The Journal of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Series Philosophy. Philosophical Peripeteias

METAMODERN VISUAL PRACTICES: FROM ONTOLOGICAL VOID TO AFFECTIVE RECONSTRUCTION

Andrii Artemenko — 2026-05-25

The presented text is devoted to the analysis of the transformation of the category of "the real" in contemporary visual arts within the context of the transition from the postmodern paradigm to metamodernism. The author examines a fundamental ontological shift wherein art ceases to be a mimetic reflection (a "mirror") of reality and transforms into an active aesthetic construct that shapes the anthropogenic world.

The object of the study is contemporary visual artistic practices viewed through the prism of their relationship to the category of the real. The author focuses on the mechanisms of forming the "illusion of authenticity," which acquire a fundamentally new quality under the conditions of metamodernism.

To achieve this goal, the work addresses the following tasks: tracing the evolution of artistic techniques used to produce authenticity; elucidating the content of the key metamodernist strategy of "as-if," proposed by T. Vermeulen, as the foundation for a new type of artistic utterance; analyzing the phenomenon of "oscillation" between irony and enthusiasm, deconstruction and reconstruction; investigating specific forms of "post-ironic realism" and "neo-romanticism," where technical mastery serves not the imitation of nature, but the legitimation of fictional, absurd, or digital worlds; justifying the necessity of shifting the frame of art historical analysis from the evaluation of visual resemblance to the study of the artist's intention and the phenomenology of reception.

In the course of the analysis, the author arrives at a series of significant conclusions. It is argued that in metamodern aesthetics, authenticity shifts from the domain of optical verification to the domain of affective impact. The illusion of authenticity no longer seeks to conceal its own artificiality; on the contrary, it is built upon a conscious "suspension of disbelief," where the viewer simultaneously recognizes the conventionality of the image and sincerely empathizes with it. The new quality of the illusion lies in its duality and emotional charge: it becomes a tool for the "reconstruction" of meaning and depth following the period of postmodern deconstruction. The result of this process is the formation of a "New Sincerity," which allows contemporary art to create autonomous ontological models possessing suggestive authenticity and therapeutic potential in an era of total relativism.

SKETCH OF SUBJECT-DISORIENTED (POST)ANTHROPOLOGY: SEX

Oleh Perepelytsia — 2026-05-25

The article proposes an outline of a subject-disoriented (post-)anthropology that extends the post-anthropological/posthumanist and ontological turn in contemporary philosophy. The central thesis of the study is an understanding of sex (sexuality) as a phenomenon of anthropological disorientation that both produces and constitutes the (disoriented) subject. Three embodiments of this subject – the subject of kinship, the subject of love, and the subject of jouissance – are examined in the article. It is argued that human desire has no fixed object and cannot be reduced to a biological reproductive function. Rather, it operates as a symbolically mediated structure connected with language, imagination, culture, sociality, and communication. Consequently, sexuality appears not as a natural given but as a space in which disoriented subjectivities are enacted and performed.

The article maintains that the subject of kinship is constituted through mechanisms of relatedness, as well as mythological and cultural practices that compensate for the openness and nomadic character of human desire. By contrast, love is understood as an event of encounter with radical otherness that overcomes the closure of individual or genealogical self-identity. Jouissance is interpreted, from the perspective of transgression, as an experience of excess that exceeds productivity, decenters the subject, and undermines its self-identity.

Particular attention is devoted to the impact of digital technologies on contemporary transformations of sexuality. Algorithmic platforms, artificial intelligence, virtual partners, cybersex, and digital pornography are examined as factors contributing to the further mediatization and disorientation of desire. Digital sexuality is defined as a post-biological and post-anthropic discrete mode of interaction in which human beings enter into relations not only with other humans but also with algorithms, interfaces, and neural networks. The article concludes that sexual disorientation is a fundamental characteristic of human existence that, under conditions of technological development, assumes new forms and opens new possibilities for rethinking the anthropological beyond the limits of classical subject-centered approaches.

TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF POST-TRUTH IN MODERN SOCIETY

Olga Dobrodum — 2026-05-25

The article presents a comprehensive socio-philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of post-truth as a structural condition of modernity, which has its own philosophical genealogy and specific social manifestations. The relevance of the study is determined by the unprecedented transformation of the mechanisms of social regulation: the traditional model, according to which the establishment of a fact entailed moral condemnation, has lost its effectiveness, which is particularly evident in the transformation of the perception of high-profile criminal cases, changes in geopolitical legitimacy, and the escalation of armed conflicts.

The authors proceed from the assumption that post-truth is neither a temporary deviation nor a consequence of technological changes alone, but rather represents an ontological state in which truth ceases to be an event capable of transforming social reality. The methodological framework of the study is complex in nature, combining an ontological approach (truth as aletheia), discursive-narrative analysis (the transformation of public scandals), comparative-historical method (the genealogy of post-truth from modernity through postmodernism and metamodernism to emptiness), and categorical analysis (the distinction between truthfulness, sincerity, and emptiness).

Particular attention is paid to the analysis of paradoxical phenomena of contemporary political identity: the solidarity of Western LGBT activists with Hamas (the slogans “Queers for Palestine”, “Gays for Gaza”), despite its homophobic policies, as well as the rapid decline of the Black Lives Matter movement after a period of unprecedented mobilisation. These phenomena become understandable only in the context of post-truth, where symbolic identification with the narrative of the “oppressed” prevails over the actual content of the policies of those with whom solidarity is expressed, and where emotional impulse, unsupported by structural changes, quickly loses its mobilising capacity.

The conclusions formulate the thesis that the escalation of armed conflict appears as a sublimation of the ethical vacuum: a society that has lost the ability to distinguish between good and evil in the public sphere transfers this ability to the sphere of military action, where the binary opposition of “us and them” temporarily restores the illusion of moral certainty. Classical question requires reformulation: the problem of modernity is not “what to do if God does not exist,” but how to live when truth has ceased to be an obligation, and the very question of truthfulness or sincerity has lost its social significance.

THE FUNDAMENTALITY OF PHILOSOPHICAL EDUCATION: RELEVANCE OR ARCHAISM?

Sergey Golikov — 2026-05-25

The article considers the problem of the fundamentality of philosophical education in the context of modern transformations of university education, caused by the processes of marketization and commodification. The author proves that in the conditions of the introduction of individual learning trajectories, distance learning forms, reduction of classroom hours and shift of emphasis on the "usefulness" of knowledge, the requirement of fundamentality is often perceived as archaic, which complicates the fulfillment of its key functions by philosophy. The paper systematically analyzes the role of fundamental philosophical education as a determinant of the life position of the individual, a factor in the affirmation of spirituality, the basis for the universality of thinking and the integrity of university education. Particular attention is paid to the distinction between philosophical education in a broad sense (as a humanitarian component of the training of specialists in various specialties) and in a narrow sense (as a professional training of future philosophers). It is argued that attempts to reduce philosophical education to simplified techniques of philosophical discourse or replace it with "trendy" disciplines level its worldview and methodological potential. The challenges associated with distance learning, which complicates the dialogical nature of philosophizing, as well as with access to master's programs for individuals without a basic philosophical education, are separately highlighted. The author concludes that the fundamental nature of philosophical education is not archaism, but remains a relevant defining feature of higher education, since it is it that ensures the systematicity of knowledge, the development of critical thinking, the formation of a holistic worldview and the spiritual stability of the individual in conditions of social uncertainty.

