This study actualizes the ethical and philosophical aspects of creating artificial intelligent systems and artificial moral agents. The relevance of the study is justified by the need to comprehend the formation of digital ethics, which in the space of modern culture occupies an increasingly dominant position. At the same time, its ambiguous nature and inchoate subject of analysis are shown. Ethical characteristics are a part of the general cultural space of embedding intellectual systems into the world of people and reflection on this process. The aim of the research is to analyze ethical theory in the structure of artificial moral agents. For this purpose, the following tasks are realized. Firstly, various strategies of ethical regulation are considered from the point of view of their formalization for use in intelligent systems. Special attention is paid to the negative manifestations of the creation of artificial moral agents, and the arguments against their appearance are analyzed. Among the latter are both well-known ones (the problem of malicious use and existential experiences of mankind as a species) and more specificly for philosophy and ethics (such as manipulation of behavior through emulation of emotions and the problem of remote access and use). Secondly, issues related to the ethics of intelligent systems are raised and the controversies surrounding their implementation are presented. Thirdly, deontology and utilitarianism are analyzed as theories suitable for formalization and use in the structure and architecture of artificial moral agents. The methodology of ethical and humanitarian expertise and case analysis are used to fulfill the outlined steps. The main material for the research is theoretical models of realization of artificial moral agents and embedding ethical theories such as deontology and utilitarianism into them. Also, based on a case study of a social robot, the differences between deontology and utilitarianism are examined in terms of case resolution. The result of the study is a discussion that the use of utilitarianism as moral arithmetic is better suited to formalization and the use of artificial moral agents in the architecture, as it is possible to represent each action and its consequences with a quantitative parameter. However, deontology allows the construction of a theory of permitted and prohibited actions that can better reflect the actual process of doing an act. The main difficulty for deontology and its formalization is the correlation of the categories and the category of permissibility of an action, as it is difficult to identify it as a separate use case since it is neither a forbidden action nor an obligatory one. Based on this, it is concluded that it is not enough to simply formalize an ethical theory, but it is necessary to make it possible for artificial agents to construct an ethical model on their own.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the discussions around the theory of cultural interactions by Chinese philosopher Liang Shuming. The teaching was formed in the 1920s in the framework of New Culture Movement and resonated both with contemporaries and nowadays thinkers contemplating global changes. The relevance of the study of Liang Shuming’s ideas on culture is due to its popularity in the culture of modern China. The study aims to identify the starting points that made it possible to form the modern concept of culture with Chinese characteristics. In accordance with the set goal, it was necessary to solve the following tasks: 1) analyze the views of Liang Shuming on the relationship between Western and Chinese cultures; 2) clarify the specifics of Liang Shuming’s conceptual apparatus, considering the key ideas of his book Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophies; 3) identify the features of the interpretation of Liang’s ideas about the role of Chinese culture in various philosophical traditions; 4) describe the key ideas of discussions about the role of Chinese culture in the 1920s; 5) trace the reception of Liang Shuming’s ideas in modern Chinese philosophy. The study is based on the original works of Liang Shuming and their critical reviews from both Europe and the Americas. The methods employed are those of comparative analysis and the hermeneutic approach. Turning to Liang's teachings allowed us to use this specific example to trace the features of the formation of the theory of interaction between Western and Chinese culture in the Chinese version of the philosophy of culture. As a result of the research, new sources on Chinese philosophy of culture are introduced into scientific circulation, allowing us to expand and deepen the interpretation of the problems of the relationship between Western and Chinese cultures and values in the context of the problems posed by Liang Shuming. Their analysis against the backdrop of discussions a century ago shows that the idea of a triune Chinese culture as the future of world civilization remains debatable today. At the same time, the philosophy of the special Chinese way actively absorbs the ideas of dialectical interaction between East and West, which lie in line with Liang’s reasoning about China as a world civilization.

