Abstract: The article is devoted to analyzing philosophical grounds of modern trans-humanism. The author is referring to the promising scientific achievements which allow to start thinking about creating a new human usually called ‘posthuman’. A number of published researches describe an incredible variant of post-human as a universal intelligent living creature when anthropopathy is only one of the variants. Not to dispute actual scientific achievements and their potentials, the author of the article pays attention to the narrow or even ludicrous philosophical and theoretical opinions on the aforesaid possibilities. There are researches that do not have a strong metaphysical framework of the key concepts like human, death, immortality or life. Many authors frankly neglect a great variety of philosophical concepts created by the humankind and ignores deep thoughts on the future in science fiction and utopian literature. Research methods used by the author of the article are based on historical and philosophical traditions. The author refers to the philosophical concepts that were created by the humankind for the purpose of understanding the fundamental concepts of the world order and human existence. When reflecting on the matter, Pavel Gurevich uses the rules of deductive and inductive logic, standard analytical procedures, hermeneutics and phenomenology rules. The novelty of the research is in the critical analysis of the simplified schemes for discovering the future. Researchers avoid discussing dangers, tricks or even fatal consequences that may be caused by convergent technologies. Convergent technologies are usually viewed only as completely beneficial future perspectives. Theoretical concepts are usually governed by the stereotypes of the modern consumer society according to which science serves to improve human life and provide new conveniences and benefits. However, the author of the present article believes that new discoveries and projects require the intense philosophical framework and detailed analysis, otherwise scientific achievements may turn out to be ruin or hazard to humanity.

Keywords: philosophy, science, anthropological crisis, trans-humanist projects, convergent technologies, life, death, immortality, human, post-human.

Abstract: The author of the article analyzes various approaches to the gender and post-humanism issues in Russian philosophy and socio-scientific literature. According to the author, the main reason of the appearance of such researches is both the fundamental changes that have taken place in the Russian society and development of the humanities which create the need in viewing the aforesaid issues from the point of view of social science and philosophy. The author of the article describes the five stages of formation and development of this scientific discipline in Russia. This allows to better understand the main tasks of Russian gender researches at different stages of their development. The main research methods used by the author include the comparative and dialectic methods as well as the ideas and principles of the systems approach. The author makes an assumption that the post-humanism concept appeared in Russian science at the fifth stage of the development of gender researches as a result of the Russian society entering the age of universal informatization and globalization processes. The present article is focused on the ideas of Russian cosmists which were continued in Russian trans-humanism. According to the author of the article, one of the main dangers of the modern society is the deindividuation of human and the blurring of distinctions between man and woman. Nanotechnologies are seen as a bright example and proof of the aforesaid statement. The results of the author’s analysis show that gender issues are now losing its importance and often ignored by researchers. The post-humanism ideas are aimed at existence beyond humanism, in other words, human body falls outside personality and gender. For this reason, the author offers a new concept of creating ‘post-humanist’ gender relations.

Keywords: gender research, post-humanism, trans-humanist movement, cosmism, nanotechnologies, network society, post-human, social constructivism, natural epistemology, society.

Abstract: The purpose of the present article is to find out whether the contemporary antiphysicalism has a positive program and to analyze anti-physical solutions of the mind-body problem in the contemporary philosophy of mind. Using the approaches of such cotemporary analytical philosophers as Colin McGinn, Joseph Levine, Noam Chomsky, Thomas Nagel and David Chalmers, the author evaluates the ratio of negative and positive component in modern anti-physical approaches and determines the role of skepticism in their theories. Research methodology includes the historical descriptive method and the method of comparative studies which, within the framework of the present research, involves the comparison of physicalistic and antiphysicalistic approaches to the mind-body issues. The present research is based on contemporary English and American antiphysicalistic programs in the philosophy of mind including substantial dualism and different kinds of substantial dualism, property dualism or naturalistic dualism, epistemological skepticism, interactionism, qualitatism and a few others. The conclusions are the following: although today antiphysicalism gives very serious criticism of physicalism, the positions of the later are still strong. Whether this situation will change depends on how convincing the positive program of antiphysicalists will turn out to be. The results of the research allow to better understand a number of important writings on physicalistic and antiphysicalistic programs in contemporary analytical philosophy of mind. The novelty and originality of the research is in viewing antiphysicalistic programs in terms of contemporary English-American philosophy of mind, critical analysis of the main thought processes and key arguments of contemporary English-American antiphysicalism and description of many works that have been written by modern English and American philosophers recently but haven’t been translated into Russian yet.

