German participation in the Three Seas Initiative: opportunities for Russia
The Three Seas Initiative was launched in 2016 by the Polish and Croatian leaders to bridge the gap between Southeast, Central and Eastern Europe, on the one hand, and Western Europe, on the other. This article aims to show how German policy on the Three Seas Initiative has changed and what risks and opportunities it represents for Russia. The official data on the Three Seas Initiative was used to explore the specifics of the concept and the impact of its most promising projects on the Southeast...
Basic notes of the conception of the German-Russian dictionary of neologisms
The article contains some conceptual considerations about structure and contents of the German-Russian dictionary of neologisms, which is positioned by authors as the specialised bilingual dictionary of passive type for the Russianspeaking user and has to supplement the existing general German-Russian dictionaries.
1.
Большой
немецко-русский словарь
: в 3 т. / авт.-сост. М. Я. Цвиллинг, Е. И.
Лепинг, Н. П. Страхова и др...
Key actors of German ‘soft power’ in the Baltics
This article focuses on Germany’s key ‘soft power’ actors promoting the country’s interests in the Baltics. The authors analyse the policies of ‘soft power’ aimed to create a positive image of Germany in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The article examines the activity of German political foundations, research institutions, communities, language centres, and scientific and cultural organisations. It is stressed that Germany makes use of the Baltics’ historical familiarity with German...
A Königsberg society of friends without Kant
The legends about dinner parties of Immanuel Kant’s friends have been known since the times of his first biographers and other contemporaries. However, there were other communities of friends in Königsberg. Gathering friends at a dining table for the purpose of intellectual communication became a tradition in Königsberg in the 17th/18th centuries. This tradition created a sub-system of creative communication and leisure bringing together both nobility and aristocracy and ordinary curious citizens...
The Works of Modern Russian Historians and the Historiography of Medieval Lithuania before and after the Red October
This article examines the views of modern Russian scholars A. Dvornichenko, M. Krom, A. Filyushkin, and S. Mikhalchenko on the pre-revolutionary and Soviet historiography of medieval Lithuania. Chronological problem analysis constitutes the methodological framework of the study. Special attention is paid to the priorities of the Russian scholars in the analysis of the pre-revolutionary and Soviet Lithuanian studies. It is shown that the disintegration of the Soviet Union marked a new period in research...
Amber as an economic and cultural phenomenon in the history of the Aesti and Prussians
This article emphasises that, in the history of the early Balts (the Aesti and Prussians), amber was a principal means of trade that was exchanged for necessary goods from Europe. In these conditions, amber played a dual role: on the one hand, it stimulated trade connections between the Balts and other peoples, on the other hand, it decelerated their own cultural and technological development. The author’s assumptions are corroborated by archaeological data.
1. Давидан О. И. Янтарь...
Russia and the European Union in the Baltic region: a treacherous path to partnership
This article examines policies of Moscow and Brussels in the Baltics since the launch of the European Union’s Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region in June 2009. An increase in the efficiency of Russia’s policy in the region requires not only the development of bilateral relations with the region’s countries but also a dialogue with the European Union, the key player in the Baltic. The author identifies Russian economic, military, political, and humanitarian interests in the region, and describes...
The “Polish question” in Soviet-German relations in the second half of the 1920s (based on the materials of the USSR consulate in Königsberg)
On the basis of earlier unknown documents of the Soviet consulate in Königsberg retrieved from the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, the author analyses relations between the USSR and Germany in 1925—1930. The author focuses on the role of the “Polish question”, which largely affected the nature of bilateral relations. The consulate documents indicate that Soviet diplomacy aspired to exploit the differences between Poland and Germany over a wide range of issues (the...
Electric energy cooperation in the Baltic Sea region and the role of Russia in it
This article examines cooperation in the electric energy sector in the Baltic region. The author explores the existing undersea HVDC power exchange projects. It is emphasised that cooperation in the electric energy sector is concentrated largely in the EU member states despite earlier plans to establish the Baltic energy ring, which would also include Russia and Belarus. The author stresses that one of the most acute problems for the EU today is overcoming isolation of the energy systems of the Baltic...
Organisation of scientific research in Germany
This article considers the structure of research system in Germany. It describes the federal and state levels of research management. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) bears primary responsibility for science and technology policy at the federal level. At the state level, this responsible is shared by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Economy. The author emphasizes the role of the National Academy of Sciences “Leopoldina”, whose principal objective...
Really: syntactics without semiotics?
