An artist’s biography in the modern science discourse

The purpose of the article reveals the conceptual statements of the artistic personality in the XXI century by studying and generalizing humanitarian study theses. The research methodology: the biographic, analytical, historical, hermeneutic, systemic approaches were applied, which enabled the complex review of the aforementioned question. The scientific novelty. For the first time ever, the specifics of an artist’s chronicles under nowadays’ civilization conditions were rendered within the national art history framework. Conclusions. On the boundary of the XX – XXI centuries, an outstanding profile’s biography experienced considerable transformations referring to epoch changes and filled with new philosophic senses having reflected the trans-modern atmosphere. The contemporary chronicle is a complex dialectic phenomenon. It is culture-centered, contextual (aspiring after involving the novel character in human civilization continuum), and trying to solve current anthropological issues, as well as to regard the agent as the universal ontological codes bearer, and to declare the value of an artistic individual, etc. Meanwhile, the abovementioned genre reveals the epoch controversy being manifested via lack of moral ideals, ethics, and aesthetic canons, and personified leaders. The consequence of the situation is the fact of the chronicles being not necessarily identical to its actual prototype, but rather suggesting a possible variant of interpreting its essence. Their author provides an original vision of facts and phenomena of the artist’s being, constructs, and represents the subject’s model in the available form reflecting the following: the master’s image; the concrete epoch’s portrait; the researcher’s autobiography. From this information source, the recipient builds his own history of the novel character. The methodology of rendering an artistic personality’s biography is based on the integration of humanitarian study advances, as well as an interdisciplinary approach, the interaction of various science discourses, contexts, senses, etc. Keywords: biography; master; art history; culture; humanitarian study.

The specifics of the embodiment of a smile, laughter, mocker in creativity B. Kanapyanova

The article analyzes the specifics of the embodiment of laughter, smiles, mocker in the works of the modern Russian-speaking Kazakh poet and writer B. Kanapyanov. The study uses a complex approach to analysis of a work of art. Smile, laughter and mocker in describing the appearance, actions of the heroes of the works is due not only to the subjective opinion of the author, but also to the whole concept of images, which are based on aesthetic, spiritual and moral ideals that have developed for millennia in the steppe culture of Kazakhs. The results showed that the derivatives of the comic (laughter, smile, mockery), firstly, play a key role in the poetics of Kazakh author’s works, being a catalyst for the most important motives (friendship, sympathy, joy, love, anger, hatred). Secondly, they are means of transmitting emotions, markers of the behavior of the lyrical hero, allowing us to understand what his real experiences are, i.e. perform a characterological function.

Steamboats in Eugene Chirikov᾿s Life and Work

Images of Volga steamships take an important place in the works of Eugene Chirikov (1864–1932) written by him both before the Revolution 1917 and in exile.The writer’s attention and love for this type of water transport is explained not only by his biography (Chirikov was born and grоwn up on the banks of the Volga, traveled a lot along it, etc.), but also by his assuarance in the special role of the Volga the main waterway of Russia that playing a great role in the fate of the country and people. Therefore, the steamer in Chirikov’s prose appears as a kind of spiritual center, and among its passengers, the greatest interest of the author is caused by pilgrims and pilgrims from the peasant environment, whose prayers, spiritual disputes, songs, legends and legends reflect, according to the writer, the aspiration of the national consciousness to the “Truth of God”. They are opposed to the “pure public” from the 1st class, the description of which reflects not only the author’s critical view of the unfair, in his opinion, social structure of modern society, but also his anxiety caused by the loss of a living religious feeling and spiritual and moral ideals by representatives of the upper strata, without which as history has shown the existence of Russia itself is impossible.

Reviving democracy: Creating pathways out of legitimacy crises

Over the last several years, democratic citizens and theorists have been grappling with an upsurge in political commentary on the crisis and decline of democratic legitimacy around the world. Increasingly, theoretical attention is turning from the philosophical justification of ambitious moral ideals of democracy, to the interpretation of potentials within existing political practice for democratic renewal and repair. This review article examines three new books at the forefront of this theoretical turn towards engagement with the real-world political dynamics of democratic crisis and revival: Open Democracy by Hélène Landemore; Hope for Democracy by John Gastil and Katherine Knobloch; and Mending Democracy by Carolyn Hendriks, Selen Ercan and John Boswell. It begins by surveying the new contributions of these books – highlighting the importance all attribute to creative political agency as a source of revival in democratic practice. It then discusses several questions left unresolved by these books – concerning the problem of democratic legitimacy, the normativity of democratic standards and the power dynamics undergirding democratic agency – which jointly mark out an important agenda for future theoretical work on pathways out of democratic crisis.

Checking the Other and Checking the Self: Role Morality and the Separation of Powers

The concepts of the rule of law, the separation of powers, and checks and balances are related in complicated ways. Jacob T Levy brings this to light in his thought-provoking McDonald Lecture, “The Separation of Powers and the Challenge to Constitutional Democracy.”1 In this response to Levy’s paper I want to further explore the relationship between these three ideas. I will argue that, when thinking about the rule of law, we must consider the idea of “role morality” and its place in constraining power. We should think of the constraints on power that stem from role morality as “internal” as opposed to “external” checks on power. I also suggest that we would do well to broaden our understanding of what the rule of law requires, and to think of it not just as a matter of ensuring impartiality and formal legal equality in the sense that the law applies to all actors within the system. We might benefit from thinking of the rule of law as a weightier moral concept that demands that decision-makers comply with moral ideals, and not just with the rules as laid out.

