Abstract № 2 (88) 2021
SOCIUM
Kabanov A.V. Social constructivism: subject matter, origins, versions of the constructivist approach to knowledge // Socium i vlast’. 2021. № 2 (88). P. 7—17. DOI: 10.22394/1996-0522-2021-2-07-17.
Abstract
Introduction. Starting from R. Merton’s pioneer works, social studies of science have been a major part of Western intellectual and scientific life. The total number of periodicals on the subject, that is over 20, illustrates the point best. Meanwhile Russian social studies of science are far less intensive. Moreover Western studies of social constructivist type still haven’t received sufficient coverage in Russian scientific literature. Our article is an attempt to somewhat reverse the situation. The aim of the article is to analyze social constructivism evolution in the English speaking countries starting from Berger and Luckmann’s seminal work “The Social Construction of Reality” in 1966; to classify social constructivist versions of science together with their most prominent traits.
Methods. When considering the problem, the author uses Y. Hacking’s schematic definition of social construction, P. Kitcher’s scheme of “socio-historical cluster” and M. Baghramian’s “objectivist conception of science”.
Scientific novelty of the research. The analysis provides reasons for social constructivism popularity during the “science wars”; specifies social ontology and epistemic status of scientific knowledge in moderate versions of social constructivism; specifies some discourse peculiarities of radical versions of social constructivism (the consequence of somewhat unusual reception of continental tradition) and its view of the science.
Results. The basic results are: a) certain convergence of ontological positions in analytic and moderate versions of social constructivist type, b) controversial issues of social (historical) approach to scientific explanation and c) controversial issues of postmodern rhetoric in radical versions.
Conclusions. Social studies of science play an important role in science and society, the critical comments towards social constructivist versions notwithstanding.
Keywords:
social constructivism,
social epistemology,
social studies of science,
postmodernism
Fatić А. Value identities: Personality as an ecology of values // Socium i vlast. 2021. № 2 (88). P. 18—25. DOI 10.22394/1996-0522-2021-2-18-25.
Abstract
The paper examines the concept of individual and collective value identities based an emotionalist understanding of values. The main perspective it discusses is one where emotions are the most important practical instruments for the clarification of individual and collective values. The argument implies that moral emotions are not irrational, but have a logic of their own which can reliably pinpoint the persons’ value system; emotions are thus crucial building blocks of an ethics which is able to enhance personal and moral identity. This particular ecology of moral emotions is pivotal in crisis periods, such as the global pandemics, wars or system crashes, either economic, or political, security, diplomatic or cultural. In the current circumstances, where the already shaken individual and collective values throughout the world have been shaken by the Covid 19 pandemic, understanding identities as fundamentally couched in moral emotions may be critical to saving our cultures and our legacies of social and moral capital.
Keywords:
values,
identities,
moral emotions,
empathy,
social/moral capital
Fatić А. Value identities: Personality as an ecology of values // Socium i vlast. 2021. № 2 (88). P. 26—35. DOI 10.22394/1996-0522-2021-2-26-35.
Abstract
The paper examines the concept of individual and collective value identities based an emotionalist understanding of values. The main perspective it discusses is one where emotions are the most important practical instruments for the clarification of individual and collective values. The argument implies that moral emotions are not irrational, but have a logic of their own which can reliably pinpoint the persons’ value system; emotions are thus crucial building blocks of an ethics which is able to enhance personal and moral identity. This particular ecology of moral emotions is pivotal in crisis periods, such as the global pandemics, wars or system crashes, either economic, or political, security, diplomatic or cultural. In the current circumstances, where the already shaken individual and collective values throughout the world have been shaken by the Covid 19 pandemic, understanding identities as fundamentally couched in moral emotions may be critical to saving our cultures and our legacies of social and moral capital.
Keywords:
values,
identities,
moral emotions,
empathy,
social/moral capital
Penner R.V. The problem of personal identity in modern domestic and foreign philosophical research (analytics of scientific databases) // Socium i vlast’. 2021. № 2 (88). P. 36—49. DOI: 10.22394/1996-0522-2021-2-36-49.
