Filosofska Dumka

Editorial

2024-12-12T11:20:57+02:00

Editorial

Foreword

2024-12-12T11:24:37+02:00

Human. Knowledge. World

MAN AND KNOWLEDGE: at the intersection of modern epistemology, ontology, phenomenology, philosophical anthropology

2024-12-12T11:26:49+02:00

The article is dedicated to the study of the relationship between the diversity of the world of knowledge and the world of man. The role of knowledge in human life is shown, the mechanism of its influence on the human world is revealed, the diversity of knowledge in the context of plurality of language images is revealed, the relationship of such philosophical disciplines as epistemology and philosophical anthropology, which deal with the problems of knowledge and man, respectively, is clarified. It is shown that сurrently, scientists are concerned about knowledge that corresponds to all the canons of classical rationality and yet turns out to be deeply irrational in its moral indifference regarding its use. It is substantiated that the times of classical rationalist euphoria from the success of science are over and it is time to reject the enlightenment illusions about science as a ‘panacea’ for all social ills. The discrimination of pre- and out-scientific knowledge does not meet the modern requirements of the new epistemology. Some anthropological and humanistic parameters of cognition are highlighted, and an attempt is made to offer a certain anthropological view of the world as a whole. It is shown that the turn from epistemology to ontology, which took place in the philosophical thought of the twentieth century, does not mean that epistemology has exhausted the possibilities of its development and should withdraw from the historical arena or relegated to the periphery of philosophical research. Moreover, nowadays we are increasingly talking about a cognitive or epistemological turn in philosophy. Classical epistemology is being replaced by various variants of modern non-classical epistemology, such as the cognitive approach, various versions of modern philosophy and sociology of science and anthropology of cognition, evolutionary and social epistemology, etc. The leading feature that defines and unites these areas of non-classical epistemologies is their anthropologisation, which testifies to the inextricable connection of such philosophical disciplines as epistemology and philosophical anthropology.

TWILIGHT OF METAPHYSICS: THE PROBLEM OF NOTHINGNESS AND NIHILISM IN THE MARTIN HEIDEGGER’S PHILOSOPHY

2024-12-12T11:32:45+02:00

The article examines the problem of Nothingness and nihilism in Martin Heidegger’s views. In his early studies, Nothingness appears as a negation in the logical judgement. However, in further examinations, it relates to human existence. Nothingness is exposed in realization of the finitude of human life and death. Heidegger explains that human existence and Nothingness are connected through the experience of fear. To be fearful does not mean to be afraid of certain things, but to be able to see the perspective of non-existence. Nothingness that emerges in fear resembles transcendence, in other words, the ability to go beyond one’s own limits. Going outside the limitations of existence allows anyone to overcome the passiveness of life and start being concerned about one’s own existence. As a result, Heidegger’s philosophy of Nothingness was named nihilistic. However, Heidegger rethinks the problem of nihilism in the context of Nietzsche’s philosophy. He succeeds in showing that Nietzsche avoids the problem of Nothingness. In the Nietzschean vision, Nothingness is a characteristic of a world in which values are an appeal not to the earthly, but to the afterlife existence. That is why Nietzsche speaks of the need for a new set of values. Therefore, according to Heidegger, Nietzsche does not ask about the essence of Being, but simply assigns values to Being. Instead, in Heidegger’s philosophy, nihilism is a consequence of Western metaphysics ignoring the question of Nothingness. It is due to Nothingness that the question of Being becomes clear: without thinking of Nothingness, Being is not understood either. One can change the situation by asking again about Nothingness and Being. In general, the problem of nihilism in Heidegger’s philosophy changes significantly. First, he connects it with the historical movement of forgetting of Being, and later with a false interpretation of the essence of metaphysics. This thought is strengthened by the tendency of the dominance of technology, which dehumanizes the world. In conclusion, Heidegger’s philosophy is comparable to prophetism. Like Nietzsche, he seeks salvation from nihilism in art: poetry liberates from calculative rational thinking. Therefore, the question of the essence of thinking has not yet been raised in the West. The dominance of metaphysical thinking further distances a human from Being. At the same time, Heidegger insists on including the problem of Nothing in the question of Being, as ignoring it prevents the real overcoming of nihilism.

