Journal of History and Philosophy

Volume 4, Issue 1, February 2023

Editor: România de Mâine Foundation Publishing House Bucharest, Romania

https://minerva.editurafrm.ro/2023/volume 4-number1 E-mail: contact@editurafrm.ro

INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL BOARD

President of the editorial board: GHEORGHE VLĂDUȚESCU, Romanian Academy

• ALEXANDRINA CERNOV, honorary member of the Romanian Academy

• ALESSANDRO DENTI, Università di Roma Tre

• VIORICA MOISUC, Ovidius University, Constanța

• IOAN N. ROȘCA, Spiru Haret University, Bucharest

• HERNÁN RODRIGUES VARGAS, Università di Salerno (Italy), Universidad Javeriana Bogotá, Colombia

• CONSTANTIN STOENESCU, University of Bucharest

• MELINA ALLEGRO, Istituto TESEO, Italy

• STEFANO AMODIO, Istituto TESEO, Italy

• ALEXANDRA RADU, Istituto TESEO, Italy

• MARIAN ZIDARU, Andrei Șaguna University, Constanța

• ACSINTE DOBRE, Spiru Haret University, Bucharest

• NICOLAE MAREȘ, Ph.D., diplomat and writer

Editor & Project Coordinator/Translator of texts into English: Dragoș CIOCĂZAN and Andrada ION

Cover: Magdalena ILIE

DTP: Magdalena ILIE

Photo sources:

The responsibility for the content and originality of the text belongs entirely to the authors.

PEER-REVIEW POLICY:

All papers in this journal have undergone editorial screening and anonymous double-blind peer-review.

Romania de Mâine Foundation Publishing House Bucharest, Romania, 2023

ISSN: 2784 – 2002

ISSN-L: 2784 – 2002

CONTENTS

History

THE VILLAGE, THE SPACE, THE SOCIAL AND THE RUBIK'S CUBE

Arturo CAMPANILE………………………………………………………………

BUCOVINA. HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHT

Viorica MOISUC…………………………………………………………………..

AUTOMATIC TRANSLATION: HISTORY AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Alberto Maria LANGELLA….........................................................................

THE FAMOUS PIANIST CAROL MICULI. IMPRESSIONS FROM A MUSICAL EVENT AS PART

OF THE FESTIVAL MANDYCZEWSKI FEST. Iuliana LUCEAC…………...

Philosophy

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, TOWARDS A GREATER AWARENESS

OF CONSCIOUSNESS. Melina ALLEGRO…………………………..............

HISTORY OF ROMANIAN PHILOSOPHY BY NICOLAE BAGDASAR AND THE TIMELINESS

OF ITS METHOD OF APPROACH. Ioan N. ROȘCA………………………..

THE JOB INTERVIEW: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS

Stefano AMODIO…………………………………………………………………

ON MAN AND MORALITY IN THE VIEW OF EUGEN RUSSU

Constantin STROE……………………………………………………………….

103

TRANSLINGUALISM, METASEMANTICS AND COMMUNICATION

Alexandra RADU………………………………………………………………….

129

CONSTANTIN STROE ON THE MORAL DIMENSION OF VASILE BĂNCILĂ'S PHILOSOPHY. A Book Review

Ionel NECULA………………………………………………………………….....

139

History

THE VILLAGE, THE SPACE, THE SOCIAL AND THE RUBIK'S CUBE

Arturo CAMPANILE

Abstract: The visible thing, which catches the eye, is that of having to avoid falling back into the mistakes of the past and rethinking that Technology alone is the true Deus Ex Machina of our Living, Progressing and, above all, of Our Total Being. Space turns out to be a more indefinite than defined dimension but it takes on different values: we can identify it as empty or as circumscribed but, in the final analysis, it always brings us back to an idea of Eternity. In fact it has no beginning, no end, it is immutable, it is not subject to corruption (even if all these characteristics would then be only conceptual). It also takes on other values: Proxemic Space (the importance of the position in a given context), Individual Space (a theoretical "bubble" that expands or shrinks depending on the subjects with whom it interacts), Social Space (the place in which the study, work, socialization, and other activities take place).

The Global Mosaic and the Global Village

Today we were discussing in the car the extensive possibilities of the Internet and Social Forums such as FACEBOOK, clearly we also came to talk about the possibility of intercommunicating with the whole world and, in that moment and in a nutshell, the concept of the Global Village crumbled. In fact, the other day I tried to get in touch with a Ukrainian girl but I didn't know how to write her name in Cyrillic characters (I was hoping she wrote it in English but it is much more logical that she wrote it in her mother tongue). In the same way I know people in France, originally from Egypt (Catholic Copts) naturalized in the French Republic, I have not found them and furthermore I do not know if they have written their names in Coptic. In this regard I throw a stone into the pond and I would like to say that rather than using the reductive term of Global Village (which brings to mind Tönnies in “Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft”, on page 61; where he speaks of people united in difference, a Community with ties of Blood, Religion, Identity) it would be necessary to go back to the Chicago School and speak

of a Mosaic of Neighborhoods (pag. 130 Clifford SHAW – Henry MAC KEY in Dario MELOSSI “State, social control, deviance”), all united by a common language, English, but each dominated by the ethnic groups present. So I launch the idea of talking about Global Mosaic since by now the spatio-temporal distances have been, yes, canceled but the bonds of Language, Culture, Tradition, Ethnicity, Dialogue, Comparison, Communication, Religion still remain strong, which in any case divide strongly distinct and separate Society with few real communication channels, in a different way but always in a positive key, and in such a way that they are valid and united in the difference. The "space" thus becomes an element that is not as close as it seems. With the harsh experience of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict we have begun to see the crumbling of the apparently non-existent distances.

For now, wheat can be bought, paid for and sold with a simple "click" in real time BUT NOT delivered and therefore eaten.

The visible thing, which catches the eye, is that of having to avoid falling back into the mistakes of the past and rethinking that Technology alone is the true Deus Ex Machina of our Living, Progressing and, above all, of Our Total Being.

Space and the Social – Facilitation of the Social Space”

Space turns out to be a more indefinite than defined dimension but it takes on different values: we can identify it as empty or as circumscribed but, in the final analysis, it always brings us back to an idea of Eternity. In fact it has no beginning, no end, it is immutable, it is not subject to corruption (even if all these characteristics would then be only conceptual). It also takes on other values: Proxemic Space (the importance of the position in a given context), Individual Space (a theoretical "bubble" that expands or shrinks depending on the subjects with whom it interacts), Social Space (the place in which the study, work, socialization, and other activities take place). An example of the identification of space as a "theme" was born in the architect of the "more social" past: Le Corbusier, born Charles-Edouard JEANNERET-GRIS. In 1907 he visited the Certosa di Ema in Italy, near Florence, and was "enlightened" by the organization of space, individual and collective, which exists within the structure. Each friar, in each unit that hosts them, is served the table through a revolving system where there is no eye contact, thus protecting individual freedom, while

collective harmony is later regained through shared spaces such as the church , the cloister, the churchyard. However, this ingenious intuition will always be applied by Le Corbusier in his urban visions, so in his writing "L'Unité d'Habitation à Marseille" (in "Le Point", 1950 n. 38) he states "... Starting from this moment, the binomial appeared to me: Individual and Collectivity, an indissoluble binomial.” In fact, the Maestro mainly recognized eleven "Ideas-Strength" which represented the backbone of his three-dimensional vision of the harmonic music of his projects. Among these we extrapolate that of "Family Protection" in which the research itself is aimed at keeping away, always in a modular way as preferred by Him, both every single family nucleus (from the other families), and every single element of the Nucleus itself (from the other members of the house) to then recreate meeting spaces in which to promote social cohesion. It represents the realization of the search for a social homeostasis by giving enough space to all personal and group needs. The real estate units are separated by a "Loggia" which acts as a separating diaphragm which protects the "privacy" of the families while the Roof-Garden (one of the master's five fundamental points) is connected to the building by the ramp of the "Architecture Walk" and together with the area of shops and supermarkets, kindergartens, the diversification of accesses and roads (and much more) they identify for the designer the aggregation part of the community. Even "L'Unité d'Habitation à Marseille" for him represents only a module of a system and also in his urban visions what he dictates is constituted by the vision of space as a useful, necessary, indispensable presence/absence for all mankind (comparable to the vision of the Austrian biologist Ludwig VON BERTALLANFY in his work "General Theory of Systems"; written that will be published only three years after the death of Le Corbusier). We have often lost the best features of its original message: today's real estate units recall those immense building "blocks" in which the diaphragms and the separating loggias have been eliminated to make room for an ever- increasing number of tenants; kindergartens and supermarkets have been eliminated to make room for the logic of interest, the reuse of the roof has been distorted to favor penthouses in view of a mere economic return.

Currently I believe that the relationship between Space and Social acquires an important value also on a "virtual" level. With the diffusion of "Social Networks" of which an undisputed positive vision cannot be denied, it is evident how they have relegated the part of Le Corbusier's Individual/Community to the little space occupied by the user and his

computer. Today we "virtually collectivize", we "virtually discuss", we "virtually meet", we are "virtually courageous". This is why we know each other less and upon meeting the much vaunted "virtual realities" melt like snow in the sun in the truthful direct relationship. Space and the Social are undoubtedly of primary importance but now it is necessary to make room for the virtual relationship and therefore for the "Space", "Social" and "Virtual" Terna in which all of us and above all the new generations interact.

With regard to an in-depth study of the theme of the social with respect to space, Edward T. HALL was also interested in a careful and exhaustive way in his two books "The Silent Language" and "The Hidden Dimension".

RUBIK'S Cube A Problem Finally Solved.

Eastern Wisdom "If a leaf falls into a river, it changes the course of the river forever". Even Western Philosophy has treated the same idea but from a different point of view: "Panta Rei" "Everything flows" seen by the Philosopher Heraclitus with the words of his pupil Cratilo.

In the spring of 1974, the Hungarian Professor of Architecture and Sculptor Ernő RUBIK invented, in his house in Budapest, the so-called "RUBIK's Cube" with the original name in Hungarian Rubik-Kocka then anglicized by him in "Magic Cube" to finally end in “RUBIK'S Cube”. It is the best-selling toy in history (about 300 million pieces sold) and in the period of the late 80s of the twentieth century it was the pastime / problem of millions of people (including me and the worry of the years of high school and beyond) .

The RUBIK's Cube has six faces each made up of 9 squares of which only the central one remains constantly in a fixed position. For the permutation of squares there is an impressive number of possible combinations which are:

43,252,003,274,489,856,000 positions.

I was in doubt about solving this incredible puzzle until my wife and children bought a gift for me, when my daughter Michela chose a new game for herself: the aforementioned "RUBIK'S CUBE" . For young people solving the Rubik's Cube is simple, for those who are a few years older it becomes more difficult.

I immediately felt the desire to solve it come back to me and I looked beyond my strength for help on the Internet. Among the various ESOTERIC

possibilities typical of the RUBIK'S Cube Band, I found a beautiful site of "Notes on Recreational Mathematics" of which I leave you the references:

BASE Five - Notes on recreational mathematics http://utenti.quipo.it/base5/index.htm

Website created by Gianfranco BO (2000-2011).

Thanks to this beautiful site (to which my undying thanks go), thanks also to some other information obtained from distant memories and the attentive ability to apply in a correct sequence (attention, not fixed but variable) series of concatenations of suitable Algorithms ( the term algorithm normally means a method for obtaining a certain result or solving problems through a finite number of steps and Gianfranco BO writes that he used the layered method invented by David SINGMASTER and published in the book "Notes on Rubik's Magic Cube" by 1980) I have FINALLY, and now more than once, managed to solve the RUBICK'S Cube. There are also other systems such as the PETRUS method, the FRIDRICH method, the CORNER FIRST or the ZB (it is the most complex of all and requires the use of more than 800 algorithms).

In addition to Personal Satisfaction, with love, I also send Thanks to My Family who had the kindness to lend me the Raw Material (the Cube), to accept my Absences (in the period of understanding the Methodology and Resolution Techniques), in Loving, Patient and Present, Trust granted me.

The thing that struck me the most after solving the Cube was to delve into the true genesis of this wonderful Toy/Puzzle/Problem and the news I gathered is what I anticipated at the beginning of this writing. I have reserved only one and it concerns the number of possible solutions for this Mathematical Arrangement; well the possible solutions are only ONE!

All this brings me back to thinking about our life and the Italian popular wisdom that reads "Only for death there is no remedy !!!". Well I think so; in every situation, simple or difficult, it is necessary to look for the right Strategy to apply the valid Methodology and the suitable Tactics.

I was thinking about the mental dynamics of our wonderful brain and how combined with a greater use of logic (and therefore of the example provided by the RUBIK's Cube) they could significantly improve our approach to the problems of everyday life.

I try to try to imagine some similarities between the RUBIK's Cube and real life.

In fact, sometimes we think: "Changing just one detail doesn't change anything!", while with RUBIK's Cube (and with the experience of Everyday Being) we discover that every Single Element has a decisive weight. We continue: We think "Okay but if in the past we had changed only this the result would certainly have been better", with The RUBIK'S Cube instead we discover that ALL the scenario changes. Let's continue with this game of parallelisms: We think “There's nothing to do !!!“, we discover with RUBIK's Cube that instead there is always some Solution, sometimes even ONE, but we have to try and sometimes to to arrive at the resolution it is necessary to dismember previous situations or positions that have crystallized over time, to bring all the elements back to the correct position. It's not over: We think "Let's try, let's try, we'll succeed sooner or later" the RUBIK's Cube leads us to reflect on this thought that is already Noble and Valid but which in some delicate situations can become highly destructive; it is OFTEN, if not ALWAYS, necessary to go back, review the steps taken and Apply the Suitable Algorithm. One last example: We think “I will never succeed!!!” this statement makes a Winning Challenge already declared lost at the start.

The Cube has six centers which are IMMOVABLE (Everyone call them as they want: Divinity, Fate, Destiny, Fortune, Essence, Nature and place there the really Important Values of His Life: Divinity, Consistency, Children, Wife or Partner, Parents, Being , Social Status) and everything else Moves, Becomes, according to these Points. It is therefore necessary to choose well from which of these fixed points to start and how to proceed. Start Building Calmly and remember that there is always at least one Solution (whether we like it or not) and that by looking for it, and applying the Right Algorithms (often tiring), you will find it.

In all of this I increasingly appreciate the research in the studio from which, dynamically, fervors of Ideas arise capable of modifying, from the inside and in an Objectively Positive-Cultural-Creative way, the structure of the people who look out, from the beginning, to the Challenges of Culture.

I end with another phrase from Eastern Wisdom:

“If there is a problem solve it; if you can't solve it (editor's note: at the moment) what do you get angry for?”.

References:

° Ferdinand TÖNNIES “Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft” 1887

° Clifford SHAW – Henry MAC KEY Definition Of “Mosaic of Neighborhoods”

° LE CORBUSIER (Charles-Edouard JEANNERET-GRIS) [Chaux-de-Fond (CH) 6 October 1887 – Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (F) 27 August 1965] Swiss architect naturalized French.

Ludwig von Bertalanffy Austrian biologist started the "General Systems Theory"; born September 19, 1901, Atzgersdorf, Vienna, Austria and died June 12, 1972, Buffalo, New York, United States.

° Edward T. HALL born in 1914 in Webster Groves in Missouri (U.S.A.) and professor of Anthropology at Northwestern University (U.S.A.).

Ernő RUBIK is a Hungarian designer and architect at the institute inventor of the homonymous cube and other logic and strategy games. Born: July 13, 1944, Budapest, Hungary

Bibliography:

° “Le Corbusier 1887-1965”, H. Allen BROOKS – Electa

BUCOVINA. HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHT

Viorica MOISUC

Abstract: This subject, approached in today's political context of the war between Russia and Ukraine, requires, above all, a good knowledge of the history – older and newer – of how the relations between Russia and the states in its western neighborhood have evolved, as well as with the Powers whose interests clashed in this geographical area. Knowing the facts, the events that marked this evolution, directly involves Romanian interests throughout many centuries.

It goes without saying that the space limits of a journal study allow only a specific approach to this issue, namely regarding the fate of that part of the North of the Principality of Moldova –"The Upper Country"–which was caught up in the whirlwind of political events starting with 18th century. At the same time, however, this issue can neither be approached nor understood if it is separated from the wider context of the relations of the Principality of Moldova with the great neighboring powers whose interests were aimed at grabbing its territory, the domination of the Danube mouths, the navigation on the river, the access to Black Sea.

Before proceeding to recount the facts, the morality of history obliges me to bring back to the memory of my contemporaries – who are trying to discern – with more or less skill – the correct path of history, the analysis and value judgments presented by Ion I. Nistor – "the greatest historian of Bucovina" as characterized by Nicolae Iorga –, in his work Problema ucraineană in lumina istoriei (The Ukrainian Problem in the Light of History), published in Chernivtsi in 1934, under the auspices of the Institute of History and Language of the "King Carol II" University, work dated Chernivtsi , October 1933. "The present work is the result of long studies and research in the field of contemporary history - writes I. Nistor in

«Foreword». In its pages I have tried to highlight one of the most controversial political and national issues that preoccupy minds today to a very large extent and are waiting to be resolved. For its just appreciation, however, it is required that it be removed from the maelstrom of political struggles and passions and raised to the heights of an objective historical

analysis. In the midst of national struggles, passionate statements were made, unfair exaggerations were resorted to and unjustified claims were raised"¹

"I insisted – Ion Nistor announces in this preface – on the old empire of Kiev and the principality of Halici, then on the famous Bârladene Diploma and on the origin of the cities on the Danube, in order to prove the unfoundedness of some assertions regarding the alleged Slavic dominions over parts of Romanian land. An entire chapter was dedicated to Romanian foundations in Poland and Ukraine, to highlight the contribution of the Romanian Church to the spiritual life of the Ukrainian people under foreign rule. It was then shown how Romanians have always proved to be friends and protectors of Ukrainians everywhere /… / The connections between Ukraine and Moldova from the time of Bogdan Hmielnitski, Doroshenko and Mazepa are treated on the basis of the rich historical information that we find in the contemporary chroniclers Grigore Ureche, Miron and Nicolae Costin, Ion Neculce and Dimitrie Cantemir/…/ Throughout the Cossack era, the good neighborly relations between Romanians and Ukrainians were the most sincere and cordial as the Dniester border between the two peoples was not contested by anyone. On the contrary, it was recognized even in official documents. The words « Inter nos et Valachiam ipse deus flumine Tyras² dislimitavit» remained to determine until today the conditions of friendship and good neighborliness between Romanians and Ukrainians". (emphasis added V.M.)

Ukraine's territorial claims in Bukovina and Bessarabia have contributed to the tightening of relations between the two peoples. "The dissensions increased greatly during the world war when the Russian Ukraine raised claims to Bessarabia and the Austrian one to Bucovina or a part of it. Then, the Council of the Country in Chisinau and the National Council of Bucovina in Chernivtsi vigorously protested against such unfounded claims, asserting loudly and loudly the inalienable rights of Moldova over the old Romanian land up to the Dniester.

"These unanimous protests" – says I. Nistor – "lead the head of the Ukrainian mission in Bucharest to declare on behalf of his Government that

1 Ion I. Nistor, The Ukrainian problem in the light of history, Society for Romanian Culture and Literature in Bucovina, edited by Ștefan Purici. Argument by Gheorghe Buzatu. Septentrion Publishing House, Rădăuți, 1997, p. 12.

2 Tyras = Dniester.

«Ukrainians consider the Dniester as the definitive border between both countries». Through this declaration, the basis of a lasting understanding between the two neighboring countries was laid, which only some reckless agitators are trying to disturb with their machinations /..../"³ (emphasis n.s. V.M.) And, for those of today, a judgment that comes from across the ages, has a topicality beyond any comment: "Enlightened Ukrainians from all sides are always stirring up the national question and imperiously demanding its solution. It is their national duty to do and no one can take them in the name of evil for agitating or matter that interests them and touches them so closely. However, it is no less true that the nations and states neighboring the Ukrainians are given to follow closely the unfolding of this problem, contributing as much as they can to its just and quitable solution." "Especially we, the Romanians"– states the author – "neighbors at Ceremuş and Dniester with the Ukrainians, hundreds of kilometers away, are obliged to carefully follow the evolution of the problem in all its details and this all the more closely as the historical development brought with it as a fraction of the Ukrainian nation to settle between Romania's borders, namely in the old Moldavian provinces of Bucovina and Bessarabia as well as in Maramureș. Therefore, we cannot be indifferent to the way in which the Ukrainian problem are to be solved!"⁴

I think it necessary to include in this short but useful – I think – introduction, the objective and very welcome assessments today, of the well-known historian Gheorghe Buzatu, who left us early, the signatory of the "Argument" to the recent edition of I. Nistor's book: "Investigating the realities of the past, Ion Nistor consistently returns in the text to their meanings for the present. Based on historical and ethnic data, the historian reveals the extent of Romanian rights in Bucovina and Bessarabia, rebutting in counterweight, the imperialist claims of the neighbors from the East, Russians and Ukrainians, in the past and today. At the same time, they insist on the Romanian claims, which have never crossed the Dniester line. But, let's re-read the great historian: «The entire historical past is a witness that the Romanian people have always been animated by the best feelings of friendship and good neighborliness towards the Ukrainians. The Romanians never craved territorial conquests beyond the Dniester... »⁵ .

3 I. Nistor, op.cit.,p. 13.

4 Ibidem, p. 16.

5 Ibid.,p. 217.

We have to admit that such a conclusion - rightly emphasizes Gh. Buzatu– formulated more than half a century ago, proves its complete relevance"⁶.

The truth contained in these words is confirmed by the entire history of the Romanians, and his objections, not few, direct and indirect, could never be argued. He is part of the perennial truths of Romanian history.

1775

The names "Bucovina" and "Bessarabia“ – attributed to so-called independent political-territorial and ethnic entities of Moldova, never existed as such. These names appeared after the annexation of these parts of the autonomous Principality by the Habsburg Empire in 1775 and, respectively, by the Russian Empire in 1812; the names mentioned belong exclusively to these Empires that wanted to separate from Moldova - at least theoretically, by name, of the annexed territories.

The area in the south-eastern part of the Principality of Moldova, with the cities of Chilia and Cetatea-Albă, was known as the Bessarabian Kingdom, because, before the establishment of the Principality of Moldova, it was under the control of the Bessarabians, a ruling dynasty in the Principality of Wallachia (Wallachia). After the establishment of its centralized state, Moldova expanded to the South and East; during the time of Voivode Alexandru cel Bun (1400-1432), Moldova stretched from Ceremuş and Hotin to the mouth of the Dniester and the Black Sea, also ruling Cetatea–Albă and Chilia (after the death of the Wallachian Voivode Mircea the Elder). The southeastern area of Moldova has kept its old name of "Bessarabia", but it has never been an independent administrative unit ⁷within the Principality of Moldova. On the other hand, the historian Gheorghe Brătianu, in the study written under the sign of territorial seizures from 1940, states that "the borders of the Moldavian Principality were drawn since the time of its foundation"⁸. In the year 1392, Roman Voivode

6 Gh. Buzatu, Argument, inserted before the text of I. Nistor's book. It is dated: Iasi, September 9, 1996, signed Gh. Buzatu.

7 Bessarabia Bucovina Transylvania. Documents. . Annotated and introductory study by Prof. Univ. Dr. Viorica Moisuc. Department of Public Information. Editorial office of Publications for Foreign Affairs, Bucharest, 1996,

p. 6

8 Gheorghe Brătianu, La Moldavie et ses frontières historiques, Imprimerie Semne, 1995, p. 95. In this study. Gh. Brătianu refers extensively to the extent of

Musat was entitled "Lord of the Country of Moldavia from the mountain to the sea". During the time of Alexander the Good, the entire course of the Dniester had been reached.⁹

In this area of problems, an important document is the Treaty of Alliance from 1711 between Tsar Peter the Great of Russia and Voivode of Moldavia Dimitrie Cantemir. Article 11 of this document specified the old borders of the Country of Moldova: "Moldova's borders, according to ancient rights, are those formed by the Dniester, Camenita, Bender / White Castle/ with the territory of Bugeacul /south–east of Moldova/, the Danube, Wallachia, Transylvania and Poland after the delimitations that were made“. This Treaty also stipulated the obligation for the Russian troops to liberate the territories they had occupied in Moldova; also included in the Treaty was the prohibition for Russians to obtain and hold property on the territory of Moldova¹⁰. In time, The Russian Empire forcibly extended the name of the area in South–Eastern Moldavia, Bessarabia, to the entire annexation of the land between the Prut and Dniester. Austria's territorial acquisition had no name either. At first it was called “Austrian Moldova"; later it was resorted to the development of the word buk=beech, from the old Slavonic, used by such chroniclers to name the beech groves that covered the hills and hills of Upper Country: "large bucovines" in the region between the Prut and the upper Ceremuş valley, and "small bucovines" in the region between the Prut and the Dniester. This is the origin of the name "Bucovina". Cârligătura, Roman, Vaslui; Tutova, Tecuci, Putna-Covurlui, Fălciu, Lăpușna, Orhei and Soroca. Upper country with 7 lands: Hotin, Dorohoi, Hârlău, Cernăuți, Suceava, Neamţ, Bacău. Bessarabia with 4 lands: Bugeac, Cetatea-Albă, Chlia, Ismail¹¹. It should be noted that the Prut was not the border between these lands, nor did it delimit any of them.

the Moldovan state throughout its history, to the changes that occurred in the context of the events that followed in the centuries following the establishment of the centralized state.

9 Ibidem.

10 Ibid., p. 99. It should be noted that this last provision was identical to the one contained in the Ottoman Hatiserifs: the Turks were not allowed to own any kind of property on the territory of the Romanian Principalities, they did not have the right to build mosques, they did not have the right to cross the Danube to sell their goods, the exchange was made in the Danube ports with Romanian merchants, etc.

11 Basarabia Bucovina Transilvania..., p. 6-7.

In the 18th century, Moldavia was actually the Principality of Moldavia and consisted of three administrative units: Lowland with 12 lands: Iași, severely affected by the conflicts of interests between Russia, Habsburg Austria and the Ottoman Gate. The first partition of Poland in 1772 between Austria-Russia-Prussia was far from reconciling the conflicting interests of these Powers.

For scientific accuracy and understanding of the course of events, I reproduce below the value judgment of Mihail Kogălniceanu, brilliant historian, politician and Romanian diplomat¹², to whom we owe the discovery, in the secret archive of the Imperial Court in Vienna, of the documents relating to the onerous transaction of The upper lands of Moldavia between the three empires - Habsburg, Ottoman and Russian: "Austria always craved the incorporation of Moldavia and Wallachia. When it was not in her power to seize everything, she was content to take a part or even the part... For the complete incorporation of the Principalities, the Court of Vienna found opposition in Russia; that is why we see the ministers of Austria either proposing to the Cabinet from Saint-Petersburg the division of the Principalities or, on a good occasion, seizing a part of Romania. The parts that especially whet Austria's appetites were those localities that would have put the Carpathians under their control on both

12 Mihail Kogălniceanu (1817-1891), leader of the Revolution of 1848, professor at the University of Iași (in 1843 he opened the course on the History of Romanians, stating that the "Homeland" is all the territory inhabited by Romanians); he had special merits in the events that materialized in the Union of the Romanian Principalities on January 24, 1859; he was Minister of Foreign Affairs under the reign of Charles I, ; his name is linked to two other historical events: the proclamation in the Romanian Parliament of state independence on May 9, 1877 and the support of Romania's rights at the Berlin Peace Congress in 1878. Together with Prime Minister Ion C. Brătianu and Carol I, supported resistance to Tsarist Russia's attempt to occupy Romania and turn it into a "gubernia" after the end of the Russo-Romanian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. In 1875, on the anniversary of the abduction of Upper Country (Bucovina) of Moldavia by Austria, Mihail Kogălniceanu published the documents discovered in the secret archive of the Imperial Court in Vienna regarding the Austro-Turkish negotiations of 1774-1775 conducted under the benevolent eyes of Russia , treaties whose objective was the annexation of Northern Moldova by the Habsburgs. See these documents in the work: Viorica Moisuc, The Ordeal of Romanians in the Struggle for Liberation and National Integration, vol. I, Publishing House of the România de Maine Foundation, Bucharest, 2010, ch. XIV, p.197-210

sides. These were in Wallachia, the Banat of Craiova, in Moldova, the lands stretching from Ceremuş to Milcov".¹³

This is evidenced by the secret treaty between Austria and the Sublime Gate of July 16, 1771, by which Austria promised its support to Turkey in the war it was waging with Russia. Instead, "The Sublime Gate to give evidence of its full gratitude and full gratitude to the generous proceeding of Their Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesties, will willingly leave them and give them as a gift the whole Part of the Principality of Wallachian Banat, on the which borders on a on one side with the borders of Transylvania and the Temisan other with the Danube and the Olt River, with the Imperial Court having the right of superiority over the Olt River".

I remind you of an essential thing: the Ottoman Gate had no right over the territory of the Romanian Principalities. Their autonomous status under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire precluded their labeling as Turkish provinces. The status of autonomy declared and recognized by the Port through numerous official documents signed by the sultan, did not allow the suzerain any kind of interference in the internal affairs of the Principalities, even more so it excluded any desire of the suzerain to dispose of the territory of the vassal state at will. This was a universally accepted rule in vassal-suzerain relations in medieval Europe. The suzerain obliges himself, through his contract with the vassal, to defend his territory in case of aggression.

The above-mentioned Austro-Ottoman agreement of 1771 did not materialize. But, the division of Poland and the annexation by Austria of a part of the territory of this state, specifically Galicia and Pocutia ("fatal event"– says Kogălniceanu), opened the appetite of Empress Maria- Tereza for claiming a "road" to her new annexations. This "road" had to be cut through the north of Moldova! Explains M. Kogălniceanu: “But the Vienna Court, in order to become master of this land / Galicia and Pocutia / needed a pretext - she, who had no right –. This pretext was found. Maria- Tareza had become the sovereign of Pocutia. Maria –Teresa had the right to complete the boundaries of Pocutia. Upper Moldova, with its old residence Suceava, with the Orthodox bishopric of Rădăuți founded by Alexandru the Good, with the monasteries of Putna, Sucevița, Voroneț,

13 M. Kogălniceanu, The kidnapping of Bucovina according to authentic documents, 3rd Edition, Introduction by Petre V. Haneș, Ed. Socec & Co., S.A.R., Bucharest, 1942. According to Viorica Moisuc, op. cit., p. 201.

