Aram G. Aleksanyan
The biophilosophy of Hovhannes Tumanyan has never become a separate
research topic. The theme was partially discussed in the voluminous monographs
and articles representing his fiction heritage, but it was not fully and
comprehensively studied. Undoubtably, researchers referred to Tumanyan’s ideas,
thoughts, and philosophical hypotheses, but his worldview and fiction heritage
were never classified and considered in the context of European philosophy.
Again on Tumanyan’s philosophy of life
Aram C. Alexanyan
Hovhannes Tumanyan’s philosophy of life has never become a separate theme for investigation. This issue was partly touched upon in the written voluminous monographs and articles but has never been studied completely and comprehensively.
Moreover, the Tumanyan studies of the Soviet years evaluated the literary heritage of the poet by value-based forms deriving from ideology (realism, the expresser of social protest, writer of village life, the singer of the nation’s desires, hopes and feelings, popularity, etc.). To this was added the irrelevant and simplified apologetics, that is, the praise that the contemporary Tumanyan studies are flooded with. Tumanyan’s views and artistic heritage have never been considered in the context of European philosophy. Whereas, this is the most effective research method of studying his oeuvre. We believe that this research method will create a scientific environment for a more comprehensive scientific research of Hov. Tumanyan’s worldview, as well as his artistic heritage.
From this viewpoint, in our previous article Hov. Tumanyan’s radical insights deriving from W. Wundt’s doctrine were revealed: a) theory of evolution, b) the necessity of perceiving the nations’ psychology, c) classification of the world as a spiritual reality, d) universal voluntary unity of mankind and ideals, etc. The abovementioned is supplemented with the accentuations on the geographical deterministic and cultural-historical method.
The given article discusses the nature of the poet’s learning and determination of philosophy of life. Tumanyan’s learning, in fact, has never been a constant assimilation of any doctrine or idea. To the extent that his worldview is characterized by its analytical-comparative nature, Tumanyan’s philosophy of life cannot be viewed as an adequate follow-up to the teaching, but as a qualitatively independent eclectic combination.
This article examines his transcendental thinking towards the absolute knowledge of existence and the world. Tumanyan’s versions of the ideas on rationalization of evolution are presented. Reasons for becoming a subject of cosmic evolution of the Armenian ethnos are revealed with references to historical and cultural musicology (creative genius of the Armenian ethnos, a culture of preserving ethnic identity, the fact of living cultures of different eras, the strong moral potential of Armenian culture, etc.).
In the hermeneutics of St. Augustine
Summary
Romik Kh. Kocharyan
The calling and fulfillment of St. Augustine’s “Sacred Hermeneutics” is to
become and improve as an intra-holistic science teaching, revealing its own
foundation and goal-setting, an explicating order of rules that formulate the
possibilities of reliable understanding and interpretation of the wisdom of Holy
Scripture. In his treatise “Christian Science” he presents a general, therefore, and
teaching interpretation scientific concept of understanding and interpretation of the
wisdom of Holy Scripture. His concept of hermeneutics can be presented as a
general scientific concept teaching the interpretation of the wisdom of Holy
Scripture, if it is purposeful and capable of reaching and interpreting the divine
spoken in the Bible, which is mentally seen and accomplished in his hermeneutic
treatise. According to his teaching, “Sacred Hermeneutics” is a scientific
concept of understanding and interpretation of the sacrament of wisdom,
revealing the truth of the truly divine, contained in the sense- and/or counselstories
of by God inspired sacred writings. And summarizing, it can be stated
that “Sacred Hermeneutics” is the science of counsel-knowledge of
understanding and interpretation of the wisdom revealing the “divine” in the
all-being. In his hermeneutic concept, St. Augustine formulated the order and
system of rules of understanding and interpretation of the wisdom contained in the
Holy Scripture: both the fundamental principles and general rules, and special
rules. Initially, he explores the problem of knowledge and the means necessary to
understand direct phrases and collocations, and then formulates general and
specific rules for understanding and interpreting allegory. According to St.
