No 1 (2023)
Articles
From Cognitive Archaeology to a Theory of the Mind, Involved in the Material World. The Foundations of Lambros Malafouris' Material Engagement Theory
Abstract
The aim of the study is to uncover the conceptual foundations of Lambros Malafouris' Material Engagement Theory. In order to realise this aim, we have used comparative-historical and analytical-interpretative methods to explicate the genesis, basic assumptions and concepts of the theory. In particular, we have shown that the theory of mind development, involved in the material world, arises in the framework of Colin Renfrew's cognitive-processual archeology. Using evidence from material culture, its proponents attempt to answer the question of the emergence and development of human cognitive functions. To find an answer to the question, Malafouris uses the treatment of the mind as extended into the external world, applying the metaphor of creative dynamic co-evolution. Mind emerges and functions through an ongoing process of mutual enactment of embodied mind and material environment. To identify the specifics of this co-evolutionary treatment, we have explicated the key concepts of material engagement theory: metaplasticity, material agency and material-enactivating signification. They characterise the effects of the cognitive-material engagement process. The scientific significance lies in the fact that of the study contributes to understanding the heuristic potential of Material Engagement Theory, which is emerging within the research programme of embodied cognition.
Philosophical thought. 2023;(1):1-14
1-14
Non-Classical Logics in Modern Science
Abstract
Non-classical logicians have significantly expanded the traditional field of using logical methods. The first of them was the three-digit logic of Y. Lukasevich. Next came the three-digit logic of A. Bochvar, the "quantum logics" of G. Reichenbach and P. Detush-Fevrier, infinite-valued, probabilistic and other logics. The possibilities of non-classical logics have become widely used in various branches of scientific knowledge. Polysemantic, fuzzy, intuitionistic, modal, relevant and paranoherent, temporal and other non-classical logics are widely used today in physics, computational mathematics, computer science, linguistics, jurisprudence, ethics and other fields of natural science and socio-humanitarian knowledge. The recently increased interest in non-classical logics is explained, first of all, by the fact that various philosophical, syntactic, semantic and metalogical problems that were previously discussed in the scientific community are being replaced by practical interests. The main source of such interest is their wide application in computer science, artificial intelligence and programming. The logic of causality is used in the interpretation of the concepts of "law of nature", "ontological necessity" and "determinism"; temporal modal logics - for modeling, specification and verification of software systems of logical control; logics with vector semantics, combining the features of fuzzy and para-contradictory logics - in solving problems of dynamic verification of production knowledge bases and expert systems.
Philosophical thought. 2023;(1):15-25
15-25
Civilizational Foundations of Socio-Humanitarian Criteria for Evaluating Technological Innovations
Abstract
The paper states that the civilizational foundations of socio–humanitarian criteria for evaluating technological innovations are, first of all, the value-normative systems of each individual civilization, and their modification inevitably either leads to a civilizational crisis, or is its consequence. Such crises themselves are considered not so much from the standpoint of their assessment (positive or negative), but based on ideas about their systemic nature – as a kind of an error in the functioning of the system, occurring either from its insufficient ability to adequately respond to external challenges, or from inconsistency in the pace and direction of development of its individual parts. In this article, the civilizational foundations on which the criteria for evaluating scientific and technical innovations are based on the following considerations: 1) the idea that modern civilization belongs precisely to the technogenic type, based on the works of V. S. Stepin; 2) the methodology of studying civilization as an autopoietic recursive system. According to the conclusions of the article, the modern technogenic civilization does not have the fullness of the grounds necessary for the formation of a consistent holistic system of socio-humanitarian criteria for evaluating technological innovations, however, such grounds may arise provided that the current value and world outlook crisis is overcome by eliminating the contradiction between the heuristic and teleological parts of the existing worldview.
Philosophical thought. 2023;(1):26-41
26-41
The Semiotic Method as an Aspect of the Methodology of Social Philosophy: the Experience of S.S. Averintsev
Abstract
The subject of the study is the correlation of the application of the semiotic method by S.S. Averintsev with social philosophy. The aim of the work is to demonstrate how and to what extent S.S. Averintsev applied the semiotic method and to identify the belonging of this method to the socio-philosophical field. The author identifies and concretizes the specifically semiotic features of Averintsev's methodology. The role of the sign in the worldview of early Byzantine society, the formation of this worldview and its adequate presentation, the sign as a reflection of the life of society and at the same time as a factor influencing it is revealed. The problem of the sign's ability to convey philosophical and theological meaning is considered. The material for the study is the work of S.S.Averintsev "Poetics of Early Byzantine literature". As a result of the work, the specifically semiotic features of Averintsev's methodology were identified and concretized. In his research, Sergey Sergeevich uses the terms "semiotics", "sign", "sign system", "structure", "context", "representation", "meaning", the concept of "word function" with varying degrees of intensity, which are characteristic of semiotics as a science. S.S. Averintsev touches on philosophical and ideological themes. It concerns such philosophical concepts and topics as being, ontology, anthropology, goodness, transcendence, otherness, meaning. The novelty of the research is due to the fact that the semiotic aspect of Averintsev's works has not been investigated, and there are also no scientific texts devoted to the relationship of the semiotic method and social philosophy in Averintsev's works. Averintsev reveals the correlation of the existence of society with the iconic universe. Being itself is a philosophical concept. Averintsev's work shows how meanings affect signs and the life of society, and at the same time, how signs themselves create new meanings.The Christian worldview presupposes such a view of man and society, in which a person in his unity with God is thought of as a being with the highest value and dignity in the created world.
Philosophical thought. 2023;(1):42-53
42-53
A philosophical approach to the study of self-knowledge practices
Abstract
The subject of the research is the practice of self-knowledge used in philosophy and psychotherapy. The rich arsenal of self-knowledge methods can be combined into two groups of practices: transcendental-phenomenological and existential-phenomenological. The first practices contribute to the purification of consciousness from the worked–out mental, behavioral schemes, the second ones are aimed at constructing the "I" in accordance with the selected cultural concepts. The purpose of the study is to determine the basic principles of self-knowledge practices and to reveal their potential in the study and construction of the "I". The research is based on phenomenological, narrative and existential approaches that reveal the functional relationship of the subject with the outside world. The article gives a detailed description of the basic principles of transcendental-phenomenological and existential-phenomenological practices of self-knowledge, assesses the potential of these practices for the disclosure and formation of the "I" of the subject. The main principle of the transcendental-phenomenological practices of self–knowledge is the movement towards a pure stream of consciousness experiences that form the core of the "I". Their ideological basis is the intuitive experience of their own "I" in a state of "liberated" consciousness. Existential-phenomenological practices are carried out through the design and pronouncing of the experience of personal experiences within the framework of selected cultural meanings. The essence of these practices is to clarify self-existence by selecting fixed forms to describe existence, which set the boundaries of the "I". The presented practices effectively complement each other, with the help of transcendental-phenomenological practices, the individual goes beyond the objectified ideas about himself, through existential-phenomenological practices he carries out self-identification.
Philosophical thought. 2023;(1):54-63
54-63