New dissidence in contemporary Russia: Students, feminism and new ethics

The essay is devoted to the specifics of the contemporary Russian opposition and civil society. We describe the characteristics of contemporary ‘intellectual activism’ and the growing network of small civil and political groups in today’s Russia. We show that Russian civil society remains fragile and fragmented; the public discussion is not focused on strategies of resistance to arbitrariness but on constructing moral categories such as the wide and vague concept of ‘new ethics’. We also show how outsiders appear among contemporary Russian dissidents, who are not supported by most independent leaders and intellectuals – these are young ‘new leftists’ and feminist activist groups. These political activists find themselves under pressure from both the siloviki and the authorities, and in the focus of criticism of opposition leaders, becoming, in fact, dissidents among dissidents in contemporary Russia.

The Vague Concept of ‘Primitive’: The Change in Perceptions from Barbarism to Wisdom

This study focuses on the usage and effect of the ‘primitive’ concept in social sciences. This concept, which is used to express both people who lived in the deep past and people who did not come into contact with modernity, has a rather ambiguous world of meaning. It is possible to say that non-Western societies are coded as ‘primitive’ in this approach, which is basically based on the Western and other dichotomy. The Western mind, which sees itself at the top of the line of progress, people who did not come into contact with modernity as irrational, unaware of his surroundings, and lacking many values and institutions. It can be said that the ‘theory of primitive society’ plays a dominant role in the background of transferring democracy and prosperity to ‘developing societies’. This article also discusses the transformation of the ancient human, coded as barbarian and savage, under the influence of the progressive approach, into a creature with knowledge and wisdom, with the effect of romance over time. The concept of ‘primitive’, which continues to find a place for itself in the literature despite some criticisms, has a influence of domain beyond what is thought. The criticism of the ‘primitive’ contributes to the correct understanding of both the ancient human and the traditionally expressed contemporary societies.

“Presence” in the Broad Present. Gumbrecht, H. U. (2020). Production of Presence. What Meaning Cannot Convey. Kharkiv: IST Publishing

This review of the Ukrainian translation of H. U. Gumbrecht’s best-known work brings out the strengths and weaknesses of the translation and the peculiar reception of Gumbrecht’s key ideas (“presence” and “the broad present”) in Ukraine. It also critically assesses Gumbrecht’s own original and often contradictory points. I question the relevance of Gumrecht’s meaning / presence distinction for reconstructing the history of the philosophical tradition, as well as for analysing our complex relation to the world. I also demonstrate the weakness of his biased attempts to paint his opponents as relativists. Besides, I contrast Gumbrecht’s meaning / presence dualism with John Dewey’s theory of experience. The latter conceives experience as a dialectical relation between “doing” and “undergoing”. This juxtaposition shows that Gumbrecht’s theory cannot give a satisfactory account of the mechanisms of everyday or aesthetic experience due to its lack of consistent “everyday” epistemology. Moreover, his vague concept of “presence” and its unequivocal appraisal conflict with his own concept of the chronotope of “broad” or “complex” present, as presented in the selected essays of The Time Is Out of Joint. Eventually, I conclude that Gumbrecht’s eclectic terminological apparatus, as well as uncritical and biased reconstruction of the tradition preclude any serious philosophical engagement. However, it does not undermine the significance of his particular insights and theoretical instruments (such as “the broad present”) for cultural analysis.

The Son as a Torn Veil: The Mysteries of Jesus According to J. Ratzinger-Benedict XVI

J. Ratzinger-Benedict XVI relates theological cognition to following Jesus and going in His footsteps. He emphasizes the inseparable, mutual, servant-like relationship between academic theology and Christian praxis, Christological hermeneutics with the existential basis of faith. Intellectual and spiritual understanding of the mystery of Jesus depends on intimacy with Him and grows on this path: only the Son can show the Father because he knows Him in a way that defines his existence as the Son. The eternal inter-Trinitarian conversation with the Father – the prayer of the Son, His sonship-obedience – finds its corporal expression in history, and the humanity of Jesus, whose culmination is the cross, remains His prayer. The earthly life, and finally the Passover of Jesus, introduces into the human, vague concept of God the experience of the loving Father, thus making the course of history definitively meaningful and fulfilling, and the faith legitimate. Ratzinger defends Christology as a conceptual understanding of the truth of the Gospel, the depth and integrity of which Christology guards and to which it refers. Disregarding in faith the cognitive achievements and heritage of systematic theology leads to depriving faith of its most important contents, without which it starts to look in the dark for justifications which are subjective as well as fuzzy.