I discuss the relation of linguistics and semiotics on the basis of the Old Russian discourse particle TI1 ‘indeed’, ‘verily’, ‘truly’ discovered by Andrej A. Zaliznjak in 1993. Linguistics and semiotics are different research programmes: the first one deals with specific features of language structures, while the second one discusses general characteristics of all sign systems, from a perspective of interpreting most or all of them as secondary respective to natural language. Formal...
International heritage in the memorial landscape of the Kaliningrad region
This article aims to analyse the structure of sites in the Kaliningrad region commemorating events, phenomena or figures of international history, as well as to reveal their symbolic significance. The study uses empirical data on the origin, time of construction and purpose of the monuments, memorials and other places of commemoration. Theoretically, it draws on the concepts of cultural memory and sites of memory. The idiographic and historiographic methods were employed along with general scientific...
The impact of the food embargo on consumer preferences and cross-border practices in the Kaliningrad region
The Russian food market has been a fascinating subject for researchers investigating food security risks and ways to mitigate them since the embargo was imposed in 2014. The Kaliningrad region, an exclave of Russia, responded more sensitively to the restrictions than any other territory of the country due to the heavy dependence of its food market on imported finished products and raw materials, as well as the transit from Russia via third countries. This study aims to explore how the consumer preferences...
Idyll, history, rationality: city images in “Real Journey to Germany in 1835” by Nikolay Gretsch
The article explores the images of the German cities, Lubeck and Hamburg, presented in Nikolay Gretsch’s travelogue “The real trip to Germany in 1835”. The author determines the link between the images of the two cities and the tradition of describing Germany as an idyllic place. This tradition was widespread in Russian literature at the end of the 18th century — first half of the 19th century. In Gretsch’s text, Lubeck and Hamburg are depicted as idyllic but to different degrees. The locus...
Immanuel Kant in the Historical Philosophy of Gustav Shpet
This article assesses the role of Immanuel Kant’s ideas in the historical philosophy of Gustav Shpet (1879—1937). This theme has been largely ignored by Shpet scholars who have concentrated on comparing his logical-methodological theories with the ideas of representatives of phenomenology (E. Husserl, R. Ingarden and others) and hermeneutics (F. Schleiermacher, W. Dilthey, H. Lipps, H.-G. Gadamer and others). Accordingly, the authors consistently reconstruct “the sphere of conversation” within...
On the forms of manifestation of the magical function of language
The article explores linguistic phenomena as a form of manifestation of the magic function. Systemic classifications, taxonomies, and linear phenomena such as euphemization and performativity reflect the beliefs and socio-spiritual functions of societies. This set of linguistic forms and means is determined by the existing religious beliefs. The article studies the foundation of beliefs in the form of elementary "primary performatives". They cannot be denied from the standpoint of logic...
The remaking of geopolitical space and institutional transformations: the case of the Baltic Region
This article adopts the historical neo-institutional approach to analyse the dissolution of the Livonian Confederation and the ensuing reshaping of the Baltic region in the 16th-19th centuries. These historical events are employed to describe the post-bifurcation incorporation of a society in a different social system. Several inclusion models are identified. The centralised model suggests that the incorporated society reproduces the institutions of the incorporating society. Modified institutions...
Reception of Kant’s Epistemological Ideas in Fyodor Golubinsky’s Metaphysics
Kant’s views on space and time as well as his doctrine of the categories of understanding attracted the attention of thinkers belonging to the Russian spiritual-academic philosophical tradition of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A prominent representative of these was Fyodor Golubinsky. He was among the first to react to Kant’s “Copernican turn”. He did not merely study the epistemological ideas of Kant but embraced them and modified them in the framework of his own philosophical...
Peritext of the Russian translation of William Hogarth’s Analysis of Beauty: a case study
Translation of philosophical texts is a special challenge because of specific philosophical idiom and conceptual complexity of the narrative. It is not surprising that such translations are often accompanied by commentaries where the translator steps out of the shadows to justify the translational decisions. This kind of supplementary text called the “translational peritext” is under study in this paper aiming to reveal the cognitive effort the translation process involves, and to explore the...
Kant’s Dissertation for the Master’s Degree On Fire and the Transformations of his Ideas of Ethereal Matter
Kant’s dissertation for the Master’s degree Succinct Exposition of Some Meditations on Fire was written in Latin in 1755 as a sample (specimen) preceding a Master’s exam, but its first printing did not appear until 1838. What is the relevance of this Master’s dissertation for historical and philosophical studies? To answer this question I analyse the structure and give a brief summary of the dissertation, look at the history of its writing and try to identify the place of this work among...
