The article attempts at understanding the epistemological essence of the rational mind in the philosophical tradition of dialectical materialist methodology of activity. The essential characteristics of the rational mind are revealed: it is a mind trained in certain general rules; its task is to contribute elementary culture of thought to ordinary and prejudicial milieu; rational mind is a mind of abstract form, i.e. to search for the truth it uses the method of distraction and delay fixing thoughts so that the idea should become stable to be reduced to a simple structure for easy identification of the structural, organizational and essential elements of the holistic image of the object.

The article suggests a possible option of proving the thesis of dependence of assessment of actions as rational or irrational on teleologically engaged semantic-axiological net in the framework of which they are carried out by means of interpretation of the problem of labor and rationality in logic, game theory and activity theory. The possibility of objective verification/falsification of the elements of subjective rationality is shown and the wording of the problem of metagame and the metarationality as an alternative interpretation of the problems of transformation of rationality into irrationality is proposed.

The article applies socio-philosophical approach to examine changes accompanying individual existence in modern mass communication society. The changes occurring at conscious, subconscious and unconscious levels of the individual under the influence of information flood do not only form specific content of consciousness, but also produce the very typology of mental perception of the world. In particular, human conscious activity is largely determined by new types of communication and information search, which results in the decline of a reflective component in human conscious activity and risks of forming “linear thinking”. The author advances a hypothesis that a new type of human existence is to emerge - a formed man.

Any social state can be called a state of public consciousness understood as the activity of this consciousness and its function. Any social state can also be called the content or form of public consciousness. This article examines the scope of the term “public consciousness”, its structure and functions in modern conditions. The concepts of V. Baars and other philosophers on the interaction of body and mind are analyzed. The paper shows that social consciousness is characterized by dynamic variability.

The paper deals with the problem of spirituality as a factor in the stability of social systems through micro- and macro-sustainability. It is shown that the stability of social systems is provided by the trend of development and positive feedback that share a constant of spirituality. The notion of spirituality is comsidered as a subject’s ability to operate freely, as a criterion allowing to measure the extent to which individuals realize their capacity to be human. The authors of the article also provide the interpretations of spirituality in the works of J.-P. Sartre, W. James, H. Bergson, A. Camus and present the aspects of spirituality as the value of life.

The article considers the classic form of truth assertion - a correspondent one, and the form of truth in the sphere of media-message, i.e. in mass media and mass communication. A primary distinction is made between these forms on the basis of which the development of the immanent logic of media-message truth is traced. The results of the revealed logic of media-message truth are presented, with the further investigations on the topic being projected.

The article considers the views of prominent Russian philosophers and publicists of the journal “The Russian Word” D.I. Pisarev and V.A. Zaitsev concerning social nature of medieval religious heretic movements. V.A. Zaitsev was interested in the low class unrest in a religious form and D.I. Pisarev recognized in these riots the development of the public thought which had not yet discarded its religious outfit, but was on the rise stimulated by positive economic changes. It is concluded that D.I. Pisarev and V.A. Zaitsev considered religious movements of the Middle Ages as expressions of interests of different social strata in the form typical of the period, and paid special attention to the social nature of the movements.

The article is dedicated to Florensky’s philosophical views on the phenomenon of creativity. Under this phenomenon Florensky understood the highest state of man, the moment of his authentic chastity and ascent to the Absolute. It is shown that without this state creativity degenerates into mere game, a dead mask, a pitiful parody on the world and does not overcome the power of sin and death. Florensky denies such false understanding of creativity, underlining that culture requires an ascent to religious dogmas. The article demonstrates that Florensky’s understanding of creativity is directly related to his studies on antinomianism and the theory of symbolism and is inherent to the wholesome religious worldview.

