?The person is a monad with windows?: sketch of a conceptual history of ‘person’ in Russia

The basic concepts ??person?? (Person), I/self (Ich) and ??subject?? (Subjekt) structuring the Russian discourse of personhood (Personalit?t) developed during the philosophical discussions of the 1820s?C1840s. The development occurred in the course of an intense reception of German Idealism and Romanticism. Characteristic of this process is that the modern meaning of personhood going back to the theological and natural-law interpretations of the person in Western Europe does not exist in the Russian cultural consciousness. Therefore the Russian concepts of personhood demonstrate the influence of the semantic innovations of Romanticism. Correspondingly, the semantic core of the Russian discourses on personhood is not the idea of an ??autonomous person?? but that of an ??unique individuality??. Here, personhood is not the indefeasible attribute of every man, but the mark of inimitable individuality. Accordingly, the basic distinction underlying the discourse on personhood in Russia is not the differentiation between ??person?? and ??thing?? as in the European tradition, but the distinction between ??individual?? and (anonymous) ??community??. Also, in the meaning of the concept of I/self the dominant differentiation is not that between I/self (Ich) and not-I/not-self (Nicht-Ich), but that between I and We. This discourse on personhood centring on the idea of individuality took form in Russia starting in the middle of the nineteenth century, in particular in aesthetics, psychology, and educational theory, as well as in the philosophy of history. The comparative intercultural analysis of the history of concepts pertaining to personhood in the German-Russian cultural transfer brings to light the dialectic of European modernity in which a degree of tension is visible between the idea of personal autonomy and individuality.     

Die mitgebrachte Hilfe

Based on three case reports psychotic transfer manifestations will be examined mainly with respect to their concrete quality. In the first case presented the main theme is a situative ??overpresence of concrete external reality??. For the most recent consultation the female patient appeared accompanied by a large dog and in this way initially created an oppressive scenario. During the course of the consultation this could be linked to the internal (emergency) situation of the patient and in this way the Dobermann could be transformed to ??Charly??. In the second case the concretism impressed as a totally dominating modus vivendi. The patient switched off broad areas of her emotionality and exclusively recognized concrete tangible objects and facts as the only valid reality. During the course of the treatment the ??misrepresentation of a useful object?? could be recognized as the center of this concrete world, an object from which the expectation was that it (half-heartedly) predominantly removed concrete deficiencies and therefore from which no emotional help can be expected. It will be presented how the (mental) development of the patient was additionally influenced by the schizophrenia of her father: she developed this ??concretization?? as a central ego function in order to be able to suppress an increasingly ??louder?? madness. In the third case example psychotic clefts and concinnities will be described which appear to damage the verbal thought process in an omnipotent fashion. A detailed examination shows, however, that these ??mad syntheses??, comparable with the astrophysical ??dark matter??, provide stabilizing functions of gravity.     

Worlds and times

In the fourteenth century, Duns Scotus suggested that the proper analysis of modality required not just moments of time but also ??moments of nature??. In making this suggestion, he broke with an influential view first presented by Diodorus in the early Hellenistic period, and might even be said to have been the inventor of ??possible worlds??. In this essay we take Scotus?? suggestion seriously devising first a double-index logic and then introducing the temporal order. Finally, using the temporal order, we define a modal order. This allows us to present modal logic without the usual interpretive questions arising concerning the relation called variously ??accessibility??, ??alternativeness??, and, ??relative possibility.?? The system in which this analysis is done is one of those which have come to be called a hybrid logic.     

Looking Through Ulanowicz’s “Third Window”

After a ??very personal?? introduction, and a reference to how accurate indeed is the use of the ??new window?? metaphor by Ulanowicz and about what ??can be seen through it??, the article dwells into the evolution of our understanding about the most general sources??material and/or non-material??of change and transformation; in order to examine further the item about the ways through which ??information?? can be a source of change and transformation also in pre-biotic processes, where commonly it is not taken into account. Thus, the article argues the convergence between Ulanowicz??s and the Author??s treatments of??non only biotic??networks of configuration of processes (a central theme in Ulanowicz??s book). Finally, the article pays attention to how Ulanowicz??s vision through his ??new Third Window??, can indeed help us transcend the non desirable division of contemporary culture into two isolated compartments (science and technology versus the humanities and ethics), which has contributed not only to the globalization of communications, transactions, knowledge and so on, but also to the globalization of multiple crisis of different sort that need to be solved if we want ??a better world to be possible??.     

