Philosophical Problems Research Articles

Typology and specificity of biology philosophical problems

The article examines a new complexity problem of ontology brought to life by technical interventions in living systems. The object is the philosophical problems of biology, the subject of the research is to identify the specifics and typology of the philosophical problems of biology.The development of experimental technology predetermined the transition of biology to the molecular (genomic) level, which made it one of the leaders among the natural sciences. Biology is changing the scientific picture of the world within the framework of cybernetic ontology, a new paradigm, wherein molecules are used as vehicles for transmitting information, and life sciences are transformed into “technobiological art.” The nature of scientific knowledge transforms subject-object relations, knowledge is determined by techno-scientific methods and techniques in the field of biomedical and information technologies. Practical and theoretical schemes of biology act as a special model of experimental measurement practice and as a project of technical action.Technology raises many socio-ethical issues that go beyond the purview of natural scientists and engineers. Both philosophers and natural scientists are disturbed by the idea that the development of natural science has changed or will change in the nearest future civilization and the destinies of mankind.

The Extreme Right as a Philosophical and Psychoanalytic Problem: About “Liber-Fascism” and its Modalities of Jouissance

El presente artículo tiene por objetivo problematizar, desde un punto de vista sociopolítico y psicoanalítico, el actual auge de las nuevas derechas en América Latina. Si bien este renacimiento extremista es denominado en términos vagos e indicativos como “fascismo”, consideramos que, luego de un análisis detenido, las extremas derechas de ahora no son simples repeticiones de los fascismos del s. XX. Se trata de una gubernamentalidad e ideología inéditas que, por un lado, no se reducen al neoliberalismo y, por otro lado, sobrepasan a la alt-right europea-anglosajona y al libertarismo contemporáneo. Le damos el nombre particular de liberfascismo, en la medida en que trae un nuevo modo de subjetivación política: el defensor de sí. Para esto, dividimos el texto en dos apartados. En el primero discutimos las particularidades sociopolíticas del liberfascismo: el surgimiento de una ontología social del defensor de sí que concibe al mercado capitalista como una instancia a defender valiéndose de noticias falsas, teorías de la conspiración y, por supuesto, violencia organizada. En el segundo, esclarecemos el funcionamiento del inconsciente liberfascista analizando la peculiaridad de su fantasía: se trata de una ideología que, en su relación con los otros, utiliza a la violencia ya no como simple medio, sino como vehículo de goce.

Пифагорейский аргумент разумного замысла вселенной и его критика. Статья 2: Пифагорейская стратегия физики

Since the time of Galileo and Newton, physics has been engineered as a mathematical discipline, seeking its axioms, laws of nature, by means of specially organized experiments. The motivation of specifi cally this mode of cognizing nature was explored in the fi rst paper of this series, in which Christian Platonism and the Pythagorean crede of the founding fathers of modernity’s physics were discussed. The present article aims to lay out the cognitive strategy of physics as revealed by refl ecting upon its seminal discoveries. One central inquiry concerning physics is how exactly it has mined its axioms. Merely pointing to experimentation is insuffi cient. Experiments are conceived and executed as verifi cation of an already-formulated hypothesis, without which it would be indeterminate what should be observed and what there is to do with those observations. A hypothesis for a law is not derived from an experiment; on the contrary, it defi nes the experiment in order to be rigorously scrutinized by it. The objective of this article is to demonstrate on facts that the strategy for hypothesizing physical laws has invariably emanated from the same wellspring as the originating metaphysical credo. This Pythagorean strategy is founded on the belief in mathematical elegance, high precision, and the universality of the sought-after axioms of matter. The quest for hypotheses went along the pathways of universal mathematical symmetries, equivalencies, invariances, correspondences, and analogies–complex enough to account for a plethora of relevant phenomena, yet simple enough to facilitate scientifi c discovery. We are not the fi rst to propound this Pythagorean understanding of physics. This concept, as well as the term ‘Pythagorean strategy,’ was a quarter-century ago formulated and developed by the American-Israeli philosopher Mark Steiner (1942–2020) in his monograph, “The Applicability of Mathematics as a Philosophical Problem.” The present article serves as a free contemplation in the footsteps of that brilliant and still largely unparalleled tome.

