Donskikh Oleg Albertovich LANGUAGE AS AN INDICATOR OF THE VISUALIZATION OF SCIENTIFIC THINKING // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2023. Issue 2 (36). P. 74-80

This article examines the changes in language that eventually led to the formation of a functional style representing scientific thinking. These changes begin to take place during the period designated by Jaspers as “axial time”, when reflexive thinking emerges, leading, in particular, to an awareness of language in poetic discourse. Poetry makes speech activities the subject of attention, which is reflected in attitudes toward texts. They are framed according to certain well-formulated rules, synonymy is used, and new words are invented. Under the influence of poetry, philosophy emerging at this time begins to reconstruct pictures of certain fragments of reality, creating an abstract vocabulary that in principle did not exist in the languages of previous societies. It is the emergence of a common vocabulary that becomes a condition for the proper organization of definitions, and hence for the emergence of a new type of classification. Thus, in mythological consciousness, classifications, however lengthy they may be, do not go beyond the visually represented, while the appearance of words not correlated in principle with the objects of the external world (like being, space, infinity, atom, etc.) allows the formation of new generic chains. This is the expression of a reflective attitude to reality, the new way of thinking about the world. The Sophists, with their language games, prepare the possibility of representing general knowledge at the level of logic, which is necessary for the formation of scientific methodology, primarily in the works of the Aristotelian school. Attention to language leads to the creation of grammars (independently in India in the 5th century and in Greece in the 3rd century) and, consequently, to the emergence of literary language. On a new level, attention is paid to the way of expressing thought including the scientific style.

Keywords: science, scientific thinking, language and speech, poetry, “axial time”, reflexion

Pevzner Mikhail Naumovich, Smertin Ivan Vladimirovich, Shirin Aleksandr Glebovich IN TIMES OF A GEOPOLITICAL CRISIS: COMMUNICATIVE ASPECTS (COMMUNICATIVE ASPECTS OF FOREIGN STUDENTS’ SOCIAL ADAPTATION IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERN CHALLENGES) // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2023. Issue 4 (38). P. 239-260

In today’s globalized world, the number of international students serves as a quantitative indicator of a university’s global reputation in the field of educational services. Still, a qualitative indicator in this context is their successful social adaptation and integration into the host culture, as this is a guarantee of their academic performance, professional and creative self-actualization, and, in the long term, employment in the host or native country. Effective communication between university employees and international students is a cornerstone of successful social adaptation of the latter. The aim of the study is to provide a comprehensive overview of communicative strategies used in Russian universities on different stages of international students’ social adaptation. This study is particularly relevant in the current context of geopolitical instability because having a comprehensive and distinct social adaptation strategy is crucial for maintaining and increasing the inflow of international students during the crisis period. International students, along with their parents, exhibit hesitation towards coming to Russia in the current geopolitical climate. Therefore, the university administration and teaching staff face the task of dispelling these concerns. Moreover, international students’ fears and concerns may be caused by such adaptation difficulties as language barrier, lack of knowledge of the host culture, etc. We believe that one of the most effective means of dealing with such fears is targeted and direct communication that addresses both international students’ rational thinking and their emotional sphere. We examine various types of social adaptation and assess the impact of geopolitical crises on this process. We emphasize the significance of understanding international students’ sociocultural adaptation as a complex process consisting of two equally important stages: the development of new cultural and communicative competencies and the cultivation of a new multicultural personality fully adapted to the host country’s mentality. Language barriers represent a significant obstacle for international students. Visual materials that help international students to perceive information about formal and informal aspects of university life are effective for institutional adaptation, i.e., adaptation to the characteristics, structure, norms, and values of the host university, even if international students face a language barrier. We analyze different visual and semiotic approaches to conveying important messages to international students, such as visual presentations, as well as different communication strategies (cooperation, prevention, etc.). We present a case study of social adaptation of international students at Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University and the results of a survey conducted among representatives of target groups. The survey revealed that common adaptation difficulties for international students include challenges in comprehending educational materials presented exclusively in verbal form, an inconsistent use of simulations as tools for explaining key concepts and processes, and a sporadic utilization of video materials for illustrating the studied processes or phenomena.

Keywords: social adaptation, foreign students, internationalization of higher education, integration, international education, socio-psychological climate at university

Meshcheryakova Tamara Vladimirovna, Gerasimova Olga Vladimirovna, Zakharova Natallia Evgenyevna THE PARADIGMS AND “TURNS” OF BIOETHICS: THE POTENTIAL FOR DIALOGUE // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 1 (39). P. 62-81

The article provides an analysis of the use of the terms “paradigm” and “turns” in bioethics research. Various paradigms in bioethics serve as its images – each paradigm reveals a certain aspect of bioethics. Bioethics can be considered, in the sense of a paradigm, as a disciplinary matrix (Thomas Kuhn), since the transition from traditional medical ethics to bioethics marked a true scientific revolution, and it can rightfully be called a paradigmatic science. More often, bioethical paradigms represent its models, varieties. This is explained by the fact that bioethics is an interdisciplinary activity, and it does not correspond to the idea of “normal science”, as no single discipline can claim an exclusive representation of bioethical research. Among the vast array of bioethics paradigms, the most discussed are the liberal, conservative, American ones, and the paradigm of the principles-based system. All of them are grounded in the principles of bioethics but examine them in different contexts, combinations, and approaches to understanding individuality, autonomy, and human dignity. The presence of turns indicates a different nature of bioethical paradigms. They began to emerge in the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, revealing shortcomings in existing paradigms and directing researchers toward aspects of bioethics that were either not considered at all or received no adequate attention from bioethics researchers. Anthropological, cultural, and relational turns share a sensitivity to cultural diversity, consideration of socio-cultural context, and dissatisfaction with the analytical methods of traditional bioethics. This has led to bioethics adopting methodological tools from empirical disciplines, particularly sociology, giving rise to an empirical turn. Today, the empirical turn continues to evolve (as evidenced by the emergence of "digital bioethics"), introducing into bioethics the methods of increasingly new disciplines while simultaneously giving rise to new challenges. The turns visualized the necessity of interdisciplinary dialogue because, as a scientific discipline, bioethics needed to rely on a specific method, and this became the interdisciplinary method. In this method, contributions from various specialized disciplines are integrated into a synthesis capable of guiding researchers in the search for ethically correct solutions. Bioethics organizes dialogue within the scientific community, involving experts from various scientific fields in addressing current ethical issues in medical science, practice, and healthcare. An example of such a dialogue is interdisciplinary research conducted at Siberian State Medical University (Tomsk, Russia), in which scientists from different disciplines and specialties participated: sociologists, doctors with experience in clinical trials of pharmaceuticals, historians, and bioethics specialists.

Keywords: paradigm, empirical turn, digital bioethics, dialogue, clinical trials

Speshilova Elizaveta Ivanovna, Avanesov Sergey Sergeyevich VISUAL STRUCTURE OF THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT AND THE CULTURAL CODE CONCEPT // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2023. Issue 4 (38). P. 221-238

The article discusses the conditions for applying the concept “cultural code” in the field of urban studies. The visual structure of urban space is formed not only with the help of aesthetic and stylistic techniques, but also through the representation of the deep meanings of culture – values, images, normative attitudes, and moral standards. A code that allows the translation of information from the addresser to the addressee is used to convey any message in the field of communication. The specificity of the cultural code lies in the fact that it is an intermediary between the sign and the meaning rather than between the sign and the object. In fine arts, architecture, and urbanism, the same coding principle operates, according to which, at the level of presentation of a fact, a direct message is encrypted and transmitted (denotation), and, at the level of representation of meaning, subtext and context (connotation) are used. Culture is a semiotic environment, that is, a dynamic space for an exchange of signs and sign complexes. A sign in its connotative aspect always expresses some meaning. The cultural code is the order of expression of meanings, the norm of their communicative representation. According to the semiotic approach to analyzing urban space, the city is read as a visual text that directly communicates the functional configuration of the living environment and at the same time (at the level of connotation) refers to the values and traditions of a particular culture through various means of their visual representation.