Augustine, any ambiguity is signified by a direct or allegorical meaning of words,
phrases and collocations. The interpretation of the direct meaning and counsel of
the wisdom of Holy Scripture should be interpreted from the point of view of the
interconnectedness of the parts to the formation of sense, the law of faith, the goaland
whole-forming interconnection of the context. According to his hermeneutic
teaching, in the complex problem of interpreting of the wisdom of Holy Scripture,
twofold of the direct meaning, it is also necessary to comprehend the allegorical
wisdom’s counsel-knowledge. Directness and ambiguity should be identified in
accordance with the intent of the Holy Scriptures teaching morality. And St.
Augustine formulates the rules of interpretation in accordance with the
fundamental intention and accomplishment of the Holy Scriptures: by the
elimination of “lust” in people’s thoughts, souls and life – to achieve an increase in
“love”.
In the writings of the philosophers of hellenistic judaism
Proto-archimandrite Fr. Shahe Ananyan,
Albeit the advanced studies in the history of Jewish thought, the Hellenistic Judaism is a relatively new phenomenon per se, and in this regard the discussions and theories on that issue continue to be in constant need of revision. The article discusses some basic issues and problems of the Antique and Hellenistic philosophies in the light of their interpretation and reception by the philosophers of Hellenistic Judaism. For this aim, the short introduction of the historical and cultural signification of Hellenistic Judaism is presented, taking into consideration the results of the recent historical, philological and archaeological studies in this field, as well.
The author discusses firstly the place and the importance of the Hellenistic culture both in Palestine and the Jewish Diaspora as a necessary framework and fertile soil for the development of the Jewish-Hellenistic thought in 4-1 cc. B. C. Secondly, in order to precise the limits of the interchanges between the Judaism and the Hellenistic philosophy, some aspects of the terms- and meaning-making processes are clarified on the basis of several examples of the Jewish Bible’s Greek translation (Septuaginta). In this sense the author deemed also important to point out the main ideas and qualifications with which the Antique and Hellenistic Greek authors used to perceive the image of Jews as a nation of philosophers, par excellence. This kind of attitude, regardless of the continuing persecutions of the Jews in the Seleucid and Roman empires, and the anti-Hellenistic dispositions among many Jewish communities and political groups, incited on its turn a new
wave of interconnections between the Jewish monotheism and the Hellenistic religious philosophy. One could even assume the evident influence of some Hellenistic philosophical movements, namely Stoicism on the Jewish biblical books, composed from 4 c. B. C. to 1 c. A. C.
However, within the large context of the Hellenistic oikoumené the Jews presented a remarkable exception. Confronted with Greek ideas, some attempted to combine Greek intellectual values with Hebrew ones; such efforts were especially successful in Egypt and in other parts of Jewish Diaspora, meanwhile being firmly ancred in the tradition of the Jewish monotheistic religion. The figures of great Jewish-Hellenistic thinkers such as Aristoboulos, Pseudo-Aristaeus and Philo of Alexandria were the result of that successful enculturation. Their ideas on the theory and methods of that synthesis which are analyzed in the article, are of primary importance for studying the Jewish-Hellenistic thought.
Summary
Romik Kh. Kocharyan, Anahit R. Jijyan
The social science presents itself as language-acquired human life just in its essential accomplishment. And the social science is presented as wisdom insighting and clarifying the genuine and own spiritual meaning of the past and present of human life, achievable to human understanding by God’s grace. Studying human life and by full disclosing in it virtues of human selfness and their activities with praising value judgment, as well as vices – with reprehension and partial disclosure, social science as such is presented inter-woven with its theoretical forming, just as active (practical) social science. In the presented investigation, from the viewpoint of “revealing the truth-of-being of social science” both the theoretical and practical components are present in their interconnected union. Such understood theory and scientific conception of social science have as its own aim and final result – “the explication of the truth of being-of-social science as such. The nature of social science or the truth of being-of-social science as such, its essential features summarily is revealed in the short formulated definition of social science. The article analyzes and diversifies the views of the classics of sociological thought such as Emil Durkheim, Georg Simmel, Max Weber, De Roberti, Pitirim Sorokin and others in determining the subject of research and accomplishment (in Armenian “կատարում” – performance, execution) of social sciences. Along with many well-known theorists, the authors of the article analyzed in detail, in particular, the definitions of Pitirim Sorokin presented in his various works. According to the American sociologist of Russian origin and the author of the direction of “social and cultural dynamics”, the subject of social science research is the most general specific characteristics of socio-psychological phenomena, as well as the disclosure of the basic laws of human interaction. However, social science is engaged not only in revealing the truth of the actualized human being, which is often significantly descriptive, but also reveals the prime cause of these realities, their interconnectedness and cultural significance. In this article by revealing the essential and preferable features of social science and summing up the results obtained, so by revealing the nature of social science or the truth of being-of-social science as such – in formulas of thought are presented the definitions of social science by its subject and accomplishment (performance), separately as well as jointly. Social science and, in particular, sociology, is theoretical and practical wisdom that reveals the truth of the decline and rise of the virtues of human life, and therefore the possibilities of improving the human self, life and culture: studylover and researcher, creator and career human life-activity to the spiritualcivilizational good-order. Thus, sociology is the science of theoretical and practical wisdom, revealing the truth of human life and the possibilities for improvement towards spiritual-civilizational good-order.
