Anthropological Measurements of Philosophical Research

16-26

Authors: N. M. Boychenko

Purpose. In order to consistently distinguish between violence, which is always primarily a destructive force, and the civilized use of force that involves constructive, creative goals, one should explore the main possible philosophical approaches to understand the nature of violence and try to give it a systematic outline. Methodology. This study uses a systematic approach to identify the internal relationship between different forms of violence and, accordingly, the counteraction against violence. Also, the author uses an axiology to identify the values that are the basis for distinguishing violence from its prototypes, as well as for the distinction between violence and coercion, as well as different types of coercion. Originality. This article presents significant clarifications on the classification of types of violence, in particular, it is clearly established that certain types of violence can not have ethical relevance, since they belong to the sphere of biology (expansion, aggression) or social anthropology (cultural, institutional coercion). Actually violence or violence in the narrow sense implies the existence of will, consciousness and destructive purpose. Accordingly, counteraction against violence should include the formation of a certain non-violent type of will, non-violent culture and creative, constructive goals. This requires both personal effort and institutional support and the availability of appropriate moral traditions. Ethical theory is intended to clarify and systematize these efforts. In this sense, ethics is the core of practical philosophy. To the extent that the influence of ethics on changes in human culture and sociality in the counterfactual regime is increasing, one should also speak of the anthropological significance of ethics. Conclusions. From the socio-philosophical point of view, it is necessary to specify exactly which social institutions and in which constellation generate violence. The ethical aspect of the study of violence involves categorizing the problem in terms of good and evil: violence is evil, as opposed to coercion, which can be justified, legitimated - but always from the point of view of promoting the development of society and the individual, encouraging the disclosure of his creative potential. Counterfactuality acts as an important ethical category, which reveals the transformation mechanism applied by human relative to himself and society while focusing on the values of goodness and other constructive and creative values.

40-49

Authors: P. V. Kretov, O. I. Kretova

Purpose. The aim of the study is to clarify the changed interpretation of symbol in the context of the ontological turn in cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology and their correlation with the functioning of the semantic field of culture, and in particular with religious symbols. The paper also considers an epistemological-ideological positions of representationalism, functionalism and relativism with respect to philosopheme of symbol. Methodology. The authors implemented theoretical and conceptual analysis in synchronic and diachronic aspects, the methodology of comparative consideration of the character within the analytical and existential paradigms in the 20th century philosophy. Originality. The work presents the study of correlation between aspect consideration of the nature and specific character in representationalism, functionalism and relativism within the philosophical projects of the cognitive position. The authors substantiated the position of symbol ontologization in the contemporary cultural and philosophical anthropology and the importance of convergence of the symbol concept and philosopheme with the concepts of an object and a thing. They fixed the value of the ontological turn in cultural anthropology for philosophical anthropology. The authors specifically examined the correlation between the declared symbol interpretation, project of object-oriented ontology and the modern philosophy of science. They substantiated ontological concept of symbolic landscape of modern philosophical anthropology, social philosophy and philosophy of mind. The symbol and religious symbolism have the significant importance for human identity, the symbol is considered to be the tool of human’s self-knowledge. Conclusions. The paper outlines the specific character of existence of symbol philosopheme in communicative field of modern man, the social media space, in particular the role of religious symbols for the construction of identity and self-positioning of modern man.

