Anthropological Measurements of Philosophical Research

17-23

Authors: T. V. Danylova

Purpose. This paper aims to study the ontological status of a trickster character in “Panchatantra” and its receptions. Methodology. The author has used analytical methodology of C. Levi-Strauss, C. Jung’s theory of archetypes, and hermeneutical methodology. Theoretical basis and results. Perception of the world in the form of a narrative is inherent in the very specifics of the human thinking. Among the most famous literary narratives that structured cultural experience of different nations are the framed story “Panchatantra” and its receptions “Kalilah and Dimnah” and “Stefanit and Ihnilat”. The framework of the analyzed text is the story about two jackals Karataka and Damanaka, Lion, and Bull. “Panchatantra” is deeply rooted in the animal epos, which is based on the totemic myth. Myths were created by primitive thinking that sought to systematize the world, to give it order through binary oppositions. Their hard core is “Life – Death” opposition. A myth deals with oppositions and seeks to neutralize them. Thus, a myth serves as the logical tool to overcome the fundamental contradictions. This is carried out by introducing a mediator. Two poles, two extreme points are unambiguous; ambiguity “occurs” at an intermediate stage only. Shift from one point to another is impossible directly – for this we need a mediator. In the given narrative the binary opposition “Life – Death” is replaced by its metaphor – Bull and Lion, herbivore (metaphor for life) and carnivore (metaphor for death). These oppositions are mediated by Jackal (Karataka&Damanaka) that feeds on carrion and has a dual nature. A mediator, which overcomes or at least mitigates the binary opposition, is seen as a compromise between herbivores and carnivores that embody the antinomy of life and death. This mediator is a trickster – bipolar character (good and evil at the same time). A trickster freely acts in unordered world of Chaos without Life – Death limitations. Scientific novelty. The breaking of cyclical time of the myth and deploying it into linear time gave rise to characters-doubles: the only one mythological image disintegrated and turned into different actors. A phenomenon of events became the basis of narrative storytelling. “Panchatantra”, “Kalilah and Dimnah”, “Stefanit and Ihnilat” have a dialogical form, which can be seen as a dialogue within one personality, i.e. at a certain stage one single mediator is splitting, and we get two characters – Karataka and Damanaka, Kalilah and Dimnah, Stefanit and Ihnilat. They represent opposing views and wisely defend their positions. This dialogue-dispute has neither beginning nor end. Karataka and Damanaka are the bifurcation of one single synthetic character – the manifestation of bipolar worldview that combines the opposing principles of life. Conclusion. The true nature of a trickster opposes any restrictions: it is open to everything. A trickster is free to move from one pole to another, he constructs reality and plays with it metaphorically overcoming the antinomy of life and death.

34-42

Authors: S. Sh. Aytov

The purpose of this work is to study the cognitive interferences philosophical and social sciences and humanities. The aim of the article is to analyze the cognitive interaction of historical anthropology and semiotics in the space of philosophical-cultural concepts Lotman. Methodology. The methodology of this work includes the theoretical approaches, such as system-structural method, interdisciplinary method, comparative and source study methods. Teoretical basis and results. Philosophy of Culture Lotman contains a large number of cognitive dimensions. Significant role in the cognitive universe of his work is semiotics and historical anthropology. However interaction of these semiotic components of Lotman creation little explored yet. The latter applies to the redesign of the historical-anthropological ideas and research scientist. Conclusions. Understanding the interaction of cognitive semiotics and historical anthropology in the space of culture philosophy of Lotman logically leads to the conclusion that the effectiveness of cognitive symbiosis methodological approaches these sciences. In particular, the cognitive structure allows us to study the underlying causes of the motives and actions of individuals and entire societies past. The realization of semiotic, historical and anthropological methods allows us to analyze the underlying mechanisms of the spiritual culture and social and cultural institutions of societies from different historical periods.

