Six issues of the Russian Philosophical Gazette have already been turned out this year, so we think time has come to make some conclusions on how we started and ask your advice, dear readers, on what areas we should keep our work focused as we go on.

The name of the Gazette itself suggests that it should carry philosophical studies, however the editorial staff has tried to minimize the number of in-coming academic works of professional philosophers because this Gazette is not only for those who are keen on abstract problems and have full command of scientific terminology. It is for this reason that we have been giving preference to materials with a focus on different aspects of real day-to-day life. First and foremost they are centered on the problems of education, civil society and state government. These alongside with some other problems concerning our life require philosophical conceptualization and, most importantly, practical solutions. Actually, we are looking forward to articles by philosophers and those other than philosophers that would incorporate both things since we are certain that there is no lack of thinkers in the ranks of our readers.

The publications released in the first six issues hold that the absence of moral methods of social governance to be exercised by the state accounts for all or almost all problems concerning our life. It appears that today’s government, just as the previous, is incapable of providing decent living for the rank-and-file citizens. Sociologists are trying to make us believe that the notorious mentality of the Russian people who allegedly reject all manifestations of democracy and liberalism and keep stepping on the same rake accounts for the failure of the state machinery. In actual fact, the blame is not on the people but on the imperfect state governance mechanism. The fate of all such mechanisms is known – they are dumped. The uncontrolled, cumbersome “mammoth” called the USSR had been losing ground for a long time before it finally collapsed just and because any system of government incapable of governing will imminently crumble.

Without the clear understanding of substance of the processes of evolution of man in his biosocial function all models of socio-economic transformations in the world are nothing more than mind games.

We have often used the RPhG pages to set forth the essentials of Russia’s modern philosophical vision of social problems in their historical consistency and intend to continue to do so. The problems are closely related to morality which is manifest and incessant in the evolutionary process of thinking and the never-ending source of ideas about the fair and dignified life of man in society. Insofar as we do not know and thus do not have a model of governance capable of guaranteeing dignified life, all social processes will continue to follow the principle of self-pursued survival. This is the cause and starting point, as Hegel says, of “…bad (i.e. without the necessary knowledge – A.K.) infinity”.

This ignorance is the cause of our all troubles and misfortunes.

The immoral government (comprised of people incapable of governing but vested with power) has always suppressed its people and destroyed men of good moral character in the first place who, notwithstanding the terror, managed to generate progressive ideas.

At the same time compelled by the need to sustain himself, man has to struggle for survival all by himself, hence his hatred towards the government. In such conditions certain individuals generate an illwill which eventually destroys the much hated government. But revolutions or even world wars have invariably given power to other groups of people, new but equally incapable of governing a society. The situation will change if only all mankind accepts the scientific concept of moral thinking and uses it as a cornerstone for building a system of government capable of providing the guaranteed life sustenance for each and everyone within a given state.

To establish such a system, we should use one of the most important achievements of civilization – democratic elections. Despite the heated debates and excitement over the candidates during the very recent elections in France and not so recent in Germany, the press made no reports on vote purchasing, stealing of elections or improper ballot procedures conflicting with the principles of the freedom of elections. The people in these civilized countries have come to understand that elections constitute their right for life and those who encroach upon that right are dangerous criminals to be imminently punished. The Russian law also provides for responsibility for violation of electoral law, but in practice one gets away with it even in case of direct ballot-box stuffing. Why? – It is because everyone is convinced that it is useless to fight with the government. This is a disease caused by fear, mental not physical, which denies us hope for dignified future. Strange thing: those who use illegal means in the fight for more votes fear nothing at all.

Unless we learn to fight for life using legal democratic methods, we will not be able to look in the eyes of our children and grandchildren with dignity.

But even if elections themselves are fair as assumed, there are some questions still. What criteria should we use to choose a candidate for a body of power? Is it often the case that the choice of majority is correct? Today’s philosophical knowledge is capable of answering these questions: to make the right choice, one should possess information on the level of thinking of the candidate aspiring to rule our life. A man of good moral character (and good morals, as we know, cannot be instilled) is a man with highly developed harmonious thinking, who has expressed himself both in natural sciences and creative art.

This is the criterion the society can use to assess a candidate running for power objectively. There is no need for parties; we should not disunite (young people all the more so should not go to the length of forming all sorts of movements “pro” and “contra”). It is anyone’s aspiration to unfold oneself. And it is in this that his freedom and dignity are. But we can unfold ourselves to realize our capabilities only under certain social life conditions that can be created only by people capable of moral thinking out of which we would select the best to represent us in government which we would trust but this time knowing the philosophical principles of forming such a government.

Such actions of the people in their own country are the modernization of the country’s government system rather than revolutionary processes aimed at country’s complete destruction.

The people of the country will finally be able to feel full-fledged citizens only once they have adopted the legitimacy of new electoral requirements towards candidates for power and understood their own moral will and freedom.

And last but not least. After the RPhG published a number of articles concerning urgent social problems, we started to receive many questions from our readers which generally come down to as follows: why does the RPhG not highlight protest feelings and processes in our society? Demonstrations, protest marches and riots, hunger strikes of those deceived by the state which allows its bureaucrats to connive in an injustice do take place and excite sympathy to say the least.

However, before taking a protest action our hotheads must ask themselves the following questions: Are they moral and intelligent enough to be capable of governing a society in the interests of each and everyone? Will their own governance, if they come to power, prompt new protest feelings? Usurped power (seized unlawfully) can continue only through a totalitarian regime, but such a form of government seems to become obsolete and unacceptable almost everywhere in the world. For this reason the RPhG is not really a mouthpiece for protest movements. Philosophy cannot yield to collective follies which include, as we think, both the government’s economic concept and the spontaneous actions of desperate people guided by dishonest politicians.

Arnold Kazmin

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