Purpose. The purpose of the article is to analyze George Santayana’s socio-anthropological ideas, which are presented in his works The Life of Reason: or The Phases of Human Progress and Dominations and Powers: Reflections on Liberty, Society and Government. Realization of the purpose will provide fresh insight into the problem of finding the value basis of modern human existence, ways of improving self-knowledge with the aim of further self-realization and development of the latent potential. Methodology. The methodological basis of the (...) investigation is a pluralistic strategy that combines historical-philosophical analysis and the socio- anthropological approach. Originality. Santayana’s ideas about the human and society may seem utopian in the context of the realities of modern life. On the other hand, his concept that the vital mission of humans is to live the way they were destined to remains topical. Acceptance of one’s fate leads not to inaction and self-denial but to self-knowledge and action, to self-expression in science, poetry, religion and art, to realization of one's true mission, which is of a culture creator. His idea about the primary role of the USA in establishing a rational and fair world order is also topical. Conclusions. The way to self-realization of the human being is through the self-knowledge in the Socratic sense and the scientific knowledge of the world around. The objective of the scientific cognition does not imply that reason should guide life, but that it may help to achieve a certain harmony between the conflicting desires, passions and ambitions of the human being, and the vital «impulses» of different people or countries by means of a compromise. Reason may help to rationalize life, at least partially, so that it could become more stable and safe to ensure happiness and freedom, which are the greatest desires of every human being. (shrink)

It is well known that the medieval philosophical thought of the Islamic world was characterized by a significant level of understanding of the phenomenon of religion. This was due not only to the religious coloration of the tradition itself or the purely religious outlook, but also to the importance of the role that religion played and continues to play in Muslim societies. One of the manifestations of this phenomenon is the long-term development of historical, doxographically-apologetic and philosophical views on the (...) phenomenon of religion, its content, functions and role. Religion acted as the starting point of a whole system of social, cultural, economic and political ties, and therefore one of the pressing problems of medieval Islamic religious thought was the problem of categories and definitions related to variable ideas. about religion in general. (shrink)

It is not without reason that a number of early Christian scholars remain convinced that true Christianity, which was primarily derived from the teachings of Jesus himself, was later "distorted" by the apostle Paul. Kant, Lessing, Fichte, and Schelling separated the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth from those of his "followers." On the differences between Paulinism and Petranism, many Soviet scholars were noted in their time. Some of the modern theologians hold this view, paradoxically. One of them, the famous German (...) theologian H. Kersen writes: “What we call the Christian faith is in fact an artificial doctrine that consists of the rules and regulations created by Paul. His teaching corresponds more to the term "Paulism" than to Christianity. "Christianity is a religion founded by Paul," writes W. Nestle. - The Gospel of Christ is replaced in it by the Gospel of Christ ». (shrink)

The article analyzes the issues of the philosophy and ideology of the future from the point of view of the theory of self-organization, or synergetics. This interdisciplinary approach allows researchers to focus their efforts on the key problems of the development of civilization and, in particular, on designing the future. In the theory of valuable information developed by D.S. Chernavsky, it is shown that there is a number of knowledge, skills, and abilities that increase the probability of their holders to (...) survive and convey essential information to the future generations. In the 21st century, civilizational choice and ideology will be such knowledge. Several “brief histories of the future” are currently popular, from S. Lem and A. Toffler to J. Attali and S.P. Huntington. All of them focus on the projection onto society of achieved or promising industrial technical changes. D. Bell’s theory of post-industrial development as well as the theory of the humanitarian and technological revolution, which is actively developing at the present time, show that this is not correct. The key factor will be the image of the desired future, which underlies the ideology adopted by the elites and public consciousness. The article shows that now a choice is being made between the society that adopts a new leftist ideology or the New Middle Ages. The current socio-economic and military-political instability in the world, which was clearly demonstrated by the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, shows that without it the world will be dependent on the establishment and other centers of power pursuing their own, far from common, interests. (shrink)

The Soviet ideology treated natural science as one of its cornerstones and provided the state support for philosophical studies of science. Their main aims were to prove its intellectual superiority and to demonstrate its scientific character. Do these studies have some positive results and resources for surviving in post-Soviet times? The chapter gives the overview of present situation in Ukrainian analytical studies of science and indicates some perspectives of their developments. Some of these are connected with a careful structure-nominative analysis (...) of real scientific knowledge systems and relations between them. -/- Ideology and philosophical studies of science Complexity of scientific knowledge systems Components and structures of knowledge systems -/- . (shrink)

In the case of introduction of visa-free regime between Ukraine and the European Union (EU) there will arise a problem of matching throughput capacity of the Ukrainian checkpoints to the quantity of people who would want to cross the border. The absence of need for obtaining a visa does not eliminate compulsory customs and border control, but it potentially increases the number of people who intend to cross the border. A growing number of border crossings in case of their mismatch (...) with the criteria for checkpoints are a potential non-tariff restricting barrier in international trade. A threat to the image of the country from the occurrence of such a tool of non-tariff regulation indicates relevance of present study. -/- The aim of the work was to study the dynamics of actual and potentially possible border crossings and to define directions for the optimization of procedures of such a crossing to eliminate negative impact of this non-tariff instrument of regulating international trade on the overall image of the country. -/- We analyzed the peculiarities of crossing the border between Ukraine and the EU through automobile crossing points based on quantitative data regarding crossing the Ukrainian–Polish border. The goals and structure of movement across the border by frequency are clarified. We defined criteria for increase in the discrepancy between actual and nominal throughput capacities of the Ukrainian checkpoints. -/- The scientific novelty of present research is establishing the nature of quantitative effect from restricting the crossing of border on the image of the country with the help of world rankings. -/- A practical significance of the study is to identify ways to improve a procedure for crossing the border: 1) by combining Polish and Ukrainian infrastructure of control at checkpoints; 2) by creating separate lined for crossing the border by persons without transportation vehicles; 3) by simplifying a procedure of control at the border both by checking only by border staff and by increasing the value of goods that a citizen can bring into country; 4) by financing technical equipment for crossing points and their infrastructure by introducing a targeted general tax for persons who cross the border; 5) by compiling open and regular statistics of border crossing. -/- A promising direction for further research is the economic substantiation of appropriateness of the proposed ways to improve the throughput capacities of checkpoints. (shrink)

The article analyzes peculiarities of youth socialization in the context of dissemination and influence of the latest information and communication technologies. The emergence and acquisition of a wide popularity of the virtual space has formed a new type of person, whose worldview is made up of those value orientations and images produced by uncontrolled cyberspace and manipulating human consciousness in general. Particularly vulnerable social group is considered to be young, which, due to a rather long process of personality development, absorbs (...) everything that is encountered without sufficient reflection and filtering the information received. In this situation, virtual reality can be considered as one of the most influential mechanisms of socialization of the younger generation. If we use it wisely and target the political education of citizens - we will have a capable community, a conscious nation that knows its rights and can defend them. Notice, that the 21st century is the era of the information society, pluralism and the transit from material values to self-development and self-realization, then the virtual space is the best contributing factor to this. It should be noted that at the same time, the senseless consumption of any information destroys the personality, his thinking and ability. Getting used to an easy way of life and delegating many functions to modern devices leads to degradation of society and loss of life prospects, culture and spirituality. Instead of the real one there is a virtual one. But does it convey the same meaning as the real one? This is the relevance of this topic. (shrink)