Status Of Philosophy Research Articles

Mysticism instead of Metaphysics: Marion's Phenomenology of Revelation

In a dense and important text that has recently been published in the Vienna Yearbook for Philosophy, Jean-Luc Marion treats the topic of the complex relationship between phenomenology and theology by inquiring into the philosophical status of mysticism. Whereas the concept and meaning of the mystical commonly have become problematic and suspicious, Christian faith remains based on the »revelation of the mustêrion« (Romans 16, 25). If, in this sense, theology is always already a mystical one, it has to take into account the specific phenomenality of such a manifestation of the mystery the Bible is testifying. By learning from phenomenology to better see what there is being given, theology can help phenomenology to become clear-eyed and to be no longer blinkered by transcendental restrictions of classical apriori-metaphysics.

WOKÓŁ BEZPIECZEŃSTWA EGZYSTENCJALNEGO, CZYLI WSPÓŁCZESNE POGLĄDY FILOZOFICZNE NA PRZEMIJANIE

This is the final – fourth article of the series of texts focusing on problems of human transience. Hence, it is the culmination of focus on tribulations considered to be the rudimentary (as basic and commencing) aspects of our sense of security. And is considered to be an essential (fundamental) manifestation of the destruction of human existence. Death – transience of life, as a physical parameter and evolutionary mechanism is defined by the very laws of nature, which does not change and remains an inexhaustible source of human anxiety, and reflective understanding leading to consciousness of very immediate dimension of our mortality. Transience is a sign of ephemerality of existence and, therefore, it makes us realize the irrationality of human existence scattering in the shadow of death and dying. Consequently, the considerations contained in the article relate to the security as projection of being in manifestation of reflective thinking about worldliness, which does not relieve us of a dread of temporariness, when focused on short-lived and temporary life. From this point of view, the authors’ direct attention to philosophical statements and views, that belong to the existential rhetoric. For that reason, among the fascinating authors of the philosophy of life there are thinkers who are interested in the thanatological discourse. In the text authors are presenting the views of contemporary thinkers, with reference to the positions of Friedrich Nietzsche, Erasmus Majewski, Wilhelm Dilthey, Miguel de Unamuno, Nikolai Berdyaev, Lev Shestov, Carl Gustav Jung, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Karl Jaspers, Gabriel Marcel, Martin Heidegger, Albert Camus, Paul Ricoeur, Emmanuel Levinas, Vladimir Jankelevitch, Henryk Elezenberg, Józef Tischner, Jan Szczepański, Józef Bańka, Zygmunt Bauman and others – those who disseminate on the issues of the securitization, in its existential stratum.

Исследование рецепции паламизма в русской мысли начала XX в.: вопрос о философском статусе паламизма и варлаамизма, его решения и контекст

Исследование рецепции паламизма в русской мысли начала XX в.: вопрос о философском статусе паламизма и варлаамизма, его решения и контекст

Interpolaciones del pensamiento teosófico en la creación pictórica de Frantisek Kupka

El artista checo František Kupka (1871-1957) se inicia en los estudios teosóficos desde muy joven, especialmente cuando comienza a estudiar en Praga, pero será durante su estancia en Viena, cuando sus contactos con los fundamentos de esta corriente filosófica comiencen a tener una mayor impronta en sus perspectivas teóricas como prácticas. El artista, asiduo lector de las filosofías herméticas y orientales, sobre todo de los tratados realizados por H.P. Blavatsky, A. Besant y C. W. Leadbeater, comenzará a extraer información concreta, en torno a los principios de la génesis, así como las interrelaciones entre ciencia y doctrina ocultista, que irán configurando la construcción de su universo pictórico. Las alusiones a la génesis, mediante la configuración representativa del loto, el agua, el feto y el huevo áureo le adentrarán en las teorías emanacionistas de la teosofía. Igualmente, muchos de estos elementos formales demuestran su interés por la imaginería hinduista.

