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The Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism of Nikolai Fedorov and His Followers

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In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, a controversial school of Russian thinkers emerged, convinced that humanity was entering an advanced stage of evolution and must assume a new, active, managerial role in the cosmos. This book offers a dynamic and wide-ranging examination of the lives and ideas of the Russian Cosmists. Although they wrote as scientists, theologians, and philosophers, the Cosmists addressed topics traditionally confined to occult and esoteric literature. Their writings explored the extension of the human life span to establish universal immortality; the restoration of life to the dead; the regulation of nature so that all manifestations of blind natural force were under rational human control; the effect of cosmic rays and other particles of energy on human history; and practical steps toward eventual human control over the flow of time. Suppressed during the Soviet period and little noticed in the West, the ideas of the Cosmists have in recent decades been rediscovered and embraced by many Russian intellectuals. The book offers a sympathetic analysis of the ideas of the Cosmists within the contexts of Russian philosophy, Russian religious thought, and Western esotericism.

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... Due to the heterogeneity of his ideas and the number of different thinkers and philosophers Berdyaev engaged with, a variety of different books and scholarly articles have been published on his contributions to philosophy and history in the half century since his passing. These include: accounts of Berdyaev's decision making throughout pivotal periods of early twentieth century history (Kiseleva 2016), on his views on the spiritual causes of the 1917 Russian revolution (Porus 2017), his contributions to our understanding of creativity (Zhukova 2016), to philosophy and existentialism (Herberg 1957;Wright 1962), to understandings of nihilism (Vishnyakova 2011), to existential conceptions of time (Gordon 2012), to the relationship between tragedy and God (Hartshorne 1957), to our understanding of eschatology (Calian 1965), to perceptions of reality and materialism (Dye 1979), to gnosticism (Bourke 1936), to love and marriage (Slesinski 1986), social unity (Harold 2010), artistic representations (Tarasov 2011), Christian existentialism (Lowrie 1965), orthodox theology (Valliere 2000), freedom (McLachlan 1992), among numerous other topics including Russian Cosmism (Young 2012). ...
... In 1819, Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi took a position against laissez-faire economics and argued that technological development exacerbated the adverse impacts on society that market based systems could have (Israel 2019, 373). Russian Cosmists ranging from Vasily Karazin to Nikolai Fedorov, also held deeply intriguing views on technology and its relationship to the human condition but believed that technology could be positively channeled and enable humans to achieve scientific immortalism and evolve to a new form of humanity (Young 2012). In contrast, Heidegger, a philosopher that Berdyaev heavily studied and was influenced by, put forward a wide-reaching argument on technology in which he conceptualized it as an ontological condition that humans must overcome. ...
... Today, Cosmism is gaining increasing ideological prevalence in technocratic circles in Russia (Faure 2021). Young (2012) defines Russian Cosmism in the following way, "a highly controversial and oxymoronic blend of activist speculation, futuristic traditionalism, religious science, exoteric esotericism, utopian pragmatism, idealistic materialism -higher magic partnered to higher mathematics" (Young 2012, 3). ...
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In his final work, the Realm of Spirit and the Realm of Caesar (1952), Nikolai Berdyaev categorized five historical periods on the relationship between humanity and nature. This meta-historical framework was articulated due to his concern about an obstructive imbalance between spirituality, materialism, and modern industrial technology. This essay overviews the framework and considers it with relation to eras subsequent his passing. It finds that Berdyaev's projection was not only theoretically plausible, but turned out to be remarkably accurate in predicting the transition from a technical industrial society to one based around autonomous spheres of operation including the internet and artificial intelligence. The final stage of the fourth period, our current era, was predicted by Berdyaev to be marked by a new form of global subjugation-in the merging of technology with the state and our enslavement to our own discoveries. Attention is also given to a future, eschatological fifth period in which Berdyaev believed a spiritual revolution would accompany widespread dissolution of state power and the emancipation of labor.
... Few secular transhumanists, though, display much enthusiasm for focusing their time and attention on creating such ancestor simulations. This is different from saying no secular transhumanists advocate universal resurrection, of course (see, e.g., Jones 2017; Koehler 2019), and Cosmism, a still-existing, mystically inflected precursor of transhumanism deeply influenced by Russian Orthodox theology, has also advocated the physical resurrection of all of humanity (Bernstein 2019;Young 2012). But these instances are the exceptions, and in the case of Russian Orthodoxy, it is not entirely clear that "secular" is even the proper category for the movement. ...
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One of the chief debates in the academic study of transhumanism is whether or not this emergent movement that advocates for the technological overcoming of the limits of humanity should be considered religious in nature. This question stems from the fact that, while the vast majority of transhumanists explicitly reject established religion, elements of transhumanism seem strikingly similar to Christian eschatology. This article explores this question by asking how the ontology of an avowedly religious transhumanist movement, the Mormon Transhumanist Association, differs from the informatic ontology identified in secular transhumanism. It shows how contemporary Mormon Transhumanist imaginings of various forms of technological resurrection are informed by the infrastructure and materialist ontology associated with the Mormon practice of “Proxy baptisms” (otherwise known as baptisms for the dead) and other initiatory rituals conducted by proxy on behalf of the deceased. This influence suggests that, at least in this case, there are identifiable differences between secular transhumanism and religious transhumanism that complicate any easy reading of secular transhumanism as being crypto-religion.
... Contrary to top scholars, the multi-national population of the "materialistic" USSR in my youth (and in today's Russia) always believed in intuition, distant communications of native souls, and a cosmic nature of marriages. Gurwisch's biofields (Gurwitsch, 1944), Vernadsky's Noosphere (Vernadsky, 1945), Chizhevsky's pulsations of the Universe (Chizhevsky, 1976), Kozyrev's Causal Mechanics, Bekhterev's immortality of thoughts, Messing's psychic performances, Globa's astrology calendars, Vasiliev's parapsychology were pseudo-scientific only for the domestic Academy of Sciences but not for the monism and all-unity concept of Russian Cosmism (Young, 2012) and its followers (Tsiolkovsky, 1923(Tsiolkovsky, , 1933Roerich, 1990). As a native Russian, I can knowingly talk about the anti-Newtonian worldview only in the society of Russian cosmists. ...
