scholarly journals From the Philosophy of Cult to the Philosophy of History in the Work of Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky (* 1882 + 1937)

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 533
Author(s):  
Daniel Porubec
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Interdisciplinary Work ◽  
Primary Activity ◽  
Human Ability ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Common ◽  
Historical Periods

P. A. Florensky dedicated nine writings of his rich interdisciplinary work to the phenomenon of cult, which were first published in a censored form in 1977. We turn our attention to one of these writings called Cult, Religion and Culture, published under the common title Philosophy of Cult, in which the author elaborates a distinctive concept of the cult as the primary activity of man and at the same time as the gift offered to him for his own sanctification. It is the sacred cult—sacra from where, according to the author, two other human activities originate: namely, the ability to create tools—instrumenta—and the ability to create abstract concepts—notiones. However, both human activities have to be understood as a process of disintegration of the cult—sacra. Thus, by prioritizing one of the three human activities mentioned above, we can recognize three historical periods in history. According to Florensky, the human ability to create tools corresponds to the era of historical materialism, the ability to create concepts corresponds to the era of ideologism, and ultimately, the primary human activity—the life of man in the cult and its culture corresponds to the sacral materialism or concrete idealism.

Jerzy Topolski’s Marxist Anthropocentrism

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-377
Author(s):  
Ewa Domańska ◽  
Paul Vickers
Keyword(s):  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Marxist Theory ◽  
Collective Agency ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
The Past ◽  
Current State ◽  
The World ◽  
Separate Discipline

Abstract In this article I demonstrate that the ideas outlined in Jerzy Topolski’s Methodology of History (Polish 1968, English translation 1976) could not only offer a reference point for and indeed enrich ongoing debates in the philosophy of history, but also help to set directions for future developments in the field. To support my argument, I focus on two themes addressed in Topolski’s work: 1) the understanding of the methodology of history as a separate discipline and its role both in defending the autonomy of history and in creating an integrated knowledge of the past, which I read here through the lens of the current merging of the humanities and natural sciences; and 2) the role of a Marxist anthropocentrism based on the notion of humans as the creators of history, which I consider here in the context of the ongoing critique of anthropocentrism. I point to the value of continuing to use concepts drawn from Marxist vocabulary, such as alienation, emancipation, exploitation and overdetermination, for interpreting the current state of the world and humanity. I stress that Marxist anthropocentrism, with its support for individual and collective agency, remains crucial to the creation of emancipatory theories and visions of the future, even if it has faced criticism for its Eurocentrism and might seem rather familiar and predictable when viewed in the context of the contemporary humanities. Nevertheless, new manifestations of Marxist theory, in the form of posthumanist Marxism and an interspecies historical materialism that transcends anthropocentrism, might play an important role in redefining the humanities and humanity, including its functions and tasks within human and multispecies communities.

scholarly journals Russian philosophy and the formation of the Russian national and cultural canon: problems and prospects ([Review on:] Malinov A.V. Research and articles on Russian philosophy. Saint Petersburg: RHGA, 2020, 608 p.)

2021 ◽  
pp. 181-190
Author(s):  
A.B. Bocharov
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Russian Philosophy ◽  
Main Subject ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Saint Petersburg ◽  
The Common ◽  
Evolution Of Ideas ◽  
The Russian Language

This work is devoted to the analysis of the book by A.V. Malinov “Research and Articles on Russian Philosophy”. The main subject-content and thematic-subject lines of the book are revealed: philosophy of Slavophiles; historical, cultural and philosophical contexts of V.S. Solovyov and V.V. Rozanov; professional philosophy in Russia. Points to the variety of genres published in a collection of articles and materials of historical and philosophical articles, teaching materials (lectures and paragraphs from the textbooks), archival materials, methodological reflections. The author considers the interpretations of A.S. Khomyakov, the Slavophil ideas of O.F. Miller, the evolution of ideas about the common Slavic language, the attitude of V.S. Solovyov with N.I. Kareyev and St. Petersburg Slavophiles (including the polemic of V.S. Soloviev with the Slavophiles in the last work of the Russian philosopher – “Three Conversations”), V.V. Rozanov with the Slavophiles and V.I. Lamansky, features of V.V. Rozanov, the philosophical heritage of A.I. Vvedensky and the controversy caused by him, the place of L.P. Karsavin in the tradition of teaching the philosophy of history at St. Petersburg University, the specifics and historical path traversed by university philosophy in Russia, the modernization of the methods of modern historical and philosophical research, etc. The author notes the author's appeal to little-studied representatives of Russian philosophy, original interpretations of biographical and historical-philosophical plots, the use of the expressive possibilities of the Russian language, enriching the interpretive possibilities of the historiography of Russian philosophy. The conclusion is made about the preservation of the “Russian canon” in the research of Russian philosophy, about its heuristic possibilities. The author's intention is explained and the value of research of this kind, serving the purpose of reinterpreting the ideas of Russian philosophy, solving the problem of preserving the values and meanings of Russian culture in the modern historical and cultural context, is indicated.

