On the thinking space

The article examines some aspects of the mental space, the psychic one, and the internal space of thinking. The psychic space is not considered a “psychic reflection of the sensory stimuli” insofar as the first psychic movements that presuppose psychic space are not related to the sensory (for example, the prenatal states). The psychic space arises at the same time as the very psychic phenomenon. Some forms of changes in the mental space, and in the internal space of thinking, as well as the emergence of self-intentional states are also considered

Ludwik Fleck: a Philosopher Forgotten in Ukraine

Ludwik Fleck is a philosopher, biologist and physician who had a decisive influence on Thomas Kuhn. The research is dedicated to a publication of the Ukrainian translation of the Fleck’smain work “Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact” by Stefania Ptashnyk. The article deals with the scientific formation of Fleck, describes what happened to his philosophical achievements after his death and the outbreak of his popularity. The article presents the content of all Fleck’s works on philosophy, which are divided into three periods: preparatory, major and post-war. The main emphasis is on the formation of the key concepts of Fleck’s philosophy: “thought style” and “thought collective”.

Review of Ihor Nemchynov’s monograph “Малининъ/Malinin: Reconstruction of the “Lost Biography” of Kyiv Professor” – Vinnytsia: Baranovska T. P., 2019, 194 p.

Ihor Nemchynov's monograph is the first attempt to bring back, after more than a hundred years of absolute oblivion, the name of professor Vasyl Mykolayovych Malinin (1849-1927), author of literary treatise on Elder Philophey, to the wide public and scientific community. To me, as a researcher of such a unique cultural and educational center of Kyiv of the XIX century. as the Kyiv Theological Academy (KTA), it is especially pleasing to note that the work of the author stands out for a careful, caring and respectful attitude both to the study of the professor's personal life and to the reconstruction of the wide panorama of socio-political and cultural-educational processes that took place in the middle of the XIXth century both in the territory of the Russian Empire in general and in Kyiv in particular.

Ethical and Christian view on Human Nature in Bioethics of Transhumanism

The article is focused on human nature from view of ethical and Christian consequences resulting from bioethical research in the field of transhumanism. The aim is to examine impact of these researches on human nature within Christian dogmatics which may be threatened by transhumanism. Knowledge, which such researches bring to us, is unambiguously enriching and contributive. However, the value of knowledge should not be a justification of devaluation of religious and ethical values. After all, the getting to know is only one of many ways of man development.

Meaningful Volunteer Labor

I would like to present a specific kind of social structure – that of a community of about 50 Bulgarians who live in the St. Georgi Zografski monastery in the monastic republic of Mount Athos (Holy Mountain) within the territory of the Republic of Greece. Over the last 2-3 decades the number of inhabitants has increased so as the interest in it. The community is visited, except the pilgrims and volunteer Bulgarian workers, by the people who come for a week every month to donate their labor to the monastery. They are called charisans (volunteers). They come from different parts of Bulgaria to work for free, i.e. to donate their labor to a monastic community. To do so, they have to take a vacation, to pay for a visa and transport, which is not easy for inhabitants of the poorest EU country. Interestingly, their number is increasing from year to year. What causes these people to leave secular life forever or to come regularly with the cost of deprivation? I look for an answer to this question, apart from Orthodox and history evidences, (Metropolitan Hierophaeus (Vlachos) 2011) and through the anthropological method of participation – observation and interviews – conversations with monks, volunteers, pilgrims.

Herut and Eleutheria: Specifics of the Biblical Interpretation of Freedom

The concept of “freedom” is one of the most defining in the European cultural and philosophical matrix. It is based on a synthesis of Judeo-Christian ideas, categories of Ancient philosophy and Roman law. An analysis of philosophical and historical sources suggests that this synthesis took place in the Christian sermon of an inner freedom, which is associated primarily with the epistles of Paul the Apostle. It is the paradox of Christian freedom, which is based on the recognition of universal sinfulness as a source of non-freedom, and overcoming it on the basis of love, is the basis for further philosophical transformations of this concept. This internal antinomy allowed the concept of “freedom” to take a central place in the hierarchy of Western social and legal values.

Department of Cultural Studies, Religious Studies and Theology, Chernivtsi National University: Where Are You Going

The author of the article presents the Department of Cultural Studies, Religious Studies and Theology of Chernivtsi National University in historical retrospect and perspective.

Negation of Universalist Ontology as the Basis for the Conceptualization of the “Postmarxism” Concept

The article addresses the problem of etymological and theoretical uncertainty of the “postmarxism” concept, which is traced in both domestic and specialized Western studies. The basis for the formation of mental constructs, in the direction of clarifying the specifics of postmarxism, is its setting on “overcoming metaphysics”, which is expressed in an actual refusal to decode social phenomena / processes through the reference to their basic values. The study identifies the main theoretical and methodological contradictions in the understanding of postmarxism, and at the same time, in order to confirm the subject of the work, attention is paid to the avoidance of contradictions and oppositions by postmarxism itself. Because any opposition in postmarxism is questionable, it is a prerequisite for superstructure, which is meaningless itself. Also, a theoretical-comparative and semantic analysis of the "postmarxism” concept is conducted, the historical-political context of the evolution of the concept as a theoretical category and as self-identification is analyzed in order to define its position by some philosophers. The background to its formation is fundamental to explain the denial of universal ontology in postmarxism. Namely, they are decentralization, “breaking up” of structure, derriadian critique of the transcendental meaning, which in postmarxism is expressed as an artificial fixation of meaning and “ideological arrangement”.

Image of an “Enemy” as a Factor of Constructing the Ukrainian National Identity

The article shows that contrary to the fact that constructing the image of an “Enemy” for a long time has been remaining an inseparable element of the strategy of forming a national identity, yet it should be regarded as a rudiment of the national policy of the modern period, since then homogeneous national identity was the only way to gain political independence of a conscious proper cultural cutoff of the community. Meanwhile, in today’s conditions, the formation of a homogeneous national identity is a conflict strategy that can lead to a social split and fragmentation of the state borders. Given this, strategies that are aimed at ensuring a high level of citizens’ loyalty to the political state institutions on the basis of “constitutional”, “territorial”, “regional” and other patriotism seem more fruitful. Under conditions of implementing such a strategy and rational cultural policy aimed at developing a system of super-ethnic values that will be shared by the majority of the population of a certain state, it is possible to overcome the world-view split and save the national identity.

Freedom is the bread of the spirit (What does the wise and freedom-loving man and slave-owner-democrat Thomas Jefferson teach us?)

The author rethinks the activities and views of Thomas Jefferson in the context of modernity, in particular his attitude to the problems of freedom, human rights, the formation of democracy, the art of government, etc.