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The all-unity and kinetic monism of continuous matter in the Russian Cosmism contradicts conceptually the Newtonian dualism of kinetic and gravitational energies that ruined the intellectual legacy of many Russian thinkers. Lomonosov super-penetrating liquid, Umov inertial ether, Gurvish nonlocal biofields, Vernadsky Noosphere of thoughts, Chizhevsky cosmic pulsations, Bekhterev immortality of thoughts, Tsiolkovsky cosmic life and other orthodox suggestions are still incomprehensible and not in demand by the science textbooks and education curriculum based on negative (nonexistent) gravitational energies and the questionable "action-at-a-distance." Starting from the local cause of all accelerations according to Lomonosov and the hidden variable for extracting mass-energy from the inertial ether according to Umov, everyone can logically replace the fiction of gravitational potentials with non-local self-assembling of correlated densities in the volume integral of kinetic energy. Mathematical superposition of continuous material densities, inaccessible to human perception and measurements,  Corresponding Author's Email: bulyzhenkov.ie@mipt.ru. Igor Bulyzhenkov 2 can deduce the inverse square law for mutual accelerations and revive many "weird" ideas of Russian cosmists. The kinetic cooperation of correlated densities and stresses of continuous mass-energy with absolute self-knowledge of its non-local distribution is a more fundamental component of cosmic human beings than their visual structure with the densest volumes in spatial communications. Self-control of adaptive kinetic densities sets in motion the material all-unity of nonlocal bodies and invisible distributions of thoughts over the Noosphere. The kinetic monism of nonlocal energy can verifiably modify Euler / Navier-Stokes fluids by inertial feedback and remove non-Euclidean 3-interval, empty space, gravitational energy, black holes, and dark matter from educational programs in physics, astronomy, biology, medicine, and other natural sciences.
... 42. Historically, "cosmism" can be traced back to the latter nineteenth century work of Nikolai Fyodorov, which was later developed by Russian scientists like Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Vladimir Vernadsky (Young, 2012). Russian cosmism can be seen as a precursor to modern transhumanism, although the particular version that we are interested in specifically arises from the work of Goertzel, which is distinct from the "cosmism" of earlier Russian theorists. ...
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The stated goal of many organizations in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), an imagined system with more intelligence than anything we have ever seen. Without seriously questioning whether such a system can and should be built, researchers are working to create “safe AGI” that is “beneficial for all of humanity.” We argue that, unlike systems with specific applications which can be evaluated following standard engineering principles, undefined systems like “AGI” cannot be appropriately tested for safety. Why, then, is building AGI often framed as an unquestioned goal in the field of AI? In this paper, we argue that the normative framework that motivates much of this goal is rooted in the Anglo-American eugenics tradition of the twentieth century. As a result, many of the very same discriminatory attitudes that animated eugenicists in the past (e.g., racism, xenophobia, classism, ableism, and sexism) remain widespread within the movement to build AGI, resulting in systems that harm marginalized groups and centralize power, while using the language of “safety” and “benefiting humanity” to evade accountability. We conclude by urging researchers to work on defined tasks for which we can develop safety protocols, rather than attempting to build a presumably all-knowing system such as AGI.
... Young have no qualms about including Vladimir Solovyov, Pavel Florensky, Sergei Bulgakov, and Nikolai Berdyaev in their list of Russian Cosmists (see Young 2012). ...
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In the secondary literature on Scriabin, it is not uncommon to come across the names of philosophers such as Nikolai Fyodorov, Vladimir Solovyov, and Nikolai Berdyaev. The present paper examines the shared characteristics between Scriabin’s philosophy and the ideas of such figures who are typically referred to as Russian Cosmists. In doing so, the paper illustrates what new insights we can gain by considering Scriabin from the perspective of Russian Cosmism. Despite the overwhelming evidence of Russian Cosmists’ significant influence on Scriabin’s philosophical ideas, the secondary literature rarely discusses this impact within the context of Russian Cosmism. The aim of the present paper is to remedy this oversight by (a) concisely defining what Russian Cosmism is, and (b) illustrating how Scriabin’s philosophy can be traced to Russian Cosmist ideas which were circulating in Russia when Scriabin was intellectually and artistically active.
... Among others influenced by Tunguska were Felix Zigel, considered the founder of Soviet ufology; the Polish writer Stanislaw Lem, whose first bestselling science fiction novel Astronautici (Astronauts, 1951) begins with the Tunguska explosion as a blast from a spaceship arriving from Venus; and geochemist Vladimir Vernadsky, who initiated the concept of the biosphere (Vernadsky, 1998) and was a patron of Kulik's Tunguska research. Altogether, Bruno makes a good case that the Tunguska event stimulated not only scientific research, science fiction, and ufology, but also cosmism, a philosophy that combined religious mysticism with scientific vision, and included not only Vernadsky but also Konstantin Tsiolkovsky among its more scientific adherents (Young, 2012). As the German cultural scholar Claudia Schmölders (2012) has shown, Tunguska has had an even broader literary, scientific and philosophical impact throughout the world. ...
... Among others influenced by Tunguska were Felix Zigel, considered the founder of Soviet ufology; the Polish writer Stanislaw Lem, whose first bestselling science fiction novel Astronautici (Astronauts, 1951) begins with the Tunguska explosion as a blast from a spaceship arriving from Venus; and geochemist Vladimir Vernadsky, who initiated the concept of the biosphere (Vernadsky, 1998) and was a patron of Kulik's Tunguska research. Altogether, Bruno makes a good case that the Tunguska event stimulated not only scientific research, science fiction, and ufology, but also cosmism, a philosophy that combined religious mysticism with scientific vision, and included not only Vernadsky but also Konstantin Tsiolkovsky among its more scientific adherents (Young, 2012). As the German cultural scholar Claudia Schmölders (2012) has shown, Tunguska has had an even broader literary, scientific and philosophical impact throughout the world. ...
... As a result, cosmocentrism may be understood as the antithesis of anthropocentrism. This principle finds support in Astronism in its belief that humanity has strayed into anthropocentrism at various points throughout history to the disregard of the minuscule role humankind plays in the grand scheme of The Cosmos, a truth advanced by Nicolaus Copernicus and his heliocentric model of the solar system for example (Young 2012). ...
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A new religion was founded in 2013 that goes by the name of Astronism while its community of followers are known as Astronists. This article gives a rigorous account of the eschatology, soteriology and worldview of this new space religion while contextualizing its emergence as part of a broader Astronic religious tradition. This proposed tradition may itself possess prehistoric roots in the Upper Palaeolithic in the earliest human observations of the night sky. Human beings in turn came to establish a relationship with celestial phenomena, one of both spiritual and secular utility that has since produced systems of astrotheism and astrology. In the contemporary, the projection of the Astronist theory of history onto the Astronic tradition has meant that Astronism’s salvific doctrine of transcension is established as a grand narrative and universal ethic that unites the Astronic tradition. In essence, this article considers how Astronism, as a new religious movement, is working to revive astronomical religion, albeit in ways relevant in an age of space exploration and appropriate to modern scientific knowledge about humanity’s true place in the universe.
... It is hardly surprising that Koroliew, his competitor, was equally inspired by promises of immortality discussed by Nikolai Fiodorov and other Russian cosmists (Young 2012). It is even less surprising that this vision of cosmic immortality is constantly proposed in discourse situated on different sides of the ideological spectrum than transhumanism, for example in writings by contemporary social theorists of heat and entropy (Nail 2021). ...
... Znano je, da je nauk Fjodorova »s svojo grandiozno perspektivo vplival na številne vodilne ruske znanstvenike, pesnike, umetnike« (Groys 2011, 264), še posebej na avantgardo. Nekateri menijo, da je njegov nauk globoko zakoreninjen v krščanski ortodoksni misli (Medenica,, drugi ga označujejo za »ezoterični futurizem« (Young 2012), tretji pa ga imajo preprosto za »bizarnega« (Komelj 2008a, 202). Zaradi neposrednega vpliva na očeta kozmonavtike Ciolkovskega, ki je Fjodorova kot mladenič spoznal v knjižnici Rumjanceva, ter razmišljanj o vesoljskih poletih, genskem inženirstvu in umetnem podaljševanju človeškega življenja ga imajo nekateri celo za utemeljitelja sovjetske znanosti. ...
