Bimal K. Matilal's Philosophy: Language, Realism, Dharma, and Ineffability

The article considers the theoretical and practical consequences of the so-called "soft" version of epistemological realism in Bimal K. Matilal's philosophical project. The author offers an analytical view on Matilal's philosophy, which helps to understand it in a broader prospective, comparing his arguments on perception and objectivity with contemporary arguments in Western analytical philosophy; in fact, it is possible to view Matilal not only as the proponent of revised Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika approach, but also as the follower of realistic view on language, following L. Wittgenstein, W. Quine, H. Putnam and M. Dummett. Despite the fact that such interpretation may sound diverse or multivocal, it nevertheless helps to better understand both lineages of argumentation: the critical review of the impossibility of private language can be compared in both Western and Indian philosophical discourses, which leads into the domain of social epistemology. The second part of the article discusses the ethical arguments on the vulnerability of moral virtues, and the place of Dharma as a term in moral philosophy. Poetical and metaphorical language appears to be a fruitful strategy to discover the ineffable - and also via negativa and catuṣkoṭi - which is shown by Matilal on the example of the unacceptability of lying. The ethical ineffability and its interconnection with Matilal's commentaries on practical wisdom play the crucial part in the interpretations of Dharmaśāstra texts.

Comparative Analysis of the Criminal and Legal Protection of Morality in the Legislations of Ukraine and Moldova

The article under studies relies on the understanding that the future of any state, society and mankind on the whole largely depends on the moral virtues of each individual. However, today's moral, spiritual and cultural basics are seriously challenged, annihilated and neglected. Resting on a comparative-legal analysis of the current criminal legislation of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, the article deals with the peculiarities of the criminal and legal protection of morality, identifies in the above legislations certain common and distinctive features in the context of existence and construction of legal norms, investigates their structural elements and, eventually, determines types of punishment. It has been substantiated that Ukrainian criminal legislation is rather progressive in terms of the criminal and legal protection of morality. It might be explained by the fact that respective criminal and legal prohibitions not only have been reflected in a special section of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, but are also described there in detail. In addition, these prohibitions are marked with partial, but at the same time significant and expedient changes and supplements that completely comply with the present-day challenges (for instance, in terms of liability for cruel treatment of animals, vandalizing a grave or other burial place or the body of the deceased, etc.). Particular emphasis has been laid on the fact that due to the recent changes in the Criminal Code, which came into force in March, 2021, especially striking are the elements of such crimes as access to child pornography, its acquisition, storage, import, transportation or other movement, production, sale and dissemination (Art. 301-1), and carrying out of entertaining action of sexual character with participation of the minor (Art. 301-2). On the other hand, the criminal legislation of Moldova does not contain a separate structural part, which would systematize all socially hazardous actions regarding morality. Instead, certain articles on the protection of social morality are enshrined in different chapters of a Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova. It is also important that the article under discussion draws a conclusion that the protection of social morality in the criminal legislation of Moldova comprises both traditional for most states norms (for example, liability for pimping, illegal acts on pornographic objects, vandalizing a grave, etc.) and not quite common ones (liability for incest, obtaining child prostitution services; cruel treatment of animals by a person responsible for the care, protection and welfare of animals, for training or veterinary care; vandalism; debauched actions in the form of exhibitionism, compelling to participate in making pornographic performances, etc.).

The transformative power of accepting God's love

This article develops an account of some of the central features involved on the human side in adopting a richly accepting orientation towards God's love. It then builds a conceptual and empirical argument for the conclusion that accepting God's love can enhance a person's mental health and can indirectly enable a person to cultivate or maintain moral virtues – whether or not God exists. Importantly, the article contends that these transformative benefits are available to both believers and agnostics, and an original secondary data analysis is offered to support this conclusion in the case of agnostics. The article explains how this transformative value of accepting God's love may serve as the basis for a novel pragmatic argument for theistic religious commitment.

The Conclusion of the Guide of the Perplexed in View of the Conclusion of The Nicomachean Ethics

One of the well-known conundrums of the Guide of the Perplexed, found in its last chapter, pertains to Maimonides's contradictory presentation of the hierarchy of human virtues and perfections. This article draws attention to a parallel between the paradox posed by the closing paragraphs of the Guide and the contradiction found in the concluding paragraphs of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, a parallel that has never been noted by students of Maimonides. The intention here is not to make a categorical statement about Maimonides's position on the core issues of the relationship between the intellect and the moral virtues. Rather, it is to shed new light on the unexpected structure of the last chapter, and thus also provide a significant addition to the important debate about Maimonides's position on these issues.

