Elena Fell

ПОЛНЫЙ ТЕКСТ МОНОГРАФИИ                                                 
Капилевич Л.В., Лукьянова Н.А., Давлетьярова К.В.,
Роготнева Е.Н., Фелл Е.В., Мещерякова Н.Н., Медведева Е.В.,
Баранова Е.А., Бредихина Ю.П., Коршунов С.Д.
Инклюзивное профессиональное образование в России:
социальные и физиологические барьеры. – Томск : Издательский Дом Томского государственного университета, 2018. – 250 с.

На сегодняшний день большое внимание уделяется проблемам социальной и трудовой адаптации людей с ограниченными возможностями. Важное место в этой проблеме занимают возможности получения высшего или среднего профессио-
нального образования. Данная проблема имеет три аспекта -медицинский (физическая реабилитация и формирование навыков обучения в группе), психологический (преодоления психологических барьеров вхождения в коллектив) и социальный
(восприятие коллективом людей с ограниченными возможностями. В монографии
представлены результаты исследования, в котором был реализован комплексный поход, направленный на решение всех трех названных аспектов.
Для руководителей образовательных организаций и преподавателей вузов и ссузов, реализующих программы инклюзивного профессионального образования, а также для научных работников и аспирантов, выполняющих исследования в данной области.

My contribution to Bergsonian studies consists in extracting Bergson’s theory of time from his three main texts, Time and Free Will (TFW), Matter and Memory (MM) and Creative Evolution (CE), with references to his other works, The Creative Mind (CM), Duration and Simultaneity (DS), Mind-Energy (ME), The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (TSMR), An Introduction to Metaphysics (Introduction). This extraction, as well as offering a concise exposition of this theory, also reveals its incomplete and fragmentary nature, and the remainder of this study consists in an attempt to fill in the gaps and respond to questions which arise along the way.
    I find the biggest attraction of Bergson is in his attempt to grasp the nature of time and show a way of treating time as metaphysical reality, overcoming difficulties humbly admitted to by St. Augustine.  But Bergson’s theory of duration is not a completed, finalized theory. Firstly, it is not put forward in a systematic way and needs to be extrapolated from his more general discourse; secondly, it contains inconsistencies and gaps; and thirdly, it does not address some obvious issues. Moreover, some of Bergson’s claims are too strong and need to be examined carefully.
    In the expository chapters (Chapters 2, 3, and 4), I examine Bergson’s theory of time, which can be called a theory of duration, from his major texts, Time and Free Will, Matter and Memory and Creative Evolution. In each book Bergson introduces duration anew as if disregarding claims made in previous texts; thus each time duration is given a different, sometimes seemingly opposite, meaning. However, where an unsympathetic critic would see inconsistencies, I see phases of conceptual development of the idea of duration. This being said, Bergson’s phases are not linked in a satisfactory way. A key strategy of this study, therefore, will be to fill gaps, raise further questions, and develop new arguments.     
    I move from duration as a psychological process in Time and Free Will to duration as the universal movement in Creative Evolution, via the intermediate proposal in Matter and Memory that duration is a general principle of being. Duration in Bergson turns out to be an all-embracing concept, itself equivalent to the idea of being. Indeed, can we find in Bergson anything which is not duration? Spatial objects, one may suggest, reading Time and Free Will. But as readers of Matter and Memory, we have to accept duration of matter and duration within matter. In Creative Evolution, everything non-durational is reduced to an illusion, and from this position, we can equate ‘duration’ and ‘being’. The main aspect in which the idea of duration differs from the idea of being is that duration already entails a characteristic of being as moving which, according to Bergson, is its necessary feature. What the term ‘duration’ achieves is to weld motion onto being and demonstrate that being cannot be regarded in any other way than as being in motion, the being that has a history. Also, it emphasizes the omnipresence of motion and change, so that even in those cases when we struggle to find and define substance, such as in music or thought, we still find change and motion.
    I take on board Bergson’s idea that duration is heterogeneous. The idea of heterogeneity emerges when Bergson analyses psychological continuity. Elements of such continuity (emotions, sensations) are not clear-cut, even though we commonly distinguish one emotion or sensation from another. This division, I agree with Bergson, is artificial and done for convenience, as in reality one state of consciousness flows into another and ultimately there is just the unity of the conscious process corresponding to the life of a concrete person. 
    However, this idea of heterogeneity entails a paradox. Although its elements are inseparable, they are different and diverse, so, on the one hand, Bergson wants us to accept that we cannot individualize them as if they were autonomous units, but on the other hand he does not allow them to be merged into a homogenized stream. In Chapter 5, I attempt to resolve this paradox by claiming that the identity of elements within duration, not given ostensibly, is nevertheless manifested through their unique effects on the world. Bergson says very little about the structure of heterogeneity, and later in Chapter 5, I analyse its composition on a general metaphysical level.
    In Chapter 6, I address time as such and, in particular, Bergson’s claim that time must be understood exclusively in qualitative terms. I argue that temporal ordering, pastness and futurity cannot be reduced to qualities, and that time cannot be understood without relations. Also, I dispute Bergson’s attempt to consider time in separation from space, as there is no purely temporal reality totally free from spatial features.
      Chapter 7 marks a transition from duration as a general metaphysical term to its concrete manifestations. Concrete examples of duration, given by Bergson, include psychological and biological processes, movement of a physical body and, as an all-embracing duration that includes all worldly processes, the universe. I propose the duration of a concrete human being as such an all-embracing duration because a human self involves all layers of being, from minerals to mind, which can acknowledge any worldly phenomena and account for them in an epistemic process. Of course, if the universe could be said to contain all worldly processes, the self merely represents them.   
    In Chapter 8, I look at epistemic processes and begin to analyse the perception of one’s own selfhood in self-consciousness. According to Bergson, an epistemological act is defined either by its analytical or intuitive component, but I contest his opposition of intuition and intellect and present the epistemological act as a three-fold process of primary (pre-conceptual) intuition, intellectual rationalization and secondary (post-conceptual) intuition. I emphasize that the perception of one’s self, acquired in this way, gives a picture of an all-embracing unity of human existence, from various manifestations of matter and life to the complexities of mind. 
    Bergson presents duration as an uncontroversial and harmonious continuity, but Chapters 7 and 8 demonstrate that, inevitably, duration entails discontinuity in various senses. In Chapter 9, I suggest a view on reality, which reinstates its continuity. I suggest that when we observe continuity from the past to the present, in actual fact we remain in the present, retaining knowledge of the consecutive events. This knowledge interferes with our view of the past and prevents us from seeing it as a fresh present with an indefinite future. On the other hand, if we look backwards into the past, we can get a sense of continuity, moving from the latest and more complex to the earlier and less complex, without making different temporal periods overlap and interfere with one another.

