Separate Science Research Articles

Soviet-Czechoslovak Technological Transfer: from the First Post-War Years to the Prague Spring (on the Base of the Foreign Trips Reports of Soviet Engineers)

In this article, a large range of unique sources from the collections of the St. Petersburg Central State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation is analyzed and studied for the first time. These are the reports of Soviet specialists in the field of technical knowledge on the business trips to Czechoslovakia in the period from the mid-1940s until the end of the 1960s. Their authors were employees of the Leningrad sectoral research institutes. They were technical chemists, shipbuilders, hydraulic engineers, mining engineers, machine builders, etc. The presented materials made it possible to take a fresh look at the issues of the Soviet-Czechoslovak technological transfer, both within the framework of bilateral relations and within the framework of CMEA. A distinctive feature of all the reports was their de-ideologization. These documents did not contain references to the classics of Marxism-Leninism and assurances of the superiority of socialist science over bourgeois, but they reflected a deep sincere interest in foreign technologies and engineering solutions. Noteworthy is the very respectful attitude of Soviet specialists towards their Czech and Slovak colleagues, and at the same time – deep attention to Czechoslovak technical developments. This fact clearly distinguishes the reports of engineers from the reports of their colleagues in the humanities, especially from the institutes of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The latter often wrote such documents from the arrogant position of the “elder brother”, who has a monopoly on the Marxist truth. The Soviet authors of the reports did not separate Soviet technical science from the global context and tried in every possible way to convey the idea of the importance of exchanging experience and scientific and technical information with foreign partners. They looked with some envy at their Czechoslovak colleagues, who, albeit limitedly, had access to Western scientific and technical literature. If we talk about the transfer of knowledge and technology from the standpoint of mutual benefit, then we need to draw a conclusion about its success. Cooperation with the USSR allowed Czechoslovakia to develop a number of new technical areas, such as nuclear power, at the same time, the Soviet side got the opportunity to access promising Czechoslovak technologies in the field of mechanical engineering or polymer chemistry. However, the system of intellectual exchanges, despite the obvious mutual interest of the specialists of the two countries in it, was still fettered by ideological frameworks and party control, and the introduction of certain technical innovations often faced the sluggishness of the planned economy.

Formation of external cognitive tools among future teachers of chemistry

It is important to understand the features of the instrumental side of the cognitive organization of each student, in the process of teaching and upbringing, as a reflection of the properties of the integral structure of the human cognition system. The article is devoted to the problem of identifying and using the prevailing styles of thinking of students, future teachers, in the process of their vocational training at the university. Goal of research ‑ determine the prevailing style of students' thinking activity with a possible typology. The relevance of the problem under study is associated with the need to solve the issue of the optimal use of the individual thinking characteristics of bachelor students, future chemistry teachers, for the development of their methodical thinking as the integration of scientific thinking of a separate taught science, scientific - research pedagogical thinking and applied pedagogical thinking. The authors point out that the master's degree program should also use the idea of implementing and researching students ' mental operations in a certain sequence: presentation of knowledge → structuring knowledge → transformation of knowledge in conjunction with the main tools of thinking, as the highest stage of human cognition - concept, judgment and inference. As a research methodology, the article proposes the use of diagnostics by A. Alekseeva and L. Gromova "Individual styles of thinking" to determine the styles of thinking, the purpose of which is to study the individual characteristics of thinking. It has been established that the implementation of the methodology used contributes to the study of the basic styles of thinking of students: synthetic, idealistic, pragmatic, analytical, and realistic. The information obtained will allow each teacher at the second stage of higher education - the magistracy, to rebuild the teaching method of his discipline with a focus on the personality characteristics of the cognitive tools of each student individually and the entire group together.

Geoinformation Methodology of Agricultural Land Evaluation for Agricultural Economic Growth

The formation of an economically developed management system for the country's agro-industrial complex cannot be considered only from the point of view of a separate science. Land resources are the source of profit, which is involved in almost all sectors of society. Land preservation and improvement is required to ensure an economic security and competitiveness of each region of the Russian Federation). The dynamics of changes in the areas of Svetloyarsky district of the Volgograd region in the context of municipalities is analyzed. The actual deviation of the area of Privolzhsky rural settlement amounts to 2,3 % of the statistical data. The boundaries and areas of the used plots of arable land in the Raigorod settlement do not coincide with the data of the state cadastral registration, the discrepancy of only one land plot is 422,44 hectares. By implementing GIS-technologies, the data were obtained for 2355 arable land plots, whereof the irrigated land area amounts to 52138 hectares, instead of the potentially possible 19455 hectares, that exceeds the settlement's capabilities by 2,7 times according to the statistical data.

