Summary

Историко-философский ежегодник. М.: Наука, 2009.

Summary

Olga Chernyakhovskaya. Xenophon on Moral Choice

There is no doubt that, in Plato, the conscious choice for the evil is impossible; the question is whether it is true for Xenophon’s Socrates as well. From a variety of contexts it can be demonstrated that, in the ethic of Socrates as represented by Xenophon, continence is equally indispensable for both acquiring and maintaining virtue. The analysis of Xenophon’s text, including the interpretation of the passage which has been regarded the most confusing by modern critics – Mem. 4.5.6, shows that the answer given by Xenophon’s Socrates ultimately coincides with that of Plato. 

Keywords: virtue, knowledge, good and evil, moral choice, temperance, intemperance, continence, incontinence, ethical rationalism.

Svetlana Messiats. Problem of the transcendent first principle and the doctrine of henads in Neoplatonism

The doctrine of divine henads was developed in late Neoplatonism in the course of efforts to solve a problem of a transcendent First Principle. It seems probable that this theory appeared as a result of the exegesis of Plato’s Parmenides and in particular with the idea to consider predicates of the One in the first two hypotheses as the characteristics of the different classes of henads. We supposed that the author of this idea could be Iamblichus, because he was the first who mentioned divine henads in connection with Parmenides and conceived predicates denied of the One in the 1st hypothesis to be denied of henads also. We tried to reconstruct Iamblichus’ doctrine of henads, because some previous attempts of reconstruction, where henads were identified with monads of forms and ideas-numbers, seemed to us unsatisfactory. According to our interpretation, henads in Iamblichus’ theory were neither products of the One, nor some lower substances, following after it, but rather different modi of its being a cause, in so far as the One anticipates in itself this or that particular order of Being. 

Keywords: Neoplatonism, problem of the transcendent first Principle, the primal One, divine henads, metaphysical interpretation of the hypotheses of Plato’s Parmenides, reconstruction of Iamblichus’ doctrine of henads.

Nadezda Volkova. Necessity of soul

This paper concerns with the question of a character of soul’ descent into bodies in Plotinus’ philosophy. In the text of “Enneads” there are two aspects of interpretation of the descent: as continuation of Demiourgia by individual souls and as their sin. In the first case descent is the necessary part of Emanation while the souls’ action is involuntary, in the second case souls act voluntary and in the earthly life they suffer a just punishment. Question of the character of soul’ descent is of great importance, because it connects with two main problem for Plotinus: the problem of freedom and the problem of evil. Thus it is hard to assume, that Plotinus left this question full of contradictions. Author tried to show consistency of Plotinus’ thought referring to the concept of “Divine law” or law of nature reconciling the necessity of descent and justice of retribution. 

Keywords: descent of soul, voluntary act, involuntary act, provident care, intimate consciousness, matter, evil, proper cause, concomitant cause.

Valery Petroff. Anagogic Rays of the Good: the Sun in the Platonism of Late Antiquity and the Corpus Areopagiticum 

The essay traces the tradition that compares the visible Sun to the intelligible Good and extends from Plato to the Corpus Areopagiticum. The peculiarities of representation of the Sun and its rays in Corpus Hermeticum is treated. The anagogic and psychagogic function of the Sun rays in the works of such Neoplatonists as Julian and Proclus is pointed out and analyzed. It is shown that in some passages they allude to the Chaldaean Oracles. In what concerns the Corpus Areopagiticum the passages that discuss the similarities in the role and function of the Sun and the Good are under consideration; polysemantic image of “chain of great light” is analyzed, as also the symbolism of rays of light and metaphysics of light.  

Keywords: the Sun, the Good, Corpus Areopagiticum, Corpus Hermeticum, Chaldaean Oracles, Julian, Proclus, symbol, metaphysics of light.

