Degtyar Valentyn. Peer review of research paper by Evgenia Evseeva

Paper of E.Evseeva on factors impacting domestic violence is surely the one of interest to social studies scholars. By its content the paper serves as a solid introduction into the problematics of domestic violence and research of its sources. First thing Evseeva reveals is deeper conceptualization of domestic violence, which implies more forms of suppression or abuse than usually perceived. That is, domestic violence is a multidimensional concept, that names not only sexual or physical violence, but also economic deprivation, moral humiliation, or forced isolation from the outside world.

Furhter provided in the paper is a good literature review on conceptual researhes of social factors contributing to increased likelihoods of domestic violence occurrence. This is presented clearly, next two definite research studies are more deeply examined, at this point, however, the reader might need more prior knowledge of sociology and statistical research methods. Evseeva skillfully and consistently analyses the two studies of domestic violence factors, particularly the study of Macmillan on socioeconomic status of the spouse and the study of Kaukinen on status consistence of the marriage members. She clarifies hypotheses set out by these researches, elaborates on and criticizes their statistical methods, their reliability, and summarizes their findings.

The content of this part is a strong feature of the paper, it points well to the importance of precise concept definition and operationalization of its measurement for a virtuous research on the topic. There is, however, a light lack of transition to help guide the reader through the paper and allow for non-specialists in the field see the structure and objectives of the paper itself. Nevertheless, the paper is a strong professional inquiry aimed at coherent assesment of domestic violence structural reasons and social vectors to be promoted in order to minimize its occurrence in society. Therefore, the paper is a recommended reading for social science scholars.

Oliinyk Kateryna

Professor Yaroslava Fedoriv

Academic Writing A2

13 April 2013

The Nature of Russian Formalism

The beginning of the XX century in literary studies was marked with a new vector of scientific and artistic mind; it was directed to evolution and renovation of this field. Russian formalists were in an avant-garde of these movements.  Without any doubt, formalism as a wave of literary studies called the attention to itself with the question of a composition’s form. In the manual to poetical activity “How to make a poetry?” Vladimir Maiakovski represents the formalist’s work: “With removing, breaking and destroying monuments, we showed for the readers the Greatest from the absolutely uncertain and strange side. Kids (as well as young literary schools) always want to get what is inside the paper pony. After the work of formalists the internal organs of all paper horses and elephants become clear” . (Maiakovski 82) According to this opinion, the main idea of formalism becomes reasonable too. It is consisted in reorganization of the previous way of understanding the literary composition with an accent on its form, not only the contents.     

There were two groups who researched formalism in Russia – Moscow Linguistic Circle founded by Roman Jacobson and Society for the Study of Poetic Language (OPOYAZ) founded in St. Petersburg by Viktor Shklovsky, Boris Eichenbaum, and Yury Tynyanov. In the capital, scientists were surrounded mostly on the linguistic subject and the society of Petersburg worked with a literature. Particularly, a question of the language and its transformation in the work of art was the first and basic in Russian Formalism.

The first step to formalistic method was made by the head of the OPOYAZ Viktor Shklovsky in the article “Resurrection of the word”. The author takes into account the perception received from images and words. And in the article “Art as a method”, which became a so-called manifest of formalism, Viktor Shklovsky proposes a theory of defamiliarization (ostraneniie) to overcome the automation of the perception; and at the same time it became a way to return to the meaning of the word and to the sensitivity of the form.  

Austrian scientist Oge Hanzen-Liove distinguishes a concept of defamiliarization (ostraneniie) as a nucleus of the whole Russian formalism. Without any doubt, it is a narrowing of all formal method’s wide system. However, these problems became basic in the OPOYAZ`s work. The problem is that “the thing goes pass by us as wrapped one, we know that it takes some space, but we see only its surface.” (Shklovski 14) The author leads this line to hyperbolic conclusion saying that in such way an automation of perception takes away not only simple things from the recipient, but also a wife or a fear of war. Pursuant to these problems, Viktor Shklovski organized the concept of art: “To return a feeling of life, to sense things, to make a stone stony there is so-called art. The aim of art is sensibility of things, seeing, but not recognizing; a method of art is a method of defamiliarization (ostraneniie), of complicating form.” (Shklovski 15) 

In this context it is useful to refresh the conception of Yurii Tunianov about evolution and a constructional principle. According to the scientist, the idea of evolution in literature is based on the two contrast feelings of automation and novelty. The author circumscribes four stages of evolution: opposition, using, mass using, and automation. In addition, the more unusual appearance is, the more influential it is. In the opinion of Yurii Tunianov, every deformity, every “mistake”, and every “incorrectness” of normative poetics is a new potential constructional principle. (Tunianov 236) Therefore, according to evolution and this principle, the recipient relives every thing in the composition, feels it again as for the first time.

 Obviously, new controversial opinion found its negation among the conservative content-supporters. Thus, to understand ideas of Russian Formalism in completeness it is worth to look on them through the extant criticism.

First thing of literary work’s formalists were stressing on is unity of all components. What is more, Russian scientists were denying the usual opposition of form and contents. In the same time, they were subjected to criticism mostly because the priority of form. According to Svetlana Matviyenko, formalists have always been criticized for an ignorance of the contexts, while the awareness of form in its contextuality was one of the highlights in formalist theoretical movement. (Matviyenko 24) But novelty of the reorientation from ‘what’ to ‘how’ contained in idea about form as a starting point which creates the content for itself.