... htm (Last access: March 17, 2021). 2 On this topic there is a wide bibliography. Check, for instance: [Young 2012;Graham 1993;Soboleva 2017: 64-85;Vujošević 2017]. Vol. 26. ...
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Certain novels by Boris Pil’niak and Andrei Platonov seem to be in conversation with one another in delineating the evolution of the Soviet man at the end of the Twenties and the beginning of the Thirties. Pil’niak’s “The Naked Year” (1922) was composed in the aftermath of the revolution, when high hopes created the expectation that it was possible to conciliate revolution and mythological past, social projects and nature. The new man is characterized by violence that embodies the revolution’s reforming energy and expresses the force of nature. At the end of the Twenties, with the first Five-Year plan, the new man’s task had become building the new Socialist society by extending the Stalinist idea of industrial planning to all aspects of human life. This is what we see in Pil’niak’s “The Volga Falls to the Caspian Sea” (1929), where the new man is a technician, a builder, and a demiurge who moves rivers and mountains. Nevertheless, he cannot find answers to the limits of the human condition, like death and moral questions. Similarly, in Platonov’s “The Foundation Pit” (1930), humankind is tasked with transforming nature, thus extending the principle of industrial planning to the most intimate aspects of human existence. At this point, the attempt to conciliate past and future, planning and spontaneity is no longer feasible. Platonov’s characters spend their lives carrying out the task of human realization appointed by the Soviet state, but find out that happiness cannot be programmed from above, it is the result of a personal pursuit and of the relationship with the other. So, “Dzhan” (1934) shows us a possible alternative to the Soviet system with the questioning, the search, the attempts, and the resistence that the characters show. They avoid future that is imposed by a power that destroys the past and empties the present. Platonov shows that the human sould resides in relations, memory, and emotions.
... The biocosmists had a huge influence on the early days of space flight in Russia and around the world. As such, Fyoderov has been described as the true father of the Soviet space program, and he had direct influence on the work of rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky who was hugely influential in the Soviet space program (Young 2012). Whilst his position might seem abstract from narratives of space science today there are some core similarities, namely the ways in which technology allows new phases of human dwelling in previously unliveable environments and as such, allow a vision of humanity to expand into the future. ...
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A renewed public and state interest in space exploration in recent years, coupled with technological advancements in rocket science and architectural systems, has made design and engineering initiatives for Martian living tangible and urgent. This article traces the practice of utopian architectural design of a home on Mars. This home has been described by its architects as a ‘place for people’ and for ‘all of humanity’. Off-Earth habitats have traditionally been designed with emphasis on the functionality of surviving extreme environments. New designs for Mars aim to make human-centric homes in which people can be comfortable. However, when confronted with the known realities of the Martian landscape, such designs reconfigure the place and form of the human. The Martian landscape requires that a home shelters the human body from hostile elements through totalising closed loop architectural systems. In such extreme architecture, the human form is configured as a calculable body, and becomes ‘erased’. This article ethnographically traces how the human is imagined in such design practice and asks what happens to the idea of the human through informed design thinking as architects meet space scientists. It traces how utopic motivations to build a space ‘for all humanity’ are challenged through the material and practical reality of making design choices and exclusions. The ethnography follows the figure of the human as it is imagined as an emergent Martian lifeform which confronts the problems of the different gravity, light, radiation, and terrain that a life on mars would entail. Considering how the concept of ‘living’ might be possible in a future Martian habitat involves the practice of imagining radically alternative forms of life. By tracing how these are imagined, contested, and considered this article asks how practices of conceptualising radical alterity relate to understanding oneself as connected to the enduring idea of being human.
... Simakova señala distintas y contradictorias perspectivas políticas y filosóficas autodenominadas cosmistas, con posturas "tecno-optimistas", "aceleracionistas" y posthumanistas ("transhumanistas") que asumen ribetes nihilistas imprecisos, sin que falten propuestas radicales y emancipadoras de amplia pertinencia. George Young (2012) desglosa expresiones recientes de artistas e intelectuales presuntamente cosmistas, con derivas nacionalistas, pseudocientíficas y esotéricas de escasa coherencia que, en algunos casos, a juzgar por su descripción, bordean la charlatanería y el oportunismo mediático (219-234). Ese aspecto lo dejamos a especialistas y ruso-hablantes que poseen las herramientas para abordar el conjunto del fenómeno. ...
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En el contexto de la primera pandemia vivenciada planetariamente por las redes sociales la pregunta por aquello que reúne, liga, amalgama y por aquello que es colectivo y común se transforma en un pivote básico para re-pensar la teoría social en tanto ontología de lo social. El libro que aquí tenemos sobre cosmopolitismo, arte público, filantropía, utopías y pensamiento situado nos orienta a volver sobre las preguntas claves de la organización de lo social. No quiero comenzar sin agradecer a mi amigo Luis Herrera Montero su amable invitación y a los colegas y amigos Juan Duchesne Winter, Fred Evans, Paola Gramaglia, Isabel Gil Gesto por sus escritos que motivaron e incentivaron lo que aquí escribo. En homenaje a los capítulos que componen el libro entregamos aquí algunas reflexiones finales y de perspectiva sobre lo común como eje vertebrador de las identidades y sensibilidades personales y colectivas. Propondremos entender lo común como el resultado de las conexiones posibles entre el tú y el otro como disposiciones originarias de la dialéctica de la persona social. Pensaremos a lo común/tú/ otro desde distintas aristas, desde la teoría social, incluyendo en dicha teoría social desde cuestiones de carácter empírico y también de carácter teórico. Todos sabemos que la pandemia sirve como una lupa que, al acercarla agranda y deja ver cosas que había antes, pero aumentadas. Por supuesto que la experiencia actual de encierro, es una experiencia que es la primera vez que se vive en redes sociales, es el primer evento de carácter planetario vivido planetariamente “online” y esto es algo muy complejo, que, desde la Guerra del Golfo, en adelante fue creciendo y esta pandemia termina completando. A decir verdad, esta pandemia completa la globalización, hay algunos que prefieren decir que la ha abolido, y otros que la ha profundizado, para no caer en esta disyuntiva de integrados o apocalípticos, vamos a hacer el esfuerzo de aceptar que es un dato de la realidad, es decir, en el sentido que ha terminado con toda la lógica de la planetarización realizándola por completo. En el contexto de la vida vivida en y a través de las redes sociales, videos, memes, fotos, juegos han poblado esa larga experiencia a la que continuamos llamando día. Inscripto en este contexto quería comenzar con un chiste, una broma. Es un meme español que cuestiona el tema del otro y lo común en tanto faceta crucial y angustiante de la actualidad. “Está Jesús en una montaña y abajo hay una multitud de personas: Jesús