The concept of spiritual culture of society. Spiritual and material culture
The concept of culture and its diversity
Culture is a system of historically developing supra-biological programs of human activity, behavior and communication, which act as a condition for the reproduction and transformation of social life in all its main manifestations. Culture has a variety of different forms: knowledge, skills, norms and ideals, patterns of activity and behavior, ideas and hypotheses, beliefs, social goals and value orientations, etc. Culture, through its institutions, stores and transmits activity programs from generation to generation; behavior and communication of people. They ensure the reproduction of the variety of activities inherent in a certain type of society, its inherent objective environment (second nature), its social connections and types of personalities.
It is customary to distinguish between material and spiritual culture. Material culture is created in the process of material production, and everything that is the result of production will be a material form of culture. Spiritual culture includes the process of spiritual creativity, its result is works of art and scientific discoveries. All elements of material and spiritual culture are inextricably linked.
Culture is inseparable from people. The accumulation of cultural values is associated with the transmission from generation to generation of spiritual experience, traditions and the main achievements of mankind. It is most clearly manifested in artistic culture.
Within a certain historical era, there are different cultures: international and national, secular and religious, adults and youth, Western and Eastern.
When culture is characterized in terms of aspects of various specific spheres of social life, then following forms crops:
Aesthetic culture characterizes the state of society from the point of view of its ability to experience beauty, ensure the development of art and aesthetic relations in society.
Moral culture characterizes a society from the point of view of its observance of moral norms and rules.
In the sphere of ethical culture there are moral relations: love, friendship; ideas about such concepts as heroism, happiness.
Professional culture characterizes the level and quality of professional skills and training.
Political-legal culture concerns the sphere of activity associated with the system of power relations between classes, nations, and other social groups.
Ecological culture presupposes the recognition of the unity of the “man-nature” system, and the determining factor is not only the impact on the development of society of the geographical environment and population, but also the reverse influence of man on the natural environment.
Household culture is the established way of a person’s daily life. The entire sphere of non-productive social life constitutes a system of everyday culture.
Physical culture, in the center of which is the need for harmonious development human body, the basics of health of members of society, etc.
There are forms of culture that are understandable and accessible to any member of society and do not require special training - these are Mass culture. Radio, television, and modern means of communication contribute to its spread. Advertising is an integral part of mass culture. There is an elite culture that is difficult to perceive and requires special training. Works created within the framework of this culture are intended for a narrow circle of people who are highly versed in art and serve as a subject of debate among art historians and critics.
National culture reflects the characteristics of the social life of a particular socio-historical or ethnic community of people, its relationship with nature. Each national culture is unique, unique. The reasons for the internationalization of cultures are scientific and technical progress, general trends in the development of education, and the international division of labor, and this contributes to mutual enrichment and interpenetration of national cultures.
The totality of direct relationships and connections that develop between different cultures, their results, and mutual changes that arise in the course of these relationships constitute the essence of the dialogue of cultures. The following levels of dialogue of cultures are distinguished:
1) personal, which is associated with the formation or change of human personality under the influence of various cultural traditions and norms “external” in relation to his natural cultural environment;
2) ethnic, inherent in relations between various local social communities, often within a single society;
3) interethnic, characterized by the diverse interaction of various state-political entities and their political elites;
4) civilizational, based on the meeting of fundamentally different types of sociality, systems, values and forms of cultural creativity.
In the process of dialogue between cultures, it is customary to distinguish between a donor culture, which gives more than it receives, and a recipient culture, which acts as the receiving party. Over long historical periods of time, these roles can change in accordance with the pace and development trends of each of the participants.
Spiritual life of society: characteristics, structure
Spiritual life is a relatively independent area of social life, the basis of which is formed by specific types of spiritual activity and social relations that regulate it.
The structure of the spiritual life of society includes social consciousness as a substantive side, as well as social relations and institutions that determine the order and conditions of its functioning.
The spiritual life of society must necessarily include the human right to spiritual freedom, to realize one’s abilities, and satisfy spiritual needs. The spiritual life of society must be protected by law.
Spiritual culture is part of the general system of culture, including spiritual activity and its products. Spiritual culture includes morality, education; education, law, philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, science, art, literature, mythology, religion and other spiritual values. Spiritual culture characterizes the inner wealth of a person, the degree of his development.
Elements of the spiritual culture of society are works of art, philosophical, ethical, political teachings, scientific knowledge, religious ideas, etc. Outside of spiritual life, apart from the conscious activity of people, culture does not exist at all, since not a single object can be included in human practice without comprehension, without the mediation of any spiritual components: knowledge, skills, specially prepared perception. Not a single object of material culture can be created without a combination of the actions of the “executing hand” and the “thinking head.” With the help of the hand alone, people would never have created a steam engine if, together with and along with the hand, and partly thanks to it, the human brain had not developed.
Spiritual culture shapes a personality - its worldview, views, attitudes, value orientations. Thanks to it, knowledge, abilities, skills, artistic models of the world, ideas, etc. can be transmitted from individual to individual, from generation to generation. That is why continuity in the development of spiritual culture is extremely important.
The spiritual world of man is the social activity of people aimed at the creation, assimilation, preservation, and dissemination of cultural values of society.
Spiritual people derive their main joys from creativity, knowledge, selfless love for other people, they strive for self-improvement, and experience the highest values as something sacred to themselves. This does not mean that they give up ordinary everyday joys and material benefits, but these joys and benefits are not valuable in themselves, but only act as a condition for achieving other, spiritual benefits.
Spirituality is spirituality, ideal, religious, moral aspects worldview.
Lack of spirituality is the absence of high civic, cultural and moral qualities, aesthetic needs, the predominance of purely biological instincts.
The reasons for spirituality and lack of spirituality lie in the nature of family and public education, the system of value orientations of the individual; economic, political, cultural situation in a particular country. If lack of spirituality becomes widespread, if people become indifferent to such concepts as honor, conscience, personal dignity, then such a people have no chance to take their rightful place in the world.
Spiritual culture of society
“There are only two rulers in the world - the sword and the spirit. And in the end the spirit always triumphs over the sword.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
Cultural activities of society in all its manifestations and forms social associations from micro to macrosocial communities is divided into two main spheres: 1.material (related to the reproduction of human physical existence) and spiritual (related to the reproduction of social consciousness). According to these two forms cultural activities distinguish between spiritual and material culture.
The structure of the spiritual culture of society
Spiritual culture is a form of human and social activity that embraces wealth human feelings and achievements of the mind, unites both the assimilation of accumulated spiritual values and the creative creation of new ones.
To characterize the spiritual culture of a society, it is necessary to analyze its structure. A distinction is made between the substrate structure and the species structure of spiritual culture.
Let us consider the substrate structure of the spiritual culture of society. It includes as main elements values, norms and cultural languages.
Values belong to one of the main elements of culture. At the level of ordinary consciousness, the concept of value is associated with evaluating the products of human activity from the standpoint of good and evil, justice and injustice, true and false knowledge, beauty and ugliness. Value is understood as a generally accepted norm, formed in a certain culture, which serves as a standard and ideal, is not questioned and has priority in people’s lives. American sociologist T. Parsons noted that value is an idea of what is desirable, influencing the choice of a behavioral alternative.
The value system gives order and predictability to society. Cultural life without values is impossible; it is through the system of values accumulated in culture that the regulation of human activity is carried out. Cultural objects, devoid of a value component, turn simply into physical objects. It is value, according to P. Sorokin, that serves as the foundation of any culture.
Values can be divided into
- subject that have their own bearer (natural resources, scientific truths, cultural heritage of the past, works of art, objects of religious worship, etc.);
- values consciousness(social attitudes, ideas about morality, the beautiful and the ugly, the meaning of life, justice, etc.)
Depending on the dominance of certain values, P. Sorokin identifies following types sociocultural supersystems: ideational, sensual, idealistic. Different cultures have their own specific values. Thus, the fundamental values in accordance with the tradition of Orthodoxy include social justice, empathy and compassion for the offended, readiness for self-sacrifice in the name of a high goal, and patriotism. Important values of Western culture are freedom and individual rights, personal success, work activity and education.
Values are expressed in cultural artifacts: mythology, writing, religious dogmas, objects of art, etc. Sometimes the values of a certain culture are contained in objects that in themselves do not have any value. Thus, in many traditional cultures, different natural objects(“churingi” stones, pieces of wood), which allegedly contain the embryos of future lives.
However, there are universal human cultural values, reflected in all cultures, shared by all people, regardless of their nationality, religion, social status. They are formed as a result of understanding centuries-old experience social development and unite people on the basis of the generally valid nature of the interests and needs they express. The values of spiritual culture are to a greater extent more universal in their essence than material values.
Existing in the space-time continuum, they, unlike material ones, are not tied to the specifics of everyday life and cannot be expressed in terms of money. The fundamental basis of any culture is positive values, expressed by such concepts as love, faith, knowledge, science, family, marriage, veneration of ancestors, etc. Thus, there is no culture in which murder, betrayal, lying, theft, and sexual violence are positively assessed.
Values are a fundamental internal regulator at the personal level. A person who has not learned to consider objects of knowledge from an axiological position cannot be represented as a person. Moreover, the value preferences of an individual do not quite adequately reflect the hierarchy of cultural values of a society or social group.
Thus, during the Soviet period, the sociocultural values of society were embodied in such concepts and slogans as “art socialist realism", "moral code of the builder of communism", etc. The values of many individual people were concentrated in concepts reflecting the more private, intimate side of life (love, family, children, creativity, etc.)
With changes in social living conditions, social relations, people's consciousness, and with the development of culture, the system of values changes. The destruction of the old value system and the formation of a new one characterizes the crisis period of culture. To designate a value-cultural vacuum, the French sociologist E. Durkheim introduced the concept of “anomie”. Thus, with the destruction of the Greek polis, the value orientations of society and individuals shift towards greater individualism. Nowadays, globalization has an important influence on the formation of the values of a particular culture. In this situation, a necessary condition for developing paths and options is to identify universal values and recognize their nature.
The most important elements of spiritual culture are norms. Norms are rules governing people's behavior and their interaction in the process of communication. Cultural norms serve as patterns of behavior caused by the peculiarities of life of a particular society. The following types of cultural norms can be distinguished: - habits; - manners;
-customs(a traditionally established order of behavior associated with a certain way of satisfying the most important needs of life); - traditions(habits and customs passed on from one generation to another); - rite as a set of actions established by custom, of a mass nature, expressing religious ideas or everyday traditions; - ceremony(sequence of actions that have symbolic meaning and dedicated to the celebration of generally significant events or dates; - ritual(a highly stylized and carefully planned set of gestures and words that have symbolic meaning); -morals(mass patterns of action reflecting moral values that are especially protected and highly respected by society); - taboo(an absolute prohibition imposed on any action, word, object).