Keywords: urban studies, semiotics, cultural code, city, visual environment, presentation, representation, cultural identity

Sidorova Tatyana Alexandrovna PERCEPTION IMAGES AND CONCEPTUALIZATION OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL CHALLENGES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 1 (39). P. 102-119

The challenges of artificial intelligence are considered from the methodological basis of bioethical analysis of anthropological risks and threats posed by new technologies. Society exhibits a cautious attitude towards artificial intelligence technology. Anthropological challenges of artificial intelligence represent a problematic situation regarding the complexity of assessing the benefits and harms, adequate awareness of the risks and threats of new technology to humans. It is necessary to conceptually outline the anthropological challenges of AI, drawing on images of AI perception represented in art and cinema, in ethical rules, philosophical reflection, and scientific concepts. In the projection of various definitions, artificial intelligence becomes a metaphor that serves as a source of creative conceptualizations of new technology. Images of AI are identified through conceptualization, visualization, and institutionalization of risks and correspond to specific types of attitudes towards innovation in society. The peculiarity of AI perception images, both in the forms of conceptualization and in the visual or institutional objectification of these images in ethical codes, is their active and purposeful formation. Analogous to the regulation of biotechnologies, normatively conceptualized positions regarding new technologies are divided into conservative - restrictive and prohibitive; liberal - welcoming innovations; and moderate - compromising, which often becomes the basis for ethical and legal regulation. However, sociological surveys show that those who welcome the emergence of neural networks, the widespread use of artificial intelligence, also exhibit caution and uncertainty in assessing the human future. A three-part typology of perception images of anthropological challenges is proposed, in which non-linear opposition of positions towards AI is fixed, but vectors of possible ways of habituating and semiotization of the future are outlined. The first, alarmist type, is distinguished based on an emotionally evaluative attitude. New technologies are seen as redundant, causing alarm and fear. The second type of perception, instrumentalist, is characteristic of AI actors within a professionally formed worldview. Some concepts of the professional thesaurus become common parlance. The third type is user-oriented. For this type, it is important how the interaction between AI and humans unfolds. The collective response to the anthropological challenges of AI is more likely to be formed on a utilitarian-pragmatic basis. Effective responses may be based on an individual self-preservation strategy, which, for example, may require adherence to cognitive hygiene in the field of education. In the context of AI development, the task arises of developing rules and procedures for such a preservation strategy.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, neural networks, AI concept, anthropological challenges, perception images, AI ethical code, humanistic expert evaluation

Speshilova Elizaveta Ivanovna Comprehending the City: From Perception to Imagination // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 2 (40). P. 103-119

The article analyses various aspects of comprehending the city as a cultural phenomenon, which has both a material, visible side and an imaginary, conceivable side. The author identifies the correlation of perception, representation and imagination in the process of understanding the city and argues that imagination plays a constitutive role in this process. It is emphasised that in urban studies the prevailing approach to the city is focused primarily on the consideration of its visual parameters. However, auditory, olfactory, tactile and other characteristics are significant in the process of perceiving urban spaces, since they also influence the formation of the city’s image and make this image more saturated and multidimensional. Based on the work “Imagination and perception” by P. F. Strawson, the author proves that imagination is a necessary component of the city perception. In addition, knowledge about the city and comprehending the city are considered in the article as different cognitive levels. Representation is associated with the concept of the city, and imagination is associated with comprehending the idea of the city, grasping its meaning. The increasing role of imagination in the process of cognition of sociocultural reality is determined by the change in the interpretation of this process itself in postnonclassical science and philosophy of culture. In the postnonclassical approach, the process of cognition is understood not simply as a mirror reflection of reality, but as the construction of an image of reality in consciousness, conditioned by specific linguistic, symbolic and cultural practices. The understanding of imagination in its transcendental dimension (the productive imagination in Kant’s terminology) is complemented in the article by an analysis of its sociocultural dimension. From the author’s point of view, this dimension is primarily important for understanding the city as a symbolic space of meanings that determine the uniqueness of a particular topos and its value for a person.

Keywords: urban studies, urban epistemology, multisensory perception, urban imaginary, cognitive representation, productive imagination

Urazmetova Aleksandra Vladimirovna COLOR PERCEPTION OF THE TOPOMYMIC PICTURE OF THE WORLD // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2023. Issue 4 (38). P. 261-278

The aim of this research is to study the territorial geocultural environment on the material of еру toponymic vocabulary containing color elements. The article considers the toponymic system of the language as a semiotic space that reflects not only the features of a geographical object, but also its socio-cultural characteristics. Toponyms are visual signs of the cultural landscape of a certain territory. They are the result of a meaningful (but rather complex and contradictory) nomination process, as well as a product of human cognitive activity and a kind of a “business card” of a geographical object. In the naming process, the nominator chooses one of many features of the referent that seems to him the most important. This feature is fixed in the internal form of the name of a geographical reality with the help of nominative means available in the language. One of the obvious features of any geographical object is its visual characteristics (shape, size, length, height, color, etc.). The color characteristic acts as one of the main motivating features in toponymic naming. And since color is one of the main parameters of visual perception of the surrounding reality, a color marker in the composition of a toponym is quite common. Color itself has a lot of cultural and symbolic meanings, which are preserved when the color designation is included in the name of a geographical object. The language material of the article is toponyms whose elements are the names of the classical seven-color optical spectrum, i.e., the seven colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). The research material (more than 27 thousand American toponyms with a “rainbow” element) was obtained by a continuous sampling method from the Geographic Names Information System, in which more than two million toponyms are recorded. Each of the considered color markers is investigated from several perspectives in the article: the symbolism of the “rainbow” color is studied and systematized; a quantitative analysis of toponyms with a given color designation is carried out (depending on the type of named objects); the productivity of the use of color identification depending on the type of a toponym is revealed; a correlation between the color marker and the toponym distribution area is established; the main motivating factors of “color” naming, such as the visual characteristics of a geographical object and additional cultural and symbolic meanings are identified. The article proves that a color marker, as an element of a toponym, not only describes, defines, and characterizes the physical and geographical features of a topographic object, but also reflects the national and cultural features of the phenomena of reality in speakers’ minds. The anthropocentric direction in the study of the toponymic vocabulary, focusing on the analysis of units of the toponymic system in close connection with people’s mental and spiritual-practical activities allows regarding this system as a product of human cognitive activity (L. Weisberg, E. M. Vereshchagin, V. N. Telia, V. G. Kostomarov, et al.), and the elements of this system as a reflection of the worldview specific to a particular society, its views and ideas. The results of the study indicate the importance of the color element in toponymic nomination, which is the basis of the perceptual layer of the toponymic concept, i.e., it reflects the sensory image of a geographical object based on a person’s visual perception of the surrounding reality. The author confirms that, since color is an important source and transmitter of cultural and historical information about the object of the name, it is perceived as a kind of a symbol and a fundamental factor in the conceptualization of mental processes in toponymic naming.

Keywords: toponym, toponymy, coloronym, color designation, transformation, categorization, symbol, sign

Svetlov Roman Viktorovich, Shevtsov Konstantin Pavlovich THE WALL AND THE CITY: EDUCATIONAL SEMIOTICS OF AN IMAGINARY POLIS // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2023. Issue 4 (38). P. 79-98

The article explores the projects of urban development and transformation on the example of Plato’s philosophical utopia and urban planning innovations of Hippodamus, an architect of the 5th century BC. These projects are based on a certain idea of the nature of the City, which is formed not only by general considerations about the needs of people and the urban community as a whole, but also by a completely material form of the city’s structure, which in this case acts as a medium of urban self-representation. In the article, the objective was set to reveal the nature of such a medium and show exactly how this medium performs the work of mediation. The authors argue that one of the most important mediums of urban self-representation is the city wall. It does not form a center unlike a temple or a palace; it is located outside, but its presence permeates the city, gives existence and visibility to the unity of the city, its inseparable whole composed of many elements, and its compelling law similar to the hardness of stone, guaranteeing the safety of the urban space. The wall divides and collides with each other identical and different, one and many, heavenly and earthly, male and female; it protects not only kings and citizens, but also their gods from hostile neighbors; and, finally, it has a kind of power because, acting externally, it turns the outer space into the property of the City, into its system and laws. In Plato’s Republic, the wall marks the boundary of the soul’s reversal from existence in the world of shadows to self-knowledge and movement towards the light. In the famous grid of Hippodamus we find the geometric correctness of the order of streets as a continuation of the social structure and the educational impact of law and order on the citizens of the city. At the same time, the order is given not only by the ratio of parallel and perpendicular streets, but also by the closeness of space guaranteed by the city wall, since only in this case the potential infinity of lines and the emptiness of space obey the correct ratio of the limit and the unlimited, the full and the empty, being and nothing. It is in this neighborhood of the artificial organization of the inner space and the outer limit set by the wall that the contradiction that generates the inner dynamics of the city finds its expression and consists in the fact that the border of the city mobilizes and concentrates forces that cannot be held by this limit and strive for infinite expansion. Walls dictated a new space of life, the stay in which required new skills, habits, a new structure of consciousness. All this also required new educational practices: didascaliae and palaestras could arise only in Greek cities, but not in Greek villages of the “dark ages”.

