Three Models of Territory

The chapter argues that regardless of whether a legal order has been established over a territory, possession of land itself already imposes obligations on persons outside the territory to respect it. She points out that possession of land also imposes duties on the holders of territory that are global in scope. It is therefore not possible to reduce territorial rights to claims of juridical independence in virtue of a state’s internal civil condition, although the existence of a legal order over a territory is an additional argument to the duty to respect a group’s occupation of land. This is because the internal legal order is only binding to its members, while occupation of land is binding to individuals and states already in the state of nature.

About some incredible adventures of the “elusive” duty construction

The article gives “biographies” of the construction of duty in atypical situations. The first of them is illustrated by the example of family legal relations between parents and children, in which parents are at the same time responsibilities for upbringing (the structure of right-duty). The doctrine accepts such a feature of the aforementioned type of legal relationship by no means to everyone - a reference to the classical interaction of the pair “right and duty” and their distribution between the subject. An additional argument is the arguments in favor of the child’s incapacity and, consequently, the inadmissibility of imposing any responsibilities on him. As counterarguments, considerations are expressed about the possibility of the existence of exceptions from classical constructions, as well as about the presence of certain elements of legal capacity in the child, which make it possible to assign certain responsibilities to him, including in relation to parents or persons substituting for them. As additional argumentation, examples are given of assigning children of different ages (6, 10, 14 years) to responsibilities in the field of education, family, civil turnover. It is proposed to provide for the obligation of children to respect their parents in the general principles of family law. The second atypical situation arises when the so-called declarative obligations are fixed in the text of the law. It is emphasized that they, either directly or indirectly, are associated with certain legal consequences of their non-compliance, therefore, they possess, albeit not in the classical execution, the properties of a legal obligation.

Letting Climate Change

Recent work by Ingmar Persson and Jason Hanna has posed an interesting new challenge for deontologists: How can they account for so-called cases of letting oneself do harm? In this article, I argue that cases of letting oneself do harm are structurally similar to real-world cases such as climate change, and that deontologists need an account of the moral status of these cases to provide moral guidance in real-world cases. I then explore different ways in which deontologists can solve this challenge and argue that the most promising way to conceive of cases of letting oneself do harm is as nonstandard cases of allowing harm, supplemented with an additional argument for the moral relevance of one's own agency. The upshot is that cases of letting oneself do harm are both more theoretically challenging and practically important than has been acknowledged.

A. P. CHEKHOV AND THE CONCEPT OF “DEGENERATION”: TO THE PROBLEM OF CRYPTOPOETICS OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE

The concept of “degeneration” is associated with the fin-de-siècle period and came to Russian soil from Western Europe. First and foremost, it was represented there by Cesare Lombroso and his popularizer, the author of the book Degeneration, Max Nordau. The concept of degeneracy was studied by the scientist using the work of outstanding representatives of European art, including Leo Tolstoy. The book was a scandalous success in Russia and a subject of numerous magazine reviews. Chekhov implicitly participated in this polemic. The writer’s cryptic review of the fashionable problem of degeneracy can be seen in the image of Dr. Dorn, which allows to examine the elements of Chekhov’s cryptopoetics. The surname of this character in The Seagull is considered as a transformation of the surname Nordau. An analysis of Dorn’s behavior and speech suggests that the author of the play uses it to express his position regarding the “nervous age” and the fatigue and degeneration associated with it. The intertextually expressed polemic between Chekhov and Nordau allows to define the role of Dorn as a hidden trickster. This is an additional argument that proves the validity of the author’s definition of The Seagull as a comedy.

N. I. STRAKHOV’S WORKS OF SATIRE AND ‘THE FASHIONABLE BOOK’ BY L.-A. CARACCIOLI

In 1790–1793 Nikolai Strakhov publishes The Satirical Bulletin (1790–1792), A Handbook for Winter Moscow Visitors (1791), The Correspondence of Fashion and The Lamentations of Fashion over the Expulsion of Fashionable and Expensive Goods (1793). The paper shows that The Fashionable Book by the French writer Louis-Antoine Caraccioli, published in Russian translation in 1789, could have been one of their literary sources. All the Strakhov’s works mentioned above share a common topic with the book by Caraccioli: fashion. In A Handbook, The Correspondence and The Lamentations of Fashion, as well as in The Fashionable Book, fashion is the only topic, while in the journal The Satirical Bulletin it is central. Perhaps Caraccioli’s satire suggests to Strakhov the very idea of a full-length book dealing entirely with the subject of fashion, the idea the writer develops in his A Handbook and The Correspondence. A Handbook shares one more important feature with its probable French inspiration: a specific mode of communication with the readers. Both books are addressed to fops, who are obsessed with fashion, as if aimed at attracting their attention. In both books fops are given advice characterizing the behavior that is usual in high society. While such recommendations constitute a minor part of Caraccioli’s satire, they predominate in A Handbook. Obviously, the appeal to fops is, in fact, ironic; the advice given to them should not be taken at face value. In both books fashion is the object of satire. Strakhov’s acquaintance with the Russian translation of Caraccioli’s book may be supposed for the reason that this translation is printed by N. Novikov, who at the time, i. e. in the second half of the 1780s, collaborates with Strakhov, publishing his translations of foreign literature. The fact that Strakhov’s works appear soon after the Russian translation of The Fashionable Book serves as an additional argument in favor of their connection.