The article is devoted to the topical subject of the dynamics of the transformation of worldview and methodological paradigm of man and society understanding, stemming from the marginalist revolution of the late 19th century. This revolution determined a methodological turn to searching for subjective fundamentals of economic behavior and the focus shift from cost to economic performance. The novelty of this study lies in establishing the theoretical significance of such a transition for modern philosophical anthropology. Accordingly, the purpose of the study is to determine the specifics of the changes that the marginalist revolution in economic science brought to the doctrine of man, associated with the characteristics of their social behavior and a new vision of the foundations of social psychology. To do this, it was necessary to solve such problems as, 1) the reconstruction of evolution and the identification of the fundamental principles of the classical (the so-called Marxist) economic-centric model of man; 2) establishing the main directions for revising these principles within the framework of the new paradigm; 3) explication and conceptual analysis of ideological and methodological innovations that the marginalist revolution entailed; 4) a conceptual justification for the prospects of the ideological and methodological paradigm, the core of which is the modernized model of economic man. The study used the method of categorical analysis with elements of discourse analysis. A critical examination of the classical Marxist ideological and methodological paradigm in understanding man and society made it possible to identify the main features that have been revised in the new model. As a result of the study, it was established that the marginalist revolution led to a conceptual rejection of methodological holism, the substantial approach, and the concept of equivalent exchange, substantiating the heuristic value of the principles of individualism, anti-substantialism and unequal exchange. In fact, in this way an understanding of man and society was finally formed, considering the concept of the formation of individual wills on a new scientific basis. The logically impeccable justification for this concept belongs to K. Menger, who was able to resolve the paradox of methodological individualism by showing why this concept does not necessarily lead to an understanding of economic exchange as deception. As a result, the limited understanding of modern domestic Marxism as a purely economic theory is revised, the costs of the classical Marxist understanding of man are shown, and the need to include ideas of a new understanding of economic man, transformed as a result of the marginalist revolution, into the philosophical and anthropological theory is justified.

The article, on the basis of archival materials, develops the understudied theme of clergy recruitment and motivation for service in the North American diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. It is shown why the recruitment of the clergy for the diocese was a serious problem: the church did not have enough resources to prepare priests in America, while candidates from Russia were deterred by such factors as language barrier, lower social status and income than in Russia, and alien culture. On the other hand, many of the people who expressed the desire to serve in the United States were unsuitable as candidates. Various categories of persons who entered the ministry in the diocese both from Russia and from among local residents were identified. The best clergymen, who made up the glory of the Orthodox clergy in America, turned out to be church people from the Russian Empire, selected by the heads of the North American diocese themselves, especially during their visits to Russia. Motives of the candidates for the remote diocese are analyzed on the basis of their petitions addressed to the head of the diocese, compared with data from other primary sources, such as analytical conclusions of St Tikhon (Bellavin), head of the diocese in 1898–1907; messages from the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod K. P. Pobedonostsev, who collected information about petitioners; and memoirs of Archbishop Plato (Rozhdestvensky), who headed the diocese in 1907– 1914. The study revealed a great variety of motives: from sincere desire to serve the Church and the cause of salvation of people’s souls to aspirations unrelated to church service, such as the desire to see an interesting and rapidly developing country and to supplement one’s education. Moreover, American periods of life of two Russian church servers, reconstructed from archival materials and summarized in the article, shed light on the realities of the lives of talented young Russian people in America at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. Finally, the life path of the best clergymen of the diocese is outlined in the article up to its completion.

Today, there is a tendency in the world for religious leaders to play an increasing role in solving social problems. Buddhist figures in Russia also support this trend and contribute to the development and emancipation of society by applying Buddhist ideas. The purpose of the review article is to introduce into scientific circulation information about the activities of the Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace (ABCP), one of the largest and most influential Buddhist organizations in the world, registered as an observer in the UN Economic and Social Councils. To achieve this goal, the article considers the history and prerequisites for the creation of the organization, describes its goals and mission, presents the current leadership, and development prospects. Special attention is paid to the historical significance of the ABCP for the development of Buddhism in general. Despite the great importance of this international religious organization, there is no research that would describe in detail the activities of the ABCP. This article presents an attempt to fill this gap. The article is based on the materials of the author’s personal archives, which include chronicles of the activities of the Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace, as well as records of the meetings of the ABCP. The main research methods are chronological, textual, and descriptive. In addition to the purpose and mission of the ABCP, the article also provides information about the permanent commissions, centers of the Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace, it focuses on the activities of the organization, and the current leadership. The development prospects are described, consisting of seven organizational strategies that ABCP plans to implement in the near future. It should be noted that some of the development strategies have already been implemented or are currently being implemented. Many of the strategies are aimed at solving global problems such as environmental pollution, preventing social conflicts, gender inequality, developing national values and preserving the cultural heritage of Asian countries professing Buddhism, striving for sustainable development in the world in general. As a result of the study, conclusions about the presence of structural and organizational integrity of the ABCP in its current form are substantiated. Despite historical difficulties in its development, the movement has, to date, managed to develop the capabilities of network interaction of its subsystems at different levels; provided competent staff, including figures of local, regional and international authority; and confirmed its ability to engage in solving problems of global interaction by working with Buddhists from different countries.