The ‘theory theory’ of mind and the aims of Sellars’ original myth of Jones

Recent proponents of the ??theory theory?? of mind often trace its roots back to Wilfrid Sellars?? famous ??myth of Jones?? in his 1956 article, ??Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind??. Sellars developed an account of the intersubjective basis of our knowledge of the inner mental states of both self and others, an account which included the claim that such knowledge is in some sense theoretical knowledge. This paper examines the nature of this claim in Sellars?? original account and its relationship to more recent debates concerning ??theory of mind??, in particular the theory theory. A close look reveals that Sellars?? original view embodied several distinctions that would enable more recent theory theorists to accommodate certain phenomenological objections that have been raised against that outlook. At the heart of the philosophical issue is an overlooked complexity involved in Sellars?? account of the ??theory/observation?? distinction, involving a conception of the distinction that is both independently plausible and a key to the issue in dispute.     

Dugin Eurasianism: a window on the minds of the Russian elite or an intellectual ploy?

This paper considers the views of Alexander Dugin, a leading proponent of Eurasianism in contemporary Russia. The point of his teaching is the preservation of the traditional social/cultural make-up of each civilization. He also believes that the Russian Slavs together with the minorities of the Russian Federation constitute a quasi-unity of Eurasian civilization. He emphasizes that globalism, led by the USA, is a mortal threat to the cultural identity of Russia/Eurasia and all other civilizations. For this reason the USA and Russia are locked in mortal conflict with one other. At the outset of his intellectual career, in post-Soviet Russia, Dugin believed that Putin would follow the Eurasian road. It would be wrong to see Dugin as an intellectual guru at the head of the post-Soviet elite. Still, his views are important, for they indicate the kinds of ideas that circulate in the minds of the Russian elite.

What ‘biological racial realism’ should mean

A curious ambiguity has arisen in the race debate in recent years. That ambiguity is what is actually meant by ??biological racial realism??. Some philosophers mean that ??race is a natural kind in biology??, while others mean that ??race is a real biological kind??. However, there is no agreement about what a natural kind or a real biological kind should be in the race debate. In this article, I will argue that the best interpretation of ??biological racial realism?? is one that interprets ??biological racial realism?? as ??race is a genuine kind in biology??, where a genuine kind is a valid kind in a well-ordered scientific research program. I begin by reviewing previous interpretations of ??biological racial realism?? in the race debate. Second, I introduce the idea of a genuine kind and compare it to various notions of natural and real biological kinds used in the race debate. Third, I present and defend an argument for my view. Fourth, I provide a few interesting consequences of my view for the race debate. Last, I provide a summary of the article.     

Discussions about indigenous,national and transnational Islam in Russia

ABSTRACT

Transnational Islam is increasingly presented in the Russian political rhetoric as a security threat. Therefore, Russian politicians and authorities attempt to support indigenous or national forms of Islam. Similar policies are implemented in several western European countries. Yet they tend to disregard the heterogeneity of the Muslim community, they create exclusions and they are often conceived as imposing outside evaluations and interpretations on Islam. This contribution analyses initiatives intended to develop a national Islam in post-Soviet Russia. While the aims, methods and problems in different countries are often quite similar, the values and norms underlying these initiatives vary and reflect the societies from which they emerge. This contribution argues that since the 1990s, the changes in the political line of the Kremlin have impacted the project for a ‘national’ Islam by placing less emphasis on liberal values and more emphasis on adherence to loyalism and political conservatism.     