The principle of functional transparency as a motivation for the emergence of functions

The principle of functional transparency has two components: The first component states that the role of every constituent in the utterance must be transparent to the listener. The role of the constituents in the utterance is quite distinct from the role of the referents of the constituents in extralinguistic reality. The second component states that if a function is encoded in the grammatical system and the scope of the situation described includes the function, this function must be coded in the utterance. The Chapter demonstrates the role of the principle of functional transparency in the emergence of a functions. The discussion also includes a consideration of language contact. It is demonstrated that the same function might have emerged through language internal motivation and through language contact. The specific function whose emergence is described is the codding of an additional argument in the proposition.

Lexicographic-Type Extension of Min-Max Logic Is Not Uniquely Determined

Since in a computer, “true” is usually represented as 1 and “false” as 0, it is natural to represent intermediate degrees of confidence by numbers intermediate between 0 and 1; this is one of the main ideas behind fuzzy logic – a technique that has led to many useful applications. In many such applications, the degree of confidence in 𝐴 & 𝐵 is estimated as the minimum of the degrees of confidence corresponding to 𝐴 and 𝐵, and the degree of confidence in 𝐴∨𝐵 is estimated as the maximum; for example, 0.5∨0.3 = 0.5. It is intuitively OK that, e.g., 0.5 ∨ 0.3 < 0.51 and, more generally, that 0.5 ∨ 0.3 < 0.5 + 𝜀 for all 𝜀 > 0. However, intuitively, an additional argument in favor of the statement should increase our degree of confidence, i.e., we should have 0.5 < 0.5 ∨ 0.3. To capture this intuitive idea, we need to extend the min-max logic from the interval [0, 1] to a lexicographic-type order on a larger set. Such extension has been proposed – and successfully used in applications – for some propositional formulas. A natural question is: can this construction be uniquely extended to all “and”-“or” formulas? In this paper, we show that, in general, such an extension is not unique.

On Solving Multicriteria Decision Making Problems Based on Pairwise Comparisons

Problems known in the literature are considered for evaluating ratings of alternatives based on pairwise comparisons. To solve the problems, three methods are used, including the traditional method of of analysis of hierarchies by T. Saaty and the method of weighted geometric means, as well as the new method of minimax log-Chebyshev approximation, for which the solution is obtained using the apparatus and methods of tropical (idempotent) mathematics. Comparison of the solutions obtained shows that the use of different methods does not always lead to the same or close results. If the results of different methods differ significantly the choice of one of them for making a decision does not seem entirely justified. On the contrary, the coincidence or similarity of these results can be considered as some additional argument in favor of choosing one of them as a solution close to the optimum.

Can philosophy do away with transcendence? A dialogue with Milan Brdar

The paper examines the interpretation of three major philosophical figures - Descartes, Kant and Heidegger - proposed in the latest monographs by Milan Brdar. I argue that these valuable books can be best understood as parts of his unique program of criticism of the Enlightenment. In particular, they converge in trying to establish a single point - the one of futility of all attempts to found philosophy which dispenses with the transcendence of God. Brdar highlights the limits of the Cartesian Cogito, which is unable to prove anything more than the existence of the self as a thinking being, as well as the necessity of a transcendent God as a warrant for our clear and distinct perceptions. On the other hand, Kant is the very type of philosopher of whom Brdar approves - the one who managed to combine knowledge and faith. As far as Heidegger is concerned, Brdar?s survey of his philosophical evolution, especially of his conception of Being as transcendence and his late turn towards a ?new religion?, is an additional argument for Brdar?s thesis. However, I argue that Hegelian philosophy represents a challenge for Brdar?s intent. On this point I depart from the conclusions on Hegel expounded in the two chapters of his monograph on Kant. In particular, I disagree with his view of Hegel, substantiated by some assertions from his writings, as a philosopher whose panlogism verges on theocentrism. In the final part of the paper I propose instead of several elements of a radically secular reading of Hegel?s logic, phenomenology and philosophy of religion. I also argue that Hegel?s philosophy sharply diverges from the foundationalist pattern of the Cartesian type.