Book
Этика процента: Джон Локк и Иеремия Бентам о природе ссудного процента и его регулировании
The book presents classic works on the nature of interest rate and its regulation: John Locke's pamphlet "Some considerations about the consequences of lowering interest rates and increasing the value of money" (1691) and a series of letters to Jeremy Bentham "In defense of usury" (1789). Both works, first translated in Russian, have had a significant impact on the evolution of the understanding of interest rate and the problems of its regulation. In addition, the collection includes articles by Russian authors on the development of usury, the scientific heritage of John Locke and J. Bentham, as well as a modern look at the ethical component of interest regulation.
The paper claims all metaphysical views could be divided in two classes: metaphysical moral exclusivism that is the idea of the otherworldly nature of morality, and metaphysical moral inclusivism that is the idea that morality is an intrinsic component of the reality. The originality of the proposed separation is justifi ed by historical review and the comparison with known ethical concepts. We also consider how the metaphysical notions of morality should correlate with the methodology of the empirical study of moral consciousness. We show that asking the question about the place of morality in the structure of reality imposes some theoretical constraints upon the Is-Ought Problem.
I discuss the ontological nature and heuristic value of psychedelic experience. I argue that psychedelic phenomena may manifest the activity of certain mental formations and brain mechanisms that otherwise remain hidden. Thus, psychedelic phenomena can be heuristic tools and intriguing objects of the scientific study. I consider two types of psychedelic phenomena in particular. The first is the moral cleansing that may accompany a psychedelic trip. The second is the appearance of visual and auditory hallucinations. I establish a unified explanatory ground for the phenomena that are commonly viewed as distinct in their genesis. I explain both types of phenomena as products of the amplified imaginative ability of the brain under a substance’s influence. I suggest that the activation of imagination causes an increased empathy and thus accentuates moral feelings. I propose the hypothesis that hallucinations are mental objects of a quantum nature. I argue that no ontologically separate reality stands behind psychedelic visions.
The problem of free will remains one of the primary unsolved problems of John Sealre’s philosophy. In his book ‘Freedom and Neurobilology’ (2007) Searle proposes two alternative hypothesis that would allow one to make sense of the nature of freedom, but ultimately finds both of them unsatisfactory. In this paper we propose a modified version of Searle’s argument, which attempts to reconcile the common sense intuitions with physiological determinism on the basis of Kahneman’s theory of cognitive systems. Specifically, we focus on the collision between the fast and the slow cognitive system as the basis for the experience of freedom.
The present catalogue contains abstracts for some 150 volumes, among which books, periodicals, miscellanies, published by the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the principal institute in Russia for academic research in all kinds of philosophical knowledge. These works, written by eminent Russian scholars, cover such fi elds as the history of Russian, Western and Oriental philosophy, ethics and aesthetics, synergetics and epistemology, social and political philosophy and concentrate on problems that have attained particular importance in the age of globalization and growth of national self-consciousness.
Angesichts der gegenwärtigen Belastungen in den Sozialsystemen, insbesondere in der Kranken- und Rentenversicherung, wird das Solidarprinzip, auf dem diese Systeme beruhen, in den aktuellen politischen Debatten mehr oder weniger radikal in Frage gestellt. Bei den Diskussionen um die Notwendigkeit des Abbaus bzw. des Erhalts der sozialen Solidarsysteme wird nur selten der systematische Stellenwert des rechtlichen wie ethischen Prinzips der Solidarität mit reflektiert. Die Beiträge des vorliegenden Bandes setzen sich teils mit der historischen Herkunft wie mit dem begrifflichen Bedeutungsspektrum von Solidarität , aber auch mit missbräuchlichen Verwendungen des Wortes auseinander. Teils reflektieren sie den Stellenwert, die begrifflichen Bestandteile und die Begründungsformen des Solidaritätsprinzips im Recht und in der Ethik. Und schließlich behandeln sie die Rolle des Solidaritätsprinzips in der Friedensforschung und in der Debatte um die politische Bedeutung der Kunst.
The paper examines the structure, governance, and balance sheets of state-controlled banks in Russia, which accounted for over 55 percent of the total assets in the country's banking system in early 2012. The author offers a credible estimate of the size of the country's state banking sector by including banks that are indirectly owned by public organizations. Contrary to some predictions based on the theoretical literature on economic transition, he explains the relatively high profitability and efficiency of Russian state-controlled banks by pointing to their competitive position in such functions as acquisition and disposal of assets on behalf of the government. Also suggested in the paper is a different way of looking at market concentration in Russia (by consolidating the market shares of core state-controlled banks), which produces a picture of a more concentrated market than officially reported. Lastly, one of the author's interesting conclusions is that China provides a better benchmark than the formerly centrally planned economies of Central and Eastern Europe by which to assess the viability of state ownership of banks in Russia and to evaluate the country's banking sector.
The paper examines the principles for the supervision of financial conglomerates proposed by BCBS in the consultative document published in December 2011. Moreover, the article proposes a number of suggestions worked out by the authors within the HSE research team.