GLOBALIZATION AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR GEORGIA

. To define the conceptual vision of the unified development of Georgia, it is necessary to understand it as a systemic process against the background of continuous historical and civilizational progress, which emphasizes the main features of the dynamic picture from time immemorial to the present. These visions have largely led to the development of the Georgian. National Security Concept. The geo-economic strategy of the country is an important part of it. Geoeconomics as a separate science emerged in the late twentieth century and studies the interaction between the man and the space. The formation of geoeconomic science is linked to the emergence of global economic problems. A characteristic feature of modernity has been the shift of the center of gravity of the struggle against the government to the economic sphere. Problems that have been solved by force of arms for centuries are finally being solved on the basis of finances and information. Economic wars have largely replaced conventional warfare. According to the American Scientists, Robert Blackville and Jennifer M. Harris's three-component definition, geoeconomics is the use of economic tools: to pursue and protect national interests; to achieve positive geopolitical results. Currently, in theory, geopolitical applications have seven economic instruments: trade policy, investment policy, economic and financial sanctions, cyber attacks, economic development assistance, financial and monetary policy, energy and commodity policy. They may be very different from each other, but it still makes sense to discuss them together. Geoeconomics is an interdisciplinary subject. It allows you to study and connect the best of different subjects around one topic. Therefore, the role of geoeconomics in the preparation of undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students of economic profile is important. It allows to strengthen the interdisciplinary academic approach which will facilitate the optimal use of geo-economic instruments and the country's geo-economic potential for the interests of Georgia. The National Security Concept of Georgia, in order to realize and dispute the national interests of Georgia, analyzes the threats, risks and challenges facing Georgia and defines the main directions of Georgia's security policy. The use of geo-economic instruments plays an important role in the implementation of this policy.

Redefining the Soviet krayevedeniye: The role of spatial science in the Soviet system of knowledge production

The paper proposes a new approach towards the Soviet specific knowledge production system – krayevedeniye – as a fluid field of various concepts and intellectual practices from the perspective of the history of spatial sciences. It shows the connection of krayevedeniye with Soviet science, introduces the people involved in krayevedeniye, reveals their contribution to the Soviet planned economy, and aims to embed ‘kray’ as a separate spatial concept. Moreover, it discusses whether krayevedeniye might be seen as a separate spatial science, rather than in the tradition of regional/local history research. By addressing these topics, I hope to contribute to a better understanding of Soviet spatial sciences, Soviet regionalism, centre-periphery relationships, and Soviet spatial history.

INTEGRATION OF ISLAM AND HEALTH SCIENCE

Health science is a branch of science that is very important in human life. Currently, health science has been studied in various perspectives, one of which is the Islamic perspective. Basically, health science and Islam support and strengthen each other. There are lots of arguments and evidence that Islam is very concerned about health. Likewise, health science has a lot to do with Islam. Many cases in health science require legal provisions according to Islamic guidance. However, there are many facts that show that Muslims still separate Islam and health sciences. Many religious scholars do not pay attention to health problems related to Islam. Likewise, health experts do not pay attention to Islamic laws related to health sciences. This fact makes a gap between Islamic teachings and health sciences in the lives of Muslims. This study aims to explain the form of integration between Islam and health science which has so far been deemed unrelated both in theory and practice. This study will analyze the form of integration between Islam and health science. This research method uses literature studies by collecting library data, reading and taking notes, and managing research materials. The results of this study indicate that the form of understanding that separates Islam from health sciences can be divided into three parts. This study also shows that there are three forms that describe the relationship between Islam and health sciences which are dialogical and integrative, they are, 1) Semipermeable, 2) intersubjective subjectivity, and 3) Creative Imagination. Keywords: Integration, Islam, Health Sciences

Criminalistics and Forensic Sciences: Problems of Differentiation and Integration