On the other hand, there still were lots of scientists who pursued to learn the content only. The idea about importance of form was rejected as a mechanical and algebraical opinion without creative inspiration. Besides, only position based on content allowed to be inserted into the literary studies with its orientation on the social and political value of a composition. For instance, Vladimir Hadzinsky states that the art is a "product of revolution" (Hadzinsky 179); in other words, he believed that art is purely utilitarian. Thus, formalism as a new methodology in literary studies raised a question about the credibility of Marxism. Notoriously, the latter it was promoted as the only possible method and the end for Soviet literature.

However, formalists doubted even the term of content and offered to substitute it on material. According to their works, all the plots, motifs and artistic images had been already done and just can be used again: “The essential to represent was not the quality of what was combined, but to show how this was happened - “the labyrinth of the clutches””. (Hanzen 233) This means that individuality of the author can be described just in the building of form.

Therefore, literary studies with a works of Russian formalists were reoriented to the new idea of form as a first point of the composition. Revising a major opinion of literary studies, which were attached by content-supporters, was a big step to creative individuality over the social and political servant. 

It is worth to stress that there were other receptions of formal method. The articles about form and contents were published during the literary discussion of 1925-1927th in Ukraine. What is more, the leaders of the debates – masterpiece society “VAPLITE” and Russian formalists have got a lot of similar and some different thoughts about literature, which are interesting to look through. First of all, both circles insisted on separation of the literary studies as particular science. On the other hand, throughout the interchange of perspectives, the members of “VAPLITE” kept with the idea of attraction the biographic and psychological methods for analyzing text. In contrast to Ukrainian artists Russian ones protested against any unliterary backgrounds in their studies. However, the fallows of “VAPLITE” adopted formalist’s set of instruments. The main point of Russian artist was the denial of the common opposition of form and contents; the Ukrainian scientist accented on this likewise. 

In conclusion, Russian formalism appeared in an avant-garde of modernistic literary studies. This method proposes reorganization in literature as in the science and, particularly, in the body of composition. Scientific articles, critique work or personal art of formalists were directed on renovation the freedom of recipient. What is more, an idea of importance of the form was adopted in almost every modernistic wave of literary studies. It found its response in semiotic studies, receptive critique, and it also influenced on the next literary studies of structuralism. Nowadays, works of Russian formalists still have its value and wide applications in literary research and critique.  

 Works Cited

Matviienko, S. A. (2004) Discourse of a Formalism: the Ukrainian Context. Lviv: Litopys.

Tynianov, Ju. N. (1977) Poetic. History of Literature. Cinema. Мoscow: Nauka.

Hadzinsky, V. (1923) A Few Words to the Question of "Form and Content" Chervonyj shliah, (4-5), 174-79.

Hanzen-Liove, O. A. (2001) Russian Formalism Moscow: Jazyk Ruskoj Kultury.

Shklovsky, V. B. (1983) On the Theory of Prose. Moscow: Sovetskij pisatel.

Eikhenbaum, B. M. (1987) On the Literature. Moscow: Sovremennyj pisatel.

Erlich, V. (1965) Russian Formalism: History-Doctrine. The Hague: Mouton.

Jameson, F. (1972) The Prison-House of Language : a Critical Account of Structuralism and Russian Formalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

  

Matviienko, Svitlana. Discourse of a Formalism: the Ukrainian Context. Lviv: Litopys, 2004. Print.

Tynianov, Jurij. Poetic. History of literature. Cinema. Мoscow: Nauka, 1977. Print.

Hadzinsky, Viktor. “A Few Words to the Question of "Form and Content"”.  Chervonyj shliah 4-5 (1923): 174-79. Print.

Hanzen-Liove, Oge. Russian Formalism. Moscow: Jazyk Ruskoj Kultury, 2001. Print.

Shklovsky, Viktor. On the Theory of Prose. Moscow: Sovetskij pisatel , 1983. Print.

Eikhenbaum, Boris. On the Literature. Moscow: Sovremennyj pisatel, 1987. Print. 

Erlich, Viktor. Russian Formalism: History-Doctrine. The Hague: Mouton, 1965. Print.

Jameson, Fredric. The Prison-House of Language : a Critical Account of Structuralism and Russian Formalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972. Print.

Research Paper. Mogilnyy Roman

Mogilnyy Roman

Yaroslava Fedoriv

Course of Academic Writing, A-14

11.04.2013

Public Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility

Public relations is a specific form of organization, a method of crystallization and strengthening of specific variety of social activities connected with important social task of subject internal and external public optimization. In general PR is considered to be innovating science due to the main aim- creating a two-way communication between the consumer and the one who offers something.

Public relations consist of 5 categories, such as: financial public relations, consumer public relations, crisis communication, internal communications, and government relations. The first one deals with communicating financial results and business strategy. On the other hand the second one consists of gaining publicity for a particular product. The third one’s aim is responding in a crisis. The fourth works with communication within the company itself. And the last one engages the government departments to influence public policy. [Korolko, 2007,  20]

Every time has its own tendency. The tendency of 1970s and 1980s was marketing. 1990s was the time of strategies. In 2000s HR was the main aim. 2010s is the time of Public Relations. Nowadays business CEO placing a PR manager very close is a common situation. PR manager is thought to be eyes and ears of the whole business or political structure.