Deduction of Freedom vs Deduction of Experience in Kant’s Metaphysics
My aim is to demonstrate the specificities and differences between transcendental deduction of concepts and deduction of the fundamental principles of pure practical reason in Kant’s metaphysics. First of all it is necessary to examine Kant’s attitude to the metaphysics of his time and the problem of its new justification. Kant in his philosophy explicated not only the theoretical world of cognition, but also the practical world of freedom. Accordingly, the fundamental means of proving metaphysics’...
Kantian Philosophy and ‘Linguistic Kantianism’
The expression “linguistic Kantianism” is widely used to refer to ideas about thought and cognition being determined by language — a conception characteristic of 20th century analytic philosophy. In this article, I conduct a comparative analysis of Kant’s philosophy and views falling under the umbrella expression “linguistic Kantianism.” First, I show that “linguistic Kantianism” usually presupposes a relativistic conception that is alien to Kant’s philosophy (although Kant’s...
The phenomenology of Pushkin’s ‘universal sympathy (based on ‘Аscene from ‘Faust’, ‘The feast in the time of plague’, and ‘the Wanderer’)
This article attempts to approach the discovery of what Dostoevsky called Pushkin’s ‘great secret’. In his essay ‘Pushkin’, Dostoevsky wrote that the poet had ‘a capacity for universal sympathy’. The ‘secret’ of Pushkin is analysed in this article in the context of the general cultural problem of fundamental ontological predicates, which determined the main cultural codes of the literary worlds reflected in the poet’s oeuvre. The methodological approach is based on Valentin...
Thematic parallels in the hagiographies of Adalbert of Prague and old Russian narratives
This article presents a comparative hagiographic analysis of the life and martyrdom of Adalbert of Prague, who was extremely popular in Central Europe X—XII centuries, and hagiographies and old Russian chronicles related geographically to the events that took place in the basin of the Upper Oka. The author identified several direct and indirect parallels of the plot. Among them, there is a description of the activities of the Adalbert-Gaudentius brothers and the legendary Radim and Vyatko brothers...
OPOIAZ and Bakhtin: the Decision Science’s perspective
Decision science is a relatively new discipline: the product of a cross-pollination among mathematics, psychology, economy and a few other branches of knowledge. It studies how humans make their choices and purports to provide a “rational framework for choosing between alternative courses of action when the consequences resulting from this choice are imperfectly known.” In and of itself decision science is a vast field of intersecting theories and methodologies that I will exploit only in...
Hagiographic genre in the works of Konrad von Wurzburg
I analyse three hagiographic poems written by Konrad von Würzburg, a German poet of the XIII century. The poems describe the lives of Saint Alexis, a Man of God, Saint Pantaleon and Pope Sylvester. These saints are worshipped both by the Catholic and the Orthodox churches. Special attention is paid to Konrad von Wurzburg’s concept of ‘genre’, its essential features and the reader’s perception of hagiographic texts. I hold that German medieval writers tended to create spiritual literature...
The problem of antinomy of pure theoretical reason in Kant’s system
A thorough analysis of the structure of the treatise constituting the first Critique and its comparison with the analogous structure of the second and third Critiques show that the Critique of Pure Reason lacks such an important element as the antinomy of pure theoretical reason. Of course, it is implied in the text: Kant’s reasoning is based on it and takes it into account. However, it is not explicitly expressed. Instead of this crucial structural element, which would significantly simplify the...
Conceptualisation of transfer and translation in modern linguistics
This paper studies the vision of translation developed within structuralism, cross-cultural studies, and semiotics and compares them with the theory of cultural transfers. The authors identify key notions of each theory or school. Some of these notions — code, opposition, discretion, and border — permeate the scientific vocabulary of many linguistic schools. However, these terms easily acquire new meanings and interpretations in research works. The continuity of communication space is key to...
Russia’s North-West Borders: Tourism Resource Potential
Being an area of development of Russia’s northwest border regions, tourism requires the extending of border regions’ appeal. A unique resource of the northwestern border regions are the current and historical state borders and border facilities. Successful international experience of creating and developing tourist attractions and destinations using the unique geographical position of sites and territories may help to unlock the potential of Russia’s north-western border regions. This article...
