Spiritual Degradation Research Articles

Degeneration Theory and Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov

I am here interested in presenting a comparative analysis between the strand of thought known as ‘Degeneration Theory’ and Dostoevsky’s last major novel, The Brothers Karamazov. I will provide a brief contextualization about the influence of Degeneration Theory on Russian thought, postulating that the principal Russian preoccupation concerning degenerate attitudes – above all in Dostoevsky - consists in the disease of moral nihilism. I proceed by outlining the criminal type in The Brothers Karamazov by focalizing my inquiry around the figure of the illegitimate epileptic brother Smerdjakov. My main arguments around the question of social and physiological degeneration will be developed in the subsection devoted to the relationship between poverty and children, whose humility, it is argued, represents Dostoevsky’s answer to the death of God and the moral bankruptcy enacted by nihilistic tendencies. In the third segment I will analyse the maddening outcomes of this disease in my discussion of Ivan Karamazov. Lastly, I will venture into a more unreserved discussion about the purported sequel to The Brothers Karamazov. This study seeks to emphasize the importance in the relationship between characters and the God question, ultimately claiming that for Dostoevsky physical degeneration is deployed as a physiological counterpart for the chief concern of many degenerationist narratives: the spiritual degradation of the individual soul and of the integrity of civilization.

Mythologems of english vampire fiction in Stephen Edwin King’s ‘Salem’s Lot

The article offers an interpretation of Stephen Edwin King’s novel ‘Salem’s Lot (1975) in the context of how its author productively works with the elements of the ‟vampire myth” created and developed by British gothic writers of the 19th century (John William Polidori, Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu, Bram Stoker, etc.). The principal of these mythologems (“the depravity of the century, condensed in the figure of a vampire”; “the foreign origin of a vampire, which emphasises its otherness”; “the aristocracy of a vampire”) are successfully adapted by King in accordance with his artistic objectives, which allows the writer to include his text in a rich literary tradition, while preserving the opportunity to express his own creativity. An important artistic finding of King is the synthesis of two genre subforms of the horror novel proposed by him – a vampire novel and a small-town-horror novel: King fruitfully works with the special aesthetics of the first subform and the ideological content of the second, thus making his novel a socially engaged one and turning the plot about the appearance of vampires in New England provincial town into an allegorical narrative about the loss of moral guidelines and general spiritual degradation in America in the 1970s.

«Неизбежный нравственный переворот» и идея революции в русской общественно-политической мысли XIX–начала ХХ века

The article examines the relationship between the concepts of moral and religious upheaval and political revolution in Russian philosophy of the 19th – early 20th century. The genesis of the concept of moral upheaval is traced in detail in the reflections of P.Ya. Chaadaev, A.I. Herzen, F.M. Dostoevsky, V.S. Solovyov and L.N. Tolstoy. It is shown that Russian thinkers believed that the central element of this upheaval was the religious renewal of life, which consisted in replacing false church Christianity with true (gnostic) Christianity. Particular attention is paid to Herzen's idea that the highest goal of social development, which has religious significance, is artistic culture, therefore any revolution is fruitful only if it leads to the strengthening of the value of culture. Based on the later works of N.A. Berdyaev it is shown that the idea of revolution has a religious justification, but it is fundamentally different for its Western and Russian versions. It is concluded that Herzen and Berdyaev understand the Western version of the idea of revolution and the associated ideology of liberalism as a rationalization of the Catholic worldview which is directed against the development of culture and creativity in man, therefore, having triumphed in Europe, liberalism deprived it of the possibility of the upheaval and led to its cultural and spiritual degradation. The main result of the article is the idea that the Russian version of the idea of revolution which is a form of rationalization of Gnostic Christian religiosity left for a person the possibility of creativity and “re-creation” of the world, although only in the rational form of scientific and technological progress. That is why the revolution and the communist ideology did not have such negative consequences for Russia as the liberal ideology had for the West. As a final result it is shown that Russia and even more so Europe, will only embark on a fruitful path of spiritual development when they finally overcome the idea of revolution and make that moral and religious upheaval that Russian thinkers spoke about.

