Revisiting the Einstein-Bergson debate.

ABSTRACT This article advances an account of why, in the digital age, the Catholic Jubilee’s constitutive rite – the bodily crossing of the Holy Door – resists virtualization. Critiquing theories that define screens as ‘operational thresholds,’ it argues that authentic threshold experience presupposes materiality and the inseparable pair door–threshold. Building a threefold grammar – limes (boundary and separation), ostium (structural solidity and protection), and ianua (mistagogical passage) – the study shows how embodied crossing is requisite for access to an order of reality that cannot be simulated. Applied to the Catholic Jubilee, this grammar clarifies why the pilgrimage’s telos is not a place but a passage. Anthropologically, doors engage the body: they must be touched, pushed, and crossed. A screen is a window for viewing; a door is an instrument for entry. Theologically, the door images the human person, an interface of interior and exterior, sin and sanctification, called to be traversed by grace and responsibility.

Patient-centered care (PCC) is widely endorsed in contemporary medicine, yet philosophical analyses often approach it through concept-first approaches that define patienthood in advance-typically in terms of autonomy, holistic personhood, or rational agency-and then assess clinical practice by reference to these ideals. This paper argues that such an approach can obscure how patienthood is configured in practice. We develop a tool-first approach that treats cognitive, communicative, and material tools as analytically primary for understanding how patients are individuated in clinical reasoning. The argument is grounded in an ethnographic case study conducted in a specialized cancer hospital, focusing on outpatient clinics in medical oncology, colorectal surgery, and palliative care. Rather than treating ethnography as descriptive background, we use it to identify tools-in-use that structure what becomes salient, actionable, and patient-relevant in situated encounters. Across these settings, distinct configurations of tools generate systematically different modes of patienthood. In oncology, staging systems and expectation management configure patients as therapeutic trajectories oriented toward uncertain futures. In surgery, anatomical diagrams and probabilistic framings individuate patients as operative bodies embedded in structured decision spaces. In palliative care, symptom scales, narrative practices, and informational scaffolding configure patients as experiential subjects and epistemic agents. We analyze these differences as instances of structural plurality: patterned, tool-mediated modes of patient individuation that are internally coherent yet irreducible to a single model. On this account, ethical ideals commonly associated with PCC-such as autonomy, shared decision-making, and informed consent-can be understood less as prior normative standards applied to practice, and more as contingent achievements that depend on how tools structure salience, understanding, and possibilities for agency in clinical contexts.

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems increasingly mediate how individuals learn, work and make decisions, raising foundational philosophical questions about the nature of knowledge, agency and autonomy. This article integrates philosophical analysis with illustrative empirical cases from Romania to examine how AI restructures human epistemic and practical activity. A central empirical observation, the engagement–performance paradox, reveals that AI-driven learning environments can produce dramatic increases in learner interaction while generating only marginal improvements in understanding. Interpreted through post-phenomenology, virtue epistemology and theories of autonomy, this paradox highlights the emergence of epistemic superficiality: a condition in which algorithmically mediated engagement replaces reflective, conceptually grounded learning. Complementary findings from AI-supported workplace contexts further illustrate how intelligent systems automate aspects of decision-making, thereby reshaping autonomy, responsibility and the phenomenology of action. Synthesizing these insights, the article argues that AI functions as a structuring force that co-authors human agency by reorganizing the conditions under which cognition and action occur. The study contributes to contemporary debates in the philosophy of technology, epistemology and AI ethics by proposing the concept of structured agency as a lens for understanding how AI-mediated environments transform the foundations of knowledge, autonomy and human flourishing.

This commentary engages Özge Can Doğmuş's argument that disappearance should be understood as an effect of unequal exposure to finitude. Drawing on an ethnographic vignette from the Chaco forest, it argues that this formulation presupposes the stability of disappearance as an event, whereas political ontology requires treating the event itself as uncertain and relationally constituted. The article's tension between a Heideggerian grounding in finitude and a relational account of world reconfiguration is examined. The commentary proposes that disappearance is not a single event unevenly distributed but emerges differently across partially connected worlds, with implications for how care, justice, and philosophical analysis are conceived.

This paper examines whether artificial agents possess conscience by constructing a minimal, operational definition grounded in first principles. It defines conscience as a self-applied normative mechanism that not only evaluates actions but produces binding internal revisions that shape future behavior. Applying this framework to current AI systems, the paper finds that while agents can represent norms and detect violations, they lack persistence, self-continuity, and endogenous update mechanisms, making conscience absent by design.