This book seeks to fill a void in contemporary aesthetics scholarship by considering the cognitive features that make the aesthetic and artistic worthy of philosophical study. Aesthetic cognition has been largely abandoned by analytical philosophy, which instead tends to focus its attention on the 'non-exhibited' properties of artwork or issues concerning semantic and syntactic structure. The Cognitive Basis of Aesthetics innovatively seeks to correct the marginalization of aesthetics in analytical philosophy by reinterpreting aesthetic cognition through an integration of Ernst Cassirer's philosophy of symbolic forms with Paul Crowther's theory of imagination and philosophy of art. This integration has three important outcomes: 1) it explains why the aesthetic and artistic constitute a unique form of knowledge; 2) it shows the role this plays in the formation of aesthetics as a discipline; and 3) it describes why aesthetic cognition is so deeply engaging. This book's unique theoretical approach engages with important works of visual, conceptual, and digital art, as well as literature, music, and theatre.

Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN: 9781138652149

Existing art theory is obsessed by theories of spectatorship based on concepts of signification derived from language. This book shows the weakness of such a perspective, and, as an alternative, argues that individual aesthetic transformations of pictorial structure change one’s experience of space. In addition, it proves that this transformation is an ongoing process; pictorial art is progressively articulated through historical development, and is, therefore able to increase its cognitive and aesthetic scope.

To support such a perspective, the book brings together ideas from Ernst Cassirer and Paul Crowther. Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms offers a profound way of understanding historical transformations in our experience of space, and Crowther’s work on imagination and aesthetics shows how this can be extended to pictorial space and the uniqueness of pictorial art. By combining the two approaches, it is demonstrated how pictorial art extends our basic involvement in, and cognition of, space, and provides it with a special kind of aesthetic meaning.

