionary heroes is drawn, whose tragedy determined the misunderstanding of the true essence of the Bolshevik system. On the basis of the “Synia Voloshka” (“Blue Flute”) story an existential model of self-understanding in the world is analyzed; it was discovered that such a way of self-identification is oppositional to the requirements of the contemporary society; it focuses on the destruction of the bright ideals and the appeal of hero-defenders to such existential categories as "alienation", "death", "absurdity". It has been proved that existential motives become distinctive markers of B. Antonenko-Davidovich's prose.

Existential interventions for adolescent suicidality: Practical interventions to target the root causes of adolescent distress

In this work we discuss common forms of treatment for suicidality and suicidality among adolescents. Vastly pervasive, crisis intervention-based treatment is found throughout nearly all suicidality treatments regardless of client age or intervention site. Crisis intervention-based approaches often overlook many crucial elements of suicidality in adolescents. We therefore explore elements of existential therapy and their potential merit in treatment for suicide among adolescents. These include existential angst and despair, meaninglessness and isolation. These elements are strong predictors of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in adolescents. While the common crisis-based treatment appropriately addresses immediate safety needs, it can neglect and even exacerbate the existential features that contribute to ongoing, long-term depression and suicidality. Finally, we present three principles of existential therapy with example interventions (theoretical) that can be flexibly applied in clinical settings with depressed and suicidal adolescents. An illustrative case study, which draws on our clinical experience, further details how this existential style might be applied in a typical clinical setting with a suicidal adolescent.

Say it with Images: Drawing on Jerome Frank\u2019s Ideas on Judicial Decision Making

This paper aims to shed light on the putative functions of placing images in judicial opinions from the judges’ perspective. Thus far, commentators have overlooked the functions that images play for judges when used in judicial opinions and consequently have failed to provide a thorough understanding of the process. To help fill this gap, Jerome Frank’s ideas on judging will be presented. The argument goes that using images in judicial opinions can be interpreted as a way to enable the decision-making process to be, as far as possible, devoid of hypocrisy, closer to judicial candor and more open to scrutiny. This notion can be excavated from Frank’s works in light of the existential features of both passing judgments and articulating decision-making processes by and for judges themselves. As will be shown, Frank’s views on judicial decision-making are more original and enlightening than critics might suggest and they are particularly relevant when examining the use of images in judicial opinions from a judge’s perspective.

ХУДОЖНІЙ КОНФЛІКТ У ПОВІСТІ ВАСИЛЯ БИКОВА «СОТНИКОВ»

In the article the story of «Sotnikov» written by Vasyl Bykov is studied. The main humanistic problems, conflicts and the situations through which they are analyzed and determined. The author’s attention to serious moral issues and the analysis of human psychology is conducted by difficult conflicts of opposing views and opinions in a harsh life situation. The conflict in the work is related to not only the storyline, but is realized through the choice of the artistic strategy of the representation of feelings, intentions and psychology of the main characters, in which the moral conflict develops most acutely. The main conflict of the story is realized through a confrontation between the desire to survive at any cost and an attempt to save character`s moral qualities. The representatives of opposite ideas are two main characters, Sotnikov and Rybak, who in the difficult situation reveal their real human nature and ideas. The features of existentialism are manifested in a harsh situation where there is nothing to choose from. The confrontation between Sotnikov and Rybak is realized through short dialogues between the heroes. The story is value due to the disclosure of an epic conflict of a story, which reflects the timeless problems of honor, dignity, self-sacrifice, betrayal and feat.

THEORY OF DECISION-MAKING: THE LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL ASPECTS

Данная статья посвящена достаточно обширной и современной научной области – теории принятия решений. Автор обращается к логико-математическим основам теории принятия решений для экспликации экзистенциальных особенностей выбора, основанных на четырех основных мартингалах: тренд, время, люди и страх. В соответствии с предшествующими результатами, исследование подтвердило предположение о том, что последние четыре составляющие «управляют» человеческим существом и влияют на его принятие решений.Целью исследования является рассмотрение логико-математических аспектов теории принятия решений.Автор обращается к математическим моделям социальных изменений, математической статистике, теории игр, теории вероятности, теории социальных условий, социальной физике и нейролингвистике. В статье использовались методы интерпретации и герменевтики, нарративный и концептуальный анализ, а также конфигурирование.Анализ факторов, влияющих на принятие решений, позволяет минимизировать риски, предсказывать результаты событий, а также конструировать оптимальные и эффективные стратегии поведения.Новизна этого исследования состоит в том, что, во-первых, была представлена модель общего описания принятия решений, которая обобщает аппарат логико-математического и экзистенциального анализа. Во-вторых, при анализе психологических аспектов принятия решений человека предлагается использовать инструменты временной и модальной логики.Полученные результаты могут быть использованы в экзистенциальных системах принятия решения. Область использования данных программ экзистенциальных систем принятия решений широка: от решения повседневных вопросов человеческой жизнедеятельности, анализа фондового рынка, финансового консалтинга и переговоров, до маркетинговых стратегий, различных PR-кампаний и даже ИИ (Искусственного интеллекта).

Existential Features of Variety Numbers With a Puppet

The dramatic principles of the variety art puppet are fundamentally different from the principles of classical drama, the application of the principles leads to the creation of not concert numbers, but etudes, or small performances. At the empirical level, there is an understanding of the difference between the number and the etude, but the lack of a clear differentiation between them and the lack the principles by which the existence of the number becomes possible creates serious problems for practical work. Principles of classical drama, formulated in the era of the Enlightenment on the basis of the Aristotle’s unity of place, time and action, continue to dominate in the view of dramaturgy to this day. Search of the principles difference from classical ones leads us to turn to a non-classical picture of the world in general and to the philosophy of postmodernism in particular. So we apply the postmodern method of deconstruction to the subject of the research. Speaking about the binary opposition “etude and number”, let us pay attention to the broader opposition: “performance and concert”. It correlates directly with the concepts proposed by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, described in the work “Rhizome”: “tree” and “rhizome”. The linear narrative as a performance corresponds to the “tree” concept, the nonlinear narrative as a concert number corresponds to the rhizome. Linear narrative is created according to the classical principles of decalcomania, but nonlinear narrative is created according to the rhizomatic principles of cartography. “Tree” is centred on the root – ideas, “rhizome” is not centred. Rhizome is the sum of the relationship of its points. The idea in the rhizome is secondary and may arise as a result of the relationship between points of rhizome. Analysis and deconstruction demonstrate that the concert and the numbers from which it is composed, in contrast to the performance and the etude, are rhizomatic systems, and therefore require radically other principles of drama. Application to rysomatic systems of the cartography method proposed by Gilles Deleuze, when instead of proving meaning, meaning is born in the process of the research, may become the main method of non-classical drama. The subject of the study in the concert number is the behaviour of the function, which may be a metaphor of the phenomenon of life, embodied in a certain form in the non-inherent for this function of the proposed circumstances. The form-function and the proposed circumstances become points of the rhizome, and their interaction creates rise to the meaning of the concert number. Principles of rhizomatic drama, built on the cartography method, can be applied not only in the concert number with the puppet, but also throughout the art of the postmodern era.