The paper is concerned with revealing the common
grounds of science and religion. The possibility of coexistence
of scientific and religious knowledge has been marked
as they expressed different forms of studying reality and
interaction with it. It has been shown that the most productive
is the search of cognitive and cogital integrity of science and
religion. The article analyses V. Styopin's concept saying that
the foundations of science consist of three blocs: ideals and
standards of research, world scientific picture and philosophical
bases. The latter include philosophical and epistemological
faith as a special source of world outlook, knowledge
and cognition. Faith in its philosophical and epistemological
aspect is a constituent of man's world outlook and is a core of
any cognitive practices, including research. Simultaneously
faith is the core of religion. Hence this paper suggests an idea
of faith as a common metaphysical ground for science and
religion.

The paper considers ontological visions of light
in Plato s philosophy and Eastern Orthodox Church mystical
tradition of Hesychasm. The basic qualities of light as Gods
energy have been determined, the most significant images
of light in St. Symeon the New Theologian and St. Gregory
Palamas works have been analysed. The postulate of light as
the central ontological category of the philosophy of icon has
been substantiated. In Russian philosophy understanding the
idea of light is connected with the golden age of icon drawing
in the 14th century, which served the formation of theology
of image and then philosophy of image as a theoretical understanding
of spiritual and physical portrayal. Historical and
philosophical analysis allows us to reveal the meaning of the
idea of light for religious ontology

The paper is devoted to social and philosophical
understanding of man-caused situations. The author pays
attention to unilateral character of the existing and used in
different spheres of knowledge classifications of emergency
man-caused situations. It often occurs that such classifications
violate the rule of common ground and present themselves
just lists of abnormal deviations. The transition from
classification to typology will make it possible to look at mancaused
situations as integrity, which stimulates detecting the
interaction as normal and abnormal man-caused situations.
On the basis of the suggested typology a measuring
technique has been developed to identify the index of danger
and compare different kinds of man-caused situations

That present-day man-caused crises, accidents
and catastrophes are difficult to forecast makes the problem
of man-caused situations significant. The article has succeeded
in putting in order the content of such closely connected
notions as technological reality (the aggregate of technological
achievements), technology (technological reality in
statistics) and man-caused situations (technological reality
in action). The problem of man-caused situations is considered
in two aspects: phenomenological and categorical. Phenomenological
consideration has allowed us to determine a
relatively independent status of man-caused situations as a
social and technical phenomenon as well as their immanent
contradiction, multiple manifestations and complicated structure
of functioning. Categorical consideration has made it
possible to define, sort out man-caused situations and elaborate
the technique of identifying their index of safety.

The paper shows the correlation between freedom
and spiritual-ity and gives the definition of the latter.
Freedom is revealed in its connection with creativity (through
creative activity) and responsibility (through reflective perception
of actions). Freedom in its correlation with creativity and
responsibil-ity presents a conceptual program of mans qualitative
being. The latter state-ment is fundamental in distinguishing
freedom as ontological basis of spiritual-it

The paper researches the phenomenon of
mans freedom in the circumstances of public consciousness
being manipulated. The ontology and genesis of freedom is
considered, its scope is determined under the conditions of
social manipulation in different periods of mans historical
development and in different philosophical schools. The being
status of freedom is substantiated in the circumstances
of social manipulation. A new aspect of public consciousness
manipulation has been presented in its relation to mans freedom

The paper analyses such important social phenomenon
as urbanization. The stages of its formation (the
cities of Ancient East, Ancient Greek and Roman cities, medieval
city, the New Time city and the 20th century city) and
their specific features have been revealed. The necessity of
complex (multiple factor) approach to urbanization has been
grounded. Universal peculiarities of the development of urban
civilization have been established: the expansion of the territory
of cities, a sharp growth of city population, the prevalence
of city population over country population, the appearance of
megalopolises and satellite cities.

The development of biomedical technologies
and negative consequences of this development set tasks of
preserving life and dignity of a person that are solved from the
angle of law, morality, religious anthropology and philosophical
methodology connected with the problem of correspondence
between science, philosophy and religion. The question
of possibility of modern medical science to manipulate life and
death of man with the help of such technologies as artificial
impregnation, gene engineering, abortion, reanimation, death
lethal injection, transplantation inevitably contradicts moral
values and is still a disputable question. The article using the
works of Russian religious philosophers of the first half of
the 20th century substantiates the significance of Orthodox
anthropology as a methodological and ideological base for
the development of modern biomedical technologies and the
application of their achievements in reaching the goals of reinforcing
the nation s human resources.