Dialektis Gademer

<p>Hans-Georg Gadamer is one of the thinkers who falls into the group of ontological hermeneutics. Gadamer matured the idea of consciousness, interpretation of texts and phenomena and discovered the philosophical problem of developing an ontology of understanding objectively in progress. Hermeneutics is always related to language. Gadamer stated that language is the modus operandi of humans' way of being in the world and a form that seems to embrace the entire constitution of the world. For Gadamer, language is time, human existence, being, and truth. Mastery of a language and its unique set of experiences and traditions is the main requirement for the disclosure of ontology itself. The important point of Gadamer's hermeneutic theory refers to the hermeneutic circle regarding dialectical understanding. Dialectical understanding is a process of historical awareness, born due to the involvement of the dimensions of time, namely past, present and future. Truth is achieved when there is a fusion of the horizons of the text, actors and interpreters (fusion horizon). In this understanding, the involvement of language becomes very important. Interpretation is not just reproductive work but rather productive understanding, giving birth to new interpretations and meanings. Gadamer formulated two forms of understanding, namely understanding the truth content and understanding the intention. Understanding content means understanding the meaning contained in the propositions and substance of the text material. Understanding intention means understanding the conditions or situations behind a phenomenon or text. Understanding this second aspect then became Gadamer's attention as an awareness of historical understanding. Historical understanding is obtained through the proposition of historicity, where the awareness of the subject (text interpreter) in carrying out analysis (text interpretation) is required to be inseparable from the study of historical experiences related to the text. Understanding the text is understanding history with the principles of space and time).</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong><strong>:</strong> Gademer, Dialectics, Hermeneutics, Understanding.</p>

The philosophical questions of the counselees

I propose the view that the philosophical counselling has to be “client oriented” that is, oriented by the counselees’ philosophical questions. Counselees are not always aware of the philosophical aspects of the dilemmas, confusions, conflicts etc. behind their sense of inability to deal satisfactorily with their difficulties. Unless they are already philosophers, they do not tend to conceive their personal philosophical problem as a particular instance of a general philosophical problem. Even if they do, they are not always capable to formulate philosophical questions. Yet they do have philosophical questions. They have such questions because, whatever have caused them to conceive something as a problem in their problem-situation, some ready-made, mostly inherited unexamined, taken for granted philosophical answers to possible philosophical questions are, so to speak, “called into question”. People, including philosophers, learn such answers unknowingly (of course, not as answers but as “evident truths”, “facts”, “moral imperatives” etc.), before it occurs to them that such questions can be asked. Most of our beliefs, including the philosophical ones, belong to that category of answers to unasked questions. The pretension to be able to hold only examined beliefs is, therefore, non-realistic, and it is mistaken to assume that the unexamined ideas are the cause of our difficulties. The philosophical counsellor, as a trained philosopher, should know how to help the counselees realize what is at stake, formulate explicitly their questions, examine the unsatisfactory answers and explore alternatives ones - that is what philosophers normally do when they want to help colleagues, students (or past philosophers) who “got stuck” in their philosophical projects. I deal with the implications of that conviction for philosophical counselling.

НИГИЛИЗМ КАК ФЕНОМЕН В ЗАПАДНОЕВРОПЕЙСКОЙ ФИЛОСОФСКО-АНТРОПОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ ТРАДИЦИИ

Статья посвящена рассмотрению эволюции феномена нигилизма в западноевропейской философско-антропологической мысли. В ней отмечается неоднозначный характер протекания и становления нового неклассического дискурса в философии ХХ века, его влияние на формирование современных философских течений современности, который был закономерным явлением на фоне мировоззренческого «голода» в Европе, некоего духовного тупика. Несмотря на то, что нигилизм ярко проявляется лишь со второй половины XIX века, в современной Европе ныне вновь наблюдаются признаки упадка духовных ценностей, поиск новой формулы развития европейского общества на фоне кризиса процессов глобализации во всём мире.Кроме того, в статье также косвенно затрагивается вопрос рецепции культур-философских идей Востока, без которого нигилизм как философское учение невозможен. Отмечается, что современная эпоха с её трагическими метаморфозами проистекает из-за усугубления философско-антропологических проблем современности, ведущих к проявлению нигилизма в её различных формах. Интерес к нигилизму обусловлен логикой и историей развития человека, в особенности в XXI веке, когда происходит ломка международных отношений, основанных на понятиях права и морали; когда сами государства, порой сознательно, становятся на зыбкий путь государственного нигилизма со всеми вытекающими антигуманными и катастрофическими последствиями своих действий, обусловливая свою политику идеологемой о защите национальных интересов.Конечно, движение к нигилизму по-своему закономерно, ибо современность требует иных подходов и методологии решения, как назревших глобальных, так и локальных проблем. Кроме того, в нигилизме отражается диалектика бытия, становление нового и изменение старого, и как любой процесс трансформации он болезнен и порой катастрофичен. Поэтому современная система мироустройства нуждается в переосмыслении и поиске новой гуманистической парадигмы, культурном и философском сближении и взаимодействии.Таким образом, вполне оправданно можно утверждать о существовании правового, морального, политического, метафизического, онтологического, методологического, психологического, мереологического аспектов нигилизма, которые берут своё начало от философских и собственно аксиологических оснований субъекта. Тем не менее, статья не преследует цель раскрыть это многогранное понятие в его различных вариациях, ввиду сложности осмысления нигилизма в контексте исторических, экономических, политических, экономических, социальных, культурных и иных основаниях бытия, хотя и указывает на наличие таковой связи.

