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THE RUSSIAN PHILOSOPHICAL GAZETTE

April 2009 – No 4

FEATURES

Immanuel Kant: The right of man is to be deemed sacred

 

He is often called not only the founder of German classical philosophy but also the titan of philosophical thought of all times. It is true because all types of classical or present-day philosophical undertaking, this way or another, take us to the heritage of this great thinker. His philosophy is both singular and unique. For him, man as the object of scientific research was always in the first place, but he never neglected the Universe either. Over the years Kant’s ideas have transformed, but they are still relevant now – in the period characterized by the humanization of all sciences, philosophy included.

 

BY NATALYA LOGINOVA

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Mankind’s Energy Hypostasis

 

 

“The Scientific Technology Forecast as the key element of Russia’s development strategy” is the name of the RAS’s scientific session held last December.  The specificity of this event is that it was preceded by substantial preparation carried out by the developers within the framework of “Forecast 2030” – a report on science and development submitted to the Russian president.

The session welcomed a report on Russian energy prospects by Academician Aleksei Makarov, one of the prominent figures in Russian science and an authority in the field of energy development. In this interview Aleksei Makarov gives answers to questions prepared by the Russian Philosophical Gazette. The interview sheds light on such problems as the prospects of Russian energy sector development, the exhaustibility of organic fuels, the use of solar energy and alternative energy sources, green-house gases, ecology problems and so on.

 

INTERVIEW BY SERGEI SHARAKSHANE

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Philosophy in Via To Science

 

This is a focus on the results of the All-Russia Scientific and Practical Conference “SPIRITUAL TURNAROUND – HOW TO RAISE PUBLIC MORALS IN RUSSIA”. As a notion in the context of philosophical knowledge, civilization determines the development stage of material culture and social relations. However, whereas material culture is clearly manifest, the relations among people do not appear to be as obvious, arguments on social relations seldom have anything to do with scientific research. The scientific approach focused on social relations is believed to imply necessarily the analysis of an individual’s qualitative substance including the moral aspect of that substance in the first place.  It is no doubt that last month’s All-Russia scientific and practical conference “Spiritual Turnaround – How to raise public morals in Russia” is a significant event in the life of Russian public. The conference heralded a new vision of morality problems: the key point being that they should be looked at from a natural science perspective. It is noteworthy that the Conference was chaired by academician Sergei Bagaev, a member of the RAS Presidium.

 

BY ARNOLD KAZMIN

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Where is my party?

 

An extremely interesting article! Written by a frustrated voter, it proposes a redistribution of material wealth which surprisingly does not sound absurd. Read it to see for yourself. The author claims that each must have an equal share in each natural resource and that share, as he insists, shall not be sold or inherited; in fact, it shall be given at birth and taken away at death. The author claims further that each must also have an equal share in the former Soviet Union’s means of production. And, of course, there is more… If the author’s ideas fail to find a response in your heart, you will at least find them amusing.

 

BY VYACHESLAV STARODUBOV

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There is much beauty in math!

In this interview Aleksandr Kuznetsov, the 1997 Mobius Student Award Winner and the 2008 Winner of the European Mathematical Society Award shares his views on some of the problems facing young scientists in Russia. Read it to find out the current situation with “brain drain” in Russia. You will also know what is being done and what is yet to be done by the government to help young scientists in the field of employment, pay and living conditions and what measures are to be taken to make work in Russia more attractive than abroad.

 

INTERVIEW BY SERGEI SHARAKSHANE

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Crisis and Social Guarantees

 

Those readers who have genuine concern about social guarantees in a crisis should not miss this article because it presents a comprehensive analysis of the three working models of social protection: the liberal model (UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), the conservative model (Germany, France, Austria, Italy) and the social democratic model (Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland). Of no less interest is the author’s argument that states with a more effective model will live through the current crisis with less suffering than those whose model is less effective; and those with the weakest system of social protection will suffer most.

 

BY EVGENI POLUEKTOV

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“What is your substance, whereof are you made…?”

 

This is actually the first line of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 53, and this essay by Aleksandr Sharakshane is centered on the great Englishman’s Sonnets. The Sonnets, is a collection of poems in sonnet form that deal with love, beauty, politics, and mortality. All 154 poems appeared in a 1609 collection. There is a mysterious dedication at the beginning of the text where a certain "Mr. W.H." is described by the publisher as "the onlie begetter" of the poems, but it is not known who this man was. Shakespeare’s Sonnets are extremely popular in Russia and for this reason there are many Russian translations among which those by such famous men of letters as Marshak, Parspernak, Tshaikovsky and many-many others. It is noteworthy that over the last 30 years The Sonnets have been translated into Russian at least 30 times by linguists, poets, scholars, physicists, mathematicians, teachers, and many other people of different professions among which is the author of this article - Aleksandr Sharakshane. This interest is not surprising for Shakespeare’s Sonnets open up our substance or our soul if you like; they show forcefully and delicately both our strongest and most refined feelings that together make us what we are. 

 

BY ALEKSANDR SHARAKSHANE

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Dead Souls and the Ethos of Man

On April 1, Russia marks the 200th birthday anniversary of Nikolai Gogol – one of the greatest Russian writers. In fact, Gogol is considered the father of modern Russian realism. The novels Taras Bulba (1835) and Dead Souls (1842), the play The Inspector-General (1836), and the short stories Diary of a Madman, The Nose and The Overcoat (1842) are among his best known works. With their scrupulous and scathing realism, ethical criticism, humour as well as philosophical depth, they remain some of the most important works of world literature. Gogol’s search for the Truth and the Ethos of Man was continued by Dostoevsky and Tolstoy as well as many others. Aleksandr Zenkin, an authority on Gogol’s heritage, wrote recently a four-volume book “The Curse of Geniuses” which is focused, inter alia, on Gogol’s life and work. His views on Gogol’s contribution to literature and philosophy are believed to be quite valuable.

 

 

BY ALEKSANDR ZENKIN

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