Keywords: city, power, wall, medium, Plato, Hippodamus, Hippodamus’s grid

Simyan Tigran Serzhikovitch THE PARADIGM OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND VISUALIZATION OF MUSIC PERFORMANCES IN OLD TIFLIS: PAINTING, CINEMA, LITERATURE // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2023. Issue 4 (38). P. 143-166

The article presents the paradigm of musical instruments of Old Tiflis in the 18th century and its evolution before the Sovietization of Georgia. The visual texts of Niko Pirosmani, Vagharshak Elibekyan, and Giovanni Vepkhvadze, as well as the video texts of Sayat-Nova and The Color of Pomegranate, are analyzed. The object of the study is the paradigm of musical texts of Old Tiflis as a cross-cultural space. The semantics and functional peculiarities of musical instruments in poetic and visual texts are highlighted. Particular attention is paid to the visualization of musical “performances”. The article argues the following thesis: the description of the paradigm of musical instruments in visual and artistic texts provides an opportunity to reveal the spirit, the material world of Old Tiflis, the evolution of musical tastes, as well as implicit functions, visual syntagmas, and connotative semantics of musical instruments. The empirical study of the material showed that the visualization of musical instruments in painting and film art is an important poetic technique for conveying the spirit of Old Tiflis. The analysis of the film by Sergei Parajanov revealed an allusion to the works of Pirosmani. The detailed analysis of Sayat-Nova’s poem revealed the semantic and functional features of the beloved instrument (kamancha). The analysis of the visualization of the kamancha in Parajanov’s film The Color of Pomegranates showed that many metaphors of Sayat-Nova’s poem were recoded into the language of cinema. The kamancha became the key player revealing the poetic battles in the film Sayat Nova by Kim Arzumanyan. The detailed analysis of the works of Khojabekyan, Pirosmani, and Elibekyan revealed that the musical trio (two zurna players and one drummer) is a classical set for all festivities, weddings, and revelries. At the same time, the zurna, accompanied by church bells in Parajanov’s film, changes its function to mourning. In Elibekyan’s paintings, the organ grinders with their instruments became not only a compositional trick, a method of representation, a communicative element of Old Tiflis’ inn culture of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, but also a sign of European musical influences, an artifact of the city and a visual marker of the urban public space.

Keywords: Old Tiflis, music, painting, cinema, urban culture, oriental musical instruments, visualization of everyday life, Elibekyan, Parajanov

Gepting Elvira L'vovna FROM KHUTYN TO DIEZ: EVERYDAY LIFE OF NOVGOROD IN THE ARTISTIC REPRESENTATION OF TWO ERAS // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2023. Issue 4 (38). P. 190-205

The article presents a diachronic analysis of everyday life of Novgorod and its inhabitants, depicted in two works of art from different epochs – the 16th-century icon Vision of Sexton Tarasius and the 21st century art object located in the windows of the Novgorod department store Diez. Both works represent the symbolically loaded places of Novgorod: Detinets and Yaroslav’s Court, central city districts, and famous neighborhood monasteries. However, from the point of view of the citizens' occupations, the icon and the panel depict significant discrepancies. The main character of the icon is the world of Novgorod toilers: craftsmen, fishermen, and merchants. Consequently, the everyday life of the medieval Novgorodian, reflected in the icon, is, first of all, active labor activities. By contrast, the character of the modern panel is a city of romance and carelessness. Modern Novgorod is a city of idle revelers and of all sorts of pleasures. The work emphasizes the hedonistic function of the public space, aimed at leisure, entertainment, getting new impressions. Thus, on the icon one can easily identify professional communities, and in the panel mostly communities of interest.

Keywords: urban everyday life, visual analysis, Novgorod, public places, icon Vision of Sexton Tarasius icon, art-object, panel

Dumnova Elnara Mikhaylovna The symbolic space of the Japanese garden: Ideological foundations // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 2 (40). P. 79-102

The article considers the conditionality of the Japanese landscape garden’s space of signs and symbols by historical and religious-philosophical factors. The chronological framework of the study covers the Heian epoch (794-1185). Its significance in the development of Japanese landscape architecture and, in particular, garden art is connected with the emergence of a new refined aesthetics, which became the theoretical basis for the formation of the “feminine” style in Japanese culture. The rise of the aristocracy in this period gave impetus to a new style of life: palace-park and temple architectural complexes were built, part of which was a Japanese garden. In this regard, a special type of Japanese garden – landscape pleasure garden – was formed, as well as the canon of landscape architecture, reflecting the spatial and symbolic representations of the Japanese and the methods of their reproduction in the garden space. The uniqueness of the worldview foundations of the sign-symbolic space of the Japanese garden of the Heian era is expressed in the synthesis of several religious and philosophical teachings coexisting in Japan: Shintoism, Taoism, Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, and a number of religious schools that emerged as a result of the interpretation of Buddhism and its combination with Shintoism. Their symbiosis formed a special worldview, which was explicated in the culture of Japan. Japanese garden in any style is an embodiment of the model of vision of the universe through the prism of a certain philosophical and aesthetic system. Religious and philosophical foundations of the Japanese society determined the content of the symbolic-symbolic space of the garden and the choice of appropriate architectural and design techniques of its construction. The methodological basis for the semiotic analysis of the Japanese garden is the typology of spatial codes, including object-functional, architectonic, and social-symbolic codes. The significance and specificity of the application of each code in the process of constructing a landscape Japanese garden with its inherent sign-symbolic space are considered. The basic architectural and design methods of realization of spatial codes, the purpose of which is to embody the concept of the universe in the format of a Japanese garden, are revealed. The architectonic code structures the garden space, as a result of which its compositional solution corresponding to the garden concept is designed. Technically, this goal is achieved through the use of a number of architectural and design techniques. The most significant of them are the technique of suggestive metaphor, the technique of textural modulation, the technique of asymmetry, as well as planning techniques based on the theory of contrasts. Hinting metaphor is used in the coding of separate objects of the garden, for example, stones. The essence of the texture modulation technique is the alternation of the material of the paths, which is felt both tactilely and visually, which in general symbolizes the passage of different stages of human comprehension of the truth of existence in the unity of space and time. The reception of asymmetry allows visualizing the changeability of the world, its permanent movement. Justification and disclosure of the mechanism of spatial codes application allows positioning the Japanese garden as a communicative space, the sign-symbolic content of which is conditioned by the socio-cultural factor and depends on the aesthetic paradigm of the era underlying the architectural and garden art.

Keywords: space of signs and symbols, Japanese garden, Heian era, landscape architecture of Japan, semiotic analysis of Japanese garden

Petrikovskaya Elena Sergeevna ARCHITECTURAL CONSTRUCTIVISM IN ODESSA: VISUAL-ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2023. Issue 4 (38). P. 167-189

The article analyzes the theoretical and methodological foundations of a visual-anthropological research on Soviet residential architecture in the constructivism style in Odessa. In the Soviet context, architecture played the role of a source of renewal. Constructivists consciously participated in the creation of the “new”, that is, modern man, ready to live in an era of global change and build a society of the future. This thesis is concretized by conducting a cultural-anthropological research in Odessa. Considerable attention is paid to the development and substantiation of a comprehensive methodological approach based on an anthropological perspective in the study of the city, a philosophical and anthropological understanding of culture as proportionate to a person, taking into account the diversity of forms of visual experience in modern culture, and based on the latest research in visual communication. The thesis is defended that with the help of the proposed methodology it is possible to discover new rather than predetermined meanings. One of the key conclusions is that the realized visual-anthropological research confirms the importance of the semiological approach to architecture. It allows exploring how architecture shapes human behavior, how the design of a new type of housing, to which both the authorities and architects paid special attention, participates in the creation of a new set of life connections. The constructivist house is studied as a specially organized space that conveys certain meanings. The results obtained make it possible to comprehend and reconstruct the “mechanisms” of cultural communication, ways of translating cultural meanings. The results of the study contribute to the reconstruction of the image of Odessa in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as to a deeper understanding of the anthropology of the socialist city.

Keywords: constructivism, house, cultural anthropology, visual semiotics, urban anthropology, visual anthropology, architectural anthropology, practice

Donskikh Oleg Albertovich Language purification as a condition of transformation of the domestic education system // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 2 (40). P. 145-166

Today, in the context of withdrawal from the Bologna process, further transformations of our educational system are being carried out. The purpose of these transformations is proclaimed to be the creation of a national education system based on the accumulated experience and return to the best domestic traditions. At the same time, the proposed measures, which actually concern only the ratio of the three levels of higher education and do not address a number of sore points of the existing system, can be called “reforms” very roughly. This leads us to a broader problem - a number of key words that define the discourse within which our education is discussed are imprecise and ambiguous. And this not only prevents any agreement, but in some cases also proves to be simply harmful. A number of important words and concepts related to them are analysed in the historical context and in the context of the ongoing changes in the education system. The materials are words and concepts behind them, the criterion of selection of which is the reflection of important features of the current education system. The words are reform, competence, humanitarian component and a number of others. A comparative analysis of these words is carried out, taking into account the experience of foreign countries. It is shown that the imprecise use of the given words does not allow setting the necessary tasks clearly and, in general, introduces serious confusion in the discourse related to education. Moreover, since the selected words turn out to be profoundly interrelated in this discourse, their uncertainty increases, and, ultimately, the participants of the educational process find themselves in a situation where meaningful dialog is practically impossible. As a result of the word-by-word analysis, it is easy to demonstrate that, without clarifying the meanings of the named words and the concepts they denote, meaningful discussion of educational problems does not yield the desired consequences. It is suggested to work on purifying the language of educational discourse. This can be done through precise definitions of the used words-terms and argumentation aimed at clarifying any proclaimed goals and objectives. Only then can we achieve at least a relative common understanding and appropriate effectiveness in working together to improve our education.