?Du sollst dir kein Bildnis machen��

??The Progress in Spirituality??, a short section of Freud??s last major work ??Moses and Monotheism?? (1939) received special attention when his daughter read it on his behalf in 1938 at the last International Psychoanalytical Congress before the Second World War in Paris: it was almost like reading the will of the founder of psychoanalysis. ??The Progress in Spirituality?? is an implicit reflection on the core of psychoanalysis and its technique of eliminating vision. The image of God reflected there??the establishment of Jewish monotheism, of a nameless, aniconic, abstract God and the ethical demands imposed by him??exhibits all the characteristics of a cultural revolution in which all the existing traditions were thrown away. In it seems hidden what was for Freud the mysterious feature in the Jewish tradition. Through the prohibition of images Mosaic monotheism enforced a higher level of intellectuality and encouraged introspection. In the psychoanalytical setting the prohibition of images seems to reappear in the form of the ??cultural memory??. The denial demanded of the patient and the renunciation of instincts demanded from both corresponds to ??The Progress in Spirituality?? in which Freud??s Moses finds his culmination point.     

The World War against the spirit of Immanuel Kant: philosophical Germanophobia in Russia in 1914–1915 and the birth of cultural racism

During the First World War the radical nationalist sentiments were widespread in different European countries involved in military activities, including the Russian Empire. In Russia this rise united the features of Russian ethnonationalism and imperial enthusiasm. The Russian philosopher Vladimir Ern (1882–1917) in his article “From Kant to Krupp” (1914) attempted “to ground” the hostility between Russia and its allies, on the one hand, and Germany, on the other hand. This attempt turned Ern’s article into one of the earliest manifestoes of cultural racism in Russia, maybe the very first one. Discussing this article in the context of other works by Ern of 1910–1917, one can see that Ern applied Friedrich Nietzsche’s genealogical method for the political interpretation of “the problem of technology” causing the aggressive approach to the human’s environment. Nevertheless, Ern’s cultural racism and aggressive rhetoric blocked further development and even reception of his methodological innovations. The psychological compensatory pragmatic of his rhetoric seems to resemble the analogical function of rigid opposition between “Russia” and “West” in speeches of contemporary Russia’s official ideologues.     

Ironic imperialism: how Russian patriots are reclaiming postmodernism

This essay analyzes the recent appearance in Russian letters of ultra-nationalist fantasies about the restoration of Russia??s imperial or totalitarian status. This new trend has its roots not only in the increasingly patriotic tone of Russian society and politics, but also in the dynamics of the literary field itself. ??Imperialist writers?? such as Aleksandr Prokhanov and Pavel Krusanov have both revived and reacted against postmodern themes and motifs from earlier decades. Relying on the legacy of sots-art and stiob, the ??imperialists?? advance a new model in Russia??s postmodern tradition, one that is balanced on the very borderline between irony and ideological militancy. In playing the game of ambiguous fanaticism, these writers have been able to attract the attention of a broad and diverse public, and have moved from an intellectual periphery into the cultural mainstream.     

A ��non-aligned�� intelligentsia: Timur Novikov��s neo-avantgarde and the afterlife of Leningrad non-conformism

This article describes a logic of distinction and succession within the late-twentieth-century Leningrad-St. Petersburg cultural field, whereby consecutive intelligentsia mainstreams were replaced by their avant-garde peripheries. In this dynamic picture of socio-cultural transformations, I propose a working hypothesis of a repeated stratification of the field into an ??official??, an ??unofficial??, and a third ??non-aligned?? intelligentsia. This hypothesis is tested in reference to the ??non-aligned?? groups founded by the avant-garde artist and ideologue Timur Novikov (1958?C2002). Three major shifts are described: from the politicized late-Brezhnevite early 1980s to the apolitical radicalism of Novikov??s New Artists; from this anarchistic underground, through the perestroika era, to the playful ??classicism?? of the New Academy of Fine Arts in the 1990s; and from this postmodern international orientation to an arch-reactionary, neo-imperial posturing at the turn of the 2000s. Lastly, this ??non-aligned?? intelligentsia is suggested as a possible precedent, or, indeed, a model for understanding other historically significant avant-garde peripheries, which commonly seek to distinguish themselves from (often mutually-exclusive) centres.     