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE AND ITS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FUTURE OF WORLD CIVILIZATION

It is shown that against the background of the development of science and technologies, there is a noticeable spiritual, cultural, moral and ethical degradation of human society. At the same time, the purpose of the article is to attempt to answer one of the main questions of the present – why the development of science, technology and technology leads to spiritual degradation in society, to the aggravation of relationships in the system "man-society-nature-technosphere". According to the authors, one of the reasons for this situation is that for representatives of the scientific and technical intelligentsia, the scale of values is quite often limited by "perfect design" in technical terms, that is high functionality and reliability at low production costs. Together with a significant deterioration in the environmental situation, this creates a real threat to the very existence of our civilization. That is why right now the person-creator of scientific and technological progress should feel an ever greater personal responsibility for the fate of world civilization, for the consequences of the chosen paths and the nature of human development, for its future. It is shown that to overcome the crisis, it is necessary to strengthen the social and humanitarian component of the training of scientific and technical intelligentsia. Only under such conditions can it be ensured that its representatives, who are participants in the creative production process, will be able to support this process from a humanistic standpoint in the necessary direction to shape public opinion. It is also necessary to form the responsibility of the scientific and technical intelligentsia for the technological development of world civilization, to increase in its eyes the role and significance in the technological environment of such categories as spirituality, morality and legality. Without this in the conditions of rapid scientific and technological progress and innovative development, society will certainly face instability, crises and chaos. According to the authors, they can only be overcome by a suitably professionally trained, highly cultured, spiritual and responsible scientific and technical intelligentsia.

History as Farce and the Intellectual as Comedian: Li Jing’s Metahistorical Drama Comedies from the State of Qin

With critical fabulation as its methodological starting point, this article analyzes the dramatic techniques used by contemporary Chinese playwright Li Jing to construct the figure of the intellectual-as-artist in her 2017 metahistorical drama Qinguo xiju (Comedies from the State of Qin). By locating historical farce as the origin of contemporary Chinese political thought, Li supplants today’s politically subservient intellectual with the character of the intellectual-as-comedian. When cast in this new light, Li endows Chinese theatre with a renewed sense of immediacy, namely to rescue everyday Chinese people from moral and spiritual degradation, a task at which contemporary Chinese intellectuals have failed.

Chinese theories of “mud” music and poetry

The article is focused on analysis of ideas of human creative activities in its connections with the spiritual life of society and state board system, which were among the fundamental problems of the Ancient Chinese thought, begging with its originative stage (mid 1st cent. BCE). The problem received a particular development in Confucian thought, and initially was applied to musical types of art (“music-Yue”), endowed with special metaphysical properties. Going from the analysis of original theoretical works the fact of formation of the holistic concept of “mud music” (yin yue) is argued. As “mud” is offered with a certain proportion of conditionality to translate the character yin, originally designated the river flow released from the coast and mixed with mud and, later, turned into a categorical term, which transmitted the totality of human Vices and related actions: immorality (including sexual behavior), debauchery, etc., and which is usually rendered in English as “excessive, licentious, obscene”. It is stated, that the spread of “mud music”, born by ethnical (barbarian) musical folklore, within the native Chinese social and cultural compound was considered by the Chinese thinkers to be the embodiment of its spiritual degradation, starting with the ruling elite. The growing popularity of “mud music” aggravated the further fall of the public moral foundations, inevitably leading to the decease of the state. At the end of this millennium, the ideas of “mud music” were transferred to poetic creativity. As a result, it is assumed that the Chinese philosophy and aesthetic thought were originally inherent in the notions of creative activity, expressing the most Vile human qualities and aspirations, and which was endowed with the ability to render debasing impact on the individual, human society and the world order.