CONFUSION OF SUBJECTIVITY: BETWEEN TRAUMA AND (OVER)PASSION

2024-12-12T11:38:47+02:00

Purpose is to discover the continuity of explications of subjectivity in the moduses of the structure of affectedness as constitutive for its heterogeneous nature. Theoretical and methodological basis are the principles of the phenomenological description of subjective experience, the means of historical and philosophical analysis, hermeneutical methods of understanding and interpretation. Methodological background is the idea of subjectivity as transcendent in immanent, which is a framework for the non-classical image of a man. The logic of the work is motivated by a shift from a situation of passivity to subjectivity, which is affected by the own history and gains the constitutive experience of trauma, hetero-(auto)affectedness or (over)passion. In the newest French phenomenological and (post)phenomenological studies vulnerable subjectivity, constituting in the moduses of structure of affectedness, is formed due to the exceptional experience of trauma, hetero-(auto)affectedness or (over)passion, which irreversibly (re)creates subjectivity “in spite of itself”. That is, the formation of subjectivity is disturbed by an exceptional experience, which, irrevocably denying the foundations of the subject’s existence, constitutes him “against himself”.

If the heteroaffected subjectivity of J. Lacan and E. Levinas is a passiveness principally, since the traumatic experience of passive “patience”, destroying the narcissistic ideas of subject about yourself, constitutes the subject “against his will”, then in (post)phenomenological research (M. Henri – A. Maldine) explicated between a trauma and an (over)passion subjectivity is formed in the structures of auto-affectedness, which connects passive acceptance of affect with active responsiveness – the response to affect. The continuity of explications of subjectivity in the moduses of the structure of affectedness – from the situation of passiveness to subjectivity, which gains the experience of trauma, hetero-(auto)affectedness or (over)passion, justifies the constitutiveness of affectedness for the heterogeneous nature of subjectivity.

EXPERIENCE OF BEING: ORIGIN, PARADIGMATIC POTENTIAL, WAYS AND MEANS OF CULTURAL RECEPTION

2024-12-12T12:47:04+02:00

The article is devoted to the experience of being; it suggests that the experience of being is the basis of human subjectivity and is responsible for ensuring the connection between man and the universe. Intuitions born in the process of being experience are used by a person to solve existential problems. Being experience in its immediacy was revealed to man in the epoch of transition from primitive communal relations to class society. The discursive comprehension of the being experience undertaken by ancient philosophy led to the development of the concept of being.

Similarities in the descriptions of basis experience found in the texts of philosophers and religious mystics across diverse traditions, suggests the presence of a fundamental, invariant experience of being at the core of human spirituality. While interpreted differently in philosophical and religious contexts, this experience serves as the foundation for all conceptions of being, At the intersection of the intuitive experience of being and its discursive comprehension, the cultural category of being is formed.

The second part of the article is devoted to the analysis of the main mechanisms of being experience, which are responsible for the unfolding of the space of human activity and the experience of unity between man and the world. Particular attention is paid to the minimal phenomenal experience, and the possibility of identity between the minimal phenomenal experience and the being experience is considered. This idea is supported by Thomas Metzinger's research on minimal phenomenal experience (MPE).

Ultimately, it is proved that the experience of being is the experience of direct unity between the individual and being. This feature allows us to realise our identity with the world and participate in the self-actualisation of being.

ALIENATION OF RATIONALITY: THREATS, CHALLENGES AND THINKING POSTHUMANISM

2024-12-12T12:51:38+02:00

The article is devoted to the problem of artificial intelligence and the challenges of “smart technologies”, which threaten the autonomy of human mind and the existence of human itself. The author states the crisis situation of contemporary culture, the existential fatigue of humanity, which manifests itself in the intention to delegate one’s own subjectivity, will and rationality to external actors – namely the Internet, artificial intelligence, and robotics. The article discovers the alienation of the fundamental quality of a thinking person – intelligence – and the threat of human enslavement in the world of the near future, governed by autonomous technologies. In addition to delegating rationality to machines, there is also a tendency to transfer goal-setting to “intelligent technology”, which is gradually endowed with the ability for self-learning and self-programming, and therefore may not align its tasks with human intentions. This problem is traced back to the origins of philosophical thinking and the earliest mentions of artificial beings in mythology, theology, fiction and scientific theory, that proves eternal human strife for creation and replication of human traces in natural environment. Humanization and rationalization of outer world thus is thought as an integral feature of human activity, but it also means constant and continuing alienation of human mind due to its openness and incompleteness, that puts mankind at risk – yet therefore defines humanity as a “risky” way of being. The author considers a scenario of the doubling of reality, in which digital algorithms, computer programmes and robotics may conquer, supplant or replace the world of nature and the human world, bypassing the latter as a less effective evolutionary step. In contrast to this, the author raises the question of what is mind, what is thinking and what is a human being – and whether consciousness, reduced to corporeality, sensuality or rationality, can serve as a model for reproduction. And whether a person is capable of creating a new life without love?