Christian culture in the first Russian educational books on the French language

В статье рассмотрено отражение христианского учения в первых российских учебных книгах по французскому языку. Отмечается, что авторы первых учебных пособий по французскому языку (азбуки, буквари, грамматики) уделяли большое внимание религиозно-нравственному воспитанию обучающихся, поэтому включали в свои книги тексты из Библии, молитвы, притчи, поучительные истории из жизни святых. Религиозные тексты ценились, так как они воспитывали в учениках нравственные добродетели: благочестие, милосердие, честность, щедрость, скромность. В учебные книги по французскому языку XVIII в. часто в первый раздел включались учебные материалы, тексты, связанные с религией, богослужением, церковью. С течением времени образование приобретало все более светский характер, религиозные тексты в учебниках уступали место бытовой, обиходной тематике. Интегративная подача иноязычных текстов, относящихся к духовной и повседневной жизни обучающихся характеризует учебные книги по французскому языку конца XVIII века, в связи с чем можно констатировать, что обучение бытовой коммуникации сочеталось с религиозно-нравственным воспитанием. The article considers the reflection of Christian teaching in the first Russian textbooks on the French language. It is noted that the authors of the first textbooks on the French language (ABCs, primers, grammars) paid great attention to the religious and moral education of students, therefore they included texts from the Bible, prayers, parables, instructive stories from the life of saints in their books. Religious texts were valued because they brought up moral virtues in students: piety, charity, honesty, generosity, modesty. In educational books on the French language of the XVIII century. often, the first section included educational materials, texts related to religion, worship, and the church. Over time, education acquired an increasingly secular character, religious texts in textbooks gave way to everyday, everyday topics. The integrative presentation of foreign-language texts related to the spiritual and everyday life of students characterizes the educational books on the French language of the late XVIII century, in connection with which it can be stated that the teaching of everyday communication was combined with religious and moral education.

ISLAMIC ETHICS, ISLAMIC LAW, AND THE PROPER MANAGERIAL BEHAVIOR

The paper is dedicated to two main issues, namely (1) the representation of general Islamic ethics, the analysis of its specific methodology of moral validation by referring to the Qur'an and Sunna, and its interconnectivity with the Islamic law – Shari’a, as well as to (2) presenting Islamic managerial ethics as a derivative from the general Islamic ethics when it comes to both building moral arguments and propagating the proper moral behavior by promoting moral virtues and normatively analyzing what is right and wrong in the particular business situation. Among the used methods, there was content analysis, comparable analysis, inference, and the evolution of the normative theories. Then, the very Islam-specific confluence of ethics and law is discussed. These data are presented and analyzed as a required context for proper understanding of applied ethics in Islam, and in the case of this paper – Islamic managerial ethics.

Imitating the Traditional Gods

This paper examines moral virtues and cult practice in Plato’s Laws. It explores the symposium and the chorus and their potential to provide a recognisable cultural setting, in which the Magnesian citizens can test their responses to pleasurable and painful experiences and thus train their moral virtues. The challenge to this reading is to explain what additional input to moral habituation is provided by the religious aspect of these institutions. This paper draws attention to the relationship between the people and the patron gods of the respective institutions. It argues that the cult practices are designed to reflect the virtuous character of the traditional gods, who serve as the ethical role models for the worshipers. In this way, the worship of the traditional gods not only facilitates moral progress by exemplifying the objective of virtuous life, but also gives an egalitarian version of the ideal of godlikeness to its citizens.

AI and Phronesis

We argue that the growing prevalence of statistical machine learning in everyday decision making – from creditworthiness to police force allocation – effectively replaces many of our humdrum practical judgments and that this will eventually undermine our capacity for making such judgments. We lean on Aristotle’s famous account of how phronesis and moral virtues develop to make our case. If Aristotle is right that the habitual exercise of practical judgment allows us to incrementally hone virtues, and if AI saves us time by taking over some of those practical judgments, or if its pattern recognition capacities are very good at learning that kind of behavior – we risk innovating ourselves out of moral competence with the introduction of AI.

The concepts of virtue after the „character – situation” debate

The article focuses on a currently hot debate in contemporary ethics that takes place between so-called situationists and the advocates of virtue ethics. The fundamental assumption made by virtue ethics is that developing and perfecting one’s moral character or moral virtues warrants one’s morally good action. Situationists claim that this assumption contradicts the results of the latest empirical studies. From this observation, they conclude that virtue ethics is based on an empirically inadequate moral psychology.In the first part of the article, I present the conceptions of virtue and moral character developed in response to the situationist criticism. I show to which degree these conceptions differ from the classical, so-called global approach in virtue ethics In the second part, based on the references to the latest empirical studies in social and cognitive psychology, I argue, against the situationist objection, that the classical notion of virtue meets the requirement of empirical adequacy. I mainly resort to the interactionist theory of personality by W. Mischel, R. Baumeister’s studies over self-control, D. Kahneman's conception of two-processual mind, and the studies over automatized processes by J. Bargh.