Abstract
Introduction. According to the well-established opinion of specialists in social sciences and humanities, a person diffracts his selves in the modern world: real spaces (professions, statuses) and virtual (accounts, profiles). In the diffraction of a person through spaces of different order, each “new” self acquires relative autonomy (a trace of the self in the network, which is present regardless of the attitude to it), and at the same time there remains the connection that, as it were, keeps the self with his digital images and “prints”. The main questions of the article are: in what relation and in relation to what is it possible to talk about the identity of a modern person; what fundamentally significant do the researches on human identity give us today; what do those who ask questions about personal identity in the digital age focus their attention on? In order to answer these questions, let us turn to scientific articles from domestic and foreign journals. This article presents the analytics of publications from Scopus and RSCI databases, in which the problem of personal identity is posed. The purpose of the article is to analyze scientific publications on human identity and summarize the main ideas presented in those publications.
Methods. The research is based on general scientific methods, analysis and synthesis, induction, deduction, and abstraction. The author analyzes scientific publications on the basis of the interpretation method and a systematic approach method. Content analysis was used as a method, but it was used within the scope of the purpose. The publications were selected on the basis of the authors’ research of various aspects of identity and the difference in interpreting the phenomenon.
Results. Analysis of Scopus publications made it possible to assert that the problem of identity is moving out of the anthropological context and acquiring new technical and technological frameworks (for example, scholars are raising the problem of the digital data identity, digital identification in the context of online transactions). At the same time, the anthropological view of identity remains. It is found for instance in the context of narratives, texts of a person about self that are posted on the Internet. In this context, the concept of “Person Life View” (M. Schechtman) is presented as a variant of a person’s holistic view of the self. The analysis of domestic publications makes it possible to conclude that representatives of social sciences and humanities in their research strive to overcome the dynamic view of a person (dissolving of identity or an absent self), are in search of models of “stability” of identity.
Conclusion. Posing the question about the personal identity of a modern person, it seems that the border between the directly human (consciousness and body, for example) and the technical and technological (the Internet and the objective world) is becoming more and more destabilized every day. This predetermines the direction of the research. Contemporary scholars, who publish the results of their work in journals included in scientific databases, are faced not only with the problem of substantiating human identity as a theoretical concept that reflects the modern situation, but also with the problem of finding models in which a person is able to embody the idea of “stability” of identity in the everyday life.
Keywords:
person,
identity,
personal identity,
digital age,
diffraction,
research analytics,
scientific databases
Khalutornykh O.N., Maksimova M.V. On the prognostic and modeling functions of the social utopias of Russian cosmists // Socium i vlast’. 2021. № 2 (88). P. 50—57. DOI: 10.22394/1996-0522-2021-2-50-57.
Abstract
Introduction. The article is focused on analyzing the utopian direction of Russian cosmism and its influence on the Soviet cosmonautics and the development of society in the USSR. This philosophical theory was created in the period that made it possible to incorporate the applied aspects of utopia into scientific and technological progress and thereby embody a number of steps towards the outer space exploration. The authors have developed criteria and parameters for assessing the utopian component of the Russian cosmism theories, which made it possible to bring this construct to a higher level of abstraction and thereby create a working model for conducting such studies in the context of other utopias of models. The purpose of the article is to show the influence of the Russian cosmism utopia on the cosmonautics development in the USSR, develop empirical criteria for evaluating the phenomenon. Achieving the goal required solving the following tasks: 1) considering and analyzing the subject matter of the cosmism utopia; 2) developing parameters for assessing the impact of utopia on the development of the social system; 3) applying the developed parameters to assess the impact of utopian ideas on the development of the Soviet cosmonautics system.
Methods. Developing the theoretical model for assessing social utopias, as well as considering and analyzing the cosmism utopia, required the use of structural-functional and systems analysis. The research was conducted within the framework of a synergistic paradigm. Scientific novelty of the research. The article conceptualizes the concept of utopia. It is shown that most of the definitions of utopia as a socio-political ideal focus on the limitations of its existence: utopia cannot be embodied, often has an unscientific character, does not correlate with the real state of the system, i.e. definitions of utopia are often reduced to the negative format. The authors believe that the influence of utopia on society, as a rule, is positive. It is noted that, along with limitations, utopianism has certain unique essential features that qualitatively affect the social projects implementation. Utopia in the systemic understanding acts as a complex of ideas influencing the development of the system, being both internal (since it is created artificially and consciously by the very elements of the system) and an external factor of influence. Unlike Plato’s eidos, the projection of which is reality, utopia is created inductively, but after its creation it again “descends” to the level of reality, since it begins to influence the social model in which it was created.