Keywords: the mind-body problem, skepticism, anti-physicalism, physicalism, cognitive closure, explanatory gap, mysteries and problems, mysterianism, philosophy of the mind, qualitatism.

Abstract: The purpose of the present research is to better understand the reasons of the ongoing shifts in the relations between society, audience and theatre. The author of the article focuses on the development of the theatrical language and renewal of theatrical notions. Issues related to the transformation of the theatrical language (as the part of culture) grow especially important at the turning points of history when the picture of the world is changed not gradually but as an explosion. Using the method of the comparative analysis, the author of the article studies how Konstantin Stanislavksy system which was created the turn of the 19th and the 20th centuries has been developing further throughout the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century. In particular, the author analyzes the practical experience of the Perm Academic Theatre of Drama. The author had a chance not only to visit many theatres of the former USSR but also attend rehearsals of Georgy Tovstonogov, Anatoly Efros, Mark Zakharov, Yuri Lyubimov and Pyotr Fomenko. The author has been observing the creative performances of the Perm Theatre for several decades. She recorded rehearsals, kept the track of changes in performances and studied the audience’s perception. Reconsideration of theatrical concepts is not simply a change of a director’s conceptual framework, but spontaneous response of an artist to the particular circumstances and changes in natural science and philosophy. The performance does not only gain a new form but also present a new view of life. The article will be of interest to art critics, culture experts, theatrical figures and the audience as well as everyone who are interested in the theatre and the relation between the theatre and society.

Keywords: theatrical language, directing, rehearsals, ‘new rationality’, view of life, resource for development, turning points of the history, audience’s perception, artist’s response, artistic displays.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the ideas of Marshall McLuhan and Ayn Rand. The author of the article studies their fundamental works and the influence they made on their contemporaries and succeeding generations of Americans. Both Marshall McLuhan and Ayn Rand were intellectual stars of their times who managed to attract not only the academic audience, researchers and analysts but also the general public. They had good contacts with mass media, managed information and were media personas in general. They managed to create the cult out of their names and teachings and attracted followers including American elite. Each of them had their own original views on the social progress and vision of the future. Gradually their ideas were spread beyond the USA and became popular all over the world. The author of the present article carried out a comparative analysis of works created by these North American philosophers with reference to the American philosophy. The style and content of their fundamental works, peculiarities of the target audience of both philosophers trends in philosophy created by both Marshal McLuhan and Ayn Rand were studied. This is the first article to compare the ideas and personalities of the two brightest American philosophers of the 20th century. Based on the results of the research, the author concludes that Marshall McLuhan’s technological determinism was continued in creative work of David Cronenberg and the Wachowski Brothers, works written by Manuel Castells and searches of modern leaders of IT-industry. Ayn Rand’s philosophy of objectivism can be found in political and economic theories of many American conservatives including the right wing of the Republican Party (the Tea Party movement). Both Marshal McLuhan’s and Ayn Rand’s ideas created the grounds for the Californian ideology and new philosophy of the American ‘geeks’ of Silicon Valley.

Keywords: Marshall McLuhan, Ayn Rand, media theory, philosophy of objectivism, ‘Understanding Media’, Atlas Shrugged, rational egoism, technological determinism, American philosophy, the Californian ideology.

