Abstract: The authors raise the question of the content of the concept of “social contract theory”, discuss the key socio-philosophical content of social contract theories and modern views on it. The object of the study is the social contract as a philosophical concept, the subject of the study is the currently developed ways of interpreting and applying this concept. The goal towards which the research presented in the article is aimed is to understand the ways of developing the concept of a social contract and the prospects for its further socio-philosophical use. The significance of the concept of a social contract for discussing the ontological foundations of the norms and obligations implemented in society that arise between the actors of social interaction is revealed. The theoretical and methodological innovations used by modern authors are analyzed to develop the concept of the social contract. In the course of this study, the authors used methods of comparative analysis (in relation to the considered ways of understanding the social contract), analytical and interpretive methods, and a historical-genetic method (in the context of considering ways of developing the concept of a social contract). The scientific novelty of the study lies in the formulation of assumptions regarding the philosophical prospects for the development of the concepts of social contract, as well as in the discussion of the meaning and methods of application of these concepts. Based on the study, the authors conclude that the concept of a social contract is of current importance in the context of reflecting the foundations of norms regulating social interaction.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the alienation of tradition as a way of relating to the past. The goal of this article consists in conceptualization of an “alienated tradition” as a mode of relationship between the social present and the social past, generated by the historical dynamics of development of the tradition, which is simultaneously a factor of social development and a source of personal suffering. The research methodology leans on the principle of social epistemology, which implies following the mutual conditionality of evolution of representations on connection between the present and the past, reflected in the concept of tradition sociocultural mechanisms of the  tradition. The article analyzes the language of interpretation of tradition as a combination of sociocultural mechanisms connecting the social present and the past. The novelty of this work consists in interdisciplinary synthesis of the concepts and research positions: the classical concept of alienation, research on intergenerational communication and cultural memory, socio-criticism studies, and theory of suffering. The alienation of tradition suggests objectification of these connections, in terms of which the social past perceived by a person as the new and communicative grounds for the alienation of tradition, emerged as result of increasing vicariousness of intergenerational communication. The alienation of tradition has a dual meaning. On the one hand, it becomes the foundation for self-determination of a person with regards to cultural continuum, force of development, due to the fact that a person is no longer positioned as a result of determinacy by the past, but an active subject who transforms the world relying on own mind, rather than the legacy of the past. On the other hand, the alienation of tradition becomes a cause of suffering; the more vicarious becomes the person’s relationship with the past, the more antagonistic and alienated become the grounds for his existence in culture that are determined by the past.

Abstract:  
The object of this research is the process of self-organization of students of the higher school. The subject is the principles of planning the educational process in the higher school in the conditions of self-organization of students on the basis of synergetic approach. The goal consists in theoretical substantiation of the model of educational process in the higher school in accordance with pedagogical synergetics. Research methodology is the pedagogical synergetics. Synergetic approach allows integrating the experience accumulated in pedagogical science and creating the model of educational process in the conditions of information society and the self-organizing learning environment. The authors examine the two approaches towards self-organization of students: personal and collective. The principles of planning the educational process in the conditions of self-study of students and rich information environment based on synergetic approach are proposed. The conclusion is made that synergetics can serve as a methodological framework for studying the phenomena of self-organization in the learning process of students in the higher school. The two forms of self-organization are determined: coherent (from homogeneous elements) and continual (from heterogeneous elements). It is demonstrated that progressive self-organization in pedagogical systems can be only of continual type. The article offers the following principles of planning the educational process by the type of continual self-organization: the principle of diversity at the entry to system, the principle of continuous interaction and openness of the system, the principle of nonlinearity of development, and the principle of system memory. The novelty of this work consists in formulation of the principles of pedagogical synergetics on the methodological level for planning the educational process of the students of higher school. The authors' special contribution lies in substantiation of the role of diversity and memory in the context pf self-organization in open pedagogical systems.