Laws are a type of norm.
So, cultural norms are instructions, requirements, expectations, wishes of behavior approved in a given society.
The combination of various norms forms regulatory system a culture in which all elements must be consistent.
The third structural component of the spiritual culture of society is cultural languages- a system of signs and symbols in which a certain cultural content is objectified and expressed. Through language, the preservation and transmission of spiritual culture is carried out, as well as cultural communication. Cultural phenomena do not exist outside the language of culture. Language is a way of existence of phenomena of spiritual culture.
Cultural languages form a complex multi-level sign system. Sign - it is a material object, phenomenon, event that acts as an objective substitute for another event, phenomenon, and is used for the acquisition, storage, processing and transmission of cultural information. A sign is the main form of fixation and transmission of cultural information. Thanks to signs, communication between people and joint goal setting become possible.
According to the nature of the relationship of the signifier to the signified, Ch.S. Peirce identified three main types of signs: 1.iconic (figurative) signs in which the signifier and the signified have some features of similarity to each other; 2. index signs , in which the signifier and the signified are in one way or another connected by contiguity; most often this connection is cause-and-effect and/or indicative in nature - for example, the trace indicates the one who left it, and the smoke indicates the fire from which it comes; 3.signs-symbols or symbolic signs in which the signifier and the signified are connected only by a conventional agreement accepted in a given society and/or a given culture.
A special kind of sign is symbol. What distinguishes a symbol from a simple sign is that it does not imply a direct indication of the object of signification. Symbol in culture - a universal category that is revealed through a comparison of the objective image and the deep meaning. Turning into a symbol, the image becomes “transparent”; the meaning seems to shine through it. The original meaning of this word was an identity card, which served as a simbolon (Greek) - half a shard, which was a guest sign. Its signified is an abstract meaning or a whole spectrum of meanings conventionally associated with a particular object. For example, a fish in Christianity symbolizes Jesus Christ, a dove – the Holy Spirit, a rose – God the Father. The symbol is deeper and more complex in its internal structure than a simple sign. It assumes endless interpretation and polysemy, the inexhaustibility of meaning. The concept of symbolic forms of culture was proposed by the German philosopher and cultural scientist E. Cassirer. According to Cassirer, a symbol is the key to human nature. Man interacts with reality not “directly,” but through a symbolic network, which is a product of the symbolic function of the human spirit. As humanity develops, the symbolic network of culture becomes “thinner, but stronger.” Symbolic forms include language, mythology, philosophy, religion, and science. The ability of people to produce symbols is most clearly manifested in art, where the image dominates A system of signs that embodies a particular culture forms the language of that culture. To date, the following generally accepted classification of languages has emerged: - natural languages, as the main and historically primary means of knowledge and communication (Russian, French, Estonian, Czech, etc.); - artificial languages - these are languages of science where the meaning is fixed and there are strict boundaries of use; - secondary languages(secondary modeling systems) are communication structures built on top of the natural language level (myth, religion, art).
In the language of culture there are also cultural code. A code is a set of rules or restrictions that ensure the functioning of speech activity in a natural language or any sign system. The code is conventional, i.e. shared and accepted by all members of a particular communication community. Codes create a kind of framework through which signs receive meaning.
Culture code – a certain specific set of signs (symbols), meanings (and their combinations), as well as rules for their interpretation and translation, characterizing the culture of a certain specific historical subject (such as social community). For characteristics cultural code M.K. Petrov proposed the theory of sociocode. Sociocode is a way of accumulating, storing and transmitting culturally significant information. Petrov identifies three types of sociocode in the history of human culture: 1. personal name code– knowledge is fragmented and recorded in individual names. Behind each name there is a certain social role. Through naming in the process of initiation, knowledge about a person’s function in the community is transmitted. This type of sociocode is characteristic of primitive cultures; 2. professional name code– knowledge is fragmented by profession, the main transmitter of professional knowledge is the family. This code emerges in traditional societies in which professional groups first appear; 3. universal conceptual code– knowledge takes on a universal character, is abstracted from specific carriers and embodied in texts. Such a code is formed in modern times, thanks to the development of theoretical conceptual thinking. Education is becoming the main sociocultural institution for the transmission of knowledge.
According to Canadian sociologist G.M. McLuhan, differences in cultural codes are based on differences in methods and means of communication. On this basis, he distinguishes three types of culture: 1. preliterate– oral methods of communication dominate, so the main organ is the ear (archaic cultures); 2. writing– visual methods of transmitting information (writing) dominate, therefore the main organ is the eye (from the first written civilizations to the formation of the information society of time); 3. screen– electronic means of communication dominate, collapsing space and time, turning the world into a “global village.”
American cultural anthropologist M. Mead proposed dividing cultures according to the nature of intergenerational relations. She identified: 1. post-figurative type of cultures in which children learn from adults; 2. cofigurative - where children and adults learn from equals, peers: 3. prefigurative - where adults can learn from their children. Through the analysis of specific cultures, M. Mead showed that in addition to the direct linear transmission of knowledge, simultaneous and reverse translation is possible in the history of culture.
Considering the substrate structure of spiritual culture, many scientists wonder whether so-called cultural universals actually exist.
Each specific community (civilization, state, nationality) creates its own culture over many centuries, which accompanies the individual throughout his life and is passed on from generation to generation. As a result, many cultures arise. Scientists are faced with the problem of determining whether there is anything common in human culture, or, in scientific terms, are there cultural universals?
Obviously, the existence of universals should not raise doubts, since biologically all people are basically the same and in this sense some cultures will be identical. For example, looking at cave paintings of a person primitive people and comparing them with the drawings of young children (approximately under the age of five), we see the general features of the drawn person: a head, a torso, two legs, two arms. You can also find the general in proportions ancient greek sculptures and modern: reality, proportions of a healthy human body. Thus, recognizing the existence cultural universals, we must derive a definition of cultural universals.
Cultural universals – such norms, values, rules, traditions and properties that are inherent in all cultures, regardless of geographical location, historical time and social structure of society.
Cultural universals arise because all people, no matter where they live in the world, are physically built the same, have the same biological needs and face common problems that the environment poses to humanity. People are born and die, so all nations have customs associated with birth and death. Living together leads to division of labor, dancing, games, greetings, etc.
American sociologist and ethnographer George Murdoch identified more than 70 cultural universals - elements common to all cultures. These include age gradation, sports, body jewelry, calendar, cleanliness, community organization, cooking, cooperation of labor, cosmology, courtship, dancing, decorative arts, fortune telling, dream interpretation, division of labor, education, etc.
Spiritual culture
Spiritual culture
1) includes both the totality of the results of spiritual activity and the spiritual activity itself
2) includes everything that does not have direct embodiment (language, ideology, knowledge, values, customs, morals, etc.).
Big Dictionary in cultural studies.. Kononenko B.I. . 2003.
See what “Spiritual culture” is in other dictionaries:
This is a system of knowledge and ideological ideas inherent in a specific cultural-historical unity or humanity as a whole. The concept of “spiritual culture” goes back to historical philosophical ideas German philosopher, linguist and statesman... Wikipedia
Spiritual culture- a way of storing and transmitting universally significant values from generation to generation. In the process of perceiving these values, their assimilation occurs, that is, the moral self-development of a person... Source: ORDER of the prefect of the South-East Administrative District of Moscow dated December 27, 2007 N... ... Official terminology
Spiritual culture- is a collection moral experience man in the sphere of various areas of his activity - in everyday life and social production, work and leisure, science and art, in the sphere of man’s relations with the natural world, with God and himself. Spiritual... ... Fundamentals of spiritual culture (teacher's encyclopedic dictionary)
Spiritual culture- Part general culture of a person, which determines the level of development and self-regulation of a mature personality, in which the main motivational and semantic regulators of its life activity are the highest universal values. D.K. includes the following components... Adaptive physical culture. Concise encyclopedic dictionary
SPIRITUAL CULTURE- – (1) The area of human activity that is associated with the production, distribution and consumption of spiritual values, i.e. values related to the sphere of public consciousness (science, art, morality). (2) Collection of products... ... Terminological juvenile dictionary
"SPIRITUAL CULTURE"- [Bulgarian] “Spiritual Culture”], w. on religion, philosophy, science and art, organ of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC). The 1st issue was published in June 1920 as a free quarterly supplement to gas. "Church Messenger". Since 1928 “D. To."… … Orthodox Encyclopedia
Spiritual Culture of China is the most detailed encyclopedic publication dedicated to Chinese civilization existing in Russian (total volume 620 publishing sheets). Prepared by a team of authors from all major... ... Wikipedia
This page is an informational list. “Traditional Spiritual Culture of the Slavs” is a Russian-language scientific book series from the Indrik publishing house, in which ... Wikipedia
- (lat. cultura cultivation, education, veneration) a universe of artificial objects (ideal and material objects; objectified actions and relationships), created by humanity in the process of mastering nature and possessing structural, ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
CULTURE is a MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL form of classification of facts and cultural phenomena, popular in philosophy of the 19th and most of the 20th centuries. At the same time, material culture is understood as the variety of objects produced by humans (tools, machines,... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
Books
- Spiritual culture of China. Encyclopedia. In 5 volumes. Volume 5. Science, technical and military thought, healthcare and education,. Fifth volume Science, technical and military thought, health care and education of the encyclopedia The spiritual culture of China is distinguished by the greatest novelty, since in Russia there was still no...
- Spiritual culture of China. Encyclopedia. Science, technical and military thought, healthcare and education. Volume 5, . The fifth volume “Science, technical and military thought, health care and education” of the encyclopedia “Spiritual Culture of China” is distinguished by the greatest novelty, since in Russia there was still no…
Introduction
Culture -- the area of human spiritual activity, objectified in material actions, signs and symbols; its essence is revealed in contrast with nature (as the totality of the natural conditions of human existence) and civilization (the level of material development of a particular society).
The primary sphere of human spiritual activity is mythology , which included knowledge from various fields, manifestations of artistic exploration of the world, moral regulations, religious and worldview ideas.
