Philosophical Discourse Of Modernity Research Articles

When Zen Becomes Philosophy: The Case of Dōgen’s Uji

Abstract Dōgen is among the few authors from historic Japan who have received substantial attention in modern philosophical discourse. His thought on time figures prominently in this regard. Association between Uji 有時, the title of his short instruction on the subject, and Heidegger’s Being and Time has facilitated this integration into modern philosophical discourse. It is customary in this discourse to treat Dōgen’s writings as philosophical texts. Against this tendency, I apply the concept of ‘frames of equivalence’ from translation studies and demonstrate how the philosophical mode of reading leads to substantial shifts in all three dimensions of the semiotic process. In the pragmatic dimension, the religious impetus of Dōgen’s texts is toned down to an appeal in favor of certain epistemological and ontological commitments. In the syntactic dimension, the formal organization of his texts is ignored, obfuscating the overall structure and intent of his argument. Given the context-dependency of meaning, this leads to significant shifts in the semantic dimension as well. I argue that paying attention to frames of equivalence in reading Dōgen serves to identify creative investments and inadvertent projections. This prepares the ground for historically more accurate interpretations and prevents the misappropriation of ‘enlightened’ authority for philosophical hypothesizing.

Studies of consciousness in Russian philosophical discorse: specificity, problems and prospects (on the example of the works of Russian and Belarusian authors)

The author of the article considers and analyzes the main directions, problems and prospects of modern domestic philosophical studies of consciousness. A number of questions related to attempts to establish the main characteristics of the phenomenon of consciousness, to determine the key concepts and categories are raised. It is described to identify the structure of modern philosophical discourse. The main lines of development of interdisciplinary research of consciousness within the framework of such rapidly developing fields of knowledge as cognitive sciences, neurobiology, synergetic, etc. have been demonstrated. The paper establishes a general range of problems and issues related to the need for meaningful specification of concepts, substantiation of the arguments used in the study of this phenomenon. Poorly developed thematic blocks related to the issues of the origin of consciousness and its localization, the definition of its structural and content elements, the establishment of the mechanisms of its functioning, the practical implementation of the acquired knowledge are identified, which indicates the need for further attempts to study this object within the framework of philosophical discourse.

The Problem of Recognition in Modern Philosophy: Social and Anthropological Dimensions

Purpose. The purpose of the article lies in studying the main socio-anthropological measurements of the problem of recognition represented primarily by the philosophy of recognition of Alex Honneth, which is actualized by the struggle of the Ukrainian people for their existence and national-cultural recognition. A consistent analysis of the communicative paradigm in contemporary philosophy led to the understanding of its transformation into the reality of the problem of recognition and the identification of the main forms of recognition in it, which determine an individual’s perception of the social space as fair or unfair, where his dignity is disrespected. Theoretical basis. Turning to the works of Jurgen Habermas, Otfried Hoeffe, Ernst Tugendhat, Stefan Gosepath, and Thomas Rentsch made it possible to supplement the mainly procedural, theoretical-communicative way of philosophizing with a philosophical-anthropological, existential, contextual principle of awareness of recognition as a fundamental principle of justice and the understanding that the brutal, unjust destruction of the "living world" of a person and the state is synonymous with their physical destruction. The thesis of Francis Fukuyama about the relationship between the desire for recognition and human dignity inherent in human nature has acquired an important theoretical and methodological meaning. Originality. The article investigates the modern philosophical discourse of the problem of recognition in the socio-anthropological measurements, in the context of the relationship between recognition, the "living world" and justice, non-recognition, humiliation of human dignity, and injustice. And it was also found that the image of recognition represented by modern philosophical thought, as a horizon and condition of human existence, is based on the following components: justice, solidarity, dignity, and care. Exactly addressing the problem of recognition made it possible to answer the question about the anthropological-ontological, existential meaning of the desire of individuals, nations, and states for recognition and outline the ways of transforming recognition as a variant of "communicative utopia" into a real socio-cultural project. Conclusions. In contrast to justice, the theory of recognition comes from asymmetrical human relations, which, in the struggle for recognition, must become symmetrical. Although justice takes precedence over ethics of care and recognition, they are not actually in competition with each other, but belong to different but complementary dimensions of human existence. The perspective of philosophical understanding of the problem of recognition itself requires the deepening of its analysis with an existential-anthropological understanding rooted in a new, tragic life experience. Only under such conditions, it is possible to overcome the gap between often abstract philosophical reflections and real personal and social practices.

