Space and time in different cultural traditions. Cultural space: definition, specificity, structure

The first ideas about time arose in the process of differentiation of society from the surrounding world. Becoming more and more autonomous, society acquires its own development time, which arises as a break with the environment. Social time (the time of synchronous activity of large groups of people) first seems to adapt to natural time, and then becomes more and more free from it. The main factor determining the course of social time will be the transformative creative activity man, through which he changes both himself and the environment. Social time can differ significantly from calendar time. So, according to the 19th century calendar. began in 1801 and ended in 1900. But from the perspective of cultural history, but by the standards of social time, it began in 1789 (from French Revolution) and ended in 1914 (with the outbreak of the First World War)

As a result of the interaction of natural rhythms and social time, cultural time gradually emerges, which in many ways is the opposite of natural time (it is reversible, qualitatively heterogeneous, extensible), it represents simultaneously (and entirely) the past, present and future, i.e. it is synchronously visible. These features of cultural time allow us to talk about it as a space of human spirituality.

The first ideas about time were most likely formed in the Paleolithic on the basis of attempts to comprehend the processes of movement and change. The transition from the primitive herd to the first form social community- genus - was a transition from “nature” to “culture”, and therefore required the replacement of natural biological connections that united individuals in the herd with artificial, supra-biological ones; the creation of shared time was extremely important, i.e. life in the same rhythm. Otherwise, joint, i.e., is impossible. coordinated activity. The first rituals created a single rhythm, for which all available means were used - the human voice, clapping, stamping, extracting sound from everything that could sound, as well as joint bodily movements (ritual dances). On this basis, an image of cyclical time was formed, in which there is no clear distinction between past, present and future. Time is considered spiritual, qualitatively heterogeneous (for example, “happy” and “unhappy”), which does not precede relationships, events and things, but is created by them and is not able to exist in isolation from them.

The civilizations that appeared later, in order to overcome the limitations of tribal life, had to find such a standard of rhythm that would make it possible to coordinate the life activities of people over long distances. The first sedentary cultures, for this purpose, established a connection between the flood cycles of the rivers in the valleys of which they settled with the cycles of the heavenly bodies. Therefore, these civilizations are also characterized by a cyclical idea of ​​time. It must be remembered that such representations also remain local.

The idea of ​​a single linear time of culture will only exist in the Christian worldview. It is worth noting that it creates a single cultural time through special mechanisms based on the death of Jesus Christ. It was this event that provided the opportunity for free movement from one rhythm of life together to another. In Christianity, time was transformed from an alien force beyond the control of people into a means of educating humanity. Time was supposed to unite people and serve the purposes of creation.

Modern ideas about time could not have appeared without the birth of Protestantism, which for the first time substantiated the need for active human activity here on Earth.
From one point of view, ϶ᴛᴏ contributed to the industrial revolution, which marked the beginning of modern civilization. The new attitude towards time turned out to be economically productive, it forced us to appreciate every moment, not to put off life, hoping for the coming eternity. But on the other hand, the slogan “time is money” leads to a loss of values ​​and a meaninglessness of the world, which has become one of the reasons for the crisis of modern culture.

It was the awareness of these reasons that led to a change in attitude towards time. Today there is a demassification of time (it becomes more individual) and its restructuring. According to E. Toffler, the “third wave” challenged mechanical synchronization, replacing most of our basic social rhythms and freeing us from machine dependence. Back in the 1970s. Flexible time appeared when the employee was allowed to choose his working hours.

Now, as a result of the extreme expansion of cultural space (globalization) and the formation of common time, a new cultural identity is being formed. Modern humanity, observing on TV screens and monitors events occurring in the world, both in real time and in recording, demonstrates complete independence from natural, calendar, geographical and even social time. At any time of the day or night in any part of the world, a person can view any event, regardless of what real time it occurred. As humanity increasingly realizes that it has a common destiny, time itself as a phenomenon of culture ceases to be “different” (for each culture - ϲʙᴏе), it becomes more and more common, it no longer divides people, but unites them.

E. Hall's cultural grammar

It is worth saying that each culture contains a number of key elements - cultural categories that determine the ways of communication and behavior of individuals. It is important to note that one of the largest specialists in intercultural communication, E. Hall, distinguishes such categories as time, space, context and information flows.

Time as a category in all cultures it serves as an important indicator of the pace of life and the rhythm of activity.
The consequence of this will be time planning, without which the functioning of modern society is unthinkable, as well as the regulation of people's priorities and preferences. The types and forms of communication between people depend on the value of time in a culture. We should not forget that an important indicator of how time stands in different cultures, will be people's attitude towards punctuality. The material was published on http://site
For example, in Germany, Switzerland and some other European countries, as well as in North America, the early appearance of the interlocutor is usually expected, and there is a certain scale of lateness and for each level of this scale a suitable form of apology is provided. Thus, the unwritten rules of the business culture of European cultures allow you to be no more than 7 minutes late for a meeting. It is important to know that being more late will demonstrate your own frivolity and threaten the loss of the opportunity to gain the trust of your partner. Students waiting in the teacher's classroom can leave after 15 minutes and morals will be restored.

Another very important aspect will be the basic time perspective, which varies significantly between cultures. For example, Iran, India and some countries of the Far East are oriented to the past, the USA - to the present and the near future; Russia is most likely characterized by an orientation towards the past and the future, and maximum attention is given to the future, and not so much importance is attached to the present.

Time will be an indicator of the pace of life and rhythm of activity accepted in a particular culture. According to the way they use time, cultures are usually divided into two opposite types - monochronic, where time is distributed in such a way that only one type of activity is possible in the same period of time, therefore one follows the other, like links of one value, and polychronic, when In the same period of time, not one type of activity is possible, but several at once.

In monochronic cultures, time is understood as a linear system, like a long straight street, along which people move forward or remain in the past. Here time can be saved, lost, made up, accelerated; time helps maintain order in an organization human life. Based on the fact that a “monochronic” person is engaged in only one type of activity at a certain period of time, he seems to “close himself” in his own world, where other people have no access. People of this type do not like to be interrupted during any activity. The material was published on http://site
It is precisely this system of time use that prevails in many industrialized countries - Germany, the USA, and a number of Northern European countries. Monochronic time will remain only at a high level of development of civilization, and not among all nations.

It is worth saying that polychronic time is the opposite of monochronic time. In cultures of this type, interpersonal, human relationships play a large role and communication with a person is more important than the adopted plan of activity. The material was published on http://site
Typical polychronic cultures include Latin America, the Middle East and the Mediterranean states, as well as Russia. In these cultures, punctuality and daily routine are not given much importance. It is precisely this type of time that is inherent initially in all peoples.

Space. It is worth saying that for a normal existence, every person needs a certain amount of space around him, which he considers his personal space, and intrusion into it is usually considered an attack on a person’s inner world. The dimensions of this space depend on the degree of closeness with certain people, the forms of communication accepted in a given culture, the type of activity, etc.

It is worth saying that each person subconsciously sets and intuitively maintains the boundaries of his personal space, which traditionally do not create problems for communication. These boundaries depend, in particular, on the attitude towards a particular interlocutor.