The Reflection of Love in the Kurdish Novel

Love is one of the most important themes of literature. This is the main theme of stories such as Romeo and Juliet, Aucassin û Nicolette and Leyla and Majnun. However, many social, religious and philosophical problems are also discussed within the framework of the love story that these people experience. We can say something similar about Kurdish literature. In both classical and modern literature, the theme of love has been used as a tool for the expression of important problems. We can see a similar situation in the Kurdish novel. In this context, this study analyzes four kurdish novels whose main theme is love. These novels are Mehmet Uzun's Sîya Evînê, Helîm Yusiv’s Sobarto, Çîdem Baran's Li Peravê Torê Tora Evînê and Bextiyar Elî's Êvara Perwane. Although the main theme of Sîya Evînê is the love between Memdûh Selîm Beg and Feriha, the problematic of nationalism, colonialism in Sobarto, Kurdish identity in Li Peravê Torê Tora Evînê and the problem of subjectivity in Êvara Perwane are discussed. As a result, different political and social issues are discussed within the framework of the stories of the lovers.

Problem Argumen Improbabilitas dalam The God Delusion: Kritik terhadap New Atheism Dawkins

This article aims to criticize the improbability argument put forth by Dawkins, which serves as the central thesis in the new atheism. Dawkins uses this thesis to justify religion as the root of evil and violence, while also forms the basis for the denial of the existence of God. The improbability argument fundamentally has some issues ontologically, epistemologically, and ethically. Dawkins constructs the improbability argument by referring to his explanation in “The Ultimate Boeing 747” and the theory of natural selection, in which he considers creation from nothingness to be as improbable as the spontaneous formation of a Boeing 747 from a tornado’s debris. Dawkins also criticizes the NOMA perspective that positions Science and Theology as equals. Through the framework of critical realism, this article demonstrates the philosophical problems in Dawkins’ improbability argument, which reduces reality (ontology) based on subjective perception (epistemology), and thus obscuring the uniqueness of natural phenomenon and negating the existence of God. Alternative ethical perspectives regarding religion and God are presented to address Dawkins’ accusations to religion as a source of evil and violence.

Neo-Pyrrhonism: a contemporary version of skepticism

This paper presents and argues for a contemporary version of skepticism: neo-Pyrrhonism. Interest in the history of skepticism engendered a new, more complex and attractive conception of skepticism. Accordingly, many philosophers now claim they are skeptics. In line with what they say, I develop neo-Pyrrhonism as I see it. It has a negative part, in which dogmas are criticized, and a positive one: first, the neo-Pyrrhonist lives his life according to his skeptical principles and following everyday life, and, second, he is able to describe philosophically his skeptical view of the world, thereby offering possible solutions to philosophical problems empirically conceived.

Reviving trace: photographic image within the treatment of pain experiences

Recognition the importance of other people’s experiences is one of the urgent philosophical problems. If by the middle of the 19th century people encountered painful experiences of others directly or through witnesses, since then after the advent of media technologies, the role of the witness was replaced by the anonymous visual. Visual images are formations whose structure avoids ambiguity and creates a field for multiple interpretations. This duality is well reflected by the nature of the photographic image. It is characterized by a dialectical tension: on the one hand, capturing someone’s painful experience the photograph represents the mental state of a person, but on the other hand, it raises the question of an unambiguous attitude towards it. The ambiguity of the photographic image yields a dilemma: either to accept what we see on faith and base our moral discussion of events on it alone, or to analyze the action of the forces hidden in the work of the photographic image. To talk about photographing suffering means to declare a certain ethical and political position. The case of the photograph problematizes the requirement of ethical involvement, because the photograph can simply be ignored. The article shows how the photographic image communicates the criteria, using which a perceiver is able to fit what he sees into the context of his own political and social world. Having performed the act of recognition, a perceiver is able to politicize human life as an irreplaceable value. In such acts, he actualizes his own subjectivity through the recognition of the photographic image as a part of common shared reality. He perceives the signs of someone else’s pain in the photo as a reason to reflect on human vulnerability. For this, the perceiver must carry out a complex procedure of image interpretation, stripping it off anonymous universal features.