Abstract: The subject of the present research founded by the Russian Foundation for Humanities (Project No. 14 – 03 - 00683a) is the new identity of young people from contemporary youth subcultures that explores forbidden urban spaces. This refers to the phenomenon of youth counterculture in the 1960th as the opposition to urban industrialism and to new generations of subcultures. The author studies the role of megalopolises in the formation of subcultures and the importance of the theories of post-industrial society for creating social utopia. Therefore, the subject under research is the transformation of the views of the ‘alternative culture’ and the meaning of the industrial and eschatological themes and anti-utopias for contemporary followers. Special attention is paid to such forms of exploring abandoned urban spaces as squatting, urban exploration movement and industrial subcultures. Since these are very complex and diversified phenomena, in order to study them it is necessary to use a wide range of research methods. This includes social-historical, descriptive and typological approaches as well as qualitative methods of social researches. The research is based on analyzing the main sources of ‘alternative culture’ from canonical works written by Theodore Roszak and Charles Reich to Internet resources and other self-representations of the contemporary representatives of subcultures. Theoretical base of the research includes concepts of the post-industrial society offered by Daniel Bell and Alvin Toffler and particular researches within the framework of ‘urban studies’ and urban sociology, Western and Russian researches on the youth sociology, counterculture and subcultures. Moreover, the activity approach and the closely connected theory of practices are also taken into account. The method of involved observation and interviews of the representatives of ‘urban exploration’ have been also used. This is an interdisciplinary research. It touches upon the phenomenon of urban abandonment and focuses on the exploration of ‘diminishing’ industrial cities by modern youth subcultures. The author of the article shows that these subcultures appeared as a result of urbanization processes, however, demonstrate a very negative attitude towards urbanization. In big industrial cities theorists of the youth counterculture create the evil image of technocracy. The uprise of technocracy at the end of the 1960th – beginning of the 70th coincided with creation of concepts of the transfer from the industrial society to the post-industrial society and growing popularity of social utopias. However, the following decades emptied mystical-chiliast expectations of the counterculture and the eschatology of the counterculture was filled with industrial topics which resulted in new models of youth identity. For the communities like urban exploration and industrial subcultures, this relates to the exploration, acquisition and re-encoding abandoned urban spaces which correlates to anti-utopianism and the concepts of the ‘ending’ of the industrial civilization.

Keywords: city, abandoned, youth, counterculture, subculture, urban exploration, urbanization, industrialization, identity, values.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the issues of preservation and development of traditional folk culture as one of the key conditions of socio-cultural security of modern society. The importance of the research of regeneration of traditional folk culture is conditioned by the significant decrease in potentials of Russian culture and structure destruction of the cultural self-reproduction of society and at the same time people’s desire to preserve their singularity and demonstrate their original tradition in the process of radical changes happening in the modern world under the influence of globalization processes in all spheres of human life. The object of the research is the traditional folk culture as a constructive factor for consolidation of a modern society. The subject of the research is the elements of folk culture as a resource of preservation of regional cultural identity under the conditions of the development of the regional, Russian and global heritage. Research methodology is based on the cultural theory that combines methods and results of scientific researches in different branches of social humanities. This approach allows to reveal the potentials of the traditional folk culture as a mean of preservation of the socio-cultural identity of the modern society. The author concludes that in the age of globalization, values of traditional folk culture can restrain rapidly growing negative trends of social development and reinforcement of cultural traditions creates grounds for harmonization of the process of creation of socio-cultural identity and at the same time formation of intercultural tolerance.

Keywords: traditional folk culture, intangible cultural heritage, cultural potential, regional culture, regional identity, folk traditions, federal target programs, regional target problems, cultural values, identity.

Abstract: The author of the article makes an attempt to carry out the philosophical analysis of the heraldic symbols in the Rus during the ruling of Ioann III and Ioann IV. The object of the philosophical interpretation is the symbols of the double-headed eagle, the rider (Saint George) and the unicorn. The authors of the article specify that it is semiotics that allow to discover and analyze signs and symbols of the social life of those times which included, on the one hand, various practical collaborative activities performed by individuals and, on the other hand, their symbolic expressions. The research is based on the semiotic approach as a heuristic method of philosophical interpretation of heraldic tributes of the aforesaid period in history. The standard semiotic analysis describing the meaning, the meant and the reviewer (according to Umberto Eco’s methodological scheme) is completed with the Jung’s theory of archetypes. The authors conclude that philosophical interpretation of heraldic symbols allow to prove their importance as a symbolic mean of expressing the autocratic status of reign of the tsar, the ‘Great’ tsar at first and then the ‘Terrible’ tsar. Back in those times the state institution consisting of a great number of territories needed a powerful and authoritative government. Therefore, heraldic symbols served as a symbolic mean for upholding and reinforcing the imperious status of tsars. In fact, being a symbolic aspect of the social life, heraldic images upheld and supported the status of the government trough creating the radiance of glory, wisdom and heroism around the governors.