Thus, friends always stand closer to each other than strangers. Excluding the above, the distance of communication partners depends on factors such as gender, race, belonging to a culture or subculture, specific social circumstances, etc. Hall, based on the results of their observations, identified four zones of communication:

• intimate - shared by fairly close people who do not want to dedicate third parties to your life. In almost all cultures of the world, it is not customary to invade someone else’s intimate area. Zones of intimate distance depend on a particular cultural environment. Thus, in Western European cultures it is about 60 cm; in the cultures of Eastern European peoples - approximately 45 cm, in the countries of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean - the distance from the tip of the fingers to the elbow. Partners at this distance not only see, but also feel each other well;
• personal - the distance that an individual maintains between himself and all other people when communicating; ϶ᴛᴏ personal space immediately surrounding the human body and amounting to 45-120 cm. At this distance, physical contact is not necessary. This is the optimal distance for conversation, conversation with friends and good acquaintances;
• social - the distance between people during formal and secular communication, the distance at which we keep when communicating with strangers or with a small group of people. The social (public) zone is 120-260 cm. It is worth noting that it is most convenient for formal communication, since it allows all participants not only to hear the partner, but also to see him. It is customary to maintain such a distance during a business meeting, meeting, discussion, press conference, etc.;
• public - communication distance at public events (meetings, in the classroom, etc.), i.e. distance preferred when communicating with large group people, mass audience. By the way, this zone involves such forms of communication as meetings, presentations, lectures, reports and speeches, etc. The public zone starts from a distance of 3.5 m and can extend to infinity, but within the limits of maintaining communicative contact. That's why the public zone is also called open.

The spatial factor in communication can also serve to express relations of dominance-subordination, and in

Each culture adopts different signals expressing power relations. For example, in Germany and the USA, the upper floors of offices are usually reserved for company executives. At the same time, corner offices with the widest view are traditionally occupied by chief managers or company owners. In Russia and France, managers try to avoid the upper and generally outer floors, preferring to place offices on the middle floors of the building. This is explained by the fact that power and control in these countries usually comes from the center.

Context. The nature and results of the communication process are also determined by the level of awareness of its participants. In some cultures, additional detailed and detailed information is necessary for full communication, since there are practically no informal information networks and, as a result, people are insufficiently informed; these cultures are called low-context cultures. In other cultures, people do not need to receive detailed information in order to have a clear picture of what is happening, since due to the high density of informal information networks they are always well informed; such societies are called high-context cultures.

The high density of information networks implies close contacts between family members, constant contacts with friends, colleagues, clients, thanks to which they are constantly aware of everything that is happening around them. Countries with a high cultural context include France, Spain, Italy, the Middle East, Japan and Russia. The type of low-contextual cultures includes Germany and Switzerland; North American culture combines middle and low contexts.

Information flows. For the communication process, the importance of information flows is determined by the forms and speed of information dissemination. In some cultures, information spreads slowly, purposefully, through specially designated channels and is therefore limited, while in others the information dissemination system operates quickly and widely.

For example, in northern European countries with monochronic cultures and low context, especially in Germany, the information transmitted is more important than what is already in memory, since here people, figuratively speaking, are fenced off from the outside world and they need external information. This is a type of culture with a low rate of information diffusion. In these countries, everything must have the same structure and order, everything is extremely precisely defined by the rules, and there is little room for personal initiative. People are involved in a flow of information, overloaded the smallest details. It is worth saying that in order to process it, an introduction is required large numbers rules governing its distribution.

In high-context cultures, which include Russia, France and the countries of Southern Europe, everything happens in the opposite way. These are polychronic cultures with a high speed of information dissemination. People of these cultures are included in an effective informal information network and traditionally do not isolate themselves from possible interference from the external environment. Information passes unhindered, and the data that is stored in memory will be more important than the data that is transmitted again. People are perfectly informed about everything, and they do not need to find out the background of each new event. Overload of information channels does not happen often, since people are constantly in contact with each other. In these cultures, it is not customary to plan a daily routine and all kinds of activities to limit one’s time and space, since they can become an obstacle to vital contacts between people.

Mental programs concept

The concept of mental programs was proposed by one of the largest modern scientists, the Dutchman Geert Hofstede (born 1928), who believes that human behavior largely depends on his mental programs. Under mental programs Hofstede understands “patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting.” It is worth noting that he distinguishes three levels of such programs. At the lower level there are universal programs that are similar for all individuals; they are inherited genetically and will be an integral part human nature. The middle level consists of those mental programs that are specific to a specific group of individuals and are formed through social learning through constant interaction within the group; Hofstede calls models at this level culture. The highest level belongs to mental programs specific to a particular individual, which determine his individuality; These programs are partly inherited genetically, partly formed through learning.

The sources of mental programs will be culture and social environment, i.e. those conditions in which socialization and inculturation of a person occur. This means that mental programs are determined by the so-called dimensions of culture, including: power distance, collectivism-individualism, masculinity-femininity, uncertainty avoidance. Later, another indicator was introduced - long-term orientation.

Power distance shows what importance different cultures attach to power relations between people and how cultures vary regarding this attribute.

In cultures with high power distance, a strong dependence is established between superiors and subordinates. In this case, the emotional distance between superiors and subordinates is very great. The latter must either recognize the authority of his boss, or, completely reject it, break off relations; only in rare cases can they ask questions to his boss, not to mention subjecting him to criticism. In family relationships, family members with authority (parents, older brothers and sisters, etc.) also require obedience. Development of independence is not encouraged. The main virtue is respect for parents and older family members.

In cultures with low (low) power distance highest value have values ​​such as equality in relationships and individual freedom. Therefore, communication here is less formal, the equality of the interlocutors is emphasized more strongly, and the communication style is more consultative than in cultures with high power distance. In such cultures, the emotional distance between superiors and subordinates is insignificant and subordinates can always approach their boss with a question or make critical remarks. Open disagreement or active opposition to the boss is also considered the norm. In family relationships, children have been considered as equal members of the family since that time.

when they begin to actively participate in family life. The ideal state in a family is considered to be personal independence, and the need for independence will be perhaps the most important element of people in cultures with low power distance.

Individualism - collectivism- this is an indicator that people prefer to take care only of themselves and their own families, or to unite in certain groups that are responsible for a person in exchange for his loyalty.

The vast majority of people live in collectivist societies, in which the interests of the group prevail over the interests of the individual; A minority of people on the planet live in individualistic societies, where the interests of the individual prevail over the interests of the group.

In a collectivist culture, group goals take precedence over individual goals. Here people are interested in close-knit groups. Loyalty to the group is one of the most important values; direct confrontation is not encouraged, as it violates the overall harmony. In this case, a relationship of dependence initially develops between the individual and the group. The group protects the individual, but in return demands his loyalty to the group. In such societies there is no such thing as “personal opinion.” A person's opinion is determined by the group's opinion. The collectivist type of culture is currently common in countries such as Guatemala, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Pakistan, Korea; Russia is also considered a collectivist type of culture.

The unit of individualistic cultures is the nuclear family, in which children are taught to be independent and rely on their own strength. Children growing up in small families of individualistic cultures quickly learn to perceive the self as separate from other people. The purpose of education is for the child to become independent, i.e. teach him independence, incl. from parents. In such societies, a physically healthy person is expected not to be dependent on the group in any way. The cultures of the USA, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand and other countries are considered individualist cultures.

Masculinity-femininity. Masculinity is an assessment of people’s tendency to be assertive and tough, focusing on material success to the detriment of interest in other people, while femininity is an orientation towards home, family, social values, as well as softness, emotionality and sensuality.

Biological differences between men and women, which are the same throughout the world, do little to explain their social roles in society. Many types of behavior that are not directly related to procreation are considered typically masculine or typically feminine in society.

In societies with increased masculinity, the social roles of men and women differ sharply. Here, the generally accepted orientation of men towards material success and rigidity in their positions, as opposed to female values, among which modesty and sensitivity occupy the main place. In cultures of this type, competition, competitiveness and the desire to win are encouraged. In work, priority is given to the result, and rewards are based on the principle of real contribution to the cause. Masculine cultures include Japan, Austria, Venezuela, Italy, Switzerland, Mexico, Great Britain, Germany, etc.

In feminine cultures, role differences between men and women female parts population is not given much importance. Moreover, both demonstrate great similarities in their positions and views. All members of society pay special attention to spiritual values, such as maintaining relationships between people, caring for others, and attention to people. The preferred way to resolve conflicts is to find a compromise, and rewards for work are based on the principle of equality. Hofstede considers Sweden to be a feminine culture. Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Chile, Portugal and other countries. It can be assumed that Russia also belongs to this series.