Dragomirna, with the city of Cernivtsi¹⁴, whose administrators appeared in all the charters, in all the laws of the country, from the "dismounting"/foundation of the state/¹⁵ .

The execution of the territorial abduction from the body of Moldova was the result of secret understandings between the three empires: the Sublime Gate, Austria and Russia. The documents researched by Kogălniceanu in the Secret Archive of the Vienna Court are revealing. I reproduce the document of July 3, 1775: "The account of the extraordinary secret expenses that were made by the Austrian imperial representative at the Gate, Thugut, on the occasion of the signing of the Convention regarding the cession of Bucovina on May 7, 1775":

To the dragoman of the Costachi Moruzzi Gate,

After the promise given ………………………………………………….10 000 piastres

Since this amount, for greater secrecy, it was counted in 2500 yellow bottoms; they paid off for each

yellow bottom an agio of 5 parales.................................................................. 312.20"

Total... 10,312 20"

At the Gate Chancellery

To Beilikei Effendi, 200 ordinary Turkish guldens,

piece of 3 piastres 3 parallels...................................................................................... 620

To Amedji Effendi also…............................................................................................. 620“

Secretary Raschid Mehmed Effendi who

the Convention prescribed, 100 yellows................................................................. 320“

Copies of various maps................................................................................................... 50“

To Tahir Aga, the commissioner of the Gate

at the demarcation, 1000 ordinary yellows.......................................................... 3100“

Total...... 15,012 20“

Which makes (Turkish piastre 16.71/2kr) in Caesaro-Royal coin 16,889 florins 31/2 kr

Signed, Thugut Constantinople, July 3, 177516

14 Documentary attestation of the city of Chernivtsi exists since 1408 and is represented by an act of commercial privileges granted by the Voivode of Moldavia Alexander the Good to merchants from the Polish city of Lwow

15 Documentary attestation of the city of Chernivtsi exists since 1408 and is represented by an act of commercial privileges granted by the Voivode of Moldavia Alexander the Good to merchants from the Polish city of Lwow

The above account does not include the reward given to the Russian Field –Marshal Rumiantsev for the support given to Austria in the completion of this transaction, namely: 5000 guldens and a gold snuffbox encrusted with diamonds.

As it turns out, gold, diamonds, Spanish knives with precious stones, mirrors from Venice, porcelain vases from Sèvre were more powerful than the justice of Moldavia.

The theft of "Bukovina" was an accomplished fact and recognized by the Ottoman Porte and Tsarist Russia. The Governor of Moldova, Grigore Ghica, supported by the Divan, vehemently opposed this transaction, trying, until the last moment, to save the country's land. His fate was also decided by Vienna and Stambul: he was assassinated. Mihail Kogălniceanu's conclusion at the commemoration of a century since this theft: "After a hundred years of oblivion, the secret archive of the Court in Vienna was tasked with bringing to light the old Romanian virtue! When the virtue of our ancestors will revive among us, sweet Bucovina will also return to us; for falsehood, corruption, and abduction can never constitute a right; for righteous causes, just like God's justice, never perish!"¹⁷ (emphasis added V.M.) Prophetic words with resonance across the ages.

The transaction completed in May 1775 between Habsburg Austria and the Sublime Gate, embodied in the Deed of Cession signed in Palamutca, on the Dniester (north of Hotin) on July 2, 1776, established, after the drawing of the new borders, that Austria came into possession of

278 localities with a total area of 10,441 square kilometers, and a population of 70,000 inhabitants, most of whom are Romanian.

The Convention of Palamutca of 1776 between the Ottoman Porte and the Habsburg Austrian Empire concerning the cession of Upper Moldavia to Austria, as well as the Convention of Bucharest of 1812 between Tsarist Russia and the Sublime Porte concerning the cession of Moldavia between the Prut and Dniester to Russia, were null and void and not acquired from the start, because the Ottoman Gate disposed, without any right, of territories that did not belong to it. The mentioned conventions have kept this character until today.

16 Apud Ibid., p. 210.

17 Ibid.,p. 209-210.

1917-1918

At the outbreak of the First World War, the Romanian nation, for the most part, was under foreign rule: Tsarist Russia ruled the eastern part of Moldova – the region between Prut and Dniester – Bessarabia; Austria– Hungary controlled a much larger Romanian territory: Banat, Bucovina and Transylvania. Therefore, the Empires being part of two opposing political– military Alliances ruled Romanian territories. Hence the problem of Romania's option.

The Kingdom of Romania, with national-state unification as its major objective, opted for the Entente, with which it saw possible the liberation of the Romanian territories held by Austria and Hungary. Alliance with the Entente Powers was established de facto only in the summer of 1916 through the Political Convention and the Military Convention signed in Bucharest by the representatives of France, Russia, Italy, and Romania. In a short time, Romania went to war only against Austria-Hungary with the declared aim of liberating the territories inhabited by Romanians and ruled by this empire.

In the conditions of the war and the deepening of the political and social crisis in the multinational empires, the struggle of the oppressed nations for national and political self-determination became radicalized. In the Romanian provinces under Habsburg and tsarist occupation, the national struggle became intertwined with the objective of unification with the Motherland.

The phenomenon was not only specific to the Romanians, but also to the other nations of the Empire that rejected the idea of perpetuating the dualist state, even if reformed¹⁸. The mass desertion of Romanians from

18 In the context of the deepening of the political, social, national crisis in the dual monarchy, of the manifestation of Hungary's separatist tendencies, the reformist current was asserted, promoted and supported by politicians, philosophers, ideologues, not only in Austria, but also abroad. Archduke Franz- Ferdinand, the heir to the Habsburg Throne, an open opponent of the ultra- conservative policy of Emperor Francis-Joseph and the militaristic circles around him, became the leader of the action aimed at reforming the Empire through federalization and granting a wide autonomy to all the nations that were composing. Romanian Aurel C. Popovici. leader of the Romanian national movement in Transylvania, author of the work Die Vereinigte Staaten von Gross- Ősterreich, Leipzig, 1906 (translated and edited into Romanian by Petre Pandrea

the Habsburg imperial army and their enlistment in the Romanian army or in the army of Romania's allies also occurred during these years. A large number of Romanians campaigned for the national cause, in various forms; in France, the Romanian National Committee was established under the leadership of Tache Ionescu; La Roumanie magazine was the platform where the national cause of all Romanians was supported. In the United States, a large number of Romanians coming from Transylvania and other parts of the country organized demonstrations, public gatherings in which the situation of the brothers from Austria-Hungary was explained, the only goal pursued by Romania by entering the war being the liberation of the brothers and the unification national – state. In Italy, the legion of Romanian volunteers (former prisoners from the Austro –Hungarian army) was established, supported by the government of the Italian government. In Russia, Romanian soldiers from the Austro-Hungarian army taken prisoner made up the Transylvanian volunteer corps that got involved in supporting the revolutionary movement in Bessarabia. It is also important to underline the fact that leaders of the national movement from Austria –Hungary established national committees abroad, collaborating closely with each other, in these years the cause of all was the abolition of the Austro – Hungarian colossus and the national liberation.

The fall of tsarism and the development of the revolutionary movement in Russia created favorable conditions for the liberation struggle of the Romanians from the Bessarabia governorate. The strong national

in 1939 under the auspices of the "King Carol II" Foundation for Literature and Art, edition republished in 1997 under the care of Constantin Schifirnet), was among the archduke's close collaborators. The essence of the reformation of the dualist empire in the vision of Franz-Ferdinand and his collaborators was actually the saving of the empire and the House of Habsburg, granting an illusory freedom and autonomy to the nations, the "reformed" state preserving and even extolling the prerogatives of the emperor, who concentrated the powers in his hand legislative, judicial, political, military. In Romania, despite the good relations with the heir to the Habsburg throne, the idea of this so-called "reformation" of the Empire was not shared - which did not renounce the annexationist policy, did not recognize the right of nations to self-determination and constitution of their own states or unification with already existing national states; Popovici's book, although highly appreciated for the vastness of the documentation, was not accepted either by public opinion or by political circles. See this issue in detail in Calvarul...vol II, chapters XXX, XXXI, XXXII; XXXV, pp. 261-349; 374-401.

movement spoke out for the self – determination of this province, which was decided by the Council of the Country – the representative body of the new state, the Moldavian Democratic Republic – on December 2, 1917. The new Romanian state, declared independence on January 24, 1918, in the midst of a bitter struggle with the Russian Bolshevik authorities, with groups of the Red Army sent to liquidate the new Chisinau Power and establish the Soviet regime. Two months later, the Council of the Land, convened in Chisinau, decided with a majority of votes the Union of the former Bessarabia with Romania: it was March 27, 1918. The Russian and Ukrainian deputies from the Council of the Land spoke against this reparative act, the Poles and the Germans welcomed the act Unions. Thus, the old Principality of Moldavia was completed with a part of the region between the Prut and the Dniester, annexed a hundred years ago by Tsarist Russia¹⁹.

The Romanian national self-determination movement in "Bucovina", a part of Moldavia under Austrian occupation since 1775, also faced a very complicated situation. It should be noted that. In spite of the official Declarations of the Bolshevik leaders at Petrograd – I mean "self- determination up to the separation" from Russia of the nations under imperial occupation, of the "liberation of all living things" and the like, the Bolshevik Power never for a moment intended to accept the loss of territories annexed throughout the Empire. And not only that. The Russian Soviet state continued to pursue the acquisition of new territories - Romanian lands being one of the objectives.

The authorities in Kiev (Central Rada) addressed to the Romanian Government, in Iași, on April 1/13, 1918, an official protest against the decision of the Council of the Country of March 27 raising claims on some regions of Bessarabia that should have been "joined to the Republic of Ukraine"²⁰. The Romanian Government responded to this official protest on April 9/22, 1918 with a written Note, handed to the diplomatic

19 Basarabia Bucovina Transilvania…, doc. nr. 18, 24,25, 26, 35, 39, 46, 49,

51, 61, 90, 92.

20 Ibidem, doc. no. 97, p. 303-304. 1/13 April 1918, Kiev, Government of the Republic to the Government of the Kingdom of Romania. Protest against the decision of the Council of State in Chisinau from March 27 on union with Romania. Signed by Golubovici, President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Ukraine (the original in the Archives of the Romanian Academy Library, (in account A.BAR), fund XIV, file 656, f. 59-60).

representative of Ukraine, Galip, a member of the Rada. Rejecting the accusation brought against it that "Bessarabia was annexed by Romania"²¹, the Romanian government specifies that "Bessarabia united willingly with the Motherland in the virtue of an almost unanimous vote." At the same time, regret is expressed that "today, politics tends towards conquests that neither the history of the past nor the principles of law legitimize", emphasizing: "Bessarabia is a Romanian land from a historical and ethnic point of view, which belonged to the Moldavian Crown , since the formation of this Principality in the 14th century and until the kidnapping committed by Tsarist Russia in 1812. This kidnapping will not be repeated, neither in whole nor in part, by the Democratic Republic of Ukraine, in defiance of

21 Allusion to the fact that, following the repeated aggressions of the Russian Bolshevik gangs against the independent Republic of Moldova, sent to Chisinau to "liquidate" the Council of the Country and proclaim Soviet power, the representatives of the Council of General Directors (the government of the Republic) arrived in Iasi and asked for help Romanian government. General Ernest Broșteanu, at the head of units of the Romanian army, arrived in Chisinau, the attacks of the Bolsheviks led by Naștarum Kaabak were repelled and order was restored, so that the State Council could resume its work. See Op. cit., doc. no. 51,

p. 188: January 13/26, 1918, Chisinau, telegram from the Chief of Staff of the Red Army in Chisinau, Kaabac, addressed to the Odessa Soviet. We mention that the Ukrainian Bolshevik authorities in Odesa, led by Rumcerod, were not recognized by those in Kiev (Central Rada). In the Universal of January 12, 1918 of the Rada, by which the independence of the Republic of Ukraine was proclaimed, its western border was established on the Dniester. Moreover, it should be noted that in the Treaty signed in Brest-Litovsk between the Central Powers and Ukraine, on February 9, 1918, specifying the territorial extent of Ukraine, Bessarabia was not listed as belonging to Ukraine in any way. Moreover, in the Treaty between the Central Powers and Soviet Russia, also signed in Brest-Litovsk on March 3 of the same year, the latter undertook to immediately make peace with the Republic of Ukraine, recognizing its borders fixed in the Treaty of February 9 , borders that did not include Bessarabia.

However, the two countries, Russia and Ukraine - an independent republic - raised claims on the Romanian territories beyond the Dniester, namely at a time when the former governorate of Bessarabia already existed as an independent and sovereign state. It is no coincidence that on exactly the same date of January 13/26, 1918 - Lenin and Stalin signed the Decree to break diplomatic relations with Romania, arrest the Romanian diplomatic staff in Petrograd and confiscate the "Romanian gold fund".

justice and legal norms"²² . However, the Rada of Kiev did not stop claiming Bessarabia. On April 22 / May 5, 1918, the Ukrainian government made serious accusations against Romania regarding the so-called "annexation of Bessarabia" by military force following an "ultimatum". The argument for claiming Romanian lands was conceived as follows: "For more than a century, Bessarabia was part of the Russian Empire and had close political and economic relations with its neighbor, Ukraine. At the time of the establishment of the Republic of Ukraine in November 1917, the government believed that because of the federative link between the Republic of Ukraine and the other parts of the former Russian Empire, it should retain this link with Bessarabia. After the proclamation of Ukraine's independence, the Ukrainian government, not admitting a definitive rupture between Ukraine and Bessarabia, proposed to establish closer ties with the Republic of Moldova, granting it the right of political autonomy. The Government of Ukraine insists on this even though it is known that Moldovans do not constitute the majority of the population in Bessarabia/../ Currently, the Government of Ukraine, firmly refusing to recognize Romania's rights over Bessarabia, claims its own rights over this region/../ It is obvious that the vital interests of Ukraine - strategic and economic - require the Government of Ukraine to insist on the annexation of Bessarabia"²³ (emphasis added by V.M.)

The ridiculousness of the Kiev government's "argument" is obvious. I would only ask one question: in what capacity did this government "grant political autonomy" to an autonomous state (December 2, 1918) already recognized by the Entente powers?

It is necessary to specify, however, that Ukraine's claim to annex an independent and sovereign state - the Democratic Republic of Moldova - seen as still a Russian province, based on considerations devoid of any morality, took place in the context of the conclusion of the separate peace with the Central Powers, implicitly the separate exit from the war of Russia and Ukraine, a peace that had laid the foundations for the collaboration of

22 Op. cit., doc. no. 100, pp. 306-309. April 9/22, 1918, Iasi. Response note of the Romanian Government to the Declaration of April 1/13 of the Ukrainian government in Kiev. Signed C.C. Arion, Minister of Foreign Affairs. (the original in A.BAR, Fund XIV, file no. 1010, vol. 1.)

23 Ibid., doc. no. 105, p. 317-320. Note no. 2928 of the Government of Ukraine, Kiev, May 5, 1918, signed Doroșenski, to the Romanian Government, Iasi (A.BAR, fund XIV, file 1010, vol II.

the two countries with the German and Austro-Hungarian empires; for Romania, this abandonment of the Romanian-Russian front, betrayal of the old allies, reneging on all the commitments made through treaties and conventions signed by the official Russian representatives, had catastrophic consequences on the military, political and economic level; the separate "peace" imposed on Romania by the Central Powers in connivance with Bolshevik Russia, under conditions of total isolation of the country (territorially reduced to a small part of Moldova) - all this stimulated Russian and Ukrainian aggression. The division of Romania between the new allies seemed to loom in the very near future.

In these extremely difficult conditions, when the German empires were exerting ultimate pressure on the Romanian government in Iași, and the Russian Bolshevik power was organizing terrorist actions on the territory of Moldavia and Bessarabia, barely out of Russian tutelage, this government had the determination, on May 6/19 1918 to give a firm and comprehensive answer to Note no. 2928, full of aggression and insults of the Kyiv Rada, sent to Iasi on May 5.

An exposition of the history of Moldova up to the first division of its borders in 1775, a detailed analysis of the circumstances in which the Russian Empire annexed half of the autonomous Principality of Moldavia (naming this half, between the Prut and the Dniester – "Bessarabia"), an argumentative exposition but synthetic, spread over 14 pages, finally refers to Rada's "justifications" in claiming Bessarabia. I repeat, for the always current interest of the judgment made by the Romanian Government now for well over a century, these words: "As regards strategic and economic needs, the Royal Government has the honor to state that, in the absence of any other plausible reason, these have always been the final argument invoked to justify all usurpations and conquests. Until recently, tsarist policy had no other arguments to justify its monopoly claims over the Bosphorus and the Black Sea, and today, the Republic of Ukraine cannot, except by openly aligning itself with the principles of imperialist policy, support the same well-known reasons , to raise claims regarding a territory over which he cannot prove any right/…/"²⁴

24 Ibid., doc. no. 108, p. 344-357: 6/19 June 1918 Iași, Answer of the Government of Romania to Note 2928 of May 5, 1918 of the Government of Ukraine. Signed C.C. Arion, Minister of Foreign Affairs (the original (in French) in A.BAR, Fund XIV, file 1010, vol. II.)

The succession of events during the war years influenced Austria – Hungary's policy in the east. The defeat of the Austrian army in Galicia, Romania's entry into the war against the Centrals, the death of Emperor Francis–Joseph led Vienna to accept the proclamation of the Polish kingdom on November 5, 1916. In this context, the new emperor, Carol de Habsburg, abandoned the illusory project of proclaiming Habsburg Great Ukraine from the Carpathians to the Caucasus.

In the last months of 1917, the relations of Kiev Ukraine with Austria present interesting aspects. Engaged in separate peace negotiations with Vienna, the Rada raised claims over Bucovina, Galicia and Subcarpathian Russia. Ottokar Czernin, the imperial foreign minister who dealt with these new demands with the Ukrainian delegation, recounts in his memoirs the confrontations that took place in Brest-Litovsk on this issue, Austria's interests being affected by Ukraine's demands. However, the matter was resolved by the signing of a secret Convention between Austria and Ukraine which stipulated the ceding of Bucovina to Ukraine in exchange for its provision of a large amount of grain and other foodstuffs to Austria.²⁵

The disintegration of the dualist empire in the last months of 1918 also stimulated the Ukrainian national movement. In the assembly in Lwow on October 19, 1918, the independence of the Ukrainian territory from Austria- Hungary was proclaimed. This entity included Eastern Galicia, Bucovina with the cities of Cernăuți, Siret and Storojineț and the land of North – Eastern Hungary; it was named "West Ukrainian National State" annexed to Austria (mit Anschluss an Ősterreich), according to the decision of the Lwow Assembly. On November 15, 1918, the Kyiv Rada proclaimed the "Western Ukrainian Republic". The national movement of Romanians from Bucovina vigorously protested against these decisions in which the Romanian territory of Bucovina was targeted by imperialist plans of Austria, Ukraine, and Russia. In the Vienna Parliament, the Romanian deputies spoke about the immense damages brought to the Romanian nation in Bucovina by the secret arrangements between these powers. The Romanian press stood up in defense of the Romanian cause; The newspaper "Viața Nouă" from Suceava wrote on August 18, 1918: "Bucovina is a historical and geographical unit; it is Romanian clean land, not only from Suceava to the Prut, but also from Vatra –Dornei to the Dniester. Bucovina has remained our heritage as it is, in its entirety, from

25 Ottokar Czernin, Im Weltkjrieg, Wien, 1919, p. 396-409.

our forefathers and we owe it to keep it intact for future times"²⁶. The national movement in Bucovina has openly stated its desire to reject any interference by Ukraine, Russia, Austria in terms of liberation from the yoke of Austria and Union with the Country.

On January 21, 1918, the National Committee of Romanians emigrating from Austria-Hungary was established, which published its program and decisions in the newspapers: "Romania Mare", "Lupta Transylvania" and "Romania Noua"²⁷ from Chisinau; together with "Cuvânt Moldovenesc" and other newspapers and magazines, these media bodies reflected the entire process of national and political emancipation of Bucovina and Bessarabia, they supported the desired Union of these two parts of Moldova with the Motherland.

The declaration of Romanians emigrating from Austria-Hungary launched by the above-mentioned Committee, on October 6, 1918, in Iași, in which it was said: "The Transylvanian and Bucovina Romanians living on the territory of the Romanian kingdom, on behalf of us and our subjugated brothers at home, whose conscience is suppressed and therefore unable to express themselves freely, we declare the following:

1. We ask to be freed from the yoke of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and we are determined to fight by all means and in all ways, so that the entire Romanian nation is constituted in a single national and free state under the domination of the Romanian Dynasty

2. We do not recognize An important moment in the development of the action of self-determination and union with the country, is the Austro- Hungarian monarchy's right to take care of the fate of the Romanians from Transylvania and Bucovina, because for centuries it has kept us in the most shameful bondage All attempts at federalization by the House of Habsburg

26 Basarabia Bucovina Transilvania..., doc. nr. 110, p. 360-363, nota 2.

27 With the initial name of “Ardealul“ and then “România Nouă“ newspaper of Transylvanian refugees in Bessarabia, it appeared from the beginning in Romanian, printed in Latin letters. A group of Transylvanian leaders, refugees in Romania, led by Onisifor Ghibu, Octavian Goga, Sever Bocu and others, turned this newspaper into a forum for the struggle for the revival of Bessarabia. The published articles made an exceptional contribution to the development of national consciousness in Bessarabia, to the spread of Romanian literature, to the knowledge of the history of Romanians from all over the vast land inhabited by them.

are desperate gestures of a kingdom doomed to disintegrate and perish…/…

3. We demand that the entire territory of the Habsburg monarchy claimed by the Romanian state, recognized and guaranteed by the alliance treaties concluded by Romania with the Entente Powers (Entente) be released and united with the Motherlan"²⁸

The document was signed by Al. Lapedatu (President) and Octavian C. Tăslăoanu (secretary).

The situation in Bucovina continued to be unclear. Vienna did not give up the idea of getting directly involved in the action of forming a large Ukrainian state that would also include Bukovina. In Galicia, the representative of Emperor-King Charles, Archduke Wilhelm of Habsburg was organizing the Ukrainian National Army in collaboration with the authorities in Lwow. Several units were deployed in Chernivtsi and Rădăuți, in the valley of Bistriţă where they occupied the Romanian territory which, by virtue of the Bucharest peace treaty of May 1918, was to be ceded to Austria.

In Chernivtsi, the Austrian Governor of the "duchy" of Bukovina, Count Etzdorf, received, on November 6, 1918, the delegation of the "National Rada of Ukraine" from Lwow, to which he handed over the power of government over the country of Bukovina; The minutes of November 6 were drawn up upon the completion of this onerous transaction on Bucovina. On the same day, the Ukrainian Rada in Lwow launched a Manifesto announcing that, "given the fact that the old Austrian government has perished of its own accord", it is "obliged to take over the leadership of the city of Chernivtsi"²⁹.

28 Under the name of Memoir, the Declaration was sent to King Ferdinand I; the document was accompanied by a separate text that stated: “The Transylvanian and Bucovina Romanians broke all ties with the Austro-Hungarian monarchy; as citizens and soldiers they are ready to make any sacrifice for the political Union of all Romanians and for the Romanian dynasty. , inextricably linked to the destinies of our entire nation “ (Bessarabia Bucovina Transilvania..., doc. no. 113, p. 367-368).

29 I. Nistor, op. cit., p. 210. see also annex no. 16, 268-269: The minutes by which Count Etzdorf transfers to the delegation from Lwow the "power of government" over Bucovnia

The situation became even more complicated because the Romanian Aurel Onciul, in agreement with the Ukrainian Emelian Popovici, collaborating with the Lwow authorities, set themselves up as "national commissioners" of the Romanian and Ukrainian peoples and announced that "the imperial government in Vienna entrusted power to Bucovina"; the city of Chernivtsi remained under dual Romanian-Ukrainian administration, and the “commissioner of the populace and urban commissioner for Chernivtsi was appointed by the Rada from Lwow, Osip-Bezpalko³⁰. It would have been a so-called Romanian-Ukrainian condominium over the capital of Bucovina.

These events unfolded while, on the one hand, Emperor-King Charles of Habsburg's attempts at a separate peace with the Allies (England, France, Italy, USA) were an irreversible failure³¹, and on the other hand, on October 27, 1918 , the National Council of Bucovina proclaimed itself Constituent and unanimously voted "in the power of national sovereignty" the integral Union of Bucovina with the other Romanian countries in an independent national state and will proceed towards this goal in full solidarity with the Romanians from Transylvania and Hungary.". The Constituent Assembly resolutely rejected "any attempt to destroy Bucovina"³². At the same time, groups of the Habsburg imperial army made up of Ukrainians, together with the “Ukrainian national army“ carried out terrorist actions on Bukovina territory in support of the plan to join Bukovina to Ukraine. Although he had transferred the leadership of the duchy to the Rada of Lwow, Etzdorf was at the center of these actions, coordinating them. The National Council of Bucovina tried to remove the danger of the division of Bucovina through direct discussions with Etzdorf. These discussions took place on November 4, in the house of Professor Alex. Hurmuzachi, between the President of the Council, Iancu Flondor and the former Austrian governor, Etzdorf³³. In the face of the latter's adamant position, Flondor declared that Romanians do not concede anything from the October 27 Declaration of the Constituent Land of Bucovina and totally

30 Ibidem

31 See this issue in detail in Viorica Moisuc, Calvarul,,,vol II, chapter XXXV,

p. 374-403.

32 Bessarabia Bucovina Ttransivania..., dock no. 124, p. 392-393. Note from the National Council of Bucovina addressed to the Romanian Government, Chernivtsi. on November 2, 1918. (A.BAR, Fond XIV, file 1010, vol 9, p. 101-102.)

33 Ibidem, p. 397, note no. 1.

disapprove of any attempt to divide Bucovina, which is entirely Romanian land.

As a result, the units of the Ukrainian army present in Chernivtsi started reprisals against the Romanians. On November 6, the headquarters of the National Council of Bucovina were devastated, leaders of the Romanian national movement were arrested, armed Ukrainian gangs occupied the headquarters of the Council, located in the National Palace.

The order was: the liquidation of the Romanian national movement, preventing at all costs the union of Bucovina with Romania. Faced with this situation, which endangered the work of the National Council of Bucovina, it decided to request urgent help from Romania. The representative of the Council, deputy Bodnărescu, leaves for Iași where he is received by the prime minister gen. Coandă (head of the Government since November 5). He orders the emergency movement of General Iacob Zadik, commander of the Royal 8th Division, to Bucovina. The newspaper "Glasul Bucovinei"³⁴ reported in several consecutive issues, the triumphant reception of the Romanian army in Bucovina, the great assembly in Chernivtsi, the speech of Iancu Flondor, the President of the National Council, the Proclamation of General I. Zadik. On October 4, Charles of Habsburg had tried to sensitize the US government, presenting it with an offer of peace and collaboration for the security and peace of Europe by keeping the Empire in the form of a federal state, within which there would have been autonomous national formations; it should be mentioned that it relied on the acceptance of the perfect similarity of this formula with the "14 points" launched by Wilson which, in truth, in the initial form, had specified the granting of the status of autonomy only to the nations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, following protests from all these nations who wanted self-determination up to the point of secession and the establishment of their own states, independent, without any kind of guardianship, old or new, the President, through the head of the State Department, Robert Lansing, had announced the radical modification of that provision. So, Emperor Carol received the appropriate response from President W.Wilson: "The President is no longer in a position to recognize only the autonomy of these peoples as a basis for peace and is forced to insist that they and not him be the judges, judging that no action of the Austro-Hungarian government could satisfy the

34 Ibid., p. 398, note no. 2

peoples' aspirations and conception of their rights and determinations as members of the family of nations."³⁵

In those hot days at the end of November 1918 when the fate of the

war was being decided, the US State Department addressed, on November 6, a letter to the President of the Romanian National Council based in Paris, Tache Ionescu, in which he showed that the Government of the United States "deeply sympathizes with the Romanian people", he was "a witness to the Romanians' struggles, their sufferings and their sacrifices in the cause of liberation from the yoke of their enemies and oppressors, in a spirit of national unity and according to the aspirations of Romanians everywhere", engaging to use "all his influence so that the just political and territorial rights of the Romanian people are obtained and secured against any foreign aggression"³⁶.

On November 11, the foreign minister of Great Britain, A.J. Balfour gave the same assurances to the Romanian National Council.³⁷

On November 10, 1918, King Ferdinand I gave the Proclamation to the soldiers in which he announced Romania's re-entry into the war alongside the Allies for "the realization of our dream from all time: the Union of all Romanians"³⁸. The resumption of the armed struggle for the liberation of the national territory took place after a break of half a year, imposed by the dictate of the "peace" from Bucharest, May 1918, a period when relations with the Allies were formally interrupted.

It was the time when the struggle for national liberation had entered its final phase throughout the vast territory that had been under Austro- Hungarian domination.

In Transylvania, the Romanian National Council - established on the night of October 30 to 31, 1918 launched, on November 6, the historic Manifesto Towards the Romanian Nation announcing that only this body "represents today the entire Romanian Nation from Transylvania and Hungary and is recognized by the Great Powers of the World"; the document is signed by St. Cicio-Pop³⁹.

35 Ditto, doc. no. 121, pp. 384-385. Wilson's reply to the Emperor Charles Note was read on 22 October 1918 in the Austro-Hungarian Parliament by Prime Minister von Hussarek "in glacial silence".

36 Ibid.,doc. nr. 125 , p. 393-394.

37 Ibid., doc. no. 131, p. 401-403 (A.BAR, fund XIV, file no. 42).

38 Ibid., doc. nr. 130, p. 400-401.

39 Ibid., doc. nr. 126, p. 394-396.

On November 28, 1918, the General Congress of Bucovina, meeting in the Synodal Hall of the Metropolitan Palace in Chernivtsi "embodying the supreme power of the country and being the only one endowed with the legislative power, in the name of national sovereignty, we decide: The unconditional and eternal union of Bucovina, in the old their borders up to Ceremus, Colacin and Dniester, with the Kingdom of Romania". The Polish and German deputies also then declared their adherence, without reservations, to the Congress Decision. Representatives from Bessarabia (Pantelimon Halippa, Ion Pelivan, Ion Buzdugan, Grigore Cazacliu) were present and greeted this historic act; from Transylvania and Hungary (Gh. Crișan, Victor Deleu, Vasile Osvadă). The minutes of the meeting of November 28 were drawn up and signed by Dr. Iancu Flondor (President of the Congress) George Băncescu (Director of the Presidential Office), Dr. Iancu Sbiera (Secretary of the Congress)⁴⁰.