In the theological tradition, the connection between culture and cult is updated, religion acts as the basis of culture. Science considers religion as one of the elements of culture, a specific spiritual activity aimed at supernatural objects. IN different eras religion covered various areas of culture.
Religion plays a cultural role, it will set the spectrum of universal cultural concepts, determines the meaning of life, the highest values and norms of human existence, and forms the structure of the spiritual community. Religion contributes to the affirmation of personality, the formation of personal consciousness; When it goes beyond the limits of narrow-earth existence, Religion also carries out the transmission of culture, its transmission from one generation to another.
The concept of spiritual culture. Criteria for spirituality
The concept of spiritual culture:
· contains all areas of spiritual production (art, philosophy, science, etc.),
· shows the socio-political processes occurring in society (we are talking about power structures of management, legal and moral norms, leadership styles, etc.).
The ancient Greeks formed the classic triad of the spiritual culture of mankind: truth - goodness - beauty. Accordingly, three most important value absolutes of human spirituality were identified:
· theoreticism, with an orientation towards truth and the creation of a special essential being, opposite to the ordinary phenomena of life;
· this, subordinating all other human aspirations to the moral content of life;
· aestheticism, achieving maximum fullness of life based on emotional and sensory experience.
The aspects of spiritual culture outlined above are embodied in various fields ah activities of people: in science, philosophy, politics, art, law, etc. They largely determine the level of intellectual, moral, political, aesthetic, and legal development of society today. Spiritual culture involves activities aimed at the spiritual development of a person and society, and also represents the results of these activities.
Spiritual culture is a set of intangible elements of culture: norms of behavior, morality, values, rituals, symbols, knowledge, myths, ideas, customs, traditions, language.
Spiritual culture arises from the need for comprehension and figurative-sensual mastery of reality. In real life it is realized in a number of specialized forms: morality, art, religion, philosophy, science.
All these forms of human life are interconnected and influence each other. Morality fixes the idea of good and evil, honor, conscience, justice, etc. These ideas and norms regulate the behavior of people in society.
Art includes aesthetic values(beautiful, sublime, ugly) and ways of their creation and consumption.
Religion serves the needs of the spirit; man turns his gaze to God. Science demonstrates the successes of man's cognitive mind. Philosophy satisfies the needs of the human spirit for unity on a rational (reasonable) basis.
Spiritual culture permeates all spheres of social life. A person acquires it through language, education, and communication. Estimates, values, ways of perceiving nature, time, ideals are embedded in a person’s consciousness by tradition and upbringing in the process of life.
The concept of “spiritual culture” has a complex and confusing history. At the beginning of the 19th century, spiritual culture was viewed as a church-religious concept. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the understanding of spiritual culture became much broader, including not only religion, but also morality, politics, and art.
During the Soviet period, the concept of “spiritual culture” was interpreted by the authors superficially. Material production gives rise to material culture - it is primary, and spiritual production gives rise to spiritual culture (ideas, feelings, theories) - it is secondary. The origins of creativity and ideas were in production and labor activity.
In the 21st century “spiritual culture” is understood in different ways:
· as something sacred (religious);
· as something positive that does not require explanation;
· as mystical-esoteric.
At present, as before, the concept of “spiritual culture” is not clearly defined or developed.
The relevance of the problem of the formation of personal spirituality in current situation due to a number of reasons. Let's name the most significant of them. Today, many ills of social life: crime, immorality, prostitution, alcoholism, drug addiction and others - are explained primarily by the state of lack of spirituality in modern society, a condition that causes serious concern and progresses from year to year. The search for ways to overcome these social vices puts the problem of spirituality at the center of humanitarian knowledge. Its relevance is also due to economic reasons: as social, economic, and political reforms are implemented in society, the conditions and nature of human labor and its motivation are rapidly changing; and this folding before our eyes economic situation makes new demands on the improvement of personality, on its development, on such personal qualities as morality, responsibility, and a sense of duty, which ultimately are indicators of a person’s spiritual maturity.
True spirituality is the “trinity of truth, goodness and beauty” by V.G. Fedotov. Practical and spiritual mastery of reality. - M:, 1992. - P. 97 and the main criteria for such spirituality are:
· intentionality, that is, “outward focus, on something or someone, on a business or a person, on an idea or on a person” Frankl V. Man in Search of Meaning. - M:, 1990. - P.100
Man needs a goal that elevates him above individual existence; This is how he overcomes the isolation and limitations of his existence, and this ability to set ideal goals for himself is an indicator of a spiritually developed personality;
· reflection on the basic life values that constitute the meaning of a person’s existence and act as guidelines in a situation of existential choice. It is the ability to reflect, from the point of view of Teilhard de Chardin, that is the main reason for the superiority of man over animals. In a spiritual person, this ability takes on the character of a manifestation of a “taste for reflection”, for knowledge of the specifics of individual existence. One of the conditions for the formation of the ability to reflect is seclusion, exile, voluntary or forced loneliness. “Exiles and imprisonments, always so terrible and fatal for a person, are not so terrible and deadly for the spirit. He loves voluntary seclusion, the loneliness of cells and escape from the bustle of the world, but just as successfully takes advantage of the forced loneliness of an exile, a prisoner... Without a choice oneself, turning inward, into one’s loneliness, a conversation between a person and the spirit does not begin” Fedotova V.G. Practical and spiritual mastery of reality. - M:, 1992. - P. 110. All the greatest representatives of the Spirit - Jesus, Socrates - were exiles. And this expulsion is a punishment that befalls one who has entered the world of the Spirit, a tragic punishment for the courage to be different from “like everyone else”;
· freedom, understood as self-determination, that is, the ability to act in accordance with one’s goals and values, and not under the pressure of external circumstances, as “gaining inner strength, resistance to the power of the world and the power of society over a person” Berdyaev N.A. Existential dialectics of the divine and human //Berdyaev N.A. About the purpose of a person. - M:, 1993. - P.325, “existential disconnection, freedom, detachment of him - or his center of existence - from coercion, from pressure, from dependence on the organic Scheler M. The position of man in space // Scheler M. Selected works. - M.:, 1994. - P. 153;
· creativity, understood not only as an activity that generates something new that did not previously exist, but also as self-creation - creativity aimed at finding oneself, at realizing one’s meaning in life;
· developed conscience, which coordinates “the eternal, universal moral law with the specific situation of a particular individual” Frankl V. Man in Search of Meaning. - M:, 1990. - P.97-98, because existence is open to consciousness; conscience - that which should exist; this is what a person is responsible for realizing his meaning in life;
· responsibility of the individual for the realization of his meaning in life and the realization of values, as well as for everything that happens in the world.
These are the main criteria for personal spirituality as interpreted by Russian and foreign philosophers: N.A. Berdyaev, V. Frankl, E. Fromm, T. de Chardin, M. Scheler and others.
I. Introduction.
II. Spiritual culture.
3.1. Spiritual culture of the individual.
3.2. Elements of spiritual culture.
2.2.1. Ecological culture.
2.2.2. Moral culture.
2.2.3. Aesthetic culture.
2.2.4. Creation.
III. Traditions and innovation in culture.
3.1. Cultural traditions: their essence and structure.
3.2. Innovation in culture.
IV. Problems of modern national culture.
V. Unclaimed culture.
VI. Conclusion.
VII. Bibliography.
I. Introduction
Our Fatherland is going through difficult days. The tragedy and despair of the Time of Troubles, previously known to us from history textbooks, have today in many ways become our everyday life. The spiritual fortress, built with God's help, efforts and exploits of our ancestors, is being destroyed today. That life-forming, fertile layer in people is devalued, without which the concepts of Honor, Home, service to Truth and the Fatherland are not instilled in a person.
Culture is the mother of the people; A people devoid of culture is like an orphan without a clan, without a tribe, and there is nothing for this people to cling to and nothing to hope for. The culture of Russia is its backbone, folded like vertebrae from the cultures and aspirations of all the nations and nationalities inhabiting it. How many times has evil fallen on this ridge. How many times have they tried to break, crush, tear apart this mighty ridge! But even after the turmoil, after riots, negotiations, revolutions, after all the blows that other states could not withstand, Russia is alive. Culture unites peoples and connects nations with each other.
We live in a new century; many great discoveries that the past century, the twentieth, brought to us have not yet been made. As if opening a new page in the history of mankind, we are given the opportunity to learn more than our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers knew. They contributed their share of knowledge to the wheel of progress, giving us a basis for development, just as we will later give the best to our children.
Everything in our lives is changing so rapidly that it is impossible to predict what the coming century will bring us, what other trials and problems await us ahead, what humanity will bring into reality, and what will be left behind the next turn of the wheel of history. And yet there are still things in the world that have not been touched by the hand of progress, these are the most beautiful things, what has been created for centuries, what was sacredly preserved by our ancestors and taken care of, so that future generations could appreciate, pay tribute and increase, adding that -new is our culture.
II. Spiritual culture
In addition to the economic, social and political spheres of people's lives, civilization includes another very important point— culture. The degree of development of a culture shows the achievements of a particular historical civilization, determines its place among existing, modern and future civilizations. What is culture, what elements does it consist of, and what place does it occupy in the life of a person and society?
The term “culture” is of Latin origin. Initially it meant “cultivation, cultivation of the soil,” but later acquired a more general meaning. Culture is studied by many sciences (archaeology, ethnography, history, aesthetics, etc.), and each gives it its own definition. It is no coincidence that there are up to 500 definitions of culture in world literature. Let us turn to one of them, the most frequently encountered in the social sciences. In the most general sense, by culture social scientists understand all types of transformative activity of man and society, as well as its results.
There is a distinction between material and spiritual culture. Material culture is created in the process of material production (its products are machines, equipment, buildings, etc.). Spiritual culture includes the process of spiritual creativity and the spiritual values created in the form of music, paintings, scientific discoveries, religious teachings, etc. All elements of material and spiritual culture are inextricably linked. Man's material production activity underlies his activity in other areas of life; at the same time, the results of his mental (spiritual) activity are materialized, transformed into material objects - things, technical means, works of art, etc. For example, our knowledge of electronic technology belongs to spiritual culture, and computers, televisions created on the basis of these knowledge belong to material culture.
So, culture is an essential characteristic of the life of society, and, therefore, it is inseparable from man as a social being. Biologically, a person is given only an organism that has a certain structure, inclinations, and functions. In the process of life, a person is formed as a cultural and historical being. His human qualities is the result of his mastering the language, familiarizing himself with the values and traditions existing in society, mastering the techniques and skills of activity inherent in a given culture, etc. And it will not be an exaggeration to say that culture represents the measure of humanity in a person.