Uncertainty avoidance -϶ᴛᴏ is an indicator of how tolerant people are of uncertain situations, they try to avoid them by developing clear rules, believing in absolute truth and refusing to tolerate deviant behavior.

In cultures with a high level of this indicator, an individual in a situation of uncertainty experiences stress and a feeling of fear. A high level of uncertainty, according to Hofstede, leads not only to increased stress in individuals, but also to the release of a large amount of energy from them. Therefore, in such cultures there is a high level of aggressiveness, for the exit of which special channels are created. This will result in the existence of numerous formalized rules regulating actions that enable people to avoid uncertainty in behavior as much as possible. These cultures are more resistant to any change and have little risk tolerance. Countries with a high level of uncertainty avoidance include Greece, Portugal, Guatemala, Uruguay, Belgium, Japan, France, Chile, Spain, etc.

In cultures with low levels of uncertainty avoidance, on the contrary, a tolerant attitude towards situations of uncertainty is adopted. People in difficult situations improvise and take initiative, and are characterized by a tendency to take risks. In countries with such a culture, there is a negative attitude towards the introduction of strictly formalized rules, so they are established only when necessary. In general, people here believe that they can solve problems without detailed formal rules. Cultures with a low level of uncertainty avoidance include countries such as Singapore, Jamaica, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Great Britain, India, USA, etc.

Long term orientation, formerly called Confucian dynamism, shows how a society is pragmatic and strategically oriented towards the future, as opposed to traditionalism and short-term (tactical) orientation.

In societies with a long-term orientation, people recognize the importance of values ​​such as persistence, relationship status, frugality and shame in promoting entrepreneurial activity. Thus, perseverance and perseverance are the key to any entrepreneurial activity; a harmonious and stable hierarchy facilitates the fulfillment of role responsibilities; frugality contributes to the accumulation of capital, which can then be reinvested in business, and, finally, a feeling of shame makes people more sensitive to social contacts and strive to fulfill their obligations. Low level Confucian dynamism, or short-term orientation, on the contrary, inhibits entrepreneurship. The desire for sustainability and stability when exceeding a certain norm prevents initiative, risk-taking and flexibility, which are necessary for an entrepreneur in a constantly changing market. “Saving face”, excessive respect for traditions is directly related to the rejection of all kinds of innovations. And the mutual exchange of gifts and congratulations, patronage are rituals in which more attention is paid to impeccable manners than to solving the assigned tasks.

Space and time as scientific categories.

The human world is the world of culture. In its original meaning (“cultivated”), culture is opposed to “nature” - natural, “wild” and means everything that distinguishes man from nature, distinguishes the artificial from the natural. Culture includes not only the material and spiritual values ​​accumulated by people, but also ways of increasing them.

Man is the only living being who lives in two worlds at the same time. On the one hand, he is a natural body, subject to all physical, chemical and biological laws, and beyond natural world its existence is unthinkable. This life, alas, is short-lived and limited in space and time. Having slipped, we fall down, and do not soar into the heavens, which is dictated by the law of gravity. According to the same laws of nature, at one moment in time we can only be at one point in space.

But, on the other hand, man belongs to the world of eternity. It is worth going to the bookshelf, reaching out your hand, opening a volume of Aristotle, and we begin to perceive thoughts, that is, communicate, with the great sage of antiquity, although there are thousands of years and thousands of kilometers between us. This world is free from the shackles of time and distance. In it, a person empathizes with the discoveries of Ibn Fadlan and communicates with the thinkers of the Renaissance, meets the genius of Heine and Pushkin, and empathizes with the views of Shakespeare and Diderot. Perhaps it is precisely this belonging of man to two worlds that underlies religion, which in its own way reflected it and contrasted the earthly (natural) world with the divine world, the transitory world with the eternal world. Therefore, it is wrong to exclude religious views from the world of culture. But for us, the main thing about such a phenomenon is that it clearly shows: the social characteristics of time and space cannot be reduced to natural science ones.

Culture arises together with people and undergoes historical changes together with them. The first layer of culture - the emergence of language and speech - served as the dividing line that once and for all separated the animal world from the human world, the biological world from the social world. Anyone who says that culture is a kind of code applied by society to objects of nature and forms of interpersonal relationships will not be mistaken.

Society, by creating artificial nature, simultaneously creates people who are capable of consuming the culture encrypted in it. This is how the culture of society reveals its dual nature. On the one hand, it is fossilized forms of activity, fixed in objects, on the other hand, it is mental forms of activity, fixed in the minds of people. The living culture of society arises from the unity of the objective and conceivable components.

A person’s thought may remain unmaterialized, but the person himself is part of the material world. Since becoming familiar with the basics of a university philosophy course, everyone knows that “there is no matter in the world that does not have spatiotemporal properties.” Accepting this statement, we must agree that all processes and phenomena occurring with man and society also unfold in space and time. This means that not a single sociocultural phenomenon can be imagined in isolation from its functioning in space and time.

“Space is a form of existence of matter, characterizing its extension, structure, coexistence and interaction of elements in all material systems.” Problems of cognition associated with ideas about the category “space” are multifaceted. And yet there are general laws of the existence of space and everything that is in it. It is no coincidence that I. Kant emphasized: “You can imagine only one single space, and if they talk about many spaces, then by them they mean only parts of the same single space. Moreover, these parts cannot precede a single, all-encompassing space, like its constituent parts (from which it could be composed): they can only be thought of as being in it.”

Philosophers focus on the ontological nature of the concept of “space”, believing that it plays an important role in culture and is one of its basic concepts. “Space” and “time” in philosophy are two categories by which the forms of existence of things and phenomena are designated, which reflect, on the one hand, their event, coexistence (in space), on the other, the processes of replacing them with each other (in time) , the duration of their existence. They represent the supporting structure of any hitherto known explanatory picture of the world.

First of all, the concept of “space” is considered in close connection with the category of “time”, which is defined as “the form of existence of matter, expressing the duration of its existence, the sequence of changes in states in the change and development of all material systems.” Most often, the problem of perception of space and time was associated with the objectivity and subjectivity of these categories. If for natural sciences objectivity in judgments about space and time is the main centripetal tendency of all research, then for humanitarian knowledge space and time can be perceived as subjective (perceptual) and objective characteristics of human existence equally. This duality is an inherent feature of the study of any category in the humanities.

The main properties of space traditionally include extension, homogeneity, immutability and three-dimensionality. Therefore, space can be defined as a coordinate system of coexisting objects, processes and phenomena. Accordingly, the main characteristics of time are duration, one-dimensionality, irreversibility and homogeneity, and it can be defined as a coordinate system of changing objects, processes and phenomena. These characteristic features of space and time are fully consistent with the substantial concept, which is based on the autonomy of space and time, which exist parallel to matter as a whole. “Substance, objective reality, considered from the side of its internal unity; matter in the aspect of the unity of all forms of its movement; the ultimate basis that allows us to reduce the sensory diversity and variability of properties to something permanent, relatively stable and independently existing.”

In such a case, the position of any object in relation to others in space can be accurately indicated using three quantities. Time establishes and correlates events with each other according to one indicator. This is a purely mathematical view of the spatio-temporal characteristics of human existence and the processes occurring in society.

I. Newton, reflecting on space and time, emphasized that “these concepts usually refer to what is comprehended by our senses. This is where some incorrect judgments arise, to eliminate which it is necessary to divide the above concepts into absolute and relative, true and apparent, mathematical and ordinary.” The great English theologian and founder of classical mechanics clearly separated mathematical existence and ordinary (or sensory) perception of the surrounding world, absolutizing space and time, and being skeptical about ordinary perception. “Just as the order of the parts of time is immutable, so the order of the parts of space is immutable.” Absolute space, in its essence, is not connected with the objects placed in it, and regardless of anything else, it always remains the same and motionless. Relative space is a measure that is determined by the senses, and which is perceived as motionless space.