dice: !Amad al projimo! La multitud pregunta ¿A Paco también? y alguien afirma: Paco es lo puto peor...Jesús explica: A ver, ya hemos hablado de eso...Sí Amad a Paco también. Desde el fondo de la multitud se escucha: ¡Os jodeis por gilipollas! ...se ve a Jesús tomándose la cabeza diciendo Ahora no, Paco!” Lo esencial que la pandemia nos trae es que la humanidad, o por lo menos lo que hemos estado construyendo en los últimos cuatro o cinco siglos y a la cual le llamamos humanidad, no condice con el “comerse al caníbal”, nosotros no nos podemos comer a los peores, y esto es algo que nos pone enfrente la pandemia, algo que es muy importante, porque la pandemia, con el distanciamiento social, con el barbijo, con el no saber cómo se contagia, con el no tener idea cuándo se va a terminar, así como el no saber qué significa estar curado o no estar curado, (re) trae esta idea del prójimo, la necesidad de que al prójimo hay que redefinirlo y con ello a la comunidad. La encrucijada es: a pesar que Paco sea el peor hay que amarlo. Lo que el meme encarna e irónicamente pone sobre la mesa, es que, más allá que es urgente aceptar la prohibición de que no nos podemos comer al caníbal, el caníbal, tal vez, nos quiera comer a nosotros. Y ese momento de amenaza, la respuesta a la pregunta sobre si el caníbal es uno de nosotros o no devine crucial. La pregunta si podemos ejercer la violencia contra los violentos, si podemos ejercer la compensación ojo por ojo desafía a un planeta con miedo, incertidumbre y angustia. Es en este marco que el problema de la construcción del otro/tu/común, es uno de los grandes desafíos de la post pandemia, por eso, el otro en la pandemia, tiene que ser redefinido y tiene que construirse en función de qué significa el tú y lo común. En este escrito queremos proponer, el tú, como punto de partida, es decir, en realidad, toda relación con el otro, empieza con una relación yo-tú, o si se quiere, del self con el ego, de la subjetividad y de la intersubjetividad, pero en todo caso, el punto de partida es desde una relación, que se dispara con la existencia de un tú, para mí y para el otro; porque, en todo caso, la pregunta es: cuándo yo me convierto en un tú instanciado como otro. El segundo tema que vamos a proponer, es (re)pensar idea del nosotros, como espacio de encuentro, por eso, son los otros, son ellos y somos nosotros las consecuencias de co-presencias constitutivas. El nos-otro es el proceso donde la interacción tiene lugar, donde lo estructural y contingente se conecta en diversas dimensiones. En tensión y contextualizado por el tú como punto de partida y el nosotros como encuentro emerge la necesidad de advertir que el otro no es algo abstracto, inmaterial, no es que estamos “hablando” sobre el otro como extracorpóreo, sino que tiene piernas, huesos, cara, come, necesita trabajo, es energía, nutrientes, etc., y esto es un rasgo fundante de los encuentros entre los varios y los muchos. Finalmente nos acercaremos, al menos parcialmente, desde la politicidad del otro a la lógica de lo común. Bajo el supuesto que siempre la lógica de lo político es la lógica del otro, del Otro con mayúscula y de los otros en tanto configuraciones de lo comunitario.
... According to him, humanity was bound to use techno-scientific progress to start a new phase of active implementation of the Bible's promises: immortality and the resurrection of the dead. 56 Fedorov's syncretic articulation of science and religion married the two opposite trends that shaped Russian thought at the time: the Westernizers, promoters of science and Western techniques and the Slavophiles, defenders of Russian traditions and orthodoxy. In contrast with both secular positivism and religious traditionalism, Fedorov claimed that modern science could be oriented towards the achievement of his Christian chiliastic aspirations. ...
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In the 1970s, the Soviet journalist and writer Aleksandr Prokhanov (born 1938) sought to initiate a new literary aesthetic based on a syncretic vision of technology and spirituality. While he represented an isolated position in conservative circles during the Soviet Union, his enthusiasm for technological modernity is now commonplace among contemporary Russian conservatives. Prokhanov has managed to evolve from the position of a fringe ideologue at the margins of the public sphere in the 1990s to a public figure whose ideas are circulated on state mass media and co-opted by political authorities since the late 2000s. This article studies the formation and circulation of Prokhanov’s reactionary modernism across the transition from the Soviet Union to post-Soviet Russia. It claims that Prokhanov’s hybrid ideology stems from his dual commitment to an anticonformist intellectual background and a loyalist state patriotism. It argues that, on top of his ability to popularize extremist ideas through their literary aestheticization, Prokhanov has successfully developed the resources of an ideological entrepreneur with leadership capacity and charismatic authority among anti-liberal milieus. In the 2000s, his discourse gained legitimacy, strategic utility and public visibility when these capacities matched a shift in the cultural and political contexts brought about by Vladimir Putin’s presidency.
... Vernadsky began to teach mineralogy and crystallography at the Moscow University in January of 1891 and later Florensky attended his lectures. Florensky was particularly impressed by Vernadsky's lectures on 5 In Nemeth's words, Vernadsky gave a commemorative address, 'The Characteristics of Count S. N. Trubeckoj's Worldview' , at Moscow University in 1908, which was published in the journal Russkaja Mysl' [Russian Thought]. Arguably indicative of his general attitude toward philosophical reflections on science, however, is his diary entry from December 1890: "It is surprising how 'philosophical' thinking, lagging behind scientific data due to inadequate scientific education, chiefly in the natural and mathematical sciences, often leads to comical statements" [9, p. 288]. ...
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The article focuses on the philosophical and scientific dialogue between Vladimir Vernadsky and Pavel Florensky in the context of Russian philosophy. Florensky formulated his philosophy in the book The Pillar and Ground of the Truth, making a great impact on Vernadsky. The two philosophers exchanged their thoughts through letters. During the time of his imprisonment , Florensky wrote letters on scientific topics to his son Kirill, who worked with Vernadsky. Thus, Kirill Florensky became the point of contact between the two thinkers. The present article aims to show the complementarity between Vernadsky's and Florensky's work with a particular emphasis on their conception of noosphere-pneumatosphere connected with Plato's methaphysics, which Florensky interpreted as the world of the Truth or absolute reality. Through investigating Vernadsky's and Florensky's letters and diaries and comparing their conceptions of noosphere and pneumatosphere, as well as their interpretation of reality in their writings, it is possible to determine influences of the concepts important for Russian religious philosophers, such as a tendency towards wholeness and intuition. The first part of the article examines Vernadsky in relation to Russian idealists, the second part of the article is focused on the relationship between Vernadsky and Florensky, and the third on the concepts of noosphere, pneumatosphere, and the concept of reality (living being)-absolute reality (Truth). Through these three steps, the complementarity of Vernadsky's and Florensky's interpretations are illustrated. Their interpretations are not contradictory because while Vernadsky dealt with Earth's reality and its evolution, and Florensky focused on the metaphysical world, both were interested in the evolution of the biosphere-noosphere/pneumatosphere through the activity of man. The article is the first study in English focused on the scientific and religious philosophical interaction between Vernadsky and Florensky.