Библия и лопата – путь спасения бедняков Э. Брентона

The article, through the activities of the English philanthropist E. Brenton, examines the problem of pauperization of the population of Great Britain in the 19th century, the causes of pauperization, the consequences and solutions are clarified. The results of the analysis of narrative sources and scientific literature are presented, reflecting the difficult socio-economic situation in the country and the activities of E. Brenton aimed at improving the lives of the poor and their children. The philanthropist notes the relationship between industrialization and the growth of unemployment, linking this with the displacement of man from the productive sphere by mechanisms. He rightly condemns the deep property differentiation of society, the unfair wages of workers, the system of enclosures that deprived the peasants of their land. Brenton saw the devastating consequences of pauperization in the spiritual degradation of people, the criminalization of the lower classes, the growth of crimes among minors. His articles criticize the existing system of helping the poor, workhouses, noting that they temporarily alleviated the situation of the poor and encouraged parasitism. E. Brenton developed ways to solve problems based on Christian spiritual values and the Christian principle of tireless work as "God's work". The author of the article comes to the conclusion that the eradication of poverty was utopia, with the help of the de-urbanization of the poor population of cities, the allocation of land in rural areas, the refusal to use mechanisms in the production of products. The program to save children from the city's slums was more realistic. E. Brenton rightly establishes the relationship between ignorance and the growth of deviations among minors. Its goal is to create a system of crime prevention through education, where the habits of hard work, order and Christian virtues were instilled in children. The paper considers the implementation of tasks through the "Society of Children's Friends" and schools. The author believes that the institutions of E. Brenton, where students received knowledge, religious, labor education, mastered professions, were effective in preventing delinquency and shaping the moral lifestyle of poor children, despite the failures in the implementation of the plan for labor emigration of minors to South Africa.

AJARAN SUNAN BONANG TENTANG MUSYAHADAH

Today the Ummah is experiencing a crisis in Islamic civilization. One indicator is the occurrence of spiritual degradation among them, even though the spiritual dimension of Islam has inspired the civilization as a whole. Therefore, efforts to revitalize Islam must start from a re-understanding of this matter. Wali Sanga is seen as the party who succeeded in building Islamic civilization in this country. Their teachings are widely accepted by Muslims today. Among the Wali Sanga teachings related to the spiritual dimension of Islam that is important to study is the teachings of Sunan Bonang about musyahadah. Musyâhadah is part of ihsân which is the highest level in Islam. Musyâhadah needs to be cultivated in the soul of Muslims in the midst of a civilization crisis, spiritual crisis, and crises in various dimensions of life. The purpose of this research is to describe how the teachings of Sunan Bonang about musyâhadah and to trace the extent of the influence of the thoughts of previous scholars on these teachings. The method used is literature study, which is how research works by searching for data through books and other written sources related to the problem. Based on this research, Sunan Bonang taught that a believer should always remember Allah in every situation so that he is able to concentrate his inner eye vision only on Allah. Everything other than Allah disappeared from his heart so that whatever could be seen by his eyes always reminded him of the Creator alone. Wherever he is, he feels with Allah (sortie Lan Pangēranê). This is what is meant by musyahadah. The teachings of Sunan Bonang about musyahadah were heavily influenced by previous scholars, such as Amru bin Uthman Al-Makki, Abu Sa'id Al-Kharraz, Abu Ali Ad-Daqqaq, and so on.

Konstruksi Banten Gebogan pada Era Golobalisasi di Desa Abiantuwung, Kecamatan Kediri, Kabupaten Tabanan

<p><em>Banten is the means used by Balinese Hindus to worship God. One of them is the banten gebogan. Banten gebogan now a days uses not only fruits, snacks, flowers and other food products, but has begun to use factory made canned drinks. Three formulations of the problem can be stated, namely (1) What is the form of banten gebogan in the era of globalization in Abiantuwung Village, Kediri District, Tabanan Regency? (2) Why in the era of globalization, the people of Abiantuwung Village, Kediri District, Tabanan Regency use a variety of canned drinks in making offerings of gebogan? and (3) What are the implications of offering banten gebogan in the era of globalization in Abiantuwung Village, Kediri District, Tabanan Regency? </em></p><p><em>This research use a qualitative approach. The data collection technique was done by observing, interviewing, and studying documents. The validity of the data was obtained by using the transcription technique. The informants are determined in a proposive manner, and the researcher himself is the main instrument assisted by an interview guide, digital camera, laptop, and writing instruments. After verification, the data were analyzed using two theories, namely the theory of globalization and the theory of sociocultural systems.</em></p><em>The form of banten gebogan can be divided into two parts according to the times, namely Banten Gebogan Traditional and Banten Gebogan Modern. As for the reasons that make people make modern offerings, namely: Yajña Offerings of Gratitude to God, Art and Aesthetic, and Practical, Effective and Efficient. The implications of this modern offering is the spiritual degradation and cultural transformation.</em>