ABSTRACT This article examines whether the foundations of practical wisdom (phronesis) can be cultivated from early childhood, challenging the assumption that it cannot be trained until it fully emerges in adulthood. Drawing on the monistic Aretai model, which defines phronesis as a unified form of ethical expertise composed of moral perception, deliberation, emotion regulation, and moral motivation, we argue that these skills can and should be gradually developed from the earliest stages of moral growth. Integrating philosophical analysis with empirical evidence from psychology, neuroscience, and education, we show that children possess early mental capacities—such as theory of mind, empathy and prosocial motivation—that align with the building blocks of practical wisdom. We also outline how developmental principles support its gradual formation through age-appropriate experiences. This approach reframes character education, shifting emphasis from the sequential training of discrete virtues to fostering ethical expertise as the foundation of moral character from the start of development.

Introduction . The purpose of the article is to determine the role of euhemerism in the study and the construction of national history and mythology in the works of French scholars of the first half of the 18th century. The novelty of the study is determined by the lack of special works on this problem. The relevance of the research topic is due to the ever-increasing interest of modern Russian and foreign researchers in the history of euhemerism as one of the ways of rational interpretation of mythology. However, this area of research still has noticeable gaps and this article is partly intended to fill them. Methodology and sources . To study this problem, the article uses the method of historical and philosophical analysis, problem and classification approaches. The works by French intellectuals of the first half of the 18th century, who used euhemerism as a tool for constructing national history and mythology, were the main sources of the study. The article presents the main ideas of P.-Y. Pezron, J. Martin, A. Banier and S. Pelloutier Results and discussion . P.-Y. Pezron, using strict euhemerism, combined the Old Testament narrative, the names of various gods, national and pan-European history to create a speculative construct, which can be called “Celtic myth”. His theory was popular in intellectual circles throughout the 18th century. J. Martin and A. Banier reproduced it in their texts with some modifications. The concept of “natural religion” and original monotheism allowed the authors to link together the Old Testament narrative and national polytheism. They believed that the events described in the Scriptures were the true historical basis for many “pagan fables” and interpreted the emergence of the polytheistic cult euhemerically. S. Pelloutier, without diminishing the comprehensiveness of the “Celtic theory”, rejected the confessionally tinged euhemerism of P.-Y. Pezron. He stopped linking the origin of the Celts with the Old Testament narrative and used the euhemeristic interpretation of mythological plots only episodically. Conclusion . In the works by French scholars of the first half of the 18th century, euhemerism supported the confessional concept of the national past and served as an explanation for the emergence of “false” polytheistic gods.

The Office of Religious Affairs (Kantor Urusan Agama/KUA) plays a strategic role in fostering sakinah families in Indonesia. This article examines the functions of the KUA through an ontological approach, with a specific focus on KUA Kecamatan Medan Barat as the locus of study, by analyzing the nature of its existence, fundamental structure, and institutional relations within the systems of Islamic law and the state. The study employs a qualitative method combining a philosophical ontological analysis of regulations and policies with field observation and documentation at KUA Kecamatan Medan Barat. Data were collected through document analysis of statutory regulations, Ministry of Religious Affairs policies, relevant literature, and direct field data gathered from KUA Kecamatan Medan Barat. The findings indicate that ontologically, the KUA has three dimensions of existence: as a representation of the state in religious affairs, as an institution implementing Islamic law, and as a social institution responsible for community development. At KUA Kecamatan Medan Barat, these three dimensions manifest in its pre-marital guidance programs, marriage counseling services, and community empowerment activities within the socio-cultural context of Medan Barat. The function of fostering sakinah families is not merely an administrative task, but a manifestation of the state's responsibility to promote family welfare based on Islamic values. This article concludes that an ontological approach provides a deeper understanding of the essence and substantive meaning of the KUA's functions, which are not limited to marriage registration but encompass holistic and sustainable family development