Socrates on Reason, Appetite and Passion: A Response to Thomas C. Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, Socratic Moral Psychology

Section 1 of this essay distinguishes between four interpretations of Socratic intellectualism, which are, very roughly: (1) a version in which on any given occasion desire, and then action, is determined by what we think will turn out best for us, that being what we all, always, really desire; (2) a version in which on any given occasion action is determined by what we think will best satisfy our permanent desire for what is really best for us; (3) a version formed by the assimilation of (2) to (1), labelled the ??standard?? version?? by Thomas C. Brickhouse and Nicholas D. Smith, and treated by them as a single alternative to their own interpretation; and (4) Brickhouse and Smith??s own version. Section 2 considers, in particular, Brickhouse and Smith??s handling of the ??appetites and passions??, which is the most distinctive feature of interpretation (4). Section 3 discusses Brickhouse and Smith??s defence of ??Socratic studies?? in its historical context, and assesses the contribution made by their distinctive interpretation of ??the philosophy of Socrates??. One question raised in this section, and one that is clearly fundamental to the existence of ??Socratic studies??, is how different Brickhouse and Smith??s Socrates turns out to be from Plato himself, i.e., the Plato of the post-??Socratic?? dialogues; to which the answer offered is that on Brickhouse and Smith??s interpretation Socratic moral psychology becomes rather less distinguishable from its ??Platonic?? counterpart??as that is currently understood??than it is on the interpretation(s) they oppose.     

A Short Story about the Übermensch: Vladimir Solov'ëv's Interpretation of and Response to Nietzsche's Übermensch

From the 1890s on, the atheist philosopher F. Nietzsche exerted a profound and enduring impact on Russian religious, cultural, and social reality. The religious philosopher V.S. Solov'ëv perceived Nietzsche's thought as an actual threat to Russian religious consciousness and his own anthropological ideal of Divine Humanity. He was especially preoccupied with the idea of the Übermensch since sometwo decades before the Nietzschean Übermensch was popularized in Russia, Solov'ëv had already developed his own interpretation of the sverkhchelovek.     

Capacity and Potentiality: Aristotle’s Metaphysics Θ.6–7 from the Perspective of the De Anima

The notion of a capacity (dunamis) in the sense of a power to bring about or undergo change plays a key role in Aristotle??s theories about the natural world. However, in Metaphysics ?? Aristotle also extends ??capacity??, and the corresponding concept of ??activity?? (energeia), to cases where we want to say that something is in capacity, or in activity, such and such but not, or not directly, in virtue of being capable of initiating or undergoing change. This paper seeks to clarify and confirm a certain view of how Aristotle wishes us to see the relationship between the two uses of ??capacity?? and ??activity??. To that end, I consider also Aristotle??s employment of the terms in the De Anima, which sheds light on the key examples which direct the discussion in Metaph. ??.     

The “ABCs” of REBT I: A Preliminary Study of Errors and Confusions in Counselling and Psychotherapy Textbooks

In this study, a random sample of twenty counselling and psychotherapy textbooks were studied with respect to the errors and confusions made by the authors of these textbooks with respect to the ??ABCs?? of REBT. A total of 240 of such errors/confusions were found with most being made about beliefs at ??B??, particularly about irrational beliefs. A variety of errors and confusions were also made about (i) the relationship between ??B?? and ??C?? (including whether or not such a relationship is causal), (ii) the relationship between irrational beliefs and disturbed responses at ??C??, (iii) ??A?? and (iv) ??emotional ??Cs??. Twenty errors were even made about the name of the therapy! It was suggested that one way of addressing this state of affairs would be for the Albert Ellis Institute to commission a group of REBT experts to write a document especially for authors of counselling and psychotherapy textbooks and for publishers of these works that specifies clearly and accurately agreed wisdom about the ??ABCs?? of REBT. The weaknesses of the current study were noted and suggestions for future research made.     