Хронотоп войны начала XXI века: военно-философский аспект

Introduction. War as a social phenomenon has always been an object of philosophical reflection, since its results largely determine the further de- velopment of society and have a profound impact on all spheres of social life. In connection with the ongoing so-called special military operation which Russia is conducting in Ukraine and which is at the same time a proxy war of the collective West against our country, the modern philosophical discourse of war is clarified. One of the important aspects of the ontology of war is considering its chronotopos. The space-time factor has a signifi- cant impact on the course and outcome of hostili- ties in modern warfare, which makes its study very relevant. The purpose of the study is to describe the chrono- topos of modern warfare, to show the influence of the space-time factor on the course and result of hostilities. Methods. Being supporters of the relational concept of space and time, the authors consider the chronotopos of war as its internal attributive property. In addition, they rely on the methodology of synergetics, which makes it possible, in addition to the external universal space-time, to single out the internal space-time of open complex non-equi- librium systems. The authors apply structural-func- tional analysis to study material and ideal objects that influence the characteristics of space and time in modern warfare. They also use general scientific methods: abstraction, comparison, description and explanation. Scientific novelty of the research. The authors give characteristics of the war chronotopos at the beginning of the 21st century, and consider the tendencies of its changes. The necessity of taking into account spatio-temporal changes in planning and conducting hostilities in modern warfare is substantiated. Results. New means of warfare, as well as the cor- responding changes in tactics, operational art and strategy, will significantly reformat the chronoto- pos of war. The space of modern warfare is being radically transformed due to the fact that the confrontation simultaneously takes place not only on the plane, but also in the air, in space, under water, and even in social networks. New capabili- ties of strike systems are changing the perception of such characteristics of the war space as the front and rear. What was previously considered a deep safe rear, in the era of using missiles and combat drones, is no longer such. The time of war is also changing. An increase in the flight speed of ammu- nition, aircraft, and missiles increases the dynamics of battles and intensifies all processes on the bat- tlefield. Hypersonic systems are changing the pace of war, space satellites, reconnaissance drones and new technologies make it possible for the com- mander officer of the battle to see everything that happens on the battlefield in real time, regard- less of the distance from objects. Each new war is fought in its own space-time continuum. To win the war, all this must be taken into account. Conclusions. The chronotopos of war within the framework of the relational concept of space and time prevailing in modern philosophy is changing due to the emergence of fundamentally new means of warfare with new capabilities, which requires a significant adjustment in combat management, ensuring the adequacy of human behavior in war, training troops, taking into account the character- istics of the space-time continuum of a particular war, understanding on the part of the command staff of the essence of changes in the space and time of modern war. Old stereotyped ideas about the chronotopos of war can cause disorientation of a person on the battlefield, which requires not only a philosophical reflection of the ongoing spatio- temporal changes, but also the practical consid- eration of new knowledge in training troops, in planning and conducting combat operations.

