What are traditions, a brief definition. Definition of "tradition"

It was used when it came to the need to hand over a certain object to someone and even to give one’s daughter in marriage. But the transferred item may be intangible. This, for example, may be a certain skill or skill: such an action in a figurative sense is also traditio. Thus, the boundaries of the semantic spectrum of the concept of tradition strictly indicate the main qualitative difference between everything that can be subsumed under this concept: tradition is, first of all, something that is not created by an individual or is not a product of his own creative imagination, in short, something that does not belong to him, having been transmitted by someone from the outside, a custom.

This main difference often fades into the background in consciousness, giving way to another, also significant, but derivative. For ordinary consciousness era of modernity, the word “tradition” is associated primarily with that which is connected with the past, has lost its novelty and therefore resists development and renewal, which in itself is unchanged, symbolizes stability up to stagnation, eliminates the need to comprehend the situation and make a decision.

Traditions in European culture

The understanding of tradition within European culture, since the New Age marked by this shift, is generally based on a historical approach. The dynamic nature of such an understanding, which allows us to see and evaluate the role and significance of tradition in the light of what is happening social change, manifests itself, however, in the emergence general trend to inflation concept. If the original meaning of the concept of “tradition” included the aspect of special respect for what was transmitted as a gift and, accordingly, for the process of transmission itself, then later this aspect in secular culture is gradually lost. Already in late antiquity, the development of the concept of tradition into the central category of Christian theology led, on the one hand, to its normative expansion, and on the other, to the emergence of conceptual difficulties in connection with the constitution of the opposition between tradition and ratio.

IN further formation secular worldview and the associated growth in the authority of individual critical reason stimulated the deepening of this confrontation. A critical attitude towards tradition as such and, above all, towards the church as its support reached its apogee during the Enlightenment. It is at this time that the actual historical understanding tradition as a time-limited and changeable phenomenon.

Age of Enlightenment

During the Enlightenment, the concept of tradition was at the center of discussions related to the problem of socio-political emancipation of the third estate. Since the latter was understood and viewed as the liberation of man in general, as the emancipation of the individual mind and overcoming the coercive power of tradition, the concept of tradition became an element of socio-anthropological discourse. At the same time, his interpretations were very diverse, from the demand for a critical rethinking of the boundaries of recognition of tradition to the complete denial of any traditionality as the main obstacle on the path of an individual to his authentic self. As traditionalist authors later believed, in particular J. de Maistre, it was the fierce rejection of tradition by Enlightenment thinkers that served as the ideological justification for the French Revolution.

19th century

The reaction to the total rejection of tradition by the Enlightenment was the enthusiastic and apologetic attitude towards it of conservative romanticism. Thus, by the beginning of the 19th century European culture an ambivalent attitude towards tradition developed, which included an understanding of its universal historical role, which was reflected in the assessment of I. G. Herder, who considered tradition to be the main driving force history and at the same time calling it “spiritual opium”, lulling individual initiative and critical thinking. However, with the further development of the modern mentality, the attitude towards tradition as a whole is steadily becoming more and more negative, which is aggravated by the successes scientific knowledge and technical and technological achievements that focus on innovation as opposed to tradition.

This can be traced to philosophical systems and macrosociological theories of the first half of the 19th century century (G. W. F. Hegel, O. Comte, K. Marx). If in Hegel tradition occupies an important place in the process of world-historical objectification of the spirit, then in Marx’s concept it is interpreted as an expression of class and group interests, as a component of ideology, and through the prism of a total criticism of religion and the church - as a tool of manipulation mass consciousness. Negative connotations of the concept of tradition are also noticeable in F. Nietzsche, for whom the latter is the quintessence of philistine inertia, which interferes with the formation of a superman and is subject to denial.