COGNITIVE AND ONTOLOGICAL ESSENCE OF AXIOLOGICAL DOMINANTS AND PRINCIPLES OF THEIR TAXONOMY IN DIACHRONIC AND SYNCHRONIC REVIEW

The article provides a critical outline of elucidation of the cognitive and ontological essence of axiological dominants with the representatives of different cultures of language and a definition of the principles of their taxonomy in diachronic and synchronic review. The author makes a hypothesis that philosophical and axiological thoughts on this matter have not been homogeneous as in diachronic sense of its study (in particular, in the ancient world, the Middle Ages and Modern period etc.) so as in synchronic segment. It is proved that despite the ancient philosophers’ efforts such major value concepts as “Truth”, “Good”, “Beauty”, “Benefit” were left without clear understanding. Thus, they were not differentiated. The attempts of philosophical categorisation and conceptualisation remained to be undertaken by Renaissance scientists and thinkers. However, the notion “value” gets its philosophic status only in the Modern period, which was critical for the development of values taxonomy. The article argues that only after establishment of axiology as an independent philosophical doctrine it was possible to articulate four fundamental principles of the values structure: ontological, which makes it possible to explain scientifically the existential localisation of values and their correlation to human existence; gnoseological (or cognitive), with the help of which we experience values and necessity to study their correlation on the basis of both formalised principle, which is used for general rules of taxonomic hierarchy of values, and conceptual principle, which reveals the essence of values and determines their place in the defined hierarchy. The researcher introduces a new ethnosemiometric vector of axiological issues development directly within linguistics, which will enable to assess axiological dominants with the representatives of different cultures of language relying on the given values taxonomy and values hierarchy.

Symbolist Publicism as an Outlook Model of the Silver Age

Abstract In the article the methodological and applied criteria of symbolist publicism as an independent form of analytical journalism are defined. The subject of the research is the argumentative basis and semantic resources of public statements of philosophers and writers, i.e. the representatives of Russian symbolism. The relevance of the topic is due to the crisis of modern publicism, which becomes similar to a product and leads to mental and moral enslavement. The general purpose of the study is the legitimization of the term «symbolist publicism». Genre-stylistic peculiarities of symbolist text-making, as well the outlook landmarks of symbolic representatives of the Silver Age, were studied by E. Kassierer, M. Voskresenskaya, A. Mazurchuk, O. Matyushkin, O. Ponomarev, L. Kravets, and others.

Interweaving Realities: Spoken Language and Moving Images in the Sonne halt!, Experimental Film by Ferry Radax

This paper analyses the experimental film Sonne halt! by Ferry Radax, an Austrian filmmaker renowned for his unconventional approach to cinematic practice. Filmed and edited between the end of the 1950s and early 1960s, the film at first may appear to be a belated homage to the previous European experiments in avant-garde cinema, already carried out a few decades earlier. However, since there have been no great ‘historical avant-garde’ movements in Vienna in the period between the two world wars – according to the novel argument made by Klaus Kastberger – it was already the middle of the 20th century when the ‘original’ avant-garde strategies were finally acknowledged in Austria, and simultaneously appropriated by the ‘neo-avant-garde’. In this peculiar historico-cultural context Sonne halt!, in its fragmentary non-narrative structure which resembles Dadaist or Surrealist playfulness and openness, innovatively and radically interweaved two disparate film registers: moving image and spoken language. Various sentences arbitrarily enounced throughout the film – which have their origin in Konrad Bayer’s unfinished experimental, pseudo-autobiographical, montage novel der sechste sinn – do not constitute dialogues or narration of a traditional movie script but rather a random collection of fictional and philosophical statements. At certain moments there is a lack of rapport between moving image and speech – an experimental attempt by Ferry Radax to challenge one of the most common principles of sound and narrative cinema. By deconstructing Sonne halt! to its linguistic and cinematic aspects, this article particularly focuses on the role of verbal commentaries within the film. Article received: December 28, 2017; Article accepted: January 10, 2018; Published online: April 15, 2018; Original scholarly paper How to cite this article: Bešlagić, Luka. "Interweaving Realities: Spoken Language and Moving Images in the Sonne halt!, Experimental Film by Ferry Radax." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 15 (2018): 35–45. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i15.228

The Status of Philosophy During the Communist Regime in Romania

The text approaches the status of Romanian philosophy during the communist period from two points of view: a) that of speech: while a new philosophical vocabulary becomes official, the old one fades away; b) that of the communist educational system. My analysis will consider the first period (1950-1960) in which “the new philosophy” (Dialectical Materialism, DIAMAT) was disseminated in society, and the second period (1970-1980) in which Marxism could not be reduced to DIAMAT. Are these periods subsumed to the universal ideology (DIAMAT) or not?