This was followed by the Great National Assembly of Romanians from Transylvania and Hungary, held in Alba-Iulia on December 1, 1918, where the process of the national and political unification of Romanians from all over the land inhabited by them ended. Then the unique objective of Romania's entry into the war was fulfilled: the liberation of the Romanians and the land inhabited by them, which was under the occupation of Austria and Hungary.

AFTER 1918

So, at the end of 1918, the Romanian people re-established their sovereignty over the lands that had been torn from the body of Moldavia by the Habsburg and Russian Empires in 1775 and, respectively, in 1812. The Dniester was now, until it flows into the Black Sea, the state border. basically, the historical border between Romania and Ukraine. Transylvania

- in its entirety - and Banat had reintegrated, along with the other Romanian provinces, into the same unified state.

However, the Soviet power, Russian and Ukrainian, did not give up the old claims: Bessarabia and Bucovina. On May 1, 1919, Cicerin and Cristian Racovski, the Commissioners of Foreign Affairs of Russia and

40 Ibid., doc. no. 148, pp. 483-496. Minutes of the debates of the General Congress of Bucovina. The motion adopted by the Union with Romania.

Ukraine, respectively, addressed to the Romanian Government an accusatory, demanding Note having an ultimatum character⁴¹:

- Romania "invaded Bessarabia at the end of 1917, destroying the conquests of the Russian revolution and establishing the hated regime of the landowners...

- The imperialist governments of the Entente, supporting the annexation actions undertaken by Romania, made official statements regarding the provisional character of the occupation of Bessarabia⁴².

- He accuses the Romanian Government of not respecting the "agreementw" whith Russia (referring to the Averescu-Racovski letter exchange of March 5, 1918) which "provided" in art. 1 that Romania “withdraw from Bessarabia within a period of two months"⁴³...

41 Ibid.,doc. nr. 159, p. 581-585 (original A.BAR, Fond XIV, file 1010, vol II, f.

53-58).

42 It refers to the official Note sent to the Russian Soviet government, on February 21, 1918, by the Italian minister in Romania, Fasciotti, on behalf of the diplomatic representatives of the allied countries, which stated that "the intervention of the Romanian troops /in Bessarabia/ has no political character

43 It is a deliberate distortion of some documents known as the "Exchange of Averesu -Racovski letters) from February 20-23/March 5-8, 1918; On February 11/24, 1918, the Rumcerod from Odesa (the Ukrainian authority) sent a Note to the Romanian Government in Iași, with the following requests: 1/ "The Romanian Government undertakes to make a formal statement regarding the progressive evacuation of Bessarabia from the Romanian armies of occupation. First of all, the evacuation of Bender and Sebriani. The Romanian army of occupation must be reduced, within two months, to a detachment of 10,000 men whose service will consist of guarding Romanian warehouses and railroad lines As the evacuation

of the Romanian army takes place, the Russian military forces will occupy the evacuated points" Also at this point it was demanded that the local militia be subordinated to the Russian police, etc. It is interesting that in this letter, he returned to an older "offer" of (tsarist) Russia that the Romanian army led by the king, the royal house, the Parliament, the government, etc., should take refuge in Russia, an offer rejected by Romania at the time. The letter was signed by Yudovski, Braševan and Voronski. Submitted to the head of the Romanian Government, General Alexandru Averescu, he put the following resolution on the document in question: "All conditions are accepted, except for the first one. "The official response of the Romanian Government sent to Rumcerod contains in point 1, literally, the resolution gen. Averescu. It should be added that the documents that followed, including the last one dated March 5, 1918 signed by Dr. C. Rakovski, the President of the Autonomous Superior College, ignore the

- The Romanian government "tried to achieve the forced and violent Romanianization of the population /of Bessarabia/ through terror, executions, arrests, torture, confiscation of goods, the organization of pogroms against Jews, robberies set up by the corrupt and greedy Romanian bureaucracy"

- "More than 100 railway workers were executed...thousands of peasants were shot, villages burned or razed to the ground by the army forces...2000 people were shot in Northern Bessarabia..."

- "The Romanian feudal government ... set out to overthrow the power of the Soviets in Hungary ... Romanian troops are attacking the Soviet Red Army in Hungary from all directions ... etc."

In the last part of the Note, the ultimate Russian-Ukrainian demands are formulated, in the form of "proposals!":

"1/ Romanian armies, officials and agents from Bessarabia to immediately evacuate this territory

2/ The authors of all the crimes committed against the workers and the entire population of Bessarabia should be tried immediately by a People's Court

3 All military property belonging to the army of Russia and Ukraine illegally stolen from Romania to be returned

4/ The inhabitants of Bessarabia should be put back in possession of the goods that were stolen or confiscated from them.

specification contained in Averescu's resolution. This led to the transformation of these documents into a non-existent Romanian-Soviet "agreement" regarding the withdrawal of the Romanian army from Bessarabia, falsely taken over not only by Russian diplomats in the subsequent negotiations with Romania, but also by Russian historians, published as such in the collections of Russian documents after the revolution. (We also encounter this way of falsifying documents for the well- known Soviet ultimatum of June 26, 1940, transformed into a Romanian-Soviet "agreement", in order to preserve, in the peace treaty of 1947, the Molotov- Ribbentrop border with Romania.) See the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fund 71/USSR, vol 131. Apud Bessarabia Bucovina Transylvania..., doc. no. 77, p. 243-249. These letters remained without object because on February 27/March 12 the German troops were in front of Odessa, the Rumcerod and the other revolutionary organs no longer existed. (See the report of the aviator captain

C. Andreescu to the MFA on March 15 from Odesa, in Arch. MFA. Fond URSS, vol

131. f. 328)

The Soviet Socialist Governments of Russia and Ukraine will wait for 40 hours, beginning on May 1st at twenty-two in the evening, for a clear and precise answer to these proposals; in case this answer will not come, they reserve the right as they see fit in what what concerns Romania". The final note is signed by: Cicerin, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republics; Rakovsky, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and People's Commissar in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

A commentary on this ultimative Russian-Ukrainian Note addressed to Romania on May 1, 1919, would require dozens of pages. I try to summarize this comment in a few sentences.

The union of Bessarabia with the Country was achieved through plebiscite acts that expressed the will of the Romanian nation - the majority in this part of historical Moldova. The Romanian Army, expressly called by the Council of the Country and the General Council of Bucovina in the context of the commission of terrorist acts by Russian and Austro-Ukrainian armed gangs in order to liquidate the representative bodies of the two Provinces and annex them to the neighboring Powers, did not did nothing but restore order so that the two governing bodies could carry out their work. At that time, there were no "administrative" institutions of Romania, neither in Bessarabia nor in Bucovina. There was no Russian-Romanian "agreement" that provided for the withdrawal of the Romanian army from Bessarabia. Armed gangs have never been formed on the territory of Romania for the purpose of attacking Soviet Russia.

Regarding "Romanization", this thesis requires some clarifications. It is part of the package of "arguments" used by the former Russian occupiers to justify the annexation of Romanian territories considered to have been inhabited by Russians or Ukrainians who were violently Romanianized. However, the policy of denationalization, forced Russification of Romanians and other nations kept under terror was never recognized, with all the known arsenal - deportations, arrests, mass executions, pogroms, etc. Regarding the war of 1919, cataloged as a "war of intervention" against the Hungarian revolution of the Councils, this fact is also a false history. The aggression was not of the Romanian army, but of the Hungarian Red Army; the Bela Kun-Lenin connivance is too well known to dwell on it any longer. Under the the slogan of the world revolution aims at the destruction of Romania and the settlement of the Hungarian-Soviet

border on the Carpathians⁴⁴. Moreover, Hungary, although it signed the Trianon Peace Treaty (June 1920), did not never recognized the plebiscite act of December 1, 1918 from Alba-Iulia, the "Mourning" of the Trianonworn by Hungary for more than a hundred years, proves the perpetuation of the "Holy Crown" myth.

Finally, I emphasize that the so-called Ukrainian "proposals" included in the Note addressed by Soviet Russia and Ukraine To the Romanian government on May 1, 1919, it is an ultimatum. 40 hours are allowed for completion "proposals"! If not….

In the short period that there was a free Ukrainian regime in Kiev, it was oriented towards the establishment normal relations with Romania. On July 26, 1919, the Government of the Republic of Ukraine announcedThe Romanian government's decision regarding bilateral relations: to establish "the most friendly relations between Ukraine and Romania, based on mutual non-interference in internal affairs, the Ukrainian government saying that he does not want to discuss the current border between the two in any waycountries, considering the Dniester as the definitive border between them and wanting to establish this oneborder the best neighborly relations".... "to ask for Romania's support in the talks with the Entente countries in connection with the permanent supply and organization of the Ukrainian army…" . In the conclusion showed the precariousness of the situation of the Ukrainian state: "currently the Bolsheviks threaten once in plus with the destruction of Ukraine, as a result of which all the neighboring states with the Bolsheviks, in the first placeRomania and Poland will have to suffer the shock that weakened the resistance of the Ukrainian people". In theconsequently, "immediate aid with munitions of war, and especially cartridges, and shells...". Sign this document of great importance, the Head of the Diplomatic Mission Ukrainians in Romania, C. Matzievici, Delegate of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army, Army General Serghei Delvig. To add another important fact that announced a real cooperation on multiple levels in this area of Europe just emerging from a long era of suffering. On August 27, 1919, through a letter addressed to the President of the Council of Ministers of Romania, the two diplomats of Ukraine inform that an extraordinary Ukrainian mission led by Dr. Filipciuc haswas sent to Poland

44 See in detail Viorica Moisuc, The Premises of Political Isolation of Romania 1919-1940, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1991, part I-a, chapter III; Calvary..., vol. II, chapter XXX.

"to conclude an agreement between the two countries"; The Polish Seimas recognized the government of Ukraine and is in favor of concluding an agreement that "would aim to fight against Bolshevism"⁴⁵.

The intentions expressed by the government of the Republic of Ukraine were not successful. soviet russia,fighting for the "recovery" of lost territories, he seized Ukraine, placing it amongthe Soviet, socialist republics of the Russian Federation, for many decades. At the beginning of this brief account of some aspects of Romanian history from the turning years 1917 - 1918, I formulate some findings of wider interest.

Regarding Bessarabia and Bukovina as "Russian possessions" the views of the Bolsheviksand of the representatives of the former empire, were identical. Throughout the preparation of the Peace Conference, of the development of its works and in the years that followed, these positions did not change. A study on these matters could benefit from a very rich documentation. I now mention onedocument from October 1919, namely the informative report no. 587 of October 5, 1919 originating from the army group of General Lupescu, addressed to the Prime Minister of Romania. It shows in thatreport that General Denikin was spreading, through his agents on the left of the Dniester, "proclamations and manifestos by which he promised Bukovina to Ukraine. In Bessarabia, , in the Bender area, and other cities, his agentsDenikin declared that after he finished with the Bolsheviks, he would turn to Romania in a friendly way forceding Bessarabia to the Russian Empire and, in case of refusal, they will intervene with armed force tofulfill the purpose"⁴⁶

Gheorghe Brătianu again focused on the history of the two Romanian provinces in 1940, after that the ultimatum of the USSR of June 26 addressed to the Romanian government stated, among other things: "Bessarabia, populated mostly by Ukrainians belonged to Ukraine “. Russian radio stations spread new stories: “ Moldovans are a Slavic population, of the same origin as Russians and Ukrainians, speaking a dialect close to Russian".

The great historian dismantled all the forgeries that the aggressors thought they could base their theft on territories and people. At the end of his demonstration, he writes: "History is a perpetual beginning. We are not in a position to examine the present, still less to scrutinize the future.

45 Bessarabia Bucovina Transylvania, doc. no. 160, p. 585-588.

46 Idem., doc nr. 162, p. 589-590.

Romanian unitconsolidated at the crossroads of dead empires, she had to suffer through revivalimperialism. The old specter of invasion appeared again, from the steppe, and Moldova enduredhard trials. But he knows from the lessons of history that permanent values have never been achieved. The tide has come from the East, countless times over the centuries, but it has turned back,always designating, at the borders of Moldova, the limits Europe, its spirit, its civilization. If it is true that proverbs are wisdom peoples, there is no more expressive one that summarizes the millennial experience of the people of Moldova and from anywhere: Water passes, stones remain!"

AUTOMATIC TRANSLATION: HISTORY AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

Alberto Maria LANGELLA, Ph.D. in computational linguistics, Research Fellow, University of Salerno, Italy

Abstract: This article will retrace the main stages in the history of machine translation1, from the dawn of pioneering research in the 1940s and 1950s to the promising techniques of today's statistical machine translation. We will evaluate the main characteristics of the different approaches used over time, and we will focus on the differences between the different types of machine translation practiced in seventy years of research. In conclusion, we will evaluate how the increased computing capacity of modern processors has profoundly influenced machine translation, and how today's artificial intelligence techniques have succeeded in automatically processing some of the more complex aspects of natural language.

1. The first phase of machine translation: from the end of the 1940s to the mid-1980s

We are all used to using free electronic dictionaries and automatic translators available on the web. The level of machine translations has greatly improved today, even compared to just a few years ago, not to mention the very unsatisfactory performance of machine translators in the 1960s and 70s. The reason for this improvement is both theoretical and technological. Theoretical for two reasons: a better understanding of how natural language works by linguists; the adoption of innovative statistical techniques for the automatic analysis of language. Technological to the extent that processors have undergone a very rapid evolution in recent years, with a significant increase in computing capacity following the microchip miniaturization processes. But before these improvements in

1 I recommend the text Translation as an introduction to the complexity and pervasiveness of the translation activity. A Very Short Introduction by Matthew Reynolds.

recent years, machine translation has come a long way that roughly coincides with that of information technology tout court. In this paragraph we retrace the main historical stages of automatic translation systems, from the precursors to the first real automatic translators of the 1950s, to finally arrive at today's innovative methods of statistical analysis.

1.1 The forerunners

The need to translate is ancient and has always represented the desire to overcome the constraints of incommunicability, to overcome linguistic barriers. We speak several languages, today only about 7000. Some are successful languages, for political and cultural reasons, others, and many, risk extinction under the centrifugal impact of a few dominant linguistic traditions (English, Spanish, etc.).

Translating has always been an activity carried out by men for other men. Today we are witnessing something new from this point of view. Translating can also be an activity performed by a machine, from which everyone can benefit. This presupposes, of course, the existence of calculating machines, before which there was no automatic translation. However, in the past some important reflections have anticipated and stimulated the lively contemporary interest in this research sector. Leibniz and Descartes were among the first to be interested in the possibility of conceiving a universal language, within a tradition of philosophical thought inspired by the search for an alleged Adamic language. Leibniz thought that a language of this type could solve problems of a philosophical, legal and moral nature, facilitating communication between people of different nationalities. In the same years Descartes was interested in the same problem as evidenced by a letter of 1629 to Mersenne:

If [someone] put into [his] dictionary a single symbol corresponding to aymer, amare, philein and each of the synonyms, a book written in such symbols could be translated by all who possessed the dictionary. (POIBEAU 2017: 40-41)

Descartes therefore thought of a unique and universal numerical code for all languages; in this idea he was far-sighted, anticipating the inspiring principles of modern computers by many centuries. For the latter, in fact, words like any other data are nothing more than binary numbers. During the seventeenth century, this reflection inspired the research of many other

researchers who attempted to create Descartes' universal numerical dictionary: Cave Beck in 1657, Johann Joachim Becher in 1661, Athanasius Kircher in 1663 and John Wilkins in 1668. In 1811 Joseph de Maimieux and Arman-Charles-Daniel de Firmas Périés created a numerical dictionary for military communication needs.

During the second half of the 19th century, Johann Martin Schleyer invented the artificial language Volapuk, while Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof invented Esperanto. The idea of both was to facilitate cooperation and peace between peoples.

In the first half of the 20th century we have two other important contributions: the mechanical brain of Georges Artsrouni and the assisted translation machine of Smirnov-Trojansky. Two prototypes of the first were built between 1932 and 1935, and it received a prize at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1937. Neither one, however, managed to influence the research of the 1940s and 1950s, whose spirit instead it was affected by the advent, in the same years, of the first calculators. The mechanical brain of Artsrouni was conceptually superseded in favor of electronic devices, while fully automatic translation projects were preferred to Smirnov- Trojansky's computer-assisted translation machine.

1.2 The beginning of machine translation: rule-based systems and dictionaries

After the Second World War, the first computers appeared, and machine translation was immediately one of the applications of greatest theoretical interest. In addition to the theoretical interest in the functioning of languages, the first researchers in this sector were also inspired by the specific need, originating from the Cold War, to translate from Russian into English. Among the pioneers of those very early years we remember the Englishman Andrew Booth of Birbeck College in London and Warren Weaver². Booth pioneered speech recognition studies and invented an

2 Weaver was together with Claude E. Shannon the inventor of the mathematical theory of communication. In 1949, the two published a book entitled The Mathematical Theory of Communication. This contribution had a great impact on the research of those years and influenced the course of studies in this research sector in the following decades.

automatic technique for morphological analysis called stemming³, still used today by search engines. Stemming is particularly effective for English and arises from the need to simplify morphological analysis. If an automatic system encounters, for example, the word running, it proceeds to progressively eliminate the final letters until it finds a word contained in its dictionaries: in this case it stops at the word run. In this way it is possible to bring a large number of morphological variants back to a small set of basic lemmas. Weaver's research was influenced by his mathematical theory of communication based on a scheme in which there is an emitter who encodes a message and transmits it through one of the potential channels to a receiver who proceeds to decode it. This theory was the basis of subsequent studies on cryptography. Weaver conceived of machine translation as analogous to decrypting a message. In a 1947 letter to the American mathematician and statistician Norbert Wiener he wrote:

One naturally wonders if the problem of translation could conceivably be treated as a problem in cryptography. When I look at an article in Russian, I say: “This is really written in English, but it has been coded in some strange symbols. I will now proceed to decode.” (POIBEAU 2017: 53)

Wiener believed that the major problem facing machine translation research was the polysemy of words. This aspect, common to all natural- historical languages, made any attempt at automatic word-by-word translation problematic, in the impossibility of establishing between them, in the relations between one language and another, a biunique correspondence relationship:

As to the problem of mechanical translation, I frankly am afraid that the boundaries of words in differemernt languages are too vague […] to make any quasi-mechanical translation scheme very hopeful. (POIBEAU 2017: 53)

Such vagueness and polysemy of languages would have required automatic translation systems to disambiguate words on the basis of the co-text⁴, a possibility beyond the reach of the processors of those years,

3 This technique was popularized in the 1980s by Martin Porter and is known today as “the Porter stemming algorithm”.

4 I use the term co-text in this article with a different meaning than context. The first refers to words that co-occur with a given word within a text, the second to the pragmatic situation that surrounds the act of enunciation.

which were still very limited in terms of computing capacity. Moreover, the research on artificial intelligence, from which a valid approach to deal with this type of problem would have arisen, was still in an embryonic stage.

Despite these objections Weaver wrote a memorandum on machine translation in 1949, historically considered the beginning of research in this area. The main points of the memorandum were four:

1. The correct semantic interpretation of a word must be performed by analyzing its co-text. Words that need to be disambiguated belong to three classes: nouns, verbs and adjectives.

2. It is possible to determine a set of logical and universal rules that solve the machine translation problem.

3. Cryptography is a valid theoretical and methodological model to conform to.

4. Instead of translating directly between two languages it is necessary to think of some abstract representation model that can facilitate the task.

The first point anticipated the functioning of current statistical machine translation systems by many decades. The second instead stimulated linguistic research on the concept of formal grammar. The third point reaffirmed the importance, as for cryptography, of statistics in the study of language. Finally, the fourth proposed the possibility of using an intermediate language, called interlanguage or pivot language, in the process of automatic translation. Each of these points had profound repercussions for research for years to come.

The first machine translation experiment was that of the Georgetown University research group in collaboration with IBM. The system translated 49 sentences from Russian to English using a dictionary of 250 words with the addition of 6 grammar rules; had a considerable media coverage, resulting in a substantial increase in public funding in favor of this research sector. This demonstration was made two years after the first conference on machine translation, held at MIT on the initiative of the linguist and philosopher of language Bar-Hillel⁵. The results of this experiment, very

5 Bar-Hillel was a very influential figure during the early period of machine translation. Of Israeli origins, he had a post-doc fellowship at MIT, where he spent two years, from 1951 to 1953, under the guidance of Rudolf Carnap. Carnap worked in those years on a logical syntax of natural language and was a leading figure in the field of formal logic studies. Bar-Hillel would return to the United States

positive for that time, had the merit of stimulating the start of research on machine translation in other countries of the world, where research groups would be born within a few years that could benefit from substantial government funding.

All machine translation systems of those years were based on transfer rules and bilingual dictionaries, or alternatively on an interlanguage. In the first case it was a simple word-for-word translation⁶ between the source and target languages with a subsequent rearrangement of the words in accordance with transfer rules. These rules had the task of checking that the translated sentences respected the syntax of the target language. This approach presented considerable difficulties, to the extent that it assumed a good knowledge of the syntactic rules of the two languages, in a historical moment in which linguistics was taking its first steps and did not yet possess sufficient control of many aspects of historical-natural languages. Furthermore, word-by-word translation required a continuous multiplication of the inputs of electronic dictionaries, since each word can have multiple meanings depending on the co-text as well as being subject to a continuous and inexorable diachronic evolution; finally, in an electronic dictionary, in addition to the terms, all the morphological variants must be listed. This disambiguation work, which speakers carry out without major problems, determined that the systems of the time were forced to handle dictionaries of considerable size, at a time when computers had very limited calculation capacity and memories.

The systems based on an interlanguage, on the other hand, tried to tackle the problem linked to the translation between genetically and typologically distant languages, a particularly thorny one since it required programmers to have a good knowledge of languages that had not yet been sufficiently studied at the time. English (pivot language) was often used, which performed the function of the intermediate and best studied

in the late 1950s, eventually becoming one of machine translation's greatest detractors.

6 As already pointed out, in the context of the Cold War these first pioneering US research groups worked exclusively on translation from Russian to English. In the second half of the 1950s, work began on machine translation between other languages and English in other countries. The prestige of the latter marked the entire history of machine translation to some extent, especially in the first period, at a time when machine translation systems benefited from the linguistic knowledge that the various US research groups were acquiring.

language in which one translated from the source language, and then moved on to translating from English to the target language. However, with systems based on a pivot language, we collided with all the difficulties and limitations that we have seen characterizing systems based on rules and transfer rules.

These difficulties, which the Georgetown University system did not take into account limiting itself to the translation of a few sentences in a specific linguistic domain, would have led within a few years to harsh criticisms on the performance of those first automatic translators, and finally to doubts relating to the possibility that machine translation could never in the future provide satisfactory results.

1.3 The first criticisms: the article by Bar-Hillel and the ALPAC report

Translatologists agree that word-for-word translation is very unsatisfactory and the first machine translation systems were no exception to this rule. Being based on transfer rules and extensive electronic dictionaries, they also met the limit of the limited memory and calculation capacities of the processors of those years. The multiplication of the meanings of words, according to the many and very numerous contexts, proved to be an insurmountable obstacle for those first systems based on rules and dictionaries or on a pivot language. The dictionaries began to assume considerable dimensions becoming, for the reasons just explained, difficult to implement. Furthermore, the idea that electronic dictionaries could collect all the meanings that speakers naturally decode encountered theoretical as well as practical limits.

Bar-Hillel was the first to point out the limitations of those early systems in a February 1959 report commissioned by the U.S. Office of Naval Research entitled "Report on the State of Machine Translation in the United States and Great Britain". He noted that the syntactical knowledge necessary for satisfactory machine translation, especially between genetically distant languages, was very complex and still to be acquired from the linguistic research of the time.

In addition, he made some considerations on semantics in an appendix to this report entitled "A demonstration of the non-feasibility of

fully automatic, high-quality translation"⁷, in which he underlined some interpretation problems related to semantic ambiguity as in the example following: John was looking for his toy box. Finally, he found it. The box was in the pen. John was very happy. The ambiguity consists in the interpretation of pen as a space where children play and not as a pen, an interpretation that not even the analysis of the context can suggest but only the knowledge of the real world possessed by the speakers. This represented an insurmountable theoretical limit for a fully automatic translation. Bar-Hillel therefore suggested assisted translation as a possible and most useful research direction: an automatic translator provides translation suggestions that can be corrected (post-editing) and used by professional translators.

This report had the result of dampening the enthusiasm of the first years of research and emphasizing the difficulties associated more generally with the automatic processing of natural language. The idea of the Georgetown researchers to commercialize an automatic translation system quickly proved unfeasible, and incidentally, the 1954 demonstration of these pioneers was based on an automatic translator that was too rudimentary (a few sentences from Russian to English and a very limited lexicon). After Bar-Hillel's criticisms, many researchers began to migrate to related sectors such as computer science or linguistics and on the government front the idea of entrusting themselves to a commission of experts matured. In 1964 this commission, called the Automatic Language Processing Advisory Committee (ALPAC), was formed. The direction was entrusted to a theoretical computer scientist, John R. Pierce, and was composed of machine translation experts, artificial intelligence specialists, linguists and a psychologist. The report was published in 1966 with the title "Languages and Machines: Computers in Translation and Linguistics" and considered the research and results conducted up to that point highly negative both on a theoretical and practical level. The ALPAC report accelerated the flight of many machine translation research pioneers to other research fields, and also resulted in a significant reduction in government agency funding. According to the commission, the automatic translators were completely unsatisfactory and expectations for the future were anything but optimistic.

7 https://aclanthology.org/www.mt-archive.info/Bar-Hillel-1960-App3.pdf

1.4 From the mid-60s to the mid-80s: a long hibernation

Following the criticisms of Bar-Hillel and the ALPAC commission, machine translation entered a phase of hibernation, especially in the United States and the UK. This disinterest lasted twenty years, continuing throughout the first half of the 1980s. However, elsewhere, during these 20 years, research was stimulated by quite peculiar linguistic conditions. In Canada, for example, bilingualism created the need to use machine translation systems for official documents. The Montreal research group, called Traduction Automatique de l'Université de Montréal (TAUM), directed first by Alain Colmerauer and then by Charles Chandioux, designed an automatic translation system which turned out to be the first successful translator, with satisfactory results albeit with limited application: the TAUM- Météo system, later called simply Météo, and operational from 1977 to 2002. This was capable of translating weather forecasts, both nationally and for all Canadian provinces, plus times during the day. The results were appreciable thanks also to the recurring phraseology and to a very limited lexicon, typical of the meteorological language. In another multilingual context, that of the European Community, the need to translate a significant amount of parliamentary acts and other institutional documents into the many languages of the member countries led to collaboration with the American company Systran. Founded in 1968 by Peter Toma, a member of the Georgetown University research group in previous years, it was one of the first companies in the world to deal with machine translation. The collaboration between the European Community and Systran started in 1975 and ended in the early 2000s in a not entirely idyllic way, with a lawsuit for copyright infringement brought and won by the American company in 2010.

Also in this case the level of automatic translations turned out to be appreciable, and as in the case of Météo, this was largely attributable to the sectorial nature of the purely legal language of the European Commission. Despite these first two successful experiments, TAUM in Canada and Systran in Europe, it must be said that the machine translation of those years never managed to get out of the barriers of sectoral languages: the systems worked if dedicated to limited subsets of the lexicon and to a subset of - language (meteorological, legal, etc.) with a standardized phraseology.

During these twenty years of disillusionment with the United States and Great Britain, countries that had been leaders in this research sector, various research groups in various countries, as well as in Canada and Europe, had the merit of taking up the baton of research on translation automatic. In Japan, for example, various companies in those years started research on automatic translation systems between English and Japanese, and then moved on to dealing with other Asian languages such as Korean and Chinese as well. Thanks to TAUM, Systran and other players in the sector, the hopes linked to machine translation were not entirely abandoned and survived until the mid-1980s, when important technological innovations and significant theoretical reflections were about to usher in new and innovative methods.

2. Today's revolution of intelligent algorithms: Machine Learning and natural language

Starting from the mid-1980s, a series of decisive theoretical insights, the increased computing capacity of computers and the availability of digital texts changed the face of machine translation, improving its performance and filling the gaps that we have seen characterize the first systems based on rules and dictionaries. In this paragraph we will review the decisive contributions of those years and conclude with an examination and some reflections on the most innovative machine translation techniques of our day.

2.1 Machine translation based on examples

The first significant innovation can be attributed to the great Japanese computer scientist Makoto Nagao (1984). Nagao started from the consideration that rule-based systems, still the dominant approach in those years, tend to become more complex with each successive implementation of new transfer rules and with the addition of lemmas to dictionaries. These early systems had a further limitation for Nagao, that of having to carry out an analysis of the entire sentence before proceeding to translate it; any difficulty encountered in analyzing the sentences caused the system to freeze and no translation was possible. Furthermore, Nagao observed how professional translators do not carry out a preliminary analysis of the entire

sentence to be translated but work starting from sentence fragments, translated separately and then recombined. He therefore thought of using the discrete availability, starting from those years, of parallel digital corpora, and of using entire segments of sentences in the machine translation process rather than conducting a word-by-word translation. Parallel corpora are bilingual (bitesti) or multilingual (multitext) texts that represent one translation of the other. Through a process called alignment in computer science, an automatic translation system learns to match each sentence of a text with a certain sentence of the other or of the other texts. Nagao therefore thought that a computer could learn and store in its memory the translation of many sentence fragments starting from the parallel corpora, and then recombine them when necessary according to the new sentences to be translated. For example, starting from the following sentences of an English/Italian bittext:

1. To complain is not always a good way of living in society

Protestare non è sempre un buon modo di vivere in società

2. To complain is not always a good way of relating to others Protestare non è sempre un buon modo di relazionarsi con gli altri

3. I have always taught my students the importance of understanding each other

Ho sempre insegnato ai miei alunni l’importanza di capirsi l’un l’altro

4. There are a lot of different ways of understanding each other

Ci sono tanti modi diversi di capirsi l’un l’altro,

the automatic translation system would have learned, from the first two examples, to translate To complain is not always a good way with the Italian sequence Protestare non è sempre un buon modo and, from the last two examples, to translate of understanding each other with di capirsi l’un l’altro. If the system had to translate the sentence To complain is not always a good way of understanding each other it would have known how to translate it through the simple combination of the translation segments stored starting from the previous sentences, automatically producing the following translation: Protestare non è sempre un buon modo di capirsi l’un l’altro. It would thus have been possible to have a huge translation

memory with thousands of examples or segments of sentences of a bittext to be recombined in the automatic translation phase.