In the 2012 PR sphere grew up by 8% and its annual turnover reached 10 billion dollars. [http://www.holmesreport.com/news-info/12174/Global-Rankings-2012-PR-Industry-Up-Eight-Percent-To-10bn.aspx]. It may be named one of the most growing spheres and even compared with Internet.

Unlike the US and Europe, in Ukraine studying Public Relations is a growing tendency. There are a couple of bachelor programs, one master and few specialization courses while in the US and Europe this science is widely spread in universities. Every year thousands of universities worldwide add Public Relations study programs.

PR is first a theoretical science. There is a great amount of literature. Still much knowledge is gained during working in this sphere. Many things can only be learned while working. But still to work properly a person should be theoretically prepared and it prevents from making basic mistakes.

In fact PR is very important for business. Its main aim is to make the firm work in a right direction and create a brand. That gives a real competitive advantage. It even may happen that PR department is more effective than the product quality. It is thought that advertising is just enough to be successful. Nowadays many firms have such a strategy. But there is a common knowledge that two-way communication gives more advantages than one-way one because in that case consumer feels more satisfied.

After studying Public Relations and graduating, students have to decide where to work. Mostly there is a choice between a PR agency and PR department. Working in a PR agency gives a newcomer a possibility to work in different spheres and understand which one oneself prefers. Within a PR department working is limited with only one sphere without any variety. PR agency may prepare a PR-manager with wide knowledge without one target sphere. On the other hand, PR department prepares a professional in one exact sphere. The state your clients are in differ as you a PR agency worker. There is only one firm state to work with in a PR department. The main principle is that the work goes faster in a PR agency. On average PR department working process has a low pace.

Except university programs and courses there is much Ukrainian literature on PR. The most widely spread is Public Relations by Korolko Valentin. It is considered to be the most detailed and structured book about Public Relations. The book gives an understanding of the PR science. It gives the knowledge about PR strategies, PR tactics, and management in general. Book also contains practical advices.

In general, it is very important to mention the fact that over past 10 years Public Relations as a profession has changed much. Even though the cooperation with media has remained one of the main aspects of it, the most part of efforts is devoted to creating and supporting the main asset- corporate reputation. The nowadays function of PR is to generate the content.

The number of PR managers has grown rapidly. It has happened because of the current informational situation. 21^st century is supposed to be called the time of information and freedom. And so the information has to be controlled somehow. Social networks and Internet in general require a special treatment of PR managers. Their main function is making the surrounding world transparent. And still that is directly connected with Public Relations and its workers’ duties.

Corporate Social Responsibility

It is necessary to highlight another PR function. It is making the world better. Event not counting the fact that PR managers only operate with truth, such a definition as Corporate Social Responsibility was founded due to Public Relations.

Corporate Social Responsibility is a continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large.

 CSR is one of the newest management strategies where companies try to create a positive impact on society while doing business. There is no clear-cut definition of what CSR comprises. Every company has different CSR objectives though the main motive is the same. All companies have a two point agenda- to improve qualitatively and quantitatively. The second is as important as the first and stake holders of every company are increasingly taking an interest in the outer circle-the activities of the company and how these are impacting the environment and society. Social responsibility is an ethical ideology that has an obligation to act to benefit society at large. Social responsibility is a duty every individual or organization has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the ecosystem. A trade-off always exists between economic development, in the material sense, and the welfare of the society and environment. Social responsibility means sustaining the equilibrium between the two. It pertains not only to business organizations but also to everyone whose action impacts the environment. This responsibility can be passive, by avoiding engaging in socially harmful acts, or active, by performing activities that directly advance social goals. [Lord Holme, Richard Watts, 2000, p.3]

Still CSR is an average aspect of every successful business in developed countries. Earlier it gave a competitive advantage to companies, but now it may be named an unspoken rule for business. All the top companies of the world are in the list of top CSR investors. Microsoft, Google, Walt Disney Pictures, BMW, and Apple are on first 5 positions. [4] It is a stable tradition to invest in CSR accordingly to the income.

Corporate Social Responsibility is divided into internal and external. Internal in connected with the company itself. It consists of good working conditions and appropriate attitude. External one is considered to cope with problems of the surrounding world.

            There are different types of CSR approaches: Canadian, the Continental European and the Anglo-Saxon.

A more common approach to CSR is corporate philanthropy. This includes monetary donations and aid given to local and non-local nonprofit organizations and communities, including donations in areas such as the arts, education, housing, health, social welfare, and the environment, among others, but excluding political contributions and commercial sponsorship of events. Some organizations do not like a philanthropy-based approach as it might not help build on the skills of local populations, whereas community-based development generally leads to more sustainable development.

Another approach to CSR is to incorporate the CSR strategy directly into the business strategy of an organization. For instance, procurement of Fair Trade tea and coffee has been adopted by various businesses including KPMG.