Keywords: heraldry, semiotics, double-headed eagle, rider, unicorn, statehood, Ioann IV (the Terrible), symbol, the Rus, tsar.

Abstract: The author of the article analyzes the ‘sacral and secular’ opposition that is traditionally used by European researchers when describing religious phenomena and creating theories of the sacral. This opposition has such deep roots in the Western mind that it caused contradictions which was left unnoticed even for researchers themselves. Today it is difficult to find a European researcher who would not use such a similar theoretical instrument. Moreover, most of Russian researchers also take this opposition as a definite axiom. Separating facts from theory, the author emphasizes the problems related to using the ‘sacral and secular’ opposition. These problems include the contradiction between the local cult offered by the opposition and searches for the possibility of the ‘total existence’ lying in the basis of theories of the sacral. As an argument, the author analyzes peculiarities of the religious consciousness based on the example of Christianity. Being ‘total’ by nature, religious consciousness cannot be explained by the ‘sacral-secular’ opposition that assumes there are two completely irreducible spheres which questions the adequacy of the opposition or, at least, the universal application of it. Another problem is the transition between the two spheres. The author opposes the Russian tradition solving this problem by conceptualization of the terms ‘mystery’ and ‘cult’ to the European tradition which does not focus on that problem at all. According to the author, the reason why European researchers leave the ‘transition’ problem unattended is the ‘hidden’ anthropology which is based on the model of the ‘immanent human’.

Keywords: philosophical anthropology, sacral, secular, consciousness, mystery religions, cult, mystery, theatre, Christianity, antinomicity.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the philosophical concept of consciousness, in particular, phenomenology of consciousness. At the conceptual level the author of the article offers her own model of the bases of perception, conscious personal experience and experience of preceding generations for the purpose of formation of phenomenological ontology on the path towards creation of the concept of consciousness. The theory of consciousness would be impossible without considering particular phenomena that have had a great influence on the development of concepts, social opinions and plans of actions in stereotype situations. The phenomenological concept of mentality of consciousness allows to analyze the relation between reflective experience and verbal expressions of consciousness and their unity. The author also raises a question about the thought process and mental content that guides individual behavior. Mental or material phenomena may change individual consciousness and create MEM-concepts which, in their turn, can capture minds of general public. The author also offers the idea about the phenomenological method using MEMconcepts as the source of new theories and instrumental procedures for creating the artificial intellect. Description of the process of the formation of consciousness as particular concepts and sequence of actions in life situations would be impossible without considering particular phenomena that have made an impact thereon. Phenomenological concepts of consciousness are not limited to only mechanic description of brain functions but allow to understand consciousness through transcendental and reflective experience and their constitution taking into account both the emotional, temporal and selective structure of consciousness and physical existence of human.

Keywords: phenomenology, memes, noesis, intentionality, MEM-plex, selfplex, qualia, noem, reflective experience, mentality, borders of the theory of knowledge.

Abstract: The author of the article analyzes works of a philosopher Martin Heidegger related to Friedrich Holderlin. The subject under research is Heidegger’s interpretation of Holderlin’s poem ‘Germanien’. Interpreting a particular wok of Holderlin, Heidegger looked for new ways to interpret poetical works in general. The poetic content of poetry and the difference between the poetic and non-poetic are being viewed through the phenomenological reduction of traditional interpretation of poems. The original method of phenomenological hermeneutics and the new conceptual framework introduced by Heidegger may be of interest to both philosophers and philologers. The problems of the fundamental ontology Heidegger was focused on when writing his book ‘Being and Time’ remained important for him even when he researched the language and art issues. Heidegger studied ontological structures of poetry. Holderlin’s poetry which discovered the Being of God declared the historical being of nation. The author of the article carries out the historical and philosophical analysis of Heidegger’s texts focusing on the problems of the hermeneutics of poetry raised by the philosopher. However, the author does not only reveal Heidegger’s statements. Applying her own philosophical intuition to the analysis of the problems raised by Heidegger, the author offers a new philosophical vision based on the extended ideas of Heidegger. The author also focuses on when and why Heidegger chose to study Holderlin for the purpose of understanding the essence of poetry and discovering Holderin’s poetic space. Heidegger managed to enter Holderlin’s ‘poetic space’ and recognized the divine style in his poetry. Heidegger’s thoughts on Holderin’s poetry in particular and poetry in general were a new dawn in the history of philosophy.