EPISTEMOLOGICAL DECOLONIZATION: FROM THE "ZERO POINT" TO LOCAL KNOWLEDGES

Mykhailo Chuhuyenko — 2026-05-25

The article addresses the problem of epistemological decolonization of Ukrainian philosophical discourse in the context of contemporary socio-political transformations and full-scale war. A critical analysis is carried out of the epistemology of the "zero point" as an epistemological construct that conceals its own geopolitical locality under the guise of timeless objectivity, thereby legitimizing the hegemony of Western modernity. The philosophical genealogy of this construct is traced systematically: from the Cartesian model of res cogitans, in which the subject constitutes itself through abstraction from embodiment and social rootedness, through Kant's transcendental analytics, which normalizes specifically European cognitive structures as universal human ones, to Husserl's phenomenological reduction, which reproduces the ideal of a "view from nowhere." Each of these steps is shown to deepen the "epistemic invisibility" of the localized subject, elevating the particular experience of certain societies to the status of a timeless standard. It is argued that the post-Soviet condition of "double peripherality" of Ukrainian discourse is a direct consequence of this epistemological matrix. Caught between a neo-imperial centre that wages ontological aggression and a global academy that marginalizes non-central voices, domestic discourse suffers two forms of epistemic injustice: testimonial – whereby Ukrainian warnings about Russian neo-imperialism were systematically discredited – and hermeneutical – whereby available conceptual frameworks prove incapable of adequately describing the experience of Ukrainian resistance. The inadequacy of the paradigms of J. Habermas and G. Agamben to this reality serves as a symptom of the fundamental limits of European modernity itself. It is demonstrated that the method of "border thinking" enables the transformation of liminal experience into an epistemic advantage and a resource for generating new global categories: post-traumatic subjectivity, radical solidarity, and existential resilience. These concepts are capable of enriching the global philosophical pluriverse and responding to challenges that classical Western paradigms fail to address.

EXISTENTIALISM IN THE METAMODERN: PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION, APPLIED LINGUISTICS AND LEGAL СONSCIOUSNESS

Hanna Yemelianenko — 2026-05-25

The presented work deals with a comprehensive philosophical and anthropological analysis of the existential foundations that determine the vectors of modern humanitarian transformations. The priority goal of the research is to substantiate the role of existential psychology and philosophy as an integrative base for the radical reform of educational strategies, legal culture and discursive space of communication in the metamodern era. The authors argue that it is such a conceptual platform that should become the foundation for the renewal of institutional practices in a crisis society.

The methodological basis of the researched work is a synthesis of three fundamental approaches that allow us to cover the multifaceted nature of the object of study. First, the phenomenological method is used to analyze intentional acts of legal consciousness and identify hidden mechanisms for the formation of value orientations. Second, a hermeneutic approach is used, aimed at interpreting the meaningful life constructs of the individual. Third, the dialectical method is used, which allows us to expound the sharp contradictions between individual freedom and social normativity.

The key anthropological focus of the article is to reject deterministic and abstract understandings of law and education. Instead, these sociocultural phenomena are consistently viewed through the prism of real human experience, in particular through the categories of choice, borderline situations, and personal responsibility.

The scientific novelty of the work lies in the theoretical substantiation of the concept of «post-existentialist thinking». This concept allows us to overcome the classical pessimism and tragedy of human loneliness, offering instead a model of constructive communication within the modern linguistic and cultural space. The researched work analyzes for the first time the points of contact between the radical freedom of the individual and the imperative requirements of legal positivism. Special attention is paid to the transformation of the intentions of the subject in the normative and legal field, where the existential act appears as the fundamental basis of legal responsibility.

The results of the work convincingly demonstrate the need to transition from a technocratic to an existential and centric approach in the humanities. It is proven that law and education in the conditions of metamodernity should function not as tools of external control, but as a space for self-realization and authentic human existence. The practical significance of the results obtained lies in the possibility of their implementation in the development of innovative training courses in the philosophy of law and philosophical anthropology, as well as in the creation of new psychological models of the formation of the ontological stability of the individual in the face of the challenges of the global value crisis.

The conclusions emphasize that the future of educational and legal strategies depends on the establishment of the principles of dialogue, humanism and the internal responsibility of the subject for his own spiritual development.

HEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY AT KHARKIV UNIVERSITY IN THE 1830S

Volodymyr Abashnik — 2026-05-25

This article focuses on how the work of Hegel, a representative of Classical German philosophy, was received by professors and teachers at Kharkiv University in the 1830s. In this context, the article first provides an overview of how Hegel’s philosophy was perceived at Kharkiv University from its founding on November 5/17, 1804, through the early 20th century. This section discusses the influence of Johann Baptist Schad (1758–1834), the first professor of the Department of Theoretical and Practical Philosophy at Kharkiv University, during the period 1804–1816, who, prior to that, while teaching at the University of Jena from 1799 to 1804, had been a colleague of Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. Representatives of the “Kharkiv Philosophical School of J. B. Schad” addressed various aspects of Hegel’s philosophy in their works and teaching and became the initiators of “Kharkiv Hegelianism”. Among them, a prominent figure was Schad’s successor in the philosophy department, Professor Andrii Dudrovych (1782–1830), who taught at Kharkiv University beginning in 1812. The article then discusses the reception of Hegel’s philosophy in the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly by members of the Department of Philosophy (Fedir Zelenohorsky, Pavlo Leukfeld, Isidor Prodan) as well as by the theology professor Tymofii Butkevych. In addition, the article highlights the role of Hegel’s philosophy in the works of representatives of the “Executed Renaissance” (Semen Semkovsky, Volodymyr Yurynets, Stepan Fedchyshyn), who, in the early period of Soviet Ukraine, viewed his works from a Marxist perspective and suffered under Stalinist repression in the 1930s.

The main section examines some of the works by members of the Faculty of Philosophy at Kharkiv University in the 1830s in the context of the reception of Hegel’s thought. It begins by discussing the publications and lectures of Professor Fedir Chanov and Associate Professor Joseph Grenberg. In accordance with the second university charter of 1835, the Faculty of Philosophy was established at Kharkiv University, and its members drew upon Hegel’s teachings. Among the latter were historians (Volodymyr Tsykh, Oleksandr Roslavsky-Petrovsky, Ivan Slyvitsky), political economists (Tikhon Stepanov), and specialists in classical antiquity (Ivan Croneberg). Special mention is made of the influence of Hegel’s philosophy of art, in particular, his “Lectures on Aesthetics” (1835–1838), on the work of philologist Amvrosii Metlinsky (1814–1870), who was also a poet and a representative of Ukrainian Romanticism. In contrast, Hegel’s “Outlines of the Philosophy of Right” (1821) played a major role in the work of Professor Izmail Sreznevsky (1812–1880). Thus, various aspects of Hegel’s philosophy found a wide response at Kharkiv University in the 1830s, which became an important center of “Ukrainian Hegelianism”.

TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL MODEL OF HUMANITY IN THE DIGITAL SPACE

Mykhailo Beilin — 2026-05-25

The article considers the problem of human anthropological limits in the context of the development of high technologies and digital reality. The phenomenon of Homo virtual is analyzed as a new model of human subjectivity, which is formed at the intersection of biological, technological and virtual environments. The space environment is significantly different from the conditions of the Earth; microgravity, cosmic radiation and isolation affect the physiological state of human. The spectrum of possibilities for adapting the human organism to outer space is clarified, from biotechnological modifications and the use of artificial intelligence to support life to the creation of closed biospheres and cosmic corporeality, which becomes a new form of anthropological adaptation. The philosophical and social challenges associated with the modification of the human body, the use of artificial intelligence and the adaptation of human to the virtual environment are investigated. Convergent NBIC technologies manifest the entire spectrum of development of modern science, where all components are interdependent and give a general cumulative effect aimed at expanding the anthropological limits of human and forming human-sized environments. In this context, human transformations have now expanded enormously thanks to plastic surgery and transplantations. Urbanized technogenic civilization leads to the removal of restrictions on the existence of human corporeality and the expansion of the possibilities of genetic engineering in matters of fertility, increasing life expectancy, cloning, etc. and mediates a different moral, legal and religious nature of human existence. The significance of bioethical aspects of the transformation of human corporeality in the digital and technological space is substantiated. Bioethics in this context is called upon to form the principles of responsible use of technologies and determine the moral limits of their application. It is shown that the anthropological limits of human are not static, throughout history they have changed along with the development of culture, science and technology, but in the era of high technology they have become even more dynamic, and there has been a threat of their negative impact on human existence as a whole.