Another approach is garnering increasing corporate responsibility interest. This is called Creating Shared Value, or CSV. The shared value model is based on the idea that corporate success and social welfare are interdependent. A business needs a healthy, educated workforce, sustainable resources and adept government to compete effectively. For society to thrive, profitable and competitive businesses must be developed and supported to create income, wealth, tax revenues, and opportunities for philanthropy. Many approaches to CSR pit businesses against society, emphasizing the costs and limitations of compliance with externally imposed social and environmental standards. Many companies use the strategy of benchmarking to compete within their respective industries in CSR policy, implementation, and effectiveness. Benchmarking involves reviewing competitor CSR initiatives, as well as measuring and evaluating the impact that those policies have on society and the environment, and how customers perceive competitor CSR strategy.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Social_Responsibility)

In fact CSR is useful for management. Stimulation of the staff work is the main aim of managing. CSR gives that opportunity with many aspects that help much. Good working conditions, attitude, and high salaries are highly motivating.

In Ukraine Corporate Social Responsibility is a new trend and it gains popularity every year. Trendwatching Ukraine 2012 conducted a survey about CSR role in 2012. The survey was conducted among 400 people of the age from 18 to 35 living on the cities with the population over 1 million people. From the answers 37% of people choosing from equal goods would rather take the social responsible brand, 33% rather choose product by quality than CSR, and 22% would like to conduct a social responsible business. As for a new trend that may be called good statistics that means the understanding of the social responsibility value. Almost every third

In Ukraine SCM, DTEK and METINVEST are named the most Corporate Social Responsible business companies.

Conclusion

Public Relations is a new science. It is very popular nowadays and its market grows every year. This tendency has also reached Ukraine. Both successful business and government have PR departments. PR agencies are in.

One of the most popular aspects of PR is Corporate Social Responsibility. It may be called one of the most demanded trends of nowadays. It has different approaches and has turned into a special way of living.

As for a new phenomenon in Ukraine, CSR is given much attention and is truly supported by customers. Every third customer pays much attention to a social position of the brand he prefers. It shows the perceptiveness of the CSR as the way of living.

Public Relations makes business transparent and is a new better way of conducting business.

Work Cited

Korolko, Valentin Public Relations. Kyiv: Kyiv-Mohyla Academy 2009. Print

Iacocca, Lee Where have all the leaders gone? New York: New York Times 2007. Print

Holme, L., Watts, R. (2000) Making Good Business Sense. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development 3-5

UNIAN (2012, December). The most social responsible companies were highlighted- Reputation Institute. Retrived from:

http://www.unian.net/news/540566-nazvanyi-naibolee-sotsialno-otvetstvennyie-kompanii-mira-reputation-institute.html

Holmesreport (2012, July). Global Rankings 2012: PR Industry Up Eight Percent To $10bn. Retrived from:

http://www.holmesreport.com/news-info/12174/Global-Rankings-2012-PR-Industry-Up-Eight-Percent-To-10bn.aspx

ProPR (2013, January) Ukrainians start to pay attention to brand social position. Retrieved from:

http://propr.com.ua/ru/public/view/20541

Wikipedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_responsibility

Research paper. Arseniy Fedosiuk, Group A2

Historiographical Discussions on Croatian Nationalism in mid-19th Century (on the example of studies by Djourou Shurmin and Rudolph Horvat)

Article gives an overview on early Croatian nationalism and the Illyrian movement question in works of  Djourou Shurmin and Rudolph Horvat. It traces differences between authors' views on the most significant aspects of Illyrism and concepts they build to represent its narrative.

Introduction - 1

Methodological background - 2

The question of  emergence of Illyrism - 3

Approaches to periodization of Illirysm - 4

Discussions on the idea of Illyrian unity - 4

Intellectual sources of Illyrian movement - 5

Summary – 5

For a decent period of time and till nowadays the question of early Croatian nationalism also known as Illyrism has been one of the central and most significant themes in Croatian historiography. In the early twentieth century study of Illirysm and Illyrian movement concentrated around the University of Zagreb and the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, as major research centers of the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia (Leshilovskaya 125). At that time a relatively young Croatian historiography was focusing its efforts on producing a grand narrative of national history. The researchers, influenced by Romanticism and the Croatian national movement, attempted to focus on the "glorious pages" of Croatian history in their works that led to increasing interest in the Illyrian movement among the academic community. One of the earliest and at the same time the most extensive and comprehensive studies of Illirysm in the twentieth century historiography belonged to Djourou Shurmin and Rudolph Horvat (Leshilovskaya 140). In fact they were one of the first who explored the question Illyrian movement in retrospectively, making an attempt to build some system of representations of illyrian movement and provide a comprehensive model of its factual and ideological components (Orel 63). Study of Illyrism resulted in lively discussions around this subject. Even though the methodology and the source base were generally almost identical, they were considered by researchers in different ways. But at the same time the existence of two completely opposite concepts of early Croatian nationalism can not be traced. Despite this, two different points of view were produced. Additionally, works of both historians corresponded to the "zeitgeist" of their time and its historiographical trends associated primarily with the Croatian national revival. Actually they determined a prevailing system of ideas about the Illyrian movement as well as early Croatian nationalism.

Djourou Shurmin (1867-1937) led his researches at the University of Zagreb. He began his scientific work with Croatian Studies and History of Literature, issuing several publications dedicated to Croatian and Serbian literary history. Later, his scientific interest had switched to the age of national revival in Croatia, resulting in fundamental work Croatian renaissance published in 1902. Rudolf Horvat (1873-1947) received PhD at the University of Zagreb, where he later worked as a professor of history at the Faculty of Philosophy. His field of research originally covered mostly the medieval history, but later he begins to explore the history of the nineteenth century and the Illyrian movement. His researches of Illyrism were displayed on pages of two fundamental works - History of Croatia and The newest era of Croatian history published in 1906. Although both Rudolf Horvat and Djourou Shurmin belonged to the so-called Zagreb historiographical school and besides their works were published around the same time, their views on the Croatian national revival and the Illyrian movement are somewhat different.