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Academician V. P. Kaznacheev, along with his main contribution to scientific medicine, also made a significant contribution to the creation of the comprehensive teaching of Russian cosmism. Kaznacheev studied man as a cosmoplanetary phenomenon. In the science of Russian cosmism of Kaznacheev, man appears as a receiver of all kinds of cosmic energies and radiations. The concept of the significant role of man in the cognitive process significantly enriches the subject-object ontological-epistemological scheme of modern European philosophy. Kaznacheev believes that Russian science and culture are characterized by a special humanistically oriented synthetism and encyclopedism. He substantiates this understanding of Russian culture by tracing the tradition of cosmicity of ideas about the world and man in it, which goes back to both ancient Greek philosophy and the mythology of Indo-European peoples. In his experimental studies of living matter, Kaznacheev relies primarily on the methodological concepts of V. I. Vernadsky and A. L. Chizhevsky, who demonstrated the causal relationship of terrestrial processes to cosmic radiation. In the 1960s, V. P. Kaznacheev and his collaborators discovered the effect of distant intercellular interactions, which underlies the ideas about the presence in nature, along with the protein-nucleic form of life, of various "field" forms of life. Both Russian and foreign scientists have experimentally registered this kind of interaction. The scientific and philosophical ideas of academician V. P. Kaznacheev are aimed at the distant future of humanity.
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The article deals with the original version of psychoanalysis by Alexander Gorsky (1886–1943), a philosopher of Russian cosmism. His psychoanalytic theory is considered in close connection with the teachings of Nikolai Fedorov. It is discovered that the general principle of Gorsky’s theory lies in resurrection as the main idea of Russian cosmism. Gorsky puts forward three theses about the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud: autoerotic mirroring, intracorporeal space and organ projection by Ernst Kapp. Gorsky’s theory of psychoanalysis is based on the positivistic premise that it is possible to see without eyes, with the help of receptors located in the skin. On this hypothesis, Gorsky builds his theory of the “phallic pupil,” in the center of which is the body, which not only sees by many phalluses, but also produces images that are not inferior to real ones. The most important figure here is the muse, the virgin, the woman. Gorsky’s psychoanalytic theory is placed in the general context of psychoanalytic discourse and contemporary thought about sexuality. The general mimetic origins of the theories of Gorsky, Sigmund Freud, and René Girard are taken as a theoretical framework. It is disclosed that the mimetic principle is preserved in Gorsky’s theory, but he moves it into the sphere of the non-material. A hypothesis is put forward that with this gesture Gorsky frees up space for the magnetic-cloud eroticism he invented, as earthly and practical, but free from original sin. It is also noted that, being no less original and radical than the ideological legacy of Wilhelm Reich and Georges Bataille, and comparable in degree of originality to the theories of Paul Preciado or Catherine Malabu, Gorsky’s theory remains practically unknown.
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The article is the first part of the study of the features of philosophical and artistic futurology in Russian cosmism of the 1920s — 1930s. The key principles of the approach to the topic of the future in the religious/philosophical and natural/scientific branches of Russian cosmism are revealed: a projective worldview, the unity of futurology and anthropology, the will to idealism, designing the future as a perfect world order, unity of purpose and means, the personal principle of the relationship betweennature and man, the idea of the need to improve the external world, and human nature. The article demonstrates how these principles manifest themselves in the artistic and philosophical experiments of A. K. Gorsky and V. N. Muravyov in the 1920s and 1930s. It investigates the role of the science fiction element in their texts, in which, on the one hand, an integral image of the future is presented as the basis of mankind’s collective activity, and on the other hand, it offers a critique of “fractional ideals” in history, and flawed versions of the future. It demonstrates how the introducti
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The article discusses the features of the interpretation of the gospel text by the philosopher N. F. Fedorov. It demonstrates that for the philosopher, the Gospel is not only the “eternal book” of humanity that influenced the development of literary and artistic creativity, but also a life-transforming project accomplished in the unity of human effort and God’s grace. According to Fedorov’s historiosophical model, evangelical images and plots mark the transition from “history as a fact,” based on fratricidal strife and struggle, to “history as a project,” in which the human race consciously and freely chooses the path of following Christ, accepts the ideal of love and sacrifice as the basis of thought and action, and then to “history as an act,” which becomes the realization of the “good news” about the Kingdom of God, the “work of salvation,” the work of resurrection and regulation. The fate of the prodigal son, the prudent robber, the centurion, Zacchaeus, etc. in Fedorov’s interpretation, they symbolize the turn of humanity from the “fallen state” to the divine-human service. The projective approach to evangelical images and plots echoes the philosopher’s projective approach to literary texts and is aligned with the philosopher’s interpretation of the world literary types — Hamlet, Manfred, Faust Don Juan, who, like the characters of a gospel story, act as carriers of certain ideals and images of action. However, unlike the latter, they remain within the framework of the “minor” choice. Fedorov asserts the ideal of “universal realism,” which sets the prospect of the world’s transformation. The philosopher considers the adult choice of literature, its missionary role in the liturgization of creativity, part of which may be a new development of gospel themes and plots. Just as in the analysis of literary works Fedorov builds on the plots of “Faust,” “Dead Souls,” he builds the stories of the prudent robber, Lazarus, etc., stretches the threads of interaction between the gospel plots, reconstructs the links of the gospel story, creating projects of future novels that the masters of the word should embody.
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In April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human being to journey beyond Earth’s atmosphere and enter outer space. This achievement cemented the status of the Soviet Union as a global superpower and intensified its race with the United States to be the first nation to put a person on the Moon. However, what many people are far less aware of is that a proto-transhumanist and quasi-religious movement in the nineteenth century laid the philosophical foundations for the Space Race. At the same time, the writings of its main proponents continue to inspire beliefs at the confluence of religion, space exploration and spirituality. This movement was called Cosmism and was spearheaded by an unusual character named Nikolai Fyodorov, a librarian from Moscow whose idiosyncrasies became just as notorious as his radical beliefs about humanity colonising the Milky Way and using science to resurrect the dead. Fyodorov’s Common Task set out a grand plan for humanity’s future, one in which Homo sapiens would become a spacefaring species and construct a utopian civilisation among the stars. In 1953, Israeli political theorist Mordechai Nessyahu founded Cosmodeism which advocated a similar endeavour of human expansion into the extraterrestrial world but focused its beliefs around the prophecy that spaceflight will see humans eventually become gods in a presently godless cosmos. However, new developments have begun to take place in space religion in the twenty-first century with the youngest religion having been founded only a decade ago in 2013 whose followers are known as Astronists. Astronism repackages human space expansion as a sacred endeavour called transcension, the object of which is to see humanity escape the cosmos entirely and thus relieve itself of all limitations. Studying the interplay between these three space religions will demonstrate how they have contributed to art and film, astronautics and spaceflight, philosophy and literature.