Some difficulties and their solutions
Summary
Gevorg G. Hakobyan
The article discusses the possibilities of the existence of justice and truth in the political-legal sphere. These two conceptions – the justice and truth, being very important problems in philosophy, require comprehensive analysis, but the article presents a more theoretical-gnoseological approach. This approach stems from the above-mentioned goals of the article.
To answer this question, first of all, it is shown an essential aspect of the concept of politics, which is common to a number of classics. Based on classical comments, the definition of politics is formulated in such a way that reflects the relationship between politics, right and the distribution of the social good. Such a definition of politics allows discussion about the origin and development of the discourse on right and politics, which reveals the place and role of justice and truth in the political-legal sphere. When discussing the issue of demanding justice and truth, it turns out that justice is generally in demand if there is any conflict whose resolution is relevant. Thereby, it is concluded that the only possible place of justice is the political-legal sphere, and the main expression of justice reflects the political-legal discourse.
Continuing the argumentation, it becomes clear that the real facts – a true description that reflects some kind of real social situation – are necessary to construct and implement any concept of justice.
Besides the fact that it is extremely difficult to discover the only and real truth in the field of political-legal discourse, it is also very problematic itself within the frames of philosophy: firstly, the philosophical thought has historically been repeatedly stalled in the context of the problem of truth, and secondly, the absence of the adequate statement of history and the appropriate formulation of the problem of truth keeps philosophical thought in a relative impasse, and in the third, nowadays (and not only), many thinkers do not only think that the truth does not exist, but they also agree that the search for possible truth is simply useless.
Regardless of all this, from ancient times, it was stated that it is, principally, impossible to find the truth and simultaneously recognize that what was found is an authentic truth. All this implies and even compels a unique approach to the truth not only in the field of philosophy itself but also within the framework of political-legal discourse. Therefore, it is assumed that Karl Popper’s negativistic approach could be applied towards the discourse on right and politics as well, which with relative success works in a scientifical-philosophical discourse. Further, this approach is substantiated, not only referring to the difficulties that the development of political-legal discourse faces due to the essence of truth, but also to logical and historical facts, and finally the successful adoption of this approach in political-legal discourse.
Summary
Seyran A. Zakaryan
Since the 50-60s of the XX century the Armenian philosophy shapes a methodological paradigm according to which nominalism was born and developed in the Medieval Armenian philosophy of the XIII-XIV centuries. The Soviet Armenian researchers separated the nominalism as a philosophical trend based on the assessment of the philosophical directions (nominalism was viewed as progressive, “the first expression of materialism’’, and realism was viewed as a regressive direction), as well as on the misinterpretation or the confusion of the general issues including the differentiation between the importance of the individual and the general, the element and the many, the part and the whole. The issues of the universals do not refer to the importance of an individual and the whole, but rather to the status of the existence of the universals. According to the Armenian researchers, the Medieval Armenian philosophers (Vahram Rabuni, Hovhan Vorotnetsi, Grigor Tatevatsi) were nominalists because they defended the statement according to which particular things are primary to the universals and are the basis for their existence. Accepting the primary importance of particular things over the universals (genus and species) does not mean that the existence of the universals is being denied. On the contrary, the notion stated that the universals exist after the individual things and thanks to them. Based on the fact that Medieval Armenian philosophers not only accepted the real existence of the universals, but also developed the triple formula of their existence (the universals exist before the things, in the things and after the things), and as they follow the Aristotelian hylomorphic ontological and epistemological tradition, we can state that they are not nominalists, but rather moderate realists and in the Medieval Armenian philosophy they developed not a branch of nominalism but that of the moderate realism. In this regard, the ideological and dogmatic conflict of the XIV century between the ideologists of the unitary movement and the Armenian Church is solved alike. The reason lies under the explanation that the representatives of both directions are Aristotelians and they both treat the problem of universals in the same way. The difference between their points of view is in the interpretation of the relationship between the individual and the general and that of the single and the many. If the representatives of the unitary movement emphasized the priority of the general over the particular and by that they tried to explain the priority of the Catholic Church of Rome over the particular national churches, in the case of the Armenian Church they defended the self-sufficiency of the individual things and the notion of the priority of the particulars over the general and, thus, proved the autocephaly and the right of honorable existence of the Armenian Church in the family of the Christian churches.
