Papers by Ruben Apressyan
Education & pedagogy journal, Jun 7, 2022
When speaking about the value component of character education, one usually means, first and fore... more When speaking about the value component of character education, one usually means, first and foremost, the value content of education associated with educational goals. A look at the current network resources only confirms this impression. For example, the authors of online publications deal mainly with the problems of patriotic, civic, ecological, and democratic education; to a lesser extent, also with moral (which is often reduced to patriotic and civic education) and esthetic (artistic, musical); there are also publications on Christian, especially Orthodox education. There is no reason to believe that diversified education can be effective. However, as a preparatory intellectual elaboration on ideologically heterogeneous content to be incorporated into character education, such an approach, analogous to subject-differentiated learning, may have practical significance. The relationship between values and character education has two aspects. One concerns the value content of character education. Here, it is appropriate to discuss the values of education programs. The other concerns the value bases, the value component of the educational activity itself, and the ethos of education. The theme of the value paradigms of character education, mentioned in the title of this article, emerges here. The educator implements a specific value system in their activity. However, the particular educational activity is not always directed at forming the underlying value system. The basis of axiological reconstruction In the most general sense, values are generalized, stable ideas about what is significant 1 for individual objects (material or ideal), or, in other words, they are ideas about something that is essentially and fundamentally preferred as something good, i.e., about what corresponds not only to some needs, interests, intentions, goals, plans of the individual, but expresses his or her ideas about the ideal, perfect. From an empirical point of view, the value reflects the individual's attitude towards an object, an event, or a phenomenon, i.e., a relationship in which the latter is recognized and to which certain importance is attributed. In this sense, the value attitude differs from the indifferent attitude. Just as needs and interests are different, so is the weight of the various values and their importance in an individual's life. Nevertheless, the very characteristic of value as something through which and based on which value is given points to something elsethe individual's attitude toward an object, an event, or a phenomenon is predetermined by value consciousness; something recognized as significant because it appeals to certain inner feelings. An essential methodological question that arises here is what is the starting point, and what is the initial data of the axiological analysis? Various approaches are possible here. Relatively speaking, the metaphysical approach hypostasizes a certain realm of values that exists in itself, 1 For a detailed interpretation of the concept of meaning and value, see [1].
Ètičeskaâ myslʹ, 2022
Принцип взаимности имеет основополагающий характер для ветхозаветного морального мира и обнаружив... more Принцип взаимности имеет основополагающий характер для ветхозаветного морального мира и обнаруживается во всех основных его проявлениях. В книгах Ветхого Завета он разносторонне явлен в описаниях как отношений Бога и человека, так и межчеловеческих отношений. В статье принцип взаимности рассматривается на материале его основных форм-Талиона, благодарности и Золотого правила, в его двух видах-ретроспективной взаимности ответных действий (позитивных или негативных) и проспективной взаимности инициативных действий, реализующих благорасположенность деятеля в отношении других. Основа нормативно-этического анализаимперативные и нарративные тексты книг Ветхого Завета. Повествовательные сюжеты, представленные в Быт. 21:22-24, 27; 26:26-31; Нав. 2:1-24, особенно важны для изучения Золотого правила, которое присутствует в ветхозаветных книгах по преимуществу в рудиментарных формах: анализ соответствующих нарративов позволяет реконструировать процесс кристаллизации мышления в духе Золотого правила на его протонормативной стадии. Рассмотрение нормативной динамики Талиона и Золотого правила показывает, что принцип взаимности, поначалу сложившийся в практике торговых обменов, и став средством для обеспечения слаженности социальных отношений, постепенно осознается как универсальный принцип общежития, и в этом качестве он является базовым для морали.
Čelovek, 2022
Discussions of the seemingly never-ending COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic are mainly emotional. Alt... more Discussions of the seemingly never-ending COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic are mainly emotional. Although “truth of the heart” contained in them is existentially accurate and convincing, it is not sufficient for public and productive discourse focused on countering the pandemic. The pandemic situation is an emergency requiring extraordinary measures. As experience shows, in emergency, the authorities’ actions are often lead to unjustified restriction and even direct violation of civil liberties and rights. The discussion of the problems associated with the pandemic needs an adequate normative language. Meanwhile, the fight against the epidemics of viral diseases of recent decades prompted UNESCO and WHO in awareness of the danger of pandemics, to initiate developing normative documents that formulated principles defining the ethical priorities of the authorities' policy in the field of health and public safety. The article specifies the main documents accepted by these organizations, as well as some others related to the issues under discussion and presents the most important ethical principles of activities aimed at preserving people's health. It shows how normative ethics “works” in practice — what is its structure and what ensures the imperative effectiveness of primary moral values, how they are translated into operational attitudes of political and professional activity. Besides guidelines for decision makers and political coordinators, ethical documents are important for they provide the society with criteria for assessment of public authorities and other social agents in their efforts to counter the pandemic. They propose a normative language, using which the society, including media workers, can claim the authorities, referring to universal and approved by the international expert community ethical principles.