The authors have clarified perspectives for further development of criminalistics in Ukraine under the influence of integration processes of this science from Forensic Science. The genesis of the national model of criminalistics has been briefly studied; a comparative analysis of its content with Forensic Science has been accomplished; and the ways of further development of the system of criminalistics and related sciences in Ukraine have been defined considering the global tendencies of convergence of different models of this field of scientific knowledge. It has been emphasized that the use of the terms of “Criminalistics”, “Forensic Sciences” and “Criminal Investigation” is explained not just by the specifics of terminology in different countries, but primarily due to differences in defining the nature and internal content of these disciplines. According to the authors, the integration of tactical and technical criminalistics tools and methods of combating crime is quite acceptable and not only significantly enriches the arsenal of criminalistics, but determines its existence as an independent science. Such an approach allows us to consider criminalistics not just as one of the many sections of Forensic Sciences, but to single out it as one of the most comprehensive sciences that integrates all other forensic disciplines. The domestic model of criminalistics, in contrast to Forensic Science, represents the issues of a legal nature (criminalistics tactics and methodology), which makes it a science of dual (synthetic) nature. The integration processes observed in the development of criminalistics and Forensic Science are gradually leading to the convergence of these sciences in content. Given this, it is impractical to take further steps to disintegrate criminalistics in Ukraine by separating forensic expertise into a separate science. Otherwise, there will be a complete depletion of the natural and technical component of criminalistics, which may result in the disappearance of this science in general.

Aesthetic values as an object of research: from an Aesthetic to Cultural studies’ generalization

The purpose of the article is to prove the expediency and scientific, methodological, conceptual, and categorical potential of Cultural studies as a science that may offer an updated perspective for the study of the problem of aesthetic values. Methodology. Methods of scientific analysis, comparison, and generalization during the elaboration of the source base and the method of systematization are used to determine the traditional and innovative directions of research of the problem of aesthetic values. Scientific novelty. The article considers the interdisciplinary and generalizing potential of Cultural studies on the example of the problem of study aesthetic values. The existing tendency to move the analysis of problems of humanities from separate sciences to the plane of interdisciplinary is emphasized. It was accented on the novelty and relevance of such interdisciplinary research within Cultural studies. Conclusions. The approach of Cultural studies offers an increase in the scale of generalization from aesthetic to actually global, which combines the experience of studying scientific problems in the traditional and extended areas. Given the fact that on the one hand, all material and spiritual values which surround man were born from culture, because culture is the cumulative result of productive human activity, and, on the other hand, culture absorbs them, being phenomenon generalized, interdisciplinary approach of Cultural studies is able to suggest an updated perspective on this problem on the border of traditional and non-traditional sciences and through the improvement of its conceptual and categorical apparatus to offer new ways to study.

The First of All Natural Sciences: Roger Bacon on Perspectiva and Human Knowledge

Abstract This article is devoted to Roger Bacon’s understanding of perspectiva as “the first of all natural sciences.” After considering a few alternative medieval definitions and classifications of this discipline – such as al-Fārābī’s, Grosseteste’s and Kilwardby’s – the author turns to Bacon’s arguments for according to perspectiva so exceptional a role. He shows that Bacon’s arguments are grounded in his peculiar understanding of the visual process: according to Bacon, vision is indeed the only sense in which perception takes place “by reasoning” (per sillogismum). The author argues that this theory of perception also lays the foundations for Bacon’s – prima facie amiss – claim that “concerning vision alone, and no other sense, have philosophers developed a separate science.” The author explores this point by contrasting with one another Bacon’s conception of perspectiva and of music, and closes with some more general remarks on the implications of Bacon’s account of the visual process for his theory of knowledge. Based on his theory of a “vision by reasoning,” the author concludes that Bacon came to reinterpret perspectiva as the organon of visual knowledge.

Anthropological view on the history of musical art

Research in the field of music anthropology as a separate science began to appear only in the last century. Currently, there are only a small number of studies on musical anthropology in the scientific literature. The purpose of the study is a theoretical generalisation of the manifestations of anthropological thinking in the musical art of classicism, romanticism, and avant-garde, carried out on the basis of contemporary scientific publications. The research methodology is based on the principles of analytical, historical, cultural, and comparative methods, which cover the aspects of musical anthropology of different eras. During the study, the authors considered the manifestations of anthropological thinking in the musical art of classicism, romanticism, and avant-garde, as well as modern scientific publications on musical anthropology. The authors concluded that synthetic, epic-dramatic genres of poetic ballads and poems had a particular influence on the musical composition of the Romantic era. These genres led to the emergence of a number of new compositional structures in the instrumental music of the Romanticism. This study can be used during lectures and practical classes in higher education institutions that specialise in the study of music; it can also be used by students for independent study of musical anthropology.