Artem Krotov. Fenelon and Malebranche: Two trends in the religious philosophy of the XVII Сentury

In this article is analyzed the attitude of Fenelon and Malebranche to quietism, examined the doctrine of Fenelon about of the way to God and the Malebranche’s criticism of this doctrine. In the article is also analyzed a problem of the attitude of God to the world in the works of Fenelon and Malebranche.  In the article are compared the political platforms of Fenelon and Malebranche. The comparison of their doctrines led to the conclusion that the theoretical differences of Fenelon and Malebranche didn’t exclude some resemblance of their positions, which is connected in the first place with the influence of Descartes. This influence is present in the works of both philosophers. 

Keywords: Fenelon, Malebranche, quietism, cartesianisme.

Аndrey Prokofyev The Concept of «Social Justice» in the Works of J.S. Mill

The paper deals with the analysis of the formation of the concept of social justice in the works of J.S. Mill. The author states that Mill was one of the first thinkers who carried out the full-scale change in social ethics having returned the distributional agenda into the theory of justice. It was Mill who imparted the status of special normative category to the concept of social justice. In spite of the opinion of F.A. von Hayek and J. Grey that the British utilitarianist did not take into account some negative consequences of his conception of social justice for individual liberties and economic efficiency of society, an integrated analysis of Mill’s ethical, economic, journalistic works shows that he deeply thought over all potential threats and proposed some means of counteracting them. 

Keywords: History of the Social Ethics, Social Justice, Distributive Justice, Utilitarianism, J.S. Mill Socialism.

Victor Vizgin. Martin Buber and Gabriel Marcel

The article represents the analysis of the relations between Martin Buber (1878–1965) and Gabriel Marcel (1889– 1973) including his personal meetings. It is showed the profound similarities of the philosophical thought of these thinkers. 

Keywords: Martin Buber, Gabriel Marcel, existential philosophy, dialogue, philosophical anthropology.

Gabriel Marcel. L’anthropologie philosophique de Martin Buber

The article represents the analysis of the Martin Buber’s philosophical development as a representative of the philosophical anthropology. French philosopher regards the principal notions of Buber’s philosophy of the human being. One of them is the notion of the «between» (Zwischen). Marcel emphasizes his spiritual and ontological significance. 

Keywords: Marcel, Buber, Kierkegaard, dialogue, philosophical anthropology.

Victor Vizgin. Emmanuel Levinas about the difference between Martin Buber’s and Gabriel Marcel’s views

The paper considers the interpretation by Emmanuel Levinas of the relations between Martin Buber and Gabriel Marcel as the thinkers of dialogue. Their views diverges due to the different attitude towards the language. Marcel’s approach to the philosophy of dialogue is more ontological than Buber’s one. 

Keywords: Levinas, Buber, Marcel, dialogue, ontology, intersubjectivity, incarnation, participation, presence.

Igor Dukhan. The Meanwhile: criticism of art in the formation of Emmanuel Levinas ethical philosophy (1949th)

 The formation of Emmanuel Levinas original philosophical and ethical concept is considered in connection with his ontological criticism of art. The basic themes and motives of Levinas philosophy in the 1940th (hypostasis and the formation of Subjectivity, the future and the Other, Eros and the child-bearing) are analyzed in the context of philosopher’s daily life. Reality and its Shadow, published in 1948 and devoted to the negative criticism of art as the substitution of Being, is considered in the problematical and thematic field of two major Levinas oeuvres of that time Existence and Existents and Time and the Other. Aspects of philosophical criticism of art – artistic image as an independent reality, image and symbol, image and idolatry, resemblance and shadow, art as allegory of Being, a phenomenon artistic quasi-time (meanwhile), philosophical reflection of art are analyzed. 

Keywords: Emmanuel Levinas philosophical – ethical concept, philosophy of time, Being, present, future, art, image and allegory, intersubjectivity.

Tatiana Gushchina. The Way of the Philosopher. Michel Henry

The article acquaints the reader with the biography and fundamental philosophical ideas of the famous French phenomenologist – Michel Henry (1922–2002). The author analyses the basic notions of his philosophical conception, which is called Phenomenology of Life. 

Keywords: Phenomenology of Life, individual, manifestation, society, subjectivity.