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L’histoire parallèle de l’évolution de l’intelligence humaine et de l’intelligence artificielle constitue un voyage fascinant, mettant en lumière les voies distinctes mais interconnectées de l’évolution biologique et de l’innovation technologique. Cette histoire peut être considérée comme une série de développements interconnectés, chaque avancée de l’intelligence humaine ouvrant la voie au prochain bond en avant de l’intelligence artificielle. L’intelligence humaine et l’intelligence artificielle sont depuis longtemps liées, évoluant selon des trajectoires parallèles tout au long de l’histoire. Alors que les humains cherchent à comprendre et à reproduire l’intelligence, l’IA est devenue un domaine dédié à la création de systèmes capables d’accomplir des tâches qui nécessitent traditionnellement l’intellect humain. Ce livre examine les racines évolutives de l'intelligence, explore l'émergence de l'intelligence artificielle, examine l'histoire parallèle de l'intelligence humaine et de l'intelligence artificielle, retraçant leur développement, leurs interactions et l'impact profond qu'elles ont eu les unes sur les autres, et envisage les paysages futurs où l'intelligence humaine et artificielle converge. Explorons cette histoire, en comparant les étapes clés et les développements dans les deux domaines.
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This lecture created by Brandon Taylorian (aka Cometan) specially for the CESNUR Conference held Bordeaux in June 2024 provides a brief introduction to the legacy of religious and philosophical thought that Astronism emerges from, namely the discourse on transcension started assuredly by the Cosmists in Russia in the mid-to-late nineteenth century and then carried on and developed by Mordecai Nessyahu in Cosmodeism in the twentieth century. Cometan also then provides some detail on his story in founding Astronism in the early twenty-first century from 2013 along with details on the central Astronist doctrine of transcension. Finally, the lecture concludes with some contributions made by space religions and space philosophy and their influences on various cultural facets in art, literature and film.
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The paper introduces the transhumanism and cosmic communism of Mao Zedong and discusses its relation to a Marxian conception of human nature and analogous Soviet visions. Having shown that the two-sided understanding of human nature in Marx opened doors for its transhumanist interpretations, the article identifies instances of the latter in the ideal of the New Soviet Man, the views of Trotsky, and the communist (or at least Sovietized) cosmism of Tsiolkovsky and Bogdanov. In parallel to and prior to his contact with Marxism, Mao became occupied with the problems of immortality, alternative spaces, the destruction of the Earth, and the power of human will, and his early transhumanism only revived after 1949. It is shown that based on his revision of historical materialism and belief in the limitless potential of human powers, Mao envisaged that technological and cultural revolutions would still and endlessly occur under communism(s), including their cosmic phases, and even after a global nuclear catastrophe. This would be, however, a future of "something more advanced" than humans, free from their current physical limitations. Medplanetarne revolucije: marksistični transhumanizem, Maotov kozmični komunizem in še kaj Izvleček Prispevek predstavi transhumanizem in kozmični komunizem Mao Zedonga ter obravna-va njegovo povezavo z marksističnim pojmovanjem človeške narave in analognimi sov-jetskimi vizijami. Potem ko prispevek pokaže, da je Marxovo dvostransko razumevanje človeške narave odprlo vrata transhumanističnim razlagam, opredeli primere slednjih v okvirih ideala novega sovjetskega človeka, pogledih Trockega in komunističnem (ali vsaj sovjetskem) kozmizmu Ciolkovskega in Bogdanova. Vzporedno z marksizmom se je Mao ukvarjal s problemi nesmrtnosti, alternativnih prostorov, uničenja Zemlje in moči
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This chapter explains how Russia’s understanding of itself as a distinctive civilization is far from being a novelty but is rather an idea that has deep historical roots that can be dated back to the Slavophile current of the nineteenth century.
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Can humanity survive climate change and mass extinction? Concepts of humanity assumed or implicit in the field at the founding of this journal are under critical pressure from multiple directions. Reading across schools of thought confronting relations sometimes called Anthropocene, this essay explains five tasks for religious ethics “after humanity:” (i) incorporate species‐level relations of power and vulnerability; (ii) denaturalize planetary myth‐making; (iii) undo colonial humanisms; (iv) recompose ways of life after the end of the world; and (v) reanimate ethical inquiry in attentiveness to multispecies worldmaking.
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Musiktheorie bietet ein großes Potenzial für die zukünftige Entwicklung von Musik. In ihrer kreativen intellektuellen Auseinandersetzung mit musikalischen Strukturen als kulturell determinierte Gefüge hat sie schon immer auch Zukünfte entworfen. Die Beiträger*innen untersuchen dieses Verhältnis von Musik, Musiktheorie und Zukunft in der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Dabei fokussieren sie den Zeitraum vom 19. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert aus historisch-historiographischer, kulturwissenschaftlicher, aber auch pragmatischer Perspektive und liefern damit einen Beitrag zur polyphonen Musikgeschichte aus musiktheoretischer Perspektive.
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Transhumanism is the recent philosophical, cultural, and political movement which calls for the indefinite extension (or “enhancement”) of human powers, even including that humans transform into some other mode of being – not just a still higher ape but perhaps a consolidated “cyborg” or some purely silicon existence. The movement is quite controversial, and has been associated with both libertarian and authoritarian political agendas. Nevertheless, transhumanists regard themselves as the most faithful heirs to the spirit of the eighteenth‐century European Enlightenment.
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In this paper, death and immortality ideas of Russian cosmists are in syncretic way put together with key ideas in postmodern philosophy. The problem considered in world philosophy on creating co-evolutionary conditions for the emergence of «immortal» man is illustrated by a wide variety of ideas and concepts. This paper contains innovative ideas of the Russian cosmists as the starting point of the research. Special attention is paid to the extraordinary teachings of N. F. Fedorov, who is the founder of Russian Cosmic philosophy. Using the system-diachronic method and technologies of ascending from the abstract to the concrete, the author compares the ideas of Russian cosmism with manifest concepts of modern philosophy (synergetics, phenomenology, transhumanism). The author also gives the most striking facts of discoveries of modern natural science and draws conclusions about ideas of Russian cosmists that have been put forward ahead of their time and retained their relevance and ontological potential until now. The paper presents the prospects for further studying the heritage of Russian cosmism to search for philosophical tools that could, without going beyond the limits of ethical universals, successfully combine the controversial theoretical directions of modern philosophy for the future positive practical development of society.
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This chapter provides a detailed discussion of the history of exploration and exploitation of outer space, its geopolitical positioning and place in society, and in so doing it provides a wide-ranging framework for a consideration of its governance and in comparison with that of the maritime sector. It also provides the basis for suggested developments for governance in the future in the light of a wide range of considerations.Fundamental outer space governance principles are proposed and issues such as property rights, tourism, mineral exploitation, ethics, morals and the role of aliens are discussed. Philosophical considerations are detailed including issues such as commodification and markets, infantile narcissism, power balance and its significance to those central to outer space, religion (including Christianity, Catholicism, Judaism and Islam) and the pro-space movement. The contribution and significance of architecture, literature and art are also outlined, whilst the different relationship of outer space to political conventions including capitalism and the historical importance of Marxism/communism in the USSR is considered.