Матеріалознавство в структурах рамкових програм Євросоюзу з досліджень та інновацій “Горизонт 2020” та “Горизонт Європа”

The results of the analysis of European Research and Innovation Framework Program “Horizon 2020” calls, propositions and projects with their main subjects devoted to the problems of advanced materials, perspective technologies of their production and processing are presented in this paper. Analysis had been made on the base of Horizon Dashboard data. Horizon Dashboard is the suitable instrument created under the requirements of the European Commission, which presents an overview of evaluated proposals (incl. success rates) and detailed statistics and data about funded projects and their participants, broken down by countries and regions, research domain/program part, organization type, etc. Furthermore, this instrument allows to analyze country and organization profiles considering 38 thematic priorities (four of them: advanced materials; advanced manufacturing and processing; nanotechnologies, advanced materials and production; biotechnologies are devoted to materials science aspects), funding received, participations by region, top beneficiaries, collaboration with other countries, SME participation and more. Data about total project numbers, funding, top participating countries, top participating organizations had been presented for the each of four materials science priorities. Special attention had been paid on the participation level, funding, and success rates of Ukrainian organizations. Situation with materials science thematic priorities in the new European Research and Innovation Framework Program “Horizon Europe” had been described and it was underlined the absence of separate materials science working program in “Horizon Europe”, and necessity of the analysis of several working programs such as “Digital, Industry, Space”, «Climate, energy, mobility» and etc. for the search of corresponding materials science topics and calls. Status of Ukrainian organizations in “Horizon Europe “program till signing and ratification of agreement between Ukraine and European Union about participation of Ukraine in Horizon Europe Program had been clarified. Keywords: research and innovation European Union Framework Program, “Horizon 2020” program, “Horizon Europe” program, thematic priority, materials science, program pillars, grant agreement.

"LEXICOGRAPHY" AND DICTIONARY COMPILATION

Background. This article examines lexicography - a separate science that includes theoretical lexicography with its own theory, and since there is a theory, then there is practice, that is, practical lexicography. Lexicographic research combines both theoretical and practical aspects. The creation of innovative models of theoretical linguistic conclusions for new practical lexicographic products is the main task of lexicographic research. As a mirror reflecting the development of civilizations, the state and level of the people, relations in society, the development of scientifically progressive or orthodox thought, the dictionary covers a variety of fields of science and technology: from interpretation and semantic explanation of a word, to correct spelling and translation from one language to another.

Ю.Г. Липец и отечественная социально-экономическая география

Scientific works and ideas of Yu.G. Lipets (1931–2006) had a great impact on the development of the Soviet and Russian human geography in the last third of the 20th – early 21st century. Lipets began his scientific career in the early 1960s as an expert in the geography of African countries. He has left a rich scientific legacy in geographical African studies. Lipets was the author of pioneering economic and geographical works on the countries of Southeast Africa, economic regionalization of Africa, urbanization, population migration, labor resources, formation of labor markets in African countries. Later, over the years of his work at the Central Economic Mathematical Institute and the Institute of Geography (within the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union and Russian Academy of Sciences), Lipets became a prominent scientist in the field of system modeling and implementation of quantitative methods in human geography. The spectrum of his scientific studies ranged from the key issues of theoretical geography to the theory of equilibrium prices. Lipets has initiated the “geography of world development” as an interdisciplinary research area in contemporary Russian human geography. This research direction has become the pinnacle of the scientific activity of Lipets. It has integrated the previously separate scientific disciplines such as “geography of world economy,” “problematic country studies” and “geographical global studies.” Lipets formulated the concept of three aporias of modern geography – the key methodological difficulties of its development. These three aporias dealt with issues of the unity of geography, the role of spatial analysis in the study of nature and society, as well as uniqueness and typicality in geography. The article also discusses the activities of Lipets as a scientific manager and organizer. He played an important role in establishing a seminar on new methods in human geography in Moscow, in the Russian Geographical Society, organized scientific conferences, led scientific research of the Economic and Geographical Section of the International Academy of Regional Development and Cooperation.