However, unlike E. Kant and I. Newton, in this study we cannot allow ourselves to be distracted from feelings. We consider the manifestations of space and time through the prism of social reality, where their content is influenced by both the psychology of the individual and the psychology of the masses. The psychological time of an individual is associated with individual and mass perception and experience of time and space, with the only specific feature that here it is social space and social time.

Social space is determined material characteristics and includes the wealth of natural objects of labor and natural objects of consumption that are disobjectified and included in the production process. As we can see, the main point here is labor as the basis of both the process of disobjectification and the production process. Without going into a detailed analysis, we emphasize that the labor process is always a purposeful activity, i.e. activities consistent with specific goals.

The concept of “social time” was introduced into scientific circulation in the 60s of the last century. Already Ya.F. Askin, one of the first to specifically study the problem of time, considered it necessary to separate it from the problem of space; emphasized the limitations of an exclusively physical interpretation of time. Determined by the specificity of the social form of movement of matter, the special nature of social time was deduced in the works of this period logically, through the connection of space and time with matter and the conditionality of the diversity of spatio-temporal forms by the subordination of forms and levels of movement of matter

Around the same years, based on the specifics of their sciences, economists and sociologists intensified their research into the time budget of workers, making the transition to theoretical generalizations of the accumulated material. The problem of time attracts the attention of historians; psychologists, art historians, and aestheticians are interested in its subjective and personal aspect. Such a multifaceted, versatile and at the same time “synchronous” consideration of the specific characteristics of time in various fields social life contributed to the “emancipation” of social time from physical time, the realization that “the essence of time (in society - author) cannot be reduced to what is contained in the equations of physics.”

The successes achieved on the path to understanding social time have made it possible to move on to its more fundamental research. It was found that “the essence of social time is determined by the nature of social life and the form of social relations that dominate.” All this gave the right to M.S. It is reasonable for Kagan to summarize: “thus, the first significant step towards understanding a specifically philosophical understanding of time has been made - the concept of time as such in its universal content has been differentiated from the concept of physical (in particular astronomical) time as a form of natural processes.”

And yet the content of the concept of “social time” is still quite vague. Most often, it is understood as a certain period of time during which a particular social entity exists. There is no need to prove that social time exists “within” physical time. But it is hardly advisable to consider it as a simple projection “from Romulus to the present day” onto the boundless flow of physical time from the past to the future, because social time, in addition to the “past - future” characteristic, must also have its own social-qualitative characteristic. We should agree with E.A. Belyaev and L.N. Lyublinskaya: “the reason for the difficulties in analyzing the category of time is, first of all, that the concept of time itself, having an attributive status, manifests itself as many specific implementations at various structural levels of the existence of matter, therefore it is always necessary to clarify the system in relation to which you consider time, while defining and the aspect of consideration itself."

Unlike physical time, perceptual time “accelerates” when life is filled with events and “stops” when a person is tensely waiting for something. It depends on certain situations and events in the life of an individual and entire nations. Ideas about the individual and social space of a person and ethnic group may also depend on a large number of external and internal factors. Time and space can have different assessments that are in no way related to their objective characteristics: “beautiful place” - “dead corner”, “terrible time” - “best years”, etc. The subjective, psychological sense of time and space is extremely unique in its incarnations, although it can be determined by purely physical parameters.

For our research, the connection of these categories with a person’s perception of the world around him is important. Therefore, we cannot accept the substance approach as fundamental. This does not mean that we reject it as incorrect in principle. We just cannot accept this approach as correct for studying the stated problems.

More valuable to us is the relational concept. “Relativism, a methodological principle consisting in the metaphysical absolutization of relativity and conditionality of the content of knowledge.” This view represents space and time as a system interacting in unbreakable connection with matter in general and man in particular. In this case, space and time act as the most important coordinate system, within the framework of which and with the help of which a person builds his life.

According to A. Einstein's principle of relativity, all processes in inertial reference systems proceed in the same way. Spatial distances change when moving from one reference system to another moving relative to the first. According to this theory, space does not exist separately, as something opposite to what fills it and what depends on the coordinates. Empty space, i.e. space without a field does not exist. The theory of relativity showed the unity of space and time, expressed in the joint change of their characteristics.

Cultural space, of course, is not only visible, tangible and tangible. This space is also imaginary and conceivable, which is expressed in the appearance and interaction different ideas and concepts created during the development of specific spheres of human activity.

Due to the fact that space and time are conceivable and understandable only by man and due to the impossibility of absolute objectivity human perception, they become dependent on the characteristics of the latter. Space and time, in this case, begin to change their content depending on the degree of subjectivity in the perception of the surrounding world by a person and the team of which he is a member. In this case, these categories receive the utmost degree of relativity. The correlation and degree of correlation between the perception of space and time by individuals and their various groups may be completely absent.

The relativity of the perception of space and time by representatives of archaic and “primitive” cultures is especially clearly visible. Peoples at the primitive stage of development do not have absolute units of measurement for anything. In addition, everything that happens in the surrounding world for primitive man is not only synchronous, but also diachronic at the same time. The worldview of primitive man as a whole not only does not resemble the modern one, but in many ways remains mysterious. “Only those who in childhood had a rich imagination can again realize how significant, important or friendly the bizarre shapes of rocks, forest thickets, trees, etc. must have seemed to the people of the Stone Age, and how dreams and fantasies created fairy tales and legends around such phenomena, which acquired credibility as they were told about them.” Unfortunately, many fairy tales and legends, as well as knowledge about the space-time constants of that distant era, have not reached us, and therefore, when studying preliterate cultures, the researcher often has to rely on his own imagination.

An important place in the formation of the culture of any nation is occupied by historically established traditions and features of the perception of space. “Any system lives not only according to the laws of self-development, but is also involved in collisions with other cultural structures,” noted Yu.M. Lotman. It is impossible to find a people on the planet who, throughout their existence, have not changed their place of residence, have not experienced pressure on their living space from a neighbor, or have not themselves put pressure on the territory of someone who lives nearby. The need to establish boundaries required an understanding of the peculiarities of the spatial organization of life.

Distance was measured by elbows, steps (“Man is the measure of all things”), the flight of an arrow, spear or javelin, or a day's march. Even at the first glance at this list of parameters, it is clear that there are no, even approximate, standards here and cannot be. The elbow and step differ greatly depending on the height characteristics of a person. The flight range of an arrow, spear or dart also depends on the muscular strength of the hunter. The day's trek depends, among other things, on the terrain and the endurance of individual people. The famous Russian “gak” (“there are two versts and a hook”) can be much greater than the distance in versts to which it is added when talking about an unknown distance to an object. Moreover, the distance to a known object, for example, a village where relatives live, is always thought to be less than to an unknown object (a village where strangers live), even if in fact the opposite is true. Our ancient ancestors did not think about the accuracy, uniformity and absolutization of spatial criteria, including because there was no need for this yet.

The scale of known, felt and perceived space depended and depends on the degree of familiarity of a person or a people as a whole with the dimensions of the Oecumene and the Universe. Thus, a person who had never ventured far beyond the vicinity of his village (until the beginning of modern times this was a common occurrence), arriving in the city, found himself in a situation of culture shock. Many ancient states (for example, Babylonia, Assyria, Persia) positioned themselves as world powers, having very small sizes by modern standards. Even the great Italian medieval traveler Marco Polo, who told his compatriots about the Far East, was met with misunderstanding and mistrust.