Keywords: Martin Heidegger, Friedrich Holderlin, poem ‘Germanien’(‘Germany’), poetic space, being of a nation, being of a poet, oscillating contour, language of being, God’s nod, phenomenological hermeneutics.

Abstract: Philosophical views of one of the most mysterious and controversial philosophers who were in absorbed into the spiritual and moral search, Peter D. Ouspensky are described as the philosopher’s life journey which, unlike usual chronicles of life, is filled with philosophical reflection, has the internal psychological truth and shows the philosopher’s ideas in terms of the philosopher’s personal biography. From the philosophical point of view, spiritual and moral search involves, first of all, a search or a process, a living force that, unlike in classical philosophical systems and scientific researches, has the structure and content expressing the results of a completed research. Peter D. Ouspensky’s philosophy is viewed not as the system of categories but as the spiritual and moral search of the philosopher as a human. In this regard, his philosophy has much potential for creative co-partnership and a new undesrstanding of universal philosophical ideas and timeless values in terms of the modern age. The analysis carried out by the author was focused on the most fundamental creative ideas of Peter D. Ouspensky: secret knowledge, esoteric Christianity, experimental mysticism, the fourth dimension, multi-dimensional universe, superman, eternal returns and ‘psychological’ evolution of the humanity. All these ideas are closely connected and complete each other. The first essay is focused on the so-called ‘theosophical’ period of Peter D. Ouspensky’s work (1907 – 1915), his travels to the East (India, Burma, Egypt and etc.), searches for a new way, esoteric school and a method of discovery and description of other dimensions of reality.

Keywords: Peter D. Ouspensky, secret knowledge, esoteric Christianity, experimental mysticism, the fourth dimension, multidimensional universe, superman, eternal return, ‘psychological’ evolution, theosophy.

Abstract: There have been many researches of all kinds of notions and categories analyzing the role of these notions and categories in cognition and practical activity. However, not so much attention has been paid to measure although the importance of measure and proportion were recognized by philosophers long time ago. Ancient philosophers associated measure with the hidden feeling of the singularity of all. In the 20th century philosophers studied measure and focused on the quality and quantity, similarities and differences between them and assumed that the quantity and quality constituted the measure. When the measure as itself was analyzed, it was mostly the measures of object but not the category ‘measure’ itself being studied. The present article provides the results of the historical and cultural research based on analytical, diachronic and comparative research methods. The measure has a double nature if we view it as the principle of human activity. On the one hand, measure is what is described by the quantity according to Aristotle. This is the metric function of measure. The other aspect of measure is the quality with reference to these or those features. This is the evaluation or axiatic function. Both of these functions, metric and evaluation ones, expressed different opinions of human on the surrounding world.

Keywords: measure, quality, quantity, proportion, human as a measure, axiatic function, metric function, activity, sense of proportion, immensity.

Abstract: Writers, scenarists, movie directors and computer game designers often appeal to the newest scientific concepts in search for fresh ideas. In this regard, the multiverse approach has been especially famous and reflected in the greatest number of products of popular culture. However, these works usually show multiverses (or meta-universes) of a different type compared to what is usually used by cosmologists and physicists. The present article touches upon the following issues: what types of multiverses are usually depicted in modern popular culture and for what purpose. At the first stage of the research the author defines the two logical types of multiverses out of general philosophical concepts – true multiverses and para-multiverses. After that the author applies the comparative-typological method. Based on the analysis of the structural similarities and differences, the author discovers the four types of true multiverses including a multiverse with dispersing universes, travelling back through time, parallel universes and phantom universes. The author offers to base the classification of paramultiverses on the classification of propositional attitudes. The author also describes the four types of paramultiverses: multiverses created by illusions, night dreams, delusions and imagination.

Keywords: virtual reality, possible worlds, popular culture, modal realism, multiverse or meta-universe, ontology, propositional attitude, travel through time, classification, screen arts.