XX century

The “fundamental politicization” of social life, in the words of K. Mannheim, which constitutes the main characteristic of the first half of the 20th century, manifested itself, in particular, in the fact that almost all the numerous political trends and mass movements that arose during this period, based on the critical denial of cash social traditions, nevertheless, discovered a desire to invent and perpetuate new, own traditions. This common feature was pointed out by E. Hobsbawm, who saw in this desire the need to provide a historical basis for his views. This fact in itself, however, only irrefutably testifies to the attributive nature of tradition for social reality. Understanding this idea in modern socio-philosophical discourse has entailed the constitution of a number of different conceptual approaches to understanding the essence and social significance of tradition.

The concept of tradition in integral traditionalism

The term "tradition" (often capitalized) is central to integral traditionalism.

In it, the concept of tradition refers exclusively to a chain of esoteric knowledge and practices that have the ontological status of a channel of ascension, and to a set of forms of culture and culture based on sacred experience. social organization.

“Tradition has nothing in common with either local color or folk customs, nor with fancy actions local residents, which are collected by students studying folklore. This concept is connected with the origins: tradition is the transmission of a set of rooted ways to facilitate our understanding of the essential principles of the universal (universal) order, since without outside help a person is not given the opportunity to understand the meaning of his existence,” wrote the leader of the new right, Alain de Benoit.

Issues

Conceptual approaches to understanding the essence and social significance of tradition can be grouped according to their general focus. The group of approaches, which can be conventionally designated as modernism and progressivism, includes the concept of tradition as a negatively marked “dialectical pair” of innovation. In the paradigm of progressivism, tradition is something that ultimately recedes under the onslaught of the new, it is doomed and historically relative. This understanding can be seen in many completely different authors. According to, for example, Hannah Arendt, traditionality as a characteristic of society completely exhausts itself in the modern era, since the logic of industrial development requires the replacement of tradition as a social guideline with an orientation towards universal rationality. This idea was formulated most clearly by Max Weber, who was the first to contrast traditional and rational methods of social organization at a conceptual level. Tradition and rationality in the universe of progressivism constitute two poles, between which there is tension that determines the direction of social dynamics.

Traditional society is understood as a type of social organization radically different from modern society, characterized by the slowness of change, if not its complete absence. Its second feature is that it makes completely different demands on its members, and the main one is to completely subordinate personal intellectual and social initiative to the authority of tradition.

This implies recognition of the close connection between tradition and stereotype. In fact, if we limit our consideration to a behavioral perspective, it is obvious that following tradition presupposes stereotyping social and individual behavior, the strict dominance of the stereotype over individual expression of will, personal characteristics and aspirations. A social stereotype constitutes a mechanism for the implementation of tradition. The famous domestic researcher E. S. Markaryan draws attention to this, defining tradition as follows: “Cultural tradition is a group experience expressed in socially organized stereotypes, which, through spatio-temporal transmission, is accumulated and reproduced in various human groups.”

The main problem associated with tradition, in this case, becomes the problem of the relationship between stereotypical experience and emerging innovations, as well as the problem of the nature of the innovations themselves. According to E. S. Markaryan, “the dynamics cultural tradition“is a constant process of overcoming certain types of socially organized stereotypes and the formation of new ones,” and innovations appear in the process of organic recombination of elements of tradition. In this understanding, as S.P. Ivanenkov notes, the qualitative difference between the traditional and innovative aspects of sociality is leveled out. For a deeper penetration into the problem, it is necessary, he believes, “to find a categorical basis for a definition in which tradition will be posited as something else for innovation and vice versa.” Such a basis, in his opinion, can only be the relationship of two realities - traditional and innovative - to time as an attributive parameter of social existence. Currently, the preservation of traditions in folk art. Professional education in the field of traditional decorative -applied arts since 1928 it has been conducted at the Moscow School of Artistic Crafts. Extensive research on this topic is being conducted by the Apollo-Soyuz International Foundation, USA.