Репрезентация концепта «ангел» в романах Ф.М. Достоевского

The paper analyzes the representation of the concept ‘angel’ in the novels of F.M. Dostoevsky. The content of the concept ‘angel’, which is an important component of Dostoevsky’s conceptosphere, is also described. Universal content of the concept ‘angel’ in Dostoevsky’s works is represented in the context of philosophical problems of his works, which are expressed in the foundation of the human’s contradictory spiritual choice in the situation of chaos; in the necessity of a personal path to the divine truth and meaning of existence. Especially noted the inconsistency of human perception of the concept ‘angel’, which combines an exalted adoration of the deity with a desire to destroy it. The concept of ‘angel’ in Dostoevsky’s interpretation has universal features descending from the biblical interpretation of the image, but it is also included in the philosophical issues outlined. ‘Angel’ appears both in its absolute, universal meaning and also as the embodiment of human reflection — as an internally contradictory narrative, a message about the simultaneous greatness and falling of man. The intrinsic conflict of the conceptual content of the ‘angelic’ manifests through both profane and noble perception and usage of it by the protagonists. However, there is no conflict in the true destiny of the hero, who realizes the mission of an angel in the world. The concept passes from the verbal level to the event level, and at this level it loses its inner conflict and is embodied in the basic meaning of the concept of angel, losing its subjectivity and contradictory human interpretations.

Paradoxical Anthropology in Digital Age. Book Review: Human as an Open Integrity: Monograph / Ed. by L. P. Kiyashchenko, T. A. Sidorova. Novosibirsk: Akademizdat, 2022. 420 p.

Relevance. The problem of understanding the essence of man as a complex integral system with stable characteristics and inexhaustible adaptive potential, which helps a person not only to adapt to a changing world, but also to design and create it, has always interested philosophers of several generations. With a significant number of works on this topic, the human phenomenon opens up with new facets.The purpose of the article is to review the collective monograph "Human as an open integrity".Objectives: to draw the attention of the philosophical community to the current problems of human philosophy in the digital age; to show the polyphony of the authors' points of view, forming a holistic concept of procreation as a defining characteristic of a person.Methodology. The article uses a transdisciplinary approach, which is the best suited for studying such a multidimensional object as a person, allows you to expand the usual angles, go beyond the boundaries of well-known disciplinary theoretical constructs. The authors use the method of critical analysis to comprehend the main ideas of the book.Results. Among the publications of recent years on anthropology, the collection of scientific articles " Human as an open integrity" stands out for its debatable nature, a free lively dialogue of authors reflecting on procreation as an essential characteristic and saving ability of humanity in the current critical period. The concept of procreation in the collection unfolds on two levels, as a creative generation, modeling in a broad interpretation and as a process of procreation in the natural and artificial worlds – in a narrow one.Conclusions. The authors' arguments are built in various ontological paradigms, but as a result, an idea is created about the paradoxical nature of man, comprehended by contradictory but complementary configurators of the external and internal worlds of man as a complex object, about the processes of risk formation and removal, adaptation and preadaptation of man to a new digital reality, about the need for a cross-paradigm communicative approach in understanding man as an open integrity and many other philosophical and anthropological problems.

A. N. Prior’s journey to ‘real’ freedom

Arthur Norman Prior (1914–1969) discovered a way to formalise the tenses into the system now known as ‘tense-logic’. His discovery made it possible for him to defend two strong beliefs of his: tensed realism and real freedom. His analysis and work on the philosophical and theological problems related to these two beliefs constitutes what is perhaps his greatest legacy in analytic philosophy. Recent research in Prior’s nachlass has revealed that he already pondered and wrote on the two issues from his years at Wairarapa High School in New Zealand. With these recent discoveries, it is possible to draw a clearer picture than has hitherto been drawn with regard to Prior’s journey to what he termed ‘real freedom’. The view of freedom he ended up defending as ‘real freedom’ comes close to William James’ view of free will, which Prior termed ‘modern Arminianism’ in 1931 and, during his crisis of faith from 1941 to 1943, viewed as the actual state of affairs. This conclusion is substantiated using Prior’s two models of future contingency as a framework for comparing his own early description of William James’ view of ‘real freedom’ as being grounded in the difference between the past and the future. Prior’s early adherence to James’ view of ‘real freedom’ provides us with an explanation for why he, in 1945 rejected, the theory of middle knowledge; this explains why, even though he knew of an Ockhamist model of the true future, he did not include it in Past, Present and Future (1967) but instead opted for an Ockhamist model in which the contingent future is branch relative.