The role of media culture in today's information wars

The article is devoted to the socio-philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of media culture in the context of the globalization information challenges of today. The formation of the main threats of the modern information society is revealed through the prism of the close relationship of violence, wealth and knowledge as means of implementing power relations in the geopolitical context. It was noted that at each historical stage of the global struggle for power, the most effective means of achieving power goals were strategies of information struggle aimed at manipulating public consciousness. The essential signs of information war from the standpoint of psychological, information and communication approaches are revealed. It is noted that in the society of knowledge, the information and propaganda war acquires the features of a conscious (semantic) one, therefore, in the conditions of the formation of the mass media as key producers of information products marked by certain political or economic interests, it is possible to talk about the media war as a separate technology of modern information wars. In the modern philosophical discourse, to define a special type of culture of the information age, the concept of "media culture" has become widespread, as a set of information and communication tools produced by mankind in the process of cultural and historical development, which contribute to the formation of public consciousness and the socialization of the individual. The work reveals the main functions of media culture - informational, communicative, ideological, normative and legal, motivational, integrative, culture-creating, myth-creating. The fundamental difference between media culture and traditional cultures is emphasized - the level of its technical equipment, which allows the reproduction of media culture products for almost all of humanity, acting as a regulator of its mass consciousness. The specificity of media culture is determined by its semiotic nature and the technical capabilities of the means of its implementation: high information capacity, ease and persuasiveness of perception, speed of replication of information messages, mass and accessibility. The conclusions highlight the need to introduce state programs for the development of digital and media education as an effective mechanism for countering today's informational challenges.

THE PHENOMENON OF TRANSGRESSION IN THE FOCUS OF PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION

The essence of the phenomenon of transgression in modern philosophical discourse is analyzed. The author defends the position that post-non-classical philosophy is built around the deconstruction of previous ideas, cultural processes and phenomena, for the definition of which the established terminology is no longer sufficient. That is why the phenomenon of transgression, which describes the state of transition and changes in phenomena, is becoming widespread. The purpose of the work is to conduct a phenomenological analysis of transgression within the framework of modern philosophical discourse. The presentation of the research material is based on the presentation of the transgression understanding basics by representatives of postmodern philosophy (M. Blanchot, M. Foucault, J. Bataille, J. Deleuze). The conducted research makes it possible to state the following. M. Blanchot talks about a person’s step towards transgression as a decision that expresses the inability of a person to stop, when changing himself. According to J. Bataille’s reasoning, transgression has a place to exist if there is a limit set aside for the functioning of anything, as a certain established norm, the violation of which should be considered as overcoming a certain taboo. Transgression, according to J. Bataille, does not destroy the prohibition itself, does not lead to the disappearance of prohibitions, norms, etc. According to M. Foucault’s opinion, transgression can and should become a kind of stone in the formation of a new culture of thinking, which replaces dialectical philosophy. Respectively, according to the concept of M. Foucault, transgression can be imagined as a reflection of the deep mechanisms of the evolutionary process. The dynamics of transgressive changes are uncertain, but they are capable of influencing social realities. It is concluded that modern society is becoming transgressive. The time of institutionalization of social structures, established norms and traditional values is fast-moving. Therefore, the use of the established paradigm of social ontology has its limitations. This approach simply does not allow us to understand the depth and essence of modern social changes. That is why within modern philosophy, an attempt to present an ontology of transgression is actualized, which allows not only to track changes in the social processes themselves, but also to move from one perspective of research to another, producing openness of interpretation, variability and ambiguity.