Interhemispheric asymmetry as a factor in the manifestation of victimhood

Проблема виктимности личности одна из самых актуальных на сегодняшний день. Различные социальные кризисы, потеря семейных ценностей, кризис образования, неопределенная концепция воспитания привели к обострению проблемы виктимизации личности. В статье рассматривается проблема исследования межполушарной асимметрии и ее влияния на психику человека. Проведенный анализ литературных источников, посвященных вопросу межполушарной асимметрии, позволяет рассматривать данное явления как один из факторов, влияющих на формирование виктимности. В статье анализируются полученные результаты исследования доминирования полушарий и их влияние на разные формы виктимного поведения студентов гуманитарных специальностей в возрасте от 18 до 25 лет. Раскрыты сущность влияния функциональной асимметрии головного мозга на формирование виктимности личности и их взаимосвязь с индивидуально-личностными особенностями студентов. Выделены основные психолого-педагогические рекомендации по выявлению дальнейшей профилактики виктимных форм поведения личности. The problem of personality victimization is one of the most urgent today. Various social crises, the loss of family values, the crisis of education, and the vague concept of upbringing have led to an exacerbation of the problem of victimization of the individual. The article deals with the problem of studying interhemispheric asymmetry and its influence on the human psyche. The conducted analysis of literature sources devoted to the issue of interhemispheric asymmetry allows us to consider this phenomenon as one of the factors influencing the formation of victimization. The article analyzes the results of the study of hemisphere dominance and their influence on different forms of students’ victim behavior of humanitarian specialties at the age from 18 to 25 years. The essence of the influence of the functional asymmetry of the brain on the formation of personality victimization and their relationship with individual and personal characteristics of students is revealed. There are highlighted the main psychological and pedagogical recommendations for identifying further prevention of victimized forms of personality behavior.

Similarity measure for multi-granularity rough approximations of vague sets

Vague sets are a further extension of fuzzy sets. In rough set theory, target concept can be characterized by different rough approximation spaces when it is a vague concept. The uncertainty measure of vague sets in rough approximation spaces is an important issue. If the uncertainty measure is not accurate enough, different rough approximation spaces of a vague concept may possess the same result, which makes it impossible to distinguish these approximation spaces for charactering a vague concept strictly. In this paper, this problem will be solved from the perspective of similarity. Firstly, based on the similarity between vague information granules(VIGs), we proposed an uncertainty measure with strong distinguishing ability called rough vague similarity (RVS). Furthermore, by studying the multi-granularity rough approximations of a vague concept, we reveal the change rules of RVS with the changing granularities and conclude that the RVS between any two rough approximation spaces can degenerate to granularity measure and information measure. Finally, a case study and related experiments are listed to verify that RVS possesses a better performance for reflecting differences among rough approximation spaces for describing a vague concept.

Vague and unworkable: The fuzziness of the archipelago as a concept and its unsuitability as model for a 21st century Palestinian nation

While it is frequently invoked, the archipelago is such a vague concept that its deployment in fields such as island studies is only productive when the contingency of its use is specified. In this article, we examine the concept itself and then consider the use of the archipelago as a metaphor and/or model for a future Palestinian state. The creation of the modern nation-state of Israel in Palestine in 1948, various Israeli military actions, and (often related) public and private developments of former Palestinian lands has resulted in a substantial proportion of Palestinians fleeing to neighbouring countries (chiefly Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria). Those Palestinians who have remained have largely been confined to territorial isolates within the Jewish state. These isolates have frequently been understood and analogised as ‘islands’ within Israel, and the aggregation of these isolates has been variously referred to and/or represented as an archipelago. This article examines the development of this metaphoric interpretation of the Palestinian community within Israel in Anglophone, Arabic, and Francophone discourse, and characterises the contortions necessary to imagine Palestinian territories as archipelagic. The conclusion returns to consideration of the notion of the archipelago itself and of its usefulness in island studies and other contexts.

Is utility a measure of commodity value? On two different approaches to the subjective theory of value

This paper reviews two theories of utility. In Jevons’ theory, utility denotes an abstract quality of a commodity and value is derived from the knowledge of the utility of a commodity. Menger, however, argued that the concept of value cannot be associated with the fact that things are useful. Goods themselves are worthless unless a human assigns value to them. It is shown that utility as a measure of commodity value is a vague concept.

An Unknown Portrait of King of Cyprus Hugh IV Lusignan: Reconstructions, Questions and Hypotheses Regarding a Miniature from the Manuscript BSB. Clm. 10268. Michael Scotus. F. 1r.

The Lusignan epoch in Cyprus produced a number of interesting and extraor­dinary individuals, of which king Hugh IV Lusignan particularly stood out. However, due to a lack of portraits left to us from that time, we have only a very vague concept of what those individuals’ appearances looked like. This work makes a unique attempt at reconstructing a portrait of king Hugh IV Lusignan based on a miniature found in a manuscript containing works of Michael Scotus, located in the Bavarian State Library.

North Dakota

The topic of this Article arose from a recent opinion by the North Dakota Supreme Court: Western Energy Corporation v. Stauffer. The case dealt with how the law handles changes in ownership of property, specifically land including underlying mineral interests, that come into dispute after substantial periods of time have passed, resulting in a need for the parties involved in the dispute to turn to the courts for a solution. The passing of a substantial amount of time often becomes the issue in resolving the dispute in these types of situations. The opening paragraph in the Court’s opinion in Western Energy states that “Western Energy appealed from a district court judgment finding its quiet title action pertaining to claimed mineral interests to be barred by applicable statutes of limitation and laches.” Statutes of limitation are fairly straightforward and are discussed below as they are the determinative factor in the case. However, the specific goal here is to examine several of the approaches that can be taken in this kind of situation and how the issue is ultimately resolved. Raising the claim of “laches” is a rather vague concept, but it appears in some of these cases and has an interesting background, as discussed in the last part of this Article. The background of the case in question will be laid out first followed by the discussion of several traditional methodologies for resolving cases of this kind, generally, in the context of other court cases.