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The cultural phenomenon of Russian cosmism was fully revealed in Russia during the period of Gorbachev’s «perestroika». The group of thinkers, which is usually attributed to the Russian cosmists, was first identified in the late sixties of the XX century by the participants of Scientific Readings in memory of K. E. Tsiolkovsky. The first mention of the concept of «Russian cosmism» by Western researchers is contained in a monograph by M. Hagemeister published in 1989. The study of the literary and philosophical heritage of N. F. Fedorov by Western researchers was previously conducted within the framework of the concept of Prometheanism. In the first two decades of the XXI century, both Western and domestic researchers are dominated by an erroneous idea of N. F. Fedorov as the “ancestor of Russian cosmism”, as well as K. E. Tsiolkovsky, A. L. Chizhevsky and V. I. Vernadsky as spokespeople for his ideas. The first article by S. G. Semenova with the concept of Russian cosmism with N. F. Fedorov as its founder was published in vol. 9 of the Concise Literary Encyclopedia in 1978. Hopes for the «resurrection of the fathers» are close only to the followers of the teachings of N. F. Fedorov. K. E. Tsiolkovsky, A. L. Chizhevsky, V. I. Vernadsky and other major Russian cosmists were not supporters of N. F. Fedorov’s «doctrine of resurrection». Modern followers of N. F. Fedorov’s teaching use the concept of «Russian cosmism» as an influential trend in Russian philosophical and scientific thought to promote their religious ideas. The essence of the teachings of the Fedorovites is transhumanism, which is disguised under Christianized moral and ethical ideas.
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The article continues a series of publications in which Russian cosmism is studied as an original cultural phenomenon generated by the specifics of the period of «Gorbachev’s» perestroika. It is shown that the features of the political culture of Russians described by Young are generally correct. The merit of Young’s concept is the detailed substantiation of the popularity of the ideas of Russian cosmism among the Russian intelligentsia. Young manages to overcome the barrier of cultural differences. He finds in the writings of the Russian cosmists such formulations of questions and ways of solving them, which can contribute to the solution of global problems facing humanity. It is shown that the application of the methodology of the study of Western esotericism by A. Faivre to the study of Russian cosmism by Young has certain limitations. The four main and two additional characteristics of esotericism highlighted by Faivre can partly be found in the literary and philosophical heritage of N. F. Fedorov. The characteristics of esotericism highlighted by Faivre are even less applicable to the theories of Russian cosmists-scientists. The drawback of Young’s concept of Russian cosmism lies in the uncritical acceptance of S. G. Semyonova’s idea about N. F. Fyodorov as the «ancestor of Russian cosmism,» as well as about K. E. Tsiolkovsky, A. L. Chizhevsky and V. I. Vernadsky as those who developed these or other provisions teachings of N.F. Fedorov.
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This article investigates the approaches to understanding human transformation in the underexplored works of Russian cosmist philosophers Alexander Konstantinovich Gorsky and Nikolai Alexandrovich Setnitsky. As disciples of cosmism’s founder; Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov; these scholars contributed original ideas to the development of philosophical thought amid the tumultuous early 20 th century; marked by the First World War; the Great Russian Revolution; and a period of political repression. The paradigms established by Gorsky and Setnitsky hinge on the idea that human action can not only strive towards and achieve an ideal but also engender change in the world and the universe. They perceive issues of individual subconsciousness as manifestations of an unknown and all-encompassing inner world within humans. Echoing Fedorov; they identify the theanthropic (God-human) aspects of Christianity and address questions of culture; creativity; and history through human participation in fulfilling both the moral and existential teachings of Christ. Despite their shared philosophical positions; each thinker emphasizes different aspects of human and world studies. Gorsky envisions the path to a new reality through human creativity and the transformation of one’s own flesh; while arguing that an exclusive focus on scientific and technological progress is insufficient. Setnitsky; on the other hand; posits that external technological forces must be transformed into internal human forces throughout global and cosmic evolution. Gorsky and Setnitsky’s philosophical concepts of human transformation revolve around the enhancement of the inner world and the recognition of potential that remains invisible and incomprehensible. The article concludes that; in the 21 st century; when scientific and technological advancements are transforming not only the world but the very nature of human beings; the legacy of Gorsky and Setnitsky; with their boundless faith in both scientific progress and spiritual self-improvement; holds particular relevance.
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Soviet science contributed significantly to our understanding of anthropogenic climate change and, as part of this, played a central role in the emerging science underpinning climate modification and geoengineering initiatives. A key focus of discussion was the use of stratospheric aerosols linked to the innovative ideas of Mikhail Budyko and colleagues. This work had its origins in what has been termed the theory of aerosol climatic catastrophe, which gained prominence in the Soviet context during the early 1970s. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the ideas of Budyko concerning the use of stratospheric aerosols were advanced by Yuri Izrael and his collaborators. The associated body of work gained traction during the 2000s and engendered a wider debate concerning the efficacy of geoengineering solutions amongst Russia's climate scientists. The legacies of this scientific discussion are also evident in recent high‐level international debates such as those linked to the activities of the IPCC. While significant geopolitical obstacles remain in the way of an international agreement linked to the possible deployment of geoengineering measures, interest continues to grow. The maturity of Russian science in the area of geoengineering and climate modification ensures that it remains an important voice within the broader scientific debate. At the same time, the progressive isolation of Russian science from the international scene due to wider geopolitical events risks deflecting attention away from contemporary popular and political debate in this area and alienating this rich scientific tradition at a critical juncture. This article is categorized under: Climate, History, Society, Culture > Ideas and Knowledge Climate, History, Society, Culture > Disciplinary Perspectives Climate, History, Society, Culture > Technological Aspects and Ideas
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The article examines the original phenomenon of Russian cosmism, generated by the culture of the Gorbachev period of «perestroika». Russian cosmism is an original synthesis of scientific ideas, religious and philosophical insights, as well as poetic and artistic penetration into the mysteries of the cosmos. The article shows the limit of applicability of the concept of «Russian cosmism» to Russian philosophy, poetry and ballet. In a number of research works, a «circular» error was revealed when substantiating the involvement in «Russian cosmism» of musical works, ballet, painting and literature based on the content of the ideas of the philosophy of cosmism in them. The article shows that in the era of the Silver Age, philosophers, scientists and writers did not realize the commonality of the ideas of «Russian cosmism». The article proves that one can speak about the philosophy of Russian cosmism only with the advent of critical philosophical reflection on the foundations and principles of the corresponding school – participants in scientific Readings in memory of K. E. Tsiolkovsky realized the presence of a group of Russian thinkers-cosmists only in the late 60s of the XX century. It is shown that Russian cosmism finally acquires its essence only during the years of Gorbachev’s «perestroika», when it becomes a new Russian «saving» ideology for the entire world.
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Taking a cue from Teilhard de Chardin's Christologically inflected speculation, the key question in this issue is whether the project of transhumanism is compatible with Christianity and the Incarnation of Christ. Two articles focus on theological anthropology and the limits, if any, of human perfection in light of Christ's perfection. Another article examines the ontological claims about human nature in transhumanism and its incompatibility with a Christian ontology. The last two turn from more abstract concerns to consider how the use of technology can inhibit or help human moral and spiritual development.
