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TECHNO-SCIENCE AND THE SCIENTIFIC ETHOS: THE OUTLINES OF ETHICS OF BIOBANKING THROUGH THE EYES OF THE RUSSIAN SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY (BASED ON A SURVEY OF SPECIALISTS IN THE FIELD OF BIOMEDICINE AND RELATED RESEARCH ACTIVITIES) // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2018. Issue 4 (18). P. 61-83

The paper proceeds from the visualization of the positions of scientists working in the field of high-tech biomedicine, and considers the transformations of science and scientific ethos basing on the example of biobanking development. It poses a question of a brand new social character of scientific practices generated by advanced technologies. Being in the process of technification and economic objectification, drastically changing, science is settling in the system of social practices from which it used to be absolutely separated before. In this respect, the paper addresses to biobanking as an example of a techno-scientific object that is gradually obtaining the status of the key component of biomedicine infrastructure and paramedical sciences development. The paper describes the special status of biobanks dealing with human biomaterials and having both biotechnological and biopolitical capacities that trigger an enormous controversy concerning ethical grounds for regulating biobanks as a techno-scientific branch and an emerging social institution. In this context, the paper focuses on the problem of responsibility of the biobank and related projects dealing with using human biomaterials and structuring relations with donors in the process of functioning. The paper emphasizes that the essential novelty of biobanks consists in their techno-scientific status combining social, technological and scientific components, and it naturally spreads upon the scientist’s ethos that cannot be called “classic” any more. So, the paper suggests paying special attention to the problem of the scientist’s responsibility and revision of the science ethos. Basing on the results of the survey conducted among the representatives of Russian biobanking (scientists, whose activities are linked to biobanking, developers and/or users of biobanks in research projects), the paper demonstrates some preliminary data showing the peculiarities of transformations of this kind. Designed by the authors of the paper in terms of the Lomonosov Moscow State University biobank project called “Noah’s Ark” (The National Depository Bank of Living Systems), the survey included both inquiry forms and feedback options that contributed to getting the most relevant answers from the respondents. As a result, the paper shows typical and non-typical attitudes representing the respondent audience views. Considering the survey, the paper concentrates on revealing the professional community attitude towards both the current status and perspectives of biobanking development in Russia. The qualitative research represented in the paper focuses on possible aims, top targets, usage potential, management issues, social risks and ethical regulations of biobanking.

Keywords: scientific ethos, status of scientist, ethics of scientific research, techno-science, biobank, biobanking, sociology of science

GAME OF THRONES: THE RISE AND FALL OF A PERFECT TV SERIES // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2019. Issue 4 (22). P. 60-91

The article discusses several epistemological problems of media theory: clarification of meaning and use of the “cult” concept as applied to audiovisual media objects; analytical tools and determinants of television series’ success; and, finally, the ontology of a television series as an object of spectator (consumer) and professional (research) perception. Based on the example of one of the most successful television series of the 21st century, Game of Thrones, the principles of the television series’ arrangement, its relations with its literary prototype, the role of script and structural features are considered. Particular attention is paid to the differences between the audiovisual and literary works, as well as policies of television channels as the most important determinants of television series production. On the basis of the history of HBO and the television adaptation of Game of Thrones, the logic of the evolution of the television series, its capabilities and limitations associated with both economic and internal reasons related to the very form of the television series’ existence are revealed. In the first part of the article, the concept of “cult” is considered using ideas of Umberto Eco and Philippe Le Guern. The elements of the social construction of “cult” are shown, and the need for some inner causes belonging to the object itself, not only to the practices of its use, is claimed. In the second part, the story of HBO is briefly observed for revealing the causes and meaning of its turn to TV serial production. In the third part, Game of Thrones is examined in the context of correlations between the book and the film, the book and the script, the film and critics, the film and viewers, and, most of all, the reality of the film and the reality of viewers. It is shown that, unlike the standard analytical optics used for working with television content, the key factor for the success of Game of Thrones and, at the same time, the failure of its final season is the “World of GoT”: a system of perceptual objects and events accessible to the audience that produce a subjectively significant psycho-emotional response. The existence of the “World of GoT” is provided mainly by the perceptual fabric of audiovisual forms and is relatively independent from the narrative structures, which makes Game of Thrones a cult television series despite the rejection of the final season from critics and fans.

Keywords: Game of Thrones, TV series, film theory, media studies, epistemology of media

IMAGINATION AS A BORDERLINE OF UNDERSTANDING: THE FUNCTION OF IMAGINATION IN THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2020. Issue 2 (24). P. 199-224

The article is devoted to the epistemology of imagination and thought experiment. The starting point is the metaphorical definition of a thought experiment as a "laboratory of the mind" given by J. Brown. Based on this oxymoron, which combines experimental (material and manipulative) and theoretical activity into one concept, a study of imagination is carried out as a means for providing mental experiments. Firstly, the epistemological relations of the laboratory and thought experiment are examined in connection with the approach to bring these methods closer together on the basis of the structural and functional similarity of theoretical modeling and experimental practices, which is characteristic for the modern model approach in the philosophy of science. It is demonstrated that a thought experiment is not an experiment and solves different problems associated not with the production of concrete knowledge (about reality), but rather with the search for ways to objectify the scientific problems themselves and clarify their relationships with each other. For this, the themata concept proposed by J. Holton in his theory of “scientific imagination” is used. Themata, which are not clearly enough defined by Holton, are interpreted as machines of conversion that allow one to schematize perceptual content and give it a model-like form while maintaining the moment of visibility, i.e. the possibility of reverse conversion (the movement from a theoretical model to an experiment). Thought experiments, in turn, reveal the boundaries and nature of the relationship between themata. To clarify the mechanism of how the imagination works with non-visualizable objects, the prototype theory of E. Rosch was engaged. The imagination’s scheme of objectification in this context is based on the semiotic connection of the non-visualizable signifier with the visible signified (prototype), and semiosis is ensured by the “naturalization” of the metaphor, which throws the objectification scheme (rules for constructing images) associated with the prototype onto an unmarked (new) or requiring markup updating because of new circumstances subject area (task). The work of imagination here is the natural boundary of understanding – to understand is (at least to have an ability) to imagine, and a thought experiment allows you to map the work of the imagination and use the obtained maps to analyze the principles of its work. Therefore, although a thought experiment does not allow solving the question of the empirical adequacy of the results obtained in it, it is representative and reliable in the study of epistemological attitudes and associated conversion machines, i.e. imagination. The map does not say anything about the existence of the terrain depicted on it, but much can tell about the cartographer’s imagination.

Keywords: imagination, thought experiment, cognition, understanding, scientific discovery, methodology of science, epistemology