2.1 Spiritual culture of the individual
Analysis of the problems of the spiritual life of a society, issues related to its culture, largely depend on the characteristics of the approach to defining the latter. Nowadays there are a large number of definitions of this concept. This diversity is primarily due to the objective polysemy of culture. “The richer the subject to be defined,” Hegel wrote, “i.e. The more different aspects he presents for consideration, the more different the definitions given to him turn out to be.”
Each of the sciences that study cultural issues, based on its subject of research, identifies those aspects and relationships that fall within the spectrum of consideration of this science. The increasing role of culture in the life of society, the successes achieved in scientific and theoretical thought, have largely determined the increased attention of social scientists to theoretical and methodological issues of spiritual culture.
The history of the development of philosophical theoretical problems of culture dates back to the 18th - 19th centuries. Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Herder, and many other philosophers viewed culture in line with classical idealism, where, as K. Marx wrote, “only one type of labor, namely abstract spiritual labor,” was taken as the basis.
In contrast to nature, culture denoted the spiritual principle, spiritual abilities and capabilities of a person, all of whose cultural and creative practice was recognized in pre-Marxist cultural studies “as a purely spiritual practice, entirely determined by the activity of consciousness and summing itself up in the ideological products of this consciousness.” With the emergence of materialist dialectics, which recognizes the fundamental role of material production in the life of society, the concept of a dual structure of culture - material and spiritual - is naturally affirmed.
The formation of the spiritual world of a comprehensively, harmoniously developed personality involves the use of comprehensive and systematic approaches in the process of its upbringing. A comprehensive and systematic influence on all factors in the formation of spiritual culture - from socio-economic relations to the moral and psychological atmosphere surrounding the student - is necessary in the process of vocational guidance of schoolchildren.
The formation of a personal culture, which includes the action of both objective and subjective factors interacting with each other, occurs not only as a result of conscious and purposeful influence on it, but also spontaneously, under the influence of objective living conditions of people.
The world of material objects, reflected in the child’s mind, gives rise to a certain attitude towards them, creates a need for them, criteria for their evaluation. This determines his objective inclusion in social life in addition to his desires and aspirations. It would seem that, this feature human existence does not give grounds to talk about the possibility of forming the spiritual world according to a given model. However, in the process of creating material wealth, people objectify their goals and will in them, enter into relationships with other people, i.e. act in accordance with established norms of social communication. Taking this into account is one of the important conditions for developing the concept of personality formation and its spiritual world.
The objective conditions for the formation of the culture of the younger generation do not always accurately and completely reflect the characteristics of its age, professional and individual typological nature. Only an organic connection between the influences of objective conditions and the subjective factor can ensure the purposeful formation of the spiritual world of the individual according to a given model.
This explains the importance of the complex, systemic nature of the formation of students’ spiritual culture. This process must strictly meet the requirements of social life, which is an integral system.
In his work “Spiritual Life of Society” A.K. Uledov defines the spiritual life of society as a real process of people’s existence, a way social activities and at the same time an independent sphere associated with the production and dissemination of consciousness and the satisfaction of their spiritual needs. Spiritual culture is considered as an education that expresses what is common to spiritual life as a system.
Acting as a qualitative indicator of the spiritual life of society, spiritual culture in its structure is identical to the structure of the spiritual sphere of public life, which as a system represents the unity of such components as spiritual activity, spiritual needs, spiritual consumption, social institutions, spiritual relationships and communication.
One of the advantages of the systematic approach is that it makes it possible to explore all components of spiritual culture in unity and interconnection, to analyze the processes that determine the formation of the spiritual world of schoolchildren in the country, the restructuring of all spheres of public life, to reveal the patterns of formation of a harmoniously developed, socially active personality .
“Spiritual survival is possible” - this was the opinion of the participants in the discussion, which took place on November 15, 1991 at the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences at an extended meeting of the Bureau of the Department of Philosophy, Political Science, and Culture. It was attended by: B. Nemensky - corresponding member of the APN, People's Artist; E. Kvyatkovsky - full member of the APN; V. Lakshin - Chief Editor magazine "Foreign Literature"; N. Kushaev - candidate of pedagogical sciences; L. Bueva - academician, secretary of the department of philosophy, political science, culture of the APN and many others. The concept of art education as the foundation of the system of aesthetic development of students at school (work leader B. Nemensky) and the modern concept were discussed aesthetic education students of secondary schools (edited by E. Kvyatkovsky).
B. Nemensky, in particular, argues that various types of art are capable of introducing a child to the world of nature, to the world of characters of the people around him, to history, to the world of beauty and morality. And they do it better and easier than scientific disciplines. Artistic disciplines, by their very essence, can and should be aimed at forming inner world a growing person. “What place in time should the study of art occupy in school? Now, for example, it has been reduced from 7th to 6th grade. By the way, the decline continued throughout all the years of Soviet power... Is it possible without art in high school? Where has it been proven that a high school student can develop without music and fine arts? Without art - from the first to the graduating class - a school cannot exist, developing its students harmoniously. So, art is the most important means of introducing a person to all phenomena of existence and to himself. This determines the special possibilities of the artistic cycle on the path of humanizing the school. It must take an equal position in the structure of education and become a growth point for a new, humanized education system.”
2.2 Elements of spiritual culture
Comprehensive personal development, the formation of aesthetic, environmental, moral and creative elements of spiritual culture among schoolchildren is one of the tasks of career guidance work at school. And the task teaching staff- to educate future young workers and specialists so that, upon leaving school, they are able to bring beauty into life, into work, into people’s relationships. The basic elements of spiritual culture cannot be formed individually. They are closely interconnected. Speaking about ecology, man’s relationship to the environment, one cannot fail to mention the beauty of the living and inanimate world, the honor and duty of people to nature. And immediately the creative aspect arises. It is necessary to learn to live on Earth without disturbing other inhabitants, without maiming, without destroying what has been created by our planet and the great cosmos, but to intelligently and harmoniously complement and ennoble it with our creations.
Let's consider each element separately, determine the importance of each of them and show the need to educate these qualities in the younger generation.
2.2.1. Ecological culture
Peace and ecology. These words have become unique slogans of our time, urgent calls addressed to the entire human community and to each of the people. But if the word “world” has been ingrained in the vocabulary of different peoples since ancient times, the term “ecology” (translated from Greek - the science of home, location) appeared only in 1866 and until recently was used mainly by biologists. Indeed, planet Earth, its nature - continents and oceans, green and animal world - is the home of humanity. This is the habitat of people, and the workshop in which they work, and a storehouse of vital resources, and a source of health and inspiration. That is why preserving the natural foundations of society’s life support is a global, universal task. But due to the fact that the scientific and technological revolution and world production have not yet acquired an ecological orientation and continue to unfold without taking into account the capabilities and limitations of nature, the negative consequences of these trends have sharply increased: environmental pollution, disruption of ecological balance, a decrease in the ability of natural components to self-heal, depletion non-renewable resources. The list of global and regional environmental threats is very long. The “Ecological Map” of our country reflects both these threats and the various sources of environmental tension in the Fatherland.
Ecological culture is a capacious concept, but the main content captures the peculiarity of the modern stage of interaction between society and nature, when the contradiction between them has reached unprecedented severity.
On the one hand, nature’s “response” to destructive actions gives a powerful impetus, encouraging, or rather forcing, society to rethink its attitude towards nature, abandon the old view of it as a sphere of free play of human forces and abilities, and take the path of developing an ecological culture.
On the other hand, the process of formation and development of ecological culture becomes an impulse for spiritual and practical activity aimed at overcoming the crisis state of the “society-nature” system, at improving this state, and in the future at harmonizing relations between society and nature.
“Charge” on improving environmental management should become a common feature of all social groups and generations, but especially young people. And it is no coincidence that during the international conference of scientists “Environmental protection and protection of world peace” (1986), a round table “Youth and the struggle for the protection of nature and peace” was held.
The younger generation represents not only the immediate future, but also the more distant future, and therefore is especially interested in ensuring that the future is peaceful and environmentally friendly. The generation entering independent life most receptive to new principles and norms of relationships with nature, distinguished by the spirit of innovation, energy and other qualities so necessary for the implementation of these principles and norms. Finally, today's children in the future - very close - will take full responsibility for the fate of the planet - the cradle and abode of humanity. Alarming changes in nature, both personally perceived and lying beyond the threshold of sensations, but identified as a result of research and made public, lead to the fact that increasingly wider sections of the population are aware of the urgent need to improve the natural environment of their lives and activities.
The ecologization of modern knowledge, determined by social needs, puts forward the task of giving the education system an environmental orientation. Scientific knowledge underlies education, including environmental education. This is the basis for the UNESCO-UNEP international program on environmental education and the environmental education programs being developed in our country.
During the educational process and preparation, students need to:
1. Strengthening the environmental and ideological content of education, and above all, broader coverage of philosophical problems of interaction between man and nature;
2. Pairing different school subjects with environmental issues, the formation of interdisciplinary connections identified during the development interdisciplinary research problems of nature conservation, environmental improvement;
3. Development and introduction of holistic training courses nature protection, general ecology, which reflect in educational process such a trend of scientific knowledge as the formation and development of integral, comprehensive areas of environmental research;
4. Inclusion in environmental education of the results of technical scientific research in the field of the environment, which are associated with regional and sectoral specialization.
These lines of environmental education should not only permeate the educational process, but also unite all the knowledge that young people acquire with a cross-cutting idea about the unity of society and nature.
2.2.2 Moral culture.
The enormous importance of moral education in the development and formation of personality has been recognized in pedagogy since ancient times. Many outstanding teachers of the past noted that the preparation of a benevolent person cannot be reduced only to his education and mental development, and they put the moral formation. In his treatise “Instruction of Morals,” the Czech teacher J. A. Komensky quoted the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca, who wrote: “Learn first good morals, and then wisdom. For without the former it is difficult to learn the latter.” There he cited a well-known popular saying: “Whoever succeeds in the sciences, but lags behind in good morals, falls further behind than he succeeds.”
The outstanding Swiss democratic teacher Pestalozzi assigned a major role to moral education. He considered moral education to be the main task of children's education. In his opinion, only this forms a virtuous character, perseverance in life’s adversities and a sympathetic attitude towards people.