The Fascist Bacillus (4th Action). Transl. from Chinese by O. Vorobei

The oeuvre of Xia Yan (夏衍, 1900–1995), a Chinese playwright, writer, journalist, screenwriter and stage director, had a significant impact on history of modern Chinese drama: his unique type of dramatic art marked a new stage in the development of Chinese drama. Xia Yan is often called “a peer of the XXth century”, who travelled a peculiar life and creative journey. The themes of the works by Xia Yan always met the public needs: the author used to keep in touch both with intellectuals and ordinary people. He was cognizant of the Chinese outlook and public sentiments; thus, his dramas usually rendered his vision of the causes of the socio-economic crises, and his characters transmitted potential solutions to the problems. “The Fascist Bacillus” by Xia Yan discusses the spread of the idea of fascism in the world, which was relevant in the early ‘40s. The playwright describes the life of a bacteriologist who consciously lives a sheltered life and strives to be engaged in research. Consequently, over ten years, he was escaping from war by constantly changing a place of residence and attempting to separate science from politics. As a result, the scientist found himself in occupied Hong Kong, in which Japanese looters barged into his house and killed each other during the reckless arbitrariness and under the influence of uncontrolled aggression. Having suffered the severe trauma of losing a loved one, Professor Yu realized that it is impossible to hide from the fascist bacillus, which has spread to almost all countries, it must be resolutely fought. Although Xia Yan’s play demonstrates an out-of-the-box solution of relations between science and politics in the middle of the XXth century, it hasn’t lost its imagery, strength and relevance. Therefore, the spiritual decline of Professor Yu’s friend, Zhao Antao, reminds a modern reader that even adherence to subjectively correct ideological principles will never guarantee the preservation of moral virtues. “The Fascist Bacillus” is a play about the relations between politics and science in which the playwright leads a reader to the obviously disappointing idea that science will never be ideologically independent and serve its higher purposes – it will be constantly dependent on public opinion and political perturbations. Xia Yan was confident that scientific advances would be able to bring undeniable benefits to humanity only if scientists are politically aware and, at the same time, non-partisan.

Distributed Load Testing System in Continuous Integration

The digital system performance is a separate engineering science that includes approaches and practices for building and optimizing systems at all levels – from physical devices, network, to writing highly efficient algorithms. At the same time, any digital solution that is designed and built should be tested, preferably under real conditions, including performance testing or as it is often called load testing.Performance testing is designed to simulate the real usage conditions of the system and load on it in order to find out its potential bottlenecks.However, to implement this type of testing without special software tools is almost impossible. The performance testing system itself should also meet certain criteria and requirements, the implementation of which will make possible an effective testing. Thus, to test large (including distributed) information solutions, it is necessary to build a distributed system for its load. In addition, it may be necessary to create such a load simultaneously, for example, from different continents.Moreover, large-scale testing produces large amounts of resulting data that need to be collected and tracked in real, allowing to respond quickly to errors or other problems.The relevance of this topic is that, despite the presence on the market of commercial tools for such testing, it is often necessary to build own (project specific) system to display either more required metrics, or the inability to use third-party systems or budget restrictions, or all together.This paper explores the possibility of building such a distributed solution for performance testing using open-source tools such as Gatling, InfluxDB, Grafana, Logstash, Docker and Jenkins. Gatling is the main tool for load testing, but its open-source version does not allow to implement scaled testing “out of the box”. The main limitation is that even if you run several test processes from different servers at the same time, the report will be generated separately on each one and will not show the overall picture.This problem has been solved by using such a tool as Logstash which is described in this paper. Additionally, this solution has been integrated into the continuous integration based on Jenkins service and successfully tested with centralized real-time reporting using Grafana service.Manscript received 05.06.2020

Practical Significance of the Opera’s Verbal Component in the Context Regarding the Development of Director’s Theatre in the 20–21st Centuries

The question of the expediency of using the original language in opera as the only correct version of performance is debatable and has now acquired the character of an intersectoral and creative debate. The question becomes relevant when the opera is staged in a country where the language of the original libretto is incomprehensible to the vast majority of listeners, and there is a problem of conveying the idea laid down by the author to a wide range of listeners.There are different approaches to this issue – in terms of the convenience of the vocalist, in terms of public inquiries, in terms of the intentions of the composer and, finally, in terms of tasks and goals of the director. If the first three aspects have previously been covered in separate scientific and popular science publications, the director’s approach requires detailed research to substantiate.The purpose of the research is to identify and substantiate the main directorial approaches to the word as a means of conveying the idea and the necessary psycho-physical tools of the actor in opera, as a syncretic genre.The scientific novelty of the research is the first study of the practical aspects of such a phenomenon as a dialogue between the author and the audience from the standpoint of the director’s embodiment of drama.Research Methodology. Methods of theoretical generalization and analogy are used. The object of research is the issue of textual accessibility of foreign opera classics for the director’s dialogue with the public. The subject of the research is the stage solution of the opera text from the position of the co-author of cultural creativity – the director.Conclusions. In the “director’s theatre” in the twentieth century, the interpretation and choice of the opera language fall on the latter. Since the actor’s expressiveness, from the director’s point of view, is impossible without an instant understanding of the opera’s drama, the integrity of the hero’s image is achieved only by a close connection between the art of the body and the stage word, which is difficult if performing an opera in a foreign language.Thus, the language available to the spectator is the only way to overcome operatic conventions and a means for the director to achieve a hypertextual dimension of drama. It is in this expression that the phenomenon of “eternal dialogue” arises.