Keywords: reform, competence, educational service, fundamental, humanitarian component, graduate school

Avanesov Sergey Sergeyevich “Vestibule” as a pattern of the visual environment: Urban practices’ scenarios // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 3 (41). P. 9-36

The article considers one of the basic load-bearing elements of the urban texture – the space in front of the entrance to the most significant urban buildings. The analysis of the types and functions of such patterns, their connections with other basic elements of the urban topic, their influence on the configuration of urban practices is the most important resource for the growth of knowledge in the field of visual semiotics of the city. The current stage of development of urban studies requires an increasingly focused shift of attention from the urban planning and aesthetic aspects of a particular pattern (already sufficiently studied) to its pragmatics. This refocusing of epistemic optics allows us to see and analyze the elements of the urban environment not as physical constants, but as dynamic local scenarios, which is most consistent with the understanding of the city as a complex cultural and communicative phenomenon. To identify and develop these issues, the article simultaneously applies two methodological approaches to the study of the urban environment: visual-semiotic and anthropological. The work shows that any building (ensemble) that is significant in sociocultural terms, be it a theater, university, administration, station or cathedral, occupies a certain place on the urban stage and plays its specific role in the aesthetic and pragmatic configuration of the urban environment, acting not only as an object aesthetic contemplation, but also as a mediated actor (motivator) of emotional and behavioral scenarios offered to citizens and guests of the city. In the construction of these patterns, the rules of relationship between architectural facades and the surrounding open space play an important role. Properly located and structured “vestibules” present a city building in its significance, orient people’s attention and action, and contribute to the integration of a person into the city’s psychological environment. Ignoring the pragmatic-anthropological aspects of the formation of entrance spaces leads to the destruction of the visual frame of the city and becomes the basis for the existential discomfort of its inhabitants and visitors.

Keywords: urban visual environment, pattern, entrance area, theater, university, pragmatics, scenario, urban space

Baisultanova Kulipa Sharipkanovnovna, Gorbuleva Maria Sergeyevna, Melik-Gaykazyan Irina Vigenovna, Pervushina Nina Andreyevna A thought experiment for constructing a semiotic optimum in the classroom (based on the ethics lesson in the philosophy course) // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 3 (41). P. 37-57

The article begins with two literary examples from the works of one author. One example is a quote from Harper Lee's first published book. The content of the quote suggests a way to understand another person (“… climb inside of his skin and walk around in it”). The second example is the title of the author”s last book, Go Set a Watchman, which quotes a biblical exhortation. These examples are interpreted in the context of the lesson topic. The actions expressed by the words climb into, walk around, go, and set are emphasized. These emphases and interpretation illustrate the formulation of the research problem: identifying the conditions under which changing the classroom configuration is effective. The search for relevant ways to solve the problem is based on two circumstances. The first is the interpretation of each idea of morality as an impulse that organizes social structure, in particular, the structure of educational space. The paper focuses on such a semiotic result of ethics as the name “classroom” for one of the types of the room layout for holding parliamentary debates. The second is the concept of semiotic diagnostics (Irina Melik-Gaykazyan), which establishes correspondence between self-organization phases, information process stages and forms of the sign. A relevant methodological solution to the declared problem is a conceptual model of information generation that demonstrates the correspondence between the stages of transformation of two different spaces. In the phase space, scenarios of nonlinear dynamics of the system are competing. In another space, these same scenarios compete in the sizes and configuration of the distribution of their supporters (information carriers). Within the framework of a thought experiment, we present a “point” proposed to be interpreted as a locus of a potential “semiotic optimum”. At this point, there is an intersection of phase trajectories, while the intersecting trajectories refer to alternative scenarios. This optimum point creates an illusion of coincidence of positions; however, it is precisely overcoming this illusion that creates the basis for understanding and mastering different positions. We conclude that the first condition (1), under which a change in the configuration in a classroom is effective, is the need to discuss questions leading to alternative but equally correct given answers. Such a necessity arises during discussions on moral issues and when students master the essence of ethical dilemmas. The model demonstrates its sensitivity to a change in positions (a transition from one distribution to another), which reveals the second condition (2): the necessity of training for proactive socialization. The same sensitivity reveals analogies between the change in the configuration in a classroom and the syntax of ethical positions, between the organizational context and discursive strategies in discussions. The validity of this analogy is confirmed when comparing the author results and the results obtained in research fields of “language and learning”, “language and education”. We find that the problem we have set and the solutions we have proposed are pertinent for fulfilling another condition (3): the necessity of gaining experience in recognizing the ethical differences between educational strategies and acquiring professional skills within them. Configuration examples are provided as an illustration. We conclude that the use of the information generation model serves as a basis for thought experiments when designing lessons which educational goals include compliance with the conditions (1–3). The proposed model enables its role of a constructor for “reproducing” – in real classroom time – of intellectual history fragments in which a change of paradigms took place and specific teachings were created as a continuation of those paradigms; as well as enables also a retrospective tracing of shifts in the meanings of morality ideas on stable and unstable trajectories of social history.

Keywords: conceptual model of information generation, semiotic diagnostics, proactive socialization, learning space configuration, educational strategies

Matsevich-Dukhan Iryna Janushevna THE NORMATIVITY OF CREATIVE PRACTICE AND FORMS OF ITS INSTITUTIONALISATION // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2023. Issue 4 (38). P. 99-118

The increasing influence of creative industries in all fields of human life determines the turn to the problem of acceptable normative regulatives and forms of institutionalising creative practices. Its solution implies an enquiry into specifics of the subject matter of value judgement fulfilled in creative space outlined by politicians and economists in contemporary society. The latter acquires its own style characteristics and an appropriate language of their interpretation. Creative practice, visually identified as a social activity characteristic for the late modern time, becomes a subject of specialised research in different sciences. Social philosophy problematises the aesthetically attractive creative style of life and suggests axiological parameters of enquiring into conditionally defined limitations of its realisation in public space, which are intuitively perceptible on the level of common sense but are still insufficiently subjected to critical reflection. The photos, which are used as a visual-empirical basis, demonstrate a variety of forms for style interaction and resistance to the normative view in creative space, signalling a possible value clash, either blamed or sublated as the acceptable. The article reveals the principle of value judgement in creative space and consequences of its fulfillment. The praxeological approach of Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thevenot is employed in order to differentiate diverse modes of claiming to value and social objects’ forms of being valuable, ways of evaluating them, identifying and qualifying creative actions in public space. The article explicates the normative nature of creative practices and different strategies of their institutionalisation, permissible and necessary directions of their realisation in contemporary society. The analysis of value-normative foundations of creative practices in the 21st century allows revealing dominant forms of value judgement in the social reality configured with the imperative of creativity. The author substantiates the productivity of the institutional approach in explicating the specifics of self-organising creative practices. On the basis of Rahel Jaeggi’s social critical theory, the author elaborates the definition of creative institution, which can be further operationalised in the framework of cultural and economic policies by means of the creative industries conception in building the institutional infrastructure. The definitions of creative institution demonstrated in the article allow identifying valid institutionalisation forms and subjecting their viability to an expert evaluation, thereby contributing to a sustainable development of the most acceptable among them in the long run. The illustrative material, which represents creative spaces, is used to confirm the possibility of an aesthetic (re)structuring of value judgement by means of clashing style contexts of their interpretation.

Keywords: creative practice, normativity, forms of institutionalisation, creative institution, value judgement, praxis

Savchenko Irina Aleksandrovna The retrovisual method of conceptualizing novelty in the city discourse // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 3 (41). P. 138-164

The aim of the article is to study the concept of novelty in relation to the visual components of the city discourse. There exist different forms of novelty, and they can be generalized and conceptualized through the retrovisual method, which allows carrying out procedures for recreating visual images of the “new” formed in the past. The retrovisual urbanistic “fate analysis” makes it possible to identify three forms of novelty in the city discourse: reconstruction in combination with quasi-innovation, innovation, and upcycle. Examples of quasi-innovation are skyscraper piles, which, in their technical design, lagged far behind the projects of avant-garde artists or early modern architects of the first third of the last century. Recreating the past (sculptural and architectural creations lost during extreme events: revolutions, wars, and natural disasters) is one of the most popular trends in designing the future today. In addition to the well-known restoration (restoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow or the monument to Alexander III in Irkutsk), one can observe specific variations of reconstruction: post-reconstruction and reconstruction relocation. Post-reconstruction involves the creation of urban landscape objects that did not exist before, but which could have existed if history had developed differently (for example, the monument to Admiral Kolchak in Irkutsk). Reconstruction relocation (full or partial) is the localization of lost objects in new areas (for example, the transfer to urban localities of buildings that were previously located in places flooded as a result of the construction of hydroelectric power plants). On the one hand, the restoration of the lost can be considered as a form of historical continuity. On the other hand, reconstruction also often contains an element of destruction: the memory of the period when the lost structures were temporarily absent and in their place there were other, possibly also significant, objects is erased. Using the example of the so-called “cities of the future” (for example, Arcosanti in the modern USA or Akhetaton in Ancient Egypt), the thesis about the “curse of innovation” is put forward. Attempts to create something fundamentally new often end in failure; innovative cities turn out to be “non-functional projects”. Creative upcycle means a new life of ideas and projects from the past and, in our case, implies a creative urban project based on a certain pattern. St. Petersburg is an upscale of Amsterdam, and Helsinki, Makhachkala and Poltava are upscales of St. Petersburg, but Amsterdam is also an upscale of Antwerp, which, in turn, repeated the structural combinations of cities of the early Middle Ages. Creative upcycle as an integrative form of novelty in the discourse of the city is often more meaningful and durable than reconstruction, reproducing the past for the future, or innovation, rejecting and devaluing the past. The retrovisual method makes it possible to identify and conceptualize the forms of novelty that realize themselves in the discourse of the city. The same method allows one to model the success parameters of urban design. A four-dimensional coordinate system of the city discourse is modeled, including vectors of social communication and cognition, on the one hand, and vectors of subjective activity and creativity, on the other. It is established that, in quasi-innovations, reconstructions and innovations as forms of novelty in the discourse of the city, these vectors are extremely unbalanced, while in the technology of upcycle these vectors often turn out to be quite balanced and, therefore, ensure the viability of urban projects.