Философия войны: формирование современного дискурса

Introduction. The armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which is fully supported by the so- called collective West, has brought the world to the brink of a global war. There has not been such a large-scale military confrontation in Europe since the Second World War. At the same time, it is not clear to what extent the escalation of the conflict is justified, where is the line beyond which none of the parties will not only be able to achieve military- political goals, but also catastrophic consequences will arise on a continental, and even global scale. It is not surprising that war as a social phenomenon has now moved to the epicenter of scientific inter- est in various disciplines — from narrow military experts to philosophers, who are expected to make assessments, forecasts, and recommendations for political elites and the entire world community. The purpose of the study is to characterize the modern philosophical discourse about the war, to identify the main trends in its change. Methods. Within the framework of the system ap- proach, we consider war as a complex, multi-level, open system that is in deep interaction and mutual influence with the external environment (political, economic, social, ideological, scientific and techno- logical, etc.). We use structural-functional analysis, as well as general scientific methods: abstraction, comparison, description and explanation. Scientific novelty of the study. The authors give characteristic of the philosophical discourse of war, and consider its main variants. Results. New means of armed violence, as well as methods and mechanisms for inflicting economic, political and psychological damage on the enemy, are making significant changes to the content of modern wars. In scientific and popular literature, the concepts of “information warfare”, “psycho- logical warfare”, “new cold war”, “proxy war”, “and cyber war” are increasingly used. We have considered the correlation of their content with the content of the category “war”, which is basic for the philosophical doctrine of war and the army. The philosophical discourse on war is undergoing inevitable changes. This is connected not only with the development of the categorical apparatus, but also with clarifying the boundaries of the discursive field — the expansion of areas for understanding the processes taking place in the military, military- political, military-economic, military-social and military-ideological areas. Results. War as a social phenomenon still requires its philosophical understanding, primarily in con- nection with the changes that are taking place in the military and related fields. At the same time, the philosophical heritage in this area should not be discarded as overcome by a new discourse, but developed taking into account modern economic, political, technological and cultural realities. At the same time, it is not possible to form a universal philosophical discourse about the war. This would be contrary to the essence of philosophy as a sphere of free search for truth.

Normative Foundation of Modernity: Habermas’ Criticism of Marx and Its Limits—An Investigation Based on <i>The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity</i>

According to Habermas, the essence of modernity is subjectivity (subject rationality). Marx has put forward the modernity theory based on “labor” in The Manuscript of Economics and Philosophy in 1844. However, Habermas believed that there was still a single subject reason behind the concept of “labor”, which showed that there were problems in the normativity of Marx’s theory. According to Habermas, the normative foundation can only come from the free interaction between subjects at the rational level, and can be expressed as “dialogue” activities in the public domain when implemented in theoretical strategies. However, from the standpoint of historical materialism, the “capital” that Marx pays attention to constitutes the limit of Habermas’s “dialogue” activities.

Symbolism of the Philosopheme of Dialogue in Modern Philosophical Discourse

Symbolism of the Philosopheme of Dialogue in Modern Philosophical Discourse

Render or Reality? Virtuality and the Crysis of Distinction in Contemporary Philosophy

Modern philosophy tends to consider human reality in more and more interdisciplinary contexts. Thanks to that, at first traditional, and now new media as well as IT, attract philosophers’ attention and provide material for thinking over a lot of so-called “eternal philosophical questions”. Among them, there are some of the broadest questions: a) catching the margins of the real; b) understanding, which phenomena and objects to constitute human might be called real. The key goal of this article is to research one of the crucial concepts, which brings us to understanding reality, – the notion of virtuality. The author of this paper outlines background of this notion, describes its characteristics and usage in modern philosophical discourse. First of all, virtual is described in its connotations to all three dimensions of time being: past, present, and future. It is argued that the notion of virtuality at first used to be “rediscovered” by Gilles Deleuze, but then it has experienced crucial changes in philosophy of the XXth and XXIst centuries. By means of that, virtual is discussed as a counterpart of the concept of reality. In particular, this article touches upon a variety of connotations between the notions of virtuality, reality and actuality. It also shows the context of juxtaposition of the aforementioned notions. What is more, this paper reveals moral aspects of virtuality both in transcendental and as immanent senses. This article shows the background of indistinguishability for “real” and “virtual”. Finally, it is stated that in the situation of so-called “substituted reality” the multiplicity of connotations of the notion of virtuality ought to be used to rediscover the notion of reality itself.