2.2 Machine Learning

Nagao's intuition was followed, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, by a series of important articles by the IBM research group in Yorktown Heights, New York. These articles theorized the possibility of applying statistical techniques originally used for speech transcription to machine translation. These articles assumed that a program could be taught to statistically associate the recurring presence of a word and its translatant within parallel corpora. Starting from a word Ms, in the source text, it was possible on purely statistical bases to teach the system to associate it and translate it correctly with the word Mt in the target text. This was done by associating a probability value between 0 and 1 to each potential translating Mt in the target sentence. This value, reiterating the analyses, approximates to 1 in the case of the most probable translations and to 0 for the highly improbable ones.

The statistical methods developed by the IBM team dominated the machine translation sector at least until the early 2000s, when a new and revolutionary approach to machine translation⁸, based on machine learning algorithms, began to take hold. This approach, which has evolved in the last 10 years in deep learning, originated in the second half of the 1950s from the pioneering reflections of some important artificial intelligence theorists. Computer scientist Frank Rosenblatt of Cornell University came up with the concept of the perceptron in 1957, based on previous research resulting from the collaboration between neurophysiologist Warren McCulloch and mathematician Walter Pitts. The Rosenblatt percepton is the basic unit of analysis of a neural network. The latter represents an algorithm conceived in analogy to the network of the human brain. Just as our brain is made up of communicating neurons, a neural network is the result of the coordinated activity of a certain number of perceptrons.

Rosenblatt's ideas remained confined to the theoretical dimension until a few years ago, when the increased computational capabilities of the new processors made their practical application (implementation) possible.

8 A good introduction to machine learning for those without a math background is Machine Learning for Dummies.

The French computer scientist and linguist Thierry Poibeau summed up well the novelty represented by neural networks for machine translation:

Deep learning achieved its first success in image recognition. Rather than using a group of predefined characteristics, deep learning generally operates from a very large set of examples (hundreds of thousands of images of faces, for example) to automatically extract the most relevant characteristics (called feauters in machine learning). Learning is hierarchical, since it starts with basic elements (pixels in the case of an image, characters or words in the case of a language) in order to identify more complex structures (segments or lines in an image; sequences of words or phrases in the case of a language) until it obtains an overall analysis of the object to be analyzed (a form, a sentence). (POIBEAU 2017: 183)

Learning systems based on deep learning consist of a preparatory and decisive training phase, during which they are able to learn on a statistical basis to recognize linguistic patterns starting from a large number of aligned bilingual texts. The results obtained are far superior to those obtained with the old machine translation methods and the future prospects seem very promising. It is an algorithmic method that is now fundamental to all research on artificial intelligence. The difficulties of implementing Rosenblatt's ideas, as already anticipated, were linked precisely to the training phase, in which the processor must possess a high calculation capacity to identify linguistic patterns and learn to translate correctly from the thousands of pages of analyzed translations. A phase that even with the latest processors still requires a few days of training. The training phase is followed by a testing phase, in which the automatic translator is put to the test in translating texts. The quality of the results depends on the quality of the training, and this ultimately depends on the quantity of texts on which the training is conducted. The reason why the quantity can also influence the quality of the translations is that it has been observed that translation errors, or even not very happy translations, are amply balanced by good translations provided that the analyzed corpora are of significant size. In this regard, the observation of Robert Mercer, one of the pioneers of machine translation, was prophetic, who realizing the revolutionary significance of machine learning on a statistical basis, peremptorily stated

«There is no data like more data»: the best data are the data of which is available in abundance. In the following paragraph, I will propose some reflections on the future prospects of this innovative machine translation method.

2.3 Future prospects

Almost all machine translation systems today adopt the new machine learning techniques discussed above. Google, Bing, Facebook, Systran and many others are rapidly adopting the innovative methods of artificial intelligence based on deep learning. The linguistic fields in which these methods find application are many: speech recognition, simultaneous specch-to-speech translation, simultaneous text-to-speech translation and many others.

But what does the innovative scope of deep learning really consist of? First of all in its algorithmic architecture. Rosenblatt conceived of how it works in analogy with the way our nervous system processes information. Neural networks are analogous to the nervous system, at least as far as we know today about this extraordinarily complex biological machine that is our brain⁹.

The interest and enthusiasm that deep learning arouses are mainly related to the learning possibilities it gives to processors. There is in this case a precise analogy with the way in which children learn. In fact, in the case of natural language for example, these learn in the very first years of life through simple exposure to the use that their parents and other adults around them make of their mother tongues. This learning takes place on a statistical and inductive basis, in the sense that children infer the meaning of words from their frequent repetition by adults and from the examples they receive. This occurs long before schooling can introduce these young speakers to the grammatical rules of their language. You learn mainly through direct experience of language. Algorithms based on deep learning allow processors to learn in the same way, starting from language examples (training) and without using grammar rules. The analogy can be pushed even further, to the extent that any processor can learn today to translate on corpora representative of one or more contemporary languages, and can be retrained in the future to record changes in the body

9 Much remains to be discovered of this fascinating organ made up of approximately 87 billion neurons, each of which is connected on average to another 1,000 neurons, for a total of almost 100,000 billion synapses. The mapping project of all brain connections, undertaken in recent years by some pioneers of neurological research, is very interesting. A good introduction to the topic is the book Connectome by Sebastian Seung.

of each language¹⁰ over the years, precisely how children in each generation will master languages different, albeit slightly, from those learned by their peers of the previous and the following generation.

This approach has many advantages over those traditionally used for machine translation until the second half of the 1980s. First of all, the old systems, mainly based on transfer rules and dictionaries, collided with the problem of having to know in depth the grammatical behavior of each pair of languages to be subjected to the translation process. For known and genetically related languages, such as those of the Indo-European family, this problem had been addressed with some success, although it required a considerable effort on the part of the linguists and computer scientists involved in writing the programs. For genealogically distant languages the difficulties of formalizing rewriting rules became much more complicated.

In addition, the dictionaries had to be continuously updated to keep up with the constant changes in the lexicons of the languages in question. Another limitation of this approach was polysemy, a particularly problematic aspect of historical-natural languages. Linguistics has identified co-textual variations, in the context of co-occurring words, as the main cause of the semantic variations of each lexical entry. This, in the case of the old rule- based and dictionary-based systems, required an enormous multiplication of the lemmas of electronic dictionaries, since each meaning of the same lexical entry required the addition of a new lemma. The dictionaries soon reached excessive dimensions which significantly slowed down the computation. On these three problematic aspects, namely genealogical distance, dictionary updating and headword multiplication, deep learning provides satisfactory and computationally advantageous answers. On the first problematic aspect, the genealogical distance of the languages, the great advantage represented by training on aligned bilingual corpora should be underlined, which can ultimately be interpreted as an automatic process of normalization of the morpho-syntactic differences between the languages being analysed. Through it the processors learn to automatically identify homologous morpho-syntactic structures for each pair of languages

10 We know from studies of historical-comparative linguistics how languages change incessantly and how many words undergo changes in form and semantics over time. Many new words can enter the lexicon of any language through neologisms or through loanwords from other languages; other words may instead become obsolete and eventually disappear completely. The strength of every historical-natural language lies precisely in its ability to change over time and to adapt to the new expression needs of the society that adopts it.

even if genetically distant. As for updating dictionaries, it is clear how training on recent corpora provides statistical machine translation systems with a snapshot of all the most relevant lexical changes, without the need to continuously update dictionaries. The traditionally problematic third aspect, the variation of the meaning of words according to the co-text, is resolved by the ability that deep learning has to identify recurring linguistic patterns and to learn to translate them correctly. This occurs to the extent that the system has available corpora of significant size for training, a prerequisite guaranteed today by the great abundance of digital texts available on the web, at least for the most widely used languages.

This last aspect is in my opinion one of the limits and future challenges for machine translation based on deep learning. The capabilities of these systems rely solely on the abundance of bilingual or multilingual texts, and where these are lacking, the older rules-based and dictionary- based systems prove to be much more effective. It is a matter of understanding whether or not the evolution of the web will move in the direction of linguistic democratization. If there are many aligned corpora on which to train these systems, the results will certainly be satisfactory. Perhaps we will never completely replace the figure of the professional translator, but at least we will be able to provide everyone with greater ease of access to foreign languages, and industry professionals an acceptable basis on which to work in the post-editing process. always keeping in mind Robert Mercer's observation: «There is no data like more data».

Conclusions

We have seen how machine translation, even before becoming a concrete possibility through the great availability of digital texts with the advent of the web, was an aspiration with ancient roots that date back to the debated question of the existence of an original Adamic language . In the twentieth century, the problem of a machine capable of translating was inextricably linked to the idea of being able to design an intelligent machine, a computer capable of thinking. It was the English mathematician Turing who first proposed a criterion by which to measure the degree of intelligence of a computer.

The evolution of calculating machines starting from the first half of the 1950s was slow, and the evolution of the first automatic translation systems moved slowly together. Despite this, the possibility of being able to delegate to a computer the demanding task of overcoming the obstacle of language barriers aroused great enthusiasm right from the start, which was

followed by twenty years, from the mid-60s to the mid-80s, of strong disillusionment, especially in the country that had inaugurated research on machine translation: the United States.

In the mid-1980s, the growing availability of digital texts, which coincided with a rapid evolution of processors, stimulated renewed theoretical interest. Between the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, a series of seminal articles by the IBM research team in New York arose from that climate of renewed enthusiasm. In these articles a new type of machine translation was theorized no longer based on complex rewriting rules and hypertrophic electronic dictionaries, but on machine learning principles based on the identification of recurring linguistic patterns within the texts.

This led many researchers to rededicate themselves to machine translation research, an intellectual ferment in which computer scientists, statisticians, mathematicians, engineers and linguists converged. With the further and rapid evolution of computers in the 1990s it was possible to experiment with a new type of machine learning, with theoretical roots in the research conducted since the 1940s on neural networks and which culminated in the theorization of the perceptron by Frank Rosenblatt in 1957. Today, neural networks are the basis of deep learning, a method of machine learning that is providing promising results in areas as diverse as image recognition, speech recognition, machine translation and many others.

The renewed enthusiasm and important funding of governments and companies in the machine learning research sector are coupled with a very rapid evolution of the computing capabilities of computers, linked to the continuous process of miniaturization of microchips. Today it seems possible to finally realize what the pioneers of artificial intelligence research could only formulate in theoretical terms. Machines appear capable of learning a number of skills previously thought to be unique to humans. The probable advent of quantum computers in the years to come could give a further and strong impetus to research related to neural networks and learning on statistical bases, re-actualizing the ancient and never extinct Promethean desire to be able to dominate the most peculiar aspect of our species: symbolic intelligence.

Bibliography

ALPAC, 1966, Languages and Machines: Computers in Translation and Linguistics, Washington, National Academy of Sciences.

HILLEL B., 1949, Report on the State of Machine Translation in the United States and Great Britain, Gerusalemme, Hebrew University Press.

HILLEL B., 1959, A demonstration of the non-feasibility of fully automatic, high-quality translation, https://aclanthology.org/www.mt-archive.info/Bar-Hillel- 1959-App4.pdf

MASSARON M., MUELLER J. P., 2021, Machine Learning for Dummies, Hoboken, JohnWiley & Sons.

POIBEAU T., 2017, Machine Translation, Cambridge, MIT Press. REYNOLDS M., 2016, Translation. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, Oxford

University Press.

SEUNG S., 2016, Connettoma, Torino, Edizioni Codice.

SHANNON C., WEAVER W., 1949, The Mathematical Theory of Communication, Urbana, University of Illinois Press.

Alberto Maria Langella, Ph.D. in computational linguistics, Research Fellow, University of Salerno, Italy

THE FAMOUS PIANIST CAROL MICULI. IMPRESSIONS FROM A MUSICAL EVENT AS PART OF THE FESTIVAL *MANDYCZEWSKI FEST**

Iuliana LUCEAC

Abstract: Autumn in Chernivtsi, as in any other cultural city, especially with such an interesting origin and full of events, begins with the opening of rooms and salon activities not only musical, but also literary, theater, generally creation. Wandering the streets of my hometown, I was extremely happy to see the poster of the festival dedicated to Eusebie Mandicevschi (1857-1929), another remarkable man of culture of Bucovina origin, celebrated locally in Molodia and at the museum in Băhrinești – the birthplace of the composer, the musicologist and choir conductor, coming from a family of priests and musicians, among his teachers and students we can name the well- known Johannes Brahms, Isidor Vorobchievici, Ciprian Porumbescu, his brother Gheorghe Mandicevschi, Marțian Negrea, etc.

The above abstract, echoing a previous introduction in the Voice of Bucovina’s "Bukovinian Personalities" was inspired by the Mandichevski Fest – an event, I had the pleasure to attend in August 2021, the year previous to the Russian-Ukrainian war in my native city of Cernăuți, aka Tchernowitz, Czernowitz the capital of Bucovina and under Habsburgs a multhiethnical center, curently Chernivtsi, Bukovina, where the poems of Paul Celan and the novels of Joseph Roth or Rezzori would reminisce of those times. It dwells on some fragments from the history of Carol Miculi, a renowned Bukovinian composer and pianist of an Armenian, Polish and Romanian descent, the pupil of the renowned Frédéric Chopin – who marked the 200th birth anniversary in 2019. The excellent evening, where, along with some known participants of the Romanian, Ukrainian and Polish community, I had the pleasure to attend, all accompanied by the cameral and classical music interpretations of the soloists L.Cholomeniuk, V.Fisiuk, Ya.Vyshpinska, B.Zaytseva-Cheban and an introduction to the life and activity of Carol Miculi, moderated by Yanina Vyshpinska, which would not have been possible without the support of the local concert Hall, the

*Courtesy and with the approval of Glasul Bucovinei, 1-4 / 2022 , XXX Nr. 111-114

A. Dobryanskyi Library, the Mandichevschi museum in Bahrinesti and other cultural figures and authorities. The fact, that the interest to the multiethnical cultural figures is still alive, despite the political and social situation in Ukraine cannot but encourage. The present article is a continuation of the story about Carol Miculi – a Bukovinian musician, composer and cultural personality who, undoubtedly played a significant role in formation of the modern enclave of Bukovina and whose music we hope to continuously hear in the concert halls of Cernăuți.

So, I decided to visit a musical event, which took place at the philharmonic in the city, - a small introductory concert-study in the life and work of Carol Miculi, also known as Karl von Mikuli or Karol Pstykian, composer, pianist, music teacher of Polish-Armenian origin, especially since I was going to return to this topic in the pages of the "Voice of Bucovina" magazine within the Tedeum in memory of the famous Hurmuzaki family, its members being rightly considered knights of the Bucovina culture. Carol Miculi, born in Cernăuţi on October 22 (20), 1819, was a friend of the Hurmuzaki family from Bucovina, but also one of the greatest propagators and interpreters of the music of his teacher - the great gentleman Frédéric François Chopin. I owe my passion for researching the life and work of Carol Miculi to my late father, who appreciated classical music, especially that performed by masters of Bukovina origin. The personality of the musician is all the more fascinating, as he was one of the true Bukovinians who, as is well known, were usually multicultural not only from the point of view of the area of activity, but also by ethnicity. Carol was one of the most representative examples of this phenomenon, his family coming from Armenians and Moldovan boyars, which did not prevent the friend of the Music Association from Galicia (now Ukraine) to become famous in Austria-Hungary, Romania, Poland, Armenia and Ukraine. It is certain that in his personality the Bucovina vine was happily found, and the luck of living and creating in the times of Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin, Sever Zotta, the Hurmuzaki brothers, and the geopolitical situation of his native land and its surroundings. The life and creation of Carol Miculi have been and are increasingly researched in Poland, Armenia, Austria, France, but also in Ukraine, which makes me happy and makes me proud of my place of origin.

I started my small contribution to the Carol Miculi chapter back in 2008, when I had the pleasure of corresponding with the late Professor Leszek Mazepa from the Lviv Conservatory, with whom I discussed the archives of Carol's work in Poland. Not having the opportunity to participate in the Tedeum Hurmuzaki, to which he had been invited, he was delighted

by the fact of renewing the memory of Carol Miculi. I was fascinated by the personality of the distinguished musician and motivated me to get to know his famous 48 Aires nationaux roumains, which I later did at the urging and with the support of my late father Ilie Luceac. The illustrious pianist was born in Chernivtsi, on October 20, 1821, in the well-known Miculi family, which descended from Romanianized Armenians. In some biographical sources, the year 1819 appears as the pianist's year of birth. Bucovina did not know the classical salon music compositions (vocal and instrumental - for violin and piano) of Carol Miculi during the 20th century, at least what we know from the concert programs after the Second War World. This Romanian musician of Armenian origin was an exceptional cultural personality of Bucovina.

The members of the Miculi family were Romanianized Armenian owners, who came to Iasi and from there to Chernivtsi. Among them was Ştefan Miculi, the composer's father. One of the Miculesti was even a district captain for a while, and the knight Iacob de Miculi took part, in 1851, in the establishment of the Country Library2, together with the historian Eudoxiu Hurmuzaki. Carol Miculi also contributed to the founding, in 1862, of the Society for the Encouragement of Art music in Bucovina [Der Verein zur Förderung der Tonkunst]. Being a virtuoso pianist, he gave concerts during his artistic activity in several cities in the country and in Europe (France, Austria, Russia, Poland and Romania, including in Iasi). The Miculi family, as I mentioned before, was one of the most famous in Chernivtsi in the 19th century. First of all, we must mention that the Miculests had very close ties with the Hurmuzaki brothers and with other Romanian intellectuals from Bucovina. It is important to know that the "Hôtel de Moldavie", where many cultural events of Romanians from the capital of Bucovina took place, in the middle and second half of the 19th century, was the property of the Miculi family. The theater performances of the Fany Tardini troupe took place here, attended by high school student Mihai Eminovici. Later, also here, Mihail Pascaly's theater troupe also performed, etc., etc. Also in this hall of the "Hôtel de Moldavie" Franz Liszt gave a concert in the spring of 1847. In the house of the old man Doxachi Hurmuzaki from Chernivtsi, together with other Romanian intellectuals from the Principality, Carol Miculi was also hosted more than once. During this period, the composer also met the Bucovina violinist Nicolae Picu, the writer Vasile Alecsandri and many others.

But let's return to Carol Miculi. As a small child he learned to play the piano with concert pianist Franz Kolberg. In 1839 he began to study medicine in Vienna, during this period he met the personality of Eduard

Hanslick - a renowned authority in the musical world of the time. Between 1844-1847, he studied music in Paris, intensively studying piano with Frédéric Chopin, and counterpoint and harmony with Professor Heinrich Reber. In the Parisian society of that time he met them Alfred de Musset, Heinrich Heine, George Sand and, of course, Franz Liszt, with whom he will maintain, over the years, a close and friendly relationship. Between the years 1848-1857 Miculi was a piano teacher in Cernăuţi, in Bucovina, then Conductor of the Musical Society from Cernăuţi, between 1858-1870. In fact, the year 1858 is considered the year when the young pianist will get to know the old and beautiful city of Lviv, where he was invited as a piano teacher and where he will work for several good decades, until 1888, in the position of Director of the Conservatory in Lvov (then Lemberg). Between 1858-1887 he was also artistic director of the Galician Music Association in Lemberg. Appreciated in his time by Liszt and Chopin, Carol Miculi left behind a multitude of disciples who perpetuated the musical traditions of romanticism Chopinian, both in the vocal chamber music and in many of the instrumental pieces. One of them, Mieczysław Sołtys, for example, worked for about thirty years, from 1899 to 1929, as director of the Galician Music Society and director of the Lviv Conservatory. Another disciple of Carol Miculi was Stanisław Niewiadomski, a composer and pianist who continued his work at the Lemberg Conservatory.

Among his most talented students are the pianists Aleksander Michałowski, Maurice Rosenthal, Raul Koczalski and others. Among the most competent researchers, who studied the life and work of Carol Miculi, we can name the professor from the Academy of Music in Lviv Leszek Mazepa, who published a collection of original articles entitled Storinky muzycznoho Lwowa (z neopublikowanogo ) [Unpublished pages from the music of old Lviv]. We also mention researchers Galina Blaschkewytsch and Tereza Staruh from Lviv, Oleksandr Zalutski from Chernivtsi, Mircea Bejinariu from Cluj (Romania) and others. The fact that Professor Leszek Mazepa personally met Carol Miculi's niece, Maria Miculi, aged 90, who lived for a while in Słupsk (Poland), is also not without importance. In recent years she moved to Lviv (Ukraine). We do not know if he is still alive today.

As for Carol Miculi's compositional work, we must say that he composed theater music (in particular, we mention here the vaudeville on the lyrics of Vasile Alecsandri Piatra din casa), vocal-symphonic music (the work Missa romana, 1864), works for mixed choir and organ or orchestra (Veni creator), as well as instrumental music, both for violin and piano (Preludes, Polonezes, Mazurki, Waltzes, Paraphrases on various themes from other composers, Pieces for piano and violin, etc.). The pieces for

piano denote the continuity of the romantic style of composition, with its methods of harmonic resolution, characteristic of the musical tradition of the 19th century. Also, in the A major Mazurka, for example, one can observe Carol Miculi's fidelity to the innovative compositional tradition of his master, Frédéric Chopin, in terms of the perfection of the miniature salon musical form, respecting both the softness and the elegance of dance of Polish origin. What's interesting: two songs, Mondnacht (Moonlit Night) and Abschied (Farewell or Parting), composed by Carol Miculi, demonstrate another facet of musical romanticism, this time of German origin. Here we encounter the Schubertian atmosphere of the time or, rather, the influence of another German composer, Robert Schumann. And there is nothing surprising, because we know that during the years 1855-1888 Carol Miculi was in full creative and pedagogical activity, in one of the cultural centers of the Empire - the city of Lemberg, which had close ties with the European metropolis of the time - Vienna. So it is not surprising that the German musical school influenced the Bucovina composer as well as the French one, by virtue of his studies undertaken in Paris, with the famous Frédéric Chopin. Carol Miculi also composed for the violin. And here we mention the piece entitled Scherzo in C-moll for three violins, in which the finesse and academicism of the score excel. The piece demonstrates a happy symbiosis of German and French romanticism, in which the philosophical meditations of German origin intertwine with the melodic softness of the French temperament. The classical form of the work and the romantic expression of the score rendering procedures conquer the listener right from the first chords.

Perhaps the most elegant concert piece is the Poloneza in E-moll for three violins by Carol Miculi. The Chopinian aura of the main melodic theme highlights the Polish-Austrian school, and the "aristocratic" melodic line of the piece reminds us of the salons of France in the first half of the 19th century. In this work, the influence of the romantic school is felt, which dominated the compositions for violin and piano until the end of the 19th century, creating an upward musical continuity with many of the European peoples who gave celebrities in the field of the art of sounds. But the most important thing, which must be remembered about the cultural activity of Carol Miculi in Bucovina, is the fact that he prepared and published in 1855 in Lemberg an Album in four fascicles, entitled 48 Aires nationaux roumains. Each bundle with a separate special dedication is entitled: Douze airs nationaux roumains (Ballades, chants des bergers, airs de danse etc), recueillis et transcrits pur le piano par Charles Mikuli. This album was based on 36 Romanian national songs, collected in Bucovina by Alecu and

Constantin Hurmuzaki, as well as by their sisters, Eliza (married Sturdza) and Eufrosina (married Petrino). Therefore, the Hurmuzaki brothers, together with Carol Miculi, contributed to the enrichment of the national cultural heritage, valorizing rare pieces from the folklore treasury of Moldova's Upland. Each of these notebooks-fascicles, which contain 12 Romanian national areas, are dedicated to well-known personalities from the history of Bucovina from that time. These are Mme Chaterine de Rolla, Baroness Angelica de Mustazza, Mrs Pulheria de Buchenthal, née Costin, and Mme Eliza de Stourdza, née Hurmuzaki, who took part in the collection of songs and arias from Bucovina Romanian folklore. The members of the Hurmuzaki family identified the best groups of fiddlers or singers, from which the songs included in the album were collected. We were lucky enough to discover this Album in four volumes at the Warsaw Public Library. We intend to publish it in time. It must be known and valued, especially here, in Bucovina, where the beautiful folklore pieces were collected. Let's also add that the first composition to the lyrics of Vasile Alecsandri Dulce Bucovina also belongs to Carol Miculi. Later, the Iesian composer Alexandru Flechtenmacher also composed a version of the song. Carol Miculi also composed a version of the song at Hora Unirii, on the same lyrics by Vasile Alecsandri.

A significant thing that deserves to be known: Carol Miculi is the one who composed a Mass dedicated to the consecration (consecration) of the "Descent of the Holy Spirit" Cathedral Church in Chernivtsi, which took place in the summer of 1864, in the presence and with the participation of Bishop Eugenie Hacman. All the Romanian intellectuals from that time were present at the celebration of the inauguration of the Cathedral, among them and the Hurmuzaki brothers. In addition to the fact that he prepared for print the mentioned arias from Romanian folklore, ca editor, Carol Miculi from Bukovina immortalized his name in the history of universal music by preparing for publication and editing the complete works of his great master Frédéric Chopin, in a critical first edition15, which he also prefaced. For his artistic merits, he was decorated in 1880 with the Knight's Cross of the Order of Emperor Francis Josef I. Carol Miculi died on May 21, 1897, in Lviv, where he sleeps eternally in the central Lyciakov cemetery of the city. After he died, he was initially buried in the yard of the Armenian church in Lviv. Later, the remains of the composer and pianist were transported and reburied at the Lyciakov cemetery in the same city. A bas-relief of the musician with an inscription in Polish adorns the plaque on the facade of the Armenian church, in the courtyard of which the remains of the composer were originally buried. On this plate it is written: "To Karol Mikuli

/1819-1897/ to the extraordinary pianist and composer / to the Director of the Galician Music Association / thanks from the students".

It is appropriate to mention here also the trinity that was erected in Stupca (today Ciprian Porumbescu commune, Suceava county, Romania), near the graves of the Porumbești, in memory of Carol Miculi. On this trestle, erected by the descendants of the Porumbeşti, for which the parish priest Galeş from Stupca worked, as well as the writer Nina Cionca from Bucharest, niece of Ciprian Porumbescu, writes: "This Holy Cross was erected in memory of his servant God Carol Miculi, 1821-1897, former composition student of Frédéric Chopin, piano teacher of Ciprian Porumbescu. May his name be honored forever, to him and his descendants: Bela Miculi, Ioan Miculi, Sergiu Miculi, Constantin Miculi, Elena Miculi (Popovici), Rita Miculi, Adrian Miculi". We also mention here the close friendship of Carol Miculi with priest Iraclie Porumbescu, father of Ciprian Porumbescu. Several summers in a row, the musician came to rest at Şipotele Sucevei in Bucovina, at the invitation of the parish priest Iraclie, necessarily bringing the piano with him. Father Iraclie Porumbescu had the parish at Şipote at that time. There, fate crossed the paths of the two musicians, one of whom was the founder (in 1858) and the Director of the Lemberg Conservatory, a renowned composer and pianist (he founded the piano school in Lemberg), and the other, who would become "a Strauss" of the Romanian operetta, he was only six years old at the time.

It is, as is well understood, about Ciprian Porumbescu. Carol Miculi was the first to notice Ciprian's innate musical talent. And he was also the one who taught him to read musical notes. At that time, the little Ciprian also learned to play the piano under the guidance of Carol Miculi. Here, Romanians, we can trace some unpretentious works by Ciprian Porumbescu, for example, which come precisely from Chopin, through the chain of Carol Miculi, Chopin's favorite disciple, friend and executor of his musical will. This is understandable, because Carol Miculi was the first teacher who taught Ciprian to read musical notes and more, when he was only six years old fulfilled, as I mentioned before. In any case, the contribution of the Bucovinian - better said the European - Carol Miculi to the development and enrichment of the Romanian and Polish musical repertoire forces us to recognize that we have before our conscience a personality of great value for Armenian, Romanian, Polish, Ukrainian and universal art. Therefore, the valorization of his compositional work as well as the collaboration of the artist with other intellectuals from Bucovina, in particular, with the Hurmuzaki family, constitutes an increase in the enrichment of the cultural heritage of our people.

Bibliography

1. Iuliana Luceac, Carol Miculi - an aristocrat of the piano and a devoted friend of the Hurmuzăkeşti, "Voice of Bucovina", Year XX, 2014, No. 1-4 (77-80),

pp. 66-72.

2. George Onciul, From the musical past of Bucovina, in "Seventy years since the establishment of S.C.L.R.B. (1862-1932)", Cernăuţi, Tipografia Mitropolitul Silvestru, 1932; Rudolf Gassauer, Suceava musical from another time, Suceava, Tipografia Hermann Beier, 1938; see also Adalbert Hrimaly, Dreissig Jahre Musik in der Bukowina (Erinnerungen vom Jahre 1874 bis 1904), Czernowitz, 1904.

3. Ilie Luceac, Some notes about the historian Sever Zotta and his article "Franz Liszt in Chernivtsi", in "Academica", new series, Year XVI, no. 48-49 (185- 186), 2006, p. 97-103.

4. Leszek Mazepa, Karol Mikuli, der künstlerische Direktor des Galizischen Muzikverein in Lemberg 1858-1887, in Musikgeschichte in Mittel-und Osteuropa Mittelungen der internationalen Arbeitgemeinschaft an der Technischen Universität Chemnitz, Heft 5, Gudrun Schröder Verlag. Chemnitz, 1999, pp. 3-15.

5. Leszek Mazepa, Storinky muzycznoho Lwowa (z neopublikowanogo) [Unpublished pages from the music of old Lviv], Lwiw: "Społom", 2001.

6. Information received from Mr. Leszek Mazepa, professor at the Academy of Music in Lviv.

7. 48 Aires nationaux roumains. Album in four bundles. Each bundle with a separate special dedication is entitled: Douze airs nationaux roumains (Ballades, chants des bergers, airs de danse etc), recueillis et transcrits pur le piano par Charles Mikuli, Léopol, chez Gubrynowicz & Schmidt, editeurs, 1855.

8. Ilie Luceac, The Hurmuzaki Family: between ideal and achievement (A history of Romanian culture from Bucovina in the second half of the 19th century), Alexandru cel Bun Publishing House – Cernăuţi, Augusta Publishing House– Timişoara, 2000, p. 215.