My contribution to Bergsonian studies consists in extracting Bergson’s theory of time from his three main texts, Time and Free Will (TFW), Matter and Memory (MM) and Creative Evolution (CE), with references to his other works, The Creative Mind (CM), Duration and Simultaneity (DS), Mind-Energy (ME), The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (TSMR), An Introduction to Metaphysics (Introduction). This extraction, as well as offering a concise exposition of this theory, also reveals its incomplete and fragmentary nature, and the remainder of this study consists in an attempt to fill in the gaps and respond to questions which arise along the way. At that stage the debt is owed to those commentators who focus on specific Bergsonian issues. For example, my analysis and further development of heterogeneity was inspired by Čapek,  and the discussion of discontinuity would not be complete without references to Bachelard.
    It is possible to read Bergson in different ways. One can dismiss his philosophy as Russell does  for his refutation of rationality and space; one can expect Bergsonism to be a complete and finished theory which should be able to resolve all sorts of philosophical questions; or one can take on board the Bergsonian idea that to exist means to change and, whilst analysing what Bergson explicitly said, allow his philosophy to evolve by working out what he would have said, and what else can be said. I take the latter approach, and the main aim of this project is to indicate a possible way in which the theory of duration can develop further. 
    I find the biggest attraction of Bergson is in his attempt to grasp the nature of time and show a way of treating time as metaphysical reality, overcoming difficulties humbly admitted to by St. Augustine.  But Bergson’s theory of duration is not a completed, finalized theory. Firstly, it is not put forward in a systematic way and needs to be extrapolated from his more general discourse; secondly, it contains inconsistencies and gaps; and thirdly, it does not address some obvious issues. Moreover, some of Bergson’s claims are too strong and need to be examined carefully.
    In the expository chapters (Chapters 2, 3, and 4), I examine Bergson’s theory of time, which can be called a theory of duration, from his major texts, Time and Free Will, Matter and Memory and Creative Evolution. In each book Bergson introduces duration anew, as if disregarding claims made in previous texts; thus each time duration is given a different, sometimes seemingly opposite, meaning. However, where an unsympathetic critic would see inconsistencies, I see phases of conceptual development of the idea of duration. This being said, Bergson’s phases are not linked in a satisfactory way. A key strategy of this study, therefore, will be to fill gaps, raise further questions, and develop new arguments.     
    I move from duration as a psychological process in Time and Free Will to duration as the universal movement in Creative Evolution, via the intermediate proposal in Matter and Memory that duration is a general principle of being. Duration in Bergson turns out to be an all-embracing concept, itself equivalent to the idea of being. Indeed, can we find in Bergson anything which is not duration? Spatial objects, one may suggest, reading Time and Free Will. But as readers of Matter and Memory, we have to accept duration of matter and duration within matter. In Creative Evolution everything non-durational is reduced to an illusion, and from this position we can equate ‘duration’ and ‘being’. The main aspect in which the idea of duration differs from the idea of being is that duration already entails a characteristic of being as moving which, according to Bergson, is its necessary feature. What the term ‘duration’ achieves is to weld motion onto being and demonstrate that being cannot be regarded in any other way than as being in motion, the being that has history. Also, it emphasizes the omnipresence of motion and change, so that even in those cases when we struggle to find and define substance, such as in music or thought, we still find change and motion.
    I take on board Bergson’s idea that duration is heterogeneous. The idea of heterogeneity emerges when Bergson analyses psychological continuity. Elements of such continuity (emotions, sensations) are not clear-cut, even though we commonly distinguish one emotion or sensation from another. This division, I agree with Bergson, is artificial and done for convenience, as in reality one state of consciousness flows into another and ultimately there is just the unity of the conscious process corresponding to the life of a concrete person. 
    But this idea of heterogeneity entails a paradox. Although its elements are inseparable, they are different and diverse, so on the one hand Bergson wants us to accept that we cannot individualize them as if they were autonomous units, but on the other hand he does not allow them to be merged into a homogenized stream. In Chapter 5 I attempt to resolve this paradox by claiming that the identity of elements within duration, not given ostensibly, is nevertheless manifested through their unique effects on the world. Bergson says very little about the structure of heterogeneity, and later in Chapter 5 I analyse its composition on a general metaphysical level.
    In Chapter 6 I address time as such and, in particular, Bergson’s claim that time must be understood exclusively in qualitative terms. I argue that temporal ordering, pastness and futurity cannot be reduced to qualities, and that time cannot be understood without relations. Also, I dispute Bergson’s attempt to consider time in separation from space, as there is no purely temporal reality totally free from spatial features.
      Chapter 7 marks a transition from duration as a general metaphysical term to its concrete manifestations. Concrete examples of duration, given by Bergson, include psychological and biological processes, movement of a physical body and, as an all-embracing duration that includes all worldly processes, the universe. I propose the duration of a concrete human being as such an all-embracing duration, because a human self involves all layers of being, from minerals to mind, which can acknowledge any worldly phenomena and account for them in an epistemic process. Of course, if the universe could be said to contain all worldly processes, the self merely represents them.   
    In Chapter 8 I look at epistemic processes and begin to analyse the perception of one’s own selfhood in self-consciousness. According to Bergson, an epistemological act is defined either by its analytical or intuitive component, but I contest his opposition of intuition and intellect and present the epistemological act as a three-fold process of primary (pre-conceptual) intuition, intellectual rationalization and secondary (post-conceptual) intuition. I emphasize that the perception of one’s self, acquired in this way, gives a picture of an all-embracing unity of human existence, from various manifestations of matter and life to the complexities of mind. 
    Bergson presents duration as an uncontroversial and harmonious continuity, but Chapters 7 and 8 demonstrate that, inevitably, duration entails discontinuity in various senses. In Chapter 9 I suggest a view on reality which reinstates its continuity. I suggest that when we observe continuity from the past to the present, in actual fact we remain in the present, retaining knowledge of the consecutive events. This knowledge interferes with our view of the past and prevents us from seeing it as a fresh present with an indefinite future. On the other hand, if we look backwards into the past, we can get a sense of continuity, moving from the latest and more complex to the earlier and less complex, without making different temporal periods overlap and interfere with one another.

The book has been reviewed by Colby Dickinson, The Heythrop Journal Volume 55, Issue 4, pages 719–720, July 2014.  See the review here:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/heyj.2014.55.issue-4/issuetoc

FELL, E. (2023). Russian Academia in 2022 and Research on Ukraine.
ESSACHESS. 16(32): 73-96.  https://doi.org/10.21409/ZHEK-CJ39

In this paper, I offer a critical review of Russophone academic research published in 2022 focusing on the Ukraine-Russia crisis. As part of this study, I have examined a selection of articles that appeared in peer-reviewed journals in March – November 2022. Where appropriate, I pay special attention to the rhetoric and the context of published research, taking into account the personal circumstances of the authors and editors and their communicative actions outside scholarly work. I chose to analyse articles deposited in cyberleninka, a Russian Open Access electronic library. Texts analysed in this paper are freely accessible in Russia, so the Russian audience (academic or not) can read and share them without restrictions, complying with the Russian legal system and the sanctions imposed from outside. Hence, by familiarising themselves with some of the material that Russian academics publish and read, the readers of this article will achieve, to some extent, an insider’s view of the Russian academic environment in 2022.

Keywords: Ukraine, Russia, Russian academia, sanctions on Russia, Russian legislation

***

  Dans cet article, je propose une critique de la recherche universitaire en langue russe publiée en 2022, axée sur la crise Ukraine-Russie. Dans le cadre de cette étude, j’ai examiné une sélection d’articles de revues à comité de lecture de mars à novembre 2022. J’ai accordé une attention particulière à la rhétorique et au contexte de la recherche publiée, en tenant compte de la situation personnelle des auteurs et de leurs actions communicatives en dehors du travail scientifique. J’ai choisi d’analyser les articles déposés dans cyberleninka, une bibliothèque électronique russe en libre accès. Les textes analysés dans ce document sont librement accessibles en Russie, afin que le public russe (universitaire ou non) puisse les lire et les partager sans restriction, en respectant le système juridique russe et les sanctions imposées de l’extérieur. Ainsi, en se familiarisant avec certains articles que les universitaires russes publient et lisent, les lecteurs de cet article parviendront, dans une certaine mesure, à une vision interne de l’environnement universitaire russe en 2022.