Russian religious philosophers’ studies in the fields of ontology, epistemology, and ethics were decisive in the development of anthropological research within the Russian philosophy formed on the basis of Christocentric trichotomy of spirit, soul and body, the unity of faith and reason, the idea of freedom and synergy. Analysing anthropological problems and posing questions about the meaning and the ultimate goal of human life Russian religious philosophers looked for ideological support in those sections of dogmatic theology where these questions were revealed most fully in terms of the “free spirit philosophy”. Despite some stylized form of theological beliefs, the idea of integral human was central for the Russian thinkers in their solving the problems of the transformation of human existence.

This paper reveals the nature of Russian legal consciousness in the social philosophy of Eurasianism. By example of the views of N. Trubetskoy and N. Alexeyev the author describes the features of Russian legal consciousness as a symbiosis of social and legal values of Western European and Asian civilizations. It is concluded that legal consciousness as a form of national consciousness is historically and socio-culturally conditioned.

This article is a short description of the philosophical handwriting of the historical period of the 1920s-30s of the 20th century in Russia. The key elements of the Russian philosophical thought through the mentioned historical period are described. The key importance of the personal concept of the Being is underlined. This element of the Russian humanitarian thought is the central point of the Russian metaphysics of the period under investigation. It is highlighted that the concept of Personality (lichnost’) was the foundation of the Russian philosophy in the days of Interbellum.

The article analyzes possible criteria for assessing a person as a subject of law. Special attention is paid to the characteristics of the subject of law that emerge due to the development of biotechnologies in technogenic civilization. On the basis of the ideas of V. Solovyov and I. Ilyin the author concludes that it is reasonable to apply the following criteria to the subject of law assessment: awareness of the connection between the purpose and the consequences of its achievement, the nature and extent to which moral principles are realized in the subject’s actions. The unity of moral and legal frameworks is highly emphasized.

The article examines the complex aesthetic aspect in the system of the philosophy of economy which is one of the basic elements of human perception. The philosophy of economy is considered from an aesthetic standpoint as the embodiment of artistic meaning in modern public consciousness. The author argues the dependence of aesthetic values on the formation and development of spiritual and creative orientation of the philosophy of economy. The features of the religious content of the aesthetic attitude in philosophy of economy are revealed. A focus is made on the study of philosophy of economy as an autonomous aesthetic field in comparison with mass culture.

The article deals with the gradual, historical transformation of the phenomenon of the formation of the Russian idea as the basis of the concept of “Russian identity” from the 16th to the mid-20th century. The development of identity in the process of growth and development of the nation is accompanied by crises, overcoming which the phenomenon of identity can change its content as a result of the free choice of its carriers; then takes up the experience of this development, becomes enriched with new values and meanings, and thus a new content and understanding of the Russian identity crystallizes. The article contextualizes the development of the Russian idea from the original one by the Monk Philotheus (Moscow is the Third Rome) to Marxism (Bolshevism) analyzing the reasons of its adoption by the Russian public consciousness during a certain historical period. Critical analysis of this stage is based on the works of the famous Russian philosopher N. Berdyaev. The article studies the internal development, accumulation of the main ideas and contemporary understanding of the content of the Russian idea as one of the main aspects of understanding the Russian identity.

The article focuses on the issue of the connection of the first recognition time with existential-anthropological terms of the first acts of man’s awareness of his subjectivity. The feature of “zero” (“empty”) time is set through two properties associated with depersonalization. The first one is a property of time as a hypothetical absolute beginning to ensure the integrity of the world. The second property is of “purification” from “frozen”, stereotypical knowledge. The concept of “zero” (“empty”) time contributes to the mainstreaming issues of genuine, full knowledge of reality. What is meant is the knowledge free from stereotypes, subjective preferences, and false obviousness of the visible data and experience which may be limited. The contribution of this article is in correlative analysis of the concepts of “zero” or “empty” space-time in the philosophy of Plato, postmodernism in the visual arts of the avant-garde and in the mass media theory. The main method of research is an interdisciplinary analysis. The results of this study can be applied in practical optimization of the means of resistance to the illusory sense of reality produced by the media.