Keywords: retrovisual method, the city discourse, novelty, city of the future, utopia, city-project, subjectivity, creativity, innovation, quasi-innovation, reconstruction, restoration, upscale, relocation, ecosystem

Kuryanovich Anna Vladimirovna, Wang Xinghua Cultural code of a modern regional city: An experience of discourse description (based on street art objects in Tomsk) // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 3 (41). P. 117-137

Within the framework of the modern humanitarian paradigm, research carried out using interdisciplinary methodology is of particular relevance and is distinguished by the presence of a new perspective in the study of traditional objects. Involving semiotic and discursive analysis data in the consideration of objects of urban street art in order to identify their cultural potential determines the correspondence of the work to the modern vector of humanitarian thought development. Objects of regional street art culture are considered as means of transmitting socially significant values. Studying the functional potential of street art within the framework of various humanities allows us to understand the features of the national picture of the world in its regional version of synchronous existence and identify key aspects of culture and language that are reflected in street art. The aim of the article is to study art objects of the urban environment as a means of forming an idea of the system of collective axiological attitudes in relation to a particular city, existing in the minds of citizens and guests and constituting the essence of urban identity and cultural code. The material is individual street art objects that are part of the urban space of Tomsk – one of the Siberian cities with rich historical cultural traditions and at the same time sensitive to modern challenges and trends. The criteria for selecting objects for analysis were the recognition of an object in relation to its location in the urban space, the mandatory presence of a verbal component to express pragmatic and conceptual content, and the presence of the possibility of discovering cultural meanings in the process of interpretation. The methodological basis of the research is complex in the choice of tools and techniques. The main methods are discursive, linguo-conceptual and linguo-cultural analysis, supplemented by the results of introspective and experimental (using a social experiment in the format of an online survey) research. The analysis of each of the street art objects selected for presentation in the article is carried out in stages. Each stage is associated with a description of certain characteristics of the object: local, formal, substantive. In the latter case, special attention is paid to the analysis of the pragmatic, including axiological, semantics of the linguistic units included in the structure of the art object. As a result, a conclusion is drawn about the degree of significance of the art object for the representation of the cultural code of Tomsk. One of the objects was studied in terms of the manifestation of communicative and pragmatic properties in conditions of synchronous dynamics, taking into account changes in formal and content indicators. This study shows that street art elements in a regional landscape reflect the unique culture of a city, convey the lifestyle and behavioral norms of its inhabitants, reflect cultural traditions and mythology, as well as characteristics of collective thinking and linguistic expression.

Keywords: city discourse, urban text, cultural code of city, urban identity, regional city, street art, art object, discourse analysis

Kukso Kseniya Aleksandrovna IMAGE AND SALVATION: THE EVENT OF A VISUAL WORK IN THE TIME OF PLAGUES // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2023. Issue 4 (38). P. 206-220

The article presents a study of the role of visual works of the 14th–18th centuries created in the time of the spread of the plague or in anticipation of an epidemic for its witnesses. The existential and social contribution of religious rituals specializing on the disaster and aimed at surviving are determined in the article. Historically and socially stable traditional ritual responses to the spread of the plague were the most important tools for those living during it. In ritual practices, the witnesses of the epidemic received significant experience of recreating the ordered being-in-the-world and the destroyed social ties. Thus, rituals specializing on the disaster rebuilt order in the world that was constantly disintegrating and asserted its stability. The problem of the uniqueness of the purpose of the abundant frescoes, altarpieces, icons, paintings created during the plague is comprehended. Based on the material of the evolution of the figurative expressions of the cult of St. Sebastian, who became one of the defenders of the plague, the article shows how the uniqueness of their expressive surfaces contributed to the revival of feelings and the birth of forms of sensory presence in the world freed from the plague’s pressure. Evoking powerful streams of sensations in the viewer, the power of the image acts as the resource of reviving feelings that are not exclusively related to the circumstances of the epidemic. The visual rhetoric of the works thereby counteracts the extinction of consciousness fixed by witnesses in the historical reports of the plague. The study of the iconography of the images of St. Sebastian reveals how visual works also allowed flexible variations of the meaning of salvation, including the affirmation of the openness of the future. For instance, unique works developed the technique for protecting witnesses of the epidemic. The forms of presence motivated by the works at their meaning and sensory levels could put an end to life’s complete subordination to the epidemic. Starting from the 16th century, this trend of reorientation of sensory presence as a response to a large-scale epidemic disaster was also developed with architectural structures.

Keywords: epidemic, anomie, consciousness, extinction of consciousness, visual image, work of art event, forms of presence, restructuring of sensory experience

Druzhinin Andrey Sergeevich Irreality and counterfactual thinking in the semiotics of cinema: A cognitive-psychological aspect // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 3 (41). P. 58-90

Modern literature and cinema increasingly draw on possible world semantics to tell stories about alternative realities, parallel universes and counterfactual events. Imagining the world from a plurality of perspectives, envisaging several life scenarios for one and the same developing story, undoing the past and rewriting history are only a few interesting ways in which our alternative (counterfactual) thought can flow as we engage in the changing and unpredictable experiences our environment affords. In this research, I view irreality as a linguistic product of counterfactual thinking analyzable on the level of both text and cinematic observation. Given that irreal semantics has been mostly investigated so far in terms of logic and information processing, I aim to explore the bodily experience in which our imagination of what could (not) be is grounded. With such a focus on the empirical and psychological aspects of irreality construction in thought and action, I turn to films and filmmaking techniques observable on screen as enactments of irreal meaning and irreal description of the world. In doing so, I analyze the features of polymodal construction of irreality in cinematic discourse. Using four feature films as research material – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Atonement, Sliding Doors, and Desperate Housewives – I investigate the dynamics of attention, bodily movements, perception and intellectual operations that are enacted on screen through the audio-visual semiotics to enable coherent alternative thinking and produce irreal descriptions of the situation. I argue a conclusion that in polymodal cinematic discourse, irreality “emerges” as a result of the subject’s operating with his/her past perceptual experience and re-configuring this experience in temporal terms in accordance with certain pragmatic goals and interests. In particular, I distinguish the following cognitive-psychological functions of irreality: undoing (canceling the lived experience), rescripting (rewriting, or re-evaluating and reconceptualizing, the lived experience), exploration of options (thinking of an experience in its alternatives), and scenario planning (acting on such experiential alternatives). I establish that imagining an alternative reality is not rejected by a film character as a perception-distorting fantasy but accepted instead as a useful cognitive and psychological tool that helps deal with uncertainty and solve various life problems. Through irreality, filmmakers manage to construct reversible time out of the characters’ non-linear flow of experience by enacting changes in their understanding of familiar events and objects of the surrounding world. A conclusion can be made that irreality and counterfactual thought in films are emplotted experiential configurations reproducible through the audio-visual semiotics of recorded video sequences.

Keywords: polymodal discourse, alternative thinking, undoing, rescripting, scenario planning, exploration of options

Igna Olga Nikolaevna, Chervonnyy Mikhail Aleksandrovich, Li Bing, Yakovlev Igor Nikolaevich Image of an initiative teacher // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 3 (41). P. 91-116