Peace Review, Dec 1, 1998
... For populist intellectuals and journalists, such a brave change of language was probably thou... more ... For populist intellectuals and journalists, such a brave change of language was probably thought of as necessary for reaching out and broadening their audience. ... 1040-2659/98/040587-05 © 1998 Carfax Publishing Ltd Page 2. 588 Ruben G. Apressyan ...
Ètičeskaâ myslʹ, 2021
Proceedings of a Discussion on «Prolegomena to Moral Responsibility» Апресян Рубен Грантович (Инс... more Proceedings of a Discussion on «Prolegomena to Moral Responsibility» Апресян Рубен Грантович (Институт философии РАН, доктор философских наук, профессор, руководитель сектора этики). Заслуживает серьезного внимания сам факт выхода в свет выпуска журнала «Финиковый Компот», посвященного проблематике моральной ответственности. Ключевое место в этом номере принадлежит «Пролегоменам…»-аналитическому обзору, подготовленному на основе обсуждений моральной ответственности в аналитической философии. Основные положения этого обзора представлены во вступительной статье к нашему обсуждению. Как мне кажется, это издание заметно меняет нашу литературную ситуацию в части обсуждений моральной ответ-* Текст А.П. Беседина подготовлен при финансовой поддержке РНФ, проект № 21-78-10044 «Феномен моральной ответственности». Funding: The text was prepared with the support by RSF, project No. 21-78-10044 «The Phenomenon of Moral Responsibility».
Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences, 2018
The universality test is a significant reflective procedure, owing to which Kant’s categorical im... more The universality test is a significant reflective procedure, owing to which Kant’s categorical imperative is brought into proximity with moral practice and with an agent’s decisions made in particular circumstances and at the face of value collisions. The test is to be done in every single case by a moral agent her/himself and it aims to examine a selected maxim for its universality, that is to its congruity to universal and necessary moral law and hence to its moral dignity. This issue has been broadly developed during the last century either within Kant studies, or in positive philosophical discussions, often sharply polemical. The paper represents some positions in those discussions (O. O’Neill, D. Parfit, H.J. Paton, J. Rawls, A.P. Skripnik, E.Y. Soloviev, A.K. Sudakov, A. Wood). No matter how important the universality test in an agent’s moral decisions, so far universality signifies one of three embodiments of the categorical imperative, it would be wrong to consider the test ...
Ètičeskaâ myslʹ, 2017
Представляя основные тенденции в этике раннего Нового времени, Стивен Даруэлл исходит из того, чт... more Представляя основные тенденции в этике раннего Нового времени, Стивен Даруэлл исходит из того, что особую роль в ее становлении и развитии сыграла традиция естественного права, обновленная Гроцием, Пуфендорфом, Гоббсом, Локком и др. Особенности ранненововременных теорий естественного права в том, что в них наряду с всеобщим разумом была признана возможность такого принципа поведения, как эгоистический разум-в форме благоразумия: человек поступает нравственно, реализуя свое стремление к личному благу («правильно понятому»). Ранненововременные теоретики естественного права выдвинули идею нормативного порядка, направленного на ограничение стремления к осуществлению личного блага посредством социально вменяемых норм, основанных на каком-либо авторитете. В этом контексте были поставлены и обсужда-этом контексте были поставлены и обсужда-этом контексте были поставлены и обсуждались проблемы вменения, основания обязанностей и их различия, ответственности и т. д. Остальные тенденции в ранненовоременной этике Даруэлл рассматривает как полемическую реакцию на теоретические вызовы со стороны теорий естественного права. Рационалисты в лице Кадворта (как представителя кембриджского платонизма), Шафтсбери, Лейбница, Мальбранша, Спинозы, отодвигая в тень, а то и отрицая нормативную составляющую морали, считали, что моральность человека обусловлена разумным постижением им объективного порядка вещей, божественного или природного. На основе такого постижения индивид самоопределяется в качестве добродетельного. Наиболее яркая критика с позиций эгоизма была предпринята Мандевилем, который продемонстрировал неоднозначность связи мотивов и результатов (морально благие мотивы могут вести к социально пагубным последствиям); это оказало влияние на развитие утилитаризма, настаивавшего на определяющей роли результатов для моральной оценки поступков. Еще одну альтернативу теориям естественного права представляют дискуссии между сентименталистами (Хатчесоном, Юмом, отчасти Батлером) и рационалистами (Кларком, Бэлгаем, Уолластоном, Прайсом, Ридом): разногласия относительно способности (чувство или разум), посредством которой моральный агент воспринимает моральные качества, касались и оснований самой морали; в сентиментализме мораль ассоциировалась в конечном счете с добродетелью, а в рационализме-с обязанностью.