INTERPRETATION WITHOUT AN INTERPRETER: ALGORITHMIC HERMENEUTICS AND NEW FORMS OF MEANING-MAKING

Polina Volovyk — 2026-05-25

This article examines the phenomenon of “interpretation without an interpreter,” which emerges within digital ecosystems—interconnected digital environments conceptually close to Luciano Floridi’s infosphere, that is, a space of circulation and transformation of meanings—where texts are increasingly generated, processed, and analysed by large language models (LLMs) as well as artificially intelligent agents (AI-agents). Thus, the process of interpretation often occurs without the direct participation of a human subject. The scientific novelty of the study lies in posing the question of how real and in what ontological status meaning may be if it is not lived through by a subject and arises and circulates exclusively within algorithmic systems. The article compares classical approaches to interpretation (Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricœur) with contemporary theories of digital hermeneutics (N. Katherine Hayles, Luciano Floridi, Alberto Romele, David J. Gunkel), which reveal the specific features of meaning-making mediated by algorithms in digital environments. The research tasks include describing cases of text generation and analysis performed by interacting LLMs, as well as automated SEO optimisation and text humanisation (adaptation for human perception). In such a “dialogue” between AI-agents, meaning potentially becomes a function of digital interaction rather than of human experience. This determines the relevance of examining the phenomenon of algorithmic understanding as a philosophical problem. Through an analysis of classical hermeneutics and contemporary digital systems, the study identifies the boundaries and paradoxes of “algorithmic understanding,” raises the question of the possible existence of meaning outside the human interpreter, and discusses the potential consequences of such transformations for philosophy, culture, and communication.

SOCIAL NETWORKS AS A SYMBOLIC SPACE OF GAME INTERACTION

Ivan Honcharenko — 2026-05-25

The article presents a philosophical and semiotic analysis of social networks as a symbolic space in which users’ interaction acquires the features of play. The meaning of signs is analyzed in the context of the gamification of the digital environment.

Charles Sanders Peirce’s approach has been used to analyze the symbolic dimension of interaction between users of social networks, which makes it possible to interpret elements of the digital interface as signs that acquire meaning in the process of interpretation. Social networks are represented as a semiosphere in which each user simultaneously acts as both a creator and an interpreter of signs.

The concepts of Homo Ludens by Johan Huizinga and the typology of play by Roger Caillois are used in order to describe the role of play in social networks. Drawing on these ideas, gamified elements of interaction can be seen between users of social networks. Processes of play are used both in direct communication within the social network environment and through symbolic interactions (likes, shares, etc.). The algorithm that promotes users’ publications is seen as a form of gambling that stimulates strategic behavior. This process transforms content publication into a risk game with reward in the form of numerical values. Views and likes are interpreted as a form of Pierre Bourdieu’s symbolic capital. These indicators function as a specific «digital currency» that can be converted into social, cultural and economic capital.

Digital identity within social networks is analyzed through Sherry Turkle’s idea of «The Second Self». A user profile is seen as a structure of signs that functions as a representation of the individual in digital space. Such symbolic elements as the avatar and nickname work as components of this constructed image. Therefore, it is not a person who interacts with the virtual world, but rather its constructed representation. Using this theory more widely, the space of social networks is a symbolic reflection of the real world, within which the interaction is happening between digital images of real individuals.

EPISTEMOLOGY OF THE VISUAL IN THE AGE OF GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: ETHICAL LIMITS OF CONSTRUCTING EDUCATIONAL AND RESEARCH REALITY

Illia Shein — 2026-05-25

The article provides an ethical analysis of the transformed epistemological status of the visual image amid the widespread adoption of generative artificial intelligence in educational and scientific environments. The article argues that modern technology is changing the traditional role of the image. From a supplementary illustrative tool, it is transforming into an independent source of knowledge that directly influences the construction of educational reality. The study reveals that generated images, despite their persuasiveness and aesthetic appeal, often lack a referential connection to reality, which leads to a blurring of the boundaries between simulation and the reproduction of the real.

Based on an analysis of classical and contemporary philosophical concepts and examples from educational and scientific discourse, this paper identifies the main ethical issues associated with the functioning of the visual as a construct of reality. In particular, these include the ontological equalization of humans and artificial agents in the educational process, the de-humanization of education, the shifting of responsibility, information overload and a decline in the quality of scientific publications, the fostering of tolerance for errors, and the aestheticization of errors. It has been demonstrated that these risks lead to an epistemic crisis and undermine trust in the visual as a source of knowledge. The study focuses particularly on analyzing the risks associated with the use of generative artificial intelligence in educational materials, especially incorrect representations that may influence students’ perceptions of reality. The article proposes possible solutions to the identified problems, including the introduction of the principle of epistemic transparency of visual content, the formalization of verification procedures within the framework of peer review, and the development of critical visual literacy among participants in the educational and research process.

This study concludes that, in the era of widespread use of generative artificial intelligence, the visual image has become an active factor in the formation of knowledge, which underscores the relevance and necessity of its further philosophical reflection and the development of ethical standards for its use in the fields of education and science.

THE WORK OF BEING AND THE NEUROSIS OF PHILOSOPHY

Daria Zakhlypa — 2026-05-25

Against the background of the so-called obsessive optimism in various areas of humanitarian knowledge and human sciences in general, projects of being appear even more utopian than a century ago, due to the lack of substantive criteria in their favor, but this is only at first, rather mediocre glance. The work of being in the very title of the article appears as an unambiguous analogy and at the same time a philosophical continuation of the theme of the work of the negative, formulated by A. Green in parallel with the work of mourning by S. Freud. Both of them, according to the psychoanalytic approach, defined work as something dynamic in nature, while the philosophical foundations of this concept have a much wider range of connotations, which is why they require a more detailed conceptualization. For its part, the neurosis of philosophy appears as a development of the problem of the negativity of being-copula, established by the author earlier in a separate study. Moreover, philosophical thinking as such is defined by the author according to the necessary requirement of the negative, but by no means one of the arbitrary possibilities on the path of its formation. According to the author, if being requires an ἀλήθεια-oriented phenomenology in order to reveal its nature, initiated by M. Heidegger, then in the matter of thinking about being, nothing other than E. Husserl's eidetic phenomenology, which originates from descriptive psychology and does not ultimately break with it, appears to be the most appropriate in solving this problem. That is why the goal chosen by the author and at the same time represented in the title of the synthesis of psychoanalytic language about the essential negativity of neurosis and truly philosophical thinking about being, the work of which is permeated with negativity already at the level of the first of the judgments about being that is not (as an existence or beings only), and therefore its copula, is justified. Hence, the history of philosophical thinking appears to be a collection of surplus narratives about being in the sense of plus ultra, for which there is no need, but which by the very fact of existence requires trans-phenomenal grounds.