Introduction . The article explores the dialectic of the phenomenon of will and its interpretation in modern scientific discourse. Will is considered in the philosophical aspect as the ability of a person to meaningfully make a choice and strictly follow it, building a scenario of their behavior. The research hypothesis is that will is a complex and internally structured phenomenon (a system of predicates) of human behavior, determined by specific internal and external factors. Based on a system analysis, the correlation of the phenomenon of will and freedom, consciousness, love, fear, courage, education is determined in the context of a holistic philosophical reconstruction of this phenomenon. Methodology and sources . The problem of will has several aspects and is considered in science as a philosophical, pedagogical and psychological phenomenon. The research methodology is based on the method of dialectics and the use of induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis, ascent from the abstract to the concrete. Philosophical concepts of Aristotle, N.A. Berdyaev, I.A. Ilyin, I. Kant, K. Marx, V.S. Solovyov, A. Schopenhauer and others are used in the philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of will. Results and discussion. The article provides a justification of the phenomenon of will as a special spiritual tension of personality (the power of the human spirit), which appears (or is formed) in a person in a situation of choice, when they have to make certain decisions, develop a certain scenario of their behavior and bear personal responsibility for them. In the complex structure of the phenomenon of will, a certain hierarchy of its system-forming elements is revealed, its ontological, axiological and epistemological foundations are revealed. Conclusion . In conclusion, it is concluded that to cultivate the will in oneself means to form in oneself such spiritual principles that have absolute meaning, objective truth and determine for a person the fullness of his being.

This study, entitled From Plato’s Allegory of the Cave to Cyberspace: A Bibliographic Review on the Perception of Reality in the Digital Age, presents a widely discussed contemporary reflection that establishes a direct parallel between the ancient Platonic allegory and modern society, particularly in the digital era. This analogy is grounded in several key aspects: the chained prisoners, which capture attention and limit the perception of the real world; shadows as “reality,” where such representations are often curated, edited, or manipulated versions of reality (the objects passing behind the wall); the illusion versus truth dichotomy, as Plato’s allegory seeks to demonstrate the distinction between the sensible world (apparent and imperfect) and the intelligible world (the realm of ideas and truth); and resistance to genuine knowledge, which parallels how information that contradicts the “shadows” to which individuals are accustomed is frequently disregarded, as well as the difficulty faced by philosophers (or critical thinkers) in “educating the public.”The methodology employed is documentary and dialectical in nature. The procedure was divided into three phases—heuristic, hermeneutic, and synthetic—within a qualitative research framework, encompassing philosophical analysis and systematic bibliographic review, addressing the perception of reality, simulation, knowledge, and truth.The conclusion of this research highlights a philosophical and social concern: dependence on visual representations and mediated information may lead individuals to accept a superficial and incomplete reality, thereby losing connection with direct experience and the pursuit of a deeper truth.

The article compares the essential, contextual and systemic concepts of historical memory. In the first, historical memory is thought of in the interval of truth-value and inclusion in the structure of national identity. In the second case, the value content of historical memory depends on the gradation of conditions, which leads to a pluralism of interpretations. In this case, from the standpoint of epistemological holism, historical memory is interpreted as a kind of collective knowledge, and from the point of view of ontological holism it is expressed in intersubjective reality, the relationship of the Self and the Other. The article concludes that a systematic projection of the study of historical memory is currently promising. An autopoietic variant of system analysis is proposed, in which historical memory acts as one of the ways of self-observation of the statesystem and reflection of the external environment. Historical memory is defined as the ability of a state system to maintain and reproduce holistic meanings under any environmental conditions. The abstractions of the collective subject and the systemic subject differ. A collective entity may remain such without being a systemic entity, for example, when a State loses sovereignty. The logic of the collective subject’s activity can be value-neutral and instrumentalist. While the subject system acts as a carrier of the historical common and maintains internal integrity. Thus, the combination of subjective and systemic ontology in the understanding of historical memory removes the opposition of epistemological and ontological holism.