Notes

Literature

Rene Guenon Essays on tradition and metaphysics. - St. Petersburg. , 2000. - pp. 56-57.
Esaulov I.A. Spiritual tradition in Russian literature // Literary encyclopedia terms and concepts. M., 2001.
Nechipurenko V. N. Ritual (experience of socio-philosophical analysis). - Rostov-on-Don, 2002. - P. 110-111.
Alleau R. De la nature des symboles. - Paris, 1958.
Kosinova O. A. On the issue of interpretation of the concept of “tradition” in domestic pedagogy // Electronic journal"Knowledge. Understanding. Skill ». - 2009. - No. 2 - Pedagogy. Psychology.
Makarov A.I. Tradition versus history in the philosophy of modern European traditionalism // Dialogue with time. Almanac of Intellectual History. - M, 2001. - No. 6. - P. 275-283.
Polonskaya I. N. Tradition: from sacred foundations to modernity. - Rostov n/a: Publishing house Rost. University, 2006. - 272 p.
Alain de Benoit Definition of Tradition // Almanac "Polyus". - 2008. - No. 1. - P. 3-4.

Links

// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
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Synonyms:

See what “Tradition” is in other dictionaries:

- (from the Latin traditio transfer) an anonymous, spontaneously formed system of samples, norms, rules, etc., which guides a fairly large and stable group of people in their behavior. T. can be so broad as to cover everything... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

- (lat. tradere to convey). This term in literature is used both in relation to a successive connection that unites a number of successive literary phenomena, and in relation to the results of such a connection, to the stock of literary skills. Within the meaning of… … Literary encyclopedia

Tradition- TRADITION (lat. tradere to convey). This term in literature is used both in relation to a successive connection that unites a number of successive literary phenomena, and in relation to the results of such a connection, to the stock of literary skills. By … Dictionary literary terms

- (lat. traditio). Tradition, the way in which various incidents, events and dogmas are transmitted from year to year. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. TRADITION of lat. traditio, from tra, trans, through, and dare,… … Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

TRADITION

(lat. traditio). Tradition, the way in which various incidents, events and dogmas are transmitted from year to year.

Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. - Chudinov A.N., 1910 .

TRADITION

lat. traditio, from tra, trans, through, and dare, to give. Tradition.

Explanation of 25,000 foreign words that have come into use in the Russian language, with the meaning of their roots. - Mikhelson A.D., 1865 .

TRADITION

tradition; complete formulas of social life, literature, art, etc., adopted by a given era from the previous one.

Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. - Pavlenkov F., 1907 .

TRADITION

tradition; Ph.D. from time immemorial existing custom, a look that transferred to the descendants from their ancestors firmly established relationships transmitted from the past, etc.

A complete dictionary of foreign words that have come into use in the Russian language. - Popov M., 1907 .

Tradition

(lat. traditio transmission; narration)

1) historically established customs, orders, and rules of behavior passed on from generation to generation;

2) custom, established order in behavior, in everyday life;

3) an oral story passed down from generation to generation, tradition.

New dictionary foreign words.- by EdwART,, 2009 .

Tradition

traditions, g. [ Latin traditio, lit. broadcast]. 1. That which passes or has passed from one generation to another through tradition, oral or literary transmission (for example, ideas, knowledge, views, modes of action, tastes, etc.). 2. Custom, ingrained order in something. (in behavior, everyday life, etc.). New Year's Eve tradition.

Big dictionary foreign words.- Publishing house "IDDK", 2007 .

TRADITION

and, f.

1. What has been passed on from one generation to another, what has been inherited from previous generations (for example, tastes, views, ideas, etc.). Old t. In accordance with national traditions.

2. A custom, an established order in behavior, in everyday life. T. New Year's Eve. Enter the tradition.

Traditional - 1) preserved from antiquity, based on tradition ( traditional rituals); 2) existing due to tradition, established custom (traditional gathering of school graduates).

Dictionary foreign words by L. P. Krysin. - M: Russian language, 1998 .