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In 1908, thunderous blasts and blazing fires from the sky descended upon the desolate Tunguska territory of Siberia. The explosion knocked down an area of forest larger than London and was powerful enough to obliterate Manhattan. The mysterious nature of the event has prompted a wide array of speculation and investigation, including from those who suspected that aliens from outer space had been involved. In this deeply researched account of the Tunguska explosion and its legacy in Russian society, culture, and the environment, Andy Bruno recounts the intriguing history of the disaster and researchers' attempts to understand it. Taking readers inside the numerous expeditions and investigations that have long occupied scientists, he foregrounds the significance of mystery in environmental history. His engaging and accessible account shows how the explosion has shaped the treatment of the landscape, how uncertainty allowed unusual ideas to enter scientific conversations, and how cosmic disasters have influenced the past and might affect the future.
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The work of F.M. Dostoevsky is considered a kind of ideological and artistic precedence of Russian thought that was formed in Russia in the last quarter of the XIX century and was called “Russian cosmism”. The importance of Dostoevsky's ideas and images in the formation of ontology, anthropology, ethics, historiosophy, eschatology of Russian cosmism is shown. The revolt of Dostoevsky's heroes against the idea of the thermal death of the universe stimulated cosmist philosophers to create the idea of the antientropic essence of human life and work. The writer's idea of Christ as the “ideal of man in the flesh” and his belief in the Incarnation of God are explained on the basis of the idea of moral interpretation of dogma peculiar to the writer and cosmist philosophers. It is shown that Dostoevsky, like Russian cosmists, represents the world and man from the point of view of deontology, in the light of what they should be. He is one of the forerunners of the idea of history as a work of salvation, the development of which was given by N.F. Fedorov and Christian cosmists.
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The visibility of transhumanism in pop culture reveals its dramatic advance in twenty‐first‐century life. The more widespread the movement becomes, the more important it is to consider how transhumanism might be made relevant to global humanity. This article orients technological progress by drawing transhumanism into conversation with minjung theology from Korea. Minjung theology offers global tech culture—and its pursuit of technological salvation—an ethical foundation through attention to Han (an emotion specific to those who suffer from individual, sociopolitical, economic, and cultural oppression but have been unable to express it adequately) and the lived reality of those who are often excluded from benefits of technological society. Working in the other direction, transhumanist perspectives on technology offer minjung theology an opportunity to expand its reach through the development of a transcendent theological perspective.
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z: Sovyet Sosyalist Cumhuriyetler Birliği'nin dağılmasından hemen sonra Rusya'da sa-natla siyaset arasında, muhtemelen geçiş döneminin edebi estetiğine damgasını vurmuş olan, bir kopuş olduğu gözlemlenmiştir. Sovyet, Rus gazeteci ve romancı Aleksandr Prok-hanov sanatla siyaset arasındaki bu kopuşu toplumsal düşünceyi ve Rus kültürünü tahrip ettiğine inandığı liberal yönelimli arayışlara bağlamış ve sanatla siyaset arasındaki iliş-kiyi Sovyetler Birliği'ndeki resmi sanat anlayışında olduğu gibi, preskriptif ve normatif bir biçimde yeniden formüle etmeye çalışmıştır. 1990'ların başında ana dalga bir edebi-yatçı ve ideolog olmanın uzağında olan Prokhanov daha sonra editörü olduğu Zavtra gazetesindeki yazıları, 2012'den beri yöneticisi olduğu İzborski Kulübü Forumunda öne sürdüğü görüşleri ve bir hayli siyasi içerikli romanlarıyla yeni bir vatanseverlik anlayışı inşa edilmesi gerektiğini savunmuştur. Temsil ettiği ideoloji geçiş döneminden sonra post-Sovyet Rus devletinin ideolojisinin kurulmasında ve kurumsallaşmasında rol oyna-mış gibi görünmektedir. Bu çalışma Prokhanov'un bazı romanlarıyla düzyazılarında si-yasal temaların nasıl geliştirildiğine odaklanmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Aleksandr Prokhanov, çağdaş Rus siyaseti, çağdaş Rus romanı, dev-let ideolojisi. Abstract: Immediately in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, a rupture between art and politics occurred in Russia which defined the literary aesthetics of the transitory era. The Russian journalist and novelist Aleksandr Prokhanov attributed this break between art and politics to liberal-oriented pursuits. He believes that this schism has harmed social thought and Russian culture, and he has tried to reformulate the relationship between art and politics in a prescriptive and normative way, as was the typical understanding of art in the Soviet Union. Far from being a mainstream literary figure and ideologue in the early 1990s Prokhanov later argued that a new understanding of patriotism should be constructed. He espouses this idea through his novels-which are highly political, his articles in Zavtra-where he is the editor-in-chief and in his position at Izborski Club Forum-where he has been the manager since 2012. In sum, Prokhanov's ideology has played a role in the establishment and institutionalization of post-Soviet Russian state. This study focuses on how political themes are developed in some of Prokhanov's novels and non-fiction works.
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C’è un Futurismo con la "F" maiuscola e un futurismo con l'iniziale minuscola. Il primo è il Futurismo storico, fondato da Filippo Tommaso Marinetti nel 1909. È un movimento che ha segnato un periodo della storia dell’arte e della cultura. Il secondo è il futurismo eterno che deborda dai capitoli in cui la manualistica ha voluto rinchiudere il primo. È un futurismo che ancora scalpita, prende nuove forme e colori, produce idee e iniziative originali, senza tuttavia rinnegare il genitore. Questo volume raccoglie un ciclo di scritti di Riccardo Campa, uno dei teorici del futurismo eterno, prodotti nell’arco di tre decenni.
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This article begins by dwelling on the forms and causes of Western “historical nihilism” toward the Chinese socialist project. I then analyze issues attendant to Deng’s appeal to “liberating thought,” particularly as regards the importance of the development of the forces of production and the dilemmas this presents for socialists. This segues into a discussion of contradiction analysis, which is theoretically central in Boer’s book. Through the discussion of the difference of such analysis from forms of “either/or” logic dominant in the West, I arrive at the significance of the category of the “concrete universal” (Hegel) for the understanding of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” After unpacking some of the central issues posed by the “reform and opening-up,” I dwell on the question of socialism in China. I emphasize some of the complications inherent in the combination of socialist planning and the market economy, including the issue of the conception of a future or prospective “communist” stage. The discussion concludes by dwelling on issues of law and political structure, with particular emphasis on the innovative importance of “rule of law” in the socialist context, as well as on the importance of contradiction analysis for understanding the dialectic of sovereignty and globalization.
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This article provides a philosophical discussion and critique of the eschatological rise and fall meta-narratives that surround the issue of Western decline and Asian geopolitical preeminence. The authors provide three discrete arguments against ostensibly objective and empirical declinist meta-narratives: China's great power status within the Asian century; China's economic, legal, and political stability; as well as the potential for future meta-civilization change as understood through China's animistic approach to global leadership.
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