Organizations and Values in Science and Technology

Abstract This paper articulates a conceptual framework for examining philosophical issues such as the role of values in science at an organizational level. It distinguishes between three dimensions of organizations – organizational aims, organizational structure, and organizational culture – and it examines how these dimensions relate to values in research and development, with a focus on machine learning systems for predictive policing. This framework can be fruitful in identifying interesting and understudied philosophical problems – including those involving inter-organizational divisions of labor – that might otherwise be difficult to conceptualize.

Teaching the Russian literary language to foreign master and postgraduate students within the special course “Modern Russian literature”: key problems and prospects

The article puts insight into current issues of teaching the Russian literary language to foreign under-graduates and postgraduates, specializing in “Linguistics and Intercultural Communication”, in the course of studying “Modern Russian Literature”. We use a broad historical and cultural context to substantiate the fundamental role of Russian literature in the formation of world culture and the global literary canon, and highlight the great influence that such Russian classical writers as Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev and Chekhov had on the development of foreign literature in the East and West. We observe and trace continuity in classical and modern literary eras and the best long-lasting spiritual, moral and linguistic traditions of the Russian people. We assume that the key problems the teacher should focus on are: Russian literature as a significant phenomenon of world culture, the development of classical traditions in the history of Russian literature at present, the dialogue among cultures and the translation of modern writers’ works into foreign languages, historical and philosophical problems in literature, and historical heritage of the Russian language. The article comprehensively studies the Russian language value dimensions and linguistic axiological directions. The data show the presence, stability and preservation of the fundamental values (life, love, truth, good, beauty, hope, grace, honour, etc.) in the Russian literary language. These values form the spiritual conceptual sphere in Russian culture and constitute its main moral foundations. Serious attention is paid to the aesthetics of the language. We show the aesthetic potential, artistic expressiveness and stylistic richness of the modern Russian literary language, based on the works of E. Vodolazkin, L. Ulitskaya, M. Shishkin, M. Kucherskaya, M. Stepnova, D. Rubina and others. We focus on the problem of preserving the Russian literary language and the high status of Russian in general, revealing complex realities of modern multinational and multicultural world. We recommend such modern masterpieces as “Laurel” by E. Vodolazkin, “The God of Rain” by M. Kucherskaya, “The Garden” by M. Stepnova, “The Writer” by M. Shishkin, “Yakov’s Staircase” by L. Ulitskaya as sources to improve literacy and general cultural competence of foreign students.

Neurophilosophy: A Philosophical Analysis for Interpretation of fMRI to Replace the Commonsense Psychology

For thinking, brain activity occurs, yet not every area of our brain is active when we think about various things. There are significant ramifications for cognitive psychology and neuroscience from functional brain areas. It should enable us to apply neurophilosophical theories to the brain. This review aims to draw attention to neurophilosophy and its focus on fundamental problems in neuroscientific theories to address age-old metaphysical issues, i.e., the nature of consciousness, thinking, intention, and action. There are different theories and points of view in the field of neurophilosophy, but eliminative materialists and reductive materialists (a.k.a. mind-brain identity theory) are both strong candidates. Those are very well-established in the philosophy of mind, and they run counter to the development of conceptual succession in neuroscience. Both theorists rely on neuroscience to back up their conclusions about the mind. Eliminative materialism has received a lot of attention from several philosophical points of view. It begins with a critique of commonsense psychology and offers neurophilosophy as an alternative. So, for reductive materialists, mind is brain, whereas for eliminativists mind as brain. Both theorists have different views about mental states to cohere with neurophysiology. The philosophical problem of dualism, as the body/brain (physical), and mind/cognition (mental) is discussed in psychiatry, neuropsychology, and neuroscience. Neurophilosophy deals with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to shed light on psychosocial problems like moral psychology, free will, social interaction, and mood disorders. An fMRI is a neuroimaging technique and an essential tool for bridging cognitive psychology and neurophilosophic theories. It is used to investigate mental resilience, impairments, changes in neural dynamics, and neuroplasticity mainly for brain trauma. I will tie this discussion by discussing fMRI and commonsense psychology as exploratory rather than confirmatory evidence in my conclusion.
 How to cite this: Sohail A. Neurophilosophy: A Philosophical Analysis for Interpretation of fMRI to Replace the Commonsense Psychology. Life and Science. 2023; 4(4): 494-500. doi: http://doi.org/10.37185/LnS.1.1.392