Relevance. This scientific article is devoted to the analysis of Karl Popper's concept of "three worlds" in relation to the content of the Soviet animated film "Polygon" from 1977. The article reflects the idea of a scientist's responsibility for the people around them. In the context of modern scientific capabilities, the topic of a scientist's ethics is particularly relevant. Purpose. The main purpose of this research is to analyze and interpret Karl Popper's concept of "three worlds" in the context of the Soviet animated film "Polygon" from 1977. The objectives of this article are: 1) analysis of the relationship between the "three worlds" in the teachings of Karl Popper in the context of the cartoon "Polygon"; 2) study of the ethics of a scientist using the example of the cartoon "Polygon". Methodology. includes a philosophical analysis of Popper's concept, a semiotic analysis of the elements of the cartoon, and a cThe research methodology includes a philosophical analysis of Popper's concept, a semiotic analysis of the elements of the cartoon, and a comparative approach to establish connections between them. Results. The animated film "Polygon", directed by Anatoly Petrov and based on a short story by Sever Gansovsky, tells the story of the creation of an "unmanned" tank capable of reading enemy thoughts and responding to fear impulses. The physical embodiment of the tank and its functioning at the testing ground are considered elements of World 1. The characters' subjective experiences ‒ the soldiers' fear, the inventor's grief, the plot for revenge ‒ are interpreted as manifestations of World 2. The most interesting aspect is the analysis of the tank's artificial intelligence, its ability to "learn" and make decisions, as well as the very idea of a «perfect weapon» and the film's anti-war message as components of World 3. The work demonstrates how objective knowledge, embodied in the tank's algorithms and cultural products (the idea of a weapon, the anti-war narrative), can be autonomous and exert a causal influence on the physical world through mental states. Conclusions. The cartoon "Polygon" offers rich material for illustrating and understanding Popper's model, particularly in regard to the interaction between World 2 and World 3, as well as the autonomy of World 3. The findings highlight the relevance of philosophical reflection on technological progress and the moral and ethical dilemmas presented in works of art. This article contributes to interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the philosophy of science, cultural theory, and animation, offering a new perspective for understanding classical philosophical concepts through the lens of art.

. Purpose of the study. The idea of service to the Fatherland in modern philosophical discourse is becoming relevant against the backdrop of globalization, digitalization and environmental challenges. Service is understood as an ethical category that unites personal and collective identity, duty, morality and political responsibility. The study examines the historical and cultural foundations of the concept, from antiquity to postmodernism, with an emphasis on the Russian philosophical tradition. The multidimensionality of service as a moral imperative, social practice and spiritual choice is revealed. The purpose of the study is a philosophical understanding of the idea of serving the Fatherland as a socio-cultural and ethical phenomenon, identifying its semantic transformations in different historical eras and modern conditions. The research methodology. The methods of historical and philosophical analysis, hermeneutics and comparative studies are used. The study is based on the works of Plato, Aristotle, I. Kant, J. Habermas, V. S. Solovyov and others, with the involvement of interdisciplinary approaches: ethics, social philosophy and political theory. The results of the study. It is shown that the idea of serving the Fatherland combines personal morality with the public good. It varies from civic virtue in antiquity to spiritual duty in Russian thought. In the context of postmodernism, service requires critical reflection and protection from ideological instrumentalization. The prospects of studying. Further research can be aimed at studying the transformation of service in the digital age, in the context of environmental challenges and the formation of a new ethics of global responsibility.

Anchored in the educational philosophy of benevolence (Ren, 仁), Taiwan’s Early Childhood Education and Care Curriculum Framework articulates nine learning goals and emphasizes the cultivation of six core competencies in young children. The framework systematically incorporates life education, multicultural education, aesthetic education, and moral education as key dimensions to support the holistic and balanced development of young learners. This paper adopts Confucius’s concept of benevolence (Ren) as a central interpretive lens to provide a philosophical analysis of the learning themes embedded within Taiwan’s Early Childhood Education and Care Curriculum Framework.

ABSTRACT People often enter contracts under pressure, including economic pressure. Businesses bargain hard, and parties sometimes exploit the fact that others are in financial difficulty. Contract law has long struggled to say when this kind of pressure crosses a line. The problem is how to distinguish legitimate commercial pressure from impermissible economic duress: that is, when pressure renders a contract voidable rather than constituting strategic, even aggressive, bargaining that the law and ethical principles should accept. This article addresses the problem by offering a philosophical analysis of key cases and the widely used three-pronged test. We argue that duress lies not in the presence of psychological pressure or limited alternatives, but in whether the party applying pressure disqualified themselves from claiming contractual rights. This view, which we call Contextual Disqualification, offers a novel and improved account of economic duress that builds upon, but also advances, current legal doctrine. We ground this account in a neglected insight from early modern contract theorist Samuel Pufendorf and extend it by drawing on Stephen Darwall's view on the second-person standpoint.