Історико-філософський погляд на феномен демократії

As a form of social life democracy is around for over 2,500 years. The development of democracy is noted to be as a large-scale process in the XXIst century, that became a factor determining the totality of social and legal relations in the world. The today’s democracy as a form of socio-political system of the state, acquired a form different from the democracy that emerged in Athens and which was perceived as perfect and equated to the goddess, whose sanctity was not in doubt and did not allow encroachment. We believe that the transformation of democracy requires reflection. The purpose of the article is to generalize the researchers’s views of different historical epochs on the democracy phenomenon. The democracy, at the time of its inception, was the ideas bearer of the concept of socio-political order, in opposition to the pyramidal-hierarchical social relations. The democracy is also noted to not be approved throughout the history of its existence, which is confirmed by the statements of Plato, Aristotle, Churchill W. and others. However, it is also pointed out that at present the change of attitude to democracy is conceptually fixed, so a variable number of democracy assessments, as well as democracy as a phenomenon itself, have acquired considerable variants. Conclusions. In contrast to the limited classical democracy definition in modern philosophical discourse, this concept is quite broad and has nuances that are emphasized by researchers. Experts proves that democracy is always built in a particular society, thus acquiring unique features. According to researchers, it is a process that requires time, patience and the ability to use the result. In addition, it cannot be achieved by giving only the right to choose, nor as a recipe to “write”, it requires knowledge and skills, which are the result of experience with mistakes and victories. This was emphasized by both ancient highly intelligent youth and modern researchers. Key words: aristocracy, democracy, people, power, polyarchy, democracy waves.

EDUCATION AS A KEY STRATEGY OF POSTMODERN PHILOSOPHY: OVERCOMING THE TRAUMA OF NON-FREEDOM

The formation of personality attracted the attention of both classics of philosophical thought, in particular the works of C. Pierce, Z. Freud, and representatives of modern philosophical discourse (Z. Bauman, P. Ricceur, J. Hararri, K. Wilber). Recent research states that the main obstacle to formation of the individual and society is cultural trauma that arises as a result of the development of totalitarian colonial societies in the twentieth century. The concept of cultural trauma is analyzed in the studies of J. Alexander, С. Сaruth , A. Neаl. The aim is to explore the individual in modern and postmodern paradigm, the application of concepts of development, education, self-development and self-education of the individual in postmodern discourse, to consider education and self-development as key strategies of postmodern philosophy in overcoming totalitarian cultural trauma. Scientific novelty. It is stated that education, development and self-development of the individual become main strategies of information age and postmodern culture, which contributes to overcoming the totalitarian colonial traumatic experience. The personality in modern and postmodern paradigm (concepts, attitude to the personality, processes of education, social institutions, self-education) is investigated. It should be noted that self-development of the individual will acquire a global scale: whether it is measured by the coefficient of happiness or economic efficiency of a society, there are scientific debates, one thing is certain - at the same time education, self-education and upbringing become the deal of not individual countries, but humanity on the whole. Conclusions. 1. In the modern paradigm, the individual implicitly contains the antithesis of mental and physical origin, immutability, and hence eternity, and development as a certain adaptation of man to external circumstances of socio-cultural life. 2. Postmodernism replaces this contradiction with the controversy or dialectic of personality as unchanging, perfect and at the same time constantly growing under the influence of both external and internal factors, the application of the concepts of self-development and self-education philosophical paradigm, as modern and colonial discourse seeks to do. 3. Based on the presented argumentation, the conclusion is made about education and self-development as key strategies of postmodern philosophy in overcoming totalitarian cultural trauma of imprisonment.