Initially, time, like space, also did not have absolute units of measurement. In most cases, time of day was used to measure it, lunar phases, seasons, initiations and generations. The viewing range over time was very small. At best, three generations. In ancient, unwritten times average duration human life was limited to 30 - 35 years. It was quite rare for grandparents to live to see their grandchildren reach adulthood. This is also why everything that lay beyond three generations was very vague and was often assessed in such categories as “long ago”, “in distant and immemorial times”.

Man, as a creator and creation of culture, lives in time, struggles with it, paves the way to the past and future of his existence. “Culture is a form of simultaneous existence and communication between people of different - past, present and future - cultures.” Man is unthinkable outside of time. Culture as a product human activity is also inextricably linked with time parameters. “Outside of direct material action (on an object), culture should act for me as education, as a universal - unfolded in time - process of assimilation of knowledge accumulated by humanity."

The time of existence of a culture has an initial starting point associated with the appearance of man on Earth. Modern science, unfortunately, cannot accurately determine this time. Perhaps, according to genetics, this happened about 200 thousand years ago. Despite all the conditionality of our knowledge, we can only say with absolute certainty that there was such a starting point. Just like some abstract common zero reference point for all vectors of cultural development, sad as it may be, there must also be some end point to which the river of time carries all cultures.

The origin of culture is a very long and complex process, possibly determining the entire path of its further movement. From its zero point of reference, culture developed along the path of deployment in space of more and more new sociocultural systems, the emergence of genetically or relatedly related cultures over vast areas of various continents, the formation of future relict cultures (on Easter Island, New Guinea Island, among South American Indians, etc.), the creation of new formations during the mixing or absorption of various tribes. The increase in the number of peoples led to the movement and interaction of cultures at various levels.

The zero point contained the potential for development, and the end point will contain all the accumulated cultural and historical experience. And if the zero point can be considered the time of the appearance of man on Earth, then there are a great many end points of the existence of human cultures. Man has created a weapon that is capable of destroying all life on Earth more than once. Perhaps humanity will master other worlds after rendering the conditions of existence on its own planet unusable. There will definitely be an end. So, in accordance with one of the scenarios for the development of the Universe, it will stop expanding. Its compression will begin again, which will end with compression to zero volume. Perhaps everything will end even earlier. There will be a rupture of matter as a result of the maximum expansion of the Universe, at which matter can remain stable. One way or another, with the disappearance of the usual state of space, the end of time will come and a limit will be put on human existence.

The age of human existence is limited, and the existence of individual cultures is also limited. Some vectors complete their development at an end point (strange and inexplicable stops in development and the sudden disappearance of some Mesoamerican cultures), others may, at their end point, become the starting point for a new successor culture. “The system either ceases to exist, or, if it continues to live, must again repeat one or more turns and forms through which it has passed.”

World culture can be represented as a multitude of complex “molecules” colliding, connecting and disintegrating in time and space. Initially, the structure of cultures was simple, in comparison with modern systems, “atoms”. Constantly colliding with other “atoms”, they acquired new elements. This is how “molecules” appeared - complex systems consisting of “atoms”. During the interaction of different cultures, both a complication (or simplification) of the structure and a deviation of its development to the side could simultaneously occur, which led to a new change in the structure when interacting with the next “molecule” of culture. A powerful attack of several equal-sized and equally directed “atoms” on one led to the disintegration of the attacked and its disappearance. Various cultures Thus, they convey to each other the direction of development, accepting, transmitting or imposing certain cultural dominants.

RUSSIAN STATE HUMANITIES UNIVERSITY

“Time in Culture”

First year student

Faculty of Art History

Gurova O . N .

Scientific director

Asoyan Yu.A.

Moscow 2004

The question of time currently occupies the most important areas modern knowledge, starting with philosophy and ending with applied mathematics, however, not limited to them. Apparently, such interest is, first of all, due to a person’s passionate desire to reduce time - that is, a category that is very difficult to comprehend, and even more difficult to subordinate, to real facts, that is, to replace the problem of time itself with a question about the relationship of things. V.N. Muravyov gives the following definition to the concept of “Time” - if we consider it as reality, then it is nothing more than change and movement. Mastery of time is one of the main reasonable goals of a person. Man creates certain phenomena and, thus, is the ruler of their time. All types of human activity can be combined in the complex concept of creative labor.

Based on the above, we can pose the question: what general concept can express the results of the transformation of the world by man? Such a concept exists, but apparently its definition is not yet sufficiently formulated. The concept is culture. A world without culture is a world in which there are no results of human activity. A world with culture included in it, or even a world transformed into a certain culture, is a world with the imprint of human creative efforts on it. Thus, cultural transformation is a form of mastery of time.

Culture is the result of the creation of time, since every act that changes the world is such a creation. The formation of time is accomplished through the affirmation of the duration of any values ​​that resist the “corrosive” power of time. Interestingly, we can often see how a disappeared culture reappears in the same or new forms (for example, the Renaissance).

Thus, individual cultural achievements are islands of land in the changing ocean of time, and the frequency of their appearance triumphs over this element and replaces it with organized time, consciously created by man. Of course, it should be taken into account that, probably, 99.99% of the values ​​created by people either perish or their impact is negated by the destructive force of the blind stream. However, firstly, since something took place, it means that the mathematical possibility of it exists in nature in the form of a certain combination of elements. Secondly, the fragility and insignificance (in a real, practical sense - this does not mean that the achievement had an objective low value, we mean the impact on a universal human scale) of real changes must be attributed to the specific nature of the cultures that have hitherto existed in humanity, including modern. For the most part, these cultures belong to the so-called “symbolic” - that is, they consist almost exclusively of creativity and the transmission of certain records and formulas. Accordingly, these cultures care little about putting the learned laws into practice. This concept of symbolic culture should be contrasted with the concept of real culture, in which the center of gravity lies in the work on implementing existing cultural patterns in life.

The distinction between the symbolic and real aspects of culture is important for the question of whether culture fulfills its main function of forming time. Part of culture, undoubtedly, must consist of symbols, and their specific role as stimulants and guides of action finds a place in culture and has a certain value. This is the role of thought, expressed in philosophy and science, in knowledge in general. In every culture, philosophy and science serve as tools for overcoming time rather than overcoming time itself. Likewise, the intuitive knowledge given by artistic perception creates designs and symbols in the field artistic creativity, and art, from this point of view, is a condition or a tool for overcoming time.

As for the real types of human activity, they change the world in three main areas: in the area of ​​creating life, creating new living ones or resurrecting the dead - let's call this area genetics; in the field of changing relationships between people and personality changes - the field of politics and ethics; and, finally, changes in the world in the form of transformation of material things - the field of production.

The first type of real and cultural “doing” includes, first of all, activities that create new life through semi-conscious processes. This refers to the generation of new living beings through sexual intercourse. Here the creative act cannot always be called conscious. Consciousness is brought into it in Lately development of science, actively working on artificial insemination and cloning. But, in any case, research on this topic has not only not been completed, but has not yet received ethical and political approval throughout the world, so for now we cannot talk about it as a system.

The second real science, politics, contains a field of action aimed directly at changing human personality and relationships between people. Another part of politics is public activity, where changes in public institutions are carried out. The sphere of influence of politics is extremely limited - it stops where the irrational physical nature of man begins. However, this area also creates conditions for time management - there is an opportunity for improvement of the person himself, as well as human relationships and institutions.

The third kind of real cultural activities is production. Production is divided into activities that create tools of production, and activities that directly create new cultural objects. In both cases, but especially in the second, the ability of production to overcome time is manifested, since each created thing, while it exists, stops the time defeated by its creation.

Thus, the result of human time-shaping activity in history is the creation of culture. I would like to note once again that the main condition for mastering time through cultural activity is the combination of its two types: symbolic and real. The departure of art into the realm of pure aestheticism is just as detrimental to real culture as the departure of philosophy and science into pure theory. Just as production is blind without art, so art is powerless without production that changes the world.

