BackgroundThe potential contribution of community engagement to addressing ethical challenges for international biomedical research is well described, but there is relatively little documented experience of community engagement to inform its development in practice. This paper draws on experiences around community engagement and informed consent during a genetic cohort study in Kenya to contribute to understanding the strengths and challenges of community engagement in supporting ethical research practice, focusing on issues of communication, the role of field workers in 'doing ethics' on (...) the ground and the challenges of community consultation.MethodsThe findings are based on action research methods, including analysis of community engagement documentation and the observations of the authors closely involved in their development and implementation. Qualitative and quantitative content analysis has been used for documentation of staff meetings and trainings, a meeting with 24 community leaders, and 40 large public and 70 small community group meetings. Meeting minutes from a purposive sample of six community representative groups have been analysed using a thematic framework approach.ResultsField workers described challenges around misunderstandings about research, perceived pressure for recruitment and challenges in explaining the study. During consultation, leaders expressed support for the study and screening for sickle cell disease. In community meetings, there was a common interpretation of research as medical care. Concerns centred on unfamiliar procedures. After explanations of study procedures to leaders and community members, few questions were asked about export of samples or the archiving of samples for future research.ConclusionsCommunity engagement enabled researchers to take account of staff and community opinions and issues during the study and adapt messages and methods to address emerging ethical challenges. Field workers conducting informed consent faced complex issues and their understanding, attitudes and communication skills were key influences on ethical practice. Community consultation was a challenging concept to put into practice, illustrating the complexity of assessing information needs and levels of deliberation that are appropriate to a given study. (shrink)

В монографии рассматривается соотношение индивидуальных и универсальных начал в праве как эффективное средство решения многих правовых проблем, как руководство в законодательной и судебной деятельности.

The concept of interpretation is applicable to any forms of knowledge, including systems of religious knowledge, designing the ideal model of the subject of religious veneration. The author analyzes the epistemological features of theology as a form of spiritual culture, its formation in ancient culture. It is shown that the epistemological basis for overcoming mythological consciousness was the decentralization of thinking, i.e. development of the ability of consciousness in the construction of the image, the picture of the world to correct (...) the position of the subject, to take into account the relativity of the reference system, from the standpoint of which the subject perceives the object and transforms it into an operational system of thinking. Decentration of thinking provided the overcoming of the subjective mental boundaries of the field, giving the thinking nature of universality. Historical stages and moments of this process - the transformation of mythology into forms of folk art, mythopoetic epic, in the form of religious consciousness. In line with such transformations of archaic consciousness, cultural and historical prerequisites of theology emergence were formed. They are represented in mythopoetic art, ancient mythography, early traditions of critical and rationalistic interpretation of the myth, etc. The article shows the formation of allegorical theology, which became possible in the era of individualization of artistic creativity, when the visible was the difference between the motive and the purpose of activity, creative idea and its embodiment, figuratively-poetic and rationally-conceptual ways of reflecting the world, when the image of reality and its personal meaning began to be realized as different States of consciousness. The main function of any theology is the interpretation of abstract models of the subject of religious veneration. (shrink)

Questions pertaining to socialist democracy and human rights and freedoms have now been advanced to the front lines of the ideological struggle between the forces of socialism, peace, and democracy, on the one hand, and those of imperialism, war, and reaction, on the other. This is due to the content and features of the worldwide development of societies today, one direction of which is a universal increase in the political self-awareness and social activity of the working class and the entire (...) mass of the toiling population. The final document of the 1976 Conference of Communist and Workers' Parties of Europe emphasizes: "The historical necessity of replacing capitalist society with a socialist society established in accordance with the will of each people is becoming evident to ever broader strata of the public." The great achievements of socialism and the successes of socialist democracy serve as an inspiring example in the heroic struggle of the working class and its allies for peace and social progress. (shrink)

The purpose of the article is the analysis of the causes of the systemic crisis that hit modern civilization through the description of its main structures, identifying the relationship between its elements, assessments of their heuristic potential. This will open up opportunities for finding ways to resolve this crisis, new directions of civilizational development. Theoretical basis of the research are the systems analysis, socio-philosophical and philosophical-anthropological approaches as well as the analysis of scientific developments in the field of global studies. (...) Originality lies in the fact that this article is the first to show the connection between the main structural elements of human civilization as a system. Change in one of the parameters leads to a change in all the others, together with a change in civilization as a whole. Conclusions. The reason for the deep crisis that hit modern civilization is its imbalance as a system. The most important elements of this system are population size, resources and technology, and the core is consciousness in its individual and collective forms. The perception, processing, and use of information, which is a defining civilizational resource, as well as the stability of the entire system depend on the state of consciousness. Consciousness, based on old, obsolete principles and stereotypes, is unable to cope with the most acute challenges of time. New consciousness, since it is formed, will mark the transition to a new theoretical picture of the world and a model of human behavior, in which people will act, driven by proven knowledge, and not willfulness and prejudice. The idea of forming a productive information environment where the ideas of constructiveness and creative work will dominate rather than consumerism and destruction, as is the case at present, must become the categorical imperative of the new consciousness. (shrink)

The struggle for peace and social progress was and remains a strategic policy of the Soviet state. As the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, M.S. Gorbachev, stated it at the Extraordinary March Plenum of the Central Committee, it is now vital to reach agreement "on an immediate end to the arms race—particularly nuclear arms—on earth and the banning of it in space.".