„Заради тези могъщи и значими длъжности и почести целувате ръцете на чужди роби“: Епиктет, или (Не)възможният път към свободата и добродетелта

The great existential antitheses challenge the great minds in human history, among which stands Epictetus with extraordinary power. Freedom-non-freedom; truth-untruth; morality-spiritual decline; material-spiritual. For Epictetus non-freedom is a consequence of spiritual degradation of a corrupt mind, which is not free and trades everything against everything. In his world “the thirst for offices and wealth makes you inferior and subordinate to others”. This is the enchanted realm of the seemingly free, who “kiss the hands of the slaves of others”. Is Freedom achievable, how and when, asks Epictetus and his questions, along with his answers sound like a testament to the future people.

Konsep-Konsep Tasawuf dan Relevansinya dalam Kehidupan

The rapid development of the times has positive and negative impacts on life. Moral and spiritual degradation is one of the negative impacts that emerge like humans living without a clear purpose. Resulting in high crime both drug abuse, juvenile delinquency and so on. These problems make humans a cause as well as those responsible for solving them. Meanwhile conceptually the problem is closely related to personality problems or in Islam is called morals. The purpose of this study is to describe and review the concepts of Sufism and its relevance in everyday life. This research is a Library ResearchBecause of that the data source is in the form of library materials such as books, journals and scientific articles. In accordance with the type, the data collection in this study uses library research methods which are analyzed using the method of description and data analysis . The h acyl of pe nelitian this is maqamat and ahwal shown are by Abu Nasr al-Sarraj, the author of Al-Luma ': Reference Complete Science of Sufism , which maqamat that there are seven, namely: repentance, wara, ascetic, fakir, patient, trust, and pleasure. The ahwal are muraqabah , mahabbah, khauf, raja', syauq,' uns, tuma'ninah, musyahadah , and sure. The relevance of the concepts of Sufism to present life is that these concepts will become a guideline for achieving a true approach to God.

«Мой вишневый садик» А. Слаповского: современная трансформация чеховской драматургии

The article examines A. Slapovsky’s play “My Cherry Orchard”, a remake of Chekhov’s comedy. The study tries to answer the question whether the play is a travestia or it serves a higher purpose. Scientific originality of the paper involves analysing A. Slapovsky’s play as a palimpsest: the author places his characters, parodies of Chekhov’s personages, into modern reality, reinterprets dramatic collisions and proposes new approaches to the key conflicts. Finally, the researcher concludes that Slapovsky’s play contains direct references to the national cultural code of the precedent text contributing to awareness of the compatriots’ spiritual degradation, a consequence of social and historical perturbations of the last century.

СТАВЛЕННЯ ДО ПРАЦІ В УКРАЇНСЬКІЙ КУЛЬТУРІ: ВІД «СРОДНОСТІ» В ФІЛОСОФІЇ Г. С. СКОВОРОДИ ДО СУЧАСНИХ ІНТЕРПРЕТАЦІЙ

The paper deals with the research of the role of labour in the life of contemporary man in terms of the philosophical conception of the "congenial work" of Hrygorij Skovoroda. The reason for turning to Skovoroda's views is the importance of studying the phenomenon of labor, which appears in the XXI century in the sphere of common interests of economics, culturology, philosophy, sociology, psychology. Modern realities – migration processes that move a large number of people from continent to continent, from state to state; new technologies that have been replacing human labor since the industrial revolution, and so on. State social policy is aimed at providing the population with work and supporting those who are temporarily unemployed or completely incapacitated. The challenge for Ukrainian society is the same as for the world community, especially because the events in Ukraine since 2014. Ukrainian society must be ready for innovations in understanding and perceiving the phenomenon of labor in modern conditions. Issues of the balance between work and happiness, the welfare of the individual and the social, and the ways of self-knowledge are being updated. We explore the hard work as the main quality of a socially successful person in the history of Ukrainian culture, negative recovery from laziness and mismanagement. We accent the importance of historical achievements of Ukrainian ethnopedagogy with the transmission of knowledge and experience through imitation, as well as the gender aspect of folk labor education, in particular Ukrainian rituals and traditions of knowledge transfer and education from generation to generation. The modern philosophical view on the correlation of human involvement in work and the formation of a number of human virtues in contrast to laziness and the associated spiritual degradation and poverty is analyzed. Prospects for further research at the junction of economics, sociology, philosophy, psychology, related to the economic set of mind.