At Play in the Republic of Letters: The Correspondence of Lapo da Castiglionchio the Younger

AbstractThis article examines the letter collection of Lapo da Castiglionchio the Younger (1406–38), an important translator of classical Greek. While scholars have edited the letters chronologically or analyzed them piecemeal, my study shows that as an ensemble the work artfully conveys a cultural and philosophical statement. By playing with time, circumstance, and persona, Lapo reveals the shortcomings of the humanist program, since it associated learning and virtue with public recognition; in addition, the letters elicit the readers’ empathy, as both patronage and Stoic self-reliance are found wanting. The humanist reawakening of the classics was witnessed here in conversation.

The projective theory of consciousness: from neuroscience to philosophical psychology

Abstract: The development of the interdisciplinary areas of cognitive, affective and action neurosciences contributes to the identification of neurobiological bases of conscious experience. The structure of consciousness was philosophically conceived a century ago (HUSSERL, 1913) as consisting of a subjective pole, the bearer of experiences, and an objective pole composed of experienced contents. In more recent formulations, Nagel (1974) refers to a “point of view”, in which qualitative experiences are anchored, while Velmans (1990, 1993, 2009, 2017) understands that phenomenal content is composed of mental representations “projected” to the space external to the brains that construct them. In Freudian psychology, the conscious mind contains a tension between the Id and the Ego (FREUD, 1913). How to relate this bipolar structure with the results of neuroscience? I propose the notion of projection [also used by Williford et al. (2012)] as a bridge principle connecting the neurobiological systems of knowing, feeling and acting with the bipolar structure. The projective process is considered responsible for the generation of the sense of self and the sense of the world, composing an informational phenomenal field generated by the nervous system and experienced in the first-person perspective. After presenting the projective hypothesis, I discuss its philosophical status, relating it to the phenomenal (BLOCK, 1995, 2008, 2011) and high-order thought (ROSENTHAL, 2006; BROWN, 2014) approaches, and a mathematical model of projection (RUDRAUF et al., 2017). Eight ways of testing the status of the projective hypothesis are briefly mentioned.

ГАРМОНІЙНІ АСПЕКТИ КАЛОКАГАТІЇ: ІСТОРИКО-ФІЛОСОФСЬКИЙ АНАЛІЗ

The paper considers to philosophically analyze the harmony and harmonious development of man, their interpretation from Antiquity to our days. Human life on perpetual search for inner and outer harmony. The author of the article analyze the statements of the greatest philosophers about the harmonious development of the person. Тhe idea that the ideal of a developed harmonious person is substantial basis of the ancient ideal of kalokagathia throughout the history of development and transformation іt is discussed. For many centuries from antiquity to the present day, representatives of philosophy have tried to explain who the person is. And a harmonious development person, should be in the priority for the development of any state. In the historical dynamics, the accents of these philosophical problems were repeatedly changed, their basic principles and thesis were rethought. Accordingly, the views of people changed, and consequently the ideas of kalokagathia, harmony and harmonious development. But only the main feature ‒ components ‒ did not change. Specificity of harmony and harmonious development is revealed on the basis of an analysis of philosophical and scientific material. These widespread terms are kalokagathia, one of the key concepts and basic methodological principles of ancient Greek philosophy. They make it possible for a person to realize his outer and his inner world as a single whole, and is in certain eternal inner relationships. The findings of the research show that the harmonious development, as an idea of kalokagathia always aimed at the development of external and internal abilities and instilling a sense of beauty, goodness, justice, truth and their harmonious harmony. The philosophical thought of harmonious development, after going through the ages, acquired new interpretive meanings and national specifics. And in the history of each culture there were periods when accents were drawn on kalokagathia meanings and their reading in the system, ethical and philosophical, aesthetic concepts. The idea of harmonious human development connects the past with our modernity. Moreover, this idea is constantly directed to the future, because it is in a state of continuous development.