Mots-clés : Ukraine, Russie, système académique russe, sanctions contre la Russie, législation russe

The article deals with the issue of stereotyping disability in Russia and the Russian education system. As educators make attempts to ensure that people with disabilities begin to access quality education in Russia, results often disappoint. Aiming to uncover the fundamental reasons that underpin failures in the implementation of inclusive practices, the authors suggest that the perception of disability understood as the social construction of atypical corporealityconditions the implicit understanding of what inclusive education is.The purpose of this article, therefore, is to identify the specific features of the social construction of atypical corporeality and explore ways in which these features are manifested in educational practices. Accordingly, the complexity of the object of study determined the need to refer to a wide range of methodological frameworks of cultural, semiotic and constructionist schools, which allowed the authors to determine the coding methods involved in the social construction of an atypical body. The theoretical investigation allowed the authors to conclude that the construction of atypical corporeality is the outcome of an underlying social agreement regarding the implementation of a particular model of disability (in particular, the article compares the social and medical models). Furthermore, a comparative analysis of educational practices used in the systems of inclusive education in conjunction with the problems of the body in society reveals the inconsistency of their implementation in Russia. Consequently, the authors conclude the article by outlining the key conditions for the social construction of atypical corporeality. Moreover, they identify the following controversy as the main obstacle preventing the implementation of effective inclusion practices into the Russian education system: while declaring the adherence of the “social model” of disability, the Russian education system continues to rely on the medical understanding of the body persistently implementing the medical model.

Problem and Aim. Authors highlight the following contradiction: whilst on the one hand, in Russia, as in many European countries, disability services have been created to support career design for students with disabilities (SWD), on the other hand, career support in universities is loosely related to the accessibility of the environment. This inconsistency determines the relevance of this study. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the negative impact that environmental barriers have on SWD' career prospects, as well as to reveal the role of environmental barriers at the moment when a person becomes aware of a new stage of their life trajectory. Materials and research methods. The study is based on the methodology of conducting narrative interviews based on the methodology of F. Schutze. The narrative interview methodology allows revealing the basic barriers of career design as they emerge and shows the importance of instrumental barriers at the time of choosing a futur...

This review essay delves into the exploration of Russian identity over the past century
through the analysis of three books. The study begins by examining the role of Zhdun as a
metaphor for the post-Soviet self, highlighting its connection to a sense of suspension and
the search for a stable identity, as suggested by Borenstein. Referring to the identity debates
during the early Soviet society, the author discusses the transformation of individuals into
Soviet citizens and the impact of Soviet policies on personal expression, as exposed in
Postoutenko and Tikhomirov’s volume. The difficulties faced by foreign correspondents
reporting on Soviet Russia reveal the challenges of obtaining accurate information due to
censorship and political limitations, as Rodgers emphasizes in his account. This contributes
to the creation of a mythical Russian identity. The review concludes by suggesting a reading
order for the three books, highlighting their different organizational approaches and scopes.  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/02673231231199883

Is atheist spirituality an oxymoron, and if so, did Soviet citizens brought up in a definitively atheist environment have no spiritual pursuits? The author asks this question drawing on Dostoyevsky's dark prophecy and interrogating Yuri Levada's model of a Soviet simple person as a distinct anthropological type. Taking on board Riegel's concept of political religion and testing Marxism-Leninism as a source of wisdom for Soviet nonbelievers, the author seeks to uncover a version of spirituality compatible with Soviet-style atheism. The discussion also involves the examination of Russian literary tradition and Borodina's philosophical theory of spirituality, which accords with Sharafutdinova accounting for the phenomenon of inner exile in the late Soviet period and Bekmetov's reminder that the Buddhist worldview had a significant influence on Russian cultural metalanguage.                                                                     
     
Fell,  E.  (2023).  ‘Atheism  and  spirituality  in  the  USSR:  Can  atheists  be spiritual?’, Empedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication, 14:1, pp. 43–60.
https://intellectdiscover.com/.../10.1386/ejpc_00052_1

Актуальность представленного исследования объясняется проблемой получения высшего образования для инвалидов и лиц с ограниченными возможностями здоровья. По мнению авторов, следует обратить внимание на зрелость корпоративной куль- туры вуза. Речь идет о процессах социализации личности у абитуриентов с ограниченными возможностями здоровья посредством органичного включения в «дружелюбную» корпоративную культуру вуза. Цель работы: провести анализ понятия «комфортность образовательной среды» на основании пилотных интервью с экспертами - специалистами-педагогами, которые, будучи непосредственно занятыми работой с детьми с ОВЗ старшего школьного возраста, дают свою оценку сложившейся ситуации и раскрывают нюансы подготовки подростков с ОВЗ к обучению в системе высшего образования. А также предложить комплексное решение проблемы. Методы исследования: анализ научной литературы и текстов СМИ об инклюзив- ном образовании в вузе, анализ педагогической практики, сравнительный анализ концепций, ...

В настоящее время перспективы образовательной и научной деятельности в России неразрывно связаны с развитием международного сотрудничества, причем одним из достаточно востребованных направлений является взаимодействие с британскими образовательными учреждениями. Образовательное сотрудничество предполагает наличие определенных компетенций у тех, кто стремится к участию в международных проектах, и это обуславливает актуальность исследования российско-британского кросс- культурного общения. Методологическим основанием настоящего исследования является анализ конкретных кросс-культурных ситуаций, возникавших в контексте общения российских и британских ученых и студентов за последние годы. The future of Russia’s academia and higher education is inevitably linked to a successful development of internationalconnections, with Britain and British universities playing an important part in this. University collaborationpresupposes specific competencies of those who seek to participate in intern...

