Philosophical ontology is a difficult to define category of objects, right up to the mixing of different levels of abstraction. As a result, various interpretations are possible, even paradoxical ones. Modern logical theories, unlike traditional logic, make it possible to identify the difficulties and outline ways to explain different types of ontological premises of theoretical knowledge, including philosophical doctrines.

Epistemology and ontology are usually regarded as independent philosophical disciplines. However, the idea of their unity provides the basis for the correct interpretation of the concept of scientific realism as the development of the idea of methodological unity in science, which allows one to distinguish various subject areas, but approach them uniformly. Thus, scientific realism is associated with scientific practice as the idea of a single interpretation of phenomena using appropriate theoretical tools.

For a long time discoveries were recognized only in natural sciences. We can talk about “discoveries” in the social sciences only in some other sense. At the same time the accumulation of general theoretical knowledge in economics and sociology is not in doubt. Eleven criteria of “positive knowledge” (respectively, “discoveries” when such knowledge is first acquired) are formulated. Three groups of scientific and philosophical disciplines with similar indicators according to these criteria are distinguished. In philosophy (with the exception of logic and analytical philosophy) it is difficultto talk about discoveries and knowledge due to the lack of agreement regarding any non-trivial judgments with a philosophical level of generality and abstractness. At the same time the development of philosophy is more than the accumulation of ideas as optional opinions. To solve this difficulty the metaphor of “a lock” (obstacles to cognition), “a key” (intellectual means selected and created to obtain reliable knowledge) and “a view” (holistic meaningful image on “opening different doors”) was used. Even if philosophy does not produce full-fledged discoveries and generally accepted knowledge it progressively develops its ideas as heuristic “keys” for scientific research and as “views” that generalize heterogeneous, accumulated scientific knowledge connecting them with changing self-consciousness and values in human generations.

The article outlines ways to determine the theoretical preconditions for the formation of phenomenological philosophy and provides some examples of the practical application of the phenomenological method in current social and human studies. The specificity of the approach implemented in the article is that the authors deliberately refuse to consider the primary sources of phenomenology (Kant, Brentano, etc.) and turn to the primary sources of this doctrine in ancient philosophy. The authors assume that addressing ancient philosophy allows to reveal all capabilities of the phenomenological method. The application of the phenomenological method in psychology faces a number of difficulties. Firstly, there is a problem of distinguishing between philosophy and psychology. Secondly, there is a difficulty in combining scientific (dogmatic) and phenomenological (anti-dogmatic, critical) knowledge. The task of a phenomenological psychologist is to develop an understanding of the diversity of human experience, guided by unpackaged knowledge. Therefore, an appeal to the philosophical heritage of the past, and above all to ancient and medieval texts, is a justified decision, because the first prescientific attempts of thinkers to find ways to describe experience are found there.

The paper considers the phenomenon of “desacralization” of scientific knowledge as a consequence of the development of virtual Internet technologies. It is shown that the process of desacralization of knowledge can be a decisive factor in the reconfiguration of the existing hierarchy of scientific knowledge. This can help to bridge the intellectual gap existing between the metropolitan and provincial science. “Intellectual challenge” is considered as a characteristic of the current state of Siberian philosophy and as part of the larger waves of intellectual challenge that faces all philosophical and social sciences and is formed as a result of changes in the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of scientific knowledge.

The paper considers modern approaches to the study of social dynamics, which are conceptually reflected in theories of social quality of life, linking economic and statistical data with indicators reflecting integrative relationships and forms of social interaction. An attempt to assess the effectiveness of these theoretical and methodological approaches is carried out in the context of analyzing such a problem in Russian society as the increased level of emigration in recent years.

This article discusses the most significant characteristics of the modernization process. Modernization is the process of acquiring and consolidating the high status of the country in the modern era. The status of the country is expressed in its high international economic, geopolitical, social and cultural competitiveness. The modern era is a historical period when the competitiveness of the country was determined, first of all, by the relative level of its industrial development. Accordingly, industrialization should be recognized as the main content of modernization. Secondary parameters of modernization, its additional prerequisites are the processes of urbanization, bureaucratization, massification, scientific and technical development and the development of military power.

The phenomenon of insolvency (bankruptcy) is considered as a mode of existence of the subject of risk in the projection of his socio-economic behavior (fear, anxiety, loneliness) and features of personal constitution (evasion of responsibility, restriction of freedom, being in debt, deception). The article substantiates the fact that the institution of insolvency (bankruptcy) of citizens appears as a means of resolving the conflict of interests between the debtor and its creditors, as a mechanism for protecting the socio-economic rights of an insolvent risk subject and as a way to “exit” from an unstable financial crisis situation.