Michel Henry. The Introduction into Marx’s Thought

The article represents the analysis of thoughts of the famous French phenomenologist – Michel Henry (1922–2002) about K. Marx. As M. Henry argues, the recent interpretations of Marx’s legacy had failed to grasp his fundamental intensions and then replaced the original notion of «alive individual» with the abstract notions of «class struggle» , «society» and «class». So, Henry puts forward the idea of «phenomenological interpretation» of Marx’s works. 

Key words: M. Henry, Phenomenology of Life, class, class struggle, alive individual, immanence, material phenomenology.

Vladimir Ivanov. The Doctrine of Recognition (Pratyabhijñā-darśana) in the treatise Sarvadarśana-saṅgraha

The paper presents the study and the first translation into Russian of the chapter entitled Pratyabhijñā-darśana which is a part of the famous Sanskrit philosophical treatiseSarvadarśana-saṅgraha. The paper focuses on the analysis of one of the most important notions of Kashmir Shaivism, that is pratyabhijñā, i.e. ‘recognition’ of the true nature of consciousness as identical with the basis of the universe – the absolute-Śiva. Other related concepts of Kasmir Shaivism are also analysed in the paper.  

Keywords: pratyabhijā, doctrine of Recognition, Kashmir Shaivism, Sarvadarśana-saṅgraha, Mādhava, Utpaladeva.

Sarvadarśana-saṅgraha. “Pratyabhijñā-darśana”. Translation

This publication is the first translation into the Russian language of Pratyabhijñā-darśana (The Doctrine of Recognition), which is a part of the famous Sanskrit philosophical treatise Sarvadarśana-saṅgraha. Sanskrit sources quoted or referred to in the chapter (works of Somānanda, Utpaladeva, Abhinavagupta etc.) are identified in the analytical part of the translation – the task that was not carried out fully in a number of the previous translations of the text.  

Keywords: pratyabhijñā, doctrine of Recognition, Śiva, ātman, prakāśa, vimarśa.

Julia Predtechenskaya. Definition of Brahman in the Upanishads: Apophatic and Cataphatic approaches (in the commentary of Shankara to the Taittiriya Upanishada)

The author analyses the nature of ananda (bliss) as an attribute of Brahman, and through it, the status of the cataphatic definitions of the Absolute in the Upanishads, as well as in the commentaries of Shankara and his disciple Sureshvara to the Taittiriya upanishada. She shows that Shankara uses the cataphatic definitions of Brahman in an apophatic manner. These cataphatic definitions of Brahman are regarded by Shankara as corresponding to the lower empirical level of Reality, and meant for ignorant people to indicate them the possibility of «reaching» the Absolute. For him, they are nothing but instruments of the apophatic approach to Reality as they imply the negation of their own content. 

Keywords: Sac-cid-ananda, sat, cit, ananda, apophatic, affirmative (cataphatic), the Absolute, Brahman, Atman, Upanishads.

Maria Anashinа. The principle of the middle in sanlun

The article discusses the teaching of the Chinese Buddhist school sanlun - Three Shastras school. Being a Chinese version of Indian Mahayana Madhyamaka, in sanlun theoretically proved the principle of the median - the middle way between extremes, as the way of Buddha. All other theories - clarification of false and to clarify the correct, two truths, the eight negations, emptiness, etc. can be understood on the basis of the principle of the median. Her teaching has had a significant impact on the further development of the philosophy of Chinese Buddhism. 

Keywords: Jizang, the middle way (zhong dao), middle (zhong), two of truth (er di), sanlun, Nagarjuna, Madhyamaka, emptiness (kong), the presence (you), no (wy), Buddha, relative truth, absolute truth.

Liubov Karelova. Philosophical and Anthropological Views of Watsuji Tetsuro in the Context of his Polemics with West European Thought of the First Half of the 20th Century

The article is dedicated to description of philosophical and anthropologic views of Japanese philosopher of the 20th century. His concepts are covered in Russian historical and philosophical literature still sporadically and schematically. In the center of author’s interests are Watsuji Tetsuro’s polemics with such West European thinkers as Diltey, Heidegger, and Schehler. It is in these discussions that his concept of human existence acquired distinct form. A special emphasis is made on the analysis of the role of the hermeneutical method in the formation of the philosophical anthropology as well as differences of his hermeneutical approach from Diltey’s and Heidegger’s hermeneutics. The author focuses on detailed analysis of such Watsuji’s human interaction key notions as ningen (human being), aidagara (betweenness), and sonzai (existence). 