RUDN Journal of Philosophy, 2012
The genesis of thinking according to the type and the spirit of the Golden Rule (and conjugated w... more The genesis of thinking according to the type and the spirit of the Golden Rule (and conjugated with it Lex Talionis and the Commandment of Love) is considered as a pattern of historical formation of morality in general. Moral thinking was shaped by understanding and mastering the experience of particular communicative situations. Prior to normative generalizations and universal prescriptivity the logic of moral thinking was gradually growing up of the expectations of agents of communicative situations as logic of reciprocity and mutuality. The analysis is based on the material of Homer's poems.
Psikhologicheskii zhurnal, 2019
Этическая мысль/Ethical Thought, 2022
The principle of reciprocity is fundamental to the Old Testament moral world and is traced in all... more The principle of reciprocity is fundamental to the Old Testament moral world and is traced in all its main manifestations. In the Old Testament books, they are comprehensively presented in descriptions of both, the relationship between God and the humans, and human relations. The article considers the principle of reciprocity on the basis of its main forms – Lex Talionis, gratitude and the Golden Rule, in its two types – retrospective reciprocity of retaliatory actions (positive or negative) and prospective reciprocity of initiative actions that implement an agent’s benevolence towards others. The study has been grounded on a normative-ethical analysis of imperative and narrative texts of the Old Testament books. Some narrative plots (Gen. 21: 22–24, 27; 26: 26–31; Nav. 2: 1–24) are especially significant for the study of the Golden Rule, which is present in the Old Testament mostly rudimentary: the analysis of the corresponding narratives allows us to reconstruct the process of crystallization of thinking in the spirit of the Golden Rule at a proto-normative stage. The Lex Talionis and the Golden Rule normative dynamics shows that the principle of reciprocity, which initially emerged in the practice of trade exchanges and became a means to ensure the coherence of social relations, was gradually realized as a universal principle of social life and as such turned out to be fundamental for morality.
Ethical Thought, 2021
Proceedings of a Discussion on «Prolegomena to Moral Responsibility» (RAS Institute of Philosophy... more Proceedings of a Discussion on «Prolegomena to Moral Responsibility» (RAS Institute of Philosophy, March 2021).
Power and Legitimacy – Challenges from Russia, 2013
Among a whole variety of issues that are discussed in the literature regarding the legitimacy of ... more Among a whole variety of issues that are discussed in the literature regarding the legitimacy of power, three seem to dominate, namely: a) the consent of the people to the existing government as the nature of legitimacy; b) some kind of criteria according to which this consent to the government is expressed; and c) the means by which legitimacy is obtained. The question before us con cerns whether these are just issues selected from current discussions, whether they are different aspects of the very phenomenon of legitimacy, perhaps different research approaches or even different theories as such? It seems that all of these interpretations might be plausible. Yet, given that they reflect different aspects of the phenomenon, different theoretical approaches, or dif ferent conceptions, one should be sensitive to methodological differences distinguishing these issues. Considering the issues at hand as aspects of legitimacy, one should take into account that they correlate with well-known theories of legitimacy. That of people's consent to the government appears in John Locke's theory, as well as in some aspects of Max Weber's. W hat I identified as criteria, or a basis of consent, correlates with conceptions proposed by David Beetham and Peter Stillman, and the idea of the means of legitimation with Max Weber's theory. Further, it should be noted that I analyse these aspects, remembering the authors who elaborated them conceptually, and refer to and follow them, although I am fully aware of my own responsibility for the theoretical synthesis I propose in this chapter.