"LIFE ETHICS" AS A TERM OF THE "METADISCOURSE" OF PHILOSOPHY (M. FOUCAULT – G. AGAMBEN)

Ihor Minakov — 2026-05-25

The title theme of this text is philosophy. Accordingly, the following serves as his leitmotif and working perspective – to talk not about bioethics, but about philosophy. You can try to see this text as a fragment of some "meta-theory of philosophy". In the spirit in which M. Mamardashvili and А. Pyatigorsky talk about the "meta-theory of consciousness": to take certain creations within working philosophy ("philosophies") and see them as some immanent "surrounding" statement of philosophy. Not about the problems that appear in it, but about the status and sanction of the (after) action in which it occurs. More concretely and precisely, the plan is to (re)deduce from "bioethics" as a point of thinking some (in addition to others) potentiated perspective of understanding certain unique, non-overlapping and defining in relation to current thinking (but, at the same time - to current thinking) concepts implemented in modern philosophy. Moreover, the concepts and authors thematized here seem to encourage similar motivation and similar discourse.

In fact, these thinkers are not aimed at formulating a (bio)ethical – normative and imperative – discourse in the classical sense. For each of them, "bioethics" does not possess autonomy, does not produce autonomous products, does not have its own foundations. Instead, "bioethics" for them is a certain derivative and effect of the action of a singular conceptual philosophical vision and its cardinal assumptions. Finally, these thinkers conceptually closely perceive the sphere of the political. At the same time, politics - in different ways, but in each of the two - functions not as an objectively articulated sphere of "political things", but as a sphere of ontological symptomatology and ontological simulation of the entry - inside the world - of the order of grounds.

Accordingly, an important caveat is that we are not trying to give a retelling or interpretation of the concepts of the two selected authors (which, like all concepts of this level, have an open horizon of what can be seen (thought) against the background of the existing (presented) seen). This is obviously impossible in such a review. This is also impossible given the insufficient potential and internal resources of the author himself. But this is not very appropriate. We are trying to "feel" the framework in which the "metalanguage" of philosophy (in the sense of the word) is pronounced more or less disjointedly...

MOTIVATION AND TRUST IN SPORTS COMMUNICATION: A PHILOSOPHICAL DIMENSION

Lidiia Gazniuk — 2026-05-25

This article presents a comprehensive philosophical-anthropological analysis of motivation and trust as fundamental foundations of sports communication. The relevance of the topic is determined by the transformation of contemporary sport under conditions of globalisation, commercialisation and digitalisation, wherein technical performance and quantitative metrics frequently overshadow the value-laden and meaning-constitutive dimensions of athletic activity. The paper proposes viewing sport not merely as a domain of physical achievement, but as a specific space of communicative practices grounded in the complex interplay of identities. Central attention is devoted to trust as an ontological precondition for the existence of any sports community. Trust is analysed not simply as a psychological state of comfort, but as a fundamental intentionality that makes possible collective interaction and legitimises hierarchical structures within the coach–athlete relationship. It is argued that without the act of trust in the Other – partner, coach, or opponent – sports communication loses its integrity, dissolving into a mechanical aggregate of actions. Motivation in this study is interpreted through the prism of existential choice and the individual’s aspiration towards self-transcendence. It is demonstrated that in the “society of the spectacle,” motivation frequently undergoes erosion under the pressure of external symbolic structures: brands, media images, and rankings. The necessity of a return to “intrinsic motivation,” rooted in respect for cultural norms and the ethics of Fair Play, is substantiated. Particular emphasis is placed on processes of athlete identity formation and the philosophical dimension of the word as a motivational factor in sports activity. It is argued that identity in sport is constructed at the intersection of the subjective experience of corporeality and the collective experience of the team. The symbolic structures of sport – rituals and codes of conduct – are examined as mediators transmitting values of solidarity and responsibility. The conclusions state that the restoration of trust in sports communication is a key condition for preserving the humanistic potential of sport. The scholarly novelty of the article lies in the elaboration of a philosophical model of “trust-based communication,” in which motivation appears not as an instrument for achieving success at any cost, but as a will towards authentic being in sport.

GENDER IN THE MECHANISMS OF SOCIAL COERCION TOWARD THE PROFESSIONAL SELF-DETERMINATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL

Olha Protsenko — 2026-05-25

The purpose of the article is to analyze the problems of the genderization of professionally oriented employment as a form of productive social activity of a person, with an emphasis on aptitude and vocation regardless of gender.

The article presents a review of the state of development of gender equality issues by specialists from various fields of socio-humanitarian knowledge (history, law, psychology, sociology) in order to highlight questions that require additional attention from philosophical and anthropological interpretation. The study of gender inequality in professional activity analyzes objective and specific historical conditions that influenced its spread and the gradual removal of restrictions on women's participation in various types of professional employment. Among the key historical conditions considered are the division of labor, the role realities of patriarchal family relations in the coexistence of spouses, and the development of individual entrepreneurial activity.

It is noted that gender equality is associated with the improvement of cultural and civilizational achievements and innovations, as well as with the continuous renewal of types and forms of labor activity in connection with the expansion of the non-productive sphere of society. These factors have contributed and continue to contribute to the increasing acquisition of professions by women that require a certain amount of knowledge, appropriate skills, volitional effort, and personal potential. As an example, the article considers women's mastery of professions directly related to the exploration of the aerospace sphere of modern society.

The research strategy for achieving this goal relied on a system of principles of scientific cognition of genderization processes: objectivity, systematicity, and the unity of historical and logical approaches. The consideration of gender and sex – from states of binary opposition to parity in professional activity – was based on the provisions of synergetics concerning nonlinear development and the coexistence of order and chaos in self-organizing systems. In interpreting gender inequality as a sociocultural construct, the study employed generalizations from hermeneutics, phenomenology, dialogism, and contextuality.

The results of the conducted research make it possible to understand how the social dimension of sex, or gender, functions within social normativity, behavioral models, and behavioral stereotypes of men and women. The conclusions emphasize the need to strengthen the principles of consensus and tolerance in gender communication and the implementation of an individual life project when choosing a profession.

CONTROLLED DANGER: THE FORMATION OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS OF HOMO AEROSPACE IN THE EXPERIENCE OF FLIGHT

Iryna Ushno — 2026-05-25

This article is devoted to the philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of controlled danger in aerospace activity and its influence on the formation of the self-consciousness of the human being engaged in flight. The relevance of the research is determined by the fact that the development of modern technologies has significantly expanded the boundaries of human activity, enabling human functioning in environments that do not correspond to the natural conditions of the human body. Aerospace space is one such environment and is characterized by an increased level of danger that cannot be completely eliminated but can only be technically and organizationally controlled. The aim of the study is to provide a philosophical interpretation of the phenomenon of controlled danger as a specific condition of aerospace activity and to analyze its role in the formation of a particular type of self-consciousness of a person acting within the space of flight. To achieve this aim, the following research objectives are formulated: to analyze the specificity of aerospace experience in the context of the development of technological civilization; to determine the features of controlled danger as a structural condition of flight; and to investigate its influence on bodily experience, reflection, and human self-consciousness. The theoretical framework of the research is based on philosophical concepts of technological civilization and responsibility, as well as on the phenomenological approach to the analysis of human experience. The scientific novelty of the study lies in considering controlled danger not only as a technical characteristic of aerospace activity but also as an important anthropological factor influencing the formation of a specific type of self-consciousness of the human engaged in flight. The research demonstrates that the constant presence of risk combined with the possibility of its control forms an increased level of attention, responsibility, and reflection, which determines the specific character of human experience in the aerospace environment. As a result, the study substantiates that controlled danger acts as an important factor in the formation of a new philosophical-anthropological concept – Homo Aerospace, for whom interaction with risk becomes an integral part of professional activity and existential experience.

NOT JUST A DWELLING, NOT JUST A "MACHINE": THE CONCEPT OF HOUSING AS AN EXTENSION OF MAN ACCORDING TO M. MCLUHAN AND NOT ONLY

Sergey Manukyan — 2026-05-25

The article examines the transformations in the relationship between human beings and dwelling in the context of technological progress from the beginning of the twentieth century to the first quarter of the twenty-first century. The theoretical framework is based on Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, with particular emphasis on the concept of the “extensions of man.” It is argued that technological development has profoundly transformed forms of human existence, social relations, and modes of communication, while the dwelling has retained its fundamental significance not only as a material structure but also as a social, cultural, and symbolic construct. From this perspective, the study traces the changing meanings of home, native dwelling, and the family hearth in the digital age, with particular attention to the emergence of the “smart home.”