A Proof That the Set of NP-problems is Bigger Than the Set of P-problems by Using a Logical Consideration

The field of informatics is the domain that emerged by applying the mathematical logic on electronic devices called computers in order to simplify many tasks for humans. The application of informatics in all economic and scientific areas is the most important factor that made our civilization reach our current phase of development. Nowadays, the experts and even the beginners of informatics are eager to use quantum computers. However, there is still an unsolved problem of classical theoretical informatics in ordinary electronic computers. It is the famous philosophical problem of the “Millenium Prize” of the Clay Mathematics Institute concerning the complexity of problems that has been treated by many other researchers but without acceptable sufficient answers. A solution to this problem can make all the fields based on informatics make huge progress. And thus, thanks to my short studies about informatics, I present to you this mathematical proof that deals with the sets of P problems, NP-Complete problems and NP-Hard problems in the field of classical electronic computers in order to prove new formulas about the cardinals of each group of complexity problems and about the intersections of each one of these sets. The aim is to contribute to an acceptable solution for this Millenium Problem and the methodology is purely logical and mathematical. The readers won’t need any complicated notions from the background of previous informatics or mathematics research in order to understand the demonstrations of this article since the proof is based only on notions of sets by starting with easy logical considerations. Furthermore, you will find in this work a proof of an interesting theorem about the complexity of problems that allows us to identify NP-problems even if their algorithms have infinite time of execution. This paper ends by proving that the set of NP-Problems is definitely bigger than the set of PProblems. Hence, all the readers are invited to understand and develop this work by inspecting the applied logical considerations in order to succeed in finding a sufficient solution to the interesting Millenium Problem of complexity.

Eternal Life and Human Happiness in Heaven: Philosophical Problems, Thomistic Solutions by Christopher M. Brown (review)

Eternal Life and Human Happiness in Heaven: Philosophical Problems, Thomistic Solutions by Christopher M. Brown (review)

Cultural-Perceptions of Russia and Russians in China Today

The study of cultural-perception of countries and peoples’ has been gaining momentum in history, literary studies, ethnopsychology, journalism, imagology and other fields of scientific knowledge over the past decade. The cultrual-perception is constructed by ethnic, religious, political, ideological and artistic frames of perceptual consciousness. In connection with the development of Russian-Chinese relations, the topic of rethinking Oriental studies in line with the framework of the studies of philosophical and cultural problems is especially relevant today. The novelty of the research consists in updating the data already available in scientific publications on the culturalperception of Russia and Russians by the Chinese. This article examines the cultural-perception of Russia and Russians in China based on the results of polls conducted by the authors in 2021–2022. The poll contained open-ended questions concerning associations with Russia, symbols of the country, names of famous Russians, the Russian character, and Russian cities. The data obtained helped to identify and confirm certain historical patterns and stereotypes concerning the perception of the Russian character. The analysis of the poll results showed that Chinese people’s perceptions of Russia depend largely on their personal experience with Russians. The Chinese who have not been to Russia have an image of our country closely associated with that of the Soviet Union; they have a vague idea of contemporary life in Russia but are quite familiar with the works of Russian classics writers and composers. The Chinese permanent residents of the Russian Federation are more aware of both the classical and contemporary culture of the Russians. In addition, the personality of Russian President Vladimir Putin plays an important role in shaping the current perception of Russia in China. Putin's personality plays an important role in shaping the current perception of Russia.

В. В. Загладин и И. Т. Фролов: Уникальный тандем советской глобалистики

The presented work is a kind of mix (synthesis) of the scientific and organizational components of the activities of the ‘Global Problems’ section of the Scientific Council under the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences on the complex problem ‘Philosophical and social problems of science and technology’, and the author's personal impressions of cooperation with its leaders – Vadim Valentinovich Zagladin (1927–2006) and Ivan Timofeevich Frolov (1929–1999). It is with their names that the emergence in the early 1980s is connected and the subsequent constructive dynamism of Marxist studies in the field of global problems, partially curtailed with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and revived at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries in the form of the phenomenon of global processes.