It should be noted that the above was not always so relevant for a person, and perhaps it was not an axiom. Throughout history, the sense of time has been different in different periods of social development. There is no doubt that the man of Antiquity felt time differently than the man of the Middle Ages, who also saw it differently than our contemporary.

Now time is perceived as pure duration, an irreversible sequence of events from the past to the future. Time is objective, its quality is independent of the matter filling it. Our time is chronological. According to A.Ya. Gurevich, a person is not born with a “sense of time”; his time concepts are always determined by the culture to which he belongs. The industrial and, especially, information society is characterized by a conscious attitude to time.

In ancient times, in the Middle Ages, and in the Renaissance, there were people who thought about the problem of the irrevocability of fast-flowing time, but by and large, never in previous eras was time valued as highly as it is now, and did not occupy such a place in the human consciousness.

In mythological consciousness, this category does not exist as a pure abstraction, since the very thinking of people at the archaic stages of development was predominantly concrete, objective-sensual. Their consciousness embraces the world simultaneously in its synchronic wholeness, and therefore it is timeless. The myth of time regeneration archaic culture gave a person the opportunity to overcome the transience and one-time nature of his life. Without separating himself from the generic social body, man cheated death.

It is interesting that a similar place in society is given to a person under totalitarianism - a person is a “cog” in a machine, there is no provision for an afterlife - but a person is not immortal - he is part of an eternal and nameless system. However, based on historical experience, one can be convinced that the totalitarian system is not stable and viable.

Returning to primitive thinking, in its system the past, present and future are located, as it were, on the same plane; in a certain sense, they exist simultaneously. Ancient man I saw both past and present tense extending around me, mutually penetrating and explaining one another. Temporal orientation in primitive society extends only to the near future, the recent past and current activities, and everything lies beyond these limits, is perceived vaguely and poorly coordinated.

It is very important that for primitive consciousness time is not a neutral and objective category, as for modern man, but powerful mysterious forces that control all things, the lives of people and even Gods. Therefore, primitive time is emotionally and value-rich - it can be good and evil, favorable for some types of activity and dangerous for others, there is sacred time, a time of celebration, sacrifice. At this stage, linear time does not predominate in human consciousness, it is subordinated to the cyclical perception of life phenomena, because it is repeating time that underlies the mythological ideas that embody the worldview of primitive man.

Many of the great civilizations of antiquity were characterized by the fundamental idea that the ever-lasting present is inextricably linked with the past. The ancient Chinese perception of time is a cyclical sequence of eras, dynasties and reigns. In India, the symbol of time is the wheel, a constantly rotating cycle of birth and death. The ancient Egyptian pyramids can serve as a monument to stopped time. The world, in the eyes of the ancient Egyptians, came ready-made from the hands of the creator, the past and the future are present in the present.

As for the temporal perception of the ancient Greeks, they too remained under the strong influence of the mythological understanding of reality. The world is perceived and experienced not in terms of change and development, but as being at rest or rotating in a great circle. The events taking place in the world are not unique, successive eras are repeated, and once existing people and phenomena will return again after the “great year” - the Pythagorean era.

The plastic arts of Greece embodied precisely this attitude towards time - the interpretation of the body indicates that the ancients saw in the present moment the fullness of being, complete in itself and not subject to development. Hellenic consciousness is turned to the past, the world is ruled by fate, which is subject not only to people, but also to the Gods, and, therefore, there is no room left for historical development. The Greeks seem to be people who move backwards towards the future. This worldview, which can be called static-cyclical, undergoes a certain transformation among the Romans.

Roman historians are much more susceptible to the linear flow of time, and the course of history is interpreted based on certain moments of actual history - the founding of Rome, etc. however, their worldview was not ready to perceive history as the unfolding of human free will.

In ancient times, people were unable to break out of the circle of natural existence and oppose themselves to nature. Their dependence on nature and the inability to recognize it as an “object of influence” finds its clear expression in the field of culture in the idea of ​​the internal analogy of the “microcosm” man and the “megacosm” world, having a single structure and consisting of the same elements. Only during the Renaissance did a transition to a different worldview and a new awareness of man himself begin.

Thus, the inevitability of time, which seems natural to our consciousness, moreover, without it it is generally impossible to think about time, is not such at all if we go beyond the views (historically conditioned and inevitably limited - as in any other era) inherent in people of modern times. us civilization. “Our” linear time triumphed as a unified frame of reference in Europe as a result of a very long and complex historical development.

The historical milestone that marked the beginning of a new awareness of time can probably be considered the late Middle Ages, when there was a rise in the urban population, with economic practices and a style and rhythm of life that differed from agriculture. As Le Goff puts it, there is a transition from “biblical time” to “merchant time.” However, this did not mean the end or withering of the Middle Ages, but entailed differentiation of the traditional picture of the world, previously uniform for the entire society.

Speaking about the time of the Middle Ages, it should be noted that people recognized time not visually, but by sound. The entire life of the population was regulated by the ringing of bells, in keeping with the rhythm of church time.

Since the pace of life and activities depended on the natural rhythm, the constant need to know exactly what time it was could not arise, and the usual division into parts of the day was enough. A minute was not perceived as a segment of time and an integral part of an hour. For a very long time after the invention of watches, they did not have a minute hand installed on them.

The division of nature into parts of the day was perceived accordingly - the night was a time of dangers and fears, demons, and other dark forces. The opposition of day and night was perceived as symbols of life and death. Winter-summer received the same rating. These oppositions had ethical and sacred overtones.

In addition, the birth time also retained its meaning. Feudal lords took care of their genealogies, tracing the family back to distant, often glorious, legendary ancestors. An influential medieval person is a person in whom time has condensed in the form of many generations.

However, this only applied to the nobility. As for the common people, history was almost absent from the consciousness of the peasants. Folk ideas about the past are most likely mythopoetic utopias.

In general, earthly time was not perceived either as the only time or as a true time. Along with it, sacred time also existed, and only it had true reality. In the Christian worldview, the concept of time was separated from the concept of eternity, which in other worldview systems absorbed earthly time. Eternity is immeasurable by time periods. Eternity is an attribute of God, but time is created and has a beginning and an end. In addition, historical time acquires a certain structure, dividing into two eras - before the birth of Christ and after it. History moves from the act of divine creation to the Last Judgment.

Thus, the new awareness of time is based on 3 defining moments - the beginning, culmination and end of the life of the human race. Time becomes linear and irreversible. Historical time in Christianity is dramatic, and the drama consists of a dualistic attitude towards the world and its history. Earthly life and all history is an arena of struggle between good and evil. And these forces are rooted in man himself, and the free will of man is necessary for the triumph of good. Earthly life acquires its meaning only by being included in the sacramental history of the salvation of the human race.

The ideas of historical time were perceived in anthropomorphic categories common to medieval man. Popular in medieval philosophy was the concept of world-historical eras, understood as the ages of humanity - from the creation of Adam to the flood (childhood), to Abraham (childhood), to David (adolescence), to the Babylonian captivity (youth), to the Nativity of Christ (maturity) and until the end of the world as old age. This carried a tinge of historical pessimism - the last, sixth age of history, the age of decrepitude, had arrived.

The idea of ​​an aging world and an approaching catastrophe was the basis of the thinking of medieval people. But it was precisely for this reason that knowledge of history was considered necessary. History performed an educational function, giving people examples that had lasting meaning. But historical logic was very different from modern one. Its integral feature was anachronism - the past was depicted in the same categories as the present. Biblical and ancient characters appear in medieval costumes and in settings familiar to a European, and the Master does not care that in other eras and in different places, morals, nature, clothing, and knowledge were not the same as in his homeland. By the way, there is another confirmation of anachronism in creativity - in the paintings of medieval painters, successive events are often depicted together: the picture combines several scenes separated by time.