Results. The article discusses the prognostic and modeling functions of the social utopias of Russian cosmists. It has been proved that one of the essential functions of the Russian cosmism utopiasis the formation of an ideal type, towards which, in a historical perspective, the real social system begins to strive. It is convincingly demonstrated that utopia acts as a cognitive support and inevitably forms the canvas along which society begins to move, defining the utopian model as an attractor, although such a goal is not always formulated when creating a utopia. This relationship makes it possible to assess the degree of influence of utopian ideas on the formation of reality in each specific case, which, in turn, provides an opportunity to answer the question of how and to what extent the utopian ideal type participates in determining the characteristics and parameters of a real social system.
Conclusions. It was found that the social utopia of cosmists as a cognitive concept is an important effective factor influencing the development of the space industry in the USSR. The parameters adopted in the study allow us to describe the measure of its influence as both an internal and an external factor on the development of the society in which it is implemented. The validity of perceiving the utopia of cosmists as a construct with a certain life cycle, the main part of which is the period of functioning, is stated. During this time period, utopian theory can have a significant impact on the actual development of society from various angles.
Keywords:
utopia,
Russian cosmism,
utopian model of society,
social development,
space exploration
ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT
Artemova O.V., Savchenko A.N. Tendencies of city development in a unified regional space (as exemplified by the Chelyabinsk region) // Socium i vlast’. 2021. № 2 (88). P. 58—72. DOI: 10.22394/1996-0522-2021-2-58-72.
Abstract
Introduction. The article highlights the role and trends of urban development in a single regional space. The authors consider the industrial region, where the economic centers are the cities of monospecialization (metallurgy, mechanical engineering), which form the settlement framework of the regional economic system. At the same time, the connectivity of the regional space was determined by the contacts of cities in infrastructure areas and the possibilities of agglomeration formations. The authors analyze the urban environment of cities in the region, which revealed common problems for them in organizing urban space. It was shown that the competition of cities for a person can be won by offering the population more comfortable working and living conditions, a variety of social services, and the possibility of using agglomeration effects.
Scientific novelty of the research. The peculiarity of the author’s research was a new approach to urbanization as an urban way of life, extended to a set of cities of different status and population in the region. At the same time, the zones of attraction and concentration of business and social activity were connected with large cities and centers of agglomerations of the region, which ensure the joint use of resources, transport, and social infrastructure. The purpose of the article is to Identify constraints and opportunities for developing cities in a single regional space, taking into account their connectivity and interaction.
Methods. The authors use the information base: statistical data, scientific literature, and expert assessments to clarify the conceptual tools of the research and to analyze the demographic situation in the cities-centers of agglomeration associations of the region. The authors present the assessment of the state of the urban environment, and reveal the disproportions in its organization. The research approaches are tested on the example of the cities of the Chelyabinsk region.
Keywords:
city,
urban environment,
connectedness of the territory,
agglomeration,
demographic situation,
the quality of the urban environment
Maslova T.N., Necheukhina N.S., Chernenko A.F. Choosing a source of financing the fixed assets renovation // Socium i vlast’. 2021. № 2 (88). P. 73—85. DOI: 10.22394/1996-0522-2021-2-73-85.
Abstract
Introduction. The condition of fixed assets and their rational management largely determine the competitiveness of an enterprise. Updating the production base is possible both at the expense of their own funds and at the expense of borrowed funds. When choosing sources of financing for renovating fixed assets, it is important to assess the impact of the chosen acquisition method on cash flows and the financial result of an enterprise. The purpose of the article is to assess the impact of the chosen method of financing the acquisition of fixed assets on the company’s financial results and cash flow.
Methods. Comparison, induction, analysis, synthesis, direct counting, the author’s methodology for assessing the impact of the source of renovation on the financial result of the enterprise and cash flow.
Scientific novelty of the research. The authors propose an additional criterion for assessing the efficiency of managing fixed assets of an enterprise: choosing the most optimal method of acquisition, based on assessing its impact on the financial results of activities, and they also proposed to supplement the options for renovating the main environments using leases, since, depending on the economic situation, this option may have financial advantages over credit, loan and leasing.
