Through Exchange: Karatani Compared With Marx

The following paper has as its object the political philosophy of K. Karatani, in particular its relationship with the work of Marx. Japanese philosopher, in fact, reinterprets some elements of Marxian theory in the light of Kantian categories, hybridizing the ethical and moral theory of the latter with the critique of the political economy of the former. The result of Karatani's project can be seen, in particular, in two works. With the first, Transcritique, Karatani moves into the realm of philosophy to construct a method that holds the two theoretical poles together. The concept of 'Transcritique', in fact, represents the junction between Kantian and Marxian insights. With the second work, 'The Structure of World History', the Japanese philosopher shifts the analytical focus from ethics to economics, proposing a different interpretation of capitalism and its historical cycles. The shift of the observation of the capitalist system from the sphere of production to that of exchange represents the analytical novelty. Carrying through to the end the methodology developed in the previous work, Karatani traces back to exchange all the productive, institutional and political dynamics produced over time. Cycles of accumulation thus become cycles of exchange. The author, in fact, determines a correspondence between the specific modes of exchange and the consequent political structures, highlighting the centrality that money occupies, both in the theoretical elaboration and in political reality. The prevailing mode of production, based on the exchange of commodities, relies on the absolute mobility of money and on the strength of the state political institution, which acts as a hinge between the global dimension of exchanges and the territorial need for the appropriation of surplus-value. Karatani's critique is embodied in a political proposal, articulated through two key figures: community and cosmopolitanism. With the first term, the philosopher opposes the materiality of human relationships based on reciprocity to the abstract equivalence of economic relationships. By the second term, he shows the need for an extended political practice in which the pursuit of local freedom goes hand in hand with the realization of global justice. The paper traces these themes both through direct exposure of Karatani's work and by offering critical comparisons with other authors who have addressed similar issues. Finally, the purpose of this paper is to emphasize the originality of the Japanese author's philosophical-historical work, suspended between utopia and pragmatism, also through criticism, in order to highlight its strengths and underline its potential weaknesses.

The Spiritual Dimension of the Breakdown

The usual explanations of the breakdown in American public life fail to account for our current condition. They do, however, point to an underlying national spiritual crisis. The economy has not actually performed that badly. Big money is not that influential. The pathologies of social media are symptoms of our problems, not sources. Even racism is only a part of our national distress. Both sides claim the unreasonableness of the other side is the problem. These opponents have weakened the institutions of government. Some observers have given up trying to explain our condition, pointing to human nature, when human nature should be constant, or to historical cycles that simply occur. Our crisis is part of the failure of the Enlightenment and capitalism to sustain meaningful human life in secular society. The problem is the Death of God.

The October Revolution as the Passion of Christ: Boris Pasternak’s Easter Narrative in Doctor Zhivago and Its Cultural Contexts

This article offers a new interpretation of Boris Pasternak’s novel Doctor Zhivago in the cultural and historical context of the first half of the 20th century, with an emphasis on the interrelationship between religion and philosophy of history in the text. Doctor Zhivago is analysed as a condensed representation of a religious conception of Russian history between 1901 and 1953 and as a cyclical repetition of the Easter narrative. This bipartite narrative consists of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ as symbols of violence and renewal (liberation). The novel cycles through this narrative several times, symbolically connecting the ‘Easter’ revolution (March 1917) and the Thaw (the spring of 1953). The sources of Pasternak’s Easter narrative include the Gospels, Leo Tolstoy’s philosophy of history and pre-Christian mythology. The model of cyclical time in the novel brings together the sacred, natural and historical cycles. This concept of a cyclical renewal of life differs from the linear temporality of the Apocalypse as an expectation of the end of history.

PRICE BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS OF BRAZILIAN YERBA MATE EXPORTED TO URUGUAY BETWEEN 1997 AND 2018

The objective of this study was to evaluate price seasonality of the Brazilian Yerba mate exported to the Uruguayan market, serving as a basis for decision-making to the producers. For this purpose, we collected data on Brazilian yerba mate exports to Uruguay, available in the ALICE-WEB System, which, after deflation, were used to determine the Seasonal Index for different periods between 1997 and 2018 The results showed that the market for yerba mate does not present regular historical cycles, the prices of the Brazilian product in the Uruguayan market suffer constant falls and increases. Nevertheless, it is possible to observe a long-term trend of increasing the real price of the product at an average rate of 0.33% per month. It is possible to conclude that the price of Brazilian yerba mate in the Uruguayan market was in the ascendancy until the beginning of 2015, when the Uruguayan Justice instituted an investigation to investigate the presence of cadmium and lead at levels above the allowed ones in the Brazilian product. At the end of the study period, there was a slight tendency to recover prices, however, only new studies will be able to verify if the price of Brazilian yerba on the Uruguayan market will reach levels similar to those registered before the judicial embargo.Keywords: international trade; seasonality; competitiveness.