Zoomorphic markers are signs with metaphorical potential that define the contextual and semantic interpretation in communication. The relevance of the cultural study of zoomorphic markers is due to the need to produce and use creative means of socio-psychological influence in the communication process. The purpose of the study is to analyze the use of zoomorphic markers as signs in interpersonal and intergroup communication according to the perspective of a cultural approach. The objectives of the study in this regard are: 1) systematization of scientific ideas about the cultural role of signs in the interdisciplinary research field; 2) clarification of the typology of approaches to the role of zoomorphic markers in different types of communication, especially in business communication; 3) consideration of the application of zoomorphic markers in business communication using the example of Spanish linguoculture. The research materials were data from the State Trade Register of Spain, as well as materials from business press. Based on hermeneutical and axiological approaches, a comprehensive cultural analysis of the textual material of zoomorphic names and expressions was carried out using discourse analysis and the method of expert assessment. As a result, an outline of the semantic field of the concept of zoomorphic markers, which has a significant communicative potential, is obtained. The analysis of the micro- and macro-group use of zoomorphic metaphors made it possible to identify the corresponding types of such metaphors, supplementing them with reference to exo- and endo-orientation. The research example of the specific use of zoomorphic markers in the names of Spanish companies shows that the study of their use in business communication has great theoretical potential and practical significance.

The article examines speech communication with the example of the various forms of greetings in a number of dialects of the modern Arabic language. The  relevance of the study is caused by the intensified contacts between Russia and the Arab world. The theoretical significance is caused by the need to specify the relation between the peculiarities of Arabic as of today and the social, religious and everyday culture of the region. The study aims to identify the most popular forms of greetings in the Arabic language and its five dialects (Levantine, Egyptian, Moroccan, Iraqi and the dialect of the Arab Gulf) widely used across the Middle East and Northen Africa. The following tasks were set: 1) to verify the hypothesis that Arab countries share universal forms of greeting; 2) to outline the specific features of local greetings in the Middle East; 3) to analyze the greeting formulas with regard to the religion, gender, age and social status of speakers; 4) to investigate and hypothesize the origins of linguistic transformations. The materials for the study were collected by the author in the course of involved observation and included field notes from Jordan and interviews with Arab students of the Kazan Federal University. The materials were processed with the help of content-analysis and expert assessment. The study has showed that in the Arab language there exist universal forms of greetings, with local specificities understandable for all those living in the region. The analysis proved that apart from religion, linguocultural factors are at play leading to original multiple-words formulas reducing to one or two words with the same meaning. The reductionist trend is also observed in the phonetical structure of the words, especially among the youth. Providing commentary to the usage of greeting in Arabic, the study is of practical relevance to a wide range of readers because it clarifies the cultural code and helps avoid misunderstanding.