9. Carol Miculi, Frédéric Chopin's Werke (Band I-XVII), Leipzig, Friederich Köstner Publishing House, 1879.

Iuliana Luceac, philologist, translator. He was born in Chernivtsi. Translate from and into languages

English, Ukrainian, Romanian, Russian and Polish. Graduated from the University of Chernivtsi (Faculty of Foreign Languages). Bachelor of Legal Sciences (2016, Dublin, Ireland). She is a translator for the magazine "Glasul Bucovinei" and is involved in various projects in Poland, Greece, Ukraine, Ireland and Romania. Member of the Association of Authorized Translators in Dublin since 2014, member of the Society of Bucovinian Librarians in Chernivtsi.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, TOWARDS A GREATER AWARENESS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Melina ALLEGRO

Imagine being in the presence of two giants of modern thought, cognitive neuroscience and philosophy of mind. The discipline and logic that characterize their methods of investigation, make that these fields of research are examined with care and attention . But what can they answer if we put the question: "What is consciousness?".

We could imagine the unfolding of a situation in which both parties , the little man who asks , and giants , look at each other confused.

Emily Dickinson , writes: "The brain is wider than the sky , For put them side by side , The one the other will include With ease, and you beside."

Although illogical, it seems that a poet of the late nineteenth century have clearer ideas about a possible definition of consciousness.

The importance of putting the slide of consciousness, under the watchful eye of research, is demonstrated by the disciplines that are wondering about it. Psychology, neuroscience , medicine and philosophy, from days gone by, they try to understand the ontological sense and the structural and functional components of self, in order to answer the questions of all time, namely: "Who are we?" and "Where are we going?", in other words, what is the human being and how it works.

There are many theories that attempt to move closer to a comprehensive definition of consciousness.

Among these, on the basis of its validity, the Darwinian theory has inspired what is the proposal of the U.S. biologist Gerald Edelman, about the evolution of consciousness.

According to the Nobel Prize for Medicine, through a mechanism of re- entry, the brain would make use of synaptic plasticity and epigenetic processes, in order not to lose the race to evolution.

The intergrazione studies G.Edelman with those of neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, allowed to consider the work of the central nervous system in place in relation to the individual with the environment in which it is inserted. The organism-environment interaction, in fact, would have

reason to be, thanks to two levels of synchronization : the dyadic and the group level.

The first level would be handled by the limbic system through the simple emotions, that inter-individual reported physical activity through activation of visceromotor.

The second tuning system, that group all, take its starting point from the frontal cortex LMOs; at this level, the simple emotions are associated with maps of gestures and postures; being inserted in a complex situation, would become complex emotions, that is, resulting from processes of thinking and reasoning.

The integrated processing of the two kinds of tuning then, would be the result of innate predispositions and allow the individual to understand the intentions of conspecifics by means of mirror neurons.

The normal social and emotional functioning of an individual, not surprisingly, is based on elements like activity of mirror neurons, signaling the emotional value of a stimulus by the so-called somatic marker and the individual's ability to attribute mental states to others, intentions, beliefs and desires, faculty called "theory of mind" (TOM).

According G.Edelman fact, the evolution of the human brain provides a job to divide the objects into categories experienced. The process just described, it would be necessary to the proper functioning of the individual, from the fact that in reality we are inserted in a world in which the objects have no "labels" real.

In detail the man would make use of a faculty called "self": section brainstem deputy to the detection of internal stimuli repository of information that allows the body to ensure himself the internal homeostasis .

There would then be a so-called "non-self " , located in the thalamus - cortical . At the "non-self " has the duty to detect external stimuli and their subsequent categorization aimed at adaptive purposes in the environment in which the individual is engaged.

Knowing and understanding in the field of experimental and clinical, the internal organization of the individual described above , you can easily understand its daily operation, and to protect, if necessary, this process.

The work of this fascinating machine that is the brain, however, is not limited to this , and moves on.

It seems that, like any living system, the brain has gone to a meeting functional evolutionary development. Neuroscience research then shifts his watchful eye, to a ontogeny of mind. The process of categorization, used by

the brain, is divided into hierarchical levels: perception, simple emotions, complex emotions, language, consciousness.

The consideration of this organizational process, allows to have a critical eye towards different cognitive-behavioral deficits defined at this point as secondary phenomena with alterations of one of the various levels. It follows that, in addition to the alteration of functions handled by the specific broken level now, within the framework of etiological these diseases, there will be a release of the functions of the structures hierarchically below.

In the human brain, it is possible to differentiate three levels of evolution, appeared at different times. The homeostasis brain, the most archaic, allows a perceptual categorization using vegetative - sensorimotor schemas. The evolution then proceeds with a limbic brain, which allows a simple categorization of emotions. The evolutionary tree, he sees on the highest branches the neocortical brain, which manages and processes the complex emotions, linguistics and consciousness.

We are here, to an exceptionally refined and very "Human" . At this level of processing, can be investigated the politician, the man who thinks himself, the artist, the one who puts the big questions : "Who am I and what am I doing here?", The doors are open to revolutionary man who poses himself as an object of study.

With the language and consciousness, in fact, it comes to the ability of a combination of concepts and the foundation of a new world, one of the meanings. Of fundamental importance is the concept of socio-emotional intelligence, this term is meant the ability to understand the feelings of others, once the unfolding of effective interactions and functional.

The study of brain mechanisms, allows us to trace the evolutionary path of the nerve cells during their embryonic stage and consequently understand the process of normal and pathological development of an individual placed in a time and space, allows us to understand the significance of the inputs epigenetic and mechanisms of memory and learning that manage the structural and functional component of the nervous system.

Based on what has been said so far, it is clear that to date, the cognitive sciences that attempt to explain the mind and consciousness, remain faithful to what Charles Darwin meant by saying, "The Descent of Man is now demonstrated. Metaphysics must flourish. He who understands baboon metaphysics contribute to more than Locke."

The research proceeds effectively, and after his theories, G.Edelman relies on the collaboration of Giulio Tononi, a psychiatrist and neurologist.

This association brings to light to be the Integrated Information Theory of consciuosness (IIT), one of the most valid theories designed to increase understanding of consciousness.

In the book "Galileo and the photodiode" G.Tononi begins to lay the foundations of his theoretical approach. His reasoning is based on evidence that some parts of the central nervous system does not appear to be directly involved in the management of consciousness.

G.Tononi examines the component that neuroanatomical and neurophysiological.

As regards the former, notes that the thalamocortical system is made up of more than 20 billion neurons, weighs about 1400 grams and has a mass of about 77% of the SNC . The cerebellum however, compared to the first district considered, would have a much higher number of neurons, but lower weight and mass.

In examining the second component, Tononi focuses on the phases that unfold during sleep, as these conditions are characterized by lack of altered activity of consciousness . The alternation of sleep-wake it allows you to observe that consciousness can "disappear" without that there are anatomical changes and pathological conditions.

From the above considerations regarding the evidence of neuro- anatomy and neuro-physiology, it seems legitimate to conclude that consciousness depends on changes in functionality in some areas and not by their specific structure in IT et nuch.

From experimental studies, therefore, come to the conclusion that the area thalamus - corticolae, manages the activities of self-awareness, thanks to a specific kind of organization between nerve cells that make up the area.

Tononi explicit the relevance of its experimental research, proposing an exercise of imagination that lies at the heart of his theory describes the fundamental difference between a naturally intelligent and an artificial one. The experiment requires that a human being, is not chosen at random the mother of modern science, Galileo Galilei ,and a photo diode, a diode photodetector, indicate when it shows whether or not a light onto a white screen. Both systems are able to complete the job in the best way. Galileo however, possesses a brand in more, it is able to discriminate the color of light that is presented and make note of this difference explaining it to the

examiner. The fundamental difference between its subjects of the experiment therefore, is the amount of information which they can process.

The exercise described above, demonstrates the relevance of an experimental study aimed at understanding the mechanisms underlying consciousness. The validity and the realization of such a path, provides for the intervention of different disciplines. The theory of Tononi fact, is enriched by studies of the two engineers, C.Shannon and W.Weaver, which summarizes all approaching the concept of information, to that of entropy.

Entropy is the amount of uncertainty in the system under consideration. The concept can be understood starting from the theories of probability.

The authors develop their reasoning asking for help to the two sides of a coin whose launch will be able to drop the coin on the side of the head or that of the cross. We will then create a situation of uncertainty, in which the two possible outcomes, heads or tails, are equally probable.

A similar situation is described between Galileo and the photodiode: the two systems are in a relation of equi-possibility because they can choose whether to answer "light" or "dark".

Is at this point that the ability to process more information of Galileo makes the difference: this will have the ability to provide all the possible answers that can and will give once placed in front of a screen that presents colored lights. Imagine proceed with the trial and wished to replace the photodiode with a camera.

The capacity of the new artificial system is greater: the camera has a resolution that discriminates easily a light on the other. By multiplying the number of pixels of the camera to the number of possible responses: "dark" or "light", the estimate of the work done by this object is equal to that of the photoreceptors in the retina of Galileo.

The theory of consciousness as integrated information, however, does not fall; Galileo is significantly different even from this high-resolution camera. The research in the field of neuro-psychological allow us to prove it. Cut into two equal parts at the camera, his performance does not change. Galileo subjecting the same procedure, you would have a dramatic result and questionable whether it would lead to a neurological condition known coma "split brain".

The scientist would begin to have double consciences and in conflict with each other. The fundamental difference between the two systems, therefore, is not in the ability to encode the input is received, but in the fact

that the camera is a unique system and stable, while Galileo is a system that can build a large amount of possible states.

Through research on the field and then, it changes from evaluating the conscience as the amount of information that a system X is capable of receiving from a system that sends output, to consider it in terms of the amount of information within the same receiving system.

The theory proposes that G.Tononi has a huge scope in terms of understanding of what is consciousness, but also within a philosophical discourse aimed at understanding the experience of man in the unfolding of its existence.

It is in the world of neuroscience research that makes use of visualization techniques structural and functional central nervous system, in order to understand the normal and pathological brain function.

In these terms, we can think about a proliferation of scientific research, and most thorough diagnosis of abnormal conditions. In a speech aimed at the understanding of consciousness, develops the ability to observe with an eye more alert and attentive, the neurological conditions such as coma, vegetative state, locked-in syndrome but also degenerative diseases such as that of Alzheimer's disease. This reality pathological provides for the opening of the patient's mind to a world of nonsense, and a gradual impairment of that which is yet another unknown factor that science will have to solve, consciousness.

Bibliography

1. Gerald Maurice Edelman, Vernon B. Mountcastle, Mindful Brain: Cortical Organization and the Group-Selective Theory of Higher Brain.

2. Gerald Maurice Edelman, Neurobiology. An introduction to Molecular Embriology

3. Gerald Maurice Edelman, Il presente ricordato. Una teoria biologica della coscienza.

4. Gerald Maurice Edelman, Sulla materia della mente.

5. Gerald Maurice Edelman, Darwinismo neurale. La teoria della selezione dei gruppi neuronali.

6. Gerald Maurice Edelman, Giulio Tononi, Un universo di coscienza. Come la materia diventa immaginazione.

7. Gerald Maurice Edelman e Giulio Tononi, Un universo di coscienza. Come la materia diventa immaginazione.

8. Giulio Tononi, Galileo e il fotodiodo. Cervello, complessità e coscienza.

HISTORY OF ROMANIAN PHILOSOPHY

BY NICOLAE BAGDASAR AND THE TIMELINESS OF ITS METHOD OF APPROACH

Ph. D. Ioan N. ROȘCA

Abstract: The study exposes, analyzes and exploits the method used by Bagdasar implicitly in his book History of Romanian Philosophy, republished in 2002 (first edition 1941). The author shows that Bagdasar opted for the exposition of Romanian philosophy on the main fields addressed by Romanian philosophers: general philosophy (ontology and epistemology), aesthetics, philosophy of law, philosophy of history, philosophy of culture, and not on each philosophical system separately. The author appreciates that the mentioned method is more advantageous, to capture the parentage of ideas in each philosophical field from one philosophical conception to another and clearly distinguishes between exposition and interpretation.

Keywords: research method, exposition method, subjective, objective, subjectivism, objectivism, exposition, interpretation.

1. History of Romanian philosophy by Bagdasar in the context of other similar works

Among the philosophical appearances of the last year, a distinct place is occupied by the work of Nicolae Bagdasar, History of Romanian Philosophy, published by Ardealul Publishing House, in Târgu Mureș, in 2022, curated and with foreword, afterword and notes by Gheorghe Vlăduțescu and Eugeniu Nistor. Its first appearance in a separate volume was in 1940, and it was soon reprinted, in 1941, as a section in the 5th volume of History of Modern Philosophy, Romanian philosophy from its origins to today, together with two other sections by other authors: Sociology by Traian Herșeni and Pedagogy by S. S. Bârsănescu. Bagdasar's work was also republished in a volume entitled Writings, at the Eminescu Publishing House, in 1988, by Gheorghe Vlăduțescu, who signed preface and notes. At the same time, he added two other writings by Bagdasar to the end of the volume: the study History of Philosophy (1932)

and the collection of studies Few Problems of European Culture (1931), considering, of course, a necessary addition, because the author of The History of Romanian Philosophy did not include himself among the Romanian philosophers, not even in the final chapter Other thinkers, although he would have had enough arguments, i.e. other books already published, by his decision leaving himself in the shadow and behind his historical-philosophical synthesis.

Compared to the 1988 edition, the present edition does not retain the two writings added by the editor, although Bagdasar is not much known and commented even nowadays, but adds some portraits made by him, after the publication of his History in 1940, of some of the important philosophers, whose conceptions he had analyzed in the book (C. Rădulescu-Motru, P. P. Negulescu, Ion Petrovici, Nae Ionescu, Mircea Florian, Tudor Vianu), which brings an increase in knowledge, mainly to the biography of the respective thinkers, but, partially , and to their work. The additions of 1988, which were abandoned in 2022, are justified, but the current ones are just as justified, or even more consistent with the History of Bagdasar, giving it completeness with other additions made by the author himself.

Of course, in years and years, other works dedicated to the Romanian philosophical phenomenon as a whole have appeared, the most representative being two collective works, the first elaborated by the Institute of Philosophy in two volumes of the History of Romanian Philosophy (Editura Academiei, 1972 and, respectively, 1980) and the second by a new generation of researchers from the same institute, renamed the Institute of Philosophy and Psychology "Constantin Rădulescu

-Motru", in a single volume of the History of Romanian Philosophy

(Romanian Academy Publishing House, 2018).

To these are added the works of a single author, of which the book by Gh. Al. Cazan, History of Romanian Philosophy (Didactic and Pedagogical Publishing House, 1984), reworked and expanded by the author in several volumes, namely: Romanian Philosophy from Zalmoxis to Titu Maiorescu (2001), Diving into the Deep. Titu Maiorescu's philosophy (2002), Beyond Maiorescu, C. Rădulescu-Motru, P. P. Negulescu, Ion Petrovici (2004), Mircea Florian and Nae Ionescu (2006), The Metaphysics of Data Dispute – Lyrical Metaphysics (2006), as well as Romanian Metaphysics. 1900-1950 (2008), in which, among the thinkers after Maiorescu, also analyzed in previous works, Lucian Blaga is added. The regret that the author

confessed to me was that the approaching end did not allow him to publish a volume about Constantin Noica, although he had prepared all the necessary materials, to be systematized and finished in the desired book. Gathered in a single volume, all the mentioned works would make up a monumental and fundamental opus. It is also worth mentioning the work of Gheorghe Vlăduțescu, Unconventional, about Romanian philosophy (Paideea Publishing House, 2002). Nevertheless, the History of Bagdasar stands the test of time and is current both in the analyzes undertaken and in the methodology used.

2. Subjectivism and objectivism in the history of philosophy

That is why, not by chance, the current edition preserves the first part of the Preface signed by Gh. Vlăduțescu in the 1988 edition, in which, starting from the fact that in his work from 1940 N. Bagdasar did not present his own philosophical contributions and assuming the fact that he wanted not to leave the impression that the analyzes of other conceptions would be filtered and somehow deformed by his own conception, the author finds the opportunity to refer to the relationship between subjectivism and objectivism in the history of philosophy.

Of course, any historian of philosophy exercises both subjectively, at least insofar as his analysis depends on his degree of knowledge and understanding of the researched work, and objectively, insofar as he refers to a conception other than his own and not to one assumed by him. But the ratio between the subjective and the objective can shift, either towards the objective pole or towards the subjective one, coming close to neglecting one or the other of the two factors.

At the limit, whoever adopts the objectivist point of view limits himself to examining and presenting as faithfully as possible each philosophical conception, as it is presented by its author, renouncing any subjective introjection through evaluation and valorization. Obviously, the more it tries to be more faithful, the more objectivism misses the known object, because it no longer captures its essence, it no longer discerns between fundamental and secondary ideas, between significant and less significant. A completely thorough reproduction of a concept would be equivalent to the transcription of the respective concept, which the interested person can find in the philosopher's book, without resorting to the duplication offered by the historian of philosophy.

On the contrary, the historian of subjectivist philosophy remains so anchored in his own ideas that he either rejects those of mis (treated) philosophers, if they do not suit him, or corrects them, if they are suitable, in the sense of his convictions, considering that other conceptions he would only approximate, anticipate or confirm his own way of thinking, self- appreciated as the most truthful and advanced. Although in a different way, still the subjectivist historian arrives at the same result of ignorance of the object investigated and therefore of the futility of his enterprise, since he ends up substituting the object for the subject, the conception supposedly researched by his own conception.

In the aforementioned section of the Preface to the edition of Bagdasar's work, Gh. Vlăduțescu shows that historical-philosophical subjectivism was present in the first historian of Romanian philosophy, Marin Ștefănescu, the only one who, before Bagdasar, had attempted a panorama of our philosophical culture in his work Romanian philosophy, from 1922. Commenting on the mentioned synthesis, the author of the Preface highlights, on the one hand, the fact that the first exegete of Romanian philosophy thought more truthfully than Bagdasar about the nature/concept of philosophy in general and the beginnings of the Romanian one, including in philosophy and folklore creation, and the Teachings of Neagoe Basarab, and the chroniclers, and the Pashoptists, and the thinking of Eminescu. Through his acceptance of what philosophical culture is and includes, Marin Ștefănescu was subjective, he attributed, according to his own vision, a greater age and variety to philosophical creations, but he did not yet anchor in subjectivism. At the same time, as the same interpreter states, Marin Ștefănescu failed in subjectivism, but not by the area of creations assigned to philosophy, but by the fact that he projected onto cultural creations, including philosophical ones, his own conception of a harmonious spiritualism, through which he tried "a spiritualistic-harmonic reinterpretation of the psychology, history, culture of the Romanian people and, through all this, of the Romanian philosophy"¹.

1 Gh. Vlăduțescu, Preface, in Nicolae Bagdasar, History of Romanian Philosophy, Ardealul Publishing House, Târgu Mureș, 2002

3. Subjective and objective in Nicolae Bagdasar's implicit method

Bagdasar did not explain and theorize his historical-philosophical method, but it is implicitly present, through the way it was practiced by him in the exposition of Romanian philosophy. Therefore, it is a method of exposure, but also involves a method of research/approach and understanding of the analyzed concepts. It has been exercised in a consistent way, so that it has taken shape with sufficient gravity, which allows us to analyze it, even if it has not been exposed by its practitioner in a logos, in a methodology.

As a historian of Romanian philosophy, Nicolae Bagdasar no longer fell into subjectivism like his predecessor, whose history he also ignored, but he did not fall into objectivism either. His method has both an objective and a subjective meaning, without absolutizing any of the two approaches.

The expository-interpretive method practiced by Bagdasar respected the objective meaning of the research, without slipping into objectivism, because through it he revealed and exposed the domains and problems of each philosophy, as well as the defining ideas, in their internal articulations and with their specific arguments, otherwise said, he freed the essence of the respective conception from the less important details, which could obscure it, and presented it in his own words, so he submitted to the object under investigation, without however becoming a slave to it, or more precisely a scribe, who would copy it.

The expository-interpretive method also has a subjective meaning, but not a subjectivist one.

First of all, the subjectivity of the historian intervened by the fact that he systematized the philosophical conceptions according to the domains that he considered that any philosophical system can have. Thus, he framed the concepts analyzed in one or more of the following thematic areas: Pure Philosophy (Logic, Epistemology, Metaphysics), Aesthetics, Philosophy of Law, Philosophy of History, Philosophy of Culture. The mentioned systematization made by Bagdasar has a somewhat subjective character, as it denotes his metaphilosophical vision, according to which a philosophy can deal with a field of maximum generality, the so-called pure philosophy, or also with fields/disciplines with a narrower character, called today branch or applied philosophies. According to the respective vision, according to which a creation is philosophical if it is theoretical and deals

with one/some of the mentioned fields, he restricted, naturally subjectively, the past of Romanian philosophy, which, according to him, begins with Dimitrie Cantemir, therefore with the first creator of system philosophical, which theorizes about knowledge and existence in general. Subjective, the systematization by fields/disciplines is not subjective either, because the respective disciplines are found in Romanian philosophers, who cultivated one or more of them, and the analysis given to their conceptions does not suffer from the way in which they were systematized.

Secondly, Bagdasar's history of philosophy is also subjective without subjectivism, and because its author not only expounded other conceptions, but also evaluated them, by favorable assessments or by objections, but without distorting them and alter. To this end, he clearly demarcated the exposition of conceptions from personal considerations on them.

4. The distinction between exposition and interpretation of philosophy

Any philosophy must not only be exposed in its internal structure (reconstructed), clarified and explained, but also evaluated, valued, interpreted. The method of thematic exposition, as applied by Bagdasar, regardless of the level of application, delimits between exposition and interpretation, the author reconstructing, first, the investigated conception and, then, formulating possible remarks on it. As a general rule, for a philosopher who is presenting for the first time, whether they are included in the Pure Philosophy section, or those who do not appear in the mentioned section, but in others, the scheme used includes: 1) a bio-bibliographic introduction, 2) an exposition of the respective conception, 3) Bagdasar's assessments. In this regard, in a clarifying Afterword regarding the content of the work, Eugeniu Nistor states: "As an operational working method, Nicolae Bagdasar resorts, to begin with, to the bio-bibliographic presentation of the philosopher in question, then proceeding to a rigorous analysis of the concepts , of the theories and ideas that constitute the fabric of his thinking, with the indication of sources and influences, belonging to currents and schools of thought (where applicable); depending on the philosophical personality treated and the value of his writings, in the end,

some conclusions are drawn or not."² The mentioned scheme can be illustrated in the case of any philosopher. For example, after referring to the life and writings of Vasile Conta, the author continues: "There are two philosophical fields in which Conta made his interesting contributions: epistemological and metaphysical"³, after which their analysis follows.

Admittedly, the appreciations given to the analyzed philosophers occupy a very limited place in relation to the exposition and analysis carried out along the way or, as stated in the excerpt quoted from the Afterword, sometimes they are not even inserted. However, it should be specified that the very comparative reporting of one philosophy to others also constitutes an evaluation of it and a fixation of the contribution made in relation to the others. The lack of final evaluations also signifies the adherence of the historian of philosophy to the analyzed concept, because, as can be seen, when he has reservations or observations, he does not shy away from formulating them.

5. The relationship between the method of exposition of philosophy by fields and the method of exposition on philosophical systems

The method of thematic exposition, on problems and solutions, does not contradict the more usual method, used in other works, that of the exposition of Romanian philosophy through the analysis and series of philosophical conceptions in their chronological sequence, each of the two approaches having both advantages and disadvantages.

The exposition by adding the conceptions has the merit of reconstructing each conception as a whole, in the connection of its components, but it obscures the understanding of the set of philosophical conceptions from a certain culture as a whole, to the extent that, focused on each individual philosophy, it does not expressly aim connections, with continuities and evolution from one philosophy to another.

The method used by Bagdasar has the merit of rendering the thematic unity and ideational evolution existing in each field of the national philosophy as a whole, but not enough at the level of each philosophical system in particular, because it breaks down a unitary philosophical conception in its field of maximum generality and in the narrower, applied

2 Eugeniu Nistor, Afterword, in op. cit., p. 509

3 Nicolae Bagdasar, op. cit., p. 43

fields, to follow each field separately, to all the thinkers who made contributions within that philosophical compartment. Thus, in the situation of philosophers who illustrated not only the sphere of pure philosophy (logic, epistemology, metaphysics), but also some applied philosophical disciplines (Aesthetics, Philosophy of Law, etc.), Bagdasar detached the applied contributions from the area of pure philosophy and presented them separately, fitting them into the field they illustrate. Thus, seven of the fifteen thinkers included in the first section, the most extensive, Pure Philosophy, reappear in other sections: Maiorescu - in aesthetics, P. P. Negulescu and Lucian Blaga - in aesthetics and the philosophy of culture, Eugeniu Speranția in aesthetics and the philosophy of law, and C. Rădulescu-Motru, I. Petrovici and Nae Ionescu – to the philosophy of culture.

The method of exposition of Romanian philosophy on domains/disciplines and the method of restoring it on philosophical systems (philosophical concepts in their entirety) are not only distinct, but also interfering.

The systematization by fields does not exclude the unitary reproduction, in its entirety, of those conceptions focused on a single field, be it general-philosophical or applied. Well, in the Philosophy of History section Bagdasar includes the names of historians Alexandru Hașdeu, Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu, A. D. Xenopol, Nicolae Iorga and Vasile Pârvan, to which he also adds that of the economist D. Drăghicescu, whom he no longer presents with concerns and in other branches of philosophy, since they focused only on the philosophy of history.

On the other hand, rendering on philosophical systems implies the release of the major themes of each individual system, which constitutes a premise for reconstructing the evolution of thinking on one theme or another at the level of an entire national philosophy.

Of the two systematizations, the one on domains/disciplines/themes at the level of each philosophical conception and the same systematization at the level of a philosophical culture as a whole, the first one assumes a lower degree of abstraction and generalization, of the first degree, and the one of second a much higher degree, degree II. It is obvious, however, that the second degree cannot be attained without the previous completion of the first degree. Moreover, Bagdasar himself, establishing the philosophical fields cultivated at the level of the country (level II), completes it with the chronological sequence of the corresponding philosophical conceptions,

analyzed more in the singularity and organicity of each of them (level I) than in their connections, although it refers , comparatively, and to the filiations between them (level II).

6. Portraits of philosophers by Bagdasar – a complement to the understanding of their work

The considerations regarding the manner of exposition and understanding of Romanian philosophy by Nicolae Bagdasar cannot be concluded without also referring to the Portraits made by him of some of the most important Romanian philosophers, included in the Addendum. They were written by the author during and after the war. As mentioned in the Afterword, they were "taken" from Nicolae Bagdasar's volume, Opere II (Works II). Portraits (edited by Rodica Pandele and Gh. Vlăduțescu (Romanian Academy Publishing House, 2006) and constitute a "priceless treasure for Romanian philosophy"⁴. And in the Preface of the volume, although it is stated that they express likes and dislikes, which "stop at people, without harming, by extension, the image of the work", because "few lives of philosophers are also philosophical", it is concluded that "they still participate in the judgment on the work if and when they give an account of the man in the age and, through them, of the age itself"⁵.

It is noticeable that the portraits refer to the lives of the philosophers whom Bagdasar knew personally, that is, to events particularly related either to their university life (regarding performance as teachers, relations with students or colleagues, research work) or of their political life (regarding the dignities entrusted to them), or of the trials some of them went through in their old age. They, the portraits, reveal those portrayed especially professionally, morally and politically. Portraits of philosophers correlate with their philosophy to the extent that the aspects under which they are depicted also have a certain philosophical echo. However, such correlations can really be made. I think that Rădulescu-Motru's diligence as an animator of Romanian philosophical research is also reflected in his philosophy in which he praises work. A certain severity and reserve shown by P. P. Negulescu towards the promotion of younger colleagues, although he himself had become a teacher at a very young age, reminds us of his voluminous historical-philosophical works, impressive through

4 Eugeniu Nistor, Afterword, in op. cit., p. 514.

5 Gh. Vlăduțescu, Foreword, in op. cit., p. 14

documentation and information, which naturally denotes a severity with his own life. I. Petrovici's passion for public conferences and the roundness of his speeches make us think of the professor and the rigor and, at the same time, the elegance of his philosophical works. The adventurous political life of Nae Ionescu has a counterpart in his lyrical, existentialist metaphysics (and vice versa!). The abundance of quotations from Mircea Florian's lectures is also found in the numerous references in his writings to a lot of contemporary foreign philosophers.

7. The merits and actuality of the method of exposition and interpretation practiced by Bagdasar

Indisputably, the historical-philosophical method practiced by Bagdasar has imposed itself and is desirable and current through all the indicated virtues.

Regarding the exposition and interpretation of a certain philosophical system, of great importance is the delimitation made by him between the expository part, the most extensive, in which the conception that integrates a certain philosophical discipline is presented with its issues and defining ideas, and the final part, in which the historian of philosophy presents his own remarks and observations. In this way, the presentation of a philosophical theory acquires fluency and congruence, offering the reader an essentialized, but articulated, sufficiently argued and undistorted image, which accounts for the philosopher's contribution in one field or another, in one philosophical problem or another. On the other hand, the interpretation given by the philosopher also becomes unitary and better defined, by delimiting it from the exposed conception, with which, if it were to interfere, it could contaminate it and, in any case, rob it of its inner harmony. However, Bagdasar remains exemplary through the crystal clarity with which he exposes, analyzes and, finally, evaluates philosophical concepts.

Also in relation to the analysis of a certain philosophical conception, it is particularly important to capture the nature/essence of all the works of the author and not by analyzing each work elaborated by the philosopher, as they were revealed, in chronological order. In this last method, by presenting the problems and ideas of each work separately, the researcher will no longer specifically follow the problems common to all works, nor the most advanced ideas he reached in one problem or another. That is why it is necessary and more significant and valuable to render a conception

through abstraction and generalization of the first degree, which reaches the main problems present in all the works of a thinker and their most advanced solutions. However, it is understood that such a method requires prior knowledge of each individual philosophical work.

As for the method of exposition and interpretation of a national philosophy as a whole, by raising it from the first degree to the second degree of abstraction and generalization, I believe that this would satisfy the highest goal that a history of national philosophy can propose. Bagdasar intended this goal by presenting Romanian philosophy by fields, but he did not fully succeed either, analyzing, in each field, the conceptions of different thinkers rather in isolation than in their relationship to each other. No other subsequent Histories have achieved this goal, which remains an ideal and perhaps an unattainable ideal for future research, at least for the work of a single researcher. The difficulty arises not only from the fact that a single researcher would be constrained to devote a lifetime's work to this goal, but also from the fact that philosophical thought is constantly evolving and in constant diversification. In addition to the fields referred to by Bagdasar, other philosophical fields or disciplines have been asserted, such as philosophical anthropology, axiology, philosophy of science, philosophy of philosophy (metaphilosophy), philosophy of morals (ethics), philosophy of religion, etc., to which and Romanian thinkers made significant contributions. But, precisely because contemporary philosophy knows a process of diversification, doubled, however, by one of unification by deepening the fundamental domains, it would be desirable for Romanian philosophy to be understood not as a series of philosophical conceptions, but as a unitary whole, in which, once the component fields have been identified, the historian should investigate, if not all conceptions, at least those in a certain disciplinary field. In this way, by revealing philosophical contributions from one field or another and by relating them to similar ones, existing internationally, Romanian philosophy can advance and actively insert itself into the debates of contemporary ideas.

