PROBLEMOS. 1998, vol. 53The annual journal of Vilnius University. Founded in 1968. The articles are published in Lithuanian and other languages. |
The editorial board:
Prof. habil. dr. ANTANAS ANDRIJAUSKAS (VDA), doc. dr. LEONIDAS DONSKIS (KU), prof. habil. dr. ALGIRDAS GAIŽUTIS (KMI), doc. dr. ČESLOVAS KALENDA (VU, vyr. redaktorius), prof. habil. dr. BRONISLOVAS KUZMICKAS (LFSI), prof. dr. ALGIS MICKĖNAS (Ohajo u-tas, JAV), prof. habil. dr. EVALDAS NEKRAŠAS (VU), doc. dr. ZENONAS NORKUS (VU), prof. habil. dr. ROLANDAS PAVILIONIS (VU), prof. habil. dr. ROMANAS PLEČKAITIS (VU), prof. dr. KĘSTUTIS SKRUPSKELIS (Pietų Karolinos u-tas, JAV), doc. dr. TOMAS SODEIKA (VDU), doc. dr. KRESCENCIJUS STOŠKUS (VU), prof. habil. dr. ARVYDAS ŠLIOGERIS (VU).
Contact address:
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The article is brought to bear on the political and cultural implications of radical communist modernization to the emerging democracy in post-revolutionary Lithuania as well as in postcommunist world on the whole. First, soviet industrial totalitarianism was not pieced together as a deviation from the western model of modernization, but, conversely, it represents the most violent enhancement of the latter. Second, an endemic specialty of contemporary ex-communist society amounts to the TURBO-modernizing legacy of communist regimes. Although such leftover impedes the consolidation of stable liberal democracy interfering with the disclosure of the Political, nevertheless it also helps to lessen the burden of the unprecedented massive transformations by mitigating pernicious outbursts of ANOMIA. As a result, the conceptual pith of TURBO-modernization its LOGICALITY IPSO FACTO contributes to the ongoing deconstruction of communist habitat. Third, in contrast to the third world intellectuals, old communist INTELLIGENTSIA turns out to be critical actor in slackening the grip of ANOMIA and therefore is affected it the least.
Positivism is a favorite object of postmodernist attacks. With an interesting exception, namely Hume, it is regarded by postmodernists as an embodiment of everything what is the worst in the Spirit of Enlightenment: its emphasis on wholeness, unity, and unequivocalness of knowledge.
There is no doubt that in many of its orientations postmodernism differs from positivism. However, it shares with positivism and, especially, logical positivism many important epistemological features including those it pretends to be anti-positivist: first of all, relativism and fallibilism. Social orientation of postmodernism shows a remarkable similarity to that of positivism also. There is no reason to regard postmodernism as a revolution in philosophy which overcame all modernist philosophies, positivism including.
Modernism is characterised by theory and practise of a man's technocratic domination over nature based on the principles of scientific rationalism and utilitarianism. One of essential features of postmodernistic culture is formation of a new relationship with natural reality. The article deals with anti-modernistic philosophical and ethical conceptions (A. Leopold, E. Schumacher, B. Callicott, O. Marquard) which are significant for formulation of a new paradigm of civilisation evolution, establishment of ecological priority against economics, development of ecological ethics.
The article exposes (in brief) the theories of the counterfactuals in analytical philosophy (metalinguistic, ontological and suppositionist) and discusses the conditions of assertability of counterfactuals in historiography. The conviction of some historians that the counterfactuals are essentially forbidden in the scientific historiography is critised on the ground that counterfactuals are implied by the causal statements and statements of the relative causal importance. The admission is made that the traditional (historist) historiography lacks adequate conceptual infrastructure for the detailed analysis of the objectively possible historical alternatives because its only method for validation of such analysis is inference by analogy. The procedure for validation of counterfactuals in economtric history is discussed citing as an exemple the work of Robert Fogel about the impact of the railroads on the economic growth in USA. The irrelevance of Jon Elster's "basic paradox of counterfactuals" for the working historian is asserted on the ground that as a matter of fact there is no empirical social theory capable to endogenize all initial conditions in explanatory arguments where it is instrumental for deduction of explanandum.
Having grown together, pure practicality and rationality were perhaps the most essential external feature of the newly established industry of the 18th19th centuries. Therefore, having employed external powers, the philosophy of this period made efforts to limit itself from speculations and become the positive science which would be related to the natural sciences. Although it recognises that the social cognition is engaged, it contemplates that a social theory can avoid this engagement to a certain extent by finding a neutral code with respect to values in the social life. This code is the character of naturalness of each individual, which as a composite part lies in the whole body of the society. This particular code has to undergo research according to the philosophers of the New Age and positive social science.
Recently many references on marketing and application of its methods were published. However its application most frequently is related to economic field of the life (business), commonly with consumer goods market. Application of marketing in other fields of activities is not discussed although its methods are general and universal. So, the following questions arise. Are the statements of marketing such generalized and universal that they may be applied almost in all fields of the life or must they be modified taking into consideration the specific features of the field of activities. And if the second variant is true, what principles of marketing may be adopted and how must they be applied? And at first of all in the field which is the most important to us - the political activities, in the field of political services to the society.
In the article it is tried to consider political services as a subject of marketing emphasizing the specific features and expression of the existence of political services.
The article deals with the concept of the death of art in Adorno's "Aesthetic Theory". The peculiarity of the concept in comparison with the hegelian one and with traditional interpretations of it consists in that it is to mean the negative relations in the works of art and antinomous nature of art that are the conditions of artistic quality of the work. The concept has meaned the decline of art or the changes of art's essence in its historical transition in traditional theories. Adorno moves the historical transition of art into the particular work of art. The qualities of art must be and not be the characteristic of the very work. Adorno defines an art via its difference from the reality behind the art which is the non-identity of a work to itself. The concept of death is to mean that the work is and is not itself, as it is the function of its other-the historical reality. The condition of non-identity lies in the negative relations among the individual moments of a work and a work as a whole. It is the second meaning of death. The third is an antinomy between thing-like quality and non-material essence of art. The defining quality of art is its difference from the thing, so the reification of art means its death. Meanwhile the objective spirit of art cannot exist but via its form. We consider the concept of objective spirit of art that is immediately subjected neither to the artist, nor to the viewer, nor to the work as a whole, as a principle that constitutes the inherent relations among the parts of a work and the relations of it as a whole to reality behind the particular work of art. The work of art dies as a subjective artefact and stays as an objective truth content in this sense. Adorno does not assert the possibility of an existence of art. He does not assert the indispensable death of art as well. It depends on the existence of the inhuman meaning of nature and if it exists, the existence of art is dependent to the possibility of disclosure of such meaning by the objective spirit of art.
The paper deals with the problem of justice in Kant's practical philosophy. In the realm of philosophy of Kant the problem of justice is distinguished by the lack of interest from the side of historians of philosophy and philosophers. The paper is an example of an attempt to deal with the problem of justice in the context of Kant's practical theory.
The concept of ultimate practical end is the central for Kant's theory of morals and law. It could be treated as the most important for the inquiry into the problem of justice. The concepts of compulsion, the natural and civil state, the capital punishment and the principal of equality are the most significant guides to our research. The paper also indicates the limits of strict moral interpretation of the concept of justice. It also makes some references to further investigation.