Over the past decades the term compliance has become increasingly widely used globally, making its way into national languages. The same is true for Russian academic discourse were compliance (or its Russian analogue “комплаенс”) has become common in a number of areas ranging from business and law to healthcare. This trend as well as cultural practices of revitalizing the social role of religion, which can also be viewed as a form of compliance, substantiate the relevance of this study. The word compliance with the meaning of agreement, accordance and self-restriction has been known in the English language since the 13th century. During the Reformation it notably referred to agreement with people of other beliefs. The purpose of this study is to trace the use of the term and describe its functioning today by analyzing forms corresponding to compliance, especially those with religious connotations. The following goals are set: 1) to describe the linguistic and etymological peculiarities of compliance in various cultural contexts and to specify the grounds for its understanding as a broader concept; 2) to trace the transformation of the concept from religious to secular and to compare personal and group identity markers; 3) to identify the specifics of the cultural practice of compliance as voluntary consent of group and personal religiosity on the example of creative writing; 4) based on texts by A. P. Chekhov to establish the features of the modern cultural optics of compliance in relation to the cultural phenomena of the past; 5) to highlight the key features of reading the works of A. P. Chekhov from the perspective of compliance. The research materials include data from dictionaries and encyclopedias, the linguistic database National Corpus of the Russian Language and selected works by A. P. Chekhov. The work, based on anthropological, axiological, and hermeneutic approaches, uses the methods of discourse analysis and narrative analysis, as well as the biographical method. The return to the broader meaning of the concept of compliance is associated with the peculiarities of the current cultural situation, requiring special attention to the coordination of both secular and religious aspects at group and personal levels. Firstly, in Russian this is fixed by referring to the English term compliance, which goes back to the Latin word complere. Secondly, the conceptual apparatus for describing and understanding religion has been historically developed as a series of forms representing normative aspects of the religious (confessional) identity of the elites of a particular historical period in a particular geographic region. Folk and authored interpretations have been relegated to the realm of marginal superstitions and heresies for thousands of years. Thirdly, the so-called Age of Magazines and Writers opened up new possibilities and ways of representing the deepest experiences of an individual author in literary work that connects the individual with the universal, the intimate with the public, and the instantaneous with the eternal, sometimes giving rise to works that receive worldwide recognition (A. P. Chekhov). However, reflection on this process has become possible relatively recently;  Finally, by using the example of the works of A. P. Chekhov, to review compliance of literature and religion in a writer’s work, it has allowed us to highlight the specifics of his artistic realism, based on the techniques of mirror image, and inscribing the conventional magic of personal writing in the time of the religious understanding of culture. As a result, the conclusion is substantiated that the globally recognized work of A. P. Chekhov can be interpreted as an example of the presentation of religion as living religiosity, i.e. the universal social and personal phenomenon of constructing successful practices of supervising the unknown (N. Luhmann), forming historically special institutional and vernacular forms of their unique personal experience.

This essay attempts to demonstrate the mechanism of the process called by Franco Berardi the slow cancellation of the future. The relevance of the research stems from the need to face the crisis situation in which contemporary English-speaking culture has lost the ability to create artistic works that present a clear image of the future. The crisis can be dealt with if understood as the cancellation of the future. This study aims to reveal the aesthetics of anachronisms, viewed narrowly and understood in a specific sense as means of dealing with the projects of a cancelled future which renders any transgression impossible. To demonstrate the results and theorize the essence of this cultural trend, the authors turn to different ways of presenting and examining heterogeneous cultural material. Proposing to apply the unconventional new research optics of weird-liminal aesthetics, which combines nostalgia for times that never really existed, the liminal nature of aesthetics, which contains a dysfunctional component of a teleological crisis and weird-imagology, which combines incompatible epochs, objects, ideas and motives. The paper applies meta-analysis of research in different cultural fields, hermeneutic research, and comparative analysis. The main trends of contemporary American and British literature are analyzed, as well as genres in which their poetics works with images of the future. Within the framework of the cinematic analysis, the figurative features of the representation of time, being-to-time, and the imagery of progress are studied using the example of the films It Follows (2014), directed by David Mitchell, Melancholia (2011), directed by Lars von Trier, and Barbie (2023), directed by Greta Gerwig. The final examination offers an overview and substantive analysis of the unveiled set of anachronisms in contemporary music and lyrics written in English. In conclusion, from the perspective of cultural philosophy we demonstrate and theorize a diverse and multifaceted crisis of visions of the future as exemplified in the sources studied. If modernity was characterized by a strong sense of the future, the current culture is gradually erasing the distinction between artistic concepts and visions of yesterday and tomorrow in a blurred reference to our days.