Lifting the Mantle of Protection from Weber’s Presuppositions in His Theory of Bureaucracy

Early reactions to the publication of Harold Garfinkel??s Studies in Ethnomethodology, which have persisted over the passing decades, was that ethnomethodology could not address what sociology deemed to be socially significant matters such as ??power?? and ??the state??. This, however, is not the case. How such matters enter into the practical everyday affairs of members is of equal interest to ethnomethodology when compared to how any matter enters into members?? everyday life, and how they display that. It just does not have more importance. Egon Bittner spelt this out with regard to Weber??s interest in bureaucracy when he reminds sociology that when Weber talked about efficiency he was not referring to an objective standard but as something that is attuned to practical interests as they emerge in the context of everyday life. This paper examines some of the actions and interactions that were encountered in a Governmental Department in one of the European countries. It makes visible how characterisations of bureaucracy such as ??rational??, and ??efficient?? are achieved in the actions and interactions of Department employees, and some of the practices involved in that achievement. Garfinkel, and ethnomethodology in general, are not, in principle, to be found wanting where matters of overarching, primordial interest to sociology are concerned.     

Discourse on a Russian “Sonderweg”: European models in Russian disguise

This article examines (on the basis of Russian history) the development of the concept of a “special path” in societies that have experienced problems with their self-identity. Western European intellectuals who needed an “other” in the construction and definition of their own cultural and geographical space in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries played an important role in shaping the understanding of a Russian “special path.” The “Russian chaos” they postulated was contrasted to “Western” rationalism and order and Eastern “slavery” was seen as a counter position to the “Western” demands regarding human dignity. With the coming of an era of nationalism in Russia, many of these ideas were adopted by Russian intellectuals and laid a foundation for their own work toward the formation of a national identity. Orthodoxy (as opposed to Catholicism and Protestantism), autocracy (as opposed to parliamentarianism), Narodnost’ (“national spirit”) and communal traditionalism (in contrast to capitalism, private property and individualism) were seen as the only alternatives to the modern West. The Russian “Westernizers” were captivated by the idea of a “special path” as much as the “Slavophiles” and saw this path through the prism of uniquely refracted concepts of “Orthodoxy, autocracy and Narodnost’”. The author considers the concept of the ‘special path’ not only as a means of forming group identity, but also as a type of social search within the boundaries of the dominant paradigm. Russian intellectuals claiming Russian ‘uniqueness’ today, as two centuries ago, are doing so, to a very considerable degree, as a result of western intellectualism.     

The “ABCs” of REBT II: A Preliminary Study of Errors and Confusions Made by REBT Therapists

In this study, 19 REBT therapists from the Albert Ellis Institute??s referral list from a sample of 83 provided a specific ??ABC?? assessment of a problem and its solution that they would teach a class of counselling graduate students. This material was analysed for evidence of errors and confusions with respect to the ??ABCs?? of REBT. A total of 81 of such errors/confusions were found with most being made about beliefs at ??B??, particularly about rational beliefs. A variety of errors and confusions were also made about ??A?? and emotional ??Cs??. It was suggested that one way of addressing this state of affairs would be for the Albert Ellis Institute to introduce a theory test which applicants for Fellowship and Associate Fellowship status would have to pass before being awarded such status. Weaknesses of the current study were noted and suggestions for future research made.     

Islamic masculinities in action: the construction of masculinity in Russian visual culture about the Chechen wars

ABSTRACT

Although it lasted until as recently as 2009, before an official end was put to the Second Chechen War, famously branded as an anti-terrorist campaign, the process of reintegrating Chechnya in the realm of the Russian Federation started earlier. Politically, the so-called Chechenisation has played a central role in this process. Symbolically, however, popular culture and Russian visual culture about the conflict in particular contributed to the renegotiating process of Chechen and Russian post-Soviet identities and their interrelationship in the aftermath of the conflict. An analysis of the symbolic representation of masculine subjectivities in such cultural productions offers an insight into how popular culture functioned as a means to rehabilitate formerly demonised Chechen masculine subjectivity. It also points to the process of remasculinisation which went along with the introduction of Putin’s neo-traditionalist policy in Russian society.