Ideas of activity are widely used in the contemporary literature on psychology and methodology. It seems that everyone understands well what is being said. Nevertheless, one can claim that there is a methodological problem in connection with the idea of activity. Various researchers not only interpret activity differently but, what is more important, assess of the place of this category in knowledge differently. From the perspective of some researchers, activity is one way of describing and explaining reality. Others believe that (...) the category of activity presents reality itself, that there is nothing but activity. If we adhere to the former point of view, we can raise the question, for example, of studying certain types of activity, as V.V. Davydov does. (shrink)

t. 1. Ėlementnyĭ sostav -- t. 2. Logika pravovogo issledovanii͡a -- t. 3. Sovremennoe pravoponimanie.

When Introduction à la méthode de Léonard de Vinci was published, Valéry was not yet twenty-four. The period during which he wrote this work, as well as Soirée avec M. Teste, which appeared a year later, was extremely important in his biography, for it defined the principal trends of his thought for decades to come. After a twenty-year period of silence and retirement, there appeared his small volume La Jeune Parque, the collection Charmes, Album de vers anciens, and his Socratic (...) dialogues, all of which won him fame. The reader became aware of a brilliant stylist producing essays most abundant in number and themes, an acute analyst of culture in crisis, of the human community, mind, and morals, and the author of notebooks kept for many years in which he appears, as, among other things, a forerunner of the most diverse ideas in the realm of linguistics, psychology, information theory, aesthetic theory, and the like. Finally, there was to be the posthumous publication of Mon Faust, which, in the mind of the more perceptive reader, markedly emphasizes and sharpens the tragic aspects of Valéry's personality and consciousness of the world, for he is still today sometimes presented as a kind of causeur of high society, a cold master of "manufactured" poetry, an overly brilliant dilettante blinded by science or, at the very best, an utterly academic classicist in the category of those who are as dead as Bossuet or Boileau. All that was still in the future. However, it was precisely in these early works that, with all the fire of youth and maximalism of thought, he formulated ideas that must be central to the attention of those who wish to discover the system of Paul Valéry. (shrink)

Purpose. The purpose of the article is the analysis of the reasons and grounds of the crisis in the sphere of meaning-making, as well as searching answers to the questions about the meaning of human life in the contemporary world, which are maximally relevant in connection with the escalation of global problems, revealing the points of convergence between various theoretical positions, evaluation of their heuristic potential. Theoretical basis of the research is the historical-philosophical, comparative and system approaches, as well as (...) the analysis of philosophical insights in the field of global studies. Originality. Originality lies in the fact that this article is the first attempt to conduct comprehensive analysis in the problem of the sense of the Existence as it is presented in the first quarter of the 21st century and to relate it with the modern social situation that is characterized by a complex range of interconnected and interdependent anthropological problems of our time. Authors emphasize that the main reason in the crisis of meaning is that a man has lost touch with his roots, which is wildlife. He has created an artificial structure, civilization to satisfy his needs and finds no way to the transcendental, which is the true House of his being. Conclusions. A human must refuse from false self-conceit concerning his potential omniscience and omnipotence, cease dictating his own rules to the Existence, determine the boundaries of his freedom and try to clearly realize his place in the objective structure of being. The global situation can change for the better only if a dramatic change in the area of meaning-making happens. The decisive force, which may encourage nudging to the positive changes, can be either the free will of people who have realized the criticality of the situation or external natural and social circumstances that will make people reorganize radically. The proper prioritizing, a deep awareness of universal goals and solidarity between people could be the value basis that will become the foundation to find the meaning and create a more favorable future. (shrink)

The article discusses the features of the love-passionate plot in the stories of Ivan Bunin. The question is raised why Bunin, describing the strange or immoral acts of the heroes, does not condemn them, and in general draws a bright, sometimes sad atmosphere. Analysis of L. S. Vygotsky’s short story “Easy Breathing” by Bunin allows us to express an idea about a certain strategy for building Bunin’s works. Based on this consideration, the methods by which Bunin achieves the effect of (...) perception of the characters he needs are analyzed. There are three such techniques: the convergence of the actions and behavior of the characters with the life and breath of nature, the depiction of the life of the characters from the point of view that Bunin needs, and the endowment of the characters with personality traits that exclude ethical characteristics and problems. The scientific explanation of Bunin's artistic constructions is based on the analysis of mental trauma (caused by the departure of the first wife and the horrors of the revolution), artistic understanding of the events that interest the writer, and the peculiarities of the conceptualization of these events. In addition, it is proposed to take into account that Bunin began and became famous as a poet, and as a poet he composed his prose partly according to the laws of versification. (shrink)