Both historians generally built quite a similar concept of Illyrian movement and attracted identical methodology - analysis and reconstruction of the event-based documents and written sources (Leshilovskaya 142). Also it should be noted that the studies of Shurmin and Horvat were influenced by concepts of other Croatian historian Tadiya Smichiklas, known as the "father of modern Croatian historiography" and the one who brought the very idea of Slavic unity into Croatian history (Kurelac 47).

Considering the differences between the concepts of Illyrism in researches of Djourou Shurmin and Rudolf Horvath, first of all it should be noted that such differences are focused primarily in the field of interpretation, which contains such aspects as the question of genesis and intellectual roots, periodization, social and political role, problem of the Illyrian unity etc. Thus, the authors made emphasis on different components and often their accents were different. Such accents as well as the conceptual components, individuals and events they chose to explore in order to produce a narrative of Illyrian revival represents their attitude to Illyrism and Croatian renaissance.

D. Shurmin depicts Illirysm basing on the thesis of its emergence as a movement for the revival of Croatian language and literature, which later switched to struggle against Magyarization (135). Thus, Shurmin's concept is based on the determination of Illirysm as primarily cultural-literary movement. Historian notes that the prerequisites of the Illyrian movement were synergistic and included as well as limiting the rights of Croatian parliament, Magyarization of social life and the emergence of the idea of Slavic unity (Shurmin 160). At the same time, Rudolf Horvat links Illyrian movement to a comprehensive process of the reformation of Croatian society (201). This, from the first sight ambiguous definition, was used to describe the Illirysm as holistic and integral movement. Horvat do not single out particular political or cultural components; moreover he does not make a clear reference to certain specific areas of public life. Analyzing the background of the rise of Illyrism, the most significant are determined by Horvat as the desire for unification of Croatian lands and the restoration of its civil rights and status in the Kingdom of Hungary (219).

One of the main differences finds its expression in the choice of social constructs to analyze. Horvat as a starting point uses the Croatian Sabor, on which he bases his chronology and construction of the narrative (205). Moreover, the very logic of presentation is closely linked to the political life of the Croatian lands. On the other side Shurmin gives more attention to the changes and transformations in the humanitarian and intellectual field, and bases his research on this.

Djourou Shurmin and Rudolf Horvat use different approaches to periodization of Illirysm. Interestingly, both researchers trace the genesis of movement from the early 30-ies (Horvat 192, Shurmin 99). However, they date back the actual appearance of Illyrian movement to later period. Shurmin using formal approach, basically the proliferation of the ethnonym "Illyrian", defines the beginning for 1836 (101). According to his conception this is the date of the rise of Illyrism as well-coordinated movement for the revival of Croatia and cultural association of all South Slavic nations (Shurmin 120). He states that it was caused by the transition to shtokavsky dialect, which soon becomes a core of the Croatian literary language (Shurmin 155). On the other hand Horvat offers different periodisation, taking into account the organizational component. Considering it as the "revival of Croatian literature and society" he sets its beginning for 1835, as the start date of the publication of "Croatian news" and "Danitsa Illirska" (Horvat 260).

Referring to the idea of Illyrian unity, it should be noted that authors are not unanimous regarding the interpretation of the genesis of this idea. Horvat believes that the concept of Illyrian unity arose due to the failure of the Croatian political nobility in search of allies and protectors as well as so called treason by Vienna and Budapest. This, he said, initiated a search for allies among themselves – Slovenes, Serbs and Bulgarians (Horvat 275). In addition, author regards the emergence of concept of the unity of all South Slavs as the product first of all of the Croatian political thought, and later the Illyrian movement. In his view, such idea was picked up by romantically minded young Croatian and Slovenian intellectuals and turned to the cultural and literary stream (Horvat 280). In contrast, Shurmin stated that the formation of these concepts attracted the idea of the Slavic unity from the very beginning (178). In his view, an important role was played by Slovenian, Czech and Serbian influences, including the views of Jan Kollar and Pavel Safarik (Shurmin 185). Shurmin shows that Illyrian movement appeared primarily in cooperation with Czech, Serbian and Slovenian intellectuals. In addition, he says that Illyrism was the product of intellectual activity of all South Slavic nations and not only Croats (Shurmin 192).

Rather controversial is also the question of intellectual sources of Illyrian movement. Croatian historiography of early twentieth century almost unanimously associates it with Western influences and do not tie it to Croatian intellectual tradition at all. D. Shurmin believes that the intellectual and spiritual sources of Illyrism were presented by the French Revolution and German national revival (221). After all, intellectual background according to Shurmin can be found in Western Europe. In contrast, R. Horvath strongly emphasizes on the so-called "Hungarian example": young Croatian intellectuals during their education in Hungarian universities were able to experience the development of the Hungarian national movement (290).

The analyzed studies of Djourou Shurmin and Rudolf Horvat clearly show that Croatian historiography at the beginning of its formation presented different views on key aspects of national history. Although the authors used a limited source base and methodological approaches to create a narrative of Illyrism, the existence of separate, but significant differences in the interpretation of both event-chronological and conceptual components can be seen. Thus, pluralism and ambiguity of ideas considering the Illyrian movement is observed almost from its earliest comprehensive studies.