62-71

Authors: O. A. Tretyak

Introduction. According to Jürgen Habermas, a contradiction between the system and the life-world signifies a need for a concept that would describe the projective space of a relaxed and undistorted human communicative activity. Communicative action as a societal basis of the public sphere links this concept to the pragmatic principles of human existence in modern society. The public sphere is important in the age of the cyber revolution and the rule of networking technologies and it gets an anthropological dimension in its definition of the modern individual. Reviewed from the view of the interdisciplinary scientific community the public sphere as a dimension of human identity that is manifested in standardized terms of communicative interactions. The paper suggests that the public sphere has lost its conflict mode in respect to power and the tech-savvy social system. Purpose. The paper aims to establish the specifics of the anthropological interpretation of the public sphere in the contemporary philosophical tradition. Methodology. General scientific and special methods of philosophical research are used for conducting this study. The author has used the descriptive method to define the subject area of the anthropic measurement of the public sphere of politics. The method of logical synthesis allows to combine the abstract and specific content of the anthropological dimension of publicity. A retrospective analysis allows to determine the temporal peculiarities of the anthropic meaning of the public sphere. The comparative method gives an opportunity to compare the empirical manifestations of social and political publicity and compare anthropological effects of the media and interpersonal communication activities of modern people. Theoretical basis and results. The article examines the anthropological content of the public sphere of politics as one of the key concepts of communicative theory paying attention to the modification of the nature of publicity under the conditions of the cybernetic revolution. The author argues that the public sphere is not only a collection of self-presentations but also a set of messages of general significance, both textual and verbal. In this regard, the selection of news, of any importance, stands in one respect as a means of the worldview matching technique but also as the orientation amidst the unlimited information flow. The public sphere acts not just as a medium of verbal or textual self-expression of the individual but also as a dimension of human presence in the lives of others and its adequate perception. The more the public sphere stands away from the counter-factual image drawn in communicative theory, the more it loses its anthropological features and acquires the content of the technological and production network since a mode of communication is changed to the mode of information transmission. The paper establishes priorities of personality representation in the public sphere and examines the need and motives of communicative-pragmatic relationships between individuals. Originality. In the anthropological dimension the public sphere is a source of promising prospects and the formation of defining constraints. Publicity becomes the leading quality of the modern individual because of its need to be realized in communication practices. The networking nature of communication links enforces the modern individual to produce a certain image for self-presenting to society. Conclusions The article draws a conclusion about the directions of the public sphere transformation in a global perspective.

81-88

Authors: V. M. Petrushov, I. V. Tolstov

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to analyze George Santayana’s socio-anthropological ideas, which are presented in his works The Life of Reason: or The Phases of Human Progress and Dominations and Powers: Reflections on Liberty, Society and Government. Realization of the purpose will provide fresh insight into the problem of finding the value basis of modern human existence, ways of improving self-knowledge with the aim of further self-realization and development of the latent potential. Methodology. The methodological basis of the investigation is a pluralistic strategy that combines historical-philosophical analysis and the socio- anthropological approach. Originality. Santayana’s ideas about the human and society may seem utopian in the context of the realities of modern life. On the other hand, his concept that the vital mission of humans is to live the way they were destined to remains topical. Acceptance of one’s fate leads not to inaction and self-denial but to self-knowledge and action, to self-expression in science, poetry, religion and art, to realization of one's true mission, which is of a culture creator. His idea about the primary role of the USA in establishing a rational and fair world order is also topical. Conclusions. The way to self-realization of the human being is through the self-knowledge in the Socratic sense and the scientific knowledge of the world around. The objective of the scientific cognition does not imply that reason should guide life, but that it may help to achieve a certain harmony between the conflicting desires, passions and ambitions of the human being, and the vital «impulses» of different people or countries by means of a compromise. Reason may help to rationalize life, at least partially, so that it could become more stable and safe to ensure happiness and freedom, which are the greatest desires of every human being.

100-112

Authors: H. F. Moskalyk, M. Y. Baranovska, M. O. Bulach

Topicality. Under the conditions of Ukraine’s integration into the European community, there is an urgent need to restructure all social institutions, freeing them from all forms of discrimination, including on the basis of gender. Modern problems of the state's socioeconomic development require a new look at the functional roles of men and women, as well as the understanding that the political, economic, cultural future of society depends on overcoming gender stereotypes that are deeply rooted in the social and individual consciousness and inhibit social progress, and also the development of democracy. That is why, today, it is extremely important to study the issue of social influence and the role of women and determine their social status against the backdrop of the historical development of our state. Purpose. The article studies the emergence and adoption of the phenomenon of gender as a factor of the social status of the Ukrainian woman in the historical, philosophical and legal realm. Methodology. In the research process the authors used the methods of analyzing and synthesizing historical sources to study the content and main provisions of philosophical concepts and legal norms that formed the social status of a Ukrainian woman at different historical periods of society development, with their subsequent comparison and generalization. Originality. The work further develops the theory of gender processes with the use of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the phenomenon of gender in the historical, philosophical and legal field as a factor of the social status of the Ukrainian woman, to critically re-evaluate the value guidelines on the construction of modern society and the formation of new ideas about the role and model of behavior of men and women and their interaction in society. Conclusions. For a long time, the social status of women was formed under the influence of philosophical views and concepts, slowly turned into the moral traditions of peoples and the rule of law. The high status of a woman, as a full-fledged member of society, formed in the early state stages, lost its relevance already in the days of antiquity. The woman became a symbol of exclusively domestic, family relations and played the role of guardian of the private foundations of the social being of men. This trend found its continuation in the Roman Empire, significantly increased in the Middle Ages and left an imprint in the philosophy of modern times and German classical philosophy. In the period from Kievan Rus to the twentieth century, the Ukrainian woman remained a victim of stereotyped thinking. Despite the normative settlement of the equality of men and women in modern conditions, this equality has a purely declarative nature.

