The humanities and social science

This article discusses the problem of correlation between the two fundamental concepts of Kantian philosophy — transcendental reflection and the ideal of pure reason. Based on the analysis of Kant’s three Critiques, the author demonstrates that the ideal of pure reason can be described as a goal that defines the shape of knowledge in any field of activity, whereas transcendental reflection is a means to embody the ideal of pure reason in practice, i. e. to apply it to concrete disparate and multifarious empirical material.

The article deals with the phenomenon of idealism in 18th century European science. The author focuses on the methods and images of constructing a philosophical model that Kant borrowed from his predecessors. The status of existence of the external world in the space of Berkeley’s philosophy and its influence on Kant’s system are analysed as one of the key issues of idealism. The author seeks to familiarize the reader with the contentious issues relating to the problem of identity of Berkeley’s and Kant’s systems and corresponding critique.

This article analyses the understanding of feeling and faith in the late work of F. H. Jacobi Vorrede, zugleich Einleitung in des Verfassers sämtliche philosophisch Schriften. The author emphasises the similarity between the interpretation of faith in F. H. Jacobi’s work and the understanding and definition of faith given by Paul the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 11. Feeling, as understood by F. H. Jacobi, is a presupposition of perception of another person as a personality or hypostasis. The article stresses today’s relevance of Jacobi’s thought.

This article considers the response of Russian philosophers abroad to Nietzsche’s philosophy in the pages of the Sovremennye Zapiski journal. The philosopher’s ideas addressed in the journal are identified. The author analyses the significance of Nietzsche’s thoughts on certain Russian philosophers abroad.

This article considers the main provisions of philosophology — the system developed by Grigory Landau, a Russian philosopher abroad. The author identifies the grounds on which the philosopher distinguishes between philosophology and philosophy, as well as the correlation between the notions. The basic elements of the system developed – the motive of thinking and philosopheme — are identified and characterised. These elements are supertemporal, their interaction in the consciousness of a subject is instrumental in streamlining experience.

This article considers the amalgamation of N. Bugaev’s arrythmology and G. Leibnitz’s monadology supplemented by G. Cantor’s set theory as the methodological basis of P. A. Florensky’s teaching on future state, which made it possible for the Russian philosopher to create a holistic social and philosophical project – the quintessence of development of a new culture, where the fate of a person and the state are indivisible. In the future state, people are units, Pythagorean numbers, or monads that have value not by themselves, but as parts of the whole set; this set-state is dominated by the supreme monad-hero vested with the theurgic grace of deciding the fates of people. Florensky plays the role of a “social engineer” who develops the concept of a good state, whereas the human being serves as material for this social and mathematical structure.

In the second half of the twentieth century, similar to other classical concepts of modernity , Immanuel Kant’s political philosophy became an object of postmodern critique, also from the standpoint of feminist philosophy. Feminist critique made it possible to develop a new perspective on Kant’s heritage and identify the influence of the patriarchal tradition in his philosophy.

This article provides an analysis of the key aspects of game-theoretic semantics and demonstrates its advantages in presenting incomplete information and imperfect memory. The author identifies the limitations of J. Hintikka’s game-theoretic semantics as to the problem of asymmetry in semantic games. The article provides an overview of concurrent game-theoretic semantics.

This article discusses the functions of anagrams in the philosophical discourse in terms of their general cultural functioning. Thus the study is brought to a more general level, which makes it possible to identify the cognitive mechanisms of anagrams. General conclusions about the functioning of anagrams in the philosophical discourse are made. The author stresses the originality of their structuring (text forming) function, the expansion of discursive semantics created by them and its orientation to the sphere of the irrational; the mechanisms of interaction between the semantic structure of the philosophizing personality and the texts created by them are identified.

The transformation of constitutional legislation in post-Communist countries follows two models: "reconstruction" and "dismantling". The Czechoslovak experience of constitutional legislation transformation follows that of dismantling. One of the positive features of this model is the rapid adoption of a new constitution. Experts and politicians stress that the main drawback of the Slovakian Constitution is that it has not eliminated the gap between values and rules and the actual condition of human rights. The prospects of further development of constitutional law in Slovakia are associated with overcoming the post-Communist attitudes of the Constitution.

