СОВМЕСТНЫЙ ПРОЕКТ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФИЛОСОФСКОЙ ОБЩЕСТВЕННОСТИ И ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВА «СИДИПРЕСС»

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THE RUSSIAN PHILOSOPHICAL GAZETTE

May 2009 – No 5

FEATURES

Erasmus of Rotterdam, “No one can deny anyone a decent life.”

 

Erasmus of Rotterdam (October 28, 1467– July 12, 1536, Basel) was a Dutch Renaissance humanist and a Catholic Christian theologian. Erasmus was a classical scholar who wrote in a "pure" Latin style. He prepared new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament. He wrote The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children and many other works. The target of his philosophical fire was platitude, hypocrisy, dogmatism, beadledom and pointlessness, i.e. the human folly in all spheres of life – political, cultural and ecclesiastical.

Erasmus lived through the Reformation period. He consistently criticized some contemporary popular Christian beliefs and stood for reforming the Church from within. This disappointed many Protestants, such as Martin Luther, as well as conservative Catholics.

 

BY NATALYA LOGINOVA

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The Echo of the Baleful Discussion “On Resonance”

 

 

In 1950 there was a discussion held simultaneously at a number of Soviet organic chemistry research institutes which came to be known as the Discussion on Resonance. The conclusion of that discussion was loud and clear: “Guided by the resolutions of the Central Committee of the VKP(b) and Your guidelines, comrade Stalin, the Soviet chemists have launched a war on ideological concepts advocated by bourgeois scientists. The perversity of the so-called “theory of resonance” has been exposed and what is left of it will be thrown away from Soviet chemistry”.

In this interview Academician Iliya Moiseyev, a chemist of world renown in the field of metal-complex catalysis and the coordinate chemistry of transition metals, shares his views on some of the present-day bureaucratic barriers that come from time to time in the way of science. The interview is of extreme interest because it also sheds light on the prospects of chemical industry in today’s Russia.

 

 

INTERVIEW BY SERGEI SHARAKSHANE

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English

 

What are we to expect from the Philosophy Congress?

 

This is a collection of the opinions on the forthcoming 5th Russian Congress of Philosophy expressed by some prominent scientists, scholars and public figures. The Congress will be held in Novosibirsk on August 25-28, 2009. The name of the Congress appears to be extremely relevant – “Science. Philosophy. Society”. The important thing in this array of views is that they all support the general line of the RPhG aimed at the consolidation of all philosophical forces in Russia for common benefit.

 

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INTERVIEW BY SERGEI SHARAKSHANE

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Big Mouth Capitalized

 

This article is about Jerome K. Jerome who may not be as great as Charles Dickens, William Thackeray or Bernard Shaw in Britain but who is very well known and held in great esteem in Russia. His works full of wit, wisdom, common sense and charm are still popular among moviemakers. It is noteworthy that some of his phrases are widely used in the Russian language.

 

BY NATALYA LOGINOVA

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Being Human and Being Humane

 

All mankind is in the state of levity, which is extremely dangerous both ideologically and economically. This means that time has come to stop and look around for answers to the following questions: What are we? What is happening to us? Where are we going?” The author claims that all sorts of democracies aimed at attaining the so called “high living standards” or, put simply, calling on us to produce more in order to consume more, are a sure way to madness, more crime, disproportion and social calamities. Unless we understand that we should transform ourselves ethically rather than seek further “refinement of government control and repression machinery based on advanced technical means”, we will be steering steadily towards self-destruction.

 

BY DIONISIOS GARSIA

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The Lake of Dancing Cranes

 

Vladimir Roschupkin is a prominent reporter who sees the world for himself visiting many countries and places of interest. On his recent visit to Sweden his attention was caught by a lake in the south of the country, called Hornborga. Owning much to Rudolf Sodeberg, a famous Swedish scientist, Lake Hornborga is now a wildlife reserve and a natural sanctuary for many thousands of cranes and other bird species – an extraordinary place indeed! Read this account to share the elation of the author over the pristine air and wildlife of this corner of the world.

 

BY VLADIMIR ROSCHUPKIN

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Callousness over First Printer’s Remains

Russia, Belarus and Ukraine have recently marked the 425th death anniversary of Ivan Fedorov. He was the initiator of printing in Muscovy and Ukraine, and was a printer also in Belarus. He produced the first printed Church Slavonic Bible (the "Ostroh Bible" of 1580 - 1581) and the first Russian textbook (1574). He was an accomplished craftsman in numerous trades, and a man of broad vision and great persistence. Altogether, Ivan played an important role in the promotion of literacy and Eastern Orthodox confessional unity, and he introduced a high level of content, design, and craftsmanship into a critically needed profession.

He was buried in the Onufriev Monastery in Lvov, Ukraine. Unfortunately in 1975, during some construction work his remains were disturbed and mixed with those of his relatives and of some other people. Since that time these bones have been kept in a box on the monastery premises. Shamefully, little has been done so far to identify the remains of Ivan Fedorov and bury him with due respect. It is true that there was a flash of activity and concern over the issue on the part of Russian and Ukrainian authorities even at the ministerial level, but everything has been of no avail.

 

 

BY YURI KIRILLOV

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – a genius in his no easy genre

It is 150 years this month since Arthur Conan Doyle was born. Some people think that writing detective stories is easy, or at least relatively easy. Nothing of the kind. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle proved it otherwise by producing masterpieces. His language is subtle and refined; his plots are complex and logical. It can be safely said that he will be considered the greatest detective story writer in the history of world literature or, perhaps one of the greatest.

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Scotland and studied medicine there. He also served as a physician in the Boer War (1899-1902).

His fame rests primarily on his creation of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.  Doyle published his first Holmes tale, A Study in Scarlet, in 1887. Over the following 40 years he published 56 short stories and four novels featuring Holmes and his friend, Dr. Watson. In 1903 Doyle was knighted for his services to the crown. 

 

BY ANTON SMIRNOV

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