Stanislav Lem on the philosophy of language: recovery from fragments of phrases

This article examines some of S. Lem’s statements about his philosophical and worldview positions regarding the mysterious nature of language and the linguistic sign, the connection between language, mind and reality. The main goal of the paper is to understand what texts on the philosophy of language the Polish thinker read and what attitude he has formed towards them. Lem is the follower of an analytical intellectual culture that focuses on the naturalistic worldview and the consequences of the “linguistic turn” in Western philosophy. For Lem, language is not only an interesting philosophical object, but also a complex precise instrument of his own creative thinking. In this regard, the philosophy of language for a writer cannot be based only on logical-linguistic atomistic methodology. Lem seeks (and finds) in his contemporary interdisciplinary methods ways to combine realistic and anti-realist positions. Many concepts, such as “the effect of semantic transparency”, “polymorphic language model”, “variation model” are quite correlated with modern theories of language and require additional philosophical comments.

Medieval religious intellectual culture in the works of V.S. Soloviev

The article discusses the views of V.S. Solovyov on the medieval religious worldview. The main problem for historical and historical and philosophical thought at the end of the 19th century was the question of the degree of influence of Christian ideology on the perception of man in the Middle Ages. And since it was V.S. Soloviev who expressed doubts about the absolute significance of the Christian doctrine for the consciousness of medieval Western Europe, Byzantium and Russia, then his constructions are especially interesting. The author proceeds from the assumption that all his reflections can be characterized as Christian utopianism, however, it is presented in the space of liberal teachings of Russia in the second half of the 19th century. Attention is focused on the aspiration of V.S. Solovyov to solve problems through the completeness and purity of the ideal of Christianity. Therefore, the world-historical process itself appears as a condition for the functioning of this ideal. The key point for the Russian philosopher is the conviction that in the Middle Ages pagan elements persist and affect the consciousness of people under the guise of the Christian faith. And this leads to the antinomy of the order of life and the spirit of the Middle Ages. It is this moment that serves as the subject of this article.

Quintilian in the Italian Renaissance

The century that followed Poggio Bracciolini’s discovery of a complete manuscript of Quintilian’s Institutio oratoria at the Swiss monastery of St Gall in 1416 represents a vital stage within the text’s transmission and reception. The new text fell on fertile soil, at a time when the classicizing movement known as humanism was rapidly reshaping Italian elite education and literary and intellectual culture, and when the introduction of printing would soon begin to transform practices of editing and dissemination. This chapter traces the editorial and transmission history of the Institutio from 1416 to the early sixteenth century, with some consideration of Petrarch’s earlier, enthusiastic reception of the text. After an initial, general overview of the text’s fortunes in manuscript and print, and its gradual, increasing adoption in educational contexts, more detailed discussions follow of Quintilian’s reception by, and influence on, two of the great humanist thinkers of the period, Lorenzo Valla (1407–1457) and Baldassare Castiglione (1478–1529). The chapter argues that, in Valla, Quintilian’s rhetoric became a model for a modern practice of Christian eloquence, capable of rivalling scholastic theology, while, in Castiglione, Quintilian’s human ideal of the orator was recast as a template for the modern court intellectual.

Paul's Idea of the "New Man" and Transhumanism

By setting the relationship between human and divine reality in a whole new way, Christian anthropology has provided an authoritative framework for understanding and valuing the dynamics of human life as moving “from the old to the new man”, according to the famous phrase of the apostle Paul. Other great European humanistic traditions with their ideas of man and visions of his progress can be placed in the critical perspective of this Pauline anthropological formula. One of those traditions that relatively recently entered the stage of European intellectual culture is the so-called “Transhumanism”. In this article, a contrast is made between Paul’s understanding of the dynamics of human life and the human enhan­cement with the help of technology in transhumanism.

PSYCHOTHERAPY METHOD OF THERAPY BY MEANS OF CREATIVE SELF-EXPRESSION BY M.YE.BURNO (TCSEB) IN TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION OF PSYCHIATRIC DISEASE PROFILE PATIENTS

Приводимые в статье данные об организационной структуре, методиках (направлениях) и основополагающих принципах психотерапевтического метода Терапии творческим самовыражением М.Е.Бурно (ТТСБ), как части Клинической классической психотерапии, Терапии духовной культурой, позволяют получить более точные представления о ТТСБ и овладеть навыками использования данного метода в лечении и реабилитации пациентов с психиатрическим профилем заболевания. Рассказывается о показаниях и противопоказаниях к использованию метода ТТСБ. О непосредственных алгоритмах и психотерапевтических методиках осуществления помощи. Затрагивается вопрос значимости личной — творческой роли специалиста в ТТСБ, осуществляющего Психосоциальную терапию и реабилитацию. Рассматривается феномен особого психотерапевтического эмоционального интимного контакта с шизофреническими, шизотипическими пациентами, являющегося существенным компонентом продуктивного терапевтического взаимодействия с данной группой обратившихся за помощью. Рассказывается об особой терапевтической среде психотерапевтического метода ТТСБ в Психосоциальной терапии и реабилитации. The data presented in the article on the organizational structure, methodologies and fundamental principles of psychotherapy method of Therapy by means of creative self-expression by M.Ye.Burno (TCSEB), as a part of Clinical classical psychotherapy, Therapy by intellectual culture, allows us to get more accurate understanding of TCSEB and master the skills of using this method in treatment and rehabilitation of psychiatric disease profile patients. The indications and contraindications for using the TCSEB method are explained. The direct algorithms and psychotherapy methodologies of helping mentally ill patients are mentioned here. We also talk about special personal and creative role of a TCSEB specialist who performs Psychosocial therapy and rehabilitation. We emphasise the importance of psychotherapeutic deep emotional contact, working with schizophrenic and schizotypal patients as an essential component of productive therapeutic interaction with this group of patients. The special therapeutic environment of the psychotherapeutic method of TCSEB in Psychosocial therapy and rehabilitation is described.

