Issue materials

Abstract. The article addresses legal issues, and more specifically, the genesis of law, the

establishment of essential features and patterns of its formation and development. The

analysis takes into account not only practical and scientifically grounded peculiarities of

the legal realm in the historical or modern perspective, but also the “acquired” material

of the anthropology, sociology, philosophy; it also takes into account the data of biology

and techno-humanistics, which indicates the interdisciplinary nature of the presentation.

The paper considers selective social communications characteristic of proto-communities

in order to pay attention to the natural and social characteristics of a person and to

demonstrate their influence on the functioning of the human mind, namely, the principle

of reasonable selection, true and objective in its nature. This principle served as the basis

of rational deduction and reduction of non-viable behavior patterns destructive for social

existence and development. With the help of the same principle, the greatest imperatives

were created for the humanity as a whole, later embodied in moral, religious dogmas,

natural law, etc. But most importantly, they ensured preservation of human nature.

Some provisions are given that it was reasonable selection at a certain historical stage

of human development that showed the law based on preservation of human nature and

implemented solely under state (institutional) regulation of public relations as the only

civilized instrument for preserving human nature that can act as an effective and safe

regulator. Based on the analysis of the historical adaptation of humans, as well as modern

challenges set forth by scientific and biotechnological progress and problems associated

with gender identity and sexual orientation of a person, the position is defended that

human nature, especially at the present stage of its development, needs to be protected

precisely through law.

Keywords: Preservation of human nature; positive law; reasonable selection; natural law;

legal understanding.

Abstract. The problem of the validity of the differentiation of legal regulation of parttime

work within the framework of the current Labor Code of the Russian Federation is

based on the idea of this phenomenon that was developed in the Soviet period of history.

Modern socio-economic conditions require a significant transformation of this institution

of labor law on the basis of an adequate reflection in the norms of labor law of the changed

living conditions of a person and society. Within the framework of this study, an attempt

was made, based on the understanding of the term “secondary job” in the current labor

legislation and the labor law science, to identify essential differences between secondary

job and main job, i.e. to reveal objectively existing conditions of secondary job from the

main job, which were the reason for differentiation of legal norms, regulating secondary

job. In the course of the analysis of the legal norms governing the institute of secondary

job, the analysis of the achievements of the science of domestic labor law and judicial

practice, taking into account the history of legal regulation of this institution, it was

found that the existing signs (characteristic features) of secondary job are either an

external sign that does not reflect the internal nature of the phenomenon, or represent a

discriminatory norm based on the simple fact of recognizing a particular job as secondary

job. As a result, it was concluded that it was unreasonable to single out secondary job in a

separate category, and the existence of a special chapter of the Labor Code of the Russian

Federation, dedicated to the peculiarities of regulating the labor of persons working

secondary job, was groundless. As a practical recommendation, the author suggests

adjustment of the provisions of labor legislation. It is proposed to abandon the traditional

understanding of the term “part-time”, which implies the main and additional work, it is

proposed in this situation to talk about the simultaneous presence of an employee of two

or more equivalent employment contracts, none of which has priority over the others. It

was proposed to move from limiting the time of part-time work to the establishment of

a general maximum working time at all available jobs for the employee; to attribute the

solution of the issue of simultaneous or separate granting of leave to an employee who

has several places of work on a contractual basis (with the involvement of trade union

organizations); to abolish a number of discriminatory norms currently in force against

part-time workers.

Keywords: secondary job; signs of secondary job; main job; main place of work; signs of

main job; differentiation of legal regulation; work book; electronic work book.

Abstract. The main purpose of the article is to examine the content of the important element of the contemporary federal system of the Russian Federation, namely, the principle of judicial federalism, based on which the Russian Judicial System is divided into federal courts and courts of the subjects of the Russian Federation. The article analyzes the role and significance of the principle of judicial federalism, as well as its transformation in the context of the 2020 constitutional reform and following amendments in the legislation, which completely abolished constitutional and statutory justice in the subjects of the Russian Federation. The article shows the evolution of the constitutional and statutory courts of the subjects of the Russian Federation (these courts were established merely in sixteen Russian regions), as well as the political and legal process, during which, firstly, at the regional level, their competence was gradually limited, and, secondly, their final liquidation took place. The author negatively evaluates the short-term decision to completely liquidate the regional constitutional and statutory courts, because before their liquidation these institutions were an important tool of raising the level of legal awareness of society, and an essential element of judicial democracy and real judicial federalism; also, these institutes have contributed to the improvement of regional legislation and law enforcement practice in the regions of the Russian Federation by means of regional constitutional proceedings. The research shows that the second element of the Judicial Federalism in Russia is the decentralization of the Judiciary, which was expressed in the resettlement of the Constitutional Court of Russia from Moscow to St. Petersburg, as well as the fact that the move of the Supreme Court of Russia to St. Petersburg should take place soon. In this regard, the author investigates the need to concentrate two higher judicial bodies in the same subject of the Russian Federation; in the context of the competitive federalism the author considers the alternative scenarios for the decentralization of the Russian judiciary; namely, he put forward the arguments regarding the choice of the location of the Russian Supreme Court in other regions of Russia. Using the example of the Kaliningrad region, the author shows competitive advantages, as well as historical, political, and legal arguments which exist in favor of choosing another subject of the Russian Federation, for example, Kaliningrad region, instead of the federal city of St. Petersburg, for the location of the Russian Supreme Court. The author concludes that it is necessary to preserve and further develop the principle of the Judicial Federalism as the basis of the federal system of Russia, as well as the democratic tradition of the contemporary Russian Federation.