Mindful Technology

Mindfulness is frequently invoked as a virtue in discussions of technology, whether in using specific technologies such as cellphones, in creating technologies as new and valuable devices and knowledge, in responsibly developing technologies as “social experiments,” or in participating responsibly as citizens in technological societies. In each of these contexts, mindfulness can have myriad meanings that reflect moral ideals or popular psychological concepts. To explore these meanings, I develop a working definition of mindfulness as paying attention to what matters, in light of relevant values. When those values are sound and applied with good judgment, mindfulness is a virtue.

Technology of optimization: An emerging configuration of productivity among professional software employees

In this article, I draw from several months of fieldwork from 2019 to assess professional subjectivity in the software industry of Canada. I assess employees’ constructions of and feelings about their own productivity. I argue that the ways in which subjects understand and feel about their productivity says a great deal about how power is ‘willfully’ negotiated within everyday professional tech settings of neoliberal societies. My findings suggest that optimization is emerging as a technology of self among the individuals I studied, and bringing political consequences. In the first section of the article, I provide a brief overview of the productivity imperative’s cultural trajectory, and show its relation to optimization. Then, in the empirical analysis and discussion, I outline that the technology of optimization involves a discourse around bringing one’s best to public and private realms, offering a specific set of moral ideals. I then show that another facet of this technology of self is centered on willfully entangling public and private life. Finally, I theorize subjects’ reported feelings about their own productivity, assessing how the technology of optimization relates to a politics of privilege. With this study, I seek to make a contribution to the relation between the culture of productivity and professional subjectivity in the software industry, in an effort to expose how power is negotiated at the level of the self in an increasingly influential sector.

Identification of pedagogical conditions of formation of the world outlook of a child in the family

Based on the analysis of the peculiarities of formation and methodological aspects of the spiritual sphere of Ukrainians in Mykola Shlemkevych's legacy, the article reveals pedagogical conditions of building a child’s worldview in the family – embodiment of spiritual and moral ideals in everyday life, unity with these high ideals, practicing such powerful upbringing methods as prayer, confession, communion with God (through high moral ideas in works of art, literature), communion, participation in worship, revealing the spiritual content of folk traditions, freedom of choice, religious faith, work on oneself, etc. Here the emphasis is on children’s independent participation in their upbringing. In this regard, the importance of ways of self-education – self-knowledge, self-analysis, self-observation, self-esteem, etc. – is revealed. This means finding and identifying democratic ways to build the spiritual world of a child in the family, relating to the expansion of the spirituality of Ukrainians in the works by M. Shlemkevych. It is substantiated, that it is highly important to assimilate morality through the transition to an idealistic Christian system of values, which has always been supported by M. Shlemkevych. Therefore, it has been concluded, that a high level of improvement of the child’s morality in the family can be achieved through the discovery of the Christian worldview and the recognition of the priority of spiritual and moral values. This is first used in communication with children, creating a highly spiritual atmosphere that would stimulate such well-known ways of practicing moral virtues as humility, forgiveness, repentance, fasting, prayer, confession, and others. Therefore, this will be facilitated not only by the external organization of the child’s life in the family (for example, a good environment, participation in charities), but also by internal self-improvement (by self-restraint, restraint from negative thoughts, unworthy actions or bad intentions). The choice of the Christian strategy of education outlines both the general orientation of a child towards spiritual and moral values, and the stable position of adults in devotion to moral ideals, humanistic traditions

COMMUNICATIVE AND LEGAL NIHILISM AS A PHENOMENON DISCREDITING THE COMMUNICATIVE-LEGAL CULTURE OF YOUTH: SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

The article is devoted to the study and analysis of young people's ideas about communicative and legal nihilism and ways to overcome it as factors that discredit the communicative and legal culture of young people. The paper analyzes various concepts that reveal the foundations of the definitions of "nihilism", "communicative nihilism" and" legal nihilism". Thus, it is noted that nihilism is a socio-cultural negative phenomenon based on the denial of everything that exists, or some aspects of life (legal, communicative, cultural, etc.). Based on this, the article points out that among the main reasons for the manifestation of the nihilistic attitude are: incorrect interpretation and interpretation of the norms of law and the rules of communication, unwillingness to master the communicative and legal foundations, as well as distrust of the legislation. At the same time, taking into account these reasons for the nihilistic attitude, which lead to the inability to understand the laws, communicative nihilism is manifested, which is "ideological passivity", "communicative skepticism", which is expressed in discrediting the oral and written statements and actions of other persons and authorities. The article also describes the results of the author's sociological survey, which indicate the presence of a high degree of nihilistic manifestations in society in relation to legal norms (laws) and rules for the implementation of communicative interaction. Such destructive tendencies cause concern for our bright future, since nihilistic trends destroy values, moral ideals, in general, and in particular the process of forming a communicative and legal culture of young people, inspired by the spirit of tolerance, tolerance for everything different. In conclusion, the author draws conclusions about the importance and necessity of preventing communicative and legal nihilistic manifestations in the youth environment, and also indicates the mechanisms for their prevention.