121-127

Authors: V. V. Khmil, O. M. Korkh

Purpose. The research is aimed at understanding Jaspers' ideas concerning independent self-determination of a special and distinctive identity as a main condition of history humanity and historicity of human existence. The research is based on ideological heritage of Karl Jaspers, as well as cultural and historical analysis on the basis of historical, logical and comparative principles reflected in the papers of national and foreign scientists. As a result, it made possible to model cultural and historical context, philosophical and theoretical origins and world view intentions of the German philosopher. Originality. The analysis has shown that the key concepts of Jaspers' philosophy were focused to determine and substantiate a main condition of historical dynamics and humanism, namely the existence of a unique and distinctive identity able to create and generate new values that can turn into universal ones and give impetus to our society and promote its further humanization. Conclusions. According to this investigation, Jaspers' key concepts are immanently subject to justifying the conditions of history humanity and historicity of human existence. In their unity they allow us to adequately understand connection between social dynamics and humanism with unique individuals and distinctive identities that can create and generate new values with further social development prospects. Favourable conditions for these unique individuals to appear prevent from numerous unsafe challenges, which are a certain threat to our society. And on the contrary, if there are no such conditions for a human, he is prone to any totalitarianism, personal crime and can be a faithful servant of any leader.

16-22

Authors: V. E. Gromov

Purpose. The paper studies the problem of death penalty justifiableness in terms of democratic society from the metaphysical viewpoint. Philosophical argumentation to justify death penalty is proposed as opposed to the common idea of inhuman and uncivilized nature of court practice of sentencing to death. The essence of the study is not to rehabilitate law-based murder but to explain dialectic relation of the degrees of moral responsibility of criminals and society nourishing evildoers. The author believes that refusal from death penalty under the pretence of rule of humanism is just a liberal façade, plausible excuse for defective moral state of the society which, rejecting its own guiltiness share as for current disregards of the law, does not grow but downgrades proper human dignity. Methodology. The author applies an approach of dialectic reflection being guided by the perception of unity, relativeness and complementarity of evil and good striving to determine efficient way of resolving their contradictions in the context of moral progress of the society. Originality. Proposing philosophic approach to a death penalty problem instead of legal one, the author is not going to discuss the role of horrification, control or cruelty of the measure of restraint; moreover, he does not consider the issue of its efficiency or inefficiency. The author also does not concern vexation of mind of a criminal sentenced to life imprisonment for “humanitarian” reasons. The purpose of the author is to demonstrate that aim of the punishment is to achieve justice which becomes spiritual challenge and moral recompense not only for the criminal but for the whole society. Conclusions. Crime is first of all a problem of a society; thus, criminal behaviour of certain individuals should only be considered through a prism of moral state of the whole community. Attitude to a death penalty is the problem of spirituality and its dramatic sophistication. The author thinks that moral standards exclude any sentimental interpretation of humanism and mercy. Humanism is the imperative requiring both personal and social responsibility for the things humiliated in a victim and human dignity downtrodden in a criminal. Law-breaker cannot be liquidated without judicial safeguards as a dangerous animal. Severe punishment of the society adequately compensates a murderer his/her human dignity. As the society is guilty partially in the existing criminality, it accepts the fact of cruel punishment applied to redress an injustice.

33-40

Authors: A. A. Polivoda

Purpose of the work is a description of critical position of J. Derrida on metaphysics of presence in phenomenological and structuralist discourses. As a philosophical strategy, deconstruction tries to destroy a violent hierarchy of terms, in which one term dominates the other according to its ontological or rational sense. Methodology of research is based on J. Derrida’s strategy of deconstruction, which tries to undermine the basic principles of knowledge and Western philosophy existence, for example, the opposition between nature and culture. In terms of J. Derrida, to deconstruct Western philosophy means to explore the tensions and contradictions in text, which should clarify false reliability of accepted hierarchies. The originality of the work lies in the identification of metaphysic of presence problem in structuralist and phenomenological discourses through the deconstruction project. Deconstruction should show instability of logocentrism, which focuses on repression of writing in terms of thought, truth, reason or logic. Conclusions: J. Derrida’s deconstruction appeared as an attempt to overthrow metaphysics and get focused on the concept of writing, which scope is limited by discourse. Deconstruction of metaphysics of presence is a continuous request of legitimacy of the existing logocentrism, and search of its weaknesses, aporias and contradictions, which make impossible the tradition, centered around mind.