Synonyms:

See what “TRADITION” is in other dictionaries:

tradition- and, f. tradition f. lat. traditio transmission, tradition. 1. Historically established and passed down from generation to generation experience, practice in what form. areas of social life, reality, etc. National traditions. Revolutionary... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

Custom, custom; heritage, accepted, establishment, value, custom, it was customary, unwritten law, so accepted, so established, norm, established Dictionary of Russian synonyms. tradition see custom Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical... ... Synonym dictionary

tradition- (from the Latin traditio transmission, narration) historically established knowledge, forms of activity and behavior transmitted from generation to generation, as well as accompanying customs, rules, values, ideas. T. warehouse... Great psychological encyclopedia

TRADITION, traditions, women. (Latin traditio, lit. transmission). 1. That which passes or has passed from one generation to another through tradition, oral or literary transmission (for example, ideas, knowledge, views, modes of action, tastes, etc.). Traditions… … Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

The dead rule the living. Auguste Comte Tradition is just nostalgia walking around in public in full dress uniform. Andrew Marr Traditionalists are pessimists about the future and optimists about the past. Lewis Mumford Tradition cannot be... Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms

- (traditio, transfer) the establishment of actual dominion over things on the part of their previous owner in favor of a new one who acquires them into ownership or possession. Lawyers think that in order to acquire a property right, that is, to establish... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Tradition- (Vsevolozhsk, Russia) Hotel category: 4 star hotel Address: Armenian lane 2, Vsevol... Hotel catalog

Books

The Grail Tradition, John Matthews. 1997 edition. The condition is good. The legends associated with the Grail, its initiations and trials, are part of a tradition dating back to King Arthur, and lead to the comprehension...

from lat. traditio - transmission) 1) historically established customs, orders, rules of behavior passed on from generation to generation; based on tradition cultural life; 2) custom, established order in behavior, in everyday life.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

Tradition

lat. – transmission) is a way of storing and successively transmitting social experience in human communities (family, class, school, village, city, society). Thus, customs, habits, views, and assessments of actions are stored and transmitted. Traditions exist both in the material and spiritual spheres of human life. There are traditions of education and training, school traditions and children's group, traditions of family and city. Through traditions, the social inheritance of certain qualities, actions, and relationships is carried out. They are formed on the basis of long-term experience of joint life activities and manifest themselves as stereotypes of behavior and communication, in the stability of public opinion and beliefs. Traditions are especially important in education. In children's groups they are created, supported, lived by, and used to make their lives sustainable and historically valuable. Traditions are a means of democratizing the life of society, gaining freedom; they expand the rights of all, the lowest classes.

Tradition (from the Latin traditio - transmission) is an anonymous, spontaneously formed system of patterns, norms, rules, etc., which guides the behavior of a fairly large and stable group of people. A tradition can be so broad as to cover the entire society at a certain period of its development. The most stable traditions, as a rule, are not recognized as something transitory, having a beginning and an end in time. This is especially evident in traditional society, where traditions determine all the essential aspects of social life.

K.V. Chistov wrote: “tradition is a network (system) of connections between the present and the past, and with the help of this network a certain selection, stereotyping of experience and transmission of stereotypes are carried out, which are then reproduced again.” (3. p. 106)

Traditions have a clearly expressed dual character: they combine description and evaluation (norm) and are expressed in descriptive-evaluative statements. Traditions accumulate previous experience of successful collective activity, and they are a kind of expression of it. On the other hand, they represent a blueprint and prescription for future behavior. Traditions are what makes a person a link in the chain of generations, which expresses his presence in historical time, his presence in the “present” as a link connecting the past and the future.

Not everything from the life experience of mankind becomes traditional, but only that which contributes to the most successful course of life in certain (specific) conditions. As living conditions change, so do traditions. In the same part in which traditions are connected with human nature itself, they have something unchangeable over time and common to representatives of the most different cultures and civilizations. Consequently, the nature of the tradition is determined by the life activity of people, and the latter follows both from the nature of basic and secondary needs, as well as from the conditions for their satisfaction. Therefore, tradition is a universal phenomenon, and the totality of specific traditions determines the identity of a given community.