Territorial differences in the attitudes to the migration crisis in Germany: The political aspect
The European migration crisis has divided the population of Germany along the lines of the country’s migration policy and the attitude to immigrants. The antiimmigrant sentiment, supported by the rhetoric of the extreme right-wing parties and the criticism of current policies, have been growing in the society. This article reviews theoretical approaches to the study of public attitude to migrants proceeding from the effect that immigration has on the socioeconomic development of the host society...
Land Use Policy and Land Management in Estonia
This article studies the effect of land reform on the development of current land policy and land management efficiency. The authors present a review of materials focusing on the new land policy, land management and land use system at a new stage of Estonian development. This policy has led to the adoption of a new reform aimed at the municipalisation, privatisation, and denationalisation of real estate. The article describes mechanisms of the Romano-Germanic land management model, which has replaced...
Sambia belts and their prototypes
The article shows that an important detail of Sambia female outfit, the estias, a mixed form of Sambia belt originated from German and provincial-Roman patterns, dates back to the middle or the third quarter of the I century AD. The emergence of a number of tools of intercultural origin (Sambia belts are among them) presupposes the co-existance of different ethnic groups in Sambia in the Julio-Flavian time.
1. Казанский М. М. Реки восточной части Балтийского...
Memory phenomenon in the German literary criticism after 1989
This paper focuses on different theories proposed by German literary scholars currently addressing the concept of "memory", and reconsider the role of literature as a medium for keeping and transferring cultural legacy through space and time. It is discovered that literature-as-a-medium and memories are interconnected. It is also demonstrated how reading evokes spe-cific memories and forms a certain image of the past.
1. Ассман Я. Культурная память: Письмо...
Framework for the Analysis of Geography of Transnational Corporations Investments Abroad
This article develops a methodology for studying the geography of companies — an area of human geography that remains understudied in Russia. The authors refer to foreign direct investment (FDI) studies to stress the importance of analysing individual transnational corporations. Special attention is paid to FDI statistics, including international statistics provided by IMF, OECD, and UNCTAD, the official data of central banks on FDI destinations, and information on companies’ assets by geographical...
Systematicity of the Critique of Pure Reason and Kant’s system (IV)
This article concludes the analysis of systematicity of the Critique of Pure Reason — the work that underlies the entire system created by the great Königsberg philosopher. The author considers the role of transcendental dialectic (it accounts for more than half of the book) in Kant’s methodology of science and the system of criticism. In the context of traditional epistemological theories, it was an entirely new instalment supplementing these theories and understanding knowledge as a continuous...
Supranational party system of the EU
The article confirms the hypothesis that a multiplicity of parties of the European and national levels forms the party system of the European Union (EU). The authors describe the main characteristics of Europarties and political groups comprised of them as key actors in the European Parliament’s (EP) political and legislative processes. The authors adopt the institutional approach and make use of the tools of the comparative, structural, and functional analyses. Special attention is paid to the...
The effect of railway network evolution on the Kaliningrad region’s landscape environment
This article addresses methodology of modern landscape studies from the perspective of natural and man-made components of a territory. Railway infrastructure is not only an important system-building element of economic and settlement patterns; it also affects cultural landscapes. The study of cartographic materials and historiography made it possible to identify the main stages of the development of the Kaliningrad railway network in terms of its territorial scope and to describe causes of the observed...
Origins and beginnings. The Livonian Rhymed Chronicle as a reference point for literature in the Teutonic Order
Almost all recent historical and literary studies agree that the Livonian Chronicle conveys an impression of a poetical work containing archaic elements. The affinity between the Chronicle and German heroic epic poetry is often stressed. The established perspective, which distorts the image of the Chronicle, requires adjustment. This literary study into the Chronicle’s text complements research on the development of corporate identity in the Teutonic Order.
1. Arnold U. De primordiis ordinis...
The memento mori genre in medieval German literature
This article addresses the memento mori genre in the German literature if the 11th-12th centuries. The works in this genre present a literary expression of the category of reminder of mortality. It is close to the sermon calling for repentance. The typical texts by Heinrich von Melk include lamentations about the deceitfulness of the world, the brevity and vanity of earthly life, a reminder of the Last Judgement, and a prayer to God. Heinrich von Melk’s memento mori contain criticism of emerging...
Maritime transport as a system-building element of the Baltic transnational transport region
The object of research presented in the article is maritime transport as a system building type of the Baltic transborder transport region identified within the Baltic region. The author describes maritime transport as a key element of the transnational transport region ensuring the activation and development of new forms of international cooperation in the Baltic area.
1. Йонниеми П. Стратегия ЕС для региона Балтийского моря: чего мы достигли?...