ЭСХАТОЛОГИЯ КАК ЧАСТЬ КУЛЬТУРНОГО ПРОСТРАНСТВА В ХРИСТИАНСКОЙ КАРТИНЕ МИРА Г. П. ФЕДОТОВА

Abstract. Introduction. In the eschatology picture of the world the questions of culture and life of man have special status and special decision. The reasons of sociocultural crisis of society consist in the incorrect understanding of value and role of the culture and the eschatology. The problem of tragedy of extremity of life is overcame by a strong hope on God. Purpose. The purpose of the article is an analyses of the problem field of eschatology picture of the world in the works of G. Fedotov through the prism of eschatology and culture. Methods. The method of analysis of systems allows to examine the Christian picture of the world as a system of aims, senses and moral values. Structural approach gave an opportunity to distinguish a culture and eschatology as making elements in cultural space of Christian picture of the world. Comparative analysis of Ancient and Christian epochs promoted philosophical status of eschatology in its religious measuring. Results. The understanding of the historical process, the life and a man in G. Fedotov’s works is deeply humanely. The creation of history takes place through the realization of human experience. The creative free activity of man must overcome total pessimism in face of end of times. The way of rescue of culture is based on religious bases of living faith in God. Originality. A Christian eschatology is understood by G. Fedotov as a part of all cultural and historical space. The phenomenon of death carries not only ontological but also mystic, sacral aspect. The religious measuring of history allows to tell about the general life roots of history and culture. Conclusion. In a few lines of walkthrough of questions of culture Fedotov insists on the anthropological, rather than just historical understanding of Christian eschatology and culture. The forming of faithful look to the questions of culture and history is important for the construction of actual life of man and society.

God Without God: A Divine Limit to “The Phenomenon”

Abstract The background concern of this paper is the well-rehearsed debate on the “theological turn” (or “veerings”) in French Phenomenology that was ignited by Dominique Janicaud some 25 years ago in his vociferous critique of several leading French thinkers. It also responds to subsequent contestations against Janicaud by numerous scholars defending these thinkers radicalising of phenomenology in their attempts to account for what Emanuel Levinas had “stirred up in the phenomenological field” by re-posing the question of the philosophical status of the idea of God. What is pivotal to Janicaud in his exclusionary critique and drawing of phenomenological boundaries is to hold dearly to the method as Edmund Husserl intended. In doing so, only describable phenomena that appear (or are logically subtended to appear) provide the litmus for a bona fide phenomenology. In opening and broadening the method to include experiences of a transcendent, religious nature as the French thinkers do, orthodox Husserlian thinking places these projects into question. The purpose of this paper is to question these post-Husserlian thinkers with a more faithful reading of Husserl. I analyse three key areas to suggest a ‘divine limit’ to phenomena: first, the concept of “the phenomenon” as developed in Husserl’s project; second, the ‘status of the idea of God’ in Husserl’s writings; and third, the relevant philosophical discourse on God that emerges from the Janicaud-led debate through critical commentary on the phenomenology of the “inapparent”. As a consequence, God is argued to be a divine limit to Husserlian phenomenology, but not religious belief itself.

Philosophy and Modernity

What can still be the meaning of philosophy in modernity? The core of modernity is “liberty, equality, and fraternity through rationality.” The last element, viz. rationality, however, implies that modernity is at once a critical analysis of its own core. Reason is intrinsically linked to critique, even to a critique of modernity’s own basics, including its rationality. Therefore, modernity is not something ‘substantial’ but rather a process. Nor is it a matter of reducing everything to the same – the same of reason; but on the contrary, it is a new way of dealing with plurality. This affects also the status of philosophy and its relation to the plurality of other independent forms of insight, like science, art, religion, etc. Philosophy can no longer provide the ultimate foundation for all the rest (at the bottom – Descartes) nor can it be any longer its all- integrating absolute knowledge (at the top – Hegel). Lyotard describes philosophy as only a small vessel. But that does not diminish its central role in today’s modernity.

