Fedotova V. G. Defending Human and Social Capital: Public Social Knowledge
The article was written within the framework of the project “Concepts of Noneconomic Capital as Factor Strengthening Complexity of Research in Contemporary Socio-Cultural Dynamics” (grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, No. 12-06-00240).
(The Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences)
Abstract ♦ In this article, we analyze a number of texts representing knowledge, the status of which has not yet been defined or studied. This knowledge is contained in a kind of manifestos on what the society and sciences should be like.
We have studied several such texts. The first one is the Russell-Einstein Manifesto (published in 1955) about the nuclear weapons as a threat, which was not immediately fully understood. However, the threat became evident as science advanced. Therefore both scientists that had signed the manifesto and their colleagues came to the conclusion that nuclear weapons should never be used. The manifesto helped them realize that the only possible use for these weapons is as means of containment, to prevent the possible destruction of mankind.
The second text we have analyzed is the 2005 Potsdam manifesto of the physics professor H.-P. Dürr and his two colleagues. They raise the issue of humanity as a component of the cosmic universe and — in contrast to the materialistic and mechanistic picture of the world — the quantum mechanical one utilizes the principles of non-linearity, contradictoriness, and synergy more adequately to the needs of contemporary society.
The third body of texts has been published in the Cadmus Journal of the World Academy of Art and Science in Napa (California). All of them are written by scholars in the humanities and natural scientists concerned with threats to the humanity.
The author attempts to define the type of knowledge presented in these texts. It is neither everyday knowledge, nor empirical or theoretical, and it does not fall into any existing disciplinary frame. The author introduces a new term for this new type — “public social knowledge” — which lays claim to social construction of reality.
Keywords: Cadmus, Einstein-Russell manifesto, Potsdam manifesto, ecology, war, peace, globalization, public social knowledge, nuclear weapons.
Fedotova Valentina Gavrilovna, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Head of the Social Philosophy Sector, Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences. Postal address: 14 Volkhonka St., Moscow, Russian Federation, 119991. Tel.: +7 (499) 697-91-89. E-mail:
valentina_fedotova@front.ru
Citation: Fedotova, V. G. (2014) Zabotias' o chelovecheskom i sotsial'nom kapitale: publichnoe sotsial'noe znanie [Defending Human and Social Capital: Public Social Knowledge]. Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie, no. 3, pp. 48–58. (In Russ.).
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