However, of the classic teachers of the past, K.D. Ushinsky most fully and vividly characterized the transformative role of moral education in the development of personality. He wrote: “Of course, the education of the mind and the enrichment of its knowledge will bring a lot of benefits, but, alas, I in no way believe that botanical or zoological knowledge ... could make Gogol’s mayor an honest person, and I am completely convinced that if Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov was privy to everything secrets of organic chemistry or political economy, he will remain the same slickster, very harmful to society. ...No intelligence alone and knowledge alone is not enough to root in us that moral feeling, that social cement that sometimes, in accordance with reason, and often in contradiction with it, binds people into an honest, friendly society.” (Ushinsky K.D. About the moral element in education.)
V.G. Belinsky pointed out the enormous role of moral education in the process of learning and personality formation. He noted that education and the knowledge and skills acquired by a person will bring more or less benefit depending on what kind of morality he learns.
The child is in a state of quiet, hidden from prying eyes mental work- work of growth and development. In rain and hail, as well as in the scorching rays of the sun, a young tree does not grow well. Likewise, constant emotional shocks, including scolding and excessive praise, are harmful to a child’s normal development.
U Bulgarian writer P. Vezhinov has a fantastic story “Blue Butterflies”. Butterflies and caterpillars live on a distant planet. Butterflies are endowed only with a refined emotional nature, and caterpillars are endowed with only a mental principle. Butterflies live sublimely - frivolously, in the end, their life comes down only to procreation. They are light, slender, graceful, their body seems to be covered with delicate, soft, iridescent fabric. They look at the astronauts with curiosity, excitement and lively interest, flocking to the music sounding from the tape recorder, as if enchanted. Meek and trusting, they approached the tape recorder closer and closer, forgetting about everything in the world, they were worried about music, nature, love. Caterpillars are blind, deaf and dumb, they are devoid of emotions and passions and lead a dull and joyless existence. They are blind to the miracle that surrounds them; they do not hear the voice of truth. Ice bound their hearts. They have a cold mind and a dead heart.
The life of both is devoid of creativity, because it requires harmony of mind and feeling.
In the same fairy tale, there is the robot Dirac, who flew with the astronauts in a spaceship. He showed no interest in the beautiful planet: he was deprived of the ability to feel. Everything around him was only a reason for conclusions. Once on the new planet, the robot, first of all, killed a butterfly in order to take the strange specimen to Earth; he did not want to take into account that this was not an insect, but an intelligent creature.
Only the unity of intellectual, emotional, moral development makes a person capable of beautiful, sublime forms of mental state that need to be preserved and cherished in a child, these are feelings of patriotism, love for nature, people, and the Motherland.
Moral education begins with exercises in moral actions, with manifestations of feelings of love and gratitude, and not by teaching moral truths. Conversations about duty, teachings, if they precede moral actions, are like shadows appearing at sunset before real things, Pestalozzi argued.
Developed moral and mental demands encourage the child to be diligent in work.
Belinsky assessed inharmonious development as a ugliness hidden from view. In one person, he noted, the mind is barely noticeable because of the heart, in another the heart seems to be located in the brain; This one is terribly smart and capable of action, but he can’t do anything, because he has no will: but this one has a terrible will, but a weak head, and either nonsense or evil comes out of his activities.
The extremely important task of the teacher is the volitional development of each student. The will will not be formed - the person will grow up to be an empty flower, a creature fit for nothing. All his good impulses will be dashed by his own cowardice, cowardice and laziness.
It is the achievement of a goal, overcoming obstacles on the way to it that indicates a strong will. However, one must distinguish between will and stubbornness. It happens that the desire to achieve something, to insist on one’s “I”, becomes painful and becomes more important than the final result of the planned activity. Remember Gogol's main characters - Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich - real stubborn people. Stubbornness - inappropriate persistence - is a negative personality quality. When developing your will, you must remember one of the most important laws of life - the law of expediency.
The ethics and aesthetics electives held at school allow students to more deeply study the history of the culture of human behavior in society and in everyday life, learn about honor and duty, justice and the manner of communication.
Students need to know that when they come to work, colleagues will form their first impression of their character based on their manner of communication with others. To do this, you need to teach schoolchildren to organize their communication, observing the following rules.
1. It is important to learn to listen to another person without interrupting him during a conversation.
2. It is important to understand the other person. Hindu philosophers came up with such a rule of argument. Each interlocutor must first state the thought of his opponent in a dispute and only after receiving confirmation from him that his thought is understood can he refute it. This rule is very useful to use, at least in cases where the disputants invest different meaning in the same words.
3. You need to learn to sincerely appreciate people. A cultured and developed person will always find good qualities in another. It is important to be generous with praise, to highly appreciate the true merits of people.
4. You need to be attentive to people. They say: it is better to deprive a person of food than attention.
5. Communication is the cultivation of useful habits, training in actions and worthy behavior. Therefore, everything in communication is important: how you dress, how you sit, how you walk, dance, talk to your neighbors.
All this and much more shapes a child’s character.
Analysis of the above shows that from a social and aesthetic point of view, the content of moral culture education should, first of all, include the involvement of students in such activities as socio-political, patriotic, labor, material, environmental and communication.
2.2.3 Aesthetic culture.
Purpose of education aesthetic culture cannot be deciphered in isolation from other aspects of personality formation, all possible manifestations of its relations to the surrounding world. Aesthetic education is an essential element in the formation of the entirety of an individual’s spiritual wealth. The very process of aesthetic growth in the formation of the consciousness of youth must be democratic. It is necessary to introduce into the consciousness of children the aestheticization of various spheres of social life, as a way of identifying self-fulfilling creative inclinations.
Aesthetic education is carried out by a whole system of purposeful activities aimed at achieving the development of relevant abilities, skills, as well as obtaining knowledge, which in their totality constitute the level of aesthetic culture of an individual necessary for society.
The task of aesthetic development in the process of career guidance is to identify and develop creative and aesthetic inclinations that are inextricably linked with initial work skills.
The problem of aesthetic perception is revealed in the works of psychologists L.V. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinstein, B.M. Teplov, P.Ya. Yakobson, who emphasized that the aesthetic development of reality is primarily an active-emotional perception.
In the concept of artistic upbringing and education of B. Nemensky, it is noted that the foundation of aesthetic education of schoolchildren should be the teaching of subjects of the artistic cycle, which continues throughout the child’s entire school life. However, at different stages of training, this should happen in different ways, both in terms of content emphasis and in organizational terms, taking into account the logic of the subject itself and the age characteristics of children. The artistic development of schoolchildren is considered as part of the system of aesthetic education, which begins in kindergarten, in the process of introducing children to the surrounding reality and preparing for entry into adulthood.
The first stage is grades 1-4. An aesthetic attitude to life is a common basis for all types artistic creativity Therefore, the initial course of aesthetic education should not represent separate historically isolated types of art, but a holistic course of general aesthetic development.
It is advisable to devote a year of study (six-year course) to the course of aesthetic development, after which it is transformed into the teaching of individual artistic disciplines. This differentiation is initially necessary, because only specialists in certain specific fields of art can competently lead creative work children, introducing them to the necessary professional techniques as interest arises.
During this period, the emphasis in teaching artistic disciplines is on the child’s emotional responsiveness when perceiving the world around him.
The second stage is grades 5-9. The increased analyticity of a teenager and his age-related characteristics in mastering the “standards” of human activity and behavior create favorable conditions for conscious involvement in the artistic culture of mankind. At this age, co-creative perception of works of art is already possible.
The third stage is grades 10-11. The leading goal of aesthetic education in adolescence is to help high school students solve their own ideological problems, such as the search for the meaning of life, moral guidelines, ideals, your individuality, which ultimately will help you to know yourself more correctly and find your place in your future life.
In high school different types arts are again integrated into a single subject, allowing schoolchildren to comprehend world artistic culture as a whole. However, this course must be supplemented with mandatory practical elective classes - design, fine arts, music, amateur cinema, videography, etc.
Already in the middle classes, it is necessary to provide ample opportunities for those who want to test themselves by engaging in various types of art in creative circles and studios of free choice. As a result, a group of students with special abilities and a strong interest in a particular form of art will emerge in high school. In turn, the given opportunity to deepen knowledge, abilities, skills in the form of art you like will give impetus in the future and become a kind of compass in choosing a profession.
An effective way to increase students’ aesthetic literacy can be to conduct an additional course in aesthetic education during the career guidance process. Classes can be taught by a teacher of aesthetic education, a librarian or invited specialists.
2.2.4. Creation
The fact that there have been creative eras and creative societies in history, that in our schools first-graders have more pronounced creative abilities than tenth-graders, suggests that social, including school, conditions can be favorable and unfavorable for creative education.
IN junior classes Here, excessive regulation, strict discipline, and routine are harmful, as a result of which the creative ability itself is sharply suppressed.
In high school, lack of initiative, the inculcation of tailism (“like everyone else, so am I”) and, again, the routine suppress intellectual activity and, at the same time, creative productivity, which can be simplistically considered as creative ability multiplied by intellectual activity.
At a seminar on scientific and technical creativity at the Moscow House of Scientific and Technical Propaganda, recommendations were given to parents on how to “corrode” creative productivity in children. This humorous recommendation has a very serious basis, as it gives an idea of what not to do. So, in order to create a non-creative personality, you need to tie the child very strongly to yourself, not allow him to play alone, keep him in front of adults more, but at the same time never take him with you to work, on a visit, on business trips, leaving him in the care of other adults, develop a strict regime and daily routine and adhere to it to the minute, enroll the child in an extended day school and send the child to a pioneer camp for two shifts every summer.
In adulthood, creative productivity continues to be suppressed by routine and highly regulated work, and by the persecution of innovators.
Creative education is, first of all, a fight against routine: one day should not be like other days, not a single lesson should be like other lessons. The child’s day is planned in such a way that there is no time for doing nothing, but all the time there is an alternation of tasks: planned, necessary, unplanned necessary and optional.
Each person, according to his temperament, has a norm of “loneliness” - large or small, and everyone must fulfill his norm: be alone, collect his thoughts, fantasize, communicate with friends, play with abstract toys, cubes, buttons, nuts, transform them with the power of his imagination into real objects.
If a child is very prone to solitude, the teacher from time to time organizes communication with peers and adults. If on the contrary, the child is taught to spend some time alone - with a game, with a book, with a drawing.