Russian Society's Civilizational Transit

This paper deals with the issue of specific civilizational process formation in Russia as a new figuration and configuration of the forms of modernity. It is argued that explanations of the dynamics of Russian society are often based on the idea of predestination of the trajectory of its development (path dependency) that is caused either by the universal logic of modernization and globalization or by persistence of the basic cultural program or matrix which is reproduced in social practices. A civilizational transit of Russian society phenomena is discussed within multiple modernities theory as a new perspective that allows overcoming some of the problems with the predominant approaches to Russian modernization. Civilizational approaches to analyses of Russian culture, politics and society have been associated mostly with theories of ‘historical cycles’ worked out in late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. More recently a considerable attention has been devoted to different versions of ‘neoEurasianism’. In addition, the notion of ‘clash of civilizations’ proposed by Samuel Huntington became prominent in the political discourse in Russia at the end of 1990s. At the same time, the concept of civilization is discussed widely in today’s historical sociology. A specific school of ‘civilizational analysis’ that draws on the ideas of Shmuel Eisenstadt emerged at the end of the 1990s. This perspective has already influenced some new trends in sociology of religion, political sociology and international relations theory. The panel seeks to demonstrate the relevance of a new wave of civilizational analysis for understanding contemporary Russian culture, politics and society. Keywords: Russian society, civilizational transit, multiple modernities

Legal thinking in the context of linear and cyclical politogenesis

On the basis of a refined definition of legal thinking, its features are determined in relation to socio-historical time and national culture. It is proposed to perceive this phenomenon as a specific mental process of modeling laws of law-making and law-realization activities carried out within the framework of national and international legal cultures and based on axiomatic factors characteristic of these cultures. The specificity of perception of political genesis within a linear and cyclical history is shown. The ratio of circular and spiral development cycles is considered, with emphasis on the wave theory of social development of E. Toffler. Based on the provisions of this theory, a hypothesis of pluralistic multicultural legal thinking is constructed, which presupposes an equal, free dialogue between representatives of various social systems that coexist in modern times, but are in dichronic sociohistorical times. Being capable of moving from one social system to another, carriers of various types of legal thinking, thereby demonstrating their ability to travel not only in space, but also in socio-historical time, adaptation to which occurs in relative independence from the will of states, as well as from national traditions. Analyzed structural and substantive features of legal thinking in the context of changing socio-historical cycles (waves). It is noted that linear and cyclical legal thinking cannot exist in isolation from each other. However, representing different perspectives of the perception of legal reality, the models in question act as parallel planes, each of which sets its own parameters of perception, measurement, and evaluation of the state and law. The modern world, having ceased to be bipolar, is becoming multicultural. At the same time, the recognition of a person, his rights and freedoms as a universal global legal value means that any person, regardless of his social and legal status, is a valuable legal phenomenon a subject of law.

Integrative links in musical-theoretical and musical-historical cycles teaching

This paper deals with actual questions of modernization of musical pedagogical middle level teaching. Specific thinking features of contemporary students are marked, and problems of innovative development of information society are described. Difficulties of secondary professional musical education are shown. System thinking and scientific knowledge integration are pointed out as a basis of new ideological settings formation. Scientific researches in musical pedagogy about integrative links are analyzed. A use of integrative links in teaching musical-theoretical and musical-historical areas is marked as a necessary factor of solid and systematic music language image development. A language of music, as a complex of musical means of expression is named as an integrity factor. A system analysis of every element of music language aimed to discover their inner correlation and semantic role is named as a necessary clause, allowing to form a solid image of musical language and musical art in general. The authors justify a necessity of optimization and intensification of musical-theoretical schooling on the basis of integrative links inside the subjects of musical-theoretical and musical-historical cycles.