Avoiding both the heaven of our fantasies & the hell of our own making, humanism offers the 21st century the basis for establishing a just, free, & sane society.

In the paper, I propose a project of social coordination as naturalistic social ontology (CNSO) based on the rules-in-equilibria theory of social institutions (Guala and Hindriks 2015; Hindriks and Guala 2015). It takes coordination as the main ontological unit of the social, a mechanism homological across animals and humans, for both can handle coordination problems: in the forms of “animal conventions” and social institutions, respectively. On this account, institutions are correlated equilibria with normative force. However, if both humans and animals (...) solve coordination problems in a similar way, and only humans have social institutions, how do the latter evolve? I suggest identifying possible causes of this evolution among cognitive capacities like mindreading and imitation by building dynamic models. Social ontology becomes constrained by the evolution of the forms of coordination and by the cognitive mechanisms involved in the emergence and persistence of social institutions. It means that it becomes bound to what might be derived from social institutions, i.e., social roles, structures and their derivatives. It shows how conceptual relations might emerge from causal. I conclude the paper with the discussion of the relationship between involved types of explanation, mechanistic and equilibrium ones. (shrink)

Сталий і безпечний людський розвиток багатьма зв'язками пов'язаний з гуманітарною безпекою, яка зумовлена адекватною реакцією особистості на екстремальну ситуацію. Цілеспрямований вплив на поведінку і превентивну діяльність особистості в кризових ситуаціях стає можливим, завдяки формуванню особистісної структури свідомості людини – ментального патерну безпеки. Це відкрита, динамічна, відносно стійка, функціональна структура, що розвивається. Її конституювання відбувається на свідомому і підсвідомому рівнях психіки людини. Формування ментального патерну зумовлено потребами в безпеці, соціальним досвідом їх реалізації, спеціальними знаннями, гуманістичними ціннісними орієнтаціями, соціальним статусом, роллю, установками, (...) мотивацією і рефлексією особистості. Ментальний патерн безпеки містить когнітивну, семантичну, ціннісну, емотивну і поведінкову підструктури. Їх функціонування утворює комплекс моделей і схем адекватного реагування на кризові, екстремальні ситуації, конституює соціальні практики безпеки. Основною функцією ментального патерну безпеки є формування соціальної, психологічної та професійної готовності адекватного осмислення, поведінки і превентивної діяльності в надзвичайних ситуаціях. Провідна роль у формуванні ментального патерну безпеки належить системі освіти в інтересах сталого розвитку. Знання про конституювання ментальних структур безпеки може бути використано як концептуальна основа модернізації освіти в інтересах сталого і безпечного людського розвитку. (shrink)

The study defines two main research areas of ideas about a rescuer psychologist. The first area is devoted to the issue of creating social representations about the specialist psychologist and his/her relations with representatives of other professional groups. The other area is represented by works focused on the direct analysis of the profession of psychologist, specific peculiarities of professional activity and personal characteristics of the psychologist. It is indicated that the study of the representations about rescuer psychologist’ involves collective consciousness, (...) and the main direction that allows to solve the reconstruction problem of idea about a rescuer psychologist in the system of categories and conceptual coordinates is psychosemantics. For this purpose, the method of associative experiment defines the basic constructs used by the population to evaluate the representation about a psychologist. The obtained words associations were used to develop a method of semantic scaling of the concept "Psychologist". The research has constructed the semantic profiles of perception of a civilian psychologist and a rescuer psychologist, their most pronounced characteristics were defined. With the help of multidimensional scaling the place of rescuer psychologist in psychosemantic space of psychologists of different kinds of activity was determined. Thus, the rescuer psychologist has the closest professional similarity with a military psychologist and forensic psychologist. According to the respondents' opinion, he/she mainly provides psychological correction and rehabilitation, he/she has to work in uncomfortable and dangerous conditions, and also to deal with both individual and group psychological problems. (shrink)

The variation in genome size and basic chromosome number was analyzed in the wide range of angiosperm plants. A divergence of monocots vs. dicots (eudicots) genome size distributions was revealed. A similar divergence was found for annual vs. perennial dicots. The divergence of monocots vs. dicots genome size distributions holds at different taxonomic levels and is more pronounced for species with larger genomes. Using nested analysis of variance, it was shown that putative constraints on genome size variation are not only (...) stronger in dicots as compared to monocots but in the former they start to operate already at the family level, whereas in the latter they do so only at the order level. At the same time, variation in basic chromosome number is constrained at the order level in both groups. Higher basic chromosome numbers were found in perennial plants as compared to the annual ones, which can be explained by their need for a higher genetic recombination as compensation for the longer life-cycles. A negative correlation was found between genome size and basic chromosome number, which can be explained as a trade-off between different recombination mechanisms. (shrink)