THE PHILOSOPHICAL-ANTHROPOLOGICAL IDEA OF THE WORLD AS A THEORETICAL PROGRAM: THE BEING OF THE COGNITIVE RELATION

2024-12-12T12:59:57+02:00

The article examines some features of the philosophical-anthropological approach to the cognitive activity of a person, which is presented in it primarily as the «of-being-relationship» of a person to his world. The peculiarities of this approach to cognition are primarily due to the following. All contemporary philosophical trends, such as the transcendental-critical approach, evolutionary theory, existentialism, or various representatives of the linguistic turn, always come from the (cognitive) achievements of culture (intentional, intersubjectively constituted, immersed in the specifics of the subjectivity of consciousness, language, etc. ) and from there they try to investigate the factors enabling the subject's achievements; or, like the evolutionary theory, ultimately level out the essential difference in the principle of organization of human life, limiting it to the adaptive self-preservation of the organism. The philosophical-anthropological approach is based on the laws of the organic as a prerequisite for all cultural formations, from the vital process, and precisely from its fateful breakthrough for the human figure, from which it tries to derive the cognitive relationship as one of the mediators, which contributes to overcoming this gap and restoring the vital cycle in the human world. Accordingly, the cognitive relationship acts as a relationship that emerges in the very being, woven into the specific functionality of a living being, a person. And reflexively decisive here is not "exclusively" the internal status of the subject-object-splitting of the fact of knowledge, but its, so to speak, fully cognitively capable presence as an essential relation. The being of cognition does not arise, it only "does not disappear"; it "accompanies" the entire process of anthropogenesis, during which only an increase in the intensity of the unity of being is observed. As a conclusion, it would be appropriate to demand: scientific thinking, by its type of organization and objective intent, must resort to methodological and conceptual self-criticism, and pay attention precisely to the substantive importance of its anthropological foundations, that is, not simply to certain personal or community circumstances in which a scientist or the scientific community work, and on the anthropic principle as an internal principle, on the basis of which the constitutive interpretation of knowledge as such takes place.

WAR AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL NARRATIVES IN CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHICAL-ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH

2024-12-12T13:06:33+02:00

The author draws attention to the fact that the new millennium has not lived up to the high expectations that the ideological project of «tolerant universalism» and «multicultural liberalism», with its focus on consensus, solidarity, respect for the Other, and emphasis on universal liberal values, could become the ideology of global progress in the 21st century. Instead, misunderstandings, wars, conflicts, and violence have not disappeared from the world stage. On the contrary, there is an observable «budding» of new and new conflicts and wars. Conflict, like evil in general, has deep roots in both historical and psychological experience, as well as in the very ontology of humanity. Therefore, the issue is not about eliminating conflict but about qualitatively changing the direction of conscious human efforts – whether individual, collective, or socially organized. The author argues that, if restraint and tolerance are not cultivated, mutual destruction remains the alternative.

We enter the modern world (which is not unified, but globalized) through the intersubjective space, through dialogical truths, and so on. This requires the establishment of new forms of worldview, new approaches to examining phenomena in nature, society, and the human being. Clearly, today there is a preference for research ideas and principles related to the synergistic approach, self-organization, self-creation, and self-reproduction, both at the level of the macrocosm and the microcosm. Philosophically, these ideas resonate with existentialist and phenomenological narratives and philosophies. The author currently points to the presence of such approaches in the thought of domestic philosophers.

CASE OF EDUCATION (essay)

2024-12-12T13:35:19+02:00

The essay examines the crucial role of a certain group of teachers. During the Soviet era, the work of a teacher was considered quite prestigious and provided, perhaps, the best opportunities for free development. Not surprisingly this activity was chosen by the most ambitious and capable people. They were bearers of highly critical thinking and played a significant, though still little-recognized, role in completing the mentioned era. In a new, already independent country, these people were looking for some other fields. As a result, the level of education decreased noticeably, because only those less able remained there.

FROM A JUST WAR TO A JUST PEACE. MORAL PRINCIPLES AND LIMITS OF COMPROMISES IN WARTIMES

2024-12-12T13:10:23+02:00

The article’s reasoning is based on the definition of the nature of the war in Ukraine, which, following the Russian aggression on February 24, 2022, escalated into a full-scale conflict: this war has gradually acquired features of the total wars of the 20th century and transformed into a war of attrition, which could last for a considerable period of time. If such a war does not end with the capitulation of one of the parties, the most likely outcome would be a peace agreement involving third parties, which would take the form of a compromise and involve a renunciation by the participating parties of complete victory in the war.