Most of the features of modern Russian business are transient, determined by the transitional cha... more Most of the features of modern Russian business are transient, determined by the transitional character of the Russian economy and drastic changes in the social structure, ideology, and consciousness of Russian society in general. There are three main normative experiences in the traditions of Russian business: a) the experience of pre-Revolutionary business, specifically developed and practiced by the merchants of the old-believers extraction; b) the experience of socialist economy, which was more or less oriented to the public good and presupposed selfless aspirations by the economic agents; c) the experience of legally and administratively constrained private business and illegal shadow business, which expected businessmen to be vigorous, industrious and enterprising. The process of privatization was developed under the aegis of state, specifically the state bureaucracy. The influence of changes in the social-economic system has been ambivalent for social morals. However, the reforms could stimulate their improvement. The recent development in the cultural environment of business testify to the emerging space of civilized business, which manifests that it is practically useful for businessmen to be ethical.
Chelovek/The Human Being, 2022
Discussions of the seemingly never-ending COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic are mainly emotional. Alt... more Discussions of the seemingly never-ending COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic are mainly emotional. Although “truth of the heart” contained in them is existentially accurate and convincing, it is not sufficient for public and productive discourse focused on countering the pandemic. The pandemic situation is an emergency requiring extraordinary measures. As experience shows, in emergency, the authorities’ actions are often lead to unjustified restriction and even direct violation of civil liberties and rights. The discussion of the problems associated with the pandemic needs an adequate normative language. Meanwhile, the fight against the epidemics of viral diseases of recent decades prompted UNESCO and WHO in awareness of the danger of pandemics, to initiate developing normative documents that formulated principles defining the ethical priorities of the authorities' policy in the field of health and public safety. The article specifies the main documents accepted by these organizations, as well as some others related to the issues under discussion and presents the most important ethical principles of activities aimed at preserving people's health. It shows how normative ethics “works” in practice – what is its structure and what ensures the imperative effectiveness of primary moral values, how they are translated into operational attitudes of political and professional activity. Besides guidelines for decision makers and political coordinators, ethical documents are important for they provide the society with criteria for assessment of public authorities and other social agents in their efforts to counter the pandemic. They propose a normative language, using which the society, including media workers, can claim the authorities, referring to universal and approved by the international expert community ethical principles.
Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy, 2018
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Papers by Ruben Apressyan
стол”, посвященная обсуждению ситуации, сложившейся в области современных этических
исследований и перспектив разработки этической проблематики в отечественной
философской этике. Актуальность тематики конференции обусловлена тем, что
сегодня интенсивно меняется духовная атмосфера в стране и мире. Поэтому этическая
проблематика становится важнейшим элементом философской работы как у нас
в стране, так и за рубежом. Участники ставили перед собой задачу проанализировать
нравственные альтернативы современного мира, обусловленные ориентацией этики
на абсолютные основания нравственности, с одной стороны, и фактической релятивностью
этических норм — с другой, что выражается в отрыве прикладных этик от
философской этики. В центре обсуждения и дискуссий были проблемы и трудности
в российских этических исследованиях и попытки определить приоритеты их развития
на ближайшее будущее. Все участники возникавших в ходе обсуждения острых
дискуссий были согласны в том, что современную ситуацию в этике можно адекватно
понять только в широком историческом контексте философских опытов в этой области
и, прежде всего, в контексте релевантной философско-методологической проблематики.
Ниже публикуются материалы обсуждения.
Авторский коллектив: И.Ю. Алексеева, д.ф.н., доц. (II.3; V.1; V.5), Р.Г. Апресян, д.ф.н., проф. (I.3; II.1), В.И. Бакштановский, д.ф.н., проф. (I.1; II.4), М.В. Богданова, д.с.н., доц. (II.4), Е.Н. Викторук, д.ф.н., проф. (V.3), В.Г. Горохов, д.ф.н., проф. (II.5), А.А. Гусейнов, д.ф.н., проф., ака-демик РАН (I.5.), А.А. Малюк, к.т.н., проф. (V.1; V.5), Г.В. Панина, к.ф.н., доц. (V.4), А.В. Прокофьев, д.ф.н., доц. (III.1; IV.1), М.М. Рогожа, д.ф.н., доц. (III.3), А.А. Скворцов, к.ф.н., доц. (I.4), Ю. В. Согомонов, д.ф.н., проф. (I.1), А.Ю. Согомонов, к.и.н., (II.2; IV.2; V.2), А.А. Сычев, д.ф.н., доц. (I.2; III.2; IV.3).