Keywords: judicial federalism; federal system; competitive federalism; constitutional reform; Russian judiciary; judicial power; Constitutional Court; Supreme Court; German Judicial Federalism; constitutional (statutory) justice of the subjects of the Russian

Federation; constitutional courts; statutory courts; decentralization of the judiciary;

Königsberg Royal Castle.

Abstract. This article focuses on expectations in society related to COVID-2019. It is shown

that these expectations suggest a picture of future that is close either to a dystopian

one or to the one with clear dystopian background. The author proves that such crisis

situation and the catastrophic way out of it provokes not just the negative response in

the souls of many people being an important part of at least European culture, which

we are part of. Life in a pandemic is, in a sense, the satisfaction of desires arising from

the new opportunities given by the situation and the expansion of the boundaries of the

former freedom. It is no coincidence that the current discourse about remote employment

operates in terms of contentment, happiness, and fulfillment of desires. The role of “lightapocalypse”

in modern culture is considered. The author concludes that we have entered

an era when such “light-apocalypses” partly replace discredited revolutions and associated

hopes in public consciousness and unconsciousness. Therefore, nowadays the frequent

promise of further catastrophes means a tacit recognition that a world with discredited

idea of revolution is still in need for changes, and therefore is doomed to a repetition of

controlled apocalypses.

Keywords: COVID-2019; utopia, dystopia; wish fulfillment; distance employment;

happiness; “light-apocalypse”.

Abstract. The article is devoted to the explication and research of the theological origins of the modern paradigm of power and politics in a methodological perspective, set by a combination of hermeneutical, genealogical and deconstructivist ways of reflection and interpretation. The highlighted concept of theology of power (politics) is thought out, mainly, at the intersection of the ideas of G. Agamben, K. Schmitt, E. Kantorovich, M. Heidegger, M. Foucault. The author substantiates the idea that the theological meanings and references of modern political concepts are not just brought to light in the course of special theoretical research and projections, but directly and implicitly have a practical impact on the political structure and technologies of power. The article considers the possibility of “suspending” the action of the metaphysical “machine” that is responsible for the production and operation of the theological myth of power, which determines the political existence of man and society in their modern expression. In this connection, the role of metaphysics, which determines the Western European world, is exhibited as an onto-theo-logy (M. Heidegger), which sees the supreme and first cause of all things as the divine. The rational theology thus sets the contours of all metaphysics, which determines the essence of European thinking in the Middle ages in the form of Christian theology, and in Modern times in the form of emerging scientific knowledge. Secularized political concepts act as a signature that refers to theology (G. Agamben). First of all, this applies to such a concept as “sovereignty”: the state-legal concept of the sovereign is derived from the Christian image of God, personifying the absolute, that is, unlimited, not deducible from anything, a single and indivisible form of power. The theological model of divine governance of the world, in which the miracle is understood as a manifestationof the providential and “saving” will of God, suspending the action of natural law, is the paradigm of the modern state of emergency as a direct intervention of the sovereign in the current law and order (K. Schmitt).

Keywords: theology; metaphysics; onto-theo-logy; political theology; power; politics; sovereignty; state of emergency.

Abstract. Cognitive psychology is one of the most significant areas of modern science related to the creation of artificial intelligence (AI). The multifactorial conditionality of cognition is captured in variety of philosophical concepts, some of which can have applied meaning, including for cognitive psychology. The article considers two approaches that address diametrically opposite factors affecting cognitive activity. On the one hand, the diversity of cognition phenomena – from simple (sensations and representations) to the most complex (will, attention, memory, imagination, etc.) – depends on the psycho-physiological processes associated ultimately with physical energy. E. Mach based his concept on the ontology of psychophysiological parallelism. Back in the early 20th century, he designed the possibility of technical embodying of the results of his research on various phenomena and mechanisms of human cognitive activity. On the other hand, in the first decades of the 20th century, Husserl claims to create his own methodology for psychological science, which (methodology) simultaneously appears as the theoretical level of this field of science due to the fact that it explores the essence of the entire variety of cognitive phenomena, such as consciousness in its various variations, mental states, values and logical structure. Ideas/meanings peculiar only to human cognition acquire the character of “ideal objectivity” through written language. Written language, according to Husserl, is a way of virtual timeless storage and increment of ideas and meanings. At the same time, it can also become a means of their material, including technical, implementation. Mach in his methodology focuses on the physical, physiological, and biological aspects of the process of cognition; Husserl focused on existential and humanitarian factors that give cognitive activity a proper human character. This is the alternative of these approaches, which does not exclude the possibility of their mutual complementarity.

Keywords: E. Mach; E. Husserl; cognitive psychology; artificial intelligence; methodology; cognitive activity; material embodiment; alternative.