Reference List in APA format

Horvat R. (1906). New period of Croatian history. Zagreb.

Kurelac M. (1995) Historian Tadija Smičiklas and his historiographical conceptions. Vjesnik Hrvatske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti, 6-7, 41-59.

Leshilovskaya I. (1987). Historiography of history of South and Western Slavs. Moscow.

Orel U. (2007). Illyrism in interwar Croatian historiography. Magisterium: Historical studies, 28, 61-75

Shurmin  D. (1903). Croatian renaissance. From 1790 to 1836. Zagreb.

Report on Education Problems, Arseniy Fedosiuk, Group A2

Main types of services and employment for a full-time student

Survey comments

Introduction: On the 30th March 2013, a survey was conducted among 20 students of the Faculty of Humanities and Faculty of Social Sciences and Social Technologies at the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”. The purpose of the survey was to discover students’ attitudes to possibilities of employment during study.

The survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire given to the students to complete. The survey consisted of 8 questions – 4 were straight-choice questions, 2 – multiple choice, and one open question. The first question was aimed to find out how many respondents have the experience of working during the full-time study. Second one was related to the possibility of combining work and study. Third and fourth questions concerned the reasons which lead students to work and the time they spent (or are willing to spend) for it. 6 and 7 question were to discover the relation between student’s work and field of study and scope of employment. The last question asked to identify the main problems student faced (or may face) while combining work and study; and it was open.

Comment: The main findings were as follows. 80% of all respondents worked during the study, 15% don’t have such experience, and 5% are only planning to. Half of the students support the thesis that work may interfere with normal student activity, 30% support such thesis partially and 20% deny it. Considering the main reasons, the most popular one are financial issues and gaining work experience. Survey showed that half of the students are willing to spend 3-4 hours for work daily, while choices with 1-2 hours and 5 hours or more gained 25% each.  Also it was found that in half of cases the work was related to student’s field of study. At the same time 10 students of 20 worked as low-skilled labor, 7 choose freelance and only 2 – unskilled labor. Analysis of answers for the last question can show a strong tendency of determination the lack of time as the main problem for students that are trying to combine work and full-time study.

ACR Essay, Arseniy Fedosiuk, Group A2

The Problem of Multiculturalism

Last 40 years denoted in world history as a time, when borders were opening: the fall of totalitarian regimes, increasing of social and cross-country mobility and overall improvement of the quality of life caused to intensification of migration processes. Statistic says that from 1980 to 2008 the total rate of migration increased by 32%. And of course such increase brought the wide range of problems. Being highly significant problem, migration combines the variety of different aspects, such as multiculturalism, ethnical and cultural identity, religion, racism, xenophobia etc. Multiculturalism, at the first sight pretending to be the innocent problem, really is the most controversial one.

In case of traditionally mono-ethnical European societies and countries the belief in multiculturalism to be positive development path is fundamentally wrong. The first issue is the question of identity and integration. In the vast majority of cases immigrants do not integrate in the society of the host country. Cultural and mental differences are too great to achieve some kind of even semi-assimilation of the immigrants. Specific features of historical development led to formation of almost diametrically opposite identities and even the ways of reasoning. In this case immigrants often even do not try to integrate in the local communities and cultural systems. The second major problem is conflicts on the basis of inequality. It covers the wide range of expressions, starting from the primitive ‘everyday’ racism, xenophobia, and imperceptions of immigrants. Of course, it causes an appropriate reaction from the immigrants, which led to the spread of ethnic-based crimes, formation of ethnic districts etc. Also it should be added that people from ethnic minorities tend to commit more crimes than local people. In general, things follow the universal scheme – hate breeds hate.

Trying to promote the idea of multiculturalism in the public opinion its supporters are suggesting some really reasonable arguments. Firstly, they state that multiculturalism pretends to be almost the only way to ensure tolerance and democracy through the world. On their opinion such diversity will play a role of deterrent factor for any anti-democratic or totalitarian attempts. Often they appeal to the discourse of Nazism and racism and claim that such ideologies would never arise in multienthnical society. Second argument they present is a look on multiculturalism from the side of culture, art etc. They state that at the junction of different cultures a brand new and better one will emerge. So it was with jazz and blues in the USA, for example.

However, the reality differs. Considering the question of democracy and tolerance studies shows, that forcing multiculturalism often causes the emerging of xenophobia and racism. For the mono-ethnical traditional societies the invasion of elements of foreign culture might be no as useful as it seems and even harmful. Local identity tries to validate and protect itself and as a result the massive of conflicts based on the national or race issues appear. From the side of cultural value and its possible profit the historical perspective shows that such effects are rather exception from a rule than a rule.

Therefore, considering the multiculturalism from such perspectives, it can be assumed that it has a little profit for traditional mono-ethnical societies and states.

