Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), the author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and the founder of the University of Virginia. It is those three deeds that he himself valued most of everything else he did in his life.

He was a real polymath and achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, statesman, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, author and inventor.

He was one of the most influential Founding Fathers and the third President of the United States (1801–1809). It is noteworthy that Jefferson has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.

As a political philosopher, Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and supported the separation of church and state and favored states' rights and a strictly limited federal government. He was also the co-founder and leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, which dominated American politics for a quarter-century. And one more thing – he was a real man.

BY NATALIYA LOGINOVA

Read the article in Russian

Philosophy and Everyday Life

The 22nd World Congress of Philosophy in Seoul has finished its work to prompt our thoughts about the role of philosophy in our life. There is little wonder that this apparently important event was ignored altogether by Russian and generally by international media. Indeed, it would seem that mankind has really nothing to expect of philosophy and philosophers. The very term ‘philosophy’ has long lost its scientific meaning and has often been used to describe idle thinking and abstract reasoning.

Still, it is philosophy, with all its seemingly impracticable achievements, that makes up a platform for a systemic social knowledge based on history and held in great respect all over the world. So why do philosophy teachers in Russian universities always live under constant fear that their subject might be excluded from the curriculum? Why are they singled out to be seen and treated as outcasts of all other liberal arts teachers? However, many movements have emerged lately, claiming to deal with social processes: sociology, political science, cultural studies, etc., though what they do in fact is practical philosophy.

BY ARNOLD KAZMIN

Read the article in Russian

English

Regard your Neighbor as a Friend – This is What Really Matters

The spectacular Beijing Olympics..., China’s fast and steady economic growth, its outstanding achievements in space exploration, great culture and long history – all this calls for a deeper understanding of China – our great neighbor and present-day partner in many fields. There are too many questions… What and how much do we know about China today? Of what we know what is true and what isn’t? What does the future hold for us in our relations with China? This extremely interesting interview with Mikhail Titarenko, a RAS Member, Director of the RAS Institute of Far East and a prominent Russian Orientalist gives answers to these and many other questions relating to Chinese ways, mentality, extraordinary economic achievements and so on.

INTERVIEW BY SERGEI SHARAKSHANE

Read the article in Russian

“Philosophical Train”

It was a train in the direct sense of the word, or a part of it to be exact – four cars with 80 Russian and foreign philosophers – returning home from the 22d World Congress of Philosophers through the vastness of Far East and Siberia across seven time zones. It was not just a long 2-week journey; it had a mission. The train stopped at Russian major cities such as Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Ulan-Ude, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan and so on, for meetings, round tables, lectures and workshops. So, that was a real “philosophical train”, but one totally opposite to the 1922 “philosophical steamship” that carried Russia’s best minds to exile. The article is both an account of numerous meetings and an interview presenting world’s leading philosophers’ opinions and impressions.

INTERVIEW BY SERGEI SHARAKSHANE

Read the article in Russian

Illegal accumulation of wealth? Stop!

Here again we raise the subject of countering corruption. Despite its brevity, the article is rather interesting because it contains a list of anti-corruption measures agreed upon by 20 major public organizations this July. The reader will be pleasantly surprised to see that these measures are in no way vague as they usually are but on the contrary specific and target-oriented. They start from lowest regional, go up to highest federal levels and range from public monitoring and legal consulting to regional and federal anti-corruption campaigns. Together these measures make up Russia’s public anti-corruption platform.

BY SERGEI BRUSIN

Read the article in Russian

Vernadsky: Philosophy and Ecology

The history of world civilizations knows quite a few great scientists who substantially contributed to different fields of human knowledge, but there have been only very few, who were able to sum up the available achievements of natural science, arrange, tabulate and use them as paints to form a science-based holistic picture of the world. The creative talent of such scientists is two-dimensional: they are simultaneously researchers and philosophers and their works are not only of encyclopedic but also of world-outlook and methodological nature. Vladimir Vernadsky is one of them. This year it is 145 years since he was born. The article is a synopsis of his life and work.

BY ELENA KARTASHOVA, Biology Dept., Moscow State University

Read the article in Russian

Our Answer to the Bermuda Triangle!

It is about that Russia has its own “triangle”. It is the Perm triangle as they call it, and it is in no way inferior to its Atlantic counterpart either in the number or frequency of UFO sightings. The material will surely appeal to all those who are interested in UFO and other mysterious phenomena that defy explanation. However much excitement it may be, we couldn’t help attaching our scientific commentary to it just to cool down UFO’s most adamant believers.

BY VLADIMIR ROSCHUPKIN

Read the article in Russian

Издательство «СиДиПресс» адрес издательства и редакции «Российской философской газеты»
125252 г. Москва, ул. Зорге,9А.
Тел. (495) 735-40-69; Факс (495) 735-40-69
e-mail: rfg.06@mail.ru