Volume 24, Issue 2

Hermeneutics, as a core area of humanities, explores the requirements and processes which enable cultural understanding. Traditional hermeneutic theories systematically undervalue the role of the body in understanding. Instead of accepting understanding as a mental process, I want to show that there is immediate understanding with the body - an intuitive understanding which precedes understanding by linguistic means. If physical understanding is recognized linguistically, it can make a significant contribution to the cultural understanding of the self and the other. Empathy is an important function in the process of understanding. A model of linguistic understanding consolidated in physical processes is to be developed using new neurobiological work on empathetic processes

According to Rorty, pragmatic philosophy asserts that it must play a role in determining the cultural politics, i. e. “which hopes and which programs for actions it must offer for a better future”. Based on Apel’s ethics of consensus and on the power of the best argument presented by Habermas, the social consensus appears to be able to regulate the total experiment of the human being with itself, and to identify the common needs and standards for a social reason of fairness. This pragmatic consensus to establish the rule of reason over desire, however, is based on a false image of the human being. In contrast, the experiment of the human being with itself can only be regulated by a judgment of truth on the human action and the human desire. The logic of truth only regulates this social experiment if the judgment of truth is actually shared between objectives and results.

Meine Absicht ist es, eine besondere Seite der phänomenologischen Konstitution im Bereich der Intersubjektivität zu untersuchen: Es geht um die erste Stufe dieser Konstitution, die Husserl im Rahmen seiner Studien in einigen Texten über die Intersubjektivität als „Phänomenologie der Mitteilungsgemeinschaft“ bezeichnet. Diese erweist sich als Grundform jeder Gemeinschaft und setzt die phänomenologischen Prozesse der Einfühlung voraus. Ich möchte die konstitutive Rolle der Einfühlung analysieren, um den Übergang von der vorsozialen zur sozialen Subjektivität und die damit verbundene Paradoxie zu beleuchten. Ausgehend von der anthropologischen Frage, die meiner Deutung nach der Theorie der Intersubjektivität zugrundeliegt, werde ich zeigen, wie Husserl sowohl den Menschen (d. h. die anthropologische Dimension des Lebens) als auch das Subjekt (d. h. die erkenntnistheoretische Dimension des Lebens) philosophisch begreift. Dabei kann man auch die mögliche Eignung der phänomenologischen Methode im sozialen Kontext auswerten.

Medientheorie und Medienwissenschaft beschäftigen sich mit den technischen und historischen Bedingungen von Wahrnehmung, Verstehen und Kommunikation. Der Unterschied zu den Geisteswissenschaften, deren Erbe sie angetreten haben, besteht dabei in der Verabschiedung des Primats des Geistes zugunsten der These von dessen Exteriorisierung in Techniken, Körpern und Praxeologien. Im digitalen Zeitalter erlauben Medien einen spielerisch- experimentellen Umgang mit Ungewissheit, der nicht nur unseren Alltag, sondern auch globale Finanzmärkte und wissenschaftliche Epistemologien beherrscht.

In the 20th century, there were interactions with regard to the relationship between security and freedom in Europe in specific constellations as (symmetrical or asymmetrical) negotiation processes, and often also as conflicts about different perceptions, concepts and measures. A historical security research study with an interdisciplinary character must analyze this conflict within individual states, but also work out and explain the similarities and differences between the political cultures of different countries on a comparative basis. A consistent historization of “security” ultimately serves as a political-social self-understanding, but also as knowledge of the stranger and the other. Not only are new sensual spaces and spaces of experience opened up, but competence in intercultural dialogues is also conveyed.

The article deals with different versions of social practices modeled via historical knowledge. The author shows the role of the Russian historian T. N. Granovsky in the definition of Russia’s place in the “Russia-West”-system of axes. She describes the influence of the attempt to change society on historical works of prominent representatives of the “Russian school”, such as N. I. Kareev and M. M. Kovalevsky. The article highlights the formation of an aggressive attitude towards Germany during the First World War among Russian historians, such as A. K. Dzhivelegov and V. P. Buzeskul. It also shows society’s influence on historical memory, taking the anniversary celebration of the Battle of Leipzig as an example.