The very idea of ​​human nature is also anachronistic: people in all generations are responsible for the original sin committed by Adam and Eve, and all Jews are guilty of the crucifixion of Christ. The crusaders were convinced that they were punishing not the descendants of the Savior’s executioners, but these executioners themselves. The passing centuries meant nothing to them.

This feature of the perception of time - the merging of biblical time with the time of one's own life, creates the conditions for a person to recognize himself in two historical eras at once - in the modernity of his local transitory life, and, in terms of general historical events that decide the fate of the world, next to the creation of the world , Merry Christmas and the Passion of Christ. This dual perception of time is an integral quality of a medieval person, and this gives him the opportunity to feel involved in world history, to feel like a personal participant in the struggle between good and evil.

In general, we can agree with the idea that in the Middle Ages there was no unified idea of ​​time and the multiplicity of times as a reality. There were different “social times” in society in different socio-cultural systems, that is, there was a whole range of social rhythms characteristic of individual groups. However, it can be said that time was under the control of an institution such as the church. It was the clergy who established and regulated all its rhythms, starting with the prohibition of labor on holidays, and ending with establishing the time when sexual intercourse is permissible and when not. An individual's time was not his individual time, it did not belong to him, but to a higher power standing above him. That is why resistance to the ruling class was often expressed in the form of protest to the existing times - in the form of anticipation of the end of the world.

The dominance of church time lasted as long as it corresponded to the slow, measured rhythm of life of feudal society. In the Middle Ages there was no need to value and protect time, to measure it accurately and to know small fractions. This slowness corresponded to the agrarian nature of medieval society. But another center of social life began to develop in it, which had a more pronounced rhythm and needed a more strict measurement of time - the city. In the city, a person begins to abstract from nature and becomes subordinate to the order created by himself.

The city also becomes the bearer of a new attitude towards time. Mechanical clocks are installed on city towers, which satisfy a previously unheard of need - to know the exact time of day. It is no longer the chiming of church bells calling for prayer, but the chiming of the tower clock that regulates the life of the townspeople. Time acquires greater value, turning into an essential factor of production.

The creation of a mechanism for measuring time finally gave rise to the conditions for developing a new attitude towards it - as a monotonous flow that can be divided into identical, quality-free quantities. In a European city, for the first time in history, the alienation of time as a pure form from life, the phenomena of which are subject to measurement, begins. Society gradually moved from contemplating the world in the aspect of eternity to an active attitude towards it in the aspect of time.

Time has stretched out into a straight line, going from the past to the future through a point called the present. The present has become fleeting, irrevocable and elusive. For the first time, man encountered the fact that time, the passage of which he noticed only when any events occurred, does not stop even in the absence of events. Therefore, time must be saved and strive to use it profitably.

The transition to mechanical timing has led to the fact that man ceases to be the master of time, since, having gained the opportunity to flow regardless of people and events, time establishes its tyranny, which people are forced to obey. Time imposes its own rhythm, forcing you to hurry, act faster, and not miss the moment.

Many centuries separate us from Late Middle Ages when such an attitude towards time began to take shape. During this time, much has become not only irrelevant, but even completely wild for modern man. One of the few things that has survived is reverence for time. Now, even more than before, time remains a worshiped Deity. Moreover, the name of our era - the Age of Information - can be given a synonymous name - the Age of Time.

Literature:

1. A.Ya.Gurevich. Categories of medieval culture. Moscow-St. Petersburg, 1999.
2. V.N. Muravyov. Mastering time. Moscow, 1998.
3. Jacques Le Goff. Another Middle Ages. Ekaterinburg, 2002.

Space was understood in different ways by philosophers, physicists, and mathematicians and was interpreted by them as a kind of container, an emptiness filled with clumps of matter, things and their relationships. In the earthly, sensory world, everything really is in a certain three-dimensional space, and taking into account the time coordinate - four-dimensional. And what we call culture is also in it. On Earth, spatiality is realized as a variety of geocosmic and geographical landscape reality, special extents, volumes, areas, diversity. And this is extremely important in relation to culture, or rather to cultures that arise and develop in specific physical and geographical conditions.

Many features of cultural life are determined by the terrain, landscape and extent of the territory. In the history of culture, civilizations of various types are known: river, sea, ocean, mountain, steppe, forest, desert. It would seem that all this is connected only with natural factors. But the organization of life, economic structure, type of housing, methods of communication, culinary preferences and technologies, beliefs, i.e., the nature and forms of culture as a whole, largely depend on them. Thus, the vastness of open spaces or, conversely, spatial crampedness and constriction, largely determine the uniqueness of cultures, their values ​​and forms of expression.

Along with this, what is called social space is formed in the life of society - various complexly organized systems of relationships in which people’s lives take place. This social space is almost always sociocultural. Culture, emerging and developing, generates and changes those spaces that do not completely coincide with physical-cosmic, physical-geographical, or even social spaces themselves, although they are closely connected with the latter.

The space that we call cultural has not only external contours, it is “located” in the spiritual world of society and the individual. This spatial layer, or volume, is especially important because it affects the motivation of people’s behavior.

Cultural space interacts with geographical, economic, political, ethnic, linguistic and information spaces. It, like all of the above, has its own specifics, special configuration and architectonics, methods of translation and dynamics of change.

But what exactly is cultural space, as opposed to the spaces in which culture is located and with which it interacts?

Cultural space– this is a field (by analogy with physical fields) generated by the interactions and influences of cultural values ​​and their systems.

Cultural values ​​as specific relationships between people are embodied, objectified in various media and create a unique spiritual atmosphere. If faith, love, honor, beauty, decency, taste, etc. are truly embodied in architecture, sculpture, music or literature, and most importantly, in the actions of people, then a spatial-emotional richness, an aura of goodness and mercy appears, decency, nobility and grace. In other words, an atmosphere appears that affects the people who live in it. For example, the architecture of St. Petersburg is not just beautiful houses, but ensembles, streets, squares in which cultural values ​​are concentrated.

Of course, it does not follow from this that all people, or even the majority, living in such a concentrated cultural environment conform to it. But thanks to the spatial concentration of cultural values, the possibilities for spiritual improvement and cultural development are clearly expanding. And not only the possibility of spiritual improvement, but also the tendency towards ennoblement of the environment, or at least towards the preservation of culture.

Despite the fact that culture can spread everywhere, it is still localized in the so-called centers of culture, achieving extraordinary expressiveness and effectiveness there. There are many examples of such historical localization. This is the culture of both Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, and Paris with its unique role as the cultural capital not only of France, but of the whole of Europe. The locations of culture are constantly changing.

But until now, despite the fact that civilization has provided enormous opportunities for more uniform cultural development than before, there are still cultural centers and provinces in various parts of the planet. Moreover, where the embodied values ​​of culture are most concentrated, anti-cultural processes are most often exacerbated. Each of us lives in a certain cultural space, or rather spaces. This is due to the fact that different value systems (their ensembles) create different cultural spaces that interact with each other, being parts of a more or less integral cultural space of a region, country, city, place.

Space is the vital and sociocultural sphere of society, the “container” of cultural processes, the main factor of human existence. The cultural space has a territorial extent; it outlines the contours of cultural centers and periphery, capital and province, urban and rural settlements.

Russia is a grandiose cultural ensemble of peoples united by common citizenship and territory of residence. The cultural space unites these peoples, creating a unique pattern of original cultures, preserving their uniqueness and increasing the attractive power of their energetically powerful aura. The cultural space includes the distribution area of ​​national-ethnic languages, traditional forms of everyday life and economic life. It preserves folk cuisine recipes, methods of raising children, architectural and artistic monuments, regional centers of folk and professional art, religious denominations, nature reserves and historical landscapes, city museums and university complexes of science and education, places of memorable historical events.

The cultural space of Russia is multidimensional and cannot be unified, because culture cannot exist as one-dimensional, universal, the same for all eras and peoples. This is contrary to her nature and essence, so she resists all experiments, even if their initiators come from good intentions.