WEIGHT AS AN EXPRESSION OF HUMAN SPIRITUAL STATE (ON THE MATERIAL OF THE NEXT FALLING V. VINNYCHENKO)

The article deals with the reflection of human spiritual state through the body in Vladimir Vynnychenko’s later fiction – his novels "The Solar Machine", "The New Commandment", and "The Leper Colony". In their form, these texts are closer to political treatises being aimed at solving certain social problems. They postulate the explicit correlation between a person’s state of health and the level of his/her morality, "purity" of life, and predisposition to suicide. The research singles out the main indicators of destructive human nature, which have a bodily expression; the relationship between physical and spiritual degradation of the individual; the author's variant of solving the problem of spiritual and physical decay of mankind. It is postulated that in the writer’s fictional world physical degradation leads to a character’s gradual moral decay, reduction of one’s requirements for oneself and others, and rapid adaptation to the living conditions of a destructive society. This research, although revealing the ways somatic vocabulary is used in V. Vynnychenko’s later works, does not exhaust the issue. Further exploration may result in more in-depth studies of corporeality in his writings of different periods, as well as their comparison with the texts of other emigré writers (Vasyl Barka, Ivan Bagryany, and others).

Mieszkańcy rosyjskiej wsi wobec wyzwań postsowieckiej rzeczywistości w twórczości Iriny Mamajewej

The paper analyses Irina Mamayeva’s short stories and tales that show the life in Russian rural areas during a dozen or so years following perestroika, and point out its influence on both individual life and that of a village community as a group. The picture of the rural areas in the 1990s and at the beginning of the 21st century is pessimistic, filled with images of dilapidating houses, companies being shut down, lack of transport connections. This material destruction is accompanied by the spiritual degradation of the inhabitants: poverty, unemployment, mutual aggression and the feeling of being abandoned by the previous system.

Significance of the creed of the Maturidi school in the works of abay Kunanbayev and Shakarim Kudayberdiev

Assertions in the traditional religious knowledge of the Kazakh people are based on the Koran and the Hadith, which are considered the basis of Islam. It is known that every nation has its own intellectual elite. It is common for a real elite to study the problems of their society in accordance with the requirements of their time, to seek solutions, to promote and preserve the spiritual and cultural heritage of the country and pass it on to the younger generation. Therefore, we perceive the spiritual and cultural realities of each country based on the works of the intelligentsia. Thus, in the works of great poets and thinkers, such as Abai and Shakarim, who analyzed theological and religious­legal problems in their works, it is clear that the beliefs and traditions of the Kazakh people are closely associated with Islam. At present, various religious groups and individuals have emerged that deny the traditional religious system of the Kazakh people, which has its spiritual values, traditional religion and mentality. This trend leads to the spiritual degradation of the country. The purpose of the article is to substantiate our national religious code, the religious outlook of the Kazakh people based on the ideas contained in the works of Abay and Shakarim, based on the idea of   the interconnection of religions and traditions. Key words: The texts of Quran, Imam Maturidi, theology, faith, religious cognition.

Four Poems

Li Dewu’s poems are a species of surreal Buddhist allegory as a response to the spiritual degradation of contemporary society. Typically, his poetry creates a sense of mystery and transformative possibilities in its restless aspiration for moments of tranquility.