Results. The authors predict the influence of the method of financing the acquisition of fixed assets (credit, leasing, rent, own funds) on the financial result of an enterprise and cash flows; develop the general approaches to the method of choosing the optimal source of financing for the renovation of fixed assets. Conclusions. The acquisition of ownership of fixed-capital assets is not always advisable. The article shows that not only credit or leasing operations, but also rent are comparable in efficiency. When choosing a source of financing for renovating fixed assets, it is necessary to compare the costs of acquiring property and their distribution by periods, to analyze the impact of the method of acquiring them on the financial result of the enterprise and cash flow.
Keywords:
fixed assets,
leasing,
rent,
credit,
financial results
STATE AND LAW
Ershov Yu.G. Human rights as a legal fiction and sociocultural value // Socium i vlast’. 2021. № 2 (88). P. 86—94. DOI: 10.22394/1996-0522-2021-2-86-94.
Abstract
The article is focused on studying the philosophical and legal nature of fundamental human rights and freedoms, which are interpreted as natural and inherent in a person from birth. It is shown that the “naturalness” of rights and freedoms is a legal fiction. In reality, natural rights and freedoms have a sociocultural, that is, “artificial” character. They strengthen the achieved level of guarantees of individual freedom and humanity in public relations.
Keywords:
human rights,
idealization,
legal fiction,
value,
natural,
artificial
CULTURE
Dyadyk N.G. Art of the second half of XX — early XXI centuries as visual philosophy // Socium i vlast’. 2021. № 1 (87). P. 95—106. DOI: 10.22394/1996-0522-2021-1-95-106.
Abstract
Introduction. The article is focused on studying the area of intersection of contemporary art and philosophy, it is a continuation of the research project on conceptual art and its intersection with philosophy, which we started earlier. By conceptual art, we mean art aimed at intellectual comprehension of what has been seen, art that appeals to thinking and generates philosophical meanings. But if earlier we explored conceptual cinema and mainly visual art of the early 20th century, then in this article we want to turn to the visual art of the second half of the 20th century — the beginning of the 21st century, which is also called contemporary art by art critics. The empirical material of the study was the works of such contemporary artists as E. Warhol, D. Koons, D. Hirst, J. Ono, F. Bacon, I. Kabakov, D. Kossuth, the movement of “new realists” and photorealists, the movement of Moscow conceptualists and etc. Contemporary art is one of the ways of understanding the world, visual philosophy, which is of interest for philosophical understanding. The purpose of the article is to conduct a philosophical analysis of visual art of the second half of the 20th — early 21st I centuries in order to identify its philosophical sources and content.
Methods. The author uses the following general scientific methods: analysis and synthesis, induction, deduction, abstraction. When analyzing works of conceptual art, we use hermeneutic and phenomenological methods, a semiotic approach. We also use the symbolic-contextual method of analyzing exhibition concepts, which is based on identifying the philosophical meanings and ideas of exhibitions of contemporary art.
Scientific novelty of the study. We regard contemporary art as a visual philosophy. Philosophizing, in our opinion, can exist in various forms and forms from everyday practical (the so-called naive philosophizing) to artistic-figurative, that is, visual. Philosophical ideas or concepts are born not only from professional thinkers, but also from artists. The artistic concepts of contemporary artists are similar to the concepts of philosophers, since the goal of both is to cognize the world and grasp being. We find and describe the area of intersection of modern philosophy and contemporary art, each of which is in a situation of crisis separately and continuous dialogue together.
Results. In the course of our research, we identify and describe the philosophical origins of visual art in the second half of the twentieth century – early twenty-first century: postmodern philosophical consciousness, conceptualism, the idea of “death of the author” and “death of art”, simulacrum, kitsch and camp, the method of deconstruction and its application in modern art.
Conclusions. Visual art of the second half of the 20th century — early 21st century is a visual form of philosophical questioning about the essence of art itself, about the existence of a person and being in general. The works of contemporary artists are based on philosophical problems: meaning, speech and meaning, the ratio of the rational and the irrational, the problem of abandonment and loneliness of a person, the problem of the “death of the author” and the alienation of the creator from his work, the idea of the impossibility of objective knowledge of reality.
Keywords:
concept art,
kitsch,
simulacrum,
deconstruction,
camp