Research Paper, Maya Synytsia, A2

Maya Synytsia

Professor Fedoriv

English for Master Programs

11 April 2013

Main Ideas and Personalities in Historical Development of Hermeneutics as a General Method

Hermeneutics is the art and theory of understanding and interpretation of linguistic and non-linguistic expressions. It has a significant influence on the development of contemporary philosophy, in spite of the fact that hermeneutics became truly philosophical only in nineteenth century. It happened when Friedrich Schleiermacher articulated a coherent conception of universal hermeneutics that relates to linguistic meaning in general. Before that, the problem of understanding was viewed only on the level of special hermeneutics, without transition to the sphere of general theory of interpretation. Nevertheless, its roots reach nearly the very beginning of Western philosophy. So, the aim of this research is to reconstruct the path of hermeneutics from a special science to a general method.

As a theory of interpretation, the hermeneutic tradition stretches all the way back to ancient Greek philosophy. Ancient Greek word hermeneia, from which the term hermeneutics derives, was used in everyday life and meant “translation”, or “interpretation”. The notion itself was introduced into philosophy mainly through the title of Aristotle's work Peri Hermeneias ('On Interpretation'), one of the earliest (circa 360 BC) philosophical works that examined the relationship between language and logic in a comprehensive and explicit way. Aristotle viewed interpretation as a panhuman ability, which is enabled by adherence to certain recommendations and methods. On the other hand, his teacher Plato depicted interpretation not as an art, but as a result of divine intervention.

Middle Ages were a turning point in the history of hermeneutics. The view of the problem of understanding resembled that of Plato, but adopted Christian character. According to Christian beliefs, humans are narrow-minded due to their nature, they prove to be unable to understand the design of God, so God becomes the co-author of Bible, inspiring human beings to write it. Therefore, the divine afflation of the author played a significant part in formation of Great Kanon. Origen Adamantius, the first Christian hermeneutist, stated that if writing required divine afflation, reading and interpretation of the written required it, too (Shpet).

However, many controversies regarding interpretation of the Holy Scripture appeared in the days of early Christianity, leading to development of a considerable amount of heresies. Augustine of Hippo, one of major theological hermeneutists of Middle Ages, examined this problem and proposed various methods that could help to interpret the text correctly. He also developed some of the notions and principles that later hermeneutists would use, such as the notion of congeniality, a panhuman ability to see the same truths. Due to congeniality, the interpreter is able to understand the author of the Bible, the receiver of divine afflation, as if they are sharing this afflation (Augustine 112).

While Augustine distinguished among four types of interpretation of the Holy Scripture: historical, allegorical, analogical and etiological, Thomas Aquinas did not exclude literal interpretation, stating that numerous layers of sense reach out to wider audience. Primitive readers are able to grasp only literal meaning, however, under appropriate circumstances, additional sense layers become intelligible. Literal interpretation is caused by corporeal nature of humans, this is why Holy Scripture contains numerous metaphors, determined by inability of human authors to perceive and describe divine nature beyond corporeity (Thomas Aquinas 16).

The beginning of legal education, founded on systematical study of Roman Civil law (circa XI century), became additional momentum for development of hermeneutics. Legal education was based on dialectics as reconciliation of contradictions, and on the ground of this dialectics, a special discipline – legal hermeneutics – appeared. Despite the fact that the development of legal and theological hermeneutics took parallel paths, in certain cases they integrated in order to complete specific tasks (Kuznetsov).

Peculiarities of the Age of Renaissance were determined by a new anthropological turn, which caused reconsideration of philosophical and scientific accomplishments of the previous period, as well as religious upheaval, which forced Christianity to review its dogmas and norms. Hermeneutics had to consider the new requirements as well. In those days, its main purpose was to fight religious dogmatism, so the most serious hermeneutical projects of Reformation age belonged to Protestants, and later hermeneutist opposed even protestant dogmatism: for instance, H.-G. Gadamer stated that F. Schleiermacher’s hermeneutical project was based on such opposition (Gadamer 170).  However, Martin Luther’s thesis that Holy Scripture contains its own interpretation allowed to reject the idea that a special science of interpretation of the Bible is required.

Due to provision of autonomy to individuality, hermeneutics withdrew from theology and developed within other special disciplines. For example, significant advances in the development of legal hermeneutics are associated with Hugo Grotius, the author of the tractate On the Law of War and Peace, which is almost fully dedicated to jurisprudence; however, chapter 16 of this book presents a remarkable example of special legal hermeneutics. In this chapter, Grotius indicated problems that may occur during the work with laws. In his opinion, legislative acts bear contradictions not due to wrong wording, but because people tend to interpret laws in arbitrary fashion, thus harming one another. Therefore, Hugo Grotius developed a method of adequate understanding of laws for the purpose of practical use. After Grotius, legal hermeneutics became part of general theory of law.

Another thinker of that age, Matthias Flacius, introduced the concept of contextual interpretation, based on the idea that the true sense is one and objective in relation to the individual. Flacius, however, introduced the concept of the context as well, thus enabling the text to gain new meanings and interpretations. Moreover, Flacius also formulated the problem of hermeneutic circle (Kuznetsov).

Projects of romanticists and their immediate predecessors have special meaning for modern hermeneutics. Hermeneutical vocabulary evolved in this period, and romantic hermeneutists guided the author of the first project of general hermeneutics – Friedrich Schleiermacher.

Linguistic theory of Friedrich Wilhelm von Humboldt played a significant part in formation of general hermeneutics. Humboldt analyzed language tools and peculiarities of functioning of different notions in different languages, and formulated a theory, according to which language appears as a result of continuous process of development of a nation, while the mentality of the nation as an integral entity can be seen through the lens of language. Correlation of language and the mentality of the nation constitutes something similar to a hermeneutical circle, in which the mentality of a nation is not understood without knowledge of the language, but knowledge of the language demands understanding of the mentality.