Biblical Scholarship in an Age of Controversy

This book offers a new vision of early modern biblical scholarship through a close study of Hugh Broughton (1549–1612), the colourful English Hebraist who cuts a strange figure in the history of the period. Best known today as the puritan who criticized the King James Bible (1611), Broughton was both despised and admired by his contemporaries for his abrasive personality, controversial pamphlets, and profound knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, and rabbinic literature. Modern historians have found it equally difficult to reconcile the contradictions of Broughton’s life and legacy, scarcely moving past the stereotype of him as an angry, eccentric puritan. By providing the first monograph-length account of Broughton, this book explains how the same person could be both one of the most conservative and backward-looking scholars of his generation, and also one of the most innovative and influential. In doing so, it advances a new understanding of the relationship between elite intellectual culture, lay religion, biblical criticism, confessional identity, and broader processes of secularization in the period from the late Reformation to the early Enlightenment.

3. From republican to Romantic

‘From republican to Romantic’ discusses how Enlightenment ideas came under pressure from the dramatic changes in American life during the early republic. Rapid population growth, westward expansion, urbanization, and industrialization tested the limits of Enlightenment thought, while new Romantic sensibilities shaped Americans’ response to their changing political and social realities. A shared concern during this period was the perceived absence of a truly “American” democratic culture, and this fostered efforts to build a variety of new intellectual institutions. The transcendentalists played a central role in trying to create a unifying intellectual culture befitting a new democracy, while the mental and moral worlds of Northerners and Southerners pulled farther apart over the issue of slavery.

The Anglo-Saxon Elite

In all of the literature on Anglo-Saxon England, rarely has the question of social class been confronted head-on. This study draws upon recent research into topics such as religious practice, emotions, daily life, and intellectual culture to investigate how the aristocracy of Northumbria maintained social dominance over wider society. Moreover, this monograph suggests that the crisis that brought an end to Northumbria as an independent kingdom was the product of the social contradictions produced by the ruling class as social domination developed over time. The analysis is divided into three broad parts – production, circulation, and consumption – both as a nod to Marxist historiography and also to signal a commitment to a methodology that situates the subject within a global context.

The Use of Aristotle’s Biology in Nemesius’ On Human Nature

Towards the end of the fourth century CE Nemesius, bishop of Emesa in Syria, composed his treatise On Human Nature (Περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπου). The nature of the soul and its relation to the body are central to Nemesius’ treatment. In developing his argument, he draws not only on Christian authors but on a variety of pagan philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and the great physician-cum-philosopher Galen of Pergamum. This paper examines Nemesius’ references to Aristotle’s biology in particular, focusing on a few passages in the light of Aristotle’s Generation of Animals and History of Animals as well as the doxographic tradition. The themes in question are: the status of the intellect, the scale of nature and the respective roles of the male and female in reproduction. Central questions are: Exactly which impact did Aristotle make on his thinking? Was it mediated or direct? Why does Nemesius cite Aristotle and how? Long used as a source for earlier works now lost, Nemesius’ work may provide intriguing glimpses of the intellectual culture of his time. This paper is designed to contribute to this new approach to his work.

Formation of meaning-making motivation of undergraduate students in the process of foreign language education

Introduction. In the modern educational context of knowledge society, the strategies of intellectualization of education are put forward as priorities. Fostering of personal intellectual culture is an actual purpose of the professional education of future teachers. The important condition of the process of intellectualization of foreign language education in higher school is the stipulation of the development of speech-thinking activity. The motivational factor of fostering of personal intellectual culture in undergraduate pedagogical students is connected with the actualization of the motives of communication, social interaction, self-realization, self-regulation, as well as the formation of meaning-making motivation for performing speech-thinking activity. The purpose of this study is to identify the pedagogical conditions for formation of meaning-making motivation in the process of learning a foreign language to ensure students’ speech-thinking activity as the means of fostering of personal intellectual culture. Materials and methods. The methodological basis of the research are the principles of the concepts of intellectualization of education and fostering of personal intellectual culture, motivation, speech-thinking activity and systemic, activity-based, communicative-cognitive, polysubjective, personality-developing, personality-oriented approaches. The research methods: modeling of the process of fostering of personal intellectual culture in undergraduate pedagogical students by means of foreign-language education; the analysis of educational technologies for the formation of cognitive, social and meaning-making motives. Research results. The potential efficiency of applying the educational technologies and methods of the symbolic-modeling type of activity (the method of role-playing games, the method of scenarios, art technologies, the technology of cognitive travel, etc.) as the practical tools for implementing the conceptual-theoretical foundations of the motivational aspects of the strategy of intellectualization of foreign language education has been analyzed and revealed. Conclusion. Meaning-making motivation is related to professional and creative self-educational activities, self-actualization of the personal potential and the demonstration of the cognitive independence of future teachers.