This article defines a public good, arguing that higher education should be considered a public good. This requires moving away from an orthodox economistic understanding of public goods. It also requires understanding the relationship between higher education as both a private good and a public good to the extent that it promotes individual flourishing necessary to the public good.

On the basis of evidence obtained by unravelling enigmas in Philostratus and Eunapius’ Lives of the Sophists and lifting the veil of mystery surrounding some of the crucial, sophistic-related passages from Isocrates and Dio Chrysostom’s writings, we were able to arrive to a conclusion that, contrary to all expectations, the Second Sophistic is closely connected not so much with rhetoric as with philosophy itself, no matter what the so-called sophists say of the phenomenon in their attempts to disguise the essence (...) of things. Paradoxically enough, it turned out that the enigma in Eunapius and, above all, Philostratus’ work played almost the same role as did myth in Herodotus’ historical work in so far as only the skillful use of the mentioned stylistic device might confer an aura of magic to the scarce material being at the disposal of the authors. Keywords: Second Sophistic, Philostratus, Eunapius, legend of Socrates, Xenophon’s Memorabilia, Isocrates, Platonism, enigma, symbolism. (shrink)

In this article we consider the material dimensions of schooling as constitutive of the possibilities inherent in “fixing” education. We begin by mapping out the problem of “fixing education,” pointing to the necrophilic tendencies of contemporary education—a desire to kill what otherwise might be life-giving. In this sense, to “fix” education is to make otherwise fluid processes-of-living static. We next point to the material realities of this move to fix. After establishing the material consequences of perpetually fixing schools, we provide (...) a brief overview of two critical perspectives that might be shown as attempts to “unfix” education: critical pedagogy and unschooling. Though both offer critiques of normative education, these approaches are also bound by their failure to fully engage with the material dimensions of schooling. As such, both critical pedagogy and unschooling inadvertently cut off key possibilities for human flourishing within educational environments. In their rush to “unfix”—to counter the necrophilic tendencies of contemporary education—these approaches exclude or otherwise foreclose upon resistive challenges to the normative order that extend from the margins. In response, we turn to the possibilities for unschooling within the materially public spaces of schools. These are the spaces where fixity fails—possibility extends from unschooling in schools, from unfixing the process of fixing education. We end by considering the possibilities inherent in Community Service Learning as a valuable means to engage in a radically public, and unfixed, educational system. (shrink)

In the article these are considered ethical and legal problems caused by the ongoing pandemic of the new coronavirus disease. New challenges for health care, economy, education not only revealed rather a high level of stability and mobility, but also showed a poor readiness of response to sudden risks, which had a certain impact on all spheres of life of the whole society. The authors have conducted a brief cross-cultural analysis of the issue basing on data quoted by the international (...) network of UNESCO chairs in bioethics, sessions of the Bioethics Committee within the RF Commission on UNESCO affairs, as well as official open sources of the health care system and judicial sphere of the Russian Federation. Strong reciprocal link of legal risks in the interdisciplinary field of medicine and law are made discernable: on the one hand, introduction of sanitary and hygienic regulations are aimed at the realization of the right of protecting the health, while on the other hand they represent a violation of basic human rights. Besides the theoretical approach to the problem of the observance of the constitutional rights of citizens in the pandemic conditions there exists a real threat of their violation due to absence of special mechanisms of their realization in frames of sanitary and hygienic measures with regard to the vulnerable and socially disadvantaged sections in the society. It is made conclusion about necessity of the international collaboration for the purpose of joint decision-making and action in the sphere of health care taking into account an international character of ethical and legal challenges triggered by COVID-19 pandemic, as well as national, economic, cultural and confessional peculiarities. (shrink)

Teaching about homosexuality, especially in a positive light, has long been held to be a controversial issue. There is, however, a view of the capacity for reason that finds that those who deem homosexuality to be controversial will ultimately contradict themselves, becoming unreasonable. By this standard of reason, homosexuality should be treated as non controversial in schools. In this essay, John Petrovic argues that this epistemic position is problematic. Instead, he defends a Deweyan epistemology that casts reason as, in part, (...) a set of socially acquired habits of mind. People who have been socialized into heterosexist habits of mind must be exposed to counterhegemonic discourses. One such discourse can be found in the public values of liberal democracy through which the practice of reason must be pursued. Petrovic discusses the practical guidance provided by assuming a view of normative reason versus habituated reason in terms of both pedagogy and curriculum. (shrink)

The conception of man as an economic animal is implied by the view that economic production is the determining “factor” or “sphere” of man or society. Against this conception can be put another, that of man as praxis. This takes account of man as a creative being, capable of realizing his freedom through his own activity. In this article the theory of the determining role of the “economic factor”, and the theory of factors in general have been examined. The economic (...) interpretation of history, a variant of the theory of factors, has been acknowledged as partly true for the self-alienated man and society, but the theory of factors in any variant has been found inadequate as a general theory of man, or society. The possibility of freedom cannot be reduced to the fact that the determining roles played by “factors”, vary, or to the hope that the economic “factor” can be subordinated to a “better” one. Man's freedom consists in his resolving the conflict of “factors”, and in realizing himself as an integral creative being, no longer split into independent and mutually opposed spheres. (shrink)

В прил.: Пометы Александра Блока в "Истории древней философии" Вильгельма Виндельбанда.