The humanities are seen as an essential component of the spiritual education of the younger generation and as a factor of ethical and moral values formation in society in terms of world and national history. Russian society widely discusses the importance of the humanities for civil society evolution as well as for analysis of the processes of national and cultural identity formation among Russian citizens and citizens of the other countries. Despite the fact that public interest in humanitarian issues is increasing apparently, it is clear that the measures taken to support the humanities are not sufficient. Russian scholars in the humanities need more funding for research and educational programs.

This article is devoted to the functioning of Russian language in the modern world and raises a few issues: What are the regions of Russian diasporas nowadays? Under what conditions can Russian language survive in the foreign countries? How does Russian language change in its mother country and outside? It is also under discussion how language norms transform in modern Russian. It is stated that liberalization in lexical and register choice is opposed to the requirements of grammatical accuracy. Grammar is still considered as a marker of good education and culture of a person.

Sciences originate within particular cultures, then they undergo the process of internationalization, developing towards future civilization, in which patterns of spiritual life manifest themselves as particular entities of cultural universals. Linguistically important concepts (such as “beauty”, “language” etc.) are emergent in their character: they can be reconstructed by the analysis of the representative corpora of texts. The methods of this analysis resemble those used in sociology.

The article deals critically with some common features of leading (communicative strong) European languages: the influence of global English and the languages of migrants, the rising language reflection in the academic society and beyond; the new conceptions of language, the activation and politicization of the discussion of universalists and linguodeterminists. Some proposals for the cultivation of European languages are formulated.

When science, regardless of the type, is dependent on language, it is essential that it repeatedly provides assurance in its language. Scientific languages do precisely this. From a scientific perspective, it is usually argued that English has truly proven itself as a universal language. However, no mention is made of the fact that English in these cases only means a communicative obligation, and not an epistemic obligation. For example, physicists are no longer able to portray physical thinking without the range of mathematical means at their disposal. In contrast, for humanists language embodies historical or philosophical thinking, and this means that it cannot be randomly substituted. On this basis I argue in favor of a multilingualism of the humanities, which is not restricted to a single lingua franca, but which is deemed suitable for the diversity of the means of perception and ways of thinking.

The paper argues for the importance of intercultural competence and ability to conduct dialogue as the most demanded skills in the 21 st century society. It lies within the framework of an interdisciplinary model of generation and transfer of knowledge. Special emphasis is on the theory of dialogism by Michail Bakhtin and the polyparadigmatic approach to the analysis of culture and society introduced by Jurij S. Stepanov. The overlap of two conceptual (cultural) world-views is analyzed as the basis for successful contact of two cultures.

Kommunikation ist ein sozialer Vorgang an sich und stellt nicht dessen informative Bedienung dar. Überdies ist jeder soziale Vorgang kommunikativ in seiner Natur. Er ist einer diskursiven Analyse zugänglich, die auf die Identifizierung der kommunikativen Vorgehensweise sozialer Subjekte gerichtet ist.

This study is guided by the idea that the totality of human self-relationships is dependent on a respective other, in order to be able to develop and in extreme cases sustain oneself. This is true even with regard to the phenomenal experience. On the one hand, it is determined how anthropological basic constellations are linked to relevant ethical questions of lifestyle and coping with existence, and, on the other hand, a lifestyle technique and ethical improvement are considered. Emotional and affective self-relationships in particular are examined to determine the phenomenal content of human self-relationships. In the first section, a model is presented on how inner life and thus a self is created in dialogical structures. In the second part, a traditional monologic technique is described as a dialogue with oneself, with whose help an inner life is further developed and unfolded. The third section shows how the effort towards self-preservation refers to dialogue scenarios.

The development of a society is closely connected to the upbringing, education and learning processes of the younger generation. Their communication and further development require interdisciplinary and internationally aligned humanities and social sciences. The Millennium Goals and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) defined by the community of states aim at providing all people with a basic education. We must learn how one learns, how one acts, how one lives with other people, and how one accepts each other. A cultural education is required for this purpose. Today education must be: general, reflexive, critical, future-oriented, peace-based and sustainable, and enable young people to handle cultural diversity in a productive manner. In order to achieve these objectives in a society, research is required in humanities and social science.