49-62

Authors: T. О. Kolesnykova

Introduction. Integration of knowledge and communications, the movement for open access to knowledge lead to the emergence of factors that update the philosophy of functioning and development of university libraries. There is a need to comprehend the ongoing innovations in the activities of university libraries in the world. Purpose. The study assumes understanding of the substantial changes in the library services for scientists related to Open Access and the new role of university libraries – a partner in the production, preservation and spread of knowledge. Methodology. On the basis of empirical and theoretical methods, the features of modern university libraries are considered. They include shift of the priority vector towards the services for an author-scientist and support of the philosophy of open access to knowledge. The study identifies and analyzes the anthropological aspects of communicative and informational awareness of reality by university researchers and librarians. The realities of modern services for scientists of Ukraine are examined based on the experience of the Scientific and Technical Library of Dnipropetrovsk National University of Railway Transport named after Academician V. Lazaryan. The observations and surveys of scientists, librarians, publishers of scientific periodicals allow analyzing the anthropological aspects concerning new digital library services. The aspects affect: 1) relationship between communicants; 2) explanations of why it is the authors-researchers who have been at the center of the attention of libraries, why they are provided with exactly these services and exactly in this way; 3) levels of impact of new services on both scientists and librarians. Originality. It is established that in the process of communicative and informational awareness of reality, there are changes in the dimension of scientists and university librarians, namely, the ways of their behaviour and the communicative features associated with the development of Open Access and the new role of university libraries as partners in the production, preservation and spread of knowledge. Conclusions. The leading role of university libraries in the implementation of digital initiatives of scientific communication, based on free access to knowledge, leads to changes: 1) in the dimension of scientists and librarians, namely, the ways of their behavior and communicative features; 2) in the emotional, psychological, physical states of librarians as intermediaries between two conflicting requirements – ensuring stability in the activities of the library and the need for changes in the services it provides.

71-83

Authors: S. V. Storozhuk, I. M. Hoyan

Purpose of the work. Forming the axiological system of Western society, with the intentions to establish gender equality as a guarantee of a just society being taken into account, on the one hand, and preserving the traditional gender stereotypes inherent to patriarchal gender roles in a considerable part of the world, on the other hand, is actualizing the study of the factors that have contributed to realizing the problem of gender inequality and discrimination. Therefore, the purpose of our study is to highlight the factors that stipulated the awareness of gender equality in European social and cultural space, while leaving alive the traditional gender values in a number of other cultural environments. Methodology of the study is determined by interdisciplinary approach involving the use of general scientific methods such as analysis, synthesis, generalization, etc. The leading role belonged to the principle of the historical and logical unity. At the same time the study applies the basic principles of philosophical hermeneutics and the contextual analysis method. Originality lies in putting forward the new theoretical statements aimed to show that in the ancient and pre-modern society, gender inequality and discrimination did not exist, because at that time gender relations were considered either as a result of the biological characteristics of a human body, or were explained by worldview ideas about the origin and structural features of the world, prevailing in a specific historical dimension. Consequently, gender roles were taken for granted and were not subject to any doubt. Conclusions. Despite all the worldview shifts that had been taking place in the pre-modern era social outlook, nevertheless, as history has shown, they failed to generate sufficient philosophical foundations either for recognizing the equality of women, or changing their social, legal and political status. This led to accumulating the unconscious internal resistance to dominant social standards, which was expressed primarily in behavioural arbitrariness that, whatsoever had not been acquiring any openness by the beginning of industrialization. The latter, having destroyed rural communities with their inherent division of labour and lifestyle, which eventually weakened significantly the mythological social structures, has opened an opportunity not only to understand but also to commence the fight for the recognition of gender equality.