Introduction to the treatise “Ocean of Reasoning: a Great Commentary on the Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā” by Je Tsongkhapa

The subject of this research is the content of the Tibetan text –  famous commentary work of the prominent Buddhist reformer and founder of the Gelugpa School Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) – “Ocean of Reasoning: a Great Commentary on the Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā” known as "Wisdom"." (“dBu-ma-rtsa-ba’i-tshig-leur-byas-pa-shes-rab-ces-bya-ba’i-rnam-bshad-rigs-pa’i-rgya-mtsho-zhes-bya-ba-bzhugs-so”). It analyzes the content of the chapter of preliminary guidelines Tsongkhapa's writing, and preambular part of Tsongkhapa's authorial commentary to “Mūlamadhyamakakārikā”, referred to as the “introductory part” of the “Ocean of Reasoning”. The research is based on the materials translated by the author from the Tibetan language, which is the first ever translation of the original text into the Russian language. Analysis of the works of  Tsongkhapa allows concluding that it is the fundamental logical-analytical research of the “Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā” carried out in Indo-Tibetan scholastic tradition, with attraction of multiple Buddhist primary sources – Sutras and Shastras, including basic Indian commentaries to Nāgārjuna's thesis, written by the ancient Indian philosophers Buddhapalita, Bhāviveka, and Candrakīrti. This text is an important source for introducing into the modern philosophical discourse of the doctrine of Madhyamaka School, represented particularly by the Tibetan Prāsaṅgika interpreters through Je Tsongkhapa.

Типология отступничества (апостасии) в христианском историко-культурном контексте

The paper features apostasy as a cultural-historical, ecclesiastic law, eschatological, spiritual, and moral phenomenon. The author focuses on the eschatological, spiritual, and moral aspects of the issue in the context of religious and philosophical discourse to perform a comparative and typological analysis of the causes of social conflicts and violence. The article introduces a typology of apostasy in the early Christian cultural and historical context based on the concept of Christian anthropology. The research also revealed a number of reasons behind the phenomenon of apostasy as a classification of its forms and directions. The author made an attempt to find a basis for apostasy classification, its essential directions, and reference types, as well as to identify the main criteria for the present study and its ontological premises. The author believes that the phenomenon of apostasy should be studied in the cultural and historical context. The research objective was to show the relevance of spiritual and moral issues in the modern philosophical discourse, thus preventing interreligious and social conflicts, violence, extremism, and terrorism.

A philosophy of cultural modernity: Márkus’s contribution to the philosophy of culture

As Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney for over 20 years (1978–2001), György Márkus exerted a profound influence on a generation of philosophers and students from many disciplinary backgrounds. His legendary lecture courses, spanning the history of modern philosophy from the Enlightenment through to the late 20th century, were memorable for their breadth, erudition, and philosophical drama. Always modest despite his mastery of the tradition, Márkus’s approach to this history of philosophy never failed to emphasize its continuing role in shaping our inherited understanding of philosophy as ‘its own time comprehended in thoughts’ (Hegel). This is especially true of his contribution to the philosophical discourse of modernity, which we could summarize as comprising an original philosophy of cultural modernity. In what follows, I briefly reconstruct Márkus’s account of the adventures of the concept of culture, focusing on his definitive essay ‘The Path of Culture: From the Refined to the High, From the Popular to Mass Culture’ (2013) but also referring to other relevant Márkus texts, offering some critical remarks on his account of culture and its relationship with modern aesthetics, both classical and contemporary.

La diferencia como complemento de la igualdad en la protección de los derechos fundamentales. Elementos teóricos para su consideración

El presente trabajo aborda críticamente la influencia del discurso político y filosófico en la comprensión de los derechos fundamentales, particularmente desde la crítica a las nociones de sujeto abstracto y titularidad universal. Este ejercicio propone la noción de diferencia como complemento epistémico para la comprensión de estos derechos, que permita situar a sus titulares en la materialidad que condiciona el ejercicio. Esta exploración tiene como horizonte una reconstrucción del discurso de los derechos desde una epistemología materialista de la diferencia y la subalternidad, que considere dicha condición en su ejercicio, especialmente cuando se trata de garantizar la igualdad de personas pertenecientes a grupos sociales cuya identidad se configura, como en el caso de las personas migrantes, desde la diferencia.