To understand the essence of traditions it is important:

The presence of some positive life experience - a way to satisfy a need, maintain the life of individuals. Without this experience, there would be nothing to become traditional.

The ability of a person to perceive the experience of other individuals and reproduce it - in whole or in part - in his life. Consequently, the basic quality of a person in terms of the emergence of traditions is his receptivity to the experience of others.

Combining the content of points one and two makes tradition a way for all of humanity or its individual communities to accumulate experience in ensuring and maintaining their livelihoods. Moreover, this experience becomes effective due to the fact that it is assimilated by many individuals. In other words, traditional is something that is perceived and reproduced by many individuals.

One of the characteristics of a particular tradition is its prevalence: there are traditions of local significance, there are traditions of a national nature or even interethnic. For example, all peoples, all religions, all civilizations have a tradition of celebrating holidays.

Another characteristic of a specific tradition (and with it this phenomenon itself as a whole) is stability (of traditions), and a direct consequence of the stability of a tradition is its viability. Throughout the course of human history, a “natural selection” of traditions occurs, as a result of which new ones are born, old ones die out, and some exist for thousands of years. In this “natural selection” of traditions there is a constant core of traditionality - the universal and timeless nature of basic needs and modifiable specific content, depending on living conditions.

Among the members of the community there is always a more conservative part - adherents of traditions, inclined to defend them even with significant changes in living conditions (the latter is their drawback), and a “progressive” part - individuals inclined to deviate from traditions even while maintaining the same living conditions (this is their drawback, since not everything new is better than the old). The extinction of old traditions before new and more effective ones are formed is especially dangerous: many members of the community may find themselves disoriented in their life activities. This is possible when socio-political systems change (for example, as a result of a revolution).

Favorable processes occurring with traditions are: emergence, consolidation, distribution, reproduction; unfavorable - "erosion", devaluation, extinction, distortion, erasure, oblivion, depreciation.

Traditional can be not only the above methods of action, evaluation, relationships, technologies, ethical principles, but also life situations, determined by the very nature of man and the course of his life, regardless of his will and consciousness. Situations such as conception, birth, wedding, funeral are events different levels, in which both what is given by nature itself (conception, birth) and what contributes to “fitting” it into the social context are interconnected.

The social significance of the phenomenon of traditionality is determined both by the fact that any tradition goes back to one or another human need, and by the fact that the content of the tradition turns out to be acceptable or necessary for many individuals. That is why tradition is fundamental social phenomenon affecting every member of the community.

In the life of an individual, the requirements of tradition can be realized in two ways. Firstly, the traditional can become familiar to the individual, and then he commits this action or adheres to this assessment as his own, organically inherent in him. If the traditional has not become habitual for an individual, he only submits to tradition or pretends to obey, even internally resisting it, that is, he submits to circumstances, which include the coercion of others. One of the important methods of such coercion is " public opinion" is a concept applicable to any community of individuals, and not just to the “society” that liberals habitually contrast with the “state.”

Any specific tradition within a given generation can be perceived (from the previous one) or developed - in this case, it needs to be tested by time, and until the next generation begins to reproduce its content, this is just an innovative action with the potential of traditionality.

In relation to a particular tradition, all individuals can be divided into active carriers, passive carriers and opponents of the tradition. From among the active carriers, a group of adherents of tradition stands out - those individuals who not only strictly observe the requirements of tradition themselves, but also demand the same from others and, therefore, carefully monitor their actions, evaluate them and compare them with their own. Often for such adherents of tradition, the most important thing is not the conformity of the behavior of other individuals to some general model, but its indistinguishability from their own behavior, assessments, relationships, etc.

Traditions have the property of expansion. This is connected, firstly, with the pressure of active bearers of tradition on others, and secondly, with imitation (of the individual by others). The extension of a particular action to an ever wider range of situations is special kind expansion of traditions. Consequently, the expansion of traditions is manifested both in the increase in the number of individuals following them, and in the spread of one or another method of action to new life situations.