Актуальность темы исследования будущего вызывается необходимостью ответить на вызовы настоящего. В статье рассматривается вопрос о предполагаемых направлениях, методологии и возможных результатах в исследовании процессов формирования образа будущего. В качестве методологического основания исследования заявлен метод конфигуративного моделирования. Предполагается, что исследование процесса конструирования образа будущего возможно через построение трех моделей: первая, функциональная модель, позволяет описать процесс конструирования будущего в определенной последовательности этапов; вторая модель может быть представлена как взаимосвязь и взаимообусловленность символических и когнитивных элементов доминирующих в представлениях о будущем; объектом третьей модели, рефлексивной, являются когнитивные процессы формирующие реальность субъектов в представлении о будущем. Основаниями для построения моделей будут когнитивные и символические процессы. Когнитивные процессы порождают символические ...

When we communicate with others, we usually know when we are expected to contribute to an evolving dialogue, such as during a debate, or when it is suitable to generate predictable responses, for example, at a marriage ceremony. However, in cross-cultural communication situations, communicating partners may have different assumptions in this respect. In particular, when a western communicator expects a dialogical development, a Russian participant may expect the same communication situation to progress as a sequence of predictable communication acts. This clash of implicit expectations often results in communication failure, without either party realizing that implementing incompatible approaches to information sharing is the reason for this failure. In this article, I introduce the terms ‘dialogical engagement’ and ‘monological sequencing’ whilst exploring cross-cultural communication problems between Russia and the West. I use these terms to describe mechanisms that characterize b...

In Bergsonism, we come to a halt when it comes to communication because it involves static immobile elements such as concepts and words, which, for Bergson, make it impossible to gain an adequate understanding of each other's nature. Peirce offers an epistemological model, where the immobility of a linguistic sign is dissolved in semiosis. Peirce's concept of interpretant, reflecting the dynamic relation of the subject, object and the sign that is being interpreted, offers a model of cognition that is based on the dynamism of meaning making, which provides a foundation for communication as a meaning making process, a case of duration in its own right.

Russians and Westerners access, process and communicate information in different ways. Whilst Westerners favour detailed analysis of subject matter, Rus-sians tend to focus on certain components that are, in their view, significant. This disparity makes it difficult to achieve constructive dialogues between Western and Russian stakeholders contributing to cross-cultural communication problems. The author claims that the difference in the ways Russians and Westerners negotiate information is a significant cultural difference between Russia and West rather than an irritating (and in principle amenable) lack of analytical skills on the Russian part-ners' part. Understanding the reasons behind the Russian-specific approaches to dealing with information would be a positive step towards a more effective cross-cultural communication, important in business situations and essential in diplomacy. Résumé : Les Russes et les Occidentaux accèdent à, traitent et communiquent l'information...

Nourishment stands apart from other physiological events: whilst we normally exercise discretion in relation to bodily functions, food consumption takes place in public. We dine, snack and nibble in front of others, and the imagery associated with food takes on the manifold of meanings-religious, cultural, historic and so forth. Gastronomic practices unite or divide people, and as such are a powerful communication tool. As the twenty-first century confrontational stance between fast food and family meal traditions intensifies, we investigate fast food's visual imagery and its ability to attract consumers. Résumé: La nutrition se distingue d'autres événements physiologiques: alors que normalement nous exerçons avec discrétion les fonctions corporelles, la consomma-tion d'aliments a lieu en public. Nous mangeons, prenons une collation et grignotons devant les autres, et l'imaginaire associé avec la nourriture prend une multiplicité de significations-religieuses, cultur...

The urgency of the discussed issue is caused by the need to care about the future-our own and that of our children. We also care about what happens to those generations of people which will populate this planet hundreds of years from now. The sense of future-orientated societal responsibility is reinforced in media, political rhetoric and social theorising. Philosophers and social theorists offer a variety of approaches that aim to safeguard and promote the welfare of future people, but these approaches are diverse and sometimes conflicting. The aim of the research is to emphasize the attitude towards the future in today's society. The methods used in the study: comparative analysis of philosophical theories of the future; synthesis of the main positions and conclusions regarding the understanding of the category «Future»; classification of human capabilities, and a summary of the main results of the classification. The results: The caring attitude towards future is the outer la...

For Bergson, creating a masterpiece and perceiving it amounts to an act of intuitive communication between the artist and the spectator. Both the artist and the viewer intuit the work of art, which is something other than their own personal history, something that belongs to both of them and at the same time exists independently from them. The Bergsonian concept of heterogeneous duration, which primarily refers to consciousness and living processes, is extended in this instance to artistic communication as a process that unites creation and contemplation. Artistic creation and communication constitute an intimate ontological bonding wherein human beings actualise their ability to intuit and where an artist shares with the audience his or her deep emotions without revealing personal data. This process of creation and perception of art could be named artistic duration or artistic communication. This duration is created by a joint participation of more than one individual and represents duration that escapes the boundaries of one mind because it is created by more than one mind. The artist initiates a continuity of emotion, by expressing it in art and making us feel it when we admire the masterpiece. By perceiving it, we do not return to the artist’s time and re-live his or her artistic creation vicariously, but pick up where the artist left this creation and let it live further on in our soul. Please cite as Fell, Elena. Bergson’s aesthetics: Art as a unique form of communication, Empedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication, Volume 4, Number 1, 1 April 2012, pp. 63-71(9)

With so many excellent publications on offer, which book should a communication scholar buy next if he or she would like to own the one addressing the fundamental aspects of communication, as well as providing methodological, historical and cultural perspectives on the subject and proposing a renewed vision of established themes, and also touching on topics that have been overlooked? Presumably, this book would also have to be engaging, interesting and future-proof. Communication Theory through the Ages, written by two professors of Communication (Eastern Washington University), could become a valuable addition to a communication theorist’s collection, without any doubt. I would also recommend this wide-reaching and well-researched book to students and scholars interested in linguistics, sociology, theology, semiotics, history and psychology and to even those who speculate about communicating with extra-terrestrial entities. Besides, although Klyukanov and Sinekopova draw on multipl...

