No abstract

The research presented in the article aimed to diagnose the profound changes that have taken place in education as a result of the expansion of screen technologies and the introduction of distance interaction in pedagogy. The live-sounding speech of a teacher is the true historical form of paideia as such and the technique of maieutics in particular. Any intermediary, even a writing process, let alone the screen, reduces the effect of pedagogical dialog and produces significant and radical changes in the understanding of meaning. The article deals with the problems of understanding in the pressing context of two turns of educational philosophy: linguistic and medial. The empirical background of these turns is represented, on the one hand, by the increasing extent of the visualized (“printed,” “screened”) word in educational procedures vs. the sounding word, and by the irreversible introduction of screen technologies, digitalization, and distance learning, on the other hand. The consideration is made through the prism of the comprehension-based approach focusing on the values and meanings of professional-pedagogical activity, namely, the systemic approach, the principles of language sign ambivalence, the method of stylistic decoding, the method of analysis of vocabulary definitions, and intertextuality.

In 2013 the State Duma of Russian Federation adopted a Federal Law “banning propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors». This law provoked great discussions between sexual minorities and their opponents in the media: the first began to criticize the Law as infringing upon their rights, others, after a long silence, resumed their attacks on the homosexuals. Due to such discussions Sociologists think that homophobia is reviving in Russia. According to the American psychological Association, only 16% of the population in modern Russia can accept homosexuality as the norm (against 60% in USA and 80% in Europe). This is the public opinion in Russia. And only such cautious, squeamish attitude toward those people as not quite healthy pones allows sociologists to talk about a revival of homophobic attitudes in our country. In the article authors make an attempt to understand the arguments of opponents of sexual orientation and to trace the ideological origins of “Russian homophobia”. For this, the authors of the research are trying to answer the questions: is it correct to justify homosexuality as normal behavior, referring to the homosexual behavior of animals, how is homosexuality caused by norms of Russian culture, what is its contribution to the arts, what do world religions say about same-sex relationships, what is its impact on the development of the society, what does the modern medicine think about this phenomenon. There is an attempt to reproduce the logic of homophobic arguments, so common today in Russia, to understand its origins and ideological Foundation. This is done only for the purpose of finding compromises and developing balanced, tolerant positions on both sides. The authors hope that considerations expressed in the article will be useful in resolving such an important social and cultural issue as a confrontation between homosexuals and heterosexuals, and will make the contribution to the guarantees of rights and freedoms in the Russian Federation.

The concepts of culture and civilization are regarded by the general public as identical, and language-in-use affords them the status of synonyms. However, philosophy and cultural studies insist on a differentiation between the two concepts claiming that the opposition between culture and civilization was at the core of a vast majority of culturology theories elaborated in the 19th and the 20th centuries, and, more importantly, that the very process of historical development in Europe and Russia testifies to the fact that cultural and civilization values do not coincide, moreover, they are polar value systems. Humanity has repeatedly witnessed the modern civilization ousting the age-long gains in the spiritual plain. When viewed as polar, civilization and culture allow of a ´spirit versus savage/beast´ juxtaposition in studying human nature, of a duality and contradictory tendencies in human spiritual being. The article views the concepts of civilization and culture as a set of material values (civilization) and a set of spiritual values (culture). The author claims that such an interpretation of the systems brings up their tragic facets. With the challenges that civilization poses going ignored, humans risk being transformed into pure specialists, having their life dominated by work. The framework of ´civilized´ relationships is fraught with human degradation to the extent of becoming a moulding product, a social erzflts. It jeopardizes human qualities proper, individuality, uniqueness, and identity. One of the menacing implications of the development of industrial civilization to the detriment of culture is the neutralization of age-long spiritual values, turning human history into a road to nowhere.