The relevance of turning to the analysis of literary works against the background of biographies of real historical figures is determined primarily by the need to clarify the cultural background, concentratedly presented in artistic refraction. The purpose of this study is to trace new parallels in the lives of the female character of Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot Aglaya Yepanchina and the writer Anna Korvin-Krukovskaya. To achieve this goal, it was necessary: 1) to select the most relevant research material; 2) trace the historical details of the relationship between F. M. Dostoevsky and Anna Korvin-Krukovskaya; 3) analyze the national, social, and political details of the writer’s biography that influenced the image of Aglaya Yepanchina. The work uses a biographical method based on the integrated application of anthropological and axiological approaches. This allows us to trace the life path of Anna Korvin-Krukovskaya on the basis of valuable historical evidence. In addition to the history of communication between A. Korvin-Krukovskaya and F. M. Dostoevsky, the similarity of the story of Aglaya Yepanchina with the further lifepath of A. Korvin-Krukovskaya is also analyzed. In particular, the emigration of A. Korvin-Krukovskaya from Russia, her marriage to V. Jacqular, as well as her participation in political activities are compared with the fate of the heroine of the novel. As a result of the study, similarities in the lives of the writer Anna Korvin-Krukovskaya and Aglaya Yepanchina, the heroine of Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot were confirmed, and previously undescribed biographical analogies of this similarity were highlighted. The following conclusion is substantiated: despite the fact that the presence of autobiographical elements in the works of F. M. Dostoevsky has been repeatedly noted by researchers; a detailed study of the memoirs, correspondence and diaries of the writer and his contemporaries allows us to draw new parallels between the characters of the novel and their prototypes.

It is a well-know fact that the political legacy of Christianity is diverse and contradictory. But if we put forward the thesis that the legacy is also cyclical, we will open a large room for discussion both from the historical and political-theoretical perspective. Indeed, the first followers of Christianity were among the oppressed financially and socially, howewher with the advent of the institution of the church their status changed. Gradually the Christian church transformed into political force. We can evaluate it as a conservative right-wing political force. Over the past 150 years, as Anthony A. J. Williams, a British researcher of political theory at Manchester Metropolitan University, suggests and proves in his book The Christian Left, this thesis is far from the truth, and the provisions of the Bible can be the basis of economic collectivism and social liberation in the socialists’ understanding. Starting his research with the theological foundations of Christianity, which could be adopted not only by the right but also by the left, the author immerses the reader in the hitherto unexplored world of Christian socialism with all its contradictions and distrust on the part of the church. In his research, Williams tries to trace the genesis of this phenomenon in space and time, capturing the events of the 15th-16th centuries, when peasant uprisings on the one hand and religious reformers on the other opposed the established socio-economic order, proclaiming the earth a common treasury, advocating for universal brotherhood instead of competition,  and fair distribution of income instead of thoughtless accumulation. Speaking broadly about the book we should admit that the author managed to collect, systematize and analyze both the intellectual and historical heritage of the Christian left movements. A. Williams managed to bring together both the prehistory, the philosophical, and the religious basis of left-wing Christianity. At the same time, the author does not reconsider the Christian dogmas, taking ready-made interpretations of socialist theologians without proper commentary and analysis. Furthermore the author does not develop the theory of left-wing Orthodox tradition. Nevertheless the book The Christian Left may be of interest to researchers of political theory, philosophers, theologians, sociologists and historians, as well as to anyone who doubts whether socialism is a successful attempt to build a paradise on earth.

The article delves into the concept of miracles from the perspective of the Catholic Church, tracing the evolution of human consciousness from fear to awe to curiosity, leading to the phenomena of mythologization, religious experiences, philosophical explanations, and rational understanding of everyday events through science and technology. The relevance of the study is due to the great influence and role of the Catholic Church in the modern world. Miracles as one of the key phenomena related to Catholic values are examined. By 
means of categorial and discourse analyses, along with the case study method, the work highlights the theological interpretation of miracles, distinguishing between official Christian doctrines and vernacular religious practices. It explores the process of institutionalization of religion and the significance of miracles within the context of Catholicism, emphasizing their role as divine revelations and signs of the supernatural. The article discusses the theological views on miracles of such thinkers as Augustine of Hippo and St. Thomas Aquinas, underscoring how miracles attest to faith and the resurrection. Contemporary examples of miracles recognized by the Catholic Church, such as those at Lourdes and involving figures like St. Padre Pio and Carlo Acutis are outlined. The process of canonization and the phenomenon of stigmata are described. The discussion extends to the philosophical debates on miracles, contrasting rationalistic criticisms from figures like David Hume and Baruch Spinoza with the religious significance attributed to miraculous events. The article also critiques the positivist perspective that subjugates religion to reason and science, emphasizing the enduring nature of miracles in religious discourse despite scientific advancements. In conclusion, the study advocates for a reconnection with the miraculous, religious, and metaphysical realms, positing that embracing mystery and awe can imbue life with meaning, wonder, and purpose, countering the secularization thesis that diminishes the role of miracles and spirituality in the modern world.