An Examination of Counselors’ Religiosity, Spirituality, and Lesbian-, Gay-, and Bisexual- Affirmative Counselor Competence

Lesbian-, gay- and bisexual- (LGB-) affirmative counseling encompasses broad base of knowledge, awareness of attitudes, and skills that affirm and honor the lived experiences of sexual orientation diverse individuals, representing the ethical standard of care for all non-heterosexual clients (Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues in Counseling, 2012; Israel & Selvidge, 2003). Whitman and Bidell (2014) defined LGB-affirmative counseling as a practice that adopts science-based perspective of LGB sexual (or affectional) orientations as normal and healthy expressions of human development, sexuality, relationship, and love (p. 164). In the last decade, the issue of providing competent, affirming care to clients who identify as lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) has risen to the forefront of professional dialogue for counselors. Two legal cases (Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley, 2011; Ward v. Polite, 2012) inspired meaningful discussion about the intersection of counselors' religious and spiritual values and ethical counseling practices when working with sexual orientation diverse clients. The American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics (2014) mandates that counselors attend to value conflicts while working with clients to avoid the potentially harmful imposition of personal values (Kaplan, 2014). Still, some counselors are leftwith the task of integrating conflicting religious values with competent and affirming counseling practices with LGB clients (Herlihy, Hermann, & Greden, 2014; Robertson & Avent, 2016).The political and social landscape surrounding LGB issues in the United States is in state of flux. While the historic Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) decision established marriage equality for samesex couples nationally, there have been conflicting influences on affirmative care. Conscience clause legislation, intended to protect mental health practitioners who deny services based on their own sincerely held principles (TN HB1840, 2016), has emerged in several states (e.g., Mississippi, Tennessee) as response to the revised ACA Code of Ethics (2014). Conversion therapy or reparative therapy remains legal in 45 states despite being discredited and ethically opposed by all major mental health professions, including the ACA (American Psychological Association, 2017; Whitman, Glosoff, Kocet, & Tarvydas, 2013). Specifically, those ascribing to some religious affiliations assume moral stance against non-heterosexual partnerships which is often rooted in narrow scriptural interpretations and traditional views on what constitutes marriage (Lalich & McLaren, 2010). Smith and Okech (2016a) further probed professional discourse through their investigation of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) accreditation status of counseling programs housed within religious institutions that disaffirm or disallow diverse sexual orientations, initiating an exchange of dialogue in the Journal of Counseling & Development (Sells & Hagedorn, 2016; Smith & Okech, 2016b). These authors highlighted incongruencies between the policies and philosophical statements of religiously affiliated institutions and the values espoused by the ACA Code of Ethics. In light of these prominent events and professional dialogue, counselors' religious beliefs, as they relate to working with LGB clients, have received greater attention (Balkin, Watts, & Ali, 2014; Kaplan, 2014; Whitman & Bidell, 2014).Spirituality, much like religion, is another complex facet of identity that contributes to counselor values. Although it has been established that counselors' conservative religious beliefs may impact LGB-affirmative counseling (Balkin et al., 2014; Bidell, 2014), the impact of counselors' spirituality is less understood. To date, no studies have investigated counselor religiosity and spirituality as potentially different aspects of identity that may relate to LGB-affirmative counselor competence, nor has the religious affiliation of counselors been explored. …

What do Biologists Make of the Species Problem?

The concept of species is one of the core concepts in biology and one of the cornerstones of evolutionary biology, yet it is rife with conceptual problems. Philosophers of biology have been discussing the concept of species for decades, and in doing so they sometimes appeal to the views of biologists. However, their statements as to what biologists think are seldom supported by empirical data. In order to investigate what biologists actually think about the key issues related to the problem of species, we have conducted a survey on the sample of 193 biologists from the population of biologists from over 150 biology departments at universities in the US and the EU. This article presents and discusses the results of the survey. Some results confirm and others falsify the reiterated statements of philosophers of biology as to what biologists think, but all results we obtained should be informative and relevant for future discussions of the problem of species.

