At the end of 2024, the staff of the Department of Philosophy of the Faculty of Sociology and Law of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” prepared the first issue of the scientific journal “TECHNE” for publication.
The editor-in-chief of the journal, professor of the Department of Philosophy Larysa Kalchenko told the correspondent of “Kyiv Polytechnic” about the history of the journal's foundation and creative plans of the editorial board and answered his questions.
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- Larysa Volodymyrivna, how did the idea of founding the journal come about? What is the concept of a scientific publication and how was the initiative to prepare the first issue for publication implemented?
- The modern world today is full of global challenges and uncertainty. There is a problem of a positive and constructive vision of the future of humanity in general and each individual in particular, living through a period of social turbulence. All this, on the one hand, complicates the processes of existence and sustainable development of human society, and on the other hand, stimulates the search for new, relevant strategies for addressing philosophical issues of life and preventing social risks and solving various problems by building a “proactive”, subjective position of the scientific community, capable of generating high-tech innovative solutions to overcome civilization crises, forming and applying preventive social and philosophical practices to help and protect vulnerable categories and groups of communities. In this regard, the initiative of our department to launch the publication of the scientific journal “TECHNE” is a response to the need to create a modern scientific and practical platform for discussions of leading national and world scientific schools in the fields of philosophy and social work, as well as a continuation of the more than 125-year intellectual tradition of KPI scientists to publish and pave the way for scientific innovation for society.
I would like to note that philosophy and social technologies in a technical university best reveal the principle of polytechnicism and ensure that this interdisciplinary, by its nature, scientific field is organically filled in a university with specific content, which for philosophy and social technologies has always been the most advanced scientific and technical ideas of their time, which stimulated the improvement and perfection of social reality. The very application of social technologies in social work, in their philosophical interpretation, is the development of effective methods of the so-called “activity approach” for effective, rational and purposeful influence on society and restoration, preservation or improvement of social functioning of an object that can be transformed into a subject, as well as those multidisciplinary practices that are focused on prevention of negative social processes and development of self-help technologies. In this regard, the first issue of our scientific journal covers the results of new research on current philosophical issues of our time, modern culture, religious life, theory and practice of social work and social technologies in the context of the challenges we face in the context of martial law, global changes in the world, etc.
- And yet, why TECHNE? What is the uniqueness of the publication?
- Let me remind you that the Greek tradition understood “techne” to mean the skillful production of anything in almost all areas of human activity. The name “TECHNE” (Greek for art, skill, the ability of a person with a creative component to act as opposed to the natural) sets a high level of requirements for the research results presented on its pages, and it is also a manifestation of the researcher's creativity in the variety of topics, content, forms and genres of scientific discussion. The uniqueness of the journal lies in the embodiment of the main vision of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute - “To help create a society of the future based on the concept of sustainable development...” and the combination of philosophical research with social technologies and social work practices. After all, at the present stage of development of Ukrainian society, philosophy acts as a way and means of organizing life: it affirms the value of a person as an individual, and also promotes the adoption of non-standard innovative and technological solutions, the development of creative search, and the comprehension of new meanings.
Social work, in turn, is a branch of scientific knowledge that integrates and accumulates data from all human sciences and, at the same time, is a social practice of helping, supporting and protecting vulnerable populations, searching for effective mechanisms that promote change and development, social cohesion, activation and liberation of people. As a scientific and practical field, social work involves the development of certain theories, methods and technologies based on the concept of resilience (the ability of individuals, families, groups to successfully function, adapt and quickly restore normal physical and mental health in threatening conditions after experiencing stressful situations - ed. ), empowerment (empowerment; providing a person with motivation, inner strength and inspiration for active action - ed.) and multidisciplinarity, guarantees of human rights protection, systemic, comprehensive, synergistic, human-centered and other approaches to support and provide qualified assistance to any person, group of people, communities.
- What is the purpose of the editorial board of the scientific journal? What are the tasks set for its team?
- First and foremost, to create a constructive scientific discussion based on the coverage of the results of leading scientific works, original, experimental and review research in the fields of philosophy, social work, social technologies, management theory and practice, as well as philosophical problems of other humanities, social and technical sciences. The editorial board is international in its composition: we cooperate with leading scholars from Germany, Poland, Greece, and Bulgaria, and we are striving to expand this representation. Our goal is to combine the academic and practical discourses of philosophy and social work of domestic and foreign schools. We will promote and support the independent and productive research and innovation activities of authors in the international community. Of course, we will develop and popularize the scientific schools of philosophy of science, history of philosophy, social philosophy, philosophical issues in the field of technical specialties, social work and counseling, health care and social security, which have already been formed in leading universities of Ukraine in recent decades and which are undergoing transformation today due to changes in the approval of a new list of fields of knowledge and specialties (Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of August 30, 2024, No. 1021 “On Amendments to the List of Fields of Knowledge and Specialties”). The tasks also include tracking and providing recommendations for combining theoretical and practical components with the individual trajectory of authors within the scientific teams of journal co-authors. Our goal is, first, to create a sustainable space for professionals in the field of thinking and practical action on the pages of our scientific journal, and second, to become a discussion platform for discussing current scientific research and practices of research authors, as well as an effective means for the formation and development of the Personality in science and society.
- I had the opportunity to familiarize myself with the genre sections of the journal. Articles, discussions, translations, archival work, reviews of new scientific publications on social work and philosophical topics, review of bibliographic data of new books and articles on social and philosophical issues, information reports on scientific and practical conferences, scientific seminars and webinars, round tables, scientific and methodological meetings, etc. Thus, the information sphere of interest of the editorial staff is diverse and wide. What will be the range of scientific fields and issues covered by the journal?
- First of all, it is the philosophy of science and technology, creativity in the form of practical universality, the cognitive sphere of society and man, etc. As I said earlier, we are also interested in social work innovation - theory and methodology, practices, interventions, and technologies of modern social work and counseling. In addition, we have a scientific interest in social work management: management, organization and optimization of the functioning of social work institutions, etc. The goal is to inform the readership about scientific research on effective ways to ensure the quality of social services that promote the realization of civil rights and ensure the needs and interests of the individual as the highest social value, prevent their exclusion from society, and unite the public around the huge number of social challenges that the war has posed to us today.
- How often will TECHNE magazine be published? What do you think its readership will be?
- Given that our scientific journal was originally planned as a publication with international status, in which the priority areas of scientific research will be the analysis and solution of modern problems of the world and Ukrainian experience of social life development, which will allow a fresh look at everyday reality, analysis of philosophical and social issues in its future solution, the effectiveness of the application of new philosophical and social conceptual approaches in the wartime and post-war periods of life in Ukraine and the world, this publication We plan to organize the frequency of the journal twice a year.
- Larysa Volodymyrivna, I wish the editorial staff creative and scientific success, as well as a wide readership!