The formation of a holistic (internal and external) image of a teacher must be created and developed in future teachers even at the stage of their university education; it is a prerequisite, a condition for the creation and development of their own “teacher self”. The image of a teacher is not just an image that gradually emerges in the student’s mind from the beginning of receiving pedagogical education, but deep subjective connections that are gradually and consistently transformed into values, thoughts and actions. Their complex is manifested in the teacher’s appearance, style of thinking and activities, where the regulator is the visualized “teacher self”. The limitations of full-scale studies of the image of an initiative teacher are obvious, which is due to the lack of a universal definition and unified understanding of the essence of a teacher’s professional initiative. The aim of this article is to study deep and superficial interpretations of the image based on a comprehensive analysis of philosophical and pedagogical sources focusing on theoretical justifications of iconic models, characteristics of the concepts “image”, “ideal” in relation to educational activities, to the teacher and generalization of the collective image of a proactive teacher through the eyes of teachers themselves (experienced and future). Research objectives are: clarification of the concept “image” and related concepts; systematization and generalization of ideas about a contemporary proactive teacher; specification of examples of manifestation of initiatives in educational and extracurricular professional pedagogical activities; identification of the ideas of future teachers and experienced teachers about the image of an initiative teacher; determination of the positive characteristics of such a teacher, the connection between professional pedagogical initiative and the quality of teaching and education, the specifics of the perception of such a teacher by students of a pedagogical university. The value of the conducted research lies in expanding theoretical knowledge, ideas about the image of a teacher in the minds of students (future teachers) and its detailed characteristics, in capturing young teachers’ vision of the essence of a teacher’s professional initiative. Research methods include analysis and synthesis, specification, generalization, grouping, oral surveying of experienced teachers and surveying of future teachers (students of a pedagogical university). An image is often associated with stereotypical associations, including in the educational environment, since stereotypes are a schematic image of an object, stable and emotionally charged. An oral survey of experienced teachers and teachers of a pedagogical university (Tomsk, 96 people) revealed a number of positive characteristics of the image of an initiatice teacher: constant development, concern, activity, passion, uniqueness, etc. Surveying of future teachers (students of Tomsk State Pedagogical University, 104 people) showed that an initiative teacher, as a rule, does not have clear gender and age boundaries, although it is more likely to be a young woman. Such teachers are competent, smart, highly qualified, and have a sense of humor. Their external beauty, passion and activity visible to everyone are not so important. The school administration respects and supports them, yet can “use” them for one purpose or another. Every fourth student has the opinion that in a team an initiative teacher may be disliked by his colleagues, but, on the contrary, respected and supported by students. There is a relationship between a teacher’s initiative and their ability to teach well (almost 70% of the respondents think so), to be a good class teacher, mentor (this was indicated by almost 80%). The examples given by students of the manifestation of initiatives by teachers in educational and extracurricular teaching activities indicate that they often replace initiative with activity. Thus, many activities designated as initiative are not such and are considered traditional and widespread. The results of the study can be used to correct the content of pedagogical disciplines and pedagogical practices in the professional training of teachers, and to develop career guidance activities.

Keywords: image, teacher, proactive teacher, ideal of teacher, perception of teacher, idea of teacher, idea of teacher’s initiative

Vikhman Victoria Viktorovna, Romm Mark Valeriyevich Building a visual model of a formalized language for learning education // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 4 (42). P. 84-99

In this article, the authors put forward the scientific problem of the possibility of developing a visual model of a unified formalized language of professional communication of modern education researchers as a complex self-developing object of multidisciplinary scientific views. The multilateral analysis of the existing theoretical context of modern education has shown that researchers conceptualize it within the framework of their scientific disciplines, on the basis of established disciplinary theoretical constructs. The latter circumstance has led to the fact that a variety of heterogeneous theoretical interpretations of modern education has been formed in the scientific space. This fact testifies in favor of the fact that the scientific space is significantly enriched with new disciplinary knowledge about modern education. However, the problem of the possibility of building a unified language system for the study of modern education that incorporates universal characteristics inherent in various scientific disciplines still remains unsolved. The authors argue that a single formalized language, namely its visual model, of comprehension of modern education can raise the professional communication of its researchers to a higher quality level. The latter is achieved through the formalization and objectivization of theoretical and methodological foundations of modern education comprehension. The processes of formalization and objectivization provide unified understanding and knowledge exchange, increasing the unambiguity of interpretation of concepts between different disciplines and using unified methods and formats of data description. In order to construct a model of formalized language for studying education and its semantics, the authors carried out a detailed analysis of a significant array of disciplinary sign systems available in the scientific space, with the subsequent identification of universal constructs inherent in all scientific disciplines. Then the alphabet and syntax of the formalized language were built, the relations between its elements were determined, and the semantic network was constructed. Hermeneutic and semantic methods serve as the theoretical and methodological justification of the present work. The article formulates the heuristic potential of the proposed model of a unified formalized language, as well as a number of key conditions for its effective application by education researchers.

Keywords: education, visualization, formalized language, semantic network, visual model

Markov Alexander Viktorovich, Shtayn Oksana Aleksandrovna Semiotic treatment of a visual philosophy lecture: The mechanical duck of Descartes // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 3 (41). P. 165-190

Teaching the history of philosophy requires actualization; visual studies provide a distinctive asset for such actualization. The history of philosophy should be conceived as an exposition of a series of issues, each of which can be modeled visually, and more complex models can be reduced to simpler and more precise ones. Each philosophical thesis can then be presented as a use of the view of philosophy itself: the metaphor of sight in Western philosophy turns out to be not only the common denominator of methods, but the semiotically optimal justification for any method new to the listeners or to a professional philosophical readership. The use of images produced by artificial intelligence then proves to be productive for such instantiation. The lecture shows how the history of philosophy and science was not only the exploration of new objects with the help of ontological tools, but also the ontologization of whole areas of consciousness, including imaginary ones. In this way, the discovery of the world was also the discovery of the mirror of one’s own consciousness. Descartes put this experiment in its purest form by establishing an ontology of science. Unlike the usual accounts of new European rationalism, which emphasize the priority of experimental science over theoretical generalization, the lecture provides a more complex view. The Renaissance virtue destroyed the correlation of the ontological tools of human self-justification with the worlds of nature and art, whereas Descartes only completed this destruction. But his voluntarism and teleology were rooted in Jesuit science, and the development first of the Baroque imagination and then of the Enlightenment imagination destroyed the initial self-evidence of Descartes as well. As in the Renaissance, its own ontological domain of signs emerged, only their number became unlimited, unlike the small set of them in the Renaissance rhetoric, and visual semiotics eventually devolved into a romanizing imagination. With the help of illustrations created by artificial intelligence, it has been possible to present in the lecture these complex vicissitudes of imagination and the formation of new ontological domains that can undermine or order other domains of ontology, including the ontology of pure consciousness. The lecture allows us to better understand both the main problem of ontology as a discipline of philosophy and the informational productivity of visual signs produced by artificial intelligence.

Keywords: rationalism, visual research, artificial intelligence, ontology program, ontology of sign, epistemology, visual aid, philosophy of puppet

Tyrina Marina Petrovna, Zikratov Victor Viktorovich, Kovaleva Alla Vladimirovna, Khalina Natalya Vasilevna The 225th anniversary of Alexander Pushkin: “Above all virtues is reasoning, for every virtue without reason is empty” // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 3 (41). P. 191-203

The II Cross-Cultural Assembly dedicated to the 225th anniversary of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin “Reasoning Is Above All Virtues, for Every Virtue Without Reason Is Empty”: Geopoetics, Media Aesthetics and System-Functional Grammar of Euro–Afroasiatic Cross-Border Territories (Barnaul–Samarkand, Russia–Uzbekistan, 10–12 April 2024) is overviewed. In the year of Pushkin’s 225th anniversary celebration, the Department of Media Communications, Advertising Technologies and Public Relations. Altai State University, and the laboratory Center for Language Management and Communication Marketing, Institute of Humanities, Samarkand State University named after Sharof Rashidov with the support of Rossotrudnichestvo in the Republic of Uzbekistan held a cross-cultural assembly, the purpose of which was to gain an understanding of the modern generation’s sensitivity to the word, formed by the Russian language culture, permeated and inspired by the poetics of Pushkin's Word. The Assembly participants and organizers, representatives of 25 countries, managed to jointly create an amazing emotional and intellectual atmosphere based on a fine sense of their language’s word, understanding of the meaning put into the word by other generations, and the ability to present the history of their people in a way emotionally and stylistically accessible to listeners. Pushkin’s works are a model of a life of a citizen worthy of imitation, a feat of an honest Russian, a nobleman who is proud of his family history − the history of his fatherland, dictating to him the forms of creative work based on filial piety. The Assembly’s conceptual design assumed the creation of communication spaces of three types: scientific (Plenary Session, Settings), discussion (Table Talk, or Round Table), literary and artistic (Literary Lounge), which was supposed to form a special sensual world of belonging to Pushkin’s semantic innovation – a new semantic correspondence – based on a continuous change of perceptions. The Assembly’s compositional design was built taking into account the cross-cultural specifics of exchanging meanings through moving from one association to another, to finging a common world shared by all participants. A new predicative correspondence, a living metaphor, distinguished communication within the scientific space, which was formed during the speeches and their discussion at the plenary session and settings. The Assembly’s important component was the holding on the second day of a table-talk, The Life Worlds of A.S. Pushkin: The Modern Man’s Sensitivity in the Focus of Mental Anthropology, which was attended by representatives of Egypt, South Africa, Bolivia, Libya, Congo, Mongolia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Angola, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Iran, Samali, China, Afghanistan, where an environment for the birth of a new semantic correspondence was created, a signifying matrix correlating semantic innovation with productive imagination. On the third day of the Assembly, the Literary Lounge “What Is in My Name…” was held. Pushkin’s works not only reveal the depths of the world around to attentive contemplators of Life, but also inspire them to create their own poetic works in which the heart and Soul speak to the world. The Literary Lounge aimed to reveal the creative potential of young people studying at educational institutions in Barnaul and Samarkand, to involve educational institutions in multicultural and educational events and projects that ensure the creative and innovative environment development of cross–border territories. In accordance with the wishes of the audience, in addition to novice poets, readers were also able to participate in the meeting of the Literary Lounge. In this way, two leagues were formed based on applications from students of Altai State University and Samarkand State University, and lyceum students of the Altai Krai Pedagogical Boarding Lyceum. At the deep ontological level, the Assembly made it possible to attain the state of “being like Pushkin” (être-comme-Pouchkine): to reverently treat one’s culture, the word given for salvation and admonition, and nature that created one’s family and Fatherland.