THE JOB INTERVIEW:

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS

Stefano AMODIO

Abstract: Over the years, the importance of the interview tool within organizations has grown steadily. The epistemological change that has brought organizations to focus on the human side of its components defined no longer as "workers" but as "resources", could only see in the conversation the main form of communication between the various levels present in an organization. This cultural revolution in the world of work has thus brought out of psychotherapy studies a very powerful communication and personal growth tool, which for too many years had been the exclusive prerogative of clinical psychology. Since the discovery of the Hawthorne effect [Landsberger, 1958] onwards, it has in fact been clear that work, like most human activities, is essentially based on relationships with the environment and with the individuals present within it. It is therefore clear that a successful organization cannot ignore having internal communication that achieves its objectives and relaxes the organizational climate.

This chapter will examine two fundamental moments of corporate life, the evaluation of a resource and its management over time. In fact, both moments are fundamental both for the organization which must select and develop a resource in the best way to allow continuous development of its corporate structure, and for the resource itself which, if enabled to be able to express itself at its best himself and his potential, will certainly face a career full of satisfactions.

The evaluation interview

With a view to better personnel management, the assessment and inventory of skills and potential within your organization allows you to place both new and existing collaborators in the right perspective. It also allows the control of various motivational aspects such as relationships between people, hierarchies, remuneration, turnover and any personal and professional development intervention, as well as, obviously, the possible corporate structures and objectives. In this paragraph we will try to provide

clear indications and methodologies to be applied to the evaluation interviews both in the personnel selection phase and in the collaborator evaluation phases. Psychological assessment also involves the use of so- called indirect techniques, such as tests and personality or psychometric tests in the Assessment Centres. The evaluation role of the company is generally a source of anxiety and criticism from those who will have to be evaluated. The most common are linked to the fact that the results of the evaluation process serve to covertly make decisions about the future of candidates or employees, or to the fact that the already proven collaboration implies an in-depth knowledge between those who are called upon to evaluate and their candidates. On the other side of the fence, the lack of enthusiasm of those in charge of evaluating is justified by the lack of time to carry out these operations or the lack of skills necessary to be as objective as possible in identifying the skills and potential of collaborators. It is therefore useful to suggest some ways to address and resolve these criticisms.

First of all, we recommend keeping in mind that, as we mentioned at the beginning, assessment is the first step in setting up a career development process that involves the individual both internally (development of professional and personal skills and motivation) and externally (career, salary or goals). Second, it is important to create the right environment, preparing all the documentation useful for conducting the interview, and to interpret the roles of evaluator and evaluated always in terms of analysis of behaviour, activities and results achieved.

What, then, are the qualities expected in an evaluator? There is a lot of talk on forums and social networks of job interviews in which the recruiter, or the boss, has behaved incorrectly towards the candidate or his collaborator. Questions that are too direct or inappropriate, unclear or absent communication, both before the meeting and in the feedback session, poor knowledge of the objectives of the interview or of the candidate's history, are among the most common mistakes that evaluators or selectors make, making the 'encountered a situation to say the least, frustrating. It is therefore appropriate for the evaluator to have a number of aspects clear for the success of the selection or evaluation process [Moulinier et al, 2005]:

1. Availability: use the time needed, giving the perception that the evaluated or candidate is not wasting our time, to analyze, as objectively as possible, the various aspects that a job requires. We will see later the

phases of an evaluation interview, and for each the various paths in which to guide the conversation.

2. Professionalism: provide yourself with a working method composed of specific criteria that facilitate a detailed analysis and return organized feedback.

3. Knowledge of the job in question: whether it is an IT job, or as a skilled worker, the evaluator needs to be based on facts commenting on circumstances and attitudes in relation to the work environment of the appraise or the future employment of the candidate.

4. Orientation: the management style of the recruiter or manager must lead to an improvement in the current condition of the appraise. During the interview it is essential to assume a dual attitude: demanding as regards the analysis of skills and the setting of company objectives, accommodating in orienting the individual and thinking about possible paths keeping in mind everything concerning the personal sphere ( needs, limits and expectations).

5. Making judgments: the winning factor of a good evaluation is its objectivity. We need to clear our minds and not be influenced by prejudices and labels that are linked to experiences, definitions or events of the last period, but to place any deviation from the norm in a broader context.

Now let's see how to prepare for conducting an interview for the diagnosis of potential and which phases it is good to keep in mind so that the results are satisfactory for both parties involved. First of all, both in the case of the selection and the evaluation of a collaborator, it will be necessary to clarify which are the target skills, i.e. that set of characteristics, typical of an ideal job profile, of which we will detect the degree of possession of the evaluated. Among the characteristics of a profile we distinguish between technical-specialist skills (linked to the specificity of each job, e.g. knowledge of programming languages, economic or engineering calculation, etc.) and transversal ones which will be the subject of this paragraph. To draw a profile (or Job Profile in English) we will list a variable number of skills which, in accordance with the company and its organizational model, best describe the qualities of the role.

The number of skills will generally be greater the higher the level of profile required, but we advise not to be excessive in order not to confuse the assessment results. We will assign a score to each of these skills which we will use during the interview to assess the presence and frequency of

the behaviour. We now propose an exemplary table of scores for the survey.

Value used	Evaluative meaning
1	Competence is assessed absent
2	Competence is present to a low extent
3	Competence is present but discontinuous
4	The competence is present in average measure and frequency
5	The competence is present continuously
6	Competence is evaluated as a strength of the subject
7	Competence is assessed as a strong point of the subject with particular continuity
8	Competence is assessed as a strength of the subject at levels of excellence

A somewhat shared subdivision of soft skills [Rotondi 2006] suggests distinguishing them into four areas:

1. COGNITIVE skills area: this area generally includes those skills that are expressed during the interview through the organization of speech.

a. Analyses

b. Synthesis

c. Overview

d. Method

e. Innovation

During the interview, therefore, we will observe how much the narrative methods manifest synthetic or analytical, systematic or digressive, rational or intuitive tendencies.

2. REALIZATION skills area: in this area we find those realization skills that express the tendency to set realistic goals, to influence events, to accept failures and stressful situations, to project oneself into the future and to accept risks. Also included are those managerial skills that refer to the management of collaborators, the definition, management and verification of operational plans that allow the achievement of results.

a. Initiative and proactivity

b. Determination / striving for results

c. Decision

d. Contributor guidance and development

e. Planning, organization and monitoring

f. Resource optimization

During the interview it is useful to be told about one's own study and professional background and how it is perceived by managers and collaborators

3. RELATIONAL skills area: to this area belong those skills which during the interview are manifested through the behavior of the evaluated person in relating with the interlocutor, in the vision of himself and of others, in participation in the interview and in the propensity to tune in on the objectives and timing of the interviewer. Furthermore, the communication style, the emergence of open or suspicious tones, the relationship with any work experiences, the emergence of particular emotional tones and the way of managing the relationship must be taken into consideration.

a. Interpersonal sensitivity

b. Communication and impact

c. Leadership

d. Integration and teamwork

e. Social intelligence

Phrases such as "I speak too quickly" denote the attention of the evaluated person to the relationship and to the effectiveness of his communication.

4. META-CAPACITIES area: the exploration of this area in the interview represents the most delicate phase for the analysis of skills. It will be important to focus on the tone of the story, on the ability to grasp the situation and on one's own needs, on reactions to "uncomfortable" questions, on ideas relating to one's past history and the future, on emotion and self-perception.

a. Power

b. Flexibility

c. Positive vision

d. Management of anxiety and uncertainty e . Motivation and ambition

f. Learning

g. Openness to change

In recent years, an international consulting firm [Korn Ferry, 2010] has given greater prominence to some skills than others, especially in being predictive of organizational success, in terms of both productivity and managerial skills. This set of skills, which they synthesize into a single competence called Learning Agility, they declare is able to "identify high potential and specific development plans for new leaders. It can also be used to evaluate external candidates for leadership positions”. The definition of this new competency is “the willingness and ability to learn from experience and to apply this learning to perform better in new and challenging situations”. Research carried out by Korn Ferry in 2011 on Sales Managers establishes that people who have achieved higher ranks in the last 10 years, have a higher Learning Agility. A longitudinal study in AT&T and Pepsi shows that the managers who have climbed the most in the hierarchy are those who have more often changed their behavior, exhibited flexibility and learned from mistakes. In essence, Learning Agility consists of 5 skills:

1. Agility in results: producing results in new and challenging situations.

2. Mental agility: ability to analyze problems in a unique and unusual

way.

3. Agility with people: the ability to work with and manage different

types of people.

4. Agility in change: pleasure in experimenting and leaving the comfort zone.

5. Self-knowledge: The extent to which an individual knows his true strengths and weaknesses.

In order to research, analyze and value people who are "agile to learn" during the interview, it will therefore be useful to understand whether the evaluated:

• continuously look for new challenges,

• solicit direct feedback,

• reflect on themselves and on others,

• complete tasks in an ingenious and resourceful way,

• see unique patterns and patterns,

• always build new connections,

• work well with all types of people.

Once the skills and their degree of possession that belong to the specific position have been defined, together with the organization, we will be able to use an interview technique that will allow us to evaluate their presence and frequency of use. The so-called Behavioral Event Interview or BEI is a technique based on the principle that the past behavior of a person in a given situation is an important predictor of the behavior that the same person will have in similar situations. The EIB consists of four phases:

1. Introduction

2. Job role description

3. Analysis of the episodes

4. Conclusion.

The technique focuses on the centrality of critical facts or episodes, such as, for example, the STAR, another widely used technique, where four fundamental elements are analysed:

1. the situation (Situation), i.e. the context of the narrated episode,

2. the responsibilities (Tasks) that led the candidate to implement certain skills,

3. the action (Action) i.e. the sequence of choices made and specific actions undertaken by the evaluated

4. the result (Result), i.e. the changes obtained as a result of the actions taken

The first two phases serve to clarify the objectives of the interview and to provide (in case of selection) and receive (in case of evaluation) a description of the interviewee's role. During the third phase, the evaluator will invite his interlocutor to identify and tell 4 professional episodes experienced in order to collect not so much the interviewee's reflections or considerations, but instead the facts that occurred and the motivations and emotions underlying the behaviors implemented. During the narration of the events, the evaluator will have the task of asking questions (previously constructed on the basis of the skills to be analysed) to ensure that the

subject always speaks in the first person, avoiding vague statements ("it is important for me that .. .”), generic statements (“in general I behave in this way…”), in the third person or plural (“in these moments it is appropriate to act…”, “so we did, we decided…”) or hypothetical statements (“I would have done/said…”).

The interviewer will have to ask a large number of questions so as not to leave out any element of the episode (how it started, who had the idea, then what she did, said, how she reacted, how she organized the work, etc.) eliminating for as much as possible false episodes (ie generic facts that did not happen to the person) and generalizations (eg I generally behave like this).

The management interview

Characteristics of the management interview

The term "management interview" refers to the set of different types of interviews carried out at various times in a person's professional life. The thesis advanced in this chapter is that the effective conduct of these interviews influences results, innovation processes, professional development, but above all individual and organizational well-being.

The fundamental characteristic of these conversations is that the conductor is in a direct hierarchical-functional relationship, and is therefore the interlocutor's boss. In this type of interview, the communicative interaction mode between boss and employee is entirely aimed at enhancing performance and professional development. [ Gallo, 2011]

The main situations in which the interview between the boss and the collaborator is used are:

Ø Reception and insertion;

Ø Training;

Ø Assignment of an organizational role;

Ø Goal and task assignments;

Ø Assignment of a specific project;

Ø Performance evaluation;

Ø Praise and reproach;

Ø Rewards and punishments;

Ø Mobility and transfers;

Ø Resignation.

The 5 steps of the interview

It is possible to divide the organization of an interview into 5 fundamental moments:

1- Identification of the purpose and objectives of the interview.

In this phase the interview leader must collect ideas in order to have a clear idea of the purpose and main objectives of the interview. Identifying a purpose means asking yourself what business need is being fulfilled by resorting to the interview. If the purpose of an interview is single, the objectives can often be multiple. By objective we mean the particular target that we want to reach and hit at a certain moment of the interview.

If the identification of the purpose and objectives of the interview is fundamental for the success of an interview, the management of the relationship with one's interlocutor is of equal importance. To this end, it is important to have a clear relational strategy to pursue in order to achieve the goal that was set. [Rollmick, 2004]

The effectiveness of a management interview is in fact directly proportional to the boss's ability to plan a coherent strategy (with the company's purpose, values and needs, and the collaborator's personality) and at the same time flexible and adaptable to the need to implement it through the use of the proper tools.

The fundamental questions that we must ask ourselves while structuring the tactics of the interview that we are going to face are:

Ø How do I expect to achieve the goal? (which relational tools and methods to adopt);

Ø What emotional notes do I want to touch? (involvement or guilt for example);

Ø What behaviors will I adopt in the face of reactions other than those expected? (in case of refusal of an assignment, I investigate why or make him understand that he has lost an important opportunity that others will now take advantage of).

We can therefore state that the fundamental characteristic for the success of an interview is awareness. One of the causes that most

frequently undermines the success of an interview is not so much the fact that the two actors sometimes have different objectives, but rather the fact that they are unaware of it, because neither of them has tried to clarify their purpose nor did he try to understand that of the other. In fact, it is essential to start a management conversation by punctually illustrating the objectives of the meeting to our collaborator, trying to present them to him in a way that allows him to accept and share them as much as possible. An effective interview is in fact distinguished by a high degree of overlap between the objectives of the boss and the collaborator.

2- The contents of the interview

By content we mean the elements concretely present in an interview:

- subjects;

- the item;

- the setting.

In the relationship between the subjects there are two fundamental aspects that come into play within the interview. The first includes the personality characteristics of the subjects taking part in the interview, it is in fact the individual personality which, beyond the strategies written in the manuals, pulls the strings in the relationship between two people. [Semi, 1991] If on the one hand within the managerial conversation there is a cognitive advantage on both sides given that the boss and collaborator know each other, on the other hand this knowledge has given rise to a whole series of reciprocal prejudices which will be used as a shield behind which to defend and hide.

Another aspect that can create barriers between the two interlocutors are the hierarchical differences of role and status which are obviously always in favor of the person conducting the interview who must be very careful in managing the perception that the other has of his superiority in order to that this does not cause further communication difficulties. The object consists of the argumentative contents on which the interview focuses, therefore on the areas to be explored which are a derivative of the purpose and objectives. Indeed, a fundamental aspect for the success of an interview is the definition of the contents to be transmitted and collected,

i.e. the set of information that must be shared through the communication process.

The setting is made up of the environment, the situation in which the interview takes place. It is the physical space within which the relational

dynamic takes place. The place is very important, in fact there is a difference whether an interview takes place in the boss's room or in that of a collaborator or even in an office that is usually used for meetings. The choice of environment, in fact, influences the relational atmosphere of the interview.

Time is also a key element of any interview, it is usually a good idea not to have time constraints when facing a management interview; it is in fact rather difficult to predict the development of the relational dynamics within the interview. Obviously dedicating a large margin of time to an interview does not mean having no boundaries, it is in fact equally important to be able to conclude an interview when it is clear that the main information has been obtained. The support tools (forms, diagrams, outlines) can be useful devices for the success of an interview. For example, any notes regarding previous interviews are very useful, in fact often recalling a previous meeting can be an excellent way to start an interview, especially if the atmosphere was constructive.

3- The management methodology

Within each interview there are three phases: preparation, conduct and verification.

In the preparation phase it is necessary to collect and organize information on the collaborator and on the object of the meeting. For example, during an evaluation interview it is useful to collect information on: the objectives agreed at the beginning of the year, the professional behavior recorded, the notes taken during other interviews.

There are three basic phases in the management phase: initiation, development, and conclusion. The beginning is a delicate moment that generally influences the entire course of the interview, it is made up of an initial part in which the collaborator is welcomed, and a central part in which the reason for the interview is stated. During the course there are universal rules that help the handler to move better. Among these, the most important are: don't take information for granted, don't interrupt the other, don't suggest answers, don't invade each other's space and time. During the conclusion of an interview, a frame is usually given to the sense of the time spent together, the reason for meeting is summarized and things to be done are planned. In a first phase called the final decision, the person conducting the interview realizes that he has satisfactorily achieved the objectives he had set for himself and decides to move on to the actual closure phase, during which the interlocutor physically leaves. The climate

perceived during the final stages of an interview is a clear indicator of the progress of the interview itself, it is usually important that the collaborator leaves the interview with the feeling of having participated in a useful meeting.

In the verification phase, the interview is initially evaluated hot and then cold. In the hot verification phase, the contents and progress of the interview are summarized and an initial evaluation is entered. In the cold evaluation part, after having allowed the first impressions to settle, the final report is drawn up.

4- Relational attentions

Any form of communication is made up of a content part and a so- called relationship part.

[Watzlawick, 1971] Thinking of establishing a fruitful conversation with someone, not taking into account these two aspects, is equivalent to making a guaranteed hole in the water. The three most important skills that the conductor of an interview must have are: knowing how to observe, knowing how to listen, knowing how to communicate.

Knowing how to observe means paying attention to all those aspects of communication that transcend the purely verbal aspect of it. Within a discourse, in addition to verbal communication, paraverbal aspects of communication (for example the tone of the voice) and non-verbal aspects (gestures) are equally present. What a person feels about a certain topic is first of all expressed with non-verbal indications (facial expression, tone of voice, etc.). For this reason it is essential, for the purposes of understanding who is in front of us, to keep in mind the totality of the levels that make up the communication of an individual. Knowing the non-verbal, in fact, allows you to better understand others and also to communicate more effectively.

Knowing how to listen is another of the skills necessary for a successful interview. There are basically three types of listening: selective listening, reactive listening and active listening.

Selective listening is the listening mode of those who pay attention to the words but not to the intentions of the speaker. This type of listening involves reduced attention and carries the risk of misunderstanding.

Reactive listening is a form of listening typical of those who occasionally get distracted during an interview and then go back to

listening. Usually our expression betrays our listening mode causing disappointment or distrust in the interlocutor.

Active listening is a very participatory form of listening, this form of listening is communicated by often reformulating what the interlocutor said, asking specific questions, or still avoiding giving personal interpretations.

Knowing how to communicate an absolutely fundamental skill in many areas of our lives. In fact, the way in which we communicate can be a source of well-being or, on the contrary, of discomfort.

Within daily life as well as in organizational life, there is a progressive impoverishment of the lexicon, often, especially at work, a standardized language is used, rich in words and phrases made. This lexical poverty prevents us from fully expressing our emotions.

In theory, a communication is effective when it manages to faithfully bring our thoughts back to the interlocutor's head. Succeeding in this task in an integral way is practically impossible, the task of a good communicator is to try to approach this type of objective by approximation.

Communicating means comparing different maps, communication is therefore a good time to try to get out of the self-confirming automatisms created by the perception we usually use.

Within this theoretical framework, it is clear that knowing how to ask questions becomes an art, those who know how to effectively use all types of questions can solve any difficult situation that arises during an interview.

The three main types of questions are: closed questions (the answer tends to be yes or no), open questions (a type of question that creates different alternative answers, induces the interlocutor to formulate an articulated answer, are essential for exploring situations, facts, intentions and opinions), rhetorical questions (they contain an implicit answer, they are not real questions, they look more like statements followed by question marks).

5- Possible obstacles and errors

We will now analyze some types of errors that can undermine the effectiveness of the interaction between boss and collaborator.

Ø Distortions of meaning. We have a problem of this type when a meaning is attributed that is not proper to a communication, producing an alteration of the content. It is a type of error that can be caused by the verbosity of a speech.

Ø Communication dispersion. This obstacle can occur in the exposition phase, what occurs is a loss of what one would like to say and what one is really able to communicate.

Ø Previous experiences. If there have been negative experiences between boss and collaborator previously, it is probable that the two will approach the interview with a series of prejudices that will undermine its success.

Ø Hierarchical barrier. Often an existing conflict between the hierarchical positions occupied by the two participants in the interview can distort communication. In this case whoever communicates does so through the mechanisms of power without taking the other into consideration.

In conclusion, it is clear how much, within the interview, both the boss and the collaborator are responsible for the success of the same. In the context of an interview, in fact, everyone implements their own attitude which is the result of partially conscious motivations, prejudices, objective aspects observed and analyzed subjectively. Only a deep awareness of oneself and a relational attention towards the other can lead an interview to obtain the goals that had been set in the planning phase. [Gallo, 2011]

Bibliography and sitography

1. K. Ferry 2010,

http://www.kornferry.com/products/talent-development/developing- learning-agility

2. A. Gallo, M. Di Feo, Talk to me boss…, Franco Angeli, 2011, Milan.

3. H. Landsberger, Hawthorne Revisited, Ithaca, 1958.

4. R. Moulinier, R., Rotondi, C., Morganti, G., [2005].

5. Rotondi, M.G., [2006], Assessing potential, p. 136, IPSOA.

6. S. Rollmick, The motivational interview, Erickson, 2004, Trento.

7. A. Semi, From conversation to theory, Raffaello Cortina, 1991, Milan.

8. P. Watzlawick, Pragmatics of human communication, Astrolabio, 1971, Rome.

ON MAN AND MORALITY

IN THE VIEW OF EUGEN RUSSU

Ph. D. Constantin STROE

Abstract:In the present study, I show that, although focused on pleasure, the perspective in which Eugen Russu approaches the moral issue is not a hedonistic one because, he says, pleasure is not the ultimate goal of life but rather its driving force and means ("the tool" ) through which life goals are achieved. The main function of pleasure is to be a reason for action, more from a psychological point of view rather than an exclusively moral and ethical one. Moreover, Russu recommended giving up primitive pleasures because they impoverish and limit the meaning of life. Man must not become a slave to material pleasures but to embrace an ideal harmoniously organized around the idea of his own moral perfection, i.e. to turn himselfinto a "man of altitude" with an intense experience on the spiritual plane (enjoying intellectual pleasures).

Keywords: man, human individual, morals, pleasure, action, purpose, ideal, moral perfection, egotism, altruism, science, culture

1. The two sources of morals

Thanks to countless examples, no one is surprised anymore that mathematicians often switch from the abstract layer of their own scientific discipline to that of philosophy, successfully rising in the of this noble field of study. This is also the case of Eugen Russu, mathematician¹ with many works in the field, who "dared" to cross the threshold of other areas of knowledge: psychology², philosophy-ethics³.

1Born on 12 15 1910, in Tecuci and passed away on 05 07 1983, in Bucharest. Worked in high school education (Iași, Tg. Mureș, Bucharest) and university education (Bucharest)

2Eugen Rusu, Psychology of mathematical activity, Scientific Publishing House, 1969, 288 p.

3EugenRussu, Notes About Man, Cugetarea Publishing House – Georgescu Delafras, 1940, 126 p.

What is surprising, however, is that people intensify their interest and concern about their own lives while it is not valued, as in the case of wars. The expression "à la guerre comme à la guerre" precisely illustrates this contempt for the value of life, as an excuse (well, what can you do, this is war: it reaps lives!) for fatality in the face of a massive loss of human life.

The above remark was stirred to me by the publication in 1940 – that is in the midst of the world war – of a book called Notes About Man, authored by mathematician Eugen Russu.

Although approached under different notesalmost randomly spreadwithin the work, the issues of man and morals are diverse, covering to a good extent the problematic area of anthropology interweaving with psychology and ethics. In spite of such a shortcoming caused by the dissipation of ideas, nevertheless, one can painstakingly reach a logically, coherent, articulated vision of man (his nature and condition) and morals, vision significant not only for a scientist's way of thinking 80 years ago but also for its current meanings.

Instead of a Foreword the author, Eugen Russu, preferred to incite the reader through Reflections on–proper to the human being –morals, science, culture.

In what concernsmorals, Eugen Russu notes that, usually moral precepts are seen as dogmas and therefore "seem to spring from a certain, almost completely independent of reason,cosmic sense" so that, when they serve as " moral advice", "look like imposing themselves without need for argumentation"⁴. They are brought into the light of thinking and rational argumentation only when "the issue of turning Moralsinto a kind of societal wealth arises". It is only the compliance with this purpose that requires rational search and finding of moral precepts.

Therefore, the basic postulate that Eugen Russu has in mind when talking about building morals is that "Morals must serve the best and most harmonious coexistence of people in society."To achieve this purpose, all moral precepts should derive from one another, "through rigorous logical reasoning, like geometry theorems, which are rationally constructed on the bases of axioms and postulates"⁵, i.e. in a "modus geometricus" reminiscent of Baruch Spinoza'sEticamore geometrico demonstrata.

4Idem, p.5

5Ibidem

From all of the above it appears clear that Eugen Russu refers to two ways of perceiving morals, stemming from two views on its source: one is that of the ten commandments, which are imposed without rational argumentation, as being given by the Divine, and the other consists of the rational acquisition of moral precepts in accordance to the requirements of people grouped in distinct societies.

It is precisely because of this obvious utilitarian note that social moralsalways prevailed, says E. Russu. "The individual's behaviors that do not touch the social were left, somewhat, to his discretion. (...). Without touching the social, the morals of purely individual behaviors were obviously limited to advising, without imposing"... "While Social Moralswere not limited to Platonic advice but extracted a bare minimum from it, to necessarily apply iteven by force if persuasion were not enough, which constitutes the rules of Law"⁶.

The social focus of moral concerns has generated a somewhat paradoxical phenomenon: that of the society being selfish while the individual was not allowed such a trait.

Eugen Russu considers that "the moral behavior of the individual arises from compulsion and not from conviction". He leaves aside the direct coercion by force, which the Law exercises through its norms, and brings forward the subject of "the presentment and fear" which everyone experiences in conjunction to the reactions of one's fellows.

Here's how he unveils the mechanism by which, coercion in a certain moment becomes conviction in another moment: "In the soul of many of those whom we now call honest, the daily coercion and continuous show of sanctions applied to others sediment and acquire a kind of autonomous value; the coercion manifestation means may remain in the shadows or be completely ignored; they have appeared so many times in one's own case or in the case of others, so unexpectedly, that the individual unconsciouslycomes to sense their existence. This abstract constraint acquires the appearance of conviction"⁷.

In the eras when rights and their exercising were not as perfected as today, when the individual did not have a highly developed critical reason, his acts (actions) were constrained by other, particularly effective methods, such as the threats of hell and, conversely, the promise of heaven. Eugen

6Ibidem, p.6

7Ibidem

Russu correctly notes that the religious source of morals (even the one at the core of Christianity) is no more moral than the secular one. "I do not see at all the greatness or ‘morals’ of a deed performed under the threat of hell; I really have the impression that – for whom it can be applied – the measure is more barbaric than the threat of the gendarme"⁸, he categorically stated.

Under such context, he denounces the sanctimoniousness of society, which always seeks to hide the material means of the terror with which it wants to convince the individual, in order not to turn him into a discontented person, much more difficult to control. In principle, E. Russu states, "abstract categorical imperative or categorical imperative embodied in material force, it is certain that the individual is morally under terror"⁹. Not morally, in fact, but rather conforming to what society demands of him; knowing that in order to have a moral conduct, the individual must be free to choose both the purpose (motives) and the means of his actions.

Having a pronounced social coloration, Morals "is a masked tyrant" which subjugates the individual, canceling and thus denying his freedom. The consequence will be ignoring, "if he is allowed", the last refuge: moral books, from where he could take precepts and rules of moral behavior.

According to Eugen Russu,the individual ignores moral books precisely because they do not serve him, because something is required of himin these books - namely the "social image", much different from the "intimate background" (see below, chapter VIII).

But, he says, even those few who read them "do so with an intellectual attitude, seeking a problem of philosophythere which most often is that of the contradictory relationship between the primal, natural and healthy instinct of individual selfishness and dogmatic commandments, which sounds like the lordly, altruistic odes of Social Morals. The individual, he states, is tormented by serious processes of conscience generated by the fact that he has to sacrifice the natural and strong egoism that would ensure his free affirmation, on the stall of "sweet altruism" ("giveaway of Lei 2 from a man with thousands in his pocket") preached by social morals as ordinary deception and cheating in the name of altruistic commandments. "To be understood, accepted and desired by the individual, Morals should serve him", categorically pronounces Eugen Russu. How? Nothing simpler:

8Ibidem, p.7

9Ibidem

"let it be a guide and a light for him in the hesitations that free will give him"¹⁰.

But it has to do it in good faith, that is "to show him the smooth roadwhen at the crossroads, the one that leads him to his goal and not one full of thorns on which Towards the interest of the Societyis written in big letters"¹¹. Because then the individual would be confused and strongly marked by doubt. At the end of the road, what should he choose: the interest of the dogmatically driven society, and therefore viewed with distrust, or his own interest under the condition of the statement that he can coincide with that of society? Eugen Russu insists on the idea that "it is not enough to tell this tothe individual, you instead have to rationally convince him– rationally because this is the almost unique way of convincing people today – of the rightness of the path you are leading"¹².

2. The impact of scientific style and civilization on moral life

"The lyrical tone of a lawyer in the Social Morals jury court must be replaced by the cold tone of Science and Technology", says Eugen Russu.Both of themplay an essential role in the life of homo sapiens: "Science teaches me to decipher the laws of matter and, based on them, Technique teaches me to build useful things for myself"¹³.

Science is a prerogative of man alone, because it involves creation from his part "through a kind of intuition, sometimes also called inspiration, through a spark of genius that ignites at a moment when equally distributed attention has captured points of connection between which the spark ignites"¹⁴. However, this inspiration cannot appear in the animal environment with an atmosphere loaded with (typed) instincts. "However, the fundamental characteristic of intelligence is the power of simultaneous thinking about several facts at once, and when a whole series of truths have been arranged in a convergent string, their synthetic thinking"¹⁵. In fact, "the dominant trait of character which can qualify science, I believe,

10Ibidem, p.8 11Ibidem 12Ibidem 13Ibidem 14Ibidem, p.11 15Ibidem, p.12

must be synthetic thinking through schemes", unique only to man, concludes Eugen Russu.