An explanation of the inter-gender difference in longevity consistent with the 'disposable soma' theory of ageing is proposed. It is based on the concept of r-K selection as applied to the inter-gender situation. The concept predicts that the gender with a higher potential reproductive rate (males) should invest relatively less in somatic maintenance, which in its turn should result in a lower longevity according to the 'disposable soma' theory of ageing. In females, which are interpreted as K-selected organisms, the reproductive (...) strategy strongly depends on steady, secure constitution designed for oocyte/embryo bearing and is therefore closely related to somatic maintenance, whereas in (r-selected) males it has a greater behavioural component - risky, variable, with a greater potential reproductive success at the expense of somatic maintenance. The higher metabolic and growth rates, a higher premature mortality and a longer period of sexual competence of males also find explanation as a complex of r-selected traits. (shrink)

The term 'Machiavellianism', used to designate a tough politics knowing no ethical barriers, entered firmly into circulation as far back as the sixteenth century. It was the negative reaction to the maxims in The Prince that defined the initial attitude toward Machiavelli's doctrine, and the internal polemic with this initial assessment has spawned an endless stream of literature endeavoring to justify in one way or other the ill-starred secretary of the Florentine Republic. In sheer number of publications, pro-Machiavelli views exceed (...) anti-Machiavelli views by many times. And yet questions remain; the original negative reaction is not eradicated, just as the striving for apologetics is not eradicated. (shrink)

Осмислення глобальних проблем існування людства заклали гносеологічні передумови формування актуальної філософської проблеми – екзистенційної безпеки. Становлення екзистенційної безпеки як теоретичної проблеми відбувалося через осмислення перспектив існування людства і пошук відповідей на екзистенційні виклики часу. Найбільш варіативне осмислення названої проблематики утворюють напрацювання представників культурологічної, феноменологічної, екзистенційної та інших течій філософії постмодерну. Аналіз праць надає підстави стверджувати, що антропогенним джерелом екзистенційних загроз є людське мислення, позбавлене моральних та гуманістичних цінностей як життєвих пріоритетів. Потреба у переформатуванні базових підстав осмислення світу, викликає необхідність розробки (...) когнітивної парадигми, яка має інтегрувати смислові структури безпеки життя та соціальні практики запобігання загрозам людському існуванню на підставі системи етичних пріоритетів і життєвих цінностей. Зроблено висновок, що когнітивна парадигма екзистенційної безпеки є сукупністю ідей, фундаментальних знань, ціннісних настанов, методологічних підходів, зразків вирішення пізнавальних завдань, відповідно до яких вибудовується інтегральне знання про загрози людському існуванню та шляхи їх подолання. (shrink)

Цель книги - конфигурация каббалистической герменевтики с русской филологической и литературной традицией. Речь идет о сборке территорий, о многомерном ансамбле текстуальных и онтологических пространств. "Компаративизм без берегов" книги "Зоар" сопоставляется с интертекстуальным подходом и лингвистической компаративистикой. Каббала понимается как проект совместности, содержание которого раскрывается во встречных сближениях с текстами Пушкина, Достоевского, Пастернака. Книги на русском языке #ReadRussia.

This paper is a brief survey of the history of Altai shamanism in the 20th Century, and of the main influences, both from "inside" (from within the Altai community) and from the outside onto shamanic beliefs and practices of the Altai, especially onto the shamanic revival. Based on my experiences living in 1988 and 1989 in Gorny Altai, the paper reports on aspects of present‐day shamanism, and the emergence of neo‐shamanism in the post‐Soviet period. The decline of shamanism due to (...) the impact of the Old Believers, the Orthodox Church and the emergence of Burkhanism in 1904, as well as the repression during the Soviet period, is described and is noted as influential in contributing to the current revival of shamanism in its "neo‐shamanistic" form. Several factors that facilitate the regeneration of shamanism are identified and discussed. (shrink)

The article explores the concept of humanism both in modern discourse and in historical retrospective. Human has always been at the center of philosophy, regardless of what spheres of being were studied. Anthropology, cultural studies, psychology, philosophy, and many other sciences explore various manifestations of a person, all of which are ultimately designed to answer perhaps one of the most critical questions – what makes us human? However, this discourse significantly changed over the course of two thousand years. For example, (...) Martin Heidegger points out an important nuance of the emergence of the concept of humanism, namely, as a kind of chauvinism – the division into humans (Romans) and non-humans (barbarians). This point of view is often overlooked, but it is critical to understanding the essence of this phenomenon. In the subsequent era of the Middle Ages, human was understood as the opposite of the divine, but in such realities, there were humanistic ideals and values. Already in the Renaissance, a return to the traditions of antiquity was announced, but the understanding of a person acquired a romantic character. Humanism clearly saw something more in a person than a person himself could demonstrate. It is for this metaphysical image that many critics of humanism have criticized this phenomenon. However, where there is criticism, there is progress, which is why this concept has gained a new round of discourse, which is why new trends have appeared that have brought the concept of humanism to a new theoretical level. As a historical phenomenon, humanism is faced with certain difficulties of new eras; because of these collisions, humanism is modified and adapted. Among humanism’s problems are multiculturalism, technological breakthroughs, and the need to search for new theories. In its development, the course of humanism takes on various forms and iterations. It is worth mentioning transhumanism (the idea of becoming someone more than just a human), posthumanism (philosophical views on human nature as a posthuman), and global humanism. (shrink)