According to official statistical data, people with disabilities are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) occupations and students with disabilities are underrepresented in STEM degree courses. This chapter surveys official reports produced by British and American authorities, as well as a number of media sources, in order to substantiate this claim. The authors' aim is to uncover the reasons behind disabled students being underrepresented in STEM courses and to sketch the vision for the future of disabled young people who may be interested in perusing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

This article aims to contribute to the Peircean studies by providing an account of the reception of Peirce’s philosophy in Russian academia. Peirce was introduced to Russian scholarship at the beginning of the twentieth century, but Russian scholars’ work on Peirce remains unnoticed for the most part in the international academic world. Presenting an outline of their research fills a certain gap in the Peircean studies demonstrating how Peirce was received in imperial Russia, the USSR and post-Soviet Russian academia. This overview can also serve, to some extent, as a contribution to the studies in cross-cultural communication, because the authors present Russian philosophers’ take on an American philosopher considered in the context of the changing historical and cultural landscape. From being introduced to Peirce via a francophone scholar at the beginning of the twentieth century to criticizing Peirce from the stance of dialectical materialism during the Cold War and exploring Pei...

Izhorians: A disappearing ethnic group indigenous to the Leningrad regionThere is no body of research focusing specifically on Izhorians, a Finno-Ugrian minority group indigenous to the Leningrad region. Information about them is usually embedded in wider studies investigating Finnic minorities living at the intersection of Russia, Estonia and Finland. Consequently, it is fragmented, disjointed and marginalised, and available almost only in Russian, Estonian or Finnish. However, the most recent report on the state of the Izhorian language (which is part of a general study of Finnic minority languages in Russia) is available in English. Even though information about Izhorians lacks unity and cohesion, all researchers share the same concern, namely that Izhorians are disappearing as a distinct ethnic group. This concern manifests itself as a tendency to follow the dynamics of the Izhorian population, paying special attention to statistical data. Accordingly, this paper begins with a p...

Elena Fell. Book Review: Infinite Distraction: Paying Attention to Social Media by Dominic Pettman Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly Vol 95, Issue 2, pp. 541 – 542 First Published March 19, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699018763304

modes of appropriation and controversies raised in, for example, China, the Arab world and Africa. Finally, Chapter 9 focusses on what audiences do with such global formats, starting with how the conceptualization of the audience has evolved from being passive and haunted by the power of the media (as in ‘Media Studies 1.0’), to being active, selfaware and seizing control (as in ‘Media Studies 2.0’). While not denying the capacities of audiences, the authors stress the significance of present-day surveillance of audiences for the benefit of corporations before looking at US sporting television as an example of this development. A short conclusion stresses again the convergence of media and the global, driven by technology and a capitalist economic system – a development to which the authors respond via a call for environmental justice, welfare and global solidarity. Global Media Studies contributes to the articulation of such an agenda within the field; its wide range of examples, its theoretical discussions and its stimulating tone provide an accessible and highly valuable invitation to engage in such debates. As these debates continue, the dualfocus on both text and political economy will need to be emphasized. So too, I would argue, do we need to focus on the intersection of media-related concerns and the natural environment, which should be considered an essential topic of concern. And, whatever readers may think about the particularities of these and other aspects, one can only hope that the closing sentence of Miller and Kraidy’s intervention, that ‘perhaps we have sparked some ideas that will help our readers understand and democratize the global media today’ (p. 182), is taken seriously in these debates.