Special attention is devoted to reconsidering McLuhan’s “new outlook and new worldview” more than half a century after the publication of Understanding Media. Whereas the ascetic lifestyle exemplified by Diogenes of Sinope has never become a dominant social model, contemporary global trends increasingly associate well-being and happiness with technologically enhanced living environments. The twenty-first-century home is conceptualized as a multifunctional space that integrates residential, recreational, and professional activities. The article demonstrates the cyclical transformation of workplaces: from the traditional coexistence of living and working spaces, through their separation during the Industrial Revolution, to the contemporary return of work into the home through remote and digital labor.

The article also explores the traditional Ukrainian house, examining its cultural meanings and symbolic functions. It analyzes how, during the second half of the twentieth century, television, followed by stereo and video systems, personal computers, and smartphones, gradually reshaped domestic space, transforming interpersonal communication while simultaneously fostering individualization and social isolation. The study further considers possible future developments of housing in the digital era, including concepts of homes equipped with interactive interface walls and electronic windows, as well as futuristic projects envisioning human habitation on the Moon and Mars.

In addition, the article examines Valerian Pidmohylnyi’s urban novel The City as a literary representation of the process through which a rural individual appropriates and internalizes urban space. It analyzes the phenomenon of the “conquest” of the city by a non-native protagonist, whose search for identity is accompanied by an increasing rupture with rural life, nature, and traditional modes of existence. The study argues that the acquisition of urban identity, housing, and social status is inseparable from the loss of deeper existential ties to one’s origins. It concludes that urbanization and technological modernization transform not only the spatial organization of everyday life but also the fundamental ways in which home, privacy, and identity are experienced. A century after the publication of Pidmohylnyi’s novel, the question of what individuals and societies are willing to sacrifice in order to “conquer” the city and technological civilization remains as relevant as ever.

THE THEORY OF THE «FIELD OF CULTURAL PRODUCTION»: AN ATTEMPT TO OVERCOME THE ANTINOMY OF «STRUCTURALISM» AND «SUBJECTIVISM»

Oleksandr Loiko — 2026-05-25

The article examines Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of the «field of cultural production» as an attempt to overcome the opposition between structuralist and subjectivist approaches. The study analyzes the methodological foundations of Bourdieu’s «constructivist structuralism» and demonstrates how his conception seeks to reconcile the existence of objective social structures with the active role of agents in the production and transformation of cultural meanings. The author reconstructs the logic of Bourdieu’s approach and considers the ways in which objective structures and subjective practices mutually determine one another within the dynamics of cultural production.

A significant part of the article is devoted to the analysis of the specific organization of the «field of cultural production» as a relatively autonomous component of the broader «field of power». Bourdieu interprets this field as a competitive space in which agents and institutions struggle for symbolic authority and legitimacy. Particular attention is paid to the concept of «illusio» as a form of belief in the value of the game and its stakes, as well as to the mechanisms through which cultural value is collectively produced. The article emphasizes that artistic legitimacy does not emerge exclusively from the individual creator, but from the entire network of agents and institutions participating in the production of symbolic belief.

Bourdieu’s theory of «refraction» is juxtaposed with sociological approaches based on the logic of «reflection». The article shows that, unlike reductive models that establish a direct correspondence between social origin and artistic production, Bourdieu insists on the mediating role of the field itself, which restructures external social and economic determinants according to its own internal logic. This perspective allows the author to demonstrate how struggles over artistic legitimacy conceal broader conflicts concerning power, capital, and symbolic domination.

Part of the study is devoted to the opposition between the autonomous and heteronomous poles of the «field of cultural production». The author analyzes how artistic strategies are organized around different principles of hierarchization and how cultural agents seek legitimacy through the conversion of symbolic capital borrowed from other social fields, including religion, economics, and politics.

The article concludes that Bourdieu’s theory of the «field of cultural production» provides an effective conceptual framework for understanding cultural struggles as forms of symbolic competition over legitimacy and authority. The author argues that the relative autonomy of the cultural field is inseparable from its dependence on mechanisms of symbolic recognition and from its constant interaction with other forms of social power. In this sense, the theory of the field makes it possible to interpret artistic practices not merely as aesthetic phenomena, but as strategies situated within broader structures of symbolic exchange and domination.

PRODUCTION OF PRESENCE: THE SUBJECTIVITY OF THE BODY IN PAIN

Viktor Bykh — 2026-05-25

The purpose of the study is a critical analysis of the methodological limitations of hermeneutics in the study of the body in pain. The task of the study is to identify the flaws of objectification of pain within the subject/object paradigm and to provide a theoretical substantiation for the subject/subject paradigm.

Post-hermeneutic critique serves as the theoretical basis for the study. Key tools for analysis include H. U. Gumbrecht’s theoretical developments, primarily the concept of “production of presence.” Research on the processes of metaphorization and objectification of the body in pain was conducted based on S. Sontag’s essays, particularly those devoted to photography. Additional methodological orientations are provided by G. Lukács’ literary-critical theory, H. U. von Balthasar’s theological critique of reductionism, and E. Scurry’s phenomenological research.

The originality of the study lies in its articulation of the difficulties involved in hermeneutics when studying the body in pain, since hermeneutics turns it into an object of interpretation. The subject/subject paradigm has been developed theoretically – in this framework, the ability to resist is not considered a mistake, but rather an ontological quality of the subjectivity of the body in pain. Additionally, the concept of the “production of presence” was further developed as an ethical imperative that transforms the research space from a field of analytical objectification into a space of co-presence and self-unconcealment of the phenomenon under study.

The study identified that hermeneutic tools have methodological limitations when applied to the experience of physical suffering. It has been established that prioritizing interpretation and the search for “hidden meaning” leads to the objectification of the body in pain, transforming the living reality of pain into passive material for theoretical constructs. It was argued that the subject/subject paradigm helps identify the resistance to interpreting the body in pain as a manifestation of its subjectivity. The concept of the “production of presence” in this context takes on an ethical dimension, requiring the rejection of the interpreter’s position of authoritativeness in favor of co-presence. This allows the singularity of the bodily experience to be explored without dissolving it into discourse. Further research prospects are related to extrapolating the principles of the subject/subject paradigm and the ethics of co-presence to studying other forms of existential experience that resist the hermeneutic approach.

(IN)STABILITY OF CAUSALITY-REPRESENTATION IN THE SPACE OF MULTIPLE MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS OF TIME FLOW

Oleksiy Polunin — 2026-05-25

The article examines the interconnection between time and causality. It describes an instability in causality-representation when causal relata are projected on the space of the multiple cognitive representations of time flow. Traditionally the manipulability theories of causation are taken for cases when all elements of the causal chain are given within conventional linear time flow. Within the manipulability approach to causality, the article examines how far human cognitive system contributes to variability of mental representations of cause, effect and their temporal connectedness. The paper answers the question whether and how the different time-representations affect the human ability to model causality. This makes the novelty of the proposed approach. To do so one follows the minds ability to produce the multiple representations of time flow. So, we went beyond the traditional assumption about singularity of mental time flow and introduced the notion of the multiple time representations (Polunin, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2021). As each single time-representation is described by distinct functional features, it specifically impacts the mental representations of an event happening in its time, and consequently, the representation of causal relata. Therefore, we argue for essential variability of mental representation of causality in the space of the multiple cognitive representations of time flow. This variability can be demonstrated without any real change in the world events involved in the causal relationship, thus describing the mind’s contribution to causality. The proposed approach allows for its empirical examination. It makes possible to manipulate individually the representations of cause and that of effect, examining more deeply the contribution of the human mind to their relationship. This stresses the mental nature of causality, its subjective judgment and it points to the possible deviations in judgment outcomes regarding availability vs absence of causal relationship.