Creative education itself is carried out on this basis. A probabilistic-statistical worldview is instilled: do not divide everything into black and white, bad and good, wrong and right: strive not for the maximum, but for the optimum, making a choice from many options, while losing in one and winning in another; calculate the probability of possible events, understanding that
0% and 100% - there is never a guarantee; and for this you need to look at the world through the eyes of an extra. This means that there are authorities, but there are no indisputable authorities; It is impossible to divide literary heroes into absolutely positive and absolutely negative: a new idea is always unusual, controversial, contradicts the old idea, and when it wins, an even newer idea will appear that will contradict it and in turn win - this is the dialectic of the nature of development.
It is important for a person to develop the habit of getting up from the “all fours” of current affairs, looking around, looking at things from above, connecting them with global affairs, thinking, thinking through and inventing. To do this, try to see the unusual in ordinary things: dramatically change the scale (as Swift did), endow them with unusual properties, place them in an unusual setting, make them mysterious and funny.
The main task of labor education and vocational guidance in particular is to form in each student a general orientation toward conscientious creative work, bring him to the line of spiritual choice of profession.
Let's take a closer look at the process of production and accumulation of cultural property.
III. Traditions and innovation in culture
Culture, like any dialectically developing process, has a stable and developing (innovative) side.
The sustainable side of culture is a cultural tradition, thanks to which the accumulation and transmission of human experience in history occurs, and each new generation of people can actualize this experience, relying in their activities on what was created by previous generations.
In so-called traditional societies, people, having assimilated culture, reproduce its patterns, and if they make any changes, then within the framework of tradition. On its basis, culture functions. Tradition prevails over creativity. Creativity in this case is manifested in the fact that a person forms himself as a subject of culture, which acts as a certain set of ready-made, stereotypical programs (customs, rituals, etc.) for activities with material and ideal objects. Changes in the programs themselves occur extremely slowly. This is basically the culture of primitive society and later traditional culture.
Such a stable cultural tradition under certain conditions is necessary for the survival of human groups. But if certain societies abandon hypertrophied traditionalism and develop more dynamic types of culture, this does not mean that they can abandon cultural traditions altogether. Culture cannot exist without traditions.
Cultural traditions as historical memory are an indispensable condition for not only the existence, but also the development of culture, even in the case of the creative qualities of a new culture, dialectically denying, includes continuity, assimilation of the positive results of previous activities - this common law development, which also operates in the cultural sphere, being of particular importance. The practical importance of this issue is demonstrated by the experience of our country. After October revolution and in the circumstances of the general revolutionary situation in the society of artistic culture, a movement arose whose leaders wanted to build a new, progressive culture on the basis of the complete negation and destruction of the previous culture. And this has led in many cases to losses in cultural sphere and the destruction of its material monuments.
Since culture reflects differences in worldviews in the value system in ideological attitudes, it is therefore legitimate to talk about reactionary and progressive tendencies in culture. But it does not follow from this that one can discard the previous culture and create a new one from scratch. high culture impossible.
The question of traditions in culture and the attitude towards cultural heritage concerns not only the preservation, but also the development of culture, i.e. creation of something new, increase in cultural wealth in the process of creativity. Although the creative process has objective prerequisites both in reality itself and in the cultural heritage, it is directly carried out by the subject of creative activity. It should be noted right away that not every innovation is a cultural creation. The creation of new things simultaneously becomes the creation of cultural values when it does not carry a universal content, acquiring general significance and receiving echoes from other people.
In the creativity of culture, the universal organic is merged with uniqueness: each cultural value is unique, whether we are talking about a work of art, an invention, etc. Replicating in one form or another what is already known, what has already been created earlier is dissemination, not the creation of culture. But it is also necessary, since it involves a wide range of people in the process of the functioning of culture in society. And cultural creativity necessarily presupposes the inclusion of something new in the process. historical development culture-creating human activity, therefore, is a source of innovation. But just as not every innovation is a cultural phenomenon, not everything new that is included in the cultural process is advanced, progressive, corresponding to the humanistic intentions of culture. There are both progressive and reactionary tendencies in culture. The development of culture is a contradictory process, which reflects a wide range of sometimes opposing and opposing social class, national interests of this historical era. We must fight for the establishment of the advanced and progressive in culture.
3.1 Cultural traditions: their essence and structure
In the life and culture of any nation there are many phenomena that are complex in their historical origin and functions. One of the most striking and indicative phenomena of this kind is folk customs and traditions. In order to understand their origins, it is necessary, first of all, to study the history of the people, their culture, come into contact with their life and way of life, and try to understand their soul and character. Any customs and traditions fundamentally reflect the life of a particular group of people, and they arise as a result of empirical and spiritual knowledge of the surrounding reality. In other words, customs and traditions are those valuable pearls in the ocean of people’s lives that they have collected over the centuries as a result of practical and spiritual comprehension of reality. Whatever tradition or custom we take, having examined its roots, we, as a rule, come to the conclusion that it is vitally justified and that behind the form, which sometimes seems pretentious and archaic to us, there is a living rational grain. The customs and traditions of any people are their “dowry” when joining the huge family of humanity living on planet Earth. Each ethnic group enriches and improves it with its existence.
Traditions are elements of social and cultural heritage passed down from generation to generation and preserved in a particular community for a long time. But what definition of traditions is given by I.V. Sukhanov: Traditions are not regulated by legal regulations, supported by the power of public opinion, forms of transferring to new generations ways of implementing the ideological relations that have developed in the life of a given class, society (political, moral, religious, aesthetic). There are many types of traditions, for example, the author of the book “Customs, Traditions and Continuity of Generations”, I.V. Sukhanov gives an example of revolutionary traditions, and defines them as the process of reproduction in new generations of Soviet people of those moral and political qualities that were developed by the Russian working class in period of three revolutions and civil war. The ultimate goal of traditions comes down to introducing the activities of the new generation into the channel along which the activities of older generations developed, believes I.V. Sukhanov. And I completely agree with this opinion, because it was not in vain that our ancestors passed on the traditions of, say, arable farming, from generation to generation, so that their sons would not repeat the mistakes made by their fathers, but for some reason we believe that according to tradition, we should do everything the way our ancestors did, and this is a deeply wrong opinion. After all, if we repeat what has been done, then progress will stop, so humanity has introduced and is introducing something new into what previous generations were doing. Meanwhile to the previous generation It is difficult to convey all the socially accumulated experience, because activities related to traditions are so multifaceted that the generation tries to direct development in line with these traditions, and without following exactly in the footsteps of their fathers. That is, tradition does not regulate behavior in detail in specific situations, but solves the problem through the regulation of spiritual qualities necessary for correct, from the point of view of a given class, society, behavior in one or another area of public or personal life. From here we see that traditions function in all social systems and are a necessary condition for their life. Thus, traditions transmit, consolidate and support diverse social experiences and thereby create a spiritual connection between generations. Traditions fulfill two social functions: they are a means of stabilizing the relations established in a given society and carry out the reproduction of these relations in the lives of new generations. Tradition carries out these functions in the following way: traditions are addressed to the spiritual world of man, they fulfill their role as means of stabilization and reproduction of social relations not directly, but through the formation of the spiritual qualities required by these relations. The ideological content, the formula of tradition, is directly the norm or principle of behavior. The latter, unlike rules, do not provide detailed instructions for action. They indicate the direction of behavior (honesty, truthfulness, simplicity and modesty, hard work and frugality, etc.). Traditions, in their essence, do not have a strict connection with a specific action in a certain situation, since those spiritual qualities that tradition instills in us are necessary for any specific actions and the implementation of these actions is not an end in itself, but only a means for the formation of a person’s spiritual appearance.
Traditions also have an educational effect on a person; they form complex habits - a certain direction of behavior. A complex habit is an active form of reflecting the demands of life; in any situation related to it, within the boundaries of the direction of behavior it affirms, it provides a person with the freedom to choose a specific action (I.V. Sukhanov). Based on a complex habit, there is always the opportunity to improvise behavior. Traditions, as mass complex habits, guide behavior not only in established relationships, but also in those new variants of them that arise unexpectedly, sharply different from the usual. For example: the tradition of a creative attitude to work encourages a person to search for more productive techniques, methods in new types of production activities, to deeply master new specialties.
Tradition directly and directly establishes the connection between actions and spiritual qualities. Moreover, it is very important that in this regard, spiritual quality always becomes the cause of the corresponding action. For example, someone invariably keeps his word, accurately fulfills his obligations. We see the reason for this behavior in the decency and commitment of a person. Actions in tradition are subordinated to the conscious goal of education. “Show me,” says an Indian proverb, “how you raise children, and I will tell you what’s on your mind.”
Reactionary traditions, which, as a rule, carry an openly expressed hostile idea, can be successfully combated by means of direct ideological influence. Each of these, for example, reactionary traditions, which are relics of the past in the minds of some of our people, such as nationalism, careerism, acquisitiveness, parasitism, has its own set of views, perceived by some of the youth from some representatives of the older generation. But the views hidden by a person are necessarily manifested in his behavior, which helps those around him to fight their carrier, so that they do not spread to other people. In overcoming reactionary traditions, criticism of their ideological content and convincing demonstration of their failure and incompetence play a huge role.
Tradition is the earliest way to ensure the unity of generations and the integrity of cultural subjects. Tradition does not allow any logical follow-up, and does not require rational evidence for existence and legitimacy, and in economic manifestations it is stable and sustainable.
Traditional forms of activity and behavior are not achievement-oriented specific purpose, but by repeating a given pattern or stereotype, in this sense, tradition ensures the stability of any society. Admiration for the tradition of its culture is the characteristic features of such societies and cultures that differ in the traditional features of cultures that primitive, Asian and patriarchal social forms possess to the greatest extent. Their peculiarity is intolerance to any innovations in the mechanism of traditions. And also the preservation and strengthening of an appropriate social order, intolerance to even the slightest manifestations of individualism and spiritual independence. Obviously, these features were most characteristic of other cultures such as the cultures of India, Japan, China, etc. A characteristic feature of traditional cultures is their so-called anti-historicism, the denial of the possibility of historical development and any change at all. Time in traditional societies is, as it were, rolled into a ring, that is, it rotates in a circle.
However, traditions, despite their stability and conservatism, are being destroyed. In the process of development of society, tradition is supplemented by other means of reproduction and is subject to the integrity and sustainability of culture (ideology, law, religion, politics and other forms of spirituality). This is where a historical trend arose, which is called traditionalism, the essence of which can be reduced to the assumption of the existence of some “original tradition” that expresses the universal, deep meaning of the universe and in the course of historical development, the “original tradition” that manifests itself in a certain way is considered uniform in all cultures and standing at their origins as the original state of the world, the unity of all cultures is postulated, and the plurality and division of cultures is postulated as regression, decline, retreat to the original position.