My contribution to Bergsonian studies consists in extracting Bergson’s theory of time from his three main texts, Time and Free Will (TFW), Matter and Memory (MM) and Creative Evolution (CE), with references to his other works, The Creative Mind (CM), Duration and Simultaneity (DS), Mind-Energy (ME), The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (TSMR), An Introduction to Metaphysics (Introduction). This extraction, as well as offering a concise exposition of this theory, also reveals its incomplete and fragmentary nature, and the remainder of this study consists in an attempt to fill in the gaps and respond to questions which arise along the way. At that stage the debt is owed to those commentators who focus on specific Bergsonian issues. For example, my analysis and further development of heterogeneity was inspired by Čapek, and the discussion of discontinuity would not be complete without references to Bachelard. It is possible to read Bergson in different ways. One can dismiss his philosophy as Russell does for his refutation of rationality and space; one can expect Bergsonism to be a complete and finished theory which should be able to resolve all sorts of philosophical questions; or one can take on board the Bergsonian idea that to exist means to change and, whilst analysing what Bergson explicitly said, allow his philosophy to evolve by working out what he would have said, and what else can be said. I take the latter approach, and the main aim of this project is to indicate a possible way in which the theory of duration can develop further. I find the biggest attraction of Bergson is in his attempt to grasp the nature of time and show a way of treating time as metaphysical reality, overcoming difficulties humbly admitted to by St. Augustine. But Bergson’s theory of duration is not a completed, finalized theory. Firstly, it is not put forward in a systematic way and needs to be extrapolated from his more general discourse; secondly, it contains inconsistencies and gaps; and thirdly, it does not address some obvious issues. Moreover, some of Bergson’s claims are too strong and need to be examined carefully. In the expository chapters (Chapters 2, 3, and 4), I examine Bergson’s theory of time, which can be called a theory of duration, from his major texts, Time and Free Will, Matter and Memory and Creative Evolution. In each book Bergson introduces duration anew, as if disregarding claims made in previous texts; thus each time duration is given a different, sometimes seemingly opposite, meaning. However, where an unsympathetic critic would see inconsistencies, I see phases of conceptual development of the idea of duration. This being said, Bergson’s phases are not linked in a satisfactory way. A key strategy of this study, therefore, will be to fill gaps, raise further questions, and develop new arguments. I move from duration as a psychological process in Time and Free Will to duration as the universal movement in Creative Evolution, via the intermediate proposal in Matter and Memory that duration is a general principle of being. Duration in Bergson turns out to be an all-embracing concept, itself equivalent to the idea of being. Indeed, can we find in Bergson anything which is not duration? Spatial objects, one may suggest, reading Time and Free Will. But as readers of Matter and Memory, we have to accept duration of matter and duration within matter. In Creative Evolution everything non-durational is reduced to an illusion, and from this position we can equate ‘duration’ and ‘being’. The main aspect in which the idea of duration differs from the idea of being is that duration already entails a characteristic of being as moving which, according to Bergson, is its necessary feature. What the term ‘duration’ achieves is to weld motion onto being and demonstrate that being cannot be regarded in any other way than as being in motion, the being that has history. Also, it emphasizes the omnipresence of motion and change, so that even in those cases when we struggle to find and define substance, such as in music or thought, we still find change and motion. I take on board Bergson’s idea that duration is heterogeneous. The idea of heterogeneity emerges when Bergson analyses psychological continuity. Elements of such continuity (emotions, sensations) are not clear-cut, even though we commonly distinguish one emotion or sensation from another. This division, I agree with Bergson, is artificial and done for convenience, as in reality one state of consciousness flows into another and ultimately there is just the unity of the conscious process corresponding to the life of a concrete person. But this idea of heterogeneity entails a paradox. Although its elements are inseparable, they are different and diverse, so on the one hand Bergson wants us to accept that we cannot individualize them as if they were autonomous units, but on the other hand he does not allow them to be merged into a homogenized stream. In Chapter 5 I…

We care about the future – our own and that of our children. We also care about what happens to those generations of people which will populate this planet hundreds of years from now. The sense of future-orientated societal responsibility is reinforced in media, political rhetoric and social theorizing. Philosophers and social theorists offer a variety of approaches that aim to safeguard and promote the welfare of future people, but these approaches are diverse and sometimes conflicting. The aim of the research is to emphasize the attitude towards the future in today’s society. The methods used in the study: comparative analysis of philosophical theories of the future; synthesis of the main positions and conc lusions regarding the understanding of the category «Future»; classification of human capabilities, and a summary of the main results of the classification. The results: The caring attitude towards future is the outer layer of the relational network that the present community members have with the future community. This attitude takes a form of an agentcentred ethical approach, where the patient of our futureorientated intentionality is absent and unable to initiate a demand on our morality or a response to our actions.

This book is a philosophical introduction to the field of communication and media studies. In search of the philosophical backgrounds of that relatively young field, the book explores why this overwhelmingly popular discipline is in crisis. The book discusses classic introductions on communication, provides an update on lessons learned, and re-evaluates the work of pioneers in the light of up-to-date philosophical standards. It summarizes various debates surrounding the foundations of system theory and especially its applicability to the Social Sciences in general and to Communication Studies in particular. Communication schools promise their students an understanding of the source of a principal and dynamical power in their lives, a power shaping societies and identities, molding aspirations, and deciding their fates. They also promise students a practical benefit, a chance to learn the secret of controlling that dynamical power, improving a set of skills that would ensure them a critical edge in the future job market: become better media experts for all media. Yet no one seems to know how such promises are met. Can there be a general theory of communication? If not, what can (should) communication students learn? This book looks at the problem from a philosophical perspective and proposes a framework wherein critical cases can be tested.

Introduction: What is the Nested Continua Model? 1. Peirce in Context 2. Nested Continua in Context 3. Toward a Peircean Philosophy of History 4. The Status of History in Peter Ochs's Scriptural Reasoning 5. The Status of Time in Robert C. Neville's Axiology of Thinking 6. Trajectories of Peircean Philosophical Theology 7. The Theological Implications of Nested Continua Conclusion: Further Applications Bibliography

1. Scottish Philosophy after the Enlightenment 2. Revolting Against Reid: The Philosophy of Thomas Brown 3. A Re-examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy 4. James Frederick Ferrier: The Return of Idealism and the Rejection of Common Sense 5. Alexander Bain, Associationism, and Scottish Philosophy 6. The Scottish Reception of Kant: Common Sense and Idealism 7. Germany Calling: The Scottish Idealists and the Reception of Hegel 8. Scottish Philosophy Abroad 9. Scottish Common Sense and American Pragmatism 10. George Davie and the Democratic Intellect 11. John Macmurray as a Scottish Philosopher: The Role of the University and the Means to Live Well 12. The Integrity of Scottish Philosophy and the Idea of a National Tradition

Bergson's views on communication can be deduced from his theory of selfhood, in which he identifies the human self as heterogeneous duration a complex process that can only be adequately understood from within, when we intuit our own inner life. Another person, accessing us from outside, inevitably distorts and misunderstands our nature because duration is incommunicable. Does Bergsonism assert the failure of communication in principle? No, if we develop Bergson's theory further and identify the process of communication as heterogeneous duration. As such, it is intuited from within by its participants who engage with each other in the process of dealing with the same object. They intuit the process of which they are part and thus intuit each other's involvement in it as well. To appreciate the importance of this implicit mutual communicative engagement we only need to imagine an empty airport with just one passenger or a deserted pleasure beach.Bergson does not have a th...