The scientific text for PhD students in interdisciplinary aspect
The author of the article attempts to generalize the means of language in scientific texts through the example of certain natural-scientific specialities on purpose to form linguistic and translating competence of the PhD students studying German.
1. Кузьмина Е. С. Язык специальности и особенности его преподавания (на материале немецкого языка) // Актуальные проблемы государства и права...
Subspecies affiliation of some nesting bird species in the Kaliningrad region — 1. Non-passeriformes
This article presents data on the taxonomy of birds in the Kaliningrad region in comparison to the materials of taxonomic surveys of birds in Belarus and other areas in Europe. It is the first part of the work focusing on the issue of subspecies affiliation of some breeding species of the orders Falconiformes, Galliformes, Gruiformes, Charadriiformes, Strigiformes, Piciformes. The second part, which is to be published in 2014, will consider the order Passeriformes.
1. Alex U. H. Zur Vogelwelt Ostpreußens...
On the toponymic purism in North-East Prussia in the first half of the 20th century
This article analyses the large-scale renaming campaign held by the German leadership in the late 1930s in order to Germanise the Prussian territories of the state. It is concluded that the puristic activities of German National Socialists widely discussed in the modern scientific community were inconsistent.
1. Басовская Е. Н. Советский лингвистический пуризм: слово и дело (на материале периодики 1920—1930-х годов) //...
The literary domain of Germany after the reunification
This article deals with the key concepts of Pierre Bourdieu’s literary domain theory as applied to post-1989 German literature. The major extra-literary factors that affected fictional discourse after the Unification of Germany are described. Special attention is paid to the inter-discursive nature of contemporary literary landscape.
1. Emmerich E. Das literarische Feld Deutschland — 15 Jahre nach der Wende //Revista de Filología Alemana. 2006. Vol. 14. S. 113—130.
2. Greiner U. Die deutsche...
Local border traffic as an efficient tool for developing cross-border cooperation
Local border traffic (LBT) is a tool for cooperation between the EU member states and neighbouring countries. It emerged as a measure to mitigate the barrier effect of the EU’s external border. In 2006, the European Parliament authorised the EU member states to conclude bilateral agreements on a simplified border crossing regime in border areas. This article analyses local border traffic as a cross-border cooperation tool. The territory described in the study includes the external borders of the...
A ‘divided history’: the politics of memory on the territory of the former East Prussia in the light of current discussions
In the humanities and social sciences, the politics of memory and related culture of remembrance increase their significance, affecting legislation, historiography, and political science. This article aims to present key approaches to studying the politics of memory and employ them to the analysis of the politics of memory on the territory of the former German province of East Prussia. The author shows different research perspectives on the key concepts of memory studies. Some researchers identify...
Condorcet interpretation of probability’s theory: the use of a mathematical construct to the field of social action
Probability theory, which emerged as early as the 17th century thanks to the works of Pascal and Fermat, served for a long time as a tool of professional mathematicians. It was not considered a means of rational prediction of social actions. In the late 18th century, Nicolas de Condorcet (1743—1794) first proposed to apply probability theory to moral and political disciplines thus creating a basis for social forecasting. The methods he developed made it possible to predict the results of political...
Aesthetics in the system of Paul Natorp’s philosophy
This article considers the key aspects of P. Natorp’s aesthetics in the system of his philosophy and identifies the legitimate position of aesthetics in the structure of philosophical disciplines: logic, ethics, and philosophy of religion. The author analyses the understanding of aesthetics and philosophyof arts and creative works in line with the Neo-Kantian tradition. The article focuses on the thinker’s contribution to the philosophy of the Marburg School and the justification of idealism...
The principle of sufficient reason in German philosophy of the Enlight-enment
In the 18th century, a philosophical dispute over the Principle of sufficient reason arose in Germany. Despite the fact that this Principe was explicitly formulated by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz only at the end of the 17th century, a major dispute about it was triggered by Christian Wolff who had considerable influence on the German philosophy of Enlightenment. In German Metaphysic, he presented the “strong” definition of the principle and its proof. As a result, freedom was restricted, because...
Russia and the Baltic States: Some Results and a Few Perspectives
Russia has a vested political interest in the Eastern Baltics; yet acting upon this interest is made either difficult or altogether impossible when it comes to the Baltic States. For 20 years, the Russian Federation has been actively promoting a model of mutually beneficial co-operation. The anti-Russian discourse of the Baltic States' political elites — driven by their own wish to maintain their political monopoly — halts most of co-operation efforts. It is time to accept that the previous model...