E. Russu also shows that what individualizes man in the concert of creation (creatures) is the fact that, in order to be able to "travel alive from one soul to another, bringing natural satisfaction to each one and emerging from everywhere enhanced and unaltered", science made man invent a language specific to it. The language of science that differs in style from other languages.

Here, for example, "Exact notation means scientific style. It addresses a depersonalized man, a mathematician for example, equally attentive to every word, to its scope and strict meaning, to a man of perfect, almost mechanical correctness of obedience, who is not allowed the human whims of distraction, carelessness, etc.". On the contrary, "Literary style addresses the living, real and capricious man." He never "acknowledges the exact meaning of the word, the phrase, but only their fluid aspect, from each immediate and fleeting impression handed directly to the resonances of the soul, not passed through the sharps of reason"¹⁶.

The author of the book I'm referring to noted, as a negative characteristic of the culture of the time, the fact that, from the desire for affirmation with everything from the inside, one can observe, both in science and philosophy, an excessive individualization of the idea of searching for the most insignificant "novelty" which,once brought to the public would require a signature and which would in turn amount to intellectual property of the signatory. In this sense, Eugen Russusays, "an individual rush for novelty-property is so fierce that it is enough that something, no matter how insignificant, has already been said, for this very fact to make us look at him as foreigners, without interest, or at most with the interest to see if something could be ’pulled out’"¹⁷. "The preoccupation with novelty and property has brought the tyranny of the book and bibliographies," he bitterly announces, as "the fruitful core of truth is passed over, looking only at its label. Things are not rethought, much less relived in order not to waste time"¹⁸, because time must be consecrated, allegedly, to "new things".

The conclusion he draws is that in our country's 1940s culture detailed works abounded and synthetic ones were very few. "Not because Science

16Ibidem, pp.21-22 17Ibidem, p.24 18Ibidem, p.25

and Philosophy were built in red (analogy to the stage of building a house - that of being "in red" -, i.e. unplastered and unfinished -n. m. -C.S.) and now they will be painted. But because today we lack the courage to think fundamentally, from the beginning, once again, unitarily and in the fullness of penetration, for fear of disappointment in entering a known domain. And when large-scale works appear, they are not syntheses but attacks on well- established foundations, with the sole pride of replacing them with something new"¹⁹ (if it really is something new?!). The consequence of such a state of affairs in the Romanian culture of the time is that "science can no longer be popularized". For, "while before the present century (20th century - AD - C.S.) a new idea brought a kind of settlement-crystallization that calmed and deeply satisfied the spirit, today the new science ideas increase confusion, infinitely complicate the apparatus of expression, produce restlessness and give the amateur discoverers of new things the opportunity for new complications"²⁰.

Regarding culture in a few succinct and lightning-fast notations, Eugen Russu refers more to literature, as the main form of culture, which has a significant role in "pushing the individual towards imagined living", i.e. to take him out of the real. For the same purpose, he shows, one can use the cinema, romance songs, spoken or newspaper accounts of extraordinary facts, etc.²¹.

But "literature is only one aspect among many other false experiences determined by civilization", specifies Eugen Russu. In this direction, he appreciates, civilization makes available a whole set of abilities regarding the easy work of man, "which, being repeated daily, end up giving the impression that a great deal of satisfaction can be received from without, without any personal effort".

In the extreme division of labor, which civilized life has imposed, man is subject to a completely partial duty (given by his profession), which gives

19Ibidem, p.25-26

20E. Russu illustrates the above idea by exemplifying with Einsteinian mechanics, W. Heisenberg's theory of indeterminism, P. Dirac's theory, Michelson's experience.Because it is identical to the problem we face today, I can't help but reproduce it like this: "Works of simple compilation and even more plagiarism will be removed by themselves from the set of cultural values, without lawsuits and polemics. In any case, the qualification of original or re-edition must be placed, at a later time, by no means in the work itself. The fences of individual divisions must be destroyed from the fields of the spirit" (Ibidem, p. 27)

21Ibidem, pp.87-88

him the means (this being money) to procure satisfaction in all areas (therefore also in those in which he did not make an effort). In this way, these satisfactions accustom him to taste only those pleasures of enjoyment in which he has a passive, vexatious attitude; the only direction of effort does not directly bring him pleasure, as a crowning of it, because the monetary reward is of such a universal character and can be found in so many ways that it loses connection with the work performed²². For those who take advantage of civilization, pleasure loses its motor character of actions, "the affective is no longer colored in direct contact with the circumstances, to play its biological role. Soul life is no longer a reaction and a determinant of living events, it gains a meaning in itself, independent and isolated"²³. In the case of such individuals, "different feelings are artificially provoked, simply to experience them as such", without commitment on their part, in their soul structured in this way it is natural "for cravings to appear, to be lived imaginarily, for their own taste and not for the role of directing real life", as it should normally be.

If they become habits, the facilities that civilization offers make the one who tends at a given moment to a desire no longer mobilize his attention energetically to the means of achievement, leaving him with the impression that satisfaction must come from somewhere, outside, being enough to want it. This contrariety encountered in carrying out the action "gives a shock for which the individual was not prepared, which he did not expect and thus causes a disorientation, repeated, an imbalance"²⁴.

Eugen Russu claims that civilization is also a factor in the uniformity of individuals, through conformity: "There is in the current social and civilized life a strong tendency of conformity with the common spirit of other people. An imperative "to be like everyone else", to live in the directions that others, many, many, are following. Not necessarily, to go in line with everyone; the more in front, the better: But in no case in directions other than the usual overall ones"²⁵ .

In such circumstances, the momentum of others becomes the individual's as well. Char if he no longer springs from his "fundamental, original, own aspirations", but is imposed on him from outside, like a dictate, independent of what he is and wants to be, in essence, him. "It can

22Ibidem, p.88 23Ibidem, p.89 24Ibidem 25Ibidem, p.91

be in a different direction than the organic one, or it can be that too, but disproportionately in level," says Russu.

This is how the spirit of imitation appears and manifests itself, when man instead of starting from himself, on the directions that spring naturally from his being, starts from what he sees to another. And thus he ends up borrowing aspirations inadequate and incoherent to his real fund or disproportionate to the measure of his means²⁶.

Attentive to nuances, Eugen Russu prevents a misunderstanding of imitation. Because, he says, "it should not be understood from here that it is good to go against the general trends of the society in which we live. The disadvantageous effect of imitation of which I have spoken is only the carrying to the extreme, without control, of a tendency ... "²⁷ .

For, indeed, people who live in society communicate the facts they experience, the impressions they produce, their tastes, their points of view, and their criteria for appreciation. "It is established, shows E. Russu, all the more as there is a greater ease in giving up originality, a common mentality, a uniform tint in the coloration of life. It is perhaps born from so many circumstances in which one lives the same way, tastes emotions in the mass and manifests itself in that persistent and stronger than we think, spirit of "fashion", fashion not only in the cut of clothes, fashion also in concerns, in tastes , in pleasures, in almost all manifestations of life"²⁸.

Therefore, he concludes, naturally there is an integration of the individual into the lines and rhythm of life around him, to establish that spirit of harmony, on which rests the healthy existence of a society. Because, in the last instance, "everyone must know how to stay in the middle, where he does not falsify his own person, without being, through this mastery of his originality, a discordant tone in the social whole"²⁹.

3. The way of finding the meaning of one's life, the role of the will and the sense of duty

Eugen Russu preliminarily states that man is not aware of his life - of its meaning and purpose, because if he realized this, he would know for what purpose he should live it and how this life should be lived. For such an awareness, it would be necessary, in his opinion, "to be endowed with

26Ibidem, p.92 27Ibidem 28Ibidem, p.91 29Ibidem, p.92

another kind of intelligence, which can be located somewhat outside of life, in order to be able to study and appreciate it, another kind of intelligence than that which we have it now, as an instrument of life, as a partial force of its manifestation, which is only a portion of life"³⁰.

Even with the help of reason, we cannot find out what Nature wants with us and from us humans, when she gives us free rein to existence ("makes us exist") and to the execution of so many acts of life, he states.

In such a context, posing the problem of orientation, our task is "to seek to ascertain how things happen and to force ourselves to separate what are the essential lines and profound effects of natural and healthy experiences". The domain of all of them being unknown, orientation difficult due to the impotence of reason, we can only guess it, feeling "that there is a difference between living naturally and living artificially", the option being "to place ourselves in "natural", according to the laws of Nature. The concluding thesis being that we humans should "feel the need not to be accidents, lost monsters", but "feel the need to fit into a huge flow towards progress"³¹.

But a human activity seen from the outside can tell us nothing. It must be associated with the human individual who unfolds it and whom it shapes internally and organically. Because even if, as the essence of their experiences, people are very similar to each other, yet the individuality of each one is drawn "on a uniform background, common to all, like varied embroideries on the same canvas", because "what creates human diversity, the practical impossibility of identity between two, the specific individuality, is the realization of life on one plane or another, from all the possible ones".

In other words, even if "in us live identical tendencies, largely the same possibilities, a numerous ensemble of virtualities with the same elements", "each virtual element has been realized to a greater or lesser degree or remained forever a simple tendency – conscious and living or obscure and unknown intent"³². Individuality is configured and detached as something unique "in the mosaic formed by the global configuration", when "each of the numerous totality of life elements is differently colored, with a different emphasis, with a different resonance, each with its own rhythm of manifestation"³³. Eugen Russu naturally concludes that "individuality takes

30Ibidem, p.29 31Ibidem 32Ibidem, p.54 33Ibidem

shape, from a background of infinite possibilities, depending on the circumstances and the rhythms that we experience within them"³⁴.

Human actions are triggered and supported by the will, Russu asserts: "It would seem that, through the will, the individual dictates his deed, disregarding considerations of feeling, pleasure or displeasure"³⁵. The only feeling that could defeat the will is the feeling of duty. But the sense of duty can effectively support only those whose real ideal is the fulfillment of duty even when it is accompanied by suffering. Being in conditions that can be qualified as "duty fulfilled" brings that feeling of satisfaction produced by the fulfillment of a desire from the real ideal"³⁶. Even if the mechanism of the impulse towards pleasure is present and working here, the important role of the will is highlighted in its power and possibility to anticipate a "thought pleasure", i.e. "expected to overcome the preoccupation of the felt, actual pleasure, if the former is greater ". Because, in principle, Russu points out, will means overcoming inertia, neglecting the present in favor of the future, if it brings an advantage. Voluntary man only proposes actions that are on the line of his organic becoming, that is, that have as their end pleasure.

Nuancing, Eugen Russu also talks about situations when some people carry out voluntary acts, "without pleasure inherent in the action and who do not even consider the result", as happens with someone who proposes to do something absurd, which does not procure them no pleasure, "Fundamentally, he specifies, here the purpose of the action is the very exercise of the will, not the material result", explaining that "since it has the current notion of the will, with its procession of praise and admiration, the unconsciously expected pleasure is this satisfaction of pride, originating from the consciousness of having accomplished something difficult and the feeling of having perfected oneself along the desired line"³⁷.

4. Unconscious and conscious in human action and the role of pleasure as a means and not an end

Eugen Russu specifies that "Actions, as well as the inner life of man, are commanded [and] by two antagonistic tendencies, located in different planes, quite clear in terms of the framework and quite broad and

34Ibidem, p.55 35Ibidem, p.40 36Ibidem, p.41 37Ibidem

undefined concretely, to fit the range endless of human experiences"³⁸. These are: theunconscious and the conscious. The conscious wants novelty and change, the unconscious wants repetition. The conscious is like the capricious child who wants a different toy every day, the unconscious is like the old man with his strict habits³⁹. The conscious wants to introduce order and system, the unconscious urges the most familiar and comfortable ways. It is interesting, says E. Russu, what happens from the meeting and mixing of these two opposing tendencies.

One conclusion is certain, he claims, that "biologically, man has evolved towards fixed frameworks of possibilities filled with variable concrete content. Man fills and nourishes forms innate in him in constant desire for action. Normally it seems that the goal imposes itself and drives the action. But most often the establishment of the goal and training to the deed intertwine in parallel"⁴⁰.

Nature determines men to the same kind of actions, without making them explicitly visible and the purpose of the set of facts that constitute Life. The instrument by which Nature fulfills such a role is pleasure. Of course, the purpose (the "central role") in the conduct of all human actions is held by the existence of life, with the actions it gives rise to and makes possible. Pleasure is only the means by which the supreme will leads us to its ends. This role is evident in its way of manifestation.

But the main function of pleasure is to be a reason for action, especially and more so, from a psychological point of view ("of living").

So, the basic thesis used by Eugen Russu in explaining human action, people's behaviors and behaviors is that pleasure is the engine of human activity. "The engine of the deed is pleasure, which has two components: the reflection or expectation of the final pleasure and the pleasure itself of the performance of the action"⁴¹.

It is not mandatory that both components are present in the determination of the facts. "They are acts determined by only one of these two components", because, explains Eugen Russu, "it is possible for an act to be carried out, without there being a certain intention to train it: when the pleasure woven into the action is sufficient as to move it"⁴².

38Ibidem, p.62 39Ibidem, p.63 40Ibidem, p.64 41Ibidem, p.124 42Ibidem

The mechanism of this engine comes down, in the final analysis, to the perpetual incongruence (incongruence) between the tendencies (aspirations) of the individual and their satisfaction. In detail, things go like this: the two fundamental instincts that come from mother nature – nutrition, for the preservation of the individual and sexual, for the preservation of the species – are the ones that lead him to satisfy them as basic life needs. Their satisfaction procures him pleasure, and their dissatisfaction, increasing displeasure. It does not need rational precepts, thought of the type: I must eat to live or I must join to perpetuate the species. On the path to its realization, pleasure leads the individual unconsciously. Moreover, the necessary activities cannot always be carried out by themselves, easily and immediately, but the individual is forced to do other preparatory actions, actions called by Eugen Russu, actual actions. The possibilities or the forces of their execution, the individual already has planted in him, from the toil of previous generations (from social heredity), which he puts to work. Their use reveals that some have utility, which causes repeated appeal to them, and in certain cases when they are at their most productive, their repeated use as a glaring necessity causes, through organic, unconscious resources, their development and refinement; others prove their uselessness and, by implication, disuse, which leads to their atrophy.

Eugen Russu points out that there are also cases when these activities go through undesirable situations for themselves, thus appearing devoid of pleasure. But, he warns, "this is only displaced towards the end of the action," because "instead of it being performed for the pleasure which the performance itself would give, it is performed with a view to the pleasure connected with the end, or—if we are at a higher stage of evolution, where several actions can be linked in chains — in view of the interest: the result of the action is a tool, a step used, within a new action, towards the final pleasure"⁴³.

Normality⁴⁴, he says, is when "even this activity, which serves to gain the pleasant situation itself, is imbibed in a pleasant affective state."

43Ibidem, p.31

44The whole motivational construction of action through the mechanism of pleasure — motive and instrument of action — had primitive man in mind, precisely so as not to complicate the matter with the data that the consideration of society introduces. "The lives of present-day man preserve, as their essence, the lines sketched for primitive man. But they become much more complex, which causes an easier failure, a more frequent deviation from the normal and healthy rhythm"

Because, in the last instance, "the pleasure intertwined with the unfolding of the action is, in part, the reflection of the final pleasure, the expectation of this pleasure-target, but it also has an important independent component: it is the very pleasure that living in the act gives, the exercise of the faculties"⁴⁵ . Which has as a consequence its pregnant existence, when the circumstances do not demand the deployment of the respective forces, when this deployment, without being necessary, nevertheless takes place, by virtue of their existence and their requirement to be "set to work".

Eugen Russu cautions his reader by stating that "this free work, which finds satisfaction in its course, becomes more frequent in easy living conditions."Depending on the rhythm of the action to which it is associated, pleasure acquires a static or a dynamic character.

When no actual action was required and the gratification of the instinct was obtained directly, the corresponding pleasure has a static character, being a relish, a contented indulgence in the situation. In such a posture there is a phenomenon of uniform decrease, as the organic tendency becomes more and more satisfied, and at the moment of complete saturation it first acquires the shade of "satisfaction" and soon passes into indifference.

In other circumstances, "embedded in a richer and more complex soul-atmosphere, colored by hope, shadowed by hesitation, laced with pride, which derives from the situation of active and determining subject," pleasure has a dynamic character. As a result, it alternates in intensity, increases through what we call "training," decreases with fatigue, increases again as the goal approaches⁴⁶.

Also, E. Russu makes a dichotomous distinction, namely, when he talks about: 1) enjoyable activities in themselves that have the role of exercising and maintaining existing forces whose activity aims to cause their strengthening and improvement and 2) final pleasure, which may remain as the sole determinant of action. This role of the first factor in the

(Ibidem, p. 34) And the evolved man feels pushed to live in the conditions of his real ideal or to fight for gaining the conditions for his instincts to be satisfied by a mechanism of the same essence. And modern man unconsciously weighs his pleasure and pain, benefit and disadvantage, always looking for the path that leads to the maximum yield of pleasure and benefit. But all this is very subjective, each individual appreciating with their own mentality and units of measure, the pleasures of different kinds (Ibidem, p. 39)

45Ibidem, p.31

46Ibidem, p.33

engine of an action is held by pleasure "when circumstances require a maximization of work, an effort that exceeds the rhythm of pleasant activity. This may occur when the ultimate pleasure or interest is of paramount importance. (...) This call for maximum effort, this mobilization of the full range of individual possibilities is a call to the present organic resources, but also a warning given to them, in order to temper in the future - in an individual or his descendants - the forces that are his necessary"⁴⁷.

The conclusion that Eugen Russu deduces from the above is that, in general, the two types of pleasures only together constitute the engine of an action, they are not independent ("alone"), but determine, each with its contribution, the unfolding the action.

It should also be mentioned that he draws attention to the fact that it cannot be said that any activity is or must be a sum of pleasures. In this sense, he specifies that "To quench this organic thirst for being in pleasant states (it is also understood to avoid unpleasant ones), man encounters obstacles, sometimes more firm, sometimes simple contradictions. Their passage can be accompanied by a number of difficulties, inconveniences. What causes them to be accepted freely, in other words, by compulsion from within, is precisely the fact that the sufferings are seen as of lesser importance in relation to the pleasures expected or felt at the same time"⁴⁸.

In such an order of ideas appears the opportunity to relate pleasure to psychological experience from a temporal perspective. In this sense, Eugen Russu bluntly states that apart from the expectation, with hope, of a pleasant state, which provokes the action of entering into it, man also lives naturally, the expectation with fear of unpleasant states, which provokes the action of avoiding falling into their gear.

Of course, it is easy to assume that these expectations require a certain intelligence that manifests itself through the anticipated representation of possible situations, that can glimpse in the present states the cause, the germ of future ones, that in addition knows what needs to be changed in these states- causes, to obtain advantageous states-effect.

And since the future is always possible (and not certain, categorically), the above are also not possible in a precise and categorical form, for the simple reason that the determinants of the future include, with a greater or lesser coefficient, a sum of random conditions, therefore independent of

47Ibidem, p.32

48Ibidem, p.33

human influence. Without being able to predict and state them precisely, man takes them into account, through an unconscious mechanism, when he compares his expectation of pleasure with the chances of having it. He somehow prepares his affectivity to bear a possible failure, just in case he falls into a suffering, not foreseen rationally, yet foreseen affectively.

The proportion between what we undertake and what happens to chance also shows how much action-determining power the expectation of final pleasure has, says Russu. In quantitative terms, it is presented as follows: the amount by which the final pleasure decreases when it is expected, compared to the full one, results precisely from the uncertainty given by the intervention of chance, he specifies.

Eugen Russu has the opinion that a desired fact can be fulfilled, without engaging one's own effort, but only through the simple intervention of chance, and the corresponding pleasure only having to be waited for. In such a case, he demonstrates, the momentum is strictly proportional to the probability of the chance producing its effect. But "instead of the thought turning to the real value of the amount of uncertainty involved in the accomplishment of the act, instead of the expectation of pleasure being moderated by the doubt which the objective appreciation of the possibility must give, a misunderstood selfishness intervenes, which pushes towards an overestimation of the favorable odds. As a consequence, he argues, "thought fixates on those, sometimes few, chances of winning, neglecting to weigh them in relation to the unfavorable ones, in this false way, the affective is also trained, taking on the color it would have when would have led there, in a favorable direction"⁴⁹. In this case, he says, we are dealing with a disproportionate effort in relation to the means of achievement.

His conclusion is that "in general, chance and the person also intervene, in different proportions from case to case. She (the person -n. me -C.S.) will be urged, (...) to overestimate the intervention of chance, he expects more than he should objectively appreciate"⁵⁰ .

By nature, life cannot be static. Nature itself wants, first of all, that living matter exist, but it cannot be satisfied with that. As soon as existence appears assured, since the very tendency to maintain this existence does not cause action, it wants movement on other planes. Never prolonged rest. Life cannot be lived "tasting", in a passive attitude, pleasure. It must

49Ibidem, p.90

50Ibidem

be a continuous manifestation of energy, set in motion by the appropriate dosage of affective states"⁵¹. What causes man to be in eternal turmoil, in eternal evolution towards the complex, is precisely this necessity of a new gain of pleasure, because the previous one has been exhausted. But man is not destined to stand still forever desiring something higher. Therefore, again unsatisfied valences appear in his soul, again an organic thirst for pleasure, again the attachment for another longing, different from the previous ones and above them. "A situation cannot be pleasant by itself, but we feel the pleasure by entering it, and we cannot in any way obtain the duration of the pleasure, by settling definitively within the framework of the same situation. Gradually it is consumed, the situation becomes indifferent and serves as a step of comparison to relate the pleasure, possibly the future unpleasantness"⁵².

Happiness

So, says Eugen Russu apodictically, pleasure is in continuous development.

This becoming of pleasure is seen by him as a winding road to happiness. Because, he postulates, happiness still exists, but in a fluid and imperceptible form ("The very moment you ask and want to ascertain its existence, at that very moment, it escapes you"⁵³). However, happiness results from the state of eternal motion, from the succession of eternally renewed pleasures. Happiness is the fruit of the individual's own efforts to secure his pleasure through the whole natural range of states of mind, for the securing of pleasure by outside forces does not lead to happiness, but, on the contrary, to unhappiness."⁵⁴You have to be happy to be alive and if the situation you're in doesn't satisfy you, you're happy if you can wish for another and if you can join the rhythm of movement towards it."⁵⁵ Because, indeed, the leit-motif invoked by Eugen Russu is that "an essential condition of happiness, of the healthy development of life is the integration into a rhythm, which means a succession of steps, each being composed of elan, pleasure, indifference and hence another new one, excluding

51Ibidem, p.47 52Ibidem, p.43 53Ibidem 54Ibidem, p.46 55Ibidem, p.44

disappointment as much as possible". Opposite to happiness, disappointment is doubled by a natural situation – grief, which has an internal cause, leaves traces in the soul structure. An incomplete and abnormal rhythm is experienced through it. His desire is that "we must educate ourselves and seek the life in which the intention is more and more intimately intertwined with the deed"⁵⁶.

In the perspective above, Eugen Russu, mentions the existence of two situations (in the current terminology): 1) the negentropic situation, "when life is lived in its natural lines, its skeleton, matter is organized both structurally and functionally, in the most good, the healthiest; the individual feels happiness, even if statically he cannot recognize it", and 2) the entropic situation, "when the fundamental thirst for pleasure (in the broadest sense given by him to this word) cannot be satisfied, due to some artificial deformations of the individual, matter disorganizes, an unhealthiness appears, primarily of the soul, unhappiness is felt even if the one who lives it tries to delude himself about its existence, life loses its meaning and Nature soon dispenses with the one who does not submit to its goals"⁵⁷.

The determinations ("tendencies") to action of modern man, he notes, are not only those "implanted directly by nature. A number of different others are superimposed on them, much more numerous and varied, some are embroidered on the primitive background, others have a completely different nature"⁵⁸. For example, "a number of moral impulses seek to be imprinted on him from outside, through the intentional or unintentional influence of society"; another, "through religious or metaphysical experiences".

As, "an important source of intrusiveness is also the thirst for perfection", which we find in all human individuals. "Each individual, according to his specific structure, can see perfection in a different way, the essential thing is that everyone has a latent, unconscious and organic tendency towardsperfection"⁵⁹.

Eugen Russu talks about the existence of pleasurable activities that derive from "some individual forces that exist and only manifest

56Ibidem, p.93 57Ibidem, p.47 58Ibidem, p.34 59Ibidem, p.35

themselves", having "as intensity, the corresponding variations of pleasure"⁶⁰.

Revealing their specificity and value, he notes the fact that "in terms of the value of this type of activity, (...) as long as the manifestation of forces is done at an average pace, in a comfortable deployment, therefore reduced, the use of these actions is at most to maintain the already existing performance capacity. Only when there is also a goal, a well-defined goal of the deed and this quite high, the forces seek to manifest and organize themselves in maximum efficiency, so only in this case is the organic resources of the being heard and listened to the call for progress, for the improvement of forces"⁶¹.

Moreover, his clarification comes to decisively clarify the problem: "the pleasure procured by "pleasant activities" is fatally less than that procured by work (if the natural conditions are repeated here), in which to the pleasure of the action is added the pleasure of training towards a goal. Therefore, taking into account the vital energy that is expended and the satisfaction of the tendency to perfection, we must conclude that, in limiting oneself to pleasant activities, true happiness cannot be found"⁶².

Pleasant activities alone can dominate only those who have no well- defined (bounded) aspiration to drive them to action. Because they belong to a category of forces that make sense only in moments of repose of another category of forces that have already manifested. The example provided is peremptory: an intellectual can, during a break ("as repose"), do a pleasant manual work, without seeking in it the satisfaction of an interest. But one who would confine himself in all spheres to pleasurable pursuits would only leave his individual forces undeveloped and gradually anemic his sources of pleasure, from which a reduction of vital energy necessarily follows, a flattening of life⁶³.

5. Perfection, the theoretical ideal and the real ideal

Between the actual work and the pleasant activity "places that kind of activity which aims, through work, to improve oneself". In other words, he explains in detail, the action derives from the knowledge that through

60Ibidem, pp.124-125 61Ibidem, p.125 62Ibidem

63Ibidem, p.125-126

exercise the forces become stronger. "The longing exists: it is this refinement." But, he points out, "there may be some falsity here as well." Because through action indeed "forces are strengthened and amplified, but this strengthening is caused precisely by the fact that they prove to be necessary, that they have a precise and felt purpose in the life of the individual"⁶⁴. Because otherwise, it is not known whether the organic resources for improvement would still react when the improvement is consciously willed, in itself, and when its necessity was no longer felt in facts with a precise and important purpose⁶⁵.

In conclusion, Eugen Russu shows that pure perfection is a notion born through abstraction. For him, fundamental is perfection related to a concrete goal. "Therefore, he notes, without condemning the actions taken only with a view to improvement, those that have a concrete target are preferable, in such a way as to make the necessity of this improvement evident"⁶⁶.

This makes each individual have his own ideal, derived from the set of life conditions towards which the individual tends, as a result between organic tendencies, on the one hand, and moral norms⁶⁷ (which seek to be imprinted on him either from the outside or through the idea and own tendency to perfection), on the other.Because, introducing a qualitative- quantitative criterion applied to the two components – moral norms and organic tendencies – Eugen Russu emphasizes that "according to the nature and how the moral norms worked, as well as according to the dosage of the coefficients of importance with which the organic tendencies and moral norms entered , this set of desired life conditions, acquires a color specific to the individual, constituting his own ideal"⁶⁸. And "since it is a matter of real longings, of desires that warm the whole of the being, towards which the individual feels totally, without reservations, trained," he calls this ideal ensemble real. He attributes this real qualification to distinguish it from the theoretical ideal.

64Ibidem, p.126 65Ibidem 66Ibidem

67Why moral norms too? Because, states E. Russu, "The moral norms that seek to be imposed on him from the outside also have the color of the environment in which the individual is placed and manage to a more or less important extent, to transform into tendencies felt intimately"

68Ibidem, p.35

The theoretical ideal is the ideal professed, to himself or others, towards which the individual tends more rationally, towards which he is drawn by a desire "that has no resonance in the obscure fibers of our being". If "toward the real ideal we feel pushed, we go of our own accord; towards the theoretical "we would like", our reason forces itself to order us to go"⁶⁹. The real ideal cannot be expressed explicitly, because it does not reside in consciousness⁷⁰, but is only felt. "The real ideal is not constant," he says, differing both because of the variation in intensity of "primitive tendencies" and because of "rational norms which come to be grafted onto organic tendencies and which can change, according to the angle from which reason looks at things.Also, he can partially modify his composition through goals that have been fulfilled and do not require repeating or by the disappearance of goals that are abandoned before they are realized"⁷¹.

Eugen Russu shows that, despite the distinction between them, under certain conditions, transitions from the theoretical ideal to the real one can take place. Thus, "norms of the theoretical ideal, norms first awakened in reason can become of the real ideal only if they graft and unify with already existing impulses". (For example, the Christian ideal could become a real ideal, when the individual convinced himself that "it represents a perfection and the impulse towards it will have the strength that the thirst can already giveexisting towards perfection" ⁷²).

Most often, "the real ideal is reduced to a certain diffuse conception of life, constituted more by a certain specific atmosphere than by drawn lines, and which in a certain way colors the tendencies and actions of an individual." On this diffuse conception of life actually depend all those essential actions and attitudes, apparently unimportant, but which in reality give direction to the destiny ("fate") of the individual. "This (fate) is much less than it seems to be determined by chance (chance or luck) and more by the deeds of man, especially those that have their motivation in that diffuse conception from the unconscious; precisely because it is thus

69Ibidem, p.36

70"In consciousness, the theoretical moral norms, those that pass through perfection, sound stronger. This consciousness should be very attentive and understanding to the obscure tendencies of the being, in order to be able to perceive the structure and content of the real ideal" (Ibidem, p. 36)

71Ibidem, p.37

72Ibidem, p.37

located in the shadow, that twist occurs in attributing the determinants of fate to chance", emphasizes Eugen Russu.

He is adamant that “man creates his own destiny; it is shaped and realized very little and in very unessential parts according to chance. Man creates it; man in his deep, total and inexpressible meaning"⁷³.The real ideal is composed of a set of aspirations, of a sum of life conditions to which the individual aspires and tends to be achieved. At any moment the individual placed in these conditions will have an affective state - pleasure, which will impress and support the movement towards their achievement. The components that structure the real ideal can be placed on different planes, without any relation to each other. Several independent plans of life only condition each other through the necessity that the sum of the pleasures obtained reach a certain value, regardless of how the contribution of each one was distributed. But, says E. Russu, "there can exist in the real ideal, dependent urges. They can be compatible with each other or not. When several categories of pleasure can be tasted at the same time, the total amount that expends the vital energy is sooner and easier to reach⁷⁴.