Masonic symbolism in the context of philosophical anthropology searches

The article is dedicated to the Masonic ideas influence on a symbolism interpretation in anthropology, vision of the Masonic symbolism in Masonic ideas influence on a modern philosophical discourse. The symbolic codes investigation was opening space for a philosophical discourse, human identity and self-equivalence searches. Masons and philosophers of the 20th century had been working on a same cultural and semantic field, with the same cultural, historical and epistemological universals, considering symbols as a priori language and a priori form of learning. The existence archetypes, sense-creating codes search led Masons to the vision that symbols did not contain the final content, but gave a wide field of the interpretation possibilities, were a gnoseological key, a tool for a self-learning and a “super-reality” learning, for the adept’s gnoseological qualities forming. Masonic ideology was based on “ascribing” to the certain objects some special symbolic meaning, on conviction that by means of symbols it was possible to teach laymen the basics of the independent and free learning process. Masonic convictions say that symbol is marking the space-time relations, performing the communicative processes. Philosophers of the 20th century (C. Levi-Strauss, E. Cassirer, N. Berdyaev and others) gave to the symbols meanings of the objective character and of the values, they opened the reality levels, for which a non-symbolic language did not fit. They considered a person to perceive the symbols of the object and not the object itself. Walking a “Masonic path”, these philosophers supposed that symbols were forming the goal-setting senses which could be conceived by civilizations, values, tastes, fashion. So, for people of Modernity, “society” became a symbol of the people’s uniting in the name of the progress and the democracy. Philosophers began looking at the society as at the historical self-realization process, as at the knowledge and self-knowing tool. It can be assumed that “Masonic phenomenon” in European philosophy influenced the scientific search directions forming. The classified masonic discourses gave birth to the thoughts which later transformed into philosophical concepts of the 20th century.

Виртуальное пространство и понятие «места» в современной философии

The article examines the phenomenon of virtual space formed by modern informational and communicative environment. Technological virtual space establishes its own principles of spatial-temporal arrangement where the individual user occupies a certain “place”. The paper provides a philosophical analysis of this conception in the context of modern philosophical discourse. Semiotic, anthropological, socio-cultural, historical and aesthetic meaning of the human’s virtual “place” is identified. The author shows how closed informational systems enrich and modify social environment. The findings can be used while studying means of mass communication and history of modern philosophy.

Jurgen Habermas' turn to a "post-secular society": from sublation of the sacred to translation of the sacred

In this article I place Jurgen Habermas' recent turn to a "post-secular society" in the context of his previous defence of a "postmetaphysical" view of modernity. My argument is that the concept of "postsecular" introduces significant normative tensions for the formal and pragmatic view of reason defended by Habermas in previous work. In particular, the turn to a "post-secular society" threatens the evolutionary narrative that Habermas (following Weber) espoused in The Theory of Communicative Action (1981, 1987), The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity (1990) or Postmetaphysical Thinking (1992), according to which modern "communicative" reason dialecticlly supersedes religion. If this narrative is undermined, I argue, the claim to universality of "communicative" reason is also undermined. Thus, the benefits Habermas seeks to obtain from translation of religion are offset by a destabilization of tenets central to a "postmetaphysical" view of modernity.

Amílcar Cabral’s modernist philosophy of culture and cultural liberation

ABSTRACT This article argues that Amílcar Cabral adhered to some of the essential elements of the philosophical discourse of modernity. This commitment led Cabral to endorse an anti-essentialist, historicized conception of culture, and this in turn led him to conceive of cultural liberation in terms of cultural autonomy as opposed to the preservation of indigenous culture(s). Cabral’s attitude towards languages is employed as a case study in order to demonstrate how emphasis on Cabral’s commitment to the philosophical discourse of modernity can help explain why he could denounce ‘colonialist culture’, while also defending the PAIGC’s (Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde / African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) use of Portuguese as an official language. This essay argues that Cabral makes a significant distinction between foreign influences and foreign domination in the realm of culture. Cabral conceived of the anti-colonial struggle in the realm of culture as a struggle against the latter rather than the former.