93-101

Authors: H. F. Moskalyk, M. O. Bulach

Actuality of work. Student age has the most favourable conditions for psychological, biological and social development; however, there are reasons why such natural advantages over other social groups can be completely or partially levelled. One of them is the presence of conflicts in the life of a student, a special group, among which there are women. The causes of the emergence of gender conflicts in individual social groups and the strategies for their solution have not been sufficiently explored and require further study and, therefore, are relevant. Purpose of the article is to investigate the causes of gender conflicts among students as a separate social group and to develop measures to address them and prevent them. Methodology. The research conducted in the work is based on the analysis and generalization of the causes of the emergence of gender conflicts among students, the identification of the main sources of information that form the consciousness of children and adolescents, and also influence their attitude to gender equality. Originality. The nature of gender conflicts has been quite effectively studied for a long time. However, the scope of research is limited to the most numerous social groups, such as the family, labour collective, political and public organizations, etc. Being a dynamic and socio-demographic formation, the students perform an important function in society – it takes a direct part in the transformation of all spheres of the life activity of the society. Based on the study of the objective conditions of the social environment with certain models of socialization that form the consciousness of students from early childhood, a three-component system of influence was first proposed, which is aimed at overcoming gender inequality and preventing gender conflicts among students. At the same time, the interaction of the components of the system will allow to minimize the gender inequality index in our country. Conclusions. Based on the conducted research, the authors came to the conclusion that any part of their life activity can become the sphere of occurrence of gender conflicts of students: from the choice of the direction of vocational training and the educational process to the arrangement of living conditions. The main cause of gender conflicts among students is gender inequality, which is formed in their minds. While in our society there are gender stereotypes that influence the formation of the consciousness of people from childhood and are promoted by all available sources of information, such a phenomenon as gender inequality cannot be considered overcome.

111-116

Authors: Olexandr O. Matusevych, Olecsii O. Matusevich

Purpose. The article, based on the analysis of actual materials, highlights the importance of taking into account the influence of the human factor in occurrence of emergency situations in terms of transport infrastructure. Methodology. The research is based on the interdisciplinary system analysis. It was comprehended how the service technicians of high-tech systems can create latent unsafe conditions that combined with other hazardous activities can cause an emergency and injury. The authors attempt to dramatize the issue in order to find a solution – on the one hand, man is the most crucial part of a complex technological system, on the other hand – he is the most unreliable part of the system, especially in terms of the extreme power of modern vehicles and their speeds. The above situation demonstrates the need for a new level of anthropic comprehension of the high-tech systems in the schematic set "human-system-environment". Originality. The paper analysed the problems and conditions of human factors that allow detecting the causes of technicians’ errors. The authors highlighted proposals for psychocorrective work among the personnel of the facilities. The problem of further development of continuous improvement of the equipment maintenance systems, based on integrated approach taking into account the human factor, is also not overlooked. Conclusion. In the course of understanding the human factor and its influence on the processes, the most urgent tasks are as follows: implementation of new system software, automation of vehicles and development of high production culture based on moral qualities of experts.

127-134

Authors: V. V. Khmil, O. M. Korkh

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to define main directions and ways to legitimize philosophical ideas of self-determination as a fundamental global and valuable intention of Western culture in the context of its enlightenment paradigm. Methodology. The research is based on historical and logical methods, which allowed to theoretically reconstruct the cultural and historical context, as well as philosophical and theoretical principles of understanding and recognition of self-determination as a phenomenon of Western culture of the Enlightenment age. The authors have used their own theoretical model similar to the one of “ideal type” by. M.Weber based on the methods of generalization, abstraction and idealization, which allowed to present the phenomenon of individualism in the most general form as a system of value orientations of an individual, whose nature is seeking self-determination and originality. Originality. The historical and philosophical analysis has shoяк.wn how the philosophy of the Enlightenment age created moral principles of European culture advancement, especially through rationalization and the idea of political, economic and moral independence of a personality, recognition of rights for own initiative and sovereignty, individual identity as a public good. Thus, the idea of self-determination in this philosophy is related not only to the recognition of human rights, but also to the search of possible ways for a person to embrace current legislative system, harmony conditions and public interests. Conclusions. The philosophy of the Enlightenment has made a significant step toward further development of self-determination concept and its rationalization – separation of freedom and tyranny, new perception of necessary conditions for free self-determination of an individual as the ability to manage own passions and build own life on some rational principles, to refuse from excessive egoism, combining personal interests with the interests of others and public in generally these ideas were performed in the system of philosophical and legal liberalism, which emerged as a result of the synthesis of individualism and rationality concepts, and became an ideological basis for the modernization of Western civilization.