The expansion of traditions sometimes leads to very unfavorable consequences. For example, the revealed penchant of the peoples of the North for alcohol is a completely alien thing for them, since they do not grow the corresponding plants from which alcohol is extracted and the very nature of their diet is different. They did not have natural selection for resistance to alcohol, which is why they become drunkards so quickly and inevitably.

The traditions of everyday life, which are as close as possible to the basic needs of a person, change little over time, while the traditions that reflect the specifics of a socio-historical formation mostly die out along with it. At the same time, traditions both flow from the way of life and themselves shape it. By assimilating tradition, each subsequent generation forms its own way of life, similar to the way of life of the previous one. Consequently, without continuity there would be no integrity, which lies at the basis of such concepts as “humanity” and “human history”.

Like any object or phenomenon, tradition has general, individual and special. The general expresses the fundamental unity of the human race, the individual - local specificity, the particular - creative contribution individuals or communities into the content of tradition.

The better structured the life of society and the life of individuals, the more traditions there are in a given society. At the same time, the detraditionalization of society - the distortion of the content and weakening of the role of traditions in its life - deprives the society of a historical perspective, therefore such a society loses both stability and identity.

Traditions can in a certain way interact: combine and complement one another; resist and displace one another; undergo a process of mutual modification and adaptation; give birth to one another. In conditions of migration, there can also be an “exchange” of traditions between representatives of different communities, national, ethnic, and religious groups.

So, the transmission and preservation of social and cultural experience from generation to generation is called tradition. Traditions are defined as certain values, norms of behavior, customs, rituals, and ideas. Traditions can sometimes be perceived as relics, that is, as obstacles further development culture. They can disappear and then be reborn again. Traditions can be positive when something is accepted, but they can also be negative when something is rejected because it is “not in the tradition,” as they say, of a given society or group of people. Time makes a selection of traditions, and the eternal ones, such as respect for parents and women, are always modern.

The constituent elements of tradition are custom, rite, and ritual. Tradition covers a wider range of phenomena than custom, which sometimes resembles a stereotype in behavior. But custom does not exist separately from tradition; it is its variety. A rite, or ritual, is a certain order of actions by which a custom is performed and consolidated.

lat. tiaditio - transfer) - a form of succession in various types human activity, material and spiritual, involving full and partial reproduction of methods, techniques and content of activity previous generations. To class. about-ve T. are class. character and depending on their social contents can play different role. In the development of socialism. culture and the formation of a new person great importance acquire a socialist. T.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

TRADITION

from lat. traditio - transmission, tradition) - a way of being and reproducing elements of social and cultural heritage, which captures the stability and continuity of the experience of generations, times and eras. Philosophical status The term “tradition” is defined by the fact that it includes the entire complex of norms of behavior, forms of consciousness and institutions of human communication that have any value, characterizing the connection of the present with the past, or more precisely, the degree of dependence modern generation from the past or commitment to it this concept is confirmed by its presence in all spheres human life and its active use in various fields of knowledge (they talk about the tradition of “national”, “folk”, “group”, as well as “cultural”, “scientific”, “artistic”, etc.). In terms of value and content, tradition accumulates a certain system of norms, customs and worldviews that make up the most significant part of the “classical” heritage of a given society, cultural community, and thought direction. In functional terms, tradition acts as an intermediary between modernity and the past, a mechanism for storing and transmitting samples, techniques and skills of activity (technologies), which are explicitly included in real life people and do not need any special justification or recognition, except for reference to their age and rootedness in culture. The transmission is carried out through repeated repetition and replication of traditional actions and relationships (customs), ceremonies and rituals (ritual), symbolic texts and signs (see Creed. Symbols of culture). Tradition is a type historical consciousness, where the past claims to be a prototype of the present and even one of the sources of the perfection of the future (as with P. A. Florensky, who prefers to talk about “antiquity”). But only in the so-called. In primitive, archaic societies, organized on the principle of “self-sufficient communities that constantly reproduce themselves in the same form” (K. Marx), the regulating role and world-building function of tradition acquire a universal scale and character.