Keywords: cross-border territories, semantic innovation, productive imagination, sensitivity of modern man, creative environment, être-comme-Pouchkine

Surovtsev Valery Aleksandrovich On the subject and method of formal logic // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 4 (42). P. 143-165

This lecture examines the widespread definition of formal logic as the science of forms and laws of thinking. The content of this definition is often misinterpreted, since thinking is understood as a psychological process, and forms and laws are understood as the normative basis for the application of subjective cognitive abilities. Logic, however, is not interesting in the subjective psychological process but is interesting in the objective characteristics of thinking as such. These characteristics are peculiar not only to members of the human species, but also to any process, such as artificial intelligence, which can be likened to thinking. In this respect, logic considers not thinking as subjective process, it considers the objective result of thinking, and knowledge in the broadest sense is such a result. Logic is interested in thinking insofar as thinking is objectified in knowledge. Any knowledge includes content (and content is understood as a set of heterogeneous information that distinguishes one knowledge from another) and form, which is the same for all knowledge. Form gives the content a systematic unity. The source of the content of knowledge is experience understood in the broadest sense, and the source of the forms of knowledge representation is the thinking process. We can say that thinking gives systematic unity to the content received from experience. Forms of knowledge representation through the method of formalization can be separated from the content and investigated in themselves. These forms are the objective side of thinking. They are the subject of formal logic and are independent from subjective peculiarities of thought processes. If we use a computer metaphor, we can say that logical forms express an objective computational procedure that allows us to derive other knowledge from existing knowledge. Such algorithmic procedures have their own normative base that is a set of laws of logic. The laws of logic are contentless and formal rather than factual (i.e., related to experience). By virtue of its formality the normative basis of logic is applicable to any knowledge irrespective to difference of contents. That is why logic is universal. We can say that logic prescribes how thinking should relate to itself. A normative framework of this kind establishes general rules for the distribution of truth values and general rules for logical inference.

Keywords: thinking, knowledge, psychologism, objectivism, formal logic, logical form, logical law, normative basis of logic

Abramova Mariya Alekseevna Heuristic potential of family visualization in sociocultural research // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 4 (42). P. 9-32

The author focuses on the methodological problem of combining different approaches to study a phenomenon within the framework of sociocultural research, which involves a simultaneous consideration from the position of society and culture. The study is based on the works of N. Bohr, L. Frank, Yu. M. Lotman, L. S. Vygotsky, and others, and on the principle of complementarity. An expressive drawing representing one of the varieties of projective research methods is chosen as the main tool. The use of graphical representations on the topic allows, in the author’s opinion, removing restrictions for the study of hidden unreflexed information or something the respondent is not ready to disclose under the pressure of cultural traditions. The demonstration of the heuristic potential of the proposed set of methods, including projective drawing, Schwartz’s methodology for studying value-based orientations, Sobchik’s individual typological questionnaire, and a sociological questionnaire, is based on the example of studying the family. This set of methods is one of the best examples of the multidimensionality and ambiguity of perception of the phenomenon from the perspective of a sociocultural approach. It can be used at different levels: social, collective, and individual. In the study, several objectives were set: to analyze the relationship between the characteristics of the family, its perception by the individual, and value-based attitudes formed on this basis that determine behavior strategies; to substantiate the value of employing the projective method in the framework of sociocultural research using the example of family visualization. In the empirical part, a secondary analysis of the data of a sociocultural study conducted in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) was performed. The sample consisted of 1,459 people aged 18–25, young students. Among the selected parameters for groupings were the following: the number of children in the respondent’s parent family (large families and families with 1–2 children); the type of emotional intimacy in the family. The results of the study revealed that the use of projective drawing in sociocultural research contributes to the formation of a representative sample, which provides the opportunity to obtain valid data when building groupings. A comparison of drawings of family representations made by descendants of large families and those where 1–2 children were raised did not show significant differences in the perception of the image of the family by young people. There was also no correlation between the number of children in the image and the real families of the respondents. The semantic analysis of the components of the family image most often used in diagnostics allowed concluding that, in the drawings of grown-up children, the elements reflecting the emotional contact in the family between its members are more informative, on the basis of which three groups with a close, distant, and selective type of emotional connection are distinguished. From the third group, respondents who depicted a family with a “parent-centered” type of relationship were considered in more detail. The comparison of the results of their responses to Schwartz’s questionnaire on value-based orientations showed that they are closer in type to the modern incarnation of the patriarchal family. The main result of the study was the substantiation of the heuristic potential of family visualization in conducting sociocultural research, as well as the application of a set of sociological and psychological techniques, including the projective method, to identify the relationship between attitudes, value-based orientations, behavioral principles with relationships built in the parental family.

Keywords: projective methods, sociocultural research, methodology of interdisciplinary research, epistemological potential, representations

Ualikhanova Bayan Saparbekovna, Coruh Ali., Chervonnyy Mikhail Aleksandrovich Development of visualizations and the phenomenon-based learning method: Experience of integration in teaching physics // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 4 (42). P. 100-118

The article presents the results obtained at the intersection of three research tasks: the development of visualizations for teaching physics in schools; the implementation of the Phenomenon-Based Learning (PhBL) method under various educational systems; and the construction of a creative educational environment for the training of future physics teachers. The relatively coincidental convergence of the authors’ research interests ensures the originality of the results obtained. The relevance of visual semiotics for solving these tasks is defined not so much by the development of the visualizations themselves, but by one of the PhBL key principles —contextuality—and by constructivism as its conceptual foundation, which opens the way for the application of “semiotic diagnostics” to assess the limits of the PhBL method itself. The article details the circumstances and tools involved in developing three visualizations: (1) light refraction; (2) the interaction of forces; and (3) the solar system model. The effectiveness of the visualizations is assessed in correspondence with the PhBL method and the students’ understanding of physical phenomena, such as light refraction, object motion, Newton’s laws, and planetary movements. This integration has allowed for an expanded context in students’ understanding of physical phenomena by combining the idealizations inherent in physics, the abstractions of the corresponding mathematical tools, and the interpretation of everyday situations. The study was conducted in four schools, where a total of 96 tenth-grade students participated in tasks based on visual representations of physical phenomena. The effectiveness of these methods was assessed through an organized observation of the students’ learning activities. The results of the study showed that 85% of the students reported a significant improvement in their understanding of complex physical phenomena due to the developed visualizations. The study is limited by the relatively small sample size and its focus on schools within a specific region, adhering to a particular educational system. Nevertheless, the findings from this pilot study indicate the effectiveness of the integration of visualizations and the PhBL method. The significance of the results lies in demonstrating the potential of visual semiotics for integrating teaching methods.

Keywords: visual semiotics, interpretation of physical phenomena, educational activities, schooling, integration of teaching methods

Budenkova Valeriya Evgenyevna, Savelieva Elen Nikolaevna, Gorbunova Sofiya Vladimirovna, Krayevskaya Irina Olegovna To show politeness: Multimodal text in the Chinese blogosphere // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 4 (42). P. 54-83

The article explores Chinese blogs with historical and cultural content on the Douyin platform. The relevance of the study is related to the role of online communications in the life of a modern person, on the one hand, and the lack of works devoted to the methods of representing politeness in the Chinese blogosphere, on the other. Our analysis focuses on the multimodal text of video blogs, which demonstrate traditional artistic, labor, and everyday practices related to China’s cultural heritage and reflect national and cultural identity. The aim of this article is to show how traditional Chinese understanding of politeness is realized in online communications through the multimodal text of video blogs. The methodological basis of the study is formed by the methods of semiotic and content analysis. The authors consider politeness in Chinese culture in synchronic (intersubjective communication) and diachronic (attitude to the historical past) aspects. A polite attitude towards cultural heritage is manifested through: (1) adherence to the principle of modesty (self-humiliation) in the blogger’s self-presentation; (2) presentation of traditional cultural practice as a sign-symbolic object suitable (relevant in the conditions of digital culture) for demonstrative observance of ethical norms and rituals. The principle of modesty in the blogger’s self-presentation is manifested in three metaphorical images, which we have designated as “instrument”, “learner”, “part of the whole”. To express each of these images, a system of linguistic, iconic, and indexical signs is used. These signs are created through various cinematographic elements such as plot, camera angles, details, staging, editing, audio, color, etc. As for labor actions, in the form of video blogs, they take on a symbolic rather than practical nature. They serve a similar purpose to a ritual, allowing individuals to connect with historical memory and national heritage. The novelty of the study is the identification of three types of content that reconstruct tradition as an object of veneration (this is their similarity), but differ in the artistic level of the audiovisual language. The high artistic level of the first type of content contributes to the mythologization of cultural heritage. This allows us to consider this content as a means of maintaining and strengthening national identity. The video text from blogs of the second type is not so diverse in the means of artistic expression; in this regard, the markers of politeness are less pronounced in it. The videos from blogs of the third type lack special artistic tools and techniques, which indicates the authors’ focus on the practice itself and determines their pseudo-documentary style. Thus, the video content of blogs can be considered as a polycode text, transmitting examples of politeness in a special way: “inside” the process of reconstructing cultural practice and in relation to it as a representation of national tradition and identity. “Intrapolycode” demonstration of politeness is manifested in the fact that video bloggers strive to act politely, i.e., to be modest and observe rituals, which is confirmed by a complex of verbal (author’s text) and non-verbal (setting, objects in the frame, movements and their rhythm, image of the high sky, etc.) elements included in the video text. “Extrapolycode” politeness is revealed in the process of reconstruction itself as a manifestation of a delicate and respectful attitude towards the history and culture of China.