Spiritual culture is a unique integrity of art, science, morality, and religion. The history of the formation of culture has a number of features. The accumulation of cultural values proceeds in two directions—vertically and horizontally. The first direction of accumulation of cultural values (vertically) is associated with their transfer from one generation to another, i.e. with continuity in culture. Continuity as a pattern of development, for example science, can be illustrated by the following known facts: the discovery of invisible rays by V. Roentgen led A. Poincaré to the hypothesis of a connection between these rays and the phenomenon of fluorescence; A. Becquerel, testing this hypothesis, accidentally recorded the previously unknown spontaneous radiation of uranium, which, in turn, led the Curies to the discovery of radium and the phenomenon of radioactivity in a number of other elements. Based on this pattern, we can safely say that without Euclidean geometry there would be no Lobachevsky geometry, and without Newton’s discoveries there would be no Einstein’s theory of relativity. The most stable side of culture is cultural traditions, elements of social and cultural heritage that are not just passed on from generation to generation, but are also preserved for a long time, throughout the lives of many generations. Traditions imply what to inherit and how to inherit. Traditional can be values, ideas, customs, rituals, etc. Many traditions familiar to us came to us from different eras and civilizations. So, the customs of celebrating spring holiday Maslenitsa has been familiar since the time of the ancient Slavs, and the rule of etiquette to let a woman pass first has come to us from the period of matriarchy. The creators of traditions were people who lived in different eras, representatives of different social groups and classes, which is why traditions are sometimes so contradictory. Each generation selects certain traditions and in this sense chooses not only the future, but also the past. The second line of accumulation of cultural values (horizontally) is most clearly manifested in artistic culture. It is expressed in the fact that, unlike science, it is not individual components, actual ideas, parts of theory that are inherited as values, but an integral work of art. The works of Shakespeare cannot replace the works of Dante any more than the works of Dante can replace the works of the great tragic poets of antiquity. However, a work of art created in the 19th century by readers of the 20th century. is perceived completely differently. This happens not only because society has changed (its economy, politics, social sphere), but also because its spiritual world, its culture has changed. New creators appeared who, with their works, influenced the consciousness of people who lived in the 20th century. And in such simultaneous existence and interaction today of works created in different eras, the culture of modern civilization is born.
3.2 Innovation in culture
Let us turn to the problem of cultural development, because the formation of culture involves not only preserving the best elements of the old, but also creating a new one, increasing cultural wealth in the process of creativity. It's about about innovation in culture. Of course, not all innovation is creativity. The creation of something new becomes a creation of cultural values only when it acquires social significance and receives recognition from other people. Suppose a poet in lyrical poetry talks about his feelings and experiences, joys and sufferings, but it is possible to claim that he “creates culture” only if the content and form of his poetry evoke a response in the souls of people, awaken reciprocal feelings in the perceiver. the public, giving it aesthetic pleasure. And if someone’s rhymed text does not possess such properties, then it cannot be called either poetry or cultural creativity. True, it also happens that works of art or scientific discoveries do not find recognition among their contemporaries. But if these are genuine spiritual values, then their time has come and subsequent generations will pay tribute to them. This was the case, for example, with the works of K. Tsiolkovsky, the principle of conservation of matter and movement of M. Lomonosov, paintings by impressionist artists, etc. In cultural creativity, the universal is organically fused with uniqueness. Each cultural value is unique, be it a work of art, an invention, a scientific discovery, etc. Replicating something already known in one form or another is dissemination, not the creation of culture.
IV. Problems of modern national culture
Any complex phenomenon of social life cannot be assessed unambiguously as “good” or “bad”, since it may contain both. Much depends on the evaluation criteria. Thus, in the spiritual culture of any society, two equally real images are distinguished: one is the image of stability, harmony and unanimity, the other is the image of change, conflicts, tension and unresolved problems. This should be kept in mind when analyzing and assessing the state of culture of any society, including ours. The level of development of spiritual culture is measured by the volume of spiritual values created in society, the scale of their dissemination and the depth of assimilation by people, by each person. When assessing the level of spiritual progress in a particular country, it is important to know how many research institutes, universities, theaters, libraries, museums, nature reserves, conservatories, schools, etc. it has. But quantitative indicators alone are not enough for a general assessment. It is important to take into account the quality of spiritual products - scientific discoveries, books, education, films, performances, paintings, musical works. The purpose of culture is to form every person’s ability to be creative, his receptivity to the highest achievements of culture. This means that it is necessary to take into account not only what has been created in culture, but also how people use these achievements. That is why an important criterion for the cultural progress of society is the real possibilities of people in introducing them to the values of culture. For example, it is known that not everyone can attend performances at world-famous opera houses - the Bolshoi in Moscow and La Scala in Milan, firstly because they do not have the opportunity to come to Moscow or Milan, and secondly , due to the high cost of tickets. Does this mean that those who have never been to the Bolshoi Theater or La Scala have not joined the high musical culture, which famous theaters bring to people? Today we can say with confidence: no, it doesn’t mean that, because viewers can get acquainted with the masterpieces of opera classics without leaving home - on radio or television, in recordings. Thus, the media contribute to equalizing the opportunities for all people to become involved in culture, regardless of the geography of their residence and income level. There would be a desire. The same can be said about theatrical creativity and fine arts. Another criterion cultural development society - the presence of the necessary conditions for the manifestation and development of a person’s creative powers, abilities, and talents. These conditions include a variety of educational establishments, music and art schools, studios, interest clubs, amateur theaters and much more. Closeness also contributes to the realization of creative potential for both adults and children. cultural centers or well-established transport that shortens the road to them, i.e. what is commonly called cultural infrastructure - a set of means serving the production and consumption of spiritual values. After all, not least because of the poorly developed infrastructure in our country in music schools There are so few children studying, although there are many more who want, but do not have the opportunity, to learn music. The crisis situation that has developed in Russia is manifested with particular force in the spiritual life of society. The situation in the culture of our fatherland is assessed as extremely difficult and even catastrophic. With the inexhaustible cultural potential accumulated by previous generations and our contemporaries, the spiritual impoverishment of the people began. Massive lack of culture is the cause of many troubles. The decline of morality, bitterness, the growth of crime and violence are evil growths based on lack of spirituality. An uncultured doctor is indifferent to the suffering of the patient, an uncultured person is indifferent to the creative quest of an artist, an uncultured builder builds a beer stall on the site of a temple, an uncultured farmer disfigures the land... Instead of native speech, rich in proverbs and sayings, there is a language clogged with foreign words, thieves' words, and even obscene language. Today, what the intellect, spirit, and talent of the nation has created over centuries is under threat of destruction—ancient cities are being destroyed, books, archives, works of art are being lost, folk traditions skill. The danger for the country is the plight of science and education. According to international standards for the intellectualization of youth, developed at the initiative of UNESCO, the USSR in the 50s. ranked 3rd in the world after the USA and Canada, in 1985 - 42nd, in 1990 - 50th. Where are we today? The difficult state of national culture is associated with the crisis state of the country's economy as a whole, and the material and technical support of culture in particular. Today, a tiny part of the state budget is spent on culture. Many centers of culture (theatres, art galleries, clubs, houses and palaces of culture, cinema and concert halls, studios for children's and youth creativity, etc.) are closing, unable to cope with financial difficulties. The majority of those who remain, in order not to fade away completely, instead of bringing high and bright art to people, giving them the joy of creativity, are forced to engage in commerce. And the commercialization of culture, as the experience of many countries of the world, and now, by the way, ours as well, shows, significantly reduces its level and, along with it, cultural level people, slows down or completely stops the cultural progress of society.
The revival and further development of culture is the most important condition for the renewal of our society. But culture, as you know, does not stand still; it is constantly changing. Hence the question: what kind of culture should we revive? According to Academician D.S. Likhachev, we should talk, first of all, about classical culture. There is another opinion, according to which it is necessary to revive folk culture, but this means only the old, peasant-patriarchal culture. However, supporters of this point of view have opponents who rightly ask the question: was there really nothing worthy of preservation and revival in the culture of the merchants, philistines, nobility, and other layers of Russian society of previous eras? Resolve the dispute in in this case is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. After all, in no society does there exist a single “true”, “correct” or any other ideal culture. It is impossible to cross out something from a culture that has been developing over centuries, or leave something behind only for ideological reasons. As a rule, life itself selects (and does this gradually and carefully) the most valuable works in a moral and aesthetic sense. Any subjective assessments based on their personal perception are fraught with great losses, especially since the criteria for positive and negative in each historical era are clarified in relation to the new spiritual values that it develops. There was a lot in the previous culture that is clearly not worth transferring into today’s life. Remember from stories from history the general atmosphere of life in Russian society in the last century. You probably haven’t forgotten that back then peasants were flogged, workers were beaten with whips, and students were buried alive in stone sacks... “Hazing,” when an older man forces a younger one to wash his footcloths, clean his boots, etc., isn’t it just appeared today? Yes, she is a thousand years old! It is unlikely that there will be anyone who wants to bring back into our lives such moments of ancient folk everyday “culture”, when the head of the family beat his wife to death with boots, dragged his daughter by the braids, and whipped his adult son with the reins. Most often, the idealization of the past occurs when they do not want or are unable to truly appreciate modern achievements. In our time, a new, humane way of life, based on the best national traditions of the past and present, is still timidly making its way, discarding everything that prevented people from developing their spiritual world, ennobling everyday life, creating according to the laws of beauty and moral purity . After social upheavals, wars, revolutions, people each time have to decide what and how to restore, what and why to build, in what direction to create. And people always demolished some completely dilapidated houses, built and rebuilt others. But at the same time they sacredly guarded what they considered a national property. The problem of protecting and preserving the cultural heritage of the past, which has absorbed universal human values, is a planetary problem. Historical monuments cultures also perish from the inexorable destructive influence of natural factors: natural - sun, wind, frost, moisture and “unnatural” - harmful impurities in the atmosphere, acid rain, etc. They also perish from the pilgrimage of tourists and excursionists, when it is difficult to preserve a cultural treasure in its original form. After all, let’s say, when the Hermitage in St. Petersburg was founded, it was not designed to be visited by millions of people a year, and in the New Athos Cave, due to the abundance of tourists, the internal microclimate has changed, which also threatens its further existence. The problem of preserving the cultural heritage of the past has its own characteristics in each country. For our country this problem is most acute. The fight against religion, which took place in the 30s. the nature of the natural disaster resulted in the massive destruction of churches, and at the same time in those and subsequent years, part of the Kitai-Gorod wall and the Red Gate, the Sukharev Tower in Moscow, the Assumption Cathedral in Yaroslavl, and the Trinity Cathedral in Arkhangelsk were demolished. Many historical cities suffered greatly: St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Tula, Vologda, etc. D. S. Likhachev noted that losses in nature can be restored to a certain extent... The situation is different with cultural monuments. Their losses, as a rule, are irreplaceable, because cultural monuments are always individual and associated with a certain era, specific masters. Every monument is destroyed forever. The “stock” of cultural monuments and cultural environment in the world is extremely limited and is being depleted at an ever-increasing speed. Any suppression of living traditions, skills, and methods of creation is dramatic for the future development of culture. An example is the sad fate of wooden architecture in Kizhi: master carpenters familiar with all the intricacies of wooden structures disappeared on Russian soil. Old people who remember folk songs, recipes for folk cuisine and healing are dying, ancient crafts are being lost... Our culture is becoming poorer. Suffering a lot domestic culture from vandals, modern mankurts. In Ch. Aitmatov’s novel “Buranny Stop Station” (“And longer than a century lasts a day"), a legend is told about how, as a result of monstrous torture, a mankurt slave was formed, not remembering his past, not realizing himself as a human being connected with other people, never responsible. These days, this character has become a household name. Such a mankurt can be anyone who is indifferent to the past and future of his people - a simple worker, a cultural figure, and a person in power. Let us give a sad but very typical example. Polish restorers volunteered to selflessly help restore the former beauty of the palace in Tsaritsyn. They painstakingly and diligently brought back to life all the architectural decorations of one of the wings of the palace. But one morning, starting another section, they discovered that all their previous work had been destroyed. The turrets and battlements were once broken and mutilated beautiful walls. Everything was interrupted and ruined by some people who can only be called Mankurts... The Poles left, left forever, leaving an inscription on the unfinished wall of the palace: “Russians, what are you doing?” But the Mankurts have no nationality - they are slaves of their own ignorance.