Given the just nature of Ukraine's war against Russian aggression, the author raises the question of whether a peace can be considered just without a complete victory over the aggressor and without the full restoration of justice disrupted by the aggression. Drawing on the classical work of M. Walzer, the author concludes that renouncing complete victory and halting hostilities at a point when the conflict can be resolved through political means fully aligns with the concept of a just war as a limited war. To establish the moral principles and possible limits of compromises in wartime, the author turns to A. Margalit’s concept, which, in his view, continues Walzer’s reasoning by outlining the possibility of compromises for the sake of peace.

Drawing on contemporary research on political compromises, the author analyzes possible configurations of compromises in wartimes, their differences from political compromises in peacetime, and other potential outcomes of a war of attrition, including scenarios such as the capitulation of one of the parties or a modus vivendi. The article develops on the ideas of M. Walzer and A. Margalit, emphasizing that limiting the war and reaching a compromise for peace make necessary to clarify the requirements of justice. This, in turn, necessitates that the party engaged in a just war be guided by the ethics of responsibility when determining war aims, while also adhering to the fundamental distinction between good and evil in order to avoid "rotten" compromises.

This research was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, grant “Compromises in Wartime”; the author is also grateful to UNIL Professor Sandrine Baume for supporting his research in the field of political compromises

WAR AND IDENTITY CRISIS: The problem of defining the subject

2024-12-12T13:16:49+02:00

The essay explores the impact of the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine on general worldview and anthropological categories. The author particularly addresses the issue of identity crisis among Russians who simultaneously oppose the war and consider themselves patriots. The legitimacy of applying formal definitions to certain subjects in public life is examined, alongside the reasons for the growing use of the concept of ‘identification’ as an attempt to appropriately replace formal definitions in discourse surrounding these subjects. The article argues that the notion of an 'identity crisis' takes precedence over the concept of identity itself, highlighting its genetic link to war as a social phenomenon.

Additionally, the author investigates the significance of legal categories such as presumptions in shaping intersubjective certainty and their relationship to the process of identifying individuals and human associations. Changes in the use of these concepts during wartime are also discussed

Scheling, F.W.J. Immanuel Kant (1804)

2024-12-12T13:21:06+02:00

Scheling, F.W.J. Immanuel Kant (1804)

HUMAN-MACHINE INTERACTIONS: ALIGNING, ADAPTING, BEING AN AGENT

2024-12-12T13:23:03+02:00

In the paper, the touchstone points of the project “Towards an agency-based philosophy of (advanced) technology” are outlined. The main plot of this elaboration concerns human-machine interactions and appropriate interpretation of reciprocal aligning, adapting within involved into such interactions agents; as well as the status as such of being an agent. Into the theoretical and historical background of the project such spheres as Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Technology, Philosophy of Engineering and Design Technological Actions, STS (Science and Technology Studies), Applied Ethics etc. could be invited. To treat agency as technology, reestablish the role of agency in technology is the most ambitious goal of the project: ‘activity as technology’ focuses on activities through technologies. The terms «agency» and «activity» are used in this paper synonymously with the basic Aristotelian meaning of agent’s potential capacity to act. The proposed by the author theory of action and agency (and correspondently defended in 2016 dissertation of Doctor of Philosophical Science) is to be applied into philosophical reflections about various problems of dealing with currently continually appearing flourishing fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning (including deep learning methods and simulation methods), inventing computers and codes, numerically controlled machines and robots, computer-chip equipped devices, smart objects etc.

The described in the article proposed research project on human-machine interaction can get the empirical materials from collaboration with at least the following “labs” at RWTH Aachen University: the Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics (https://www.iaw.rwth-aachen.de/cms/~ieplw/IAW/lidx/1/); the Center for Construction Robotics (https://construction-robotics.de/en/); the Chair Individual and Technology (https://www.itec.rwth-aachen.de/cms/~sjbp/ITEC/?lidx=1).

Coercion to peace and rotten compromises. Book Review: Avishai Margalit “On Compromise and Rotten Compromises”

2024-12-12T13:29:10+02:00

Coercion to peace and rotten compromises. Book Review: Avishai Margalit “On Compromise and Rotten Compromises”

O. Gabovich and V. Kuznetsov. Philosophy of Scientific Theories. The First Essay: Names and Realities. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 2023. ISBN 978-966-00-1896-0

2024-12-12T13:33:05+02:00

O. Gabovich and V. Kuznetsov. Philosophy of Scientific Theories. The First Essay: Names and Realities. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka, 2023. ISBN 978-966-00-1896-0