Keywords: video blogs, traditional cultural practices, principles of politeness, ritual, reconstruction, online communication, modesty, intangible cultural heritage

Agatova Olga Aleksandrovna, Yermolina Kseniya Andreevna Student project communities big data analysis in working with knowledge systems: Cognitive visualization // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 4 (42). P. 33-53

The results of a study are characterized -- cognitive visualizations of big data based on the materials of digital footprints of student project communities’ activities on the creation of knowledge in education . The presentation of these results in combination with the subject of the study – the specified footprints – is the basis for the relevance of the paradigm of visual semiotics to the tasks of this project. The development of the interdisciplinary Science of Team Science field of knowledge is based on the developments and research of project teams as creators of new knowledge. Such studies use methods of network analysis of big data of project team members as cognitive activity footprints. Agents of new knowledge (conductors of new ideas) and knowledge attractors – meaning-forming units of information developed by followers of the agent of new knowledge – are identified. Experiments on studying the agency of new knowledge were conducted on the platforms of Wiki libraries, in studies of scientific citation of new knowledge on the publication platforms eLIBRARY, Scopus, Web of Science, but the question of studying student project teams jointly developing new technological products on the platform of university technological entrepreneurship – Univertechpred – has not been raised. The need for such a study is due to the fact that didactic forms of work with students’ project-based knowledge are institutionalized through federal projects of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education: “startup as a diploma”, “platform of university technological entrepreneurship”. However, the nature of student project teams’ activities on creating new knowledge and technological products has not been explored. The study used SNA (Social Network Analysis) methods, through which the density, intensity, and spatial coordination of social connections in the network (on the digital platform the student project team works) are analyzed. The aim of the study is to examine the cognitive mechanisms of student project communities’ activity in working with knowledge systems. In the study, as the main source of big data for analyzing the activities of student project teams to create new knowledge and new technologies, footprints of digital searches by students for patent analogues (on the platforms of Rospatent, the Moscow Innovation Cluster) were used to develop projects presented on the platform of university technological entrepreneurship. Also, based on big data methods, digital footprints of the authors-creators of the electronic program code for the functioning of the developed student projects were studied. The study was conducted on the GitHub platform, which has the ability to store the project repository and all its changes. The big data method was also used to study digital footprints of authors of educational courses in the network repositories of the open digital educational platform SkillSpace – the network cognitive activity of youth teams to create educational online courses on the open platform was studied. All of the above digital platforms have interactive services for organizing activities to create new knowledge, a technological product of a student project team. The study revealed that the clustering indicator of big data in the form of digital footprints of student project communities characterizes the degree of interaction between the interdisciplinary neighbors of the considered agent of new knowledge. For the development of digital educational environments (DEE) of universities, the results of the study indicate the need to integrate digital services for organizing student teamwork for specific educational, research and project tasks into universities’ DEE. The study of the practices of student project communities with various knowledge systems ((a) research knowledge in the form of articles on Wiki platforms; (b) knowledge about intellectual products in the form of patent archives on WIPO platforms; (c) knowledge of AI (artificial intelligence) codes in the form of Program-Code in source code editor applications) revealed the specifics of the practices of student project communities with knowledge of various types. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that big data technologies have a significant potential in the study of project teams creating new knowledge on digital platforms. The results of the study are theoretically significant for the development of scientific fields – information anthropology, pedagogical semiotics, cybernetics of digital educational environments, cognitive science. The practical significance of the study is related to the applicability of the identified characteristics of the activities of student project teams (startup developers) in educational practice.

Keywords: big data, cognitive networks, knowledge management, network analysis, project communities, digital platforms, digital footprints

Shipovalova Lada Vladimirovna, Martynova Tatyana Viktorovna Problems of representation of science in a museum, or About the destiny of the concept “boundary object” // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 4 (42). P. 119-142

The question this article discusses relates to the existence of concepts that would be both philosophical and scientific. The answer to it is fundamental to the justification of the conceptual language of the philosophy of science, as well as contemporary Science and Technology Studies (STS). The article assumes the possibility of the existence of such concepts and aims to explicate their destiny. In the introduction, the authors describe characteristics of such concepts. Firstly, concepts should represent the state of affairs and solve a problem; that is, the state of affairs must be viewed as problematic. Secondly, they must not only represent the problem but also be included in its solution and interact with the state of affairs. Thirdly, the representation of the problem as the content of such a concept should allow for the expansion on additional areas and assume revising, transformation, supplementation with new meanings. In the main part, the authors consider the concept “boundary object” as such a hybrid concept. The formation of this concept is associated with the STS project, and the content is the problem of visual representation of science in the museum. The explication of the destiny of this concept includes, firstly, defining its place in the problem field of STS with an emphasis on the intertwining of its philosophical and scientific nature, and, secondly, turning to a new problematic field for applying the concept – the Dmitri Mendeleev Museum and Archives at St Petersburg University. On this basis, the authors reveal the characteristics of the philosophical and scientific destiny of this concept considering the problems of public communication of science and history of science with its presentism and antiquarianism approaches. In the conclusion, the authors emphasize the prospects of the boundary object concept. The authors dedicate the publication to the 300th anniversary of the founding of St Petersburg University and the 190th anniversary of Dmitri Mendeleev.

Keywords: representation of science, boundary object, philosophical concept, scientific concept, science museum, public communication of science, history of science

Kiriakova Elena Maratovna, Semyan Tatyana Fedorovna Visual features of text in books by Pavel Ulitin // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 4 (42). P. 166-184

The Russian writer Pavel Ulitin (1918–1986) is renowned for his distinctive literary style, which seamlessly blends telegraphic writing, stream of consciousness, and visual-graphic elements. Ulitin adopted an innovative approach to bookmaking, crafting his own bindings and enhancing his texts with margin notes, strikethroughs, and quotations. This meticulous attention to visual presentation is a defining characteristic of his artistic vision. This article examines the use of visual elements in Ulitin’s writings, focusing particularly on Makarov Combs the Back of His Head (2004) and Hopeless Journey (2006). In our analysis, we refer to the visual-graphic features of Ulitin’s texts as metagraphemes. These elements organize the information space in a non-linear fashion, capturing the reader’s attention and creating a complex system of semiotic signs. They exhibit a notable degree of anthropocentrism, conveying a sense of a dynamic creative process and enhancing the author’s presence through a richer expression of individual speech traits. The layout of the text on the page, margin notes, variations in line spacing and margins, and the strategic use of abbreviations, strikethroughs, and capital letters to emphasize specific words and phrases all influence the reader’s interpretation. Furthermore, these elements affect the narrative structure, incorporating parcellated constructions and reduced wording or text compression, which influence the intonation and pace of reading. Ulitin knew three foreign languages; therefore, another significant aspect of his works is the use of precise and altered quotations in foreign languages, as well as the incorporation of various languages. Among them, one can find references to works of English and American literature, such as Huxley’s dystopia, and the novels of Maugham and Wells. This serves as a graphic sign that disrupts the reader’s automatic processing of the text, necessitating active decoding and altering the overall page layout. The prevalence of intertextual references in both Russian and foreign languages intensifies this effect, adding layers of subtext and serving as a crucial aspect of the author’s text-creation strategy. These visual and graphic elements are present in both books, although notable differences exist. For instance, Makarov Combs the Back of His Head often features pages that resemble drafts from rough notebooks, characterized by strikethroughs, margin notes, variations in line spacing, and abbreviations. While intertextual references are common throughout Ulitin’s works, they are particularly abundant in Hopeless Journey, which includes more fragments resembling diary entries, visually represented through dates, authorial abbreviations, and references to real dialogues, events, and situations from the author’s life. The diverse range of visual and graphic elements in Pavel Ulitin’s texts is a hallmark of his style. Consequently, these features are essential not only for shaping the visual presentation of the text but also for influencing the reader’s perception and interpretation. His works demand unique engagement from the reader, creating a broad space for interpreting the author’s intentions as a creative endeavor and transforming the reader into a co-creator of meaning in the text.

Keywords: visual appearance of text, punctuation-graphic means, metagraphemes, intertextual inclusions, Pavel Ulitin