54-63

Authors: V. E. Gromov

Purpose. The author regards the distinction between spiritual meaning inherent to ethics of justice and ethics of a free and unconditioned personality. He substantiates that the ethics of justice is insufficient for spiritual realization of man and it is a mental base of “suffering consciousness”. The author points at the absolute moral advantage of spiritual direction of culture. Methodology. The author connected methodological approach to the research into the spiritual quality of morality with fundamental distinction between the highest and the lowest levels of morality and with high degree of autonomy characterizing of spiritual directed consciousness. Scientific novelty. The article regards “eternal” and steady motivation of a man for justice and dignity. This problem remains topical in our days in conditions of intensive search for optimal correlation between the factors of humanity and violence in moral practice of modern civilized society. Conclusions. The ascension of modern social morality to the level of spiritual ethics is improbable, but, taking into account the metaphysical understanding of the essence of man, it is possible. The ethics of a free and unconditional person has a great potential in its influence on social moral. It leads to universal transformation of people’s attitude to themselves and to the surrounding reality. Utopian character and unfeasibility of spiritual ethics idea are determined by its independence from empirical conditions and by the difficulty concerned with conscious self-transformation of conditioned personality. The author intends to point out the “absolute” advantage of spiritually directed culture in realizing the opportunity of the moral evolution of society towards spirituality.

71-81

Authors: Yuliia Yu. Brodetskaya

Objective. The interest of the article focuses on the analysis of the social integrity phenomenon and its deformation practices in the modern society. The character’s sociality of the modern era indicates serious problems and contradictions that actualize the possibility of social integrity. The cultural crisis, spiritual vacuum, updated existential problems of the modern humanity forces to turn to the problem of the integrity constructing and maintaining and social reality functioning, as well as to the mechanisms and practices of its deformation. Methodology. Thus, in the analysis of the above mentioned points the problem of desires is getting more relevant, and these desires are actively being invested by the civilization progress in the human life. As simulacra of the natural mechanisms of individual activity (needs) desires help to transform the personality harmonious development process (cultural consumption) in a destructive civilization strategy – consumerism. Under these conditions consumption is losing its traditional meaning. From the natural processes of meeting the needs and developing the world it is transforming into a total destructive act that implements certain desires. Consumption grows borders of the traditional practice (it has not been already determined only by food, clothes, car, etc.). It is turning into an active mass orientation; practice of the materialization that is aimed to transform the surrounding world into a thing, a symbol of use. Thus, consumption transforms into a practice of total consumerism. The scientific novelty. In this context, the aim of the research is to analyze the destructive potential of consumerism, which nature is getting a real threat to the integrity of both individual world and social reality. This pattern of consumption determines the gap between a real purpose of the things and their contrived sense that gives them the desired effect (prestige, power, material wealth, etc.). In this situation, we can see updating of the tendency when things lose their true purpose, and man loses his active role. He is no longer a creator of qualitatively new products that fill his life with meaning. He is a conformal trimmer who routinely plays ersatz and fills his live with them. Material aspects rather than spiritual ones determine the value and meaning of human’s life, they represent a desired object that he wants to receive. His choice is ruled not by creative work, but by the civilization "benefits" bondage. Conclusions. Such deformation of harmonious development of the man and society, and of the traditional order transforms nature of the human relations to turn them into a banal practice of consumerism – usage. The desire to own, exploit, use makes a human to devalue surrounding reality and its members, turns a human into a homo economics, who calculates his circle of friends, communication, relationships. Exactly such "commercialization of relationship" overcomes the limits of the economic, political and legal spheres and encroaches on the family, friendship sphere to determine the whole character of the modern society.

89-100

Authors: O. V. Krasnokutskyi

The Purpose is to investigate the legal cultural phenomenon in the riches of the contours of its essence, raising the level of this phenomenon as part of the system of determinants of the optimization of ideology of state-building in modern Ukraine. Methodology. The study is based on the principles of materialist dialectics and the principles of historicism, social determinism, complexity. The scientific novelty. The cultural and legal factors of optimization of the ideology of state-building are conceptually considered for the first time in modern Ukraine; three methodological points that should be targeted in the definition of «legal culture» are outlined; the definition of legal culture is improved; a working template program of improvement and increase of the level of legal culture in contemporary Ukrainian society is developed; four key conceptual areas of the program are outlined. Conclusions. Legal culture can be defined as a separate category to mark the legal system which was historically formed and the institutions of a state-organized society that are correlated with it, and also the legal knowledge and motives, forms, techniques and methods of legal activities, values, estimates with the necessity inherent to every people, class, nation, community groups, to the individual person at a certain stage of their development. Rise of the level of legal awareness is one of the leading systematic factors, cultural and code keys to optimizing the development of state-building ideology in the conditions of today's Ukraine. The program for the improvement and enhancement of legal culture in contemporary Ukrainian society is composed of four major conceptual areas: the growth of basic legal literacy; the rise of their legal awareness; the increase of theoretical justification of the existing legal reality, the prospects for its future development, the increase of the efficiency of the legal theory; progressive formation of legal ideology.