FUTURE TEACHER’S EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN SPIRITUALLY-MORAL DIMENSION

The study focuses on the problem of a new generation teacher education and training in epoch of technogenic civilization, which is characterized by further scientific and technological progress, on one hand, and, by spiritual degradation in society caused by the material benefits for society, on other hand. Moreover, “psychological” crisis, connected with the general “mental illness” of the society is becoming global. “Bringing mind to emotions” is the leading idea of the theory of emotional intelligence of American scientists, who see it as a panacea in the contemporary society. The theory of emotional intelligence, which is widely recognized in the world, is attracting the attention of Ukrainian scientists, in particular, in higher education. Ukrainian scientists interpret the emotional intelligence of the teacher as a personal and professional quality that provides professional acmeological growth, productive, professional, humanistic oriented activity, effective interpersonal communication, stress-protective function. It is concluded, that these criteria should guide the professional training and education of new generation teachers.

Social threats in the digitalization of economy and society

As Ukraine slowly moves towards the digitalization of the economy and society, new trends in the social and labour sphere are revealed that have become challenges to the traditional system of social protection and regulation of labour relations. The impact of digitalization on the social sphere is ambiguous and creates both new opportunities and social threats that have become the purpose of the study. The social threats of digitalization for the nation include moral and spiritual degradation of society, reforming the economy without taking into account social priorities, the growth of structural unemployment, and cyberthreats in the national security system. It is substantiated that the main social threats posing a danger to every person in the process of digitalization are the Internet dependency, personality degradation, decline in mental health, further income differentiation, unemployment increase, increased state control over income and expenses of each person, decrease of personal life security, increased risk of loss of personal information, financial resources as a result of cybercrime and human negligence, computer illiteracy, transfer of decision-making powers to machines. Recommendations for improvement of institutional support of digitalization are proposed in order to minimize social threats in society.

Tragedy of homo faber and hopes of homo humanus

The article discusses the role of Homo Faber’s human labor in the development of civilization, the development of a human himself as a thinking being (Homo sapiens). The fact of the deep crisis of Homo Faber, fixed in fiction and philosophical studies, is stated. The attempts of representatives of the “school of human relations” to intensify the motivation and creative activity of Homo Faber are analyzed. The factors of modern production that contribute to the destruction of the spirituality of the individual and the degradation of Homo Faber are revealed. The possibilities of his spiritual development, concluded in the model of Homo Humanus, giving hope to Homo Faber for a better destiny, are considered. Possible ways of development of Homo Faber are explored: the use of personality selfdevelopment resources, human adaptation to civilized tectonic shifts, as well as the variant of managing human evolution. The strategy of evolutionary change includes: the goal that is to form Homo Spiritus (spiritual man), as the highest form of Homo Humanus. It determines the choice of means of managerial influence - using a powerful arsenal of education, science and modern technology, allowing significant expansion of space exploration, the microworld, consciousness and, having received innovative knowledge about the world, to cause cathartic processes in the human soul, to form the desire for spiritual ascent. The process of influencing on human consciousness is planned to be carried out taking into account the main stages of spiritual self-development definition. Thus, at the stage of a person formation – to bring up spiritual qualities (curiosity, cordiality and diligence), at the stage of personality formation - spiritual (openness to the world, intelligence and creativity). At the stage of self-assertion in life, to achieve the integration of the processes of increasing the plasticity of a personality, as an ability to manifest a state of spirituality in various spheres of being, and spiritual concentration, as the depth of the world perception. At the stage of self-realization of the personality, to support the desire for transcendence and the fullness of self-expression. Using the principles of the concept of continuous development and relying on the arsenal of the possibilities of the lifelong concept of lifelong education affirmed in society, to counteract the spiritual degradation of the individual. Aiming to intensify aspirations in spiritual self development, the author suggests studying the academic discipline “Fundamentals of Human Evolution”, the content of which consists of interrelated sections, each of which is intended to ensure the emergence of a certain modification of the spiritual image of the personality: Homo wondering (person surprising, revealed to the world), Intelligent Populous (person of intelligent), organically combining Homo Cogitate (a person capable of deep reflective critical thinking) and Homo Responsible (a person in charge), Homo Inspired (human inspired to create), creating together the image of a human of spiritual noospheric future – Homo Spiritus.