The relation of our past memories and our communication with others is not simply that of linear causality, whereby our memories smoothly glide into our communicative performance and remain unaffected themselves. Psychologists reveal the opposite process where a current communication has an effect on our memories, not just influencing their selection but also producing false recognition. In this article I will attempt to give a philosophical evaluation of this twofold relationship of memory and communication, paying a special attention to the fabrication of memories, to the significance of this process for the effectiveness of social integration, and to the effects it may have on our authenticity as individuals.An act of communication is not a creation ex nihilo but is a culmination of numberless physical and psychological processes, one of which is remembering, forgetting and recalling. What we say ourselves may be a logical and smooth prolongation of our memories and our past live...

According to the author of Communication and Capitalism, the modern-day policymakers’ position on class-related issues is that ‘the analysis of class, class struggle and the critique of capitalism are outdated and wrong’ (p. 313). It may be suggested that the Equality Act disregards the concept of class because the latter has become redundant because, in the contemporary world, the problem of inequality is more complex than is implied by the idea of class division.
However, Fuchs refutes this position. He seeks to refresh and expand the Marxian conversation about class and class struggle in the context of the twenty-first century’s technologically enhanced globalised world.

Scholars’ interest in Bergson has had its highs and lows, but if the XXI century philosophy readers and commentators turn to Bergsonism with a renewed enthusiasm, I would not be surprised to find that Adam Lovasz’s Updating Bergson played a significant part in this.
Unlike other scholars who engage with Bergson by working through his texts chronologically, Lovasz negotiates them in reverse order. Accordingly, beginning with Bergson’s later writings, he leaves Time and Free Will, the philosopher’s initial discussion of time and being, till the end.

"In Search of a Simple Introduction to Communication" lays foundations for a philosophical introduction into communication studies with the focus on the methodological problems of communication research: it is ‘a meta-theoretical survey of the methodological state of affairs in the field’ (p. 178).

Elizabeth Barnes’ new book offers a much-needed philosophical discussion of disability capitalizing on relevant research in bioethics, feminist philosophy and disability studies. Barnes’ aim is to provide a philosophical argument for the disability rights movement's understanding of a disabled body as ‘a minority body’ rather than ‘a defective body’.

Communication problems that arise as a side effect of someone having a disability include difficulty accessing Internet content and participating fully in online activities. This book offers a thorough account of obstacles that affect Internet users with special needs as the author alerts her readers to the fact that ‘digital media cultures take for granted an able-bodied user position, potentially restricting access for users with a variety of disabilities’.

Fell, Elena Book review of Dan Zahavi’s ‘Subjectivity and Selfhood. Investigating the First Person Perspective’, The Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, Vol 40, No 1, January 2009, pp. 98 – 99.

The review can be found here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00071773.2009.11006669

British Journal of Aesthetics;Oct2014, Vol. 54 Issue 4, p504

Paul Crowther, Phenomenologies of Art and Vision: A Post-Analytic Turn, Bloomsbury, 2013.

                      Paul Crowther has created an important body of philosophical writing about visual art. The present work develops it further. Crowther argues that the analytic and phenomenological traditions of philosophy need one another if visual art is to be understood in ways going beyond the spectatorial viewpoint alone. He shows this through critical discussions of a range of relevant thinkers. He shows their strengths and weaknesses, and gradually develops his own  position  in the course of doing this.

Elena Fell’s Duration, Temporality, Self: Prospects for the Future of Bergsonism, half-a-century after Deleuze’s reorientation apropos Bergson’s continued relevance, appears to be a significant contribution that builds on almost a dozen of other recent reassessments of Bergson’s import.

-Alex S. Kohav, PhD, dept. of philosophy, Metropolitan State University of Denver, author of The Sod Hypothesis (MaKoM 2013).

Just as people differ in their physical characteristics and their aptitudes, they also differ in the way they negotiate time. Some of us do things faster or slower than others, and Bergson reflects on this stating that temporal rhythm is an important characteristic of human consciousness. He describes consciousness as “a duration with its own determined rhythm, a duration very different from the time of the physicist, which can store up, in a given interval, as great a number of phenomena as we please.” 
Each instance of “duration” is different, as everyone’s consciousness operates at different rhythms: “In reality there is no one rhythm of duration; it is possible to imagine many different rhythms which, slower or faster, measure the degree of tension or relaxation of different kinds of consciousness and thereby fix their respective places in the scale of being.” 
However, society implicitly assumes that humans’ temporality, their perception of time and their capability to operate at standardised rates is or should be the same for all able-bodied individuals.  Failure to fit in with the standardised rhythms of societal engagement can lead to social exclusion in the form of, for example, a timed exam failure or a job loss (if one cannot keep up with the pace).   
It is implicitly assumed that acting in accordance with externally prescribed rhythms is in principle achievable via training. Those who do not acquire the necessary skills of time management are not accommodated by society unless they have a disability that warrants “reasonable adjustments”, which may include allowing the individual more time to complete a particular process.   
But if some minds naturally operate at a faster rate, and some at a slower rate, then making someone’s natural rhythms fit in the procrustean bed of the standardized societal tempo that significantly differs from their own could be traumatic for some and unfeasible for others.
Should people be excluded from work or education on the basis of the way they negotiate time?  Everyone will say no to this, but what the consequences would be if we decided not to do this – what would that mean for the practical norms and rules of social interaction?

Researching this type of question would link ethics with the fundamental ontology of human being, inasmuch as temporality is irreducible from human existence and human actions.  This discussion would directly correspond to the proposed theme “The role of time in social inclusion and exclusion” and provide an entry point into a wider thematic linking time and ethics.