113-124

Authors: N. I. Petrunok

The purpose of the following article is to draw attention to main problems of scientific values as they were stated by Paul Feyerabend. Various philosophers and epistemologists have always tried to prove chosen principles and objectives, but only few dared to jeopardize their fundamentals. Stereotypes of searching for ultimate truth ceased to hold; however, scientific coordinates are still not qualified. Underlying ambiguities often remain unarticulated. Among those who ventured to shed light on them were the philosophers of post-positivistic branch. One of those who questioned science values in social, cultural, and philosophical approaches the most rigidly was Paul Feyerabend. By means of typical political concepts (such as ideology and propaganda) he detected basic objectives of scientists. Our main methodological tools in this research are comparative analyses of the sources and immanent critique of Feyerabend’s arguments. The scientific novelty is based on our core objective to clarify substantial obstacles for homogeneity of science. Does such homogeneity or unity exist at any level? Feyerabend’s answer is a weak “yes”. He accepts such unity only as a useful assumption or a myth. In one of his latest books, Conquest of Abundance, he calls it a “flag” for the “people doing science.” As Feyerabend diagnosed faults of relativism, instrumentalism, and realism – all of them are threatened by the same menace of being invalid to response the world “at face value” – we have to deal somehow with topics denounced by him. In conclusion, we show important implications for the creation of a specific worldview at the intersection of philosophy and science. Considering a number of negatives, in the article we elicit fruitful ideas of Feyerabend, and contextually question them without resorting to a superficial reproach.

133-141

Authors: O. V. Molokova

The purpose. In this article the epistemology is investigated in such direction of social thought as social constructivism. The occurrence and popularity of a socially-constructivist paradigm was preceded by polemic between defenders of orientation of a science on the objectivity, positions adhering positivistically- universalistic and their opponents defending positions relativism. In the centre of discussion of scientific community there were such important problems for philosophy, as search for scientific true; objectivity of scientific knowledge and a relative autonomy of a science; relativization scientific knowledge. Methodology. Features of modern constructivism − in a special sight at knowledge, in a new foreshortening of its consideration when it represents itself as the tool of maintenance of ability to live of an organism as integrity (the individual, social group, a society). The outstanding characteristics of constructivism are the new foreshortening of consideration of possibilities of social knowledge − as constituting element of human experience of an everyday life. Scientific novelty. The important point is studying of how the scientific knowledge influences life of people, changes and structures life of the person. As the knowledge does not correspond any more with the objective world by a reflexion principle, loses sense and a question on its conformity of a reality that removes stubborn problems of true, reliability, objectivity. Conclusions. Social constructivism creates new possibilities for studying a problem of true and connected with it epistemological procedures of understanding, an explanation, interpretation, allows to look at the nature of human knowledge differently. In modern scientific researches the wide circulation is received by idea of designed character social and cultural the validity. This idea is supported with conclusions of variety of interdisciplinary approaches (the general theory of systems, the self-organising theory etc.) which form more difficult models of a reality and culture. The further development of the given direction of knowledge opens prospects for various kinds of humanitarian activity.

151-159

Authors: R. Y. Chyhur

The purpose of the research is to analyze concepts and essential characteristics of post-industrial society, which is generated by new anthropological measurements and ideological issues. Information society is proposed to consider as a stage of social development, which is characterized by comprehensive information of social structures and which is replacing the post-industrial. Number of signs on which postindustrial society is different from previous stages of social progress are identified. The fundamental changes in various social spheres are determined by the method of comparative analysis of known scientific theories. Conceptual exploration of leading scholars of post-industrial and information society stages development as D. Bell and M. Kastels are analyzed. The connection between economy and culture, economy and social transformation, which are represented in their works were solved. Availability of information, awareness of various social groups, media development, the existence of opportunities for rapid feedback – all these changes occur not only in the society, but also some of its scope and structure, including education, labour, intellectual abilities, values, family. The author emphasizes the fundamental transformation of ideological nature. They affect on the destruction of social structures and classical concepts. As a conclusion, it is argued the need to expand and to deep anthropological research, which is caused by the essence of the post-industrial stage of development.