Documents / FOIA release
This is a CIA JPRS translation, dated 1 January 1991, of an editorial roundtable written up by V.I. Shamshurin for the Moscow journal Sotsiologicheskiye Issledovaniya. Soviet scientists, physicians and philosophers discuss medicine and biology as sociohumanitarian sciences and the links between the natural and social sciences. One participant says public interest in parapsychology, UFOs and astrology reflects a human need for miracles during social crisis. He also criticizes parapsychology experiments and Uri Geller's performances.
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## Document 8 of 10 Medical Sciences; I.I. Sventitskiy, candidate of technical sciences and senior science associate at the Institute of Soil Science and Photosynthesis of the USSR Academy of Sciences; V.V. Semenov, candidate of philosophical sciences and physician; A.I. Panchenko, doctor of philosophical sciences and head of the department of philosophical sciences of the INION [Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences] of the USSR Academy of Sciences; V.I. Shamshurin, candidate of philosophical sciences and editor of the journal SOTSIOLOGICHESKIYE ISSLEDOVANIYA (chairing the session). 3. V.I. Shamshurin: I would like to raise the following questions for discussion. What is the spiritual organization of man as a member of society? What is the role of analyzing the nature of human interests in their relation to social development? As is known, the social conduct of people, according to M. Weber, is organized in accord with their view or their understanding of social reality. But, if we view these problems from the viewpoint of natural sciences directly involved with man (biology and medicine), what can be said about the implied importance of these problems? 4. If, for instance, a biologist merely examines a body organ and a physician merely treats this, then there is no need for the 'questioning' which precedes contact with man. The only thing needed is the practical skill of a 'plaintiff,' that is, a certain questionnaire with questions which must be answered by merely 'yes' or 'no,' as all the remainder is superfluous. This is like a harnessed horse running in blinders. It runs but it does not know where or who and, more importantly, why it is being guided. And possibly it is not necessary to guide at all. Far from the best coachman is in control here and at best he is idle and at worst he gets in the way. What driver is needed? 5. Any humanitarian science is not only an analysis of the sense of words and proper meanings (as in Ancient Greece, although Aristotle mentioned the physician Hippocrates, Plato, and the God of Medicine Asklepios in relation to politics). This is, above all, an analysis of successful, beneficial social actions (as was felt in Ancient Rome), that is, direct or indirect contact with controlling the social behavior of man. 6. The essence of the latter approach is that if you have a good idea or an ideal, whatever it might be, then show it in fact, in practice, and thereby persuade me of your truthfulness. This does not mean that a primitive utilitarian demand is being made of ''let us get a feel'' for what you are thinking. No, this is a completely reasonable desire to be certain that an idea or concept is effective and that the system, as the cyberneticians say, ''possesses feedback.'' A social analysis of the actions of man, that is, his
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 13 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.