scholarly journals Symbol Grounding Association in Multimodal Sequences with Missing Elements

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 787-806
Author(s):  
Federico Raue ◽  
Andreas Dengel ◽  
Thomas M. Breuel ◽  
Marcus Liwicki
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Time Warping ◽  
Learning Rule ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Time Warping ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Recent Approach ◽  
Extra Step ◽  
The Common ◽  
Dynamic Time ◽  
General Scope

In this paper, we extend a symbolic association framework for being able to handle missing elements in multimodal sequences. The general scope of the work is the symbolic associations of object-word mappings as it happens in language development in infants. In other words, two different representations of the same abstract concepts can associate in both directions. This scenario has been long interested in Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, and Neuroscience. In this work, we extend a recent approach for multimodal sequences (visual and audio) to also cope with missing elements in one or both modalities. Our method uses two parallel Long Short-Term Memories (LSTMs) with a learning rule based on EM-algorithm. It aligns both LSTM outputs via Dynamic Time Warping (DTW). We propose to include an extra step for the combination with the max operation for exploiting the common elements between both sequences. The motivation behind is that the combination acts as a condition selector for choosing the best representation from both LSTMs. We evaluated the proposed extension in the following scenarios: missing elements in one modality (visual or audio) and missing elements in both modalities (visual and sound). The performance of our extension reaches better results than the original model and similar results to individual LSTM trained in each modality.

scholarly journals The Common Good in an Age of Moral Hyperpluralism: A Catholic Bioethical Perspective

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 345
Author(s):  
John Kleinsman
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Moral Good ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Innovative Work ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Contemporary Account

This article will argue that the notion of the common good is imperilled by a particular contemporary account of the moral good; one which, because of its (somewhat narrow) emphasis on the individual, readily lends itself to a state of 'moral hyperpluralism' in which 'the good' is primarily defined in terms of the promotion and protection of self-interest. At the same time, it will be argued that any quest to recover the notion of the common good cannot be achieved by either returning to, or holding onto, a more traditional account of morality. It will also be proposed that, as part of the quest to recover the common good, close attention needs to be paid to how the term is understood. The tension between individual autonomy and the welfare of society, and the differing ways in which this tension is resolved within different moral paradigms, will emerge as central to any discussion about the ongoing place of the common good in contemporary legal and moral debates. Finally, it is suggested that a solid basis for articulating a robust account of the common good may be found in the foundational and innovative work being done by thinkers of the gift to establish an alternative account of morality. 

The Letter of Recommendation as Strange Work

PMLA ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 954-962
Author(s):  
Margaret Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Free Lunch ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Gift ◽  
English Major ◽  
The Common ◽  
The One ◽  
Gift Certificate ◽  
Time And Energy ◽  
Made In

On the one hand, the gift presents itself as a radical Other of the commodity—and therefore also of work, insofar as the latter is understood as an investment of time and energy made in the expectation of wages or profit. On the other hand, the idea of the gift seems constantly to be drawn back under the horizon of rational exchange, and to be thus endlessly re-revealed as a secret ally of both work and the Work.—Scott Cutler Shershow, The Work and the GiftI have put together all these details to convince you that this recommendation of mine is something out of the common.Quae ego omnia collegi, ut intellegeres non vulgarem esse commendationem hanc meam.—Cicero, Epistulae ad familiares, book 13LAST FALL I FOUND IN MY OFFICE MAILBOX AN ENVELOPE FROM A SOPHOMORE ENGLISH MAJOR WHO HAD ASKED ME DURING THE SUMMER for a last-minute letter of recommendation for a scholarship competition. The envelope contained a handwritten thank-you note—and a gift certificate for a local restaurant. I e-mailed the student to thank her and to tell her that I couldn't accept the gift certificate since the letter I had written for her was part of my job as a teacher. She insisted; I insisted. She said that several teachers had turned her down before I agreed (from a hotel in Germany) to write for her. I felt rueful, as well as grateful to her for the token of gratitude that I couldn't accept. Eventually she won the debate: I accepted the printed piece of paper and took my daughters out to a free lunch.

‘He Spoke and It Was’: Human Language, Divine Creation, and the imago dei

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-59
Author(s):  
Gerald A. Klingbeil
Keyword(s):  
Image Of God ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Human History ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
John 1 ◽  
Human Ability ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Point Of Departure

Abstract This study examines the triangle linking biblical creation, anthropology, and human language. It takes as its point of departure the notion that language is an important part of the image of God in which humanity was created (Gottebenbildlichkeit). Since most of creation is accomplished through God’s spoken word (see Gen 1 and also John 1), the human ability to speak and communicate abstract concepts appears to be an echo of the divine and distinguishes humans from the rest of creation. The paper traces some of the highlights marking the important role of language within the context of human history, including the fall and the divine plan of redemption, thus linking the theological categories of anthropology and soteriology.