The nature of tradition is contradictory, which naturally gives rise to extremes in its perception and assessment. On the one hand, tradition looks like an apology and conservation of the past, a symbol of immutability, and sometimes a synonym for lag and “backwardness.” Such an emotionally negative characterization and assessment of tradition certainly has an objective basis. It is caused by the tradition’s unreflective commitment to the past (K. Mannheim), the mythologization of reality and cult psychology (E. Cassarer), distrust of creative activity and underestimation of the individuality of the subject of action, etc. On the other hand, tradition acts as necessary condition conservation, continuity and sustainability human existence, a prerequisite and constitutive beginning of the formation of the identity of a person, group or entire society. Once an identity has been formed, it acquires the features and status of a tradition, which prompts some modern authors to talk about the identity of these concepts. The loss or weakening of tradition is often perceived and experienced as a break with the past, the collapse of the “connection of times,” amnesia historical memory, outside of which meaningful and expedient activity of an individual or society becomes simply impossible. The existence of such timeless truths as “return to origins” or “the new is the well-forgotten old” only confirms the importance and relevance of the problem of interpreting tradition, the source of its vital power.

Recognizing the legitimacy of contrasting tradition with innovation and modernity, great caution should be exercised in interpreting this antithesis. This is possible if the problem of heritage, or tradition, is considered in the context of a more general concept developed. With this approach, any tradition becomes an equal participant in the process of development, the dialogue of the “new” with the “old,” providing not only a moment of continuity, but also vitality, richness of the very process of change and renewal of reality. A modern analytical approach to the problem of tradition overcomes the tendency to reduce it to “inert and obsolete elements of the past”, placing emphasis on the study historical dynamics and the fate of cultural heritage and cultural identity. The projection of the future is unthinkable without the “shadow” cast by tradition. This concept is associated not only with “stagnation”, but also with “revival”, which gives new life meaning to old patterns and values.

At the same time, tradition can act as a conservative, retrograde force on the path to the formation of new, more progressive forms and norms of life. A tradition that becomes rigid and frozen in its “immutability” can take a position of “conscious conservatism,” even archaism, and thereby turn into traditionalism, when it is not the values of a particular tradition that are defended, but the very principle of immutability and immutability. The living contradiction “tradition-innovation” shows its real strength when tradition is ready for renewal and becomes a source of development, and innovation has no other way to assert itself and survive other than by proving its organicity and rootedness in culture. Practice shows that modernization is more successful where the traditions of the society being reformed are taken into account, and, in turn, traditions retain their vitality, responding to the needs of the time and growing into new forms of life, that is, being renewed. The collapse of a particular tradition is associated not only with the awareness of the constraint of its framework, but also with the discovery of new opportunities and prospects in development (social life, science, art, etc.).

The role and importance of tradition in science is great (see Tradition in science) and artistic creativity. The term "tradition" is widely used in characterizing and assessing aesthetic and cultural significance the art of entire eras, movements and individual artists who made a special contribution to the treasury of world culture, creating unique examples - monuments of art. If it is true that without the past there is no future, then true innovation is possible only on the basis of preserving traditions, their creative continuation and development. This is true for both art and historical creativity at all.

Lit.: Sarsenbaev N. S. Customs, traditions and public life. Alma-Ata, 1974; Sukhanov I.V. Customs, traditions and continuity of generations. M., 1976; ErasovV. C. Socio-cultural traditions and public consciousness in developing countries in Asia and Africa. M., 1982; Shatsky E. Utopia and tradition. M., 1990; Traditions and renewal. Dialogue of worldviews, parts 1-2. Nizhny Novgorod, 1995.

Excellent definition

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