SOREN KIERKEGAARD: DESPAIR AND THE «LEAP OF FAITH» AS EXISTENTIALS OF SPIRITUALITY

Natalia Bilchuk — 2026-05-25

The article provides a detailed analysis of existential categories such as «despair», «absurdity», «disbelief», «repetition» in the philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard in the context of understanding the problem of human selfhood, freedom of choice and the formation of spirituality in crisis situations, primarily in the experience of war. It is shown that existential philosophy, which emerged in the context of global social upheavals and the crisis of rational worldview, focuses not on the abstract understanding of «man in general», but on the uniqueness of individual existence, internal feelings and the personal dimension of the meaning of life.

Particular attention is paid to Kierkegaard's understanding of human as a synthesis of opposites and as a «project» that is realized through constant existential choice. The content of the concepts of «existence», «selfhood», «leap of faith», «repetition», «absurd» and their role in the formation of the spiritual dimension of human existence are revealed. The close connection between the biographical events of the thinker's life, in particular the story with Regine Olsen, and the formation of his philosophical ideas is traced, which allows for a deeper understanding of the existential nature of his thinking.

The article substantiates that despair in Kierkegaard’s philosophy is not a destructive emotional state, but a necessary internal act that opens up the possibility of transition from aesthetic and ethical ways of existence to religious ones – as a level of true spiritual self-determination. Despair is interpreted as a «starting point» of self-knowledge, which encourages a person to go beyond the boundaries of an externally determined life and make a free choice in favor of his own selfhood. It is shown that it is through the experience of losses, despair, guilt and absurdity a person acquires the ability to «free self-construction» and the formation of inner spirituality.

The importance of Kierkegaard's ideas for the modern Ukrainian experience is highlighted, in which war, loss, and existential uncertainty deepen the need to understand the meaning of individual life, preserve the selfhood, and spiritual stability of a person.

THE PHENOMENON OF RELIGION IN THE CONTEXT OF ORTHODOX ANTHROPOLOGY OF COMMUNICATION

Roman Kharchenko — 2026-05-25

Orthodox anthropology of communication is an attempt to rethink the phenomenon of religion in relation to the way of being of man and the Church in the context of the modern sociocultural world, as a space of presence capable of restoring the depth of human reciprocity and spiritual solidarity. In contemporary theological discourses, this concept emerges as an anthropological response to the crisis of individuality, manifested in the rupture of relations between man and his social environment, as well as the loss of the ability to engage in genuine dialogue with the Other (man and God). It has been established that the philosophical and theological understanding of the phenomenon of religion in Orthodox anthropology of communication is based on the idea of being as communication and the presence of the Other in the space of encounter, where the anthropological dimension becomes a space for theological reflection on human existence in interpersonal and transcendent relationships. It is shown that in Orthodox thought, human nature is not primarily isolated, but rather reveals its truth in open communication with God and the Other. In this sense, the phenomenon of religion appears as communication, rather than as internal private religiosity. The article substantiates the idea of Orthodox anthropology, which considers communication not only as a means of exchanging information or symbols, but as an ontological structure of human existence. Man is created so that in the fullness of his being he is open to the outside world, empathizes, interacts, and feels the call to God and his neighbor. It is in this dynamic that he experiences the phenomenon of religion as an encounter with being. The importance for Orthodox anthropology of the modus of love as not an abstract value but an existential experience that arises in interpersonal relationships as a form of real communication is emphasized, which is reflected in the Orthodox approach to dialogue not only within the framework of individual ethics but as the duty of every person to God and neighbor.

SPIRITUAL ORIENTATIONS AND THE LIFE PURPOSE OF THE INDIVIDUAL IN THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL DISCOURSE OF MEDIEVAL UKRAINE

Olena Hudzenko — 2026-05-25

This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the Christian anthropological foundations of Ukrainian medieval thought. It examines the process of forming a national “anthropological code,” which became the foundation of Ukrainian culture and defined the distinctive features of Ukrainian anthropocentrism. It highlights the dynamic nature of human destiny, which in medieval discourse was viewed as a path of continuous ethical self-improvement and the realization of the image of God in man.

Particular attention is paid to the Hesychast tradition and the concept of “deification” as a mystical path to personal wholeness. It is argued that the individual striving for holiness and the spiritual calling served as powerful anthropological factors in cultural transformation, shaping social ideals of responsibility and service. Hesychasm played an important role in this as a mystical practice that made it possible to achieve wholeness through the harmony of mind and heart. The author argues that the medieval vision of a person capable of self-construction in synergy with higher meanings laid the foundations for a resilient national identity. And the individual desire for spiritual perfection acted as a powerful anthropological factor in the transformation of culture. In the face of external threats, it was Christian values that allowed the community to preserve its identity.

The conclusions emphasize that drawing upon the spiritual experience of the Middle Ages is a strategic resource for strengthening Ukraine’s contemporary cultural resilience. The principles of Christian anthropology are identified as an effective toolkit for building the state’s value foundation and shaping the humanistic guidelines of the modern citizen in the face of global challenges.

BAROQUE THOUGHT AND ITS IMAGERY IN THE UKRAINIAN POLITICAL IMAGINATION: INTELLECTUAL DE(CON)STRUCTION AND RADICAL PHILOSOPHICAL RUPTURE

Mykyta Trachuk — 2026-05-25

The article carries out a fundamental epistemological reflection on the nature of the national way of thinking – the Ukrainian logos – in the conditions of the current existential war and deep structural transformation of society. The author argues that the study`s relevance is driven by the internal contradiction of the postcolonial situation: an intense desire for integration into the global intellectual space is often accompanied by an uncritical reception of Western theoretical paradigms (specifically, B. Latour's actor-network theory and «spatial turn» concepts) without proper consideration of their historical and institutional foundations.

The central problem addressed is the “defectiveness” of the Ukrainian logos, which is a concept borrowed from I. Lysiak-Rudnytsky, which points to the chronic weakness of the rational-institutional dimension of the Ukrainian political tradition. The author contends that a conceptual inversion occurs in the Ukrainian intellectual space: institutional weakness and theoretical instability are falsely interpreted as signs of an “advanced” network episteme. The work utilizes the methodological optics of exile, viewed as a state of heuristically productive ek-stasis (with simultaneous critical coverage of this Heideggerian concept within the framework of Ukrainian intellectual discourse and current political affairs), allowing for an analytical reduction of the national life-world and distancing from emotional involvement in the search for truth.

The study reconstructs the cultural and historical prerequisites of this problem, rooted in the dominance of the Baroque type of thinking. Unlike Western modernity, which underwent the school of scholastic discipline and the Cartesian rupture, the Ukrainian tradition filled the structural gap between the Middle Ages and modernity with the compensatory form of the Baroque. The Baroque logos is characterized by sensocentrism, symbolism, affectivity, and a penchant for paradoxes, making it productive in art but entirely inadequate for public administration and constitutional law.

In the political dimension, Baroque thinking leads to the perception of reality as theatrum mundi (theater of the world), where the political process is reduced to aesthetics, staging, and symbolic gestures. Using the speech act theory of J. Austin and J. Searle, the author analyzes Ukrainian political rhetoric as a series of “misfire” performatives functioning outside the realm of institutional facts. While it provides a mobilization catharsis during revolutions, it also makes impossible Weberian “routinization of charisma” and the transition to stable procedural forms of rationality.