The Gift of Life and the Common Good: The Need for a Communal Approach to Organ Procurement

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Lauritzen ◽  
Michael McClure ◽  
Martin L. Smith ◽  
Andrew Trew
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Organ Procurement ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Common

scholarly journals Three Conditions of Contemporary Social Philosophy Criticism

2018 ◽  
pp. 135-139
Author(s):  
Boris Podoroga
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Social Philosophy ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Analytical Philosophy ◽  
The Third ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Common ◽  
Definition Of

In this article we reveal the common conditions of modern social philosphy (poststructuralism, neo-Marxism, analytical philosophy of history), which theoretical discourse is subordinated to critical discourse, as distinguished from the canonical I. Kant’s, G. Hegel’s, M. Heidegger’s, M. Sheller’s J.-P. Sartre’s philosophical theories, which are bonded with the development of positivist epistemological, historical, ontological or anthropological presuppositions. We will talk about tree main conditions: 1) decline of theological definition of subject, 2) mechanism of repetition, 3) interdisciplinarity. In the first case, we will discuss transition from subject definition through the God to his definition through the figure of Other, which allows philosophers as Schopenhauer, Nietzsche or Sheller expose metaphysics with consistent methodological criticism. In the second case, we will talk about forming of critical discourse establishing itself as the extended analog of psychoanalytical revealing of unconsciousness content. In the third case, we will examine interdisciplinary approach, assuming combination of different methods possible to increase this criticism and put empirical borders of its theoretical presuppositions.

scholarly journals ФІЛОСОФІЯ ІСТОРІЇ В КОНТЕКСТІ ЛІНГВІСТИЧНОЇ (НАРАТИВНОЇ) ФІЛОСОФСЬКОЇ ТРАДИЦІЇ

2018 ◽  
pp. 5-12
Author(s):  
Н. І. Моісєєва ◽  
С. С. Романова
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Historical Consciousness ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Classical Philosophy

The authors consider the problem of the disciplinary status of linguistic (narrative) philosophy of history. The problem is examined in the context of analysis of its basic assumptions, which have been described in the works of A. Danto and F. R. Ankersmit. This philosophical tradition mainly developed in the first half of the twentieth century as a reaction to the impossibility of empirical verification of the scientific adequacy of the theoretical concepts of the regularities of historical development, which were established within the classic philosophy of history. Rejection of the gnosiological problematics lies on the basis of linguistic (narrative) philosophy of history. Also the notion of a fact is replaced by the notion of interpretation of a fact on the basis of narrative. The study of meanings and values of these narratives is based on language as the ontological Foundation of consciousness.According to A. Danto the scientific failure of the theory (concept) of the historical process lies in the impossibility of assessment by the researcher of the entire length of the process, especially of the stage of completion (the «end of history»). The observer does not know the final result of the whole process. Therefore, the observer can not estimate the value and meaning both of a process as a whole and its individual stages. Thus, the conclusion is that the history as a series of past events cannot be the subject of the philosophy of history. Only the interpretation of history in the philosophical studies and narrative representations can be the subject of the philosophy of history.According to F. G. Ankersmit «past» and «history» by themselves do not have narrative structure. The researcher also doesn’t have a set of rules of language translation of the past into the language of modernity. These rules would allow to compare the historical narrative with the «past».Thus, in the context of linguistic tradition the «philosophy of history» transforms into the «theory of historical narrative». This theory only logically analyzes the existing historiographical narrative. In fact, this position does not replace the basic methodological approach of classical philosophy of history to the study of reality (a theory based on the uncertainty of the outcome of the process). Only the subject of study is changed: the historical process is replaced by a historical narrative (not the source of the study of history but its interpretation).This approach can be used for the formation of historical consciousness, but it is unsuitable for real historical research. At the same time in the frames of classical philosophy of history a series of methodologies have been recently created. These methodologies allow to use empirical research methods and build it on the basis of concepts. These concepts find a complete confirmation with the help of an independent group of historical sources. So, today, as a result of repeated empirical evidence the concepts of cliometrics, revolutionary crises, and historical development as a result of adaptation of society to changing conditions of existence are finally created. These concepts were developed on the basis of the methodology of historical materialism. At the same time a linguistic (narrative) philosophical tradition only explains the basic foundation of own methodology and criticizes the methods of the opponents. Predictive capability of the methodology of narrative philosophy of history doesn’t enable to adequately use it in a real historical research, although this methodology has been successfully used for the formation of a historical consciousness, including professional surrounding. Therefore, at the present stage of development of the philosophy of history, linguistic tradition as the methodology of the research is much less promising than the methods developed on the basis of classical historical materialism.

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