The article presents the author’s view on modelling an expert system through the implementation of one of social paradigms. Such categories as ‘governance’, ‘leadership’, and ‘leadership management’ are identified as indicators of management interactions. Each of the categories is operationalized and provided with a detailed description, which includes autonomous social resources supporting effective governance in the situation of organizational interactions.

This article discusses the development of post-Soviet nationalist identity in Latvia under the influence of nationalist neo-Nazi organizations and persuasion. The ethnic component occupies a central place in today's political identification in Latvia. It is proved that major political groups and parties recognize and proclaim nationalist principles regardless of their basic ideology.

This article presents a semiotics-oriented methodology of analysing images of states. Based on the results obtained in the field of structural semiotics of narration, the author introduces a scheme for analysing the syntactics of images suggesting their consideration from the perspective of actantial roles characteristic of the states in question in certain discourses. A. J. Greimas's model of narrative syntactics is used to demonstrate how syntactic descriptions of images of states can be built in the case of Kosovo and South Ossetia as presented in official Russian political discourse.

This article considers the mechanism of financing of political parties in the Republic of Latvia. The author analyses the participation of financial and economic groups in the country’s political life. Key business actors affecting the formation of Latvian political system are identified. It is concluded that, since regaining independence in 1991, business has been a principal source of financing for Latvian political parties. The scope of financing of political parties in the republic depends on the intensity of political struggle and increases in the period of election campaigns. However, the scope of financing is closely correlated with the degree to which a party affects the political process in the country.

This article considers the role of the Baltic republics as partners of the State of Israel in the international arena in A. Lieberman’s period in office as head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The main areas of cooperation in economy and politics, as well as historical features of intergovernmental contacts are analysed. The author stresses the considerable potential of intergovernmental projects given the major differences are overcome, which include the issues of the restitution of Jewish property.

This article considers the contentious issues of modern military anthropology, including research methodology. The author focuses on the use of anthropology as a method of historical research since the early 19th century until today. The problem of correlation between the subjective and objective in the objective of historical research is analysed, a promising direction of development of this research field is suggested.

This article examines the features of Constitution Democratic Party formation and the activities of party members within the student community. Based on documents introduced into scientific use, the structure, social composition, and activities of metropolitan student groups of the Constitutional Democratic Party are analysed.

This article provides a legal analysis of personal ownership of estate, parcels of land in homestead villages, and fortified communal land in the village, which was acquired by peasants under the legislative acts of the agrarian reform. Based on a comparison of general civil and peasant legislation, the author emphasises the differences between personal ownership, which replaced the family ownership of a peasant homestead, from private ownership. They related to maintaining a special status of allotment lands and the limitations on the rights of use, ownership and disposition.

This article analyses the factors that strengthened the influence of the Christian right movement in the USA in the 1990s. The author considers the organizational changes and ideological transformation within the movement and its effect on the political process in this period. The article identifies the problems facing the Christian Right movement in its attempt to devise political tactics in the mid-1990s. The author pays special attention to the question of the interaction between the Christian Right movement and the Republican Party.

Studies published as early as the 19th century, prewar guidebooks, postcards, books of model projects, and archive materials serve as the sources of information about the architectural and urban development of the resort of Cranz. The collection of cadastral plans and maps of 1844—1943 settlements held in the Secret Archive of Prussian heritage in Berlin remains virtually unstudied. A project used in the construction of the wooden music pavilion in the park Plantage in Cranz was found in a textbook for architects published in 1894.

This article focuses on the major problems of studying one of the key aspects of the demographic history of the Kaliningrad region – the evolution of mortality rate in urban and rural population. Based on an analysis of statistical data from archival documents, the author considers the dynamics and characteristics of mortality rate. The key mortality rate indicators and the factors behind its decrease in the first half/mid-1950s are identified; the age structure of mortality is reconstructed. It is concluded that the regional trends in mortality rate evolution correspond to the national ones.

This article analyses various aspects of public policy in the field of urban design in the 1950s/1960s. The achievements and difficulties in solving the housing problem in Kaliningrad are identified. The process of modernization of regional construction industry is analysed. The article identifies the general and specific features of construction and development of residential areas under Khrushchev and examines the influence of new social and economic policy and the restructuring of state construction authorities in Kaliningrad.