John Law notes that — by the early 1990s — Latour’s approach contained the entirety of the principles of actor-network theory: attention to heterogeneous relations, use of semiotic tools, adherence to symmetry in describing the truth or false statements, performativity of practices, focus on circulations, predisposition to case studies. Expanding the list of approaches and tools used in the ANT, Law turns to material semiotics. He aspires to show it as a set of themes that stimulate the researcher’s sensitivity to (...) the problem of polysemanticity in a particular field. At the same time, his version of material semiotics implicitly contains a critique of the of Greimas’ semiotics developed by Latour. Law’s vision describes practices of producing multiple realities, maintaining uncertainties and the polysemantic. In contrast, Latour’s semiotics are more instrumental, showing how particular actors eliminate multiplicity by creating common rules. The article shows that the contradiction between Latour’s semiotics and Law’s material semiotics is related to the question of tracing the networks’ length created by heterogenous actors. However, this question is empirical. The article explores a particular case of interaction from the practices of a center for the development and socialization of children and adults with mental disabilities. It is shown that the problem of polysemanticity and uncertainties has two solutions: limiting the network through a “shifting in” of the “enunciator” and maintaining polysemanticity through “partial connections”. (shrink)

Ovaj rad predstavlja studiju iz praktičke etike u kojoj se kritizira ne tako davna odluka njemačkog Federalnog ustavnog suda prema kojoj je protuzakonito oboriti oteti avion s taocima koji će se sigurno zabiti u zgradu punu civila. Strategija argumentacije jest da se prvo nabroje okolnosti u kojima se usmrćivanje nevinih ljudi čini opravdanim te da se zatim navedu konzekvencijalistička i deontološka načela koja takvo što pokušavaju opravdati. Nakon toga utvrđuje se u koju od tih vrsta slučajeva spada situacija koja se (...) u radu istražuje, te se analizira što bi o tome reklo svako od navedenih moralnih načela. Zaključak jest da bi se sve uvjerljive moralne teorije, bez obzira na njihova inače mnogobrojna neslaganja, složile oko toga da oteti avion s taocima u takvim okolnostima treba oboriti. Iako nema pokušaja da se izloži opća teorija o ubijanju nevinih, na temelju istraženog slučaja nudi se i ideja o tome kako bi prihvatljiva teorija tog tipa možda mogla izgledati.This work is an exercise in practical ethics that criticizes a decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court according to which it is unlawful to crush down a highjacked plan with hostages, which is certain to hit a building full of civilians. The argumentation strategy is to enumerate circumstances in which killing the innocent seems justified, and then to list consequentialist and deontological principles that try to show that doing this may be the right thing to do. After that it is investigated under which category does the case under the analysis belong and what would all of the listed moral principles say about it. The conclusion is that all convincing moral theories would, despite their otherwise numerous disagreements, agree that the highjacked plane with hostages should be destroyed before it hits the building. Although there is no attempt at a general theory on killing the innocent here, one hint at such a theory is offered on the basis of the present analysis. (shrink)

У статті розглянуті методи проведення місіонерської та культурно-просвітницької діяльності релігійних організацій на Донеччині в умовах сучасних реалій розвитку суспільства. Наведено приклади місіонерських та культурних заходів у Донецькій області.

International crises are dangerous episodes that can be destabilizing not only to the actors directly involved but also to the entire international system. Crises can present overwhelming challenges to established institutions and change forever the distribution of power. It is suggested that the stability of a political regime is demonstrated by its ability to avoid transformation as well as breakdown at times of crisis when the continuity of the regime’s identifying characteristics is threatened. The concept of «crisis» is rather vague (...) and diffuse. This is not only the case in the public debate, but also in the political science literature. Despite its frequent use, no collectively accepted definition of a crisis exists. How to define the word crisis has been a problem for decades. The basic aims of this study are to present different views on international crises, to gain an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the literature on crisis definitions, and to develop an agenda for future research on international crisis management. In addition, we examined and compared several prominent 20th century international crisis waves in historical context by means of a wide range of general and special scientific methods. International crisis management has undergone a significant transformation in recent years. Its expansion in terms of tasks and timelines and the increasing number of actors involved have made effective coordination of activities and instruments an urgent priority. (shrink)

Članek se ukvarja s sodobno vojno zgodovino, estetiko upora in politiko afekta v kontekstu postjugoslovanskega prostora. Če pogledamo nazaj na oborožene vojne v devetdesetih letih prejšnjega stoletja, pa tudi na številne vojne, ki se še vedno vodijo z drugimi sredstvi, postane jasno, da v tem izčrpanem območju geopolitičnega nelagodja še vedno ni miru. Politika (ne)pripadnosti temu prostoru je desetletja nihala med konfliktnimi afekti, liminalnimi conami in ne/možnostmi preseganja permanentne produkcije vojne s trajnim mirom. Ta ambivalenten občutek (ne)pripadnosti je povzročil različne (...) zasuke in premike v postjugoslovanski umetnosti, ki so se solidarizirale znotraj starih in novih geopolitičnih območij nelagodja in vojn(e). Na podlagi postjugoslovanskega umetniškega raziskovanja Adele Jušić in Blerte Heziraj, ki se ukvarjata z Antifašistično fronto žensk – AFŽ, ter dolgoletnega aktivističnega performansa skupine Žene u crnom (Ženske v črnem), besedilo torej kaže na stičišče politike in umetnosti, ki se brezkompromisno upirata vladajočim (post)jugoslovanskim diskurzom neskončnih vojn. (shrink)