The article concludes that overcoming the “defectiveness” of the logos requires not a retrospective reproduction of historical forms but the mastery of the discipline of method based on analytical reduction and the construction of institutional knowledge on transparent foundations. The author insists on the necessity of moving from Baroque affectivity to institutionalized rationality as the sole condition for maintaining Ukraine's agency in the face of global challenges.

THE HUMAN BETWEEN GIVENNESS AND PROJECT: THE ETHICAL-ANTHROPOLOGICAL CONFLICT OF BIOHACKING

Svitlana Chmykhun — 2026-05-25

The article presents a philosophical-anthropological and ethical analysis of biohacking as a characteristic phenomenon of contemporary culture emerging at the intersection of technological development, the medicalization of everyday life, self-tracking practices, and the ideology of continuous self-improvement. The main approaches to the interpretation of biohacking are examined, its semantic boundaries are clarified, and it is demonstrated that biohacking cannot be reduced merely to a set of health-related or technically instrumental practices, but rather expresses a deeper worldview shift and an anthropological transformation in the understanding of the human being.

The study analyzes biohacking as a form of a new relation of the human being to oneself, in which the body, psychophysical states, attention, sleep, productivity, and cognitive processes increasingly appear as objects of measurement, regulation, control, and optimization. It is shown that within this logic, care of the self gradually shifts from ethical and existential work on oneself toward a regime of self-technologization, while self-knowledge becomes increasingly mediated by data, digital indicators, and practices of continuous self-analysis.

Special attention is paid to the hermeneutic and existential dimensions of the problem. It is substantiated that within the cultural logic of biohacking there arises a risk of a reductive interpretation of the human being, when a person begins to identify oneself with one’s own body, functional parameters, and characteristics available for correction. It is emphasized that such a substitution narrows the understanding of human existence, since the human being is not exhausted by corporeality, biometrics, or cognitive efficiency, but includes freedom, inner opacity, lived experience, anxiety, choice, vulnerability, and finitude.

As a result, it is concluded that biohacking should be understood not as a neutral set of useful practices, but as a symptom of a transformation in the anthropological ideal of modernity. It is determined that its main problem lies not only in technical intervention into human life, but in the gradual substitution of the human being by an optimized functional profile. The article underscores the need for a philosophical reflection on biohacking as a phenomenon that calls into question the limits of self-improvement, the meaning of care of the self, and the preservation of human integrity under the conditions of technogenic culture.

THE RHETORIC OF EXCLUSION: WORD, VICTIM, AND PUBLIC VIOLENCE – FROM ANCIENT BANISHMENT TO DIGITAL EXECUTION

Nataliia Popova — 2026-05-25

This article presents a philosophical analysis of the rhetoric of exclusion as a specific form of public violence that operates primarily through speech acts and does not require institutional legitimation, formal recognition, or ritual procedure. The study proceeds from the central premise that public violence emerges within the domain of language, which gradually loses its dialogical nature, ceases to function as a medium of communication, and becomes an instrument for assigning guilt, designating the “superfluous”, and delivering a verdict without the possibility of appeal. In such a configuration, the subject remains visible and present within the public sphere, yet is entirely deprived of the capacity to respond, thereby transforming ordinary aggression into symbolic, public, and irreversible violence.

The theoretical framework combines several key concepts: J. L. Austin’s theory of speech acts, P. Bourdieu’s notion of symbolic violence, M. Foucault’s analysis of discursive power and normalization, and R. Girard’s theory of the sacrificial mechanism and scapegoating. On this basis, the article traces the historical transformation of practices of exclusion – from ancient institutionalized forms (ostracism, the ritual of the pharmakos, the trial and execution of Socrates), in which violence was structured by procedure, collective responsibility, and symbolic closure, to contemporary decentralized rhetorical regimes operating within digital public space. Particular attention is paid to how, in the digital era, violence loses the character of a discrete event with a defined subject, beginning, and end, while retaining high effectiveness through distributed responsibility, collective silence, strategies of non-involvement, and the mechanisms of cancel culture, which operate through repetition, archiving, and the continuous reactivation of the past.

The central methodological principle of the study is politropicity, drawn from the Homeric tradition and interpreted through the figure of Odysseus. Politropicity refers not to cleverness or deceit, but rather to the ability to navigate complex situations where speaking plainly can be risky and language serves as a tool for control and manipulation. It constitutes a strategy for preserving meaning, subjectivity, and the possibility of return under conditions in which speech ceases to be dialogical and becomes a unilateral act of designation. The figure of Odysseus thus functions not merely as a literary image, but as a principle of thought and resistance, enabling passage through zones of exclusion without accepting their rules as final.

The conclusion argues that the philosophical analysis of the rhetoric of exclusion does not offer moral prescriptions or protective strategies but performs a crucial function of resistance: the restoration of distinctions between speech and verdict, aggression and violence, silence and neutrality, presence, and inclusion. It is precisely the capacity to distinguish and to name the mechanisms of public violence that renders them visible, prevents their naturalization as a “natural” order of things, and opens a space for critical reflection in conditions where publicity increasingly functions as an instrument of selection and exclusion without acknowledging its own destructive force.

CYCLICAL VISION: CANCEL CULTURE AND THE LOSS OF PERSPECTIVE

Oleksandr Makarov — 2026-05-25

This article offers a philosophical analysis of cancel culture as a specific regime of public obviousness emerging within digital public space and characterized by a gradual loss of perspective, depth, and the capacity to see otherwise. The central thesis is that contemporary public violence increasingly ceases to appear as a discrete event endowed with procedure, responsibility, and symbolic finality, and instead operates as a regime: continuous, decentralized, and self-reproducing through repetition, archiving, and algorithmic amplification.

Cancel culture is examined not as an isolated moral practice or a mere form of social sanction, but as a symptom of a deeper transformation of publicness itself – a shift from dialogue and argumentation toward a rhetoric of obviousness in which complexity is perceived as a threat and alternative perspectives as a defect of vision. The article introduces the concept of cyclical vision to describe a mode of perception in which repetition replaces understanding, the circle supplants the route, and obviousness takes the place of truth. Within this regime, exclusion is enacted without formal decision or explicit verdict and arises as a side effect of collective consent to “non-intervention”.

Methodologically, the study combines discursive, phenomenological, and conceptual analysis with a structural reading of mythological figures. Homer’s Cyclops (Polyphemus) is interpreted not as an emblem of archaic brutality but as a model of single-perspective vision that admits neither doubt, dialogue, nor return. Opposed to this figure is the politropic navigation embodied by Odysseus – a rhetorical logic of displacement, delay, and refusal of definitive identification (“Nobody”), which preserves meaning and subjectivity in an environment where language functions as an instrument of capture.

The article argues that cancel culture not only produces victims but progressively sacrifices the very possibility of perspective, imagination, and closure. In relinquishing finitude, it transforms violence into a background condition rather than an event. Philosophical analysis of cyclical vision thus emerges as a form of critical resistance aimed at restoring essential distinctions – between obviousness and truth, repetition and understanding, the closed circle and the open route – without which public space loses its capacity to function as a site of shared thinking.

TOO CLOSE TO RETURN

Kyrylo Shyrokov — 2026-05-25

This article offers a philosophical analysis of the loss of navigation as a specific regime of contemporary public violence, in which exclusion occurs not through open conflict or rupture, but within a zone of illusory proximity to a goal, consensus, or completion. Publicity increasingly functions not as a route – structured by distances, corrections, and the possibility of return – but as acceleration, where the path appears almost completed, the outcome guaranteed, and the need for orientation rendered excessive. In this regime, language loses its navigational function and becomes a signal of momentum: it compresses the distance between perception and decision, movement and halt, trust and the abdication of responsibility. Violence no longer appears as an event nor requires recognition; it emerges as a side effect of inertia, premature certainty, and the voluntary delegation of navigational freedom.