The article considers humanity as a cultural
universal. Supporting her view with the opinions of other researchers
the author makes a definition of cultural universals
and refers humanity to such phenomena. Universal in culture
is always historical, identified in time and consequently mobile
and manyfold. This is a mechanism of reproduction of the
integrity of social life. Hence humanity as a cultural universal
is the expression and demonstration of a certain civilization
and historical experience.

The paper researches in historical and philosophical
perspective the basic aspects of philosophical and
legal concept of evraziistvo by N.N. Alekseyev, the essence
of which was in recognition of Russia and Eurasias not only
civilizing, but also legal originality. The study shows that N.N.
Alekseyevs concept of evraziistvo consisted of two dialectically
dependent parts: philosophically critical (the rejection of
European ego-centrism of philosophical and legal assessments,
the opposition of organitsistskiy and mekhanitsistskiy
approaches to history, the negation of philosophical and legal
views of bolshevism) and philosophically content (the idea of
Eurasian state as a guarantee state).

The article analyses the sources and basic
stages of the evolution of A.F. Stepuns social and philosophical
ideas (pre-revolutionary, revolutionary and emigrant), with
the content and most essential characteristics of them being
revealed. A special focus is on basing the idea of original
methodology worked out by A.F. Stepun that the author of
the article describes as a synthesis of Christian metaphysics
and existential experience. This methodology appeared on
the basis of creativity reworking of neo-Kantian and Russian
religious philosophy. A.F. Stepuns basic philosophical ideas
devoted to the analysis of social events of his epoch are under
historical and philosophical research in the article.

The paper considers the evolution of the concept
philosopheme in late 20th century scientific literature
and researches three latest publications devoted to nature
and essence of philosopheme. The question of necessity
to differentiate such pairs of notions as philosopheme and
symbol, philosopheme and concept has been raised. Philosopheme
as a new form of knowledge is considered as a
means possessing vision colouring and capable of entering
developed philosophical concepts as the basic component to
realize the integrative function of philosophy.

The paper explains the meaning of the concept
passionarnost introduced by L.N. Gumilyov in the trend of
ethnogenetic conception that has established itself recently
both in science and mass media. All definitions and characteristics
of passionarnost given by L.N. Gumilyov in his work
Ethnogenesis and Earths biosphere are considered as well
as the combined concepts such as passionarii, passionarnyi
impact, ethnic field and some others contributing to
the most complete understanding of the hypothesis of passionarnost.
The paper aims at giving a summarised definition
of passionarnost and tracing the sources of the hypothesis
itself, the works of the fathers of the scientific trend of Russian
kosmism in particular.

The paper considers the individuals numen
experience, the essence of which has been theoretically
elaborated by European science since the 19th century, its
definition and main aspects on the basis of rich material of
pre-Islamic Turks mythology. The author stresses the fact
that modern philosophy cannot avoid the notion of numen and
the whole complex of questions connected with this problem
while analyzing mythological consciousness. The topicality of
the question is also connected with the problems of globalization
and the tendency of modern philosophical thought to
address primitive forms of mythological consciousness.

P.-J. Proudhon occupies a special place in the
history of philosophical thought. He was a philosopher-anarchist,
economist and philosopher of culture, and what is more
interesting and less known that he was a religious philosopher.
The paper presents itself a historical and philosophical
exposition of anarchical ideas in the context of their influence
on the diversified paradigm of mans cultural practice by the
example of J.-P. Proudhons many-sided model of creativity.
The beginning of the paper substantiates its topicality and
currency.

The author of the article stresses the topicality
of studying public policy by Russian politologists. It is also
mentioned that they should base their theory on Western
practice in researching this category. The author suggests
that the most adequate way to analyse publicity in Russian
context is a harmonious combination of theoretical and practical
criteria of its realization, the regional public policy study
being of most importance and of prior significance.

The article is concerned with the phenomenon
of civil society and its economic, social, philosophical and anthropological
foundations. The genesis and development of
a civil society goes parallel to the destruction of the institutes
of a traditional society. Contemporary Russia possesses the
features of both traditional and modern types of the society
presenting itself a peculiar hybrid. Political institutes of the
society coexist with archaic forms of lower strata generating
mutual alienation. Etatism and alienation are the most
important problems of interaction between law-enforcement
system and state structures in general and civil institutes in
present-day Russia.