But there can also be divergences between the components: for example between the egoism component and the altruism component. "In every human being, alongside the purely selfish tendencies, those of satisfaction through altruistic actions are found. They can practically come into conflict. The real ideal must therefore be colored, emphasizing one or the other of the two shades. Living to the full of purely selfish tendencies (and, correlatively, neglecting the altruistic ones), however, fatally leads to fatigue, to the reduction in rhythm and intensity of the respective pleasures. Coordinating and highlighting altruistic tendencies can maintain life in a rich rhythm of discharge of an ever-strong and alive vital energy. This presupposes, not the repression of selfish tendencies, but their satisfaction with indifference"⁷⁵.

In such a situation, "we realize that a real ideal in which desires of different categories are incompatible, depend on one another but in opposite directions, unable to be satisfied at the same time, is incapable of

73Ibidem, p.38 74Ibidem, p.65 75Ibidem, p.72

bringing to the one who is possessed by it, the minimum necessary total pleasure"⁷⁶.

The thesis derived from this circumstance by Eugen Russu is: "so that energy can be mobilized decisively in a certain direction, there must therefore be no desire for the opposite directions. A life can only unfold healthily and "alive", when the various components of the real ideal are compatible, in order to be able to step towards its realization and living, without reservations, with full vigor"⁷⁷. A life is all the happier the more the components of the real ideal are harmonized, the more likely to be satisfied on common paths, and the more unhappy the more the various aspirations are opposed to each other. Harmonization cannot be complete ("completely") from the start. "The harmonization of the content of the real ideal happens, sooner or later, by itself, without the willful intervention of the conscious"⁷⁸.

But, according to Eugen Russu, it would be best for man "to try, through reason, to shape and harmoniously organize the content of the real ideal, as much as possible before the impact of its translation into action"⁷⁹. Moreover, in the harmonious organization of the real ideal, with a view to a full and happy life, we must therefore start from the principle of protecting other tendencies, to the detriment of their opposites, i.e. selfish ones.

Eugen Russu is convinced of the fact that part of the striving for the real ideal derives from the individual's organic thirst for perfection. And as this perfection is seen, these quirks are "individually colored," that is, they bear the stamp of the individual, he points out. "Almost in all cases, perfection is conditioned by giving up living with emphasis on primitive pleasures, because they impoverish and limit the meaning of life. One cannot strive for perfection through living conditions that make him a slave to material pleasures. However perfection is seen, it has a richer meaning than the property of being able to taste strictly personal pleasure"⁸⁰. In his opinion, to consume vital energy in order to acquire primitive pleasures, "means to give up a special satisfaction of the tendency towards perfection, a tendency nevertheless dug deep in the human being".

76Ibidem, p.66 77Ibidem, p.67 78Ibidem, p.70 79Ibidem, p.71 80Ibidem, p.73

His conclusion is worth remembering: self-improvement⁸¹ is compatible with the tendency towards altruism, since it can be put at the service of social utility. At the same time, it is also compatible with selfish tendencies, and in some cases it can be put to their service. In any situation, perfection must unconditionally enter into the composition of the real ideal.

In summary, the real ideal must be harmoniously organized around the idea of self-improvement, "won at the expense of emphasizing primitive pleasures and put at the service of the tendencies that can give the most enhanced and happy life, of the altruistic tendencies"⁸².

In this ideological context, Eugen Russu speaks of "altitude people", as those who, having a desire for moral perfection, practice "asceticism and suffering on the planes of the flesh", as a condition of "strict necessity for an intense experience on the plane spirit". He asks that in the same way we see the current cases of people satisfied with intellectual pleasures, wanting (not not having, but not wanting) material ones. This in opposition to "the opposite case, much more frequent: soaked with material pleasures that (as long as they have not reached indifference), no longer feel attracted to those that art, science, etc. give them. who, in addition, cannot understand the one who lives in the zeal of morals by himself, by himself, for his own satisfaction"⁸³.

Education also plays an important role. But only education that offers the possibility of soul-to-soul communication. Because, he draws attention, "it is much preferable to lack any educational concern, one lacking in skill". In this vein, he criticizes the old school, which offered only intellectual instruction based on the mechanical memorization of knowledge ("massive accumulations of inconsistent piles of knowledge") and highlights the new school, which takes on the task of integral education by introducing the active method, perfecting various categories of individual forces through personal work performed by the student only under the guidance of the teacher (creating and perfecting the good intellectual apparatus, "as a proper and well-mastered tool for life and science"⁸⁴).In short, education

81"The content of the idea of perfection often includes that of power: sometimes physical, more often spiritual, soulful, moral." (Ibidem, p.73)

82Ibidem, p.73 83Ibidem, p.49 84Ibidem, p.61

thus becomes an art; "the art of producing conditions in which the child's soul can manifest itself in a creative rhythm"⁸⁵.

If at some point it is found that the forces of achievement do not respond to the desire, the solution is not abandonment, but "it can be found, in a healthy way, in the zeal for self-education". "Man is not allowed to play it safe. He does not have to foresee events and wait for them quietly. They have to fight. And the charm of the fight is to hope for success, without predicting it for sure, the doubt you are gripped by to liven up your nerves, to appeal to the full range of possibilities"⁸⁶.

6. Conclusions

To conclude, first of all, the ethical ideas circulated by this author are limited to the ethics of individual selfishness. Because, in his opinion, "the premise, its basic postulate, must be individual selfishness." And yet he substantially amends this thesis by arguing that altruism must also play a significant role in human life (see above).In such an approach, in Eugen Russu's view, morals must be an aid to the individual, a guide to his interest; only if it would clearly appear that his good is mixed with that of society, only then should he also go towards the latter, "conscious, reconciled and firm, not constrained, slavish and full of hesitation". Otherwise, there is a disruptive intrusion of society and its morals into the proper functioning of the value system adopted by the individual in accordance with his interests.

Second, his ethical ideas fall within the perimeter of rational ethics, but not abstract. That is, he says "the strength and solidity of its precepts (moral, author’s note) must be both in this solid base of the foundation, and in the logical interweaving, in the equally solid construction of rational arguments"⁸⁷. And one more thing: based on the laws of manifestation of the human soul provided by Psychology ("Morals must be the technique of Psychology"), morals should teach the individual what behaviors suit him and how he can achieve them, what is his good concrete and not come to teach him what Good is, an abstract, colorless and supreme Good, which does not interest him⁸⁸.

85Ibidem 86Ibidem, p.101 87Ibidem, p.9 88Ibidem

Thirdly, the perspective from which Eugen Russu engages the moral issue seems to be that offered by the ethics of hedonism, as it focuses on pleasure. But it only seems, because, in reality, we are not dealing with the pleasure existing in Jeremy Bentham, for example, (I consider him much closer to J. St. Mill), but with the pleasure that is not the final goal in life, but only the means, (the "instrument") through which the ends of life are accomplished. Pleasure is seen by him as the engine of human activity, but not its goal. The main function of pleasure is to be a reason for action, more from a psychological point of view and not from an exclusively moral-ethical one.

Moreover, he recommended giving up primitive pleasures because they impoverish and limit the meaning of life. Man must not become a slave to material pleasures, but to propose an ideal, which is harmoniously organized around the idea of his own moral perfection, i.e., to make him a "man of altitude" with an intense experience on the spiritual plane ( indulging in intellectual pleasures).

Eugen Russu joins the ranks of those whom I have named others (speaking of those lists of cultural personalities – scientific, philosophical, artistic, etc. – some that which I called "and others"⁸⁹) who left behind the at least a book or a few studies through which they maintained the environment conducive to preserving and carrying forward the ideas in that field – in the present case in that of man and mora

89See "Ethical ideas circulated by ’and others’ in the interwar period" in Constantin Stroe, Ethical utterances in Romanian philosophy. Studies in the history of Romanian moral reflection, 2nd revised and added edition, Grinta Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 2010, pp.309-365

TRANSLINGUALISM, METASEMANTICS AND COMMUNICATION

Alexandra RADU

Abstract: ”Statements" are not easy to develop nor easy to control. Language is a living instrument, and the relationship between "manipulator" and "instrument" is one of inter-dependence and by no means, one of unilateral control. In this sense, the translinguistic interpretation of the discourse and the understanding of the metasemantic dimension support the creation of a nuanced and easily controlled statement. The present article will deal with the importance of the translinguistic understanding of discourse and will constitute a proposal for the acceptance of communication at the metasemantic level, beyond words, starting from the premise that the act of communication actually takes place there.

1. Translinguistic interpretation of utterance

The first great linguist who, since the 1950s, spoke and wrote the textual linguistic phrase was the Romanian Eugeniu Coşeriu, whose distinctions will be taken into account by the greatest specialists in the field. The term imposed itself as such, designating a new branch within the language sciences. It is proved, among many others, by the title of the recent work, from 2006, La linguistique textuelle. Introduction à l'analyse textuelle des discours, belonging to Jean-Michel Adam, distinguished representative of the field, who expeditiously recognizes this primacy. In 1994 (Textlinguistik. Eine einfürung, Tübingen-Basel, Francke) Coşeriu opposes "transphrastic grammar", seen as an overcoming of classical linguistics, "textual linguistics", which, in his view, can and should be built on the basis of text analysis actually realized, by authentic concrete texts, as a theory of the generation, co- and contextual production of meaning.

Among the first approaches to the concept of discourse, we will mention that of Ferdinand de Saussure, according to which discourse, as a process, is opposed to language as a system of signs, signs that taken at

random can only express vague concepts, rudiments of ideas or thoughts. In order to express thought, the isolated signs must be connected to each other on the axis of the phrase, of the sentence, thus becoming speech: "Speech consists, even in a rudimentary manner and in ways that we ignore, in affirming a connection between two concepts that present themselves clothed in linguistic form, while language does nothing but realize isolated concepts beforehand, which are waiting to be put in relation to each other in order to make the meaning of thought exist" (Saussure, quoted by Adam, 2006, pp. 9-10, s.n. – V.D.). The Saussurean definition is consistent with the words of the German linguist Humboldt, for whom "language consists only of the related discourse, grammar and the dictionary are comparable only to its dead skeleton" (cited by Adam, 2006: 10). Émile Benveniste1 also sees speech in the same way when he writes that "only in speech, updated in phrases, is language formed and configured. Here, in discourse, language begins" (ibid.). Saussure speaks equally of "discursive language" and "speech" (cf. fr. "words"), placing the phrase outside language, in discourse: "The phrase exists only in speech, in discursive language, while the word it is a unity that lives outside any discourse in the mental treasury" (Saussure, 2002, p. 118). Although he saw the discourse as the connection between concepts of a linguistic nature, Saussure does not go further in defining the discourse, leaving us with no information worth the opinion of the author, regarding the nature and size of these combinations of words called sentences or phrases, defined as maximum units of joining or combining on the syntagmatic axis. As Adam observes, the phrase, in its quality of composition-syntagma, is located by Saussure at the border between language and discourse, holding the former by its syntagmatic and speech dimension ("the act of the actual emission of language", as Humbold said ) through its discursive dimension. And the discourse does not go beyond the restrictive classic definition given by Fontanier, namely: "A phrase or a period that expresses a thought almost complete in itself, although it may depend on other thoughts that precede or follow" (cited by Adam, 2006, p. 12). Here Fontanier intuited "avant la lettre" the reticular structure of the textual meaning, its inferential and voluminous character, which founds the synergistic dimension of the text.

Apparently close to Saussure, Benveniste establishes a different separation from Saussure's between language and speech, distinguishing

between a linguistics of language as a semiotic system or field, which signifies paradigmatically and whose minimal unit is the sign, and a linguistics of discourse or " semantics", which transforms language into a communication tool whose minimal unit is the phrase.

The great French linguist Émile Benveniste offered in his work "L'appareil formel de l'énonciation", published in Paris in 1970, a different perspective statement, language being in this sense, a communication tool whose minimal unit is the phrase: " the semantic expression par excellence is the phrase" because "we communicate through phrases, even truncated, embryonic, incomplete, but always through phrases" (Benveniste, 1974, p. 224). It is therefore necessary, in the view of the French linguist, "the translinguistic analysis of the texts, of the works by developing a metasemantics that will be built on the basis of the semantics of the statement". The French linguist here refers to the predictive ability of the individual that allows him to understand from the first words the meaning of the entire statement and maybe even the duration. The human brain is, therefore, able to instantly "translate" through a statement a state triggered by a stimulus. In the present case the stimulus is verbal, but the predictive function he was talking about intervenes, transforming a laconic communication into a universe of meanings. Hence the idea that metasemantics demonstrates the human ability to transform, to interpret a discourse, beyond words and their traditional meaning.

2. Metasemantics, the art of communication through „unwords”

Metasemantics is a literary technique created and used by Fosco Maraini in his collection of poems, "Gnòsi delle fànfole" published in 1966, which goes beyond the meaning of words and consists in the use of words without meaning, but which have a familiar resonance in the language of which it belongs to the text itself, the language from which the syntactic and grammatical rules are also taken (in the case of Maraini, the Italian language). From resonance and position in the text, more or less arbitrary meanings can be inferred to words.

Semantics is that part of linguistics that studies the meaning of words (lexical semantics), but also word combinations, phrases (phrase semantics) and texts. Metasemantics, in the sense proposed by Maraini, goes beyond the meaning of words and consists in the use of words

without meaning, but which lead us to certain meanings assigned in the author's language of origin.

However, a legitimate question arises: since we are talking about words without meaning, why do we still refer to a specific language, to a grammatical system? Does the imagination need landmarks, limits that limit its manifestation? In the opinion of the author of this article, it is not about this necessity, but only about the bilateral function of communication: the imagination of the sender and that of the receiver need common points to be able to meet, but the receiver is perfectly capable of filling the communication gaps manifested by the sender . Here is some information that supports this idea.

3. How metasemantics changes the paradigm of communication?

We are used to perceiving communication in rigorous, almost mathematical terms, even literary texts being analyzed according to the rules of semantics. Of course, this is because semantics, the branch of linguistics that studies the meaning of words (lexical semantics), but also of expressions, phrases (phrase semantics) and texts, helps us to elaborate logical statements, which convey to others the desired message and which they are perfect able to understand it, through a simple decoding. But can we convey to our peers a message that involves only a rhythmic decoding and an attribution of meaning by association? And if so, doesn't this capacity of ours demonstrate the existence of a capacity to communicate on a sensory, emotional level, beyond a statement defined in words?

Metasemantics, in the sense proposed by Maraini, confirms that our brain system is able to decipher messages, beyond the generally accepted meaning of words. Perhaps the most famous poem of Fosco Maraini, published in the aforementioned volume, "Gnòsi delle fànfole", is the poem entitled "Il Lonfo". We quote the original poem, even for the audience who does not know the Italian language, precisely as an experiment. However, for the skeptics, we also offer an attempt at translation, precisely because there were not a few voices, who were quick to declare that the metasemantic experiment is, perhaps, sublime, but completely useless.

„Il lonfo non vaterca né gluisce e molto raramente barigatta,

ma quando soffia il bego a bisce bisce

sdilenca un poco, e gnagio s’archipatta.

È frusco il lonfo! È pieno di lupigna arrafferia malversa e sofolenta!

Se cionfi ti sbiduglia e t’arrupigna

se lugri ti botalla e ti criventa.

Eppure il vecchio lonfo ammargelluto

che bete e zugghia e fonca nei trombazzi

fa lègica busìa, fa gisbuto;

e quasi quasi in segno di sberdazzi gli affarferesti un gniffo. Ma lui zuto

t’alloppa, ti sbernecchia; e tu l’accazzi.”

„Lonfo does not bark or growl and very rarely trumpet,

but when the wind blows, gust after gust

he opens up a little and curls up quietly.

Lonfo is smart! He is full of cunning misdirected and cunning perspective!

If you are late, he examines you and approaches you

if you touch it, it bites and attacks you.

And yet old Lonfo gave up

who drinks and grumbles and (censored)

go astray, make a fool of yourself; and almost mockingly

you would punch him. But he, shut up

it makes you roll your eyes, it makes you purr; and caress him.”

The author of this article is of the opinion that we cannot talk about futility when we discuss testing the limits (or the lack of them?!) of the communication capacities of human individuals. In support of the idea that metasemantics opens up new ways of exploring human intelligence through the lens of communication capabilities possessed by human beings, comes a simple experiment that many Italian mothers have done. The experiment demonstrates that a child not only does not reject the reading of metasemantic poetry, e.g. Il lonfo, but also has the ability to understand and interpret the information stated. Moreover, the children proved capable of graphically representing the image of the strange creature described by Maraini.

Thus, metasemantics proves how imaginative capacity enhances the quality of communication, helping the receiver to "fill" the gaps that the sender left, voluntarily or not, in the message sent.

1. Metasemantics in Romanian literature

Only three years after the Italian creator of Metasemantics published the volume of poems "Gnòsi delle fànfole", in Romanian literature it was manifested through the voice of the poet and philosopher Nichita Stănescu, the phenomenon of „unwords”, by publishing in 1969 the volume of poems with the same name, „The unwords”. We are confronting on this occasion with another approach to metasemantics, in which words are not only invented, but re-created, freed from their strict meaning and re-grounded in a new paradigm, in which the reader can free his imagination and ability perceptive, to allow them to interact for the purpose of deep metabolism of the read statement.

„What are you, A? you, the most human and the most absurd of letters, oh, you, glorious sound!

With you I fight

towards you I hurl my entire being like once the Achaeans the Trojan Horse

into Troy.

With you I sleep only you I want

you charming whore you desperate goddess!

You dance on my mouth when I die and I am like

the soldier lifted and pushed from behind by the growth of the grass to the sky; and I want you to cease to exist

so I will be free of speech; imaginary vagina, A, letter pregnant with all letters

Not to choose, but to float, go through rivers as through immaterial rays,

whose banks are deaf ears. Music oh you, with the claw who drag my body above the words

like the lamb grazing on grass and snatched by the vulture.

A, you threatening ghost who are you

and what do you want?”

The reader is invited to discover new meanings, by associating already known meanings and words between them, but also by involving his emotional intelligence. It is about a deep communication, beyond any border, which perfectly illustrates the idea that the act of communication occurs beyond words, on an emotional level.

"The words of the poetic text do not have value through or only through their usual linguistic functions, but also through the virtual existence of translinguistic correspondences, which can lead to a significant key to the text. A theme word can determine a network of connections through which a new meaning is suggested, autonomous in relation to that of the words in the common language." (Paula Diaconescu, "Communicarea prin necuvinte", Mihai Eminescu Publishing House, Iași 1975).

” For anyone who reads the volume ”The unwords”, it is clear that, for the poet, these are graphic signs identical to the Words, but with a different meaning, a different meaning. The words express dialectical, cerebral, rational knowledge, and ”The unwords”, metaphysical knowledge. The volume, published in 1969 and for which Nichita Stănescu received the Writers' Union Award, illustrates the "meanings" attributed by Nichita Stănescu to ”The unwords” and the practical procedures for their promotion in poetic creation. In the poem ”The unwords”, Nichita Stănescu understands this term as a means of communication between the poet and the vegetable world, reaching a mutual assimilation, an absorption of the vegetable into the human and the human into the vegetable. The procedure reminds us of the integration of the poet - Luceafăr in the cosmic chaos ("I came from chaos, Lord/ and I would return to Chaos..."), an additional argument that Nichita's predecessors also practiced metaphysical knowledge, Nichita only inventing the term for this type of knowledge. The metaphysical knowledge expressed through ”The unwords”, through Words with the function of ”The unwords”, removes the poet from the tragedy of "non-whole" knowledge. With her help, "the invisible became visible to me". Poetry in which Words have the function of ”The unwords” becomes a structure that no longer renders Reality accessible to rational (cerebral) knowledge, but Metaphysical Reality, being accessible only to initiates."(Traian D. Lazăr, "Poetic communication and unwords", revistaculturala.ro, April 2015).

Is the metaphysical reality, the knowledge of non-meanings in communication, in our times, reserved only for the initiated? Isn't it possible to communicate beyond words just by breaking free from traditional meanings and by broadening the horizons of us, ordinary people? Are we condemned to a continuous limitation of the ability to communicate and to a schematization of the paradigm in which we communicate day by day?

2. Conclusions

Far from being useless, the technique of metasemantics and translinguistic interpretation of language is not exclusively dedicated to the communication of the poetic message, and it is far from being intended only for a small group of initiates.

In fact, rather the less initiated are able to communicate on a metasemantic level, it being easier for them to break away from traditional meanings and "institutionalized" communication.

Communication is the fundamental function of humanity and cannot and should not be allowed to schematize, to be reduced to graphic symbols. Humans definitely communicate first emotionally and only then through words, and words and phrases take on the meaning and role that we humans give them.

The paradigm of human communication is changing dramatically in the times we live in, but this is precisely the challenge that can lead us to evolution: the human individual must understand that his salvation lies in the reinvention of new paradigms that fundamentally take over what we all have already created and the values we have accepted as common to the collective mind.

Bibliography

1. L’appareil formel de l’énonciation, Émile Benveniste, Paris, 1970

2. Gnòsi delle fànfole, Fosco Maraini, Bari, 1966

3. Necuvintele, Nichita Stănescu, Bucharest, 1969

4. Comunicarea prin necuvinte, Paula Diaconescu, Iași 1975

5. Comunicarea poetică și necuvintele, Traian D. Lazăr, revistaculturala.ro, aprilie 2015

CONSTANTIN STROE ON THE MORAL DIMENSION OF VASILE BĂNCILĂ'S PHILOSOPHY

A Book Review

Ionel NECULA

The author of a consistent work on the history of moral ideas, Constantin Stroe returns to the showcase of philosophical novelties with this study on the moral conception in the philosophical vision of Vasile Băncilă - a lesser-known thinker, of

whose work Dora Mezdra has so far published 16 volumes, and the entire edit operation should contain more than 30.

Constantin Stroe extracts from the vast philosophical work of Vasile Băncilă only what is related to his morals and ethical convictions. As Ion Dur also noticed in his consistent preface, we find in the exegete's approach a diverse and deep set of concepts and ideas regarding his moral vision - finally brought under the dome of the generous concept Constellation of morality.

And Ion Dur is right when he notes that the old kalokagathonic triads - truth, good, beautiful - Vasile Băncilă places, in the pendant, the triad God, ethics, man - which means that the entire normativity regarding conscience, conduct and moral behavior carries in itself and some of the imperatives of the Sermon on the Mount. I do not believe that God made man to have something to meditate on, but I grant that he had a doubt since, after the act of his creation, of man, he avoided uttering the sacramental formula, and God saw that it was good that way, and I also confirm him in the idea that he is a depository of all current and past life on earth, but without being able to surpass it too much (p.80). He is right and I really agree with the

opinion. Nor had Zarathustra shouted, in the public square, addressing the serfs: you have traveled the way from worm to man, but there is still much of the worm in you. Just as I also credit the author's idea that, at least in the field of ethics, he (Vasile Băncilă, ad. n.) is rather a documentarian who did his own readings, having sometimes, and at times, hermeneutic outbursts and critical outbursts - sometimes even vehement - to the authors frequented from which, through ricochet, some of their own positions emerged (p.225).

So, without having been an applied and consistent moralist, the Brailean philosopher made such a waste of ethical ideas and principles that one can, with rigor, relatively easily reconstruct a bunch of norms and convictions that would constitute the skeleton of a structured vision. Like his contemporary, Mircea Vulcănescu, the change of regime prevented him from giving metaphysical projects a structure and a certain finality. Hard times had come for the gentlemen, and even fatal for Vulcănescu. Vasile Băncilă tried in vain to defend him, from the condition he freely assumed as a witness of the defendant, in the trial that was filed against him, the sentence was not taken by the court, which was a mere figuration, but by the party organization, which was not joking, distributing the years of imprisonment with the casualness of throwing confetti on holidays.

Surprisingly, Vasile Băncilă makes an unexpected distinction between ethics and morality. Ethics is the science that deals with morals, while morality is the practice of moral principles (p.30). It is true that the X-ray of the Brailean philosopher does not cover the whole range of moral concepts, but his opinion about mercy is perhaps closer to Radiscev's vision than to the harsh and austere one of the Stoics and Schopenhauer.

There is no morality outside of religion, customs, the consciousness of good and duty, just as there is no moral fact that does not have as its motive a certain interest or a certain goal. Moreover, Vasile Băncilă postulates the debatable idea that there are no different morals, but only a general morality (p. 43). I say debatable because he himself speaks of a Stoic, Hedonistic, Epicurean, etc. morality.

A special division of Constantin Stroe's exegesis concerns the existence of evil in the world, which means, among other things, a recognition of the ills that can mark morals and morality - in general and concretely - to which we relate as people and frame our deeds. There is in all communities something - a meaning, a principle, a basis considered infallible and absolute against which our deeds acquire value for good or

bad, according as they agree or not with what we have proclaimed as perfect or, as Nietzsche would say, beyond good and bad.

Where does evil enter man and the world, through what fissure in man's or community's nature does it make its way and produce negative effects? In his answer to this question, Vasile Băncilă invokes the precariousness of human nature and the disregard of Christian teachings, which place love and piety at the center - the only ones that can lead to salvation. The postulation of a transcendent world meant to reward good in the earthly world is the crowning achievement of the author's moral philosophy and vision of good and evil. Whoever lives in the idea of the final paradise, understood as a reward for promoting good in the sublunar world, concludes the philosopher, can no longer be so obsessed with the existence of evil. It is the duty of morality to combat evil in man and in the world, but it cannot eliminate it, it continues to coexist with good, as fruit and caterpillars coexist in the same tree.

Without a doubt, Constantin Stroe's exegesis sheds light on an essential sequence of Vasile Băncilă's philosophy. As we do not yet have a complete collection of the writings left by the Brailean philosopher, we consider the exegetical approach, on which we have leaned in these lines, as provisional because we do not know how this issue will be resolved in the rest of the volumes that are left to be published. Probably, there will not be essential changes, the essential lines being already well articulated, but I propose to the author to think seriously about a monographic approach of the philosopher who outlined the Space of Bărăgan¹ so convincingly and intuited, among the first thinkers, the novelty of Blaga's philosophy. Vasile Băncilă is not the only one, but he is probably the most wronged in terms of the exploitation of his philosophical heritage

And I also specify that it would not be bad if, following the model of the Seghers Publishing House, which initiated the popular Philosophies de tous les temps collection, a similar collection was initiated in our country, in

1 Bărăgan: the teritorry of a vast plain in Southern Romania

which the Romanian thinkers still without a treatment could find their place monographic. It will be seen then, in the words of Sadoveanu from The Wedding of Miss Ruxandra, "that we are not to be neglected even in matters of the spirit".

Ionel Necula was born on May 12, 1940, in Lieşti commune, Galati county. He followed the school courses in his hometown, then the high school courses in Tecuci. He worked as a substitute teacher, and in 1965 he enrolled at the Faculty of Philosophy in Bucharest, graduating in 1970. He defended his degree with a paper on the Philosophy of Knowledge under Lucian Blaga (1971). After graduating from the faculty, he worked in education until 1976, then at the House of Culture in Tecuci, from where he retired in 2000. Member of the Romanian Writers' Union. Published books: Cioran, the unsaved skeptic (1995); Cioran, from the identity of the peoples to the Wallachian nothingness (2003); The Fall after Cioran (2005); Ion Petrovici in the sights of security (2005); Ion Petrovici. A chapter of Romanian philosophy (2006); Discomfort of being Romanian (2008); Aurel Cioran, the brother from the leprosy (2009); Uricar at the Gate of Moldovei de Jos (2009); Romanian philosophy in epistemic sequences (2010); Ion Petrovici. Recurrences (2011); Eminescu in metaphysical temptations (2012); Ciaran. Concepts and fundamental ideas (2012); Ciaran. Testimonials and references (2012); Cioran in epistemic receptions (2012); Cioran about the Wallachian nothingness (2014) etc.

ISSN 2784 - 2002

ISSN-L 2784 - 2002

ROMANIA DE MAINE FOUNDATION PUBLISHING HOUSE

MINERVA - Journal of History and Philosophy - Volume 4, Issue 1, February 2023

History

BUCOVINA. HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHT

1775

1917-1918

AFTER 1918

AUTOMATIC TRANSLATION: HISTORY AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

1. The first phase of machine translation: from the end of the 1940s to the mid-1980s

1.1 The forerunners

1.2 The beginning of machine translation: rule-based systems and dictionaries

1.3 The first criticisms: the article by Bar-Hillel and the ALPAC report

1.4 From the mid-60s to the mid-80s: a long hibernation

2. Today's revolution of intelligent algorithms: Machine Learning and natural language

2.1 Machine translation based on examples

2.2 Machine Learning

2.3 Future prospects

Conclusions

THE FAMOUS PIANIST CAROL MICULI. IMPRESSIONS FROM A MUSICAL EVENT AS PART OF THE FESTIVAL MANDYCZEWSKI FEST*

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, TOWARDS A GREATER AWARENESS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

BY NICOLAE BAGDASAR AND THE TIMELINESS OF ITS METHOD OF APPROACH

1. History of Romanian philosophy by Bagdasar in the context of other similar works

2. Subjectivism and objectivism in the history of philosophy

3. Subjective and objective in Nicolae Bagdasar's implicit method

4. The distinction between exposition and interpretation of philosophy

5. The relationship between the method of exposition of philosophy by fields and the method of exposition on philosophical systems

6. Portraits of philosophers by Bagdasar – a complement to the understanding of their work

7. The merits and actuality of the method of exposition and interpretation practiced by Bagdasar

THE JOB INTERVIEW:

The evaluation interview

The management interview

The 5 steps of the interview

1- Identification of the purpose and objectives of the interview.

2- The contents of the interview

3- The management methodology

4- Relational attentions

5- Possible obstacles and errors

ON MAN AND MORALITY

1. The two sources of morals

2. The impact of scientific style and civilization on moral life

3. The way of finding the meaning of one's life, the role of the will and the sense of duty

4. Unconscious and conscious in human action and the role of pleasure as a means and not an end

Happiness

5. Perfection, the theoretical ideal and the real ideal

6. Conclusions

TRANSLINGUALISM, METASEMANTICS AND COMMUNICATION

1. Translinguistic interpretation of utterance

2. Metasemantics, the art of communication through „unwords”

3. How metasemantics changes the paradigm of communication?

1. Metasemantics in Romanian literature

2. Conclusions

CONSTANTIN STROE ON THE MORAL DIMENSION OF VASILE BĂNCILĂ'S PHILOSOPHY

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