The analysis of socio-cultural dynamics of rural local communities development in the conditions of structural transformations in production-economic and institutional activity shows that a new paradigm of rural development is being formed, based on the doctrine of multi-layered economy. Rural communities, representing a socio-territorial location, generate models of maintaining their identity, reflecting the social structure, conditions, lifestyle and standard of living. The socio-cultural behavior of the villagers determines the social and mental mechanisms of development, including the reproduction of the population as a subject of socio-cultural activities. The socio-cultural portrait of rural communities reflects the main problems of their development: differentiation of the level and quality of life of rural local communities, sharp stratification into the rich and very poor.

On the basis of data from the all-Russian censuses of 1989-2010, as well as the results of specific sociological studies, the analysis of the dynamics of language proficiency by various ethnic groups in the national republics of Siberia is performed. The analysis of the data revealed a tendency to integrate ethnic communities into the all-Russian linguistic and cultural space based on the strengthening of the role of the Russian language as a factor of consolidation and harmonization of interethnic relations. Despite the differences in the patterns of language policy in the republics of Altai, Khakassia, Tyva, Sakha (Yakutia), as well as different proportions in the ethnic composition of the Russian and of the titular ethnic groupsthe studyrevealed a common trend of increasing the share of population choosing the Russian language as native.

The article offers a reconstruction of the part of Heraclitus' teaching about the origin of the world, which contains information about the structure of this very origin. The philosopher's idea of this structure is clarified, using the results of the comparative analysis of the original world in Thales and Anaximenes. Thus, the original for Heraclitus is the fiery element, eternal, indestructible and consisting of the smallest parts. The structure of "fire" is composed of a plurality of certain raspings. As a result of the ongoing process of "melting", from the "particles" of matter, there appear other primary elements, then planets and stars, the cosmos itself. This is how Heraclitus conceived both the eternal cycle of primary elements, and the processes of cosmogony.

The paper offers an analysis of the argument of priest P. Bourdin in his actual discussion with the philosopher R. Descartes, initiated by the response of this priest to the philosophical treatise “Meditations on the first philosophy...”. The paper also provides a historical and philosophical assessment of their positions. Particular attention is paid to the fact that Bourdin very persistently tried to clarify the conceptual basis on which Descartes rests his decision to consider the mind of a person incorporeal. In addition, Descartes considered the mind isolated from the body and independent of it so completely as to recognize it continuing to exist even after the death of the body. Since, according to Bourdin, Descartes’ efforts did not have a convincing positive result, the priest rejected this concept of the philosopher and the isolation of the mind from the body, and the immortality of the mind. This position of the church hierarch cannot but be recognized as materialistic. As a result, the paradox of the situation is established. On the question of the relationship between a person’s body and soul, the church hierarch essentially upholds a materialistic position, and one of the largest natural scientists of that time has a religiously idealistic idea of the immortality of the human soul.

The answer the urgent question of what is happening today we require categories that can be open and welcoming towards these epoch-changing times and consequences thereof. To Nietzsche’s ethical turning point, the unprecedented ethical-political crisis and the new soft totalitarianism, Derrida responds with the experience of the absolute precedence of ethics of E.Levinas. At the heart of his ethics of hospitality and deconstruction we encounter justice and law. It is precisely this dimension of the structural aporetic reciprocal interpenetration between “ethical” and “juridical” that leads to a new idea of the “political”, the highest form of which is “democracy to come”.

The paper attempts to examine in more detail some aspects of the religious philosophy of the German philosopher, theologian and preacher Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher, which is interesting in that the German thinker did not try to discover something new, but analyzing the thoughts of other philosophers, brought them into his system, thereby showing his personality.

We consider some newcontemporary approaches to solving or dissolving the problem of skepticism regarding the existence of the external world, in particular, disjunctivism, Duncan Pritchard’s biscopic approach and Timothy Williamson’s knowledge first approach. We argue that resolving the skepticalproblem within the framework of epistemological disjunctivism is problematic because it does not take into account the Wittgenstein's notion of a hinge proposition. In fact, a successful approach to the skepticalproblem requires a revision of the metaphysical premises of traditional epistemology, namely the adoption of a non-metaphysical Wittgenstein’s realism. The recently proposed by D. Pritchard within the frame-work of his “biscopic” approach dissolving of the skeptical problem asa pseudo-problem just combines Wittgenstein’s hinge epistemology and epistemological disjunctivism.

Russian scientific schools, as special phenomenon, which formation is a consequence of the cultural and historical development of country, cannot develop in isolation: close interaction between researchers of all levels and ages is necessary. In the conditions of the development of the information society and the emerging knowledge society, not only the involvement of young people in science, but also the interpersonal interaction of young scientists who are representatives of various scientific schools and professional communities is of particular relevance.