Keywords: Watsuji Tetsuro, Heidegger, Sheler, philosophical anthropology, hermeneutics, human existence, betweeness.

Sergey Horujy. The problem of personality in the disputes between Westernizers and Slavophiles

Reconstruction of personological doctrines of Slavophiles and Westernizers is carried out on the basis of new methods of structural analysis of Russian consciousness and mentality developed by the author. Such new concepts as Eastern-Christian discourse, theocentric and anthropocentric personological paradigms make it possible to integrate these doctrines into the global context of history of European personological thought. 

Keywords: personality, individual, society, community, Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, anthropology, personology, ethics.

Andrey Dmitriev. Vl. Solovyev’s Ecclesiology and Aleksey Khomyakov’s Theological Heritage in the Correspondence between Rtsy (I.F. Romanov) and Ivan Aksakov’s

In his article the author uses previously unpublished archival documents to present to the reader early works of Rtsy, an interesting thinker and publicist, while discussing his correspondence with Ivan Aksakov, a well-known journalist and the head of the Slavophile party at the time. Rtsy, why considered Aleksey Khomyakov to be his ideological teacher, criticized Aksakov for publishing Vladimir Solovyev’s articlesabout the reunification of the Churches. Rtsy thought that Soloviev’s articles contradicted Khomyakov’s theological precepts. Rtsy’s works demonstrate that he was a talented predecessor of philosopher Vаsiliy Rozanov. 

Keywords: ecclesiology, theology, Catholicism, peasants’ commune (obshchina), person, society, epistolary, Slavophile party, publicism, journalism.

Articles by Rtsy (I.F. Romanov) and His Correspondence with Ivan Aksakov

A. Dmitriev’s publication includes three letters Rtsy and Ivan Aksakov exchanged in 1883–1884, as well as two later articles by Rtsy. In their letters, both publicists agree that both the Russian peasants’commune (obshchina) and the Orthodox Ecclesiology as such, synthecize the personal and the social. In his article The Numerals… (1898), Rtsy juxtaposes the Old and the New Testament based on what Rtsy believes is the opposition of Number versus Person. Rtsy’s article greatly influenced Vasiliy Rozanov’s works. In the article A.S. Khomyakovasatheologian (1910) Rtsy demonstrates that the reformist tendencies at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in the Catholic Church was partly based on ideas presented in Khomyakov’s theological writing in 1853–1860. 

Keywords: the individual, the social, church, Orthodoxy, theology, mentality, peasants’ commune (obshchina), person, society, Slavophile party, Catholic reformism.

Alexander Mikhailovsky. The Russian Plotinus (The Book Review: Plotin. Tractaty 1–11 / Intr., transl. and comm. by J. Chitchaline. M.: Museum Graeco-Latinum. 2007)

The new commented translation of the treatises of the Neoplatonist philosopher Plotinus (205–270 CE) with Greek text, edited by Y. Chitchaline in chronological order. The edition is discussed in comparison with earlier translations of Plotinus’ Enneads made by G. Malevansky and T. Sidash. 

Keywords: Plotinus, neoplatonism, translations of Plotinus.

Nadezda Mankovskaya . XX-th Century Philosophy Images. (Philosophers of XX-th Century. Book three. М.: Art–ХХI-th Century. 2009)

The review deals with the contents of a fundamental project devoted to the main philosophical trends of the 20th century, such as philosophy of life, phenomenology, personalism, analytic philosophy, behaviourism, freudomarxism, poststructuralism, deconstruction. Problems of the philosophy of nature, religion, history, science, politics, culture, language; issues in ethics, aesthetics, social psychology are discussed. 

Keywords: Philosophy, religion, culture, civilization, politics, language, communication, ethics, aesthetics, hermeneutics, neohegelianism, pragmatism, deconstruction.