Infidelity is a complex social phenomenon because it involves emotional, ethical, and spiritual dimensions simultaneously. This study is grounded in the growing number of conflicts in modern relationships that are often explained psychologically but rarely examined through a systematic Hindu philosophical framework. The research aims to analyze infidelity through the tension between kāma as the force of desire and dharma as the principle of moral responsibility, emphasizing its novelty in the systematic integration of the puruṣārtha framework (kāma–dharma–artha–mokṣa) with modern psychological theories of human needs in interpreting relational misconduct. The method employed is a qualitative literature study using a hermeneutic–philosophical analysis of classical Hindu texts such as the Bhagavad Gītā, Mahābhārata, and Rāmāyaṇa, combined with an interpretive dialogue with contemporary psychological literature on attachment, affective needs, and commitment. The findings indicate that infidelity arises from an imbalance in puruṣārtha orientation, where the pursuit of kāma is detached from dharma and self-regulation. Hindu mythological narratives illustrate consistent patterns of moral, social, and spiritual consequences when desire is not integrated with ethical responsibility. In conclusion, Hindu philosophy offers a relational ethical model that is not only normative but also reflective and transformational, providing a relevant foundation for developing educational and counseling approaches grounded in moral–spiritual awareness for modern interpersonal relationships.

The teaching of negotiation texts in Indonesian language learning at Vocational High Schools plays a crucial role in developing students’ communicative competence for the workplace; however, classroom practices tend to remain academically oriented and emphasize textual structure rather than functional and contextual language use. This study aims to analyze the Indonesian language negotiation text teaching module for Grade X students of the Computer and Telecommunications Network Engineering program from a pragmatist perspective, particularly in relation to principles of experiential learning, action-based learning, and problem-solving. This research employed a qualitative descriptive approach, with data collected through document analysis of the teaching module, interviews with Indonesian language teachers, and classroom observations of module implementation. The analysis focused on four main components of the module: learning objectives, learning materials, learning activities, and learning assessment. The findings indicate that the negotiation text module has not consistently reflected pragmatist principles. The learning objectives remain oriented toward normative academic achievement, the learning materials are general and insufficiently contextualized to the workplace environment, learning activities are dominated by writing tasks with limited opportunities for authentic communicative action, and assessment practices primarily focus on written products rather than the negotiation process and communicative strategies. These results suggest that negotiation text learning risks losing its meaningfulness for vocational students, highlighting the need for the development of teaching modules that are more contextual, functional, and aligned with real-world vocational communication demands.

This paper undertakes a critical examination of the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) on education, with a specific focus on rethinking pedagogy in response to rapid technological change. The problem of inadequate pedagogical approaches in leveraging technology to enhance learning outcomes is addressed, highlighting the need for educators to adopt innovative strategies that prioritize human flourishing. A philosophical analysis, grounded in critical pragmatism, is employed to critique dominant narratives surrounding technology integration in education. This approach facilitates a nuanced exploration of the complex relationships between technology, education, and society. The findings reveal that emerging pedagogical approaches, such as flipped classrooms, blended learning, and maker education, hold promise for fostering deeper learning, creativity, and critical thinking. However, these approaches also raise important philosophical questions about the nature of knowledge, learning, and human identity. The study concluded the underscores the need for educators to adopt a more nuanced and critically informed approach to technology integration. Recommendations are made for policymakers, educators, and researchers to prioritize the development of pedagogical innovations that prioritize human flourishing in the 4IR era, while also addressing issues of equity, access, and social justice.

This paper carried out a philosophical analysis of the moral agency concept as applied to artificial intelligence. Based on traditional theories developed by Aristotle, Kant, and Hume, the research outlines the normative standards of agency, that is, autonomy, intentionality, and moral responsibility. It is against this theoretical scaffolding that the paper critically analyses the current AI systems and concludes that, despite the ability to simulate moral agency by using advanced rule-based systems or machine-learning algorithms, they do not possess the critical qualities of consciousness, free will, or moral self-reflection. Through the use of case studies and thought experiments, specifically the Turing Test and the Chinese Room argument, the analysis proves that the existing AI systems do not possess the ontological depth necessary to be considered as the agents of true morality. The paper is not a statement that AI is incompetent as an agency; it explores other conceptions, including distributed agency and relational agency; in particular, it explores socio-technical systems where human and machine actions are closely embedded. The ethical implications, especially in low-regulatory environments, as is the case in Pakistan, are given special consideration, where digital inequalities and pluralism across cultures can serve to expand accountability gaps. Finally, the paper will argue that making AI the subject of moral agency is not only philosophically unsound but also morally dangerous. It promotes a less carefree attitude to human responsibility and suggests extensive ethical regulation of the creation and implementation of intelligent systems.