In the Context of Enlightening Paradigm of the Armenian Identity
Summary
Nane S. Movsisyan
Key words – historical past, national identity, self-awareness, historical-scientific and philosophical attitudes, Enlightenment paradigm.
The historical past in the project of the Enlightenment of the Armenian identity is viewed from two percpectives: historical-scientific and philosophical. The scientific-historical approach views the historical past from the perspective of development of history and emergence of historical facts. With the help of revival of the uninterrupted events it values national identity and affirms the unique place and role of the Armenian history (religion, language, art and science) in the history of world civilization. From the point of view of philosophy which views the historical past in the light of civilization not for the sake of just depicting certain facts at a certain period of time but to praise the history and assigns a civilizational value to it, and in the contrast to scientific-historical approach discusses historical past from the perspective of evaluation and is not just confirming it chronologically. The Armenian music, language, literature and philosophy are endowed with educational and civilizational capabilities. And the aim of this approach is to revive only those very facts and events which are and can be considered as cornerstones for the development of patriotism and love towards one’s own nation. The philoisophical approach is also guided by the idea of creating national ideals based on historical past.
Summary
Sophia N. Ohanyan
Key words – the history of Armenian philosophy; Positivism; Synthetic Monism; the principle of mutual addition of ideas; Historical Realism.
Doctor of philosophy, eminent Armenian thinker of the early 20th century Ervand Frangyan (1878-1928) aiming to analyze the ARF worldview, disclose the ideological sources of the stated world view, study the role of the party in social political dogmas and in the Armenian national existence turns to the second positivism, that is, to one of the most important schools of philosophy. In his view the ideas of the founders of the school Mach and Avenarius best express the synthetic character of ARF worldview. The principle of mutual addition of ideas underlies Frangyan’s Synthetic Monism or critical-realistic philosophy, which is demonstrated in epistemology, psychology, social and historical philosophy. Nevertheless, historical realism as a theoretical basis of ARF worldview is of particular importance in Frangyan’s philosophical system. According to historical realism, historical process should be considered as an entity with a realistic assessment of the place and role of each party involved in this process.
Summary
Nane S. Movsesyan
Key words – Identity; self-awareness; Enlightenment paradigm; ethnic self-awareness; national “I”; public and spiritual “We”.
In terms of ethnopsychology the Enlightenment paradigm of Armenian mentality was characterised by three stepwise approaches. In the first stage a critical approach to public “We” (M. Baghramian) was adopted as a basis followed by consideration of spiritual “We” in the light of ethics (Kh. Abovian). The second stage of ethnopsychology was characterised by a cognitive and critical (M. Nalbandian, Raffi, G. Artsruni) approach that studied the reasons of the main faults of national “We”, revealing lack of self-awareness and awareness about others, as well as, devastating consequences of national idealism. The third stage of selfawareness was first characterised by conjugative approach (Kh. Alishan) which affirmed that an Armenian was not only a bearer of national “I” with either faulty public or only spiritual “We”, but bothof them that survive inside him simultaneously uniting those “I”s in one system and thus creating the image of national “I” and collective “We” the main characteristic and peculiarity of which is the contradictory essence (H. Asatryan).