The experience accumulated by humanity during its sociocultural history provides invaluable assistance in solving cultural problems in modern stage transformation of our society based on the principles of humanism and democracy in the conditions of rapid scientific and technological progress. It should be noted that cultural problems are acquiring paramount, in fact, key importance today, because culture is a powerful factor social development. After all, it permeates all aspects human life- from the foundations of material production and human needs to the greatest manifestations of the human spirit. Culture plays an increasingly important role in solving the long-term program goals of the democratic movement: the formation and strengthening of civil society, the discovery of human creative abilities, the deepening of democracy, and the construction of a rule of law state. Culture affects all spheres of social and individual life - work, everyday life, leisure, area of thinking, etc., on the way of life of society and the individual. Its significance in the formation and development of a person’s lifestyle is manifested through the action of personal-subjective factors (attitudes of consciousness, spiritual needs, values, etc.) that influence the nature of behavior, forms and style of communication of people, values, patterns, norms of behavior. A humanistic way of life, focused not on adaptation to existing conditions, but on their transformation, presupposes high level consciousness and culture, increases their role as regulators of people’s behavior and their way of thinking.
Culture acquires social influence, first of all, as a necessary aspect of the activity of a social person, which, by its nature, involves the organization of joint activities of people, and, consequently, its regulation by certain rules accumulated in sign and symbolic systems, traditions, etc. The very course of reforms, the goal of which is to achieve a qualitatively renewed society, requires addressing the colossal cultural potential accumulated by humanity during its existence. The development of the spiritual treasures of the peoples of the world, the careful and, at the same time, appropriate to modern tasks handling of the cultural wealth of previous generations makes it possible to comprehend the meaning of the forgotten lessons of history, makes it possible to identify living, developing cultural values, without which neither social progress nor personal improvement itself is possible.
Since the center of culture is a person with all his needs and concerns, a special place in social life is occupied by issues of his mastering the cultural environment, and problems associated with his achievement High Quality in the process of creating and perceiving cultural values. The development of the cultural riches of the past performs an integrating function in the life of every society, harmonizes the existence of people, awakens in them the need to comprehend the world as a whole. And this is of great importance for the search for general criteria of progress in the conditions of an unstoppable scientific and technological revolution.
These questions are posed with extreme urgency by the very life of our society; orientation towards a qualitatively new state of society leads to a sharp turning point in the understanding of traditionalist and innovative trends in social development. They require, on the one hand, the deep development of cultural heritage, the expansion of the exchange of genuine cultural values between peoples, and on the other, the ability to go beyond the usual but already outdated ideas, to overcome a number of reactionary traditions that have developed and been implanted over the centuries, constantly manifesting themselves in the consciousness , activities and behavior of people. In resolving these issues, knowledge and an adequate modern understanding of the history of world culture play a significant role.
The dynamics of cultural values are revealed by comparing them in the past and present. The depth of the social demand for the interpenetration of historical times is so great that the established formula “past to the present” is easily transformed today into another: “present to the past.” It is precisely by rotating in this duality of values that modern man finds his “memory horizons,” his path from vanity to essence. It is known that history is dotted with stripes of antique fashion, but today’s turn to the values of the culture of the past is by no means a tribute to fashion, but a symptom of deep social changes taking place in the world. It takes place at that critical moment of historical and cultural development, when not individual countries, but humanity as a whole already feels itself on the edge of an atomic abyss and an environmental catastrophe. Under these conditions, there is an increase in the general social need to look closely at the past in order to turn its valuable experience into the present and future.
Current realities modern world led to a turning point in a person’s consciousness - his gaze is directed towards an ever deeper exit beyond the boundaries of his life, which is not limited in the individual’s consciousness to the dates of birth and death. A natural trend is becoming aware of oneself in the context of historical time, in orientation both to one’s historical and cultural roots and to the future, to socio-cultural ideals and the possibilities of their implementation within the framework of expanding international relations, involving all countries of the world in the global cultural and historical process . Significant sociocultural changes affecting almost all aspects of social life in various countries and peoples raise with particular urgency the question of intercultural interaction, its role in the evolution of local ethnic cultures and the development of global culture.
V. Unclaimed culture
The spiritual wealth accumulated by humanity, replicated with the help of the latest achievements of the scientific and technological revolution, makes spiritual values more accessible to everyone than before. The information transmitted by modern mass media can bring these values closer to every person, but he still needs to “touch” them in order to become spiritually richer. However, despite the fact that, one way or another, everyone gets to know them, few “touch” them. Before a person there is a sea of books and other printed materials, but does everyone read at least the world and domestic classics? IN school years By curriculum They still read, and then?.. And this is not only in our country, but also in other countries, even the most civilized ones. Or another example. Young people are interested and listen a lot modern music, but knowledge about musical culture is very superficial. A specially conducted survey among the youth of our country showed that young men and women can name only a few super-fashionable domestic and foreign pop-rock ensembles and, as a rule, know little or nothing about other musical trends, about the achievements of domestic composers and performers, about ongoing international competitions etc. It has been noticed that those types of culture and art that require serious thought and work of the soul from a person, that is, which need to be “touched” with the mind and heart, are often regarded as “tedious”, “boring”, “ difficult” and require too much time to comprehend. Indeed, a modern person, tired of work, transport hassles, and the ever-accelerating pace of life, needs breaks, which means rest and entertainment. And here everyone has the right to decide for themselves: read a book, go to the cinema, the theater, watch TV, or get drunk and fight. The whole point is that those who seek only entertainment in culture, without finding it, easily find a substitute. As a result, instead of culture, ersatz culture appears. However, it would be unfair not to notice the positive changes in culture that are taking place in our country today. They are manifested primarily in the return of cultural heritage in all its diversity to the spiritual life of the people, in the deideologization of culture, the elimination of the state monopoly in the field of culture, the creation of conditions for creativity and free choice people of cultural values and types of cultural activities, expansion of international cultural relations and much more.
VI. Conclusion
Russian culture is a historical and multifaceted concept. It includes facts, processes, trends that indicate long-term and complex development, both in geographical space and in historical time. Most of The territory of Russia was settled later than those regions of the world in which the main centers of world culture developed. In this sense, Russian culture is a relatively young phenomenon. Due to its historical youth, Russian culture faced the need for intensive historical development. Of course, Russian culture developed under the influence of various cultures of the West and East, which historically defined Russia. But, perceiving and assimilating the cultural heritage of other peoples, Russian writers and artists, sculptors and architects, scientists and philosophers solved their problems, formulated and developed domestic traditions, never limiting itself to copying other people's images.
The specific features of Russian culture are determined to a large extent by what researchers have called “the character of the Russian people.” All researchers of the “Russian idea” wrote about this. The main feature of this character was called faith. The alternative “faith-knowledge”, “faith-reason” was resolved in Russia in specific historical periods in different ways. Russian culture testifies: with all the different interpretations of the Russian soul and Russian character, it is difficult not to agree with the famous lines of F. Tyutchev: “Russia cannot be understood with the mind, nor can it be measured with a common yardstick: it has become something special - one can only believe in Russia.”
In history one can find numerous examples of how states disappeared, whose people forgot their language and culture. But if culture was preserved, then, despite all the difficulties and defeats, the people rose from their knees, finding themselves in a new quality and taking their rightful place among other peoples.
A similar danger lurks today for the Russian nation, that the price for Western technology may turn out to be too high. Not only is social inequality within our society sharply increasing, with all the negative consequences, but social inequality between the Russian people and the so-called Western ethnic groups is also deepening. It is extremely difficult to regain lost positions in world culture, and to come to terms with the loss means to find yourself on the edge of an abyss in cultural and historical development.
Russian culture has accumulated great values. The task of current generations is to preserve and increase them.
VII. Bibliography:
1). Bogolyubov L.N. Man and Society 10-11. Moscow, 2000
2). Bachinin V.A. Spiritual culture of the individual. M. Politizdat, 1986
3). Dobrynina V.I., Bolshakov A.V. Current problems of culture of the 20th century. M. "Knowledge", 1993
4). Introduction to Cultural Studies - a textbook for universities, ed. Popova E.V. M. "Vladas", 1995
5). I.V. Sukhanov “Customs, traditions and continuity of generations”
6). Drach G.V. Culturology. Rostov-on-Don, 1996