On the eve of the new leap in measurement science

At the beginning of the 21st century, the multidimensional problems of studying human and society have gone beyond separate sciences. As a result, the need for measuring properties (with providing measurement result traceability), which were considered immeasurable before, has increased. By performing cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary investigations, to meet this requirement has become possible. In recent years, such investigations have received increased attention at the IMEKO congresses and symposia as well as other international congresses and conferences devoted to measurement science. Interaction in a creative team that consists of professionals in various scientific fields, development of common databases, work in the Internet on joint documents, etc. result in new problems. Organization difficulties concerning such investigations, capacities for overcoming them as well as the efficiency and features of collaborative work in a creative team, have been shown using the example of the experience obtained at the D.I. Mendeleyev Institute for Metrology.

Deregulatory science: Chemical risk analysis in Trump's EPA.

While critics cast the Trump administration as anti-science, requiring in response vigorous defense of science, analysis of the Trump EPA reveals instead a strategy to develop deregulatory science. In its first 3 years, the Trump EPA introduced and started to implement a variety of new frameworks to remake scientific risk analysis, changing how it assesses exposures, hazards and costs of chemical harms. The article focuses on EPA frameworks associated with the Clean Air Act, Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science rule and Toxic Substances Control Act. The new approaches compel the agency to ignore many pathways of exposure and pivotal studies of hazards, include dose-response models that treat pollution as healthful and change how costs and benefits are calculated. Yet it justifies these frameworks in terms of evidence-based decision-making, transparency and the separation of science from politics. According to its political appointees, the Trump EPA stands for scientific integrity, because it is promulgating evidence-based approaches in risk analysis that show regulation to be neither necessary nor appropriate. This is not just rhetoric but represents an effort to engage science to delegitimize environmental regulation. There is continuity between the Trump EPA and past efforts to use science to justify regulatory rollbacks: defending science by demarcating it from non-science is just as much a strategy for deregulation as it is for regulation. A key lesson is that contesting deregulation by declaring it anti-science reflects an impasse, as deregulatory approaches then also seek to take the mantle of science. The alternative to engaging in debate over demarcation is to make explicit the values and interests shaping practices of regulatory science.

Effectiveness of Classes VII and VIII Science towards Enhancing the Learning of Class IX Physics

This study aims to find out the effectiveness of classes VII and VIII science towards enhancing the learning of class IX physics. The sample of the study consists of 130 students and 12 science teachers of three secondary schools. The collection of data were administered using survey questionnaires and focus group interviews. The quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS and the interview data was coded based on themes. The study revealed that the basic concepts of class IX physics is already introduced in classes VII and VIII science textbooks. However, students face difficulties in understanding class IX physics. The study suggest that when three separate sciences are combined into a single science textbook, some concepts were not covered in detail. Therefore, the study recommends Ministry of Education, Bhutan to work towards developing bifurcated science: Physics, Chemistry and Biology for classes VII and VIII.

Hara Tanzan and the Japanese Buddhist Discovery of “Experience”

Abstract This paper explores the role of Hara Tanzan 原坦山 (1819–1892) in the transformation of Buddhism into an “experiential religion” during the Meiji period. Scholars such as Sharf have argued that this transformation is due to Western influence on figures such as DT Suzuki. Japanese language scholarship has instead shown that in the early 1900s, the notion of Buddhism as experiential religion was already widespread, considering Tanzan as a predecessor of this discourse. I argue that Tanzan was among the first to discover the importance of “experience” in the confrontation with science, yet interpreted it as an empirical standard for both religious and scientific knowledge. However, Tanzan did not yet establish the separation of science and religion characteristic of the modern understanding of both terms. I conclude that Tanzan was one starting point in a dialectic that is integral to the indigenous genealogy of “religious experience” in Japan.