Filozofia a pedagogika. Współzależności i granice

The aim of this article is to determine the status of philosophy of education among the other philosophical disciplines and to consider its place within the framework of pedagogical sciences. The relationship between pedagogy and philosophy has been analysed with emphasis on the conditions to be met by philosophy that it could be useful as an instrument helping in reflection on education. The article also discusses the way in which could be useful. Successively, the question in posed on how data obtained during the pedagogical reflection can influence philosophy itself. In conclusion, referring to the achievements of Alasdair MacIntyre, an attempt to draw philosophical procedures allowing to assess given pedagogical concepts is presented.

‘I look at him and he looks at me’: Stein’s phenomenological analysis of love

ABSTRACTThe Jewish-Catholic philosopher and Carmelite Edith Stein (1891–1942) offers a rich notion of love, based on an original phenomenology, which resulted from an active engagement with her teachers Edmund Husserl and Max Scheler, and was later enriched and deepened by incorporating religious philosophical and theological ideas. In order to locate Stein’s original thinking, the essay will first introduce the two thinkers by whom she was most clearly influenced, and show how Stein contrasted the ‘nothing’, as it is presented in Husserl’s other pupil Martin Heidegger’s existentialist analysis, with the fullness of being to which the human person aspires, and which is given through love (1). Her phenomenological thinking, based on the intersubjective approach to its object, ultimately leads Stein to a triple philosophical statement about love: Love is a principle of being, a principle of knowledge and a principle of relationship (2). The passage through theology verifies what has been said philosophically about its relationship to God, in whom love ultimately finds its completion (3). The three basic principles of love complement and correct each other, to the point not only of issuing in an analysis of the phenomenon ‘love’ but of also opening up an ethics of love (4).

The economics and philosophy of the brain drain: A critical perspective from the periphery

The paper provides a critical perspective on recent contributions to the economics literature, and associated philosophical arguments, that downplay negative effects of skilled migration on developing countries. The assertion that such migration incentivises investment in human capital is shown to rely on shaky theoretical foundations and weak empirical evidence. The associated economic literature suggesting a net positive effect of brain drain is at odds with literatures on the positive effects of human capital and education on economic growth. The manner in which net effects are determined also demonstrates that such contributions are utilitarian in nature. Identifying those who are the worst affected by brain drain, as well as the possible decision of a citizen placed behind the veil of ignorance, supports the view that opposing barriers to brain drain is inconsistent with a Rawlsian social welfare function. The undermining of institutions by skilled emigration is a fundamental consideration neglected by the economics literature without justification and, again, contradicts literatures on growth and institutions within economics. The economic theory of education can also be shown to support the view that depriving governments of the power to limit migration undermines states’ ability to resolve market failures. A number of other issues are identified that deserve greater consideration, including reflexivity in research on brain drain, the political economy of skilled migration and the philosophical status of nation-states. Despite unreliable econometric evidence, there is sufficient basis and justification to act. The paper concludes by briefly sketching possible actions under different degrees of international cooperation.

Intellectual and Cognitive Effects of Plotinus on the Mystic Philosophical Opinions of Attar and Rumi

The effects and synergies of intellectual and cultural influence are the features undeniable in various nations and civilizations from ancient times until the present day. Schools of thought, ideas and theories of philosophical and mystical in human life, have seen many changes and passed through a development and evolution. Plotinus, one of the philosophers of ancient Greece and founder of the Neo-Platonic philosophy, expressed intellectual and philosophical statements about the existence of human and relationship between man and the Creator of man and the universe. In the culture of Persian mysticism, the thinkers were inspired by the ideas of this Greek scholar and created many works. In this regard, Attar and Rumi as two figures in Islamic-Iranian mysticism affected by the ideas of this outstanding thinker. In this article, we are to distinguish similarities and differences of these three thoughtful ideas with each other in eleven categories: celibacy of spirit, spiritualism, world-aversion and so on.