2013 Issue №1(43)

The 18th century philosophy actively used the notion of machine in its extended meaning, especially when describing both the world as a whole and its constituent bodies. Consequently, the initial meaning of that notion underwent peculiar changes: not only an artificial mechanism but also a natural organic body were defined as machines. A metaphysical comprehension of the notion of machine was developed predominantly  in the framework of cosmology.

This article offers a comparison of certain fundamental ethical ideas of Eastern philosophical traditions with Kant's categorical imperative aiming to corroborate the thesis about the moral unity of humanity and give a moral assessment of the state of Russian society.

This article considers the events and ideas that served as a background to the creation of the essay Towards Perpetual Peace, as well as the earliest reviews of it. The author pays special attention to the objections voiced by Kant’s student Friedrich Gentz who turned from the advocate of his teacher’s ideas into his opponent. The conclusion offers an attempt to envisage the philosophers’ reactions to the current state of international politics.

This article maintains that the founder of the “stars-and-morals” cycle in Russian philosophical poetry of the 1840s is A. A. Fet. From the poems “I stood a long time without moving” (1843) and “To Le Verrier's Neptune” (1846) to “To extinguished stars” (1890), i. e. over half a century, Fet created lyrical miniatures under the influence of Kant’s and Schopenhauer’s  ideas.

This article considers the attempt by the Russian Neokantianer M. Kagan to create a concept of philosophy of history through developing the main ideas of philosophy of history formulated by his teacher, the founder of the Marburg School of Neokantianism, H. Cohen. The author emphasizes the cardinal importance of philosophy of history for the philosophical position of the Russian thinker.

This article investigates the history and priority fields of the Russian journal on philosophy of culture, Logos, whose ideological inspirator and one of the chief editors was the Russian philosopher Boris V. Yakovenko. The author also focuses on the history of the first issue of Logos published in Prague and the reasons behind the suspension of the second issue.

This article presents for the first time the postcard sent by Edmund Husserl to Gustav G. Shpet.