Cancel culture is examined as one symptom of this broader disorientation. Exclusion here is enacted not through argumentation or moral judgment, but through the declaration of deliberation itself as redundant. Responsibility is dispersed across procedures, collective reactions, and algorithmic amplification; navigational freedom is handed over “for safekeeping”, not under coercion, but within a horizon of apparent clarity and safety. In this zone, public violence arises not despite the feeling of proximity, but precisely because of it: stopping is perceived as disruption, and return as increasingly unlikely.

The theoretical framework brings together analyses of symbolic violence and linguistic power, performativity and discursive normalization, the sacrificial mechanism, critiques of acceleration and the loss of horizon, algorithmic publicity, and practices of space and movement. Within this framework, the article traces a transformation of public experience through three mythological figures: delegated freedom (Aeolus, where the “right” wind allows the map to be set aside), instantaneous absorption (the Laestrygonians, where a safe harbor collapses into a trap without interval), and the voluntary abandonment of return (Circe, where transformation appears as comfortable normalization and logos is replaced by function).

The central analytical concept is the zone of being “too close to return” – a space in which proximity to the goal dulls vigilance and inertial movement becomes more dangerous than the storm itself. Odysseus’s polytropic capacity is opposed to this logic as the ability not to mistake the first island for Ithaca and to preserve the possibility of turning where safety seems self-evident. The conclusion argues that a philosophical analysis of lost navigation functions as a form of critical resistance, restoring distinctions between movement and acceleration, proximity and return, trust and the abdication of responsibility.

THE ARCHIVE THAT DOES NOT RELEASE

Oleksii Pavlenko — 2026-05-25

This article offers a philosophical analysis of the archive as a specific space of contemporary publicity in which the loss of orientation occurs not due to a lack of information, but because of an excess of recognition and repetition. It is argued that under conditions of digital media the archive ceases to function as a passive repository of memory and becomes an active environment that retains the subject in the present, depriving them of the possibility of return, reinterpretation, and a change of trajectory. In this regime, the past does not recede or age; instead, it is continuously reproduced, assuming the form of permanent presence. Central to the analysis is the distinction between memory as an orienting resource and the archive as a trap. Particular attention is paid to the phenomenon of post-truth, which is interpreted not as the distortion of facts or the triumph of fabrication, but as a condition in which truth loses its navigational function and becomes an acoustic environment that fixes the subject at the point of recognition. Within this framework, cancel culture appears not as a moral sanction or an act of exclusion, but as a form of archival paralysis, whereby the subject remains visible yet deprived of a future.

The methodological framework of the study is structured around the mythological figures of Hades, Tiresias, and the Sirens, reinterpreted not as metaphors but as analytical models of contemporary publicity. Hades emerges as a structure of time without a horizon, in which truth exists without action; Tiresias figures expert knowledge that requires sacrifice yet bears no responsibility for consequences; and the Sirens function as an aggressive rhetorical interface of the archive, transforming the past into a seductive present. Their song is interpreted as a rhetoric of completion, in which truth no longer opens a path forward but abolishes the need for movement altogether.

In conclusion, the article demonstrates that a philosophical analysis of the archive makes it possible to identify new forms of public violence that operate not through prohibition or coercion, but through a soft, almost caring retention within the past. The study argues for the necessity of restoring a navigational distance between knowledge and trajectory as a condition for the possibility of a future within contemporary publicity.

THE RHETORIC OF TRAGIC CHOICE: WHEN NAVIGATION DEMANDS SACRIFICE

Kateryna Kuznetsova — 2026-05-25

This article provides a philosophical analysis of tragic choice as a specific mode of navigation within contemporary publicity, where forward movement becomes possible only at the cost of a pre-acknowledged loss. Unlike situations of disorientation or information scarcity, tragic choice emerges under conditions of extreme clarity: all options are known, all consequences are foreseeable, yet no decision can be "correct" in a normative sense. In this mode, navigation ceases to be a search for the optimal path and transforms into the management of inevitable damage.

The analysis centers on the mythological episode of Scylla and Charybdis, treated not as an allegory of danger but as a model for public decision-making in the absence of acceptable alternatives. Scylla is interpreted as a figure of guaranteed, localized sacrifice that allows for the preservation of elective agency and the assumption of responsibility for the trajectory. Conversely, Charybdis represents the logic of total risk, where responsibility dissolves into the scale of potential catastrophe. Odysseus's choice of Scylla is conceptualized as a rejection of the "catastrophe alibi" and an acceptance of tragic responsibility. The subsequent analysis focuses on the episode of Thrinacia, where tragic choice is no longer exercised but delegated. The violation of the taboo on the Island of the Sun is interpreted as the collapse of the decision-making structure itself: knowledge no longer restrains action, and sacrifice is produced automatically, without a subject to claim it. In this context, Thrinacia serves as a model for contemporary cancel culture, where violence is enacted not through a conscious act, but through procedures, repetition, and collective reaction devoid of addressed responsibility. The article demonstrates that tragic choice does not vanish in modern publicity but is radically transformed: from recognized sacrifice to delegated violence without a subject. This shift destroys navigation as a collective movement, leaving only a solitary continuation of the path for those capable of not delegating responsibility even in a situation of irreversibility.

THE SECOND NAVIGATION: NOBODY RETURNS HOME

Ivan Karpenko — 2026-05-25

This article is devoted to a philosophical reflection on the "second navigation" (δεύτερος πλοῦς) as a borderline regime of the subject's existential movement under conditions of a total loss of metaphysical and institutional guarantees. In a situation where homecoming is no longer synonymous with restoration, and "home" has ceased to be a space of harmonious coincidence, navigation is transformed from a technique of achieving a goal into a strategy of enduring the rupture. In contrast to classical teleological readings of the Odyssey, where Ithaca appears as a triumphant finale, this study conceptualizes homecoming as an aporia: a situation of fundamental non-recognition, radical vulnerability, and the disintegration of biographical integrity.

The central analytical figure of the article is Calypso and her island, Ogygia, interpreted not as a topos of external coercion or deficit, but as the ultimate temptation of "ontological desertion". Calypso's offer is an invitation to abolish the very need for return through a radical replacement of identity. The immortality she grants appears as a form of "high amnesia": a peace without loss and an existence without the burden of biography. It is a perfect space of incorporeal presence where the subject is relieved of the necessity to testify to who they once were. In this light, Odysseus’s refusal is seen not as a moral act, but as a fundamental choice of mortality as the sole condition for preserving the "Self". An immortal body is a body without scars, and thus an empty archive; gods possess an immutable status, while mortals possess a living, wounded biography.

The metaphor of the hand-built raft is revealed as a symbol of "manual", non-delegated agency: a movement through the void, deprived of the fair wind of institutional support or guarantees of social recognition. The second navigation is an ethics in spite of circumstances – the ability to hold a course when the horizon promises neither acceptance nor salvation.

The final part of the research deconstructs the act of returning to Ithaca as a series of ontological thresholds of non-recognition. The transformation of the king into a beggar is interpreted not as a clever disguise, but as the attainment of the status of "Nobody" (Οὖτις) – the only possible form of presence in a home that has become foreign. The slaughter of the suitors, in this context, appears not as an act of restoring justice, but as a sacrificial mechanism of the pharmakos: a bloody procedure that does not restore the lost order but creates a fleeting moment of intense, tragic coincidence of the subject with their own fate.

The article argues that the second navigation is an endurance between two impossibilities: a sterile paradise without a path (Calypso) and a sacrificial path without the hope of paradise (Ithaca). Home, in this perspective, is not a period at the end of a sentence, but merely a momentary flash of recognition that cannot be sustained. No one returns home in the literal sense, but within this knowledge, a new polytropic subjectivity is born, capable of rowing even through a total fog.