August Böckh in his hermeneutical project proposed to conduct a specific experiment in order to comprehend the role of cognition and its possibility: to view all sciences as philosophies, which suggests specific correlation of scientific and humane spheres. As a protestant, he assumed two main principles of an individual: spiritual and material, and according to this he divided sciences into those that are oriented to material or spiritual sphere of life. However, philology takes a special place in this system: it lies on the border of these two spheres and it is able to cognize what is given in advance, namely sense. Sense for Böckh lies in the meaning of the text, however, its truth is secondary, since the creator of the text has already discovered it. The demand to learn what others learned before resonates with Schleiermacher’s motto of hermeneutics: to know the author better than they knew themselves.

Specific spiritual movement of philological hermeneutics had impact on the formation of general theory of interpretation as well. For example, spiritual interpretation, proposed by Friedrich Ast, definitely correlates with Schleiermacher’s psychological approach. Besides, Schleiermacher mentions Ast as the author of the best articulation of the problem of hermeneutic circle:

Formulated by Ast and in many ways rather well explained hermeneutical foundation, according to which the whole is understood from the part, and the part, in its turn, may be understood only from the whole, is so universal and undeniable for the art of hermeneutics, that even the primary hermeneutical operations cannot be performed without using it. Indeed, most of hermeneutical rules are based on it to a greater or lesser extent. (Schleiermacher 440)

Philological hermeneutics was not the only one to play significant role in scientific life of the day, however. Johann Martin Chladni (Chladenius) strived to use hermeneutics to analyze history instead of the texts of the Holy Scripture. Thus, he extended the sphere of influence of hermeneutics, redefined it in terms of logic, and underpinned it with scientific arguments (Kuznetsov). Chladenius’ another significant achievement was his project of pedagogical hermeneutics. Gadamer states that Chladenius reproached his time for loss of the ability to reason spontaneously. From the point of view of pedagogics, the disadvantage of this phenomenon lies in the fact that an intellectual abyss inevitably appears between the teacher and the student.  Chladenius proposed to use hermeneutics in order to overcome this problem, shifting its target from distinguishing the truth in the text to explanation of obscurities (Gadamer 172).

Such special projects, as historical hermeneutics, presented by Barthold Georg Niebuhr and Leopold von Ranke, or literary hermeneutics, created by the Schlegel brothers and Novalis, have significant meaning, too. However, the philological hermeneutics gave primary momentum for formation of general theory of interpretation, and Friedrich Schleiermacher retained its inherent orientation to the language component, which later found broad response in his successors’ works.

It can be concluded that hermeneutics had a long history before it became a general theory of interpretation, reaching back at least as far as ancient Greece. However, it took the most important step in the age of Romanticism, when it was viewed mostly within philology. Even though Friedrich Schleiermacher, the author of the first philosophical theory of hermeneutics, belonged to the romanticist movement only partially, his hermeneutical project emerged from it.

Works Cited (MLA Style)

Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. Kyiv: Elga, 2007. Print

Augustine of Hippo. On Christian Doctrine. Kyiv: Kyiv-Pechersk Laura, 1835. Print

Bohachov, Andrii. Experience and Sense. Kyiv: Duh i Litera, 2012. Print.

Dilthey, Wilhelm. "Schleiermacher's Hermeneutical System in Relation to Earlier Protestant Hermeneutics". Hermeneutics and the Study of History. Web.

Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Truth and Method. Kyiv: Universe, 2000. Print.

Kuznetsov, Valerii. Hermeneutics and its path from a specific method to a school of thought. Web.

Plato. Ion. Web.

Schleiermacher, Friedrich. "On the Concept of Hermeneutics, with reference to F.A. Wolfs Instructions and Ast's Textbook". Doxa (August 2008). Odessa: Odessa National University. Print.

Shpet, Gustav. “Hermeneutics and its problems”. Context (1991). Moscow: Nauka. Print.

Works Cited (APA Style)

1.      Thomas Aquinas. (2007). Summa Theologica. Kyiv: Elga.

2.      Augustine of Hippo. (1835). On Christian Doctrine. Kyiv: Kyiv-Pechersk Laura.

3.      Bohachov, A. (2012). Experience and Sense. Kyiv: Duh i Litera.

4.      Dilthey, W. Schleiermacher's Hermeneutical System in Relation to Earlier Protestant Hermeneutics. Hermeneutics and the Study of History. Retrieved from: http://www.questia.com/library/104388010/hermeneutics-and-the-study-of-history/.

5.      Gadamer, H.-G. (2000) Truth and Method. Kyiv: Universe.

6.      Kuznetsov, V. (1999, October) Hermeneutics and its path from a specific method to a school of thought. Retrieved from: http://www.ruthenia.ru/logos/number/1999_10/04.html/.

7.      Plato. Ion. Retrieved from: http://www.philosophy.ru/library/plato/ion.html/.

8.      Schleiermacher, F. (2008, August)."On the Concept of Hermeneutics, with reference to F.A. Wolfs Instructions and Ast's Textbook". Doxa. Odessa: Odessa National University.

9.      Shpet, G. (1991). Hermeneutics and its problems. Context. Moscow: Nauka.