Culture always exists as a “fractional set”, united into an integral system, where all regions are interdependent and complement each other.

Cultural space can perform a collective function, that is, contribute to the unification and cohesion of the nation, state, and all social forces. But another model is also possible, when cultural space reduces the “forces of attraction” between regions, making them isolated and closed. This “dispersive” function of culture significantly weakens and inhibits the possibility of integration of peoples and their desire for mutual understanding.

In Russia, the process of social reform and modernization has had a significant impact on the state and prospects for the development of culture. Some areas disintegrated, others lost state support and had to “survive” on their own, while others acquired a new status and priority. It is still difficult to predict what the consequences of these changes will be, their impact on the value orientations of people, especially young people. Culture emerged from strict ideological control, but fell into the grip of financial dependence.

The dynamics of culture received impetus for the implementation of a pluralistic model of development. Cultural space organically combines historical continuity, continuity and discreteness. It was created by centuries of human activity and resembles the “Tree of Life”, which has deep roots and a branched crown. In a certain sense, cultural space is like nature, in which the variety of combinations is endless.

Plurality manifests itself in all forms of culture, even in language, where general concepts, vocabulary and grammar predominate, but at the same time there are a lot of dialects, slangs, argot, special meanings and intonations. The combination of the universal and the particular, the similar and the individual, becomes the basis for the diversity and diversity of cultural space.

But it would be wrong to imagine cultural space as a “patchwork quilt”, where each piece has its own shape and is painted in its own color. With all its diversity, it has a common configuration, thanks to which it fulfills its purpose. The discreteness of regions fits into the overall volume and architectonics of the cultural space. The diversity of individual areas creates their unique flavor and uniqueness.

Isolationism is just as dangerous as unification, which erases the uniqueness of cultures. Artificial separation narrows the scope of cultural space, causing irreparable harm to the spiritual development of peoples and generations. Cultural contacts are a living dialogue of cultures that takes place everywhere and on various occasions, on weekdays and holidays, since its basis is mutual interest in culture and people’s desire for understanding and interaction.

But such dialogue does not always arise spontaneously. It requires special attention, attitude and support, explaining the differences between cultures and overcoming the arrogant glorification of some cultures and disdain for others. Otherwise, a conflict of cultures may begin, which increases in volume like a snowball, and captures more and more new areas of public and personal life. The division of cultural space into “us” and “strangers” causes mutual hostility, squabbles, quarrels and weakening of cooperation. Relations between peoples can become such that they provoke social and psychological aggression.

Therefore, the importance of cultural policy, which in every possible way promotes the dialogue of cultures, is very great.

In each region, be it North or South, West or East, the cultural space has its own centers of gravity and area of ​​influence. This is expressed in the style of development of cities and rural settlements, in the way of life, observance of customs and rituals, the way of holding holidays and meetings, in communication, interests, preferences and values.

Historically, St. Petersburg has developed as a multinational city, and each ethnic group contributed to the creation of a common “Petersburg” style. Yu. M. Lotman in the article “Symbols of St. Petersburg and problems of semiotics of the city” writes about the multiplicity of images and comparisons: Russian Amsterdam, Russian Venice, the city of A. S. Pushkin and N. Gogol, F. M. Dostoevsky and A. Blok; . A. Akhmatova and I. Brodsky... St. Petersburg is the imperial residence and the “cradle of the revolution,” the courageous hero of the Siege and the center of science, culture, and art. And all these different “cities” are united by a common cultural space.

Yu. M. Lotman surprisingly accurately wrote about this:

Petersburg became a city of cultural and semiotic contrasts, and this served as the basis for exceptionally intense intellectual life. St. Petersburg can rightfully be considered a unique phenomenon of world civilization.

An equally interesting approach to describing the holistic plastic-spatial image of St. Petersburg was proposed by M. S. Kagan. He notes that from the very beginning St. Petersburg developed as an interconnection of four main subsystems: Street-Square-Park (garden, square) - River (canal). This is the ensemble principle of organizing the cultural space of the city.

D. S. Likhachev drew attention to the fact that the spatial structure of St. Petersburg is characterized by a combination of three levels of horizontal extent:

¦ water level in rivers;

¦ level of embankments, streets, avenues;

¦ the level of roofs of houses of approximately the same height.

In the poetic space of St. Petersburg, Yu. M. Lotman noted two features: ghostliness and theatricality. They are supported by the unique St. Petersburg flavor, soft color scheme, a combination of the Neva waterway with numerous canals, the White Nights season and amazing sunsets.

Theatricality is embodied in architectural ensembles historical center and a ring of suburbs that organically complement the overall impression. The city is perceived as a huge stage on which festive performances and everyday life unfold. Theatricality requires St. Petersburg residents to constantly pay attention to their appearance, creates an atmosphere of festivity and internal protest against untidiness, neglect, vulgarity and vulgarity. The cultural space shapes the type of city dweller and the special St. Petersburg style of life: sensitivity to classical art, delicacy, religious tolerance, lack of national and social arrogance, self-esteem and devoted love for the city, for one’s country.

The cultural space of the country is “Home”, the environment for people’s daily living. In it they live, work, go shopping, play sports, relax, communicate with each other, teach children, visit temples and theaters.

People like it when this “Home” is strong, reliable and safe, open, kind and warm, beautiful and interesting.

The cultural space as “Home” performs the sacred function of protection from adversity, where a person can find help and support. This atmosphere of participation and sympathy is especially necessary for a person. It’s not for nothing that many speak so highly of the friendliness of St. Petersburg-Leningraders, which has become a sign of the city’s culture.

Cultural space is not only native places and cultural monuments, but also a feeling of “family” closeness of the people inhabiting it. Images of cultural space as a “family nest” and a saving ark are firmly rooted in the people’s consciousness.

Spiritual isolation from “Home,” loss of connection and intimacy with it, even while maintaining one’s place of residence, gives rise to a feeling of “homelessness.”

The St. Petersburg magazine “Steps” published “materials of the Round Table” dedicated to the problem of “House”. The presentations discussed several models that can be used to describe the specifics of organizing life in a cultural space. Let's list some of them.

"Home-hearth." In such a house there is no place for inaction and laziness, since the hearth must be constantly maintained and taken care of. It gives a person shelter and rest, protection and food, communication and the right to be himself.

The idea of ​​cultural space as a home is shared by all peoples of the world. And now this idea - to build a “House” as a universal building of our micro- and macrocosm - is close to many.

“Home-hearth” is still a distant ideal, but it can be achieved, at least within the confines of one’s own home, region or city as a small homeland.

"House-fortress." Its main purpose is to protect cultural space from external influences and encroachments. It is based on the archetype of an enemy who can disturb peace, cause harm, and humiliate dignity. Therefore, the main concern of the inhabitants of such a house is the construction of fortress walls, the installation of guard posts, observation towers and border strips. The idea of ​​the “Iron Curtain” also expresses the “Fortified House” archetype.

"House is a prison." An even more alienated model of cultural, or rather even anti-cultural, space. Its doors are tightly locked, and all inhabitants live in a “sealed space.” Life in this “House” is inhibited, work is meaningless, the hearth does not warm. The force and dictates of the watchmen keep everyone together. In such a space, everyone is subject to fear, constantly expecting deceit and betrayal.

"House-cemetery." Also a joyless model. Life left this house, the soul “flew away”, the hearth went out. There is darkness, dirt, destruction and desolation everywhere. A person in such a space feels the meaninglessness of his existence, he is lonely and powerless. Melancholy and despondency paralyze his will and desire to act. Peace and laziness give rise to indifference to everything; a person ekes out an existence, being between life and death.

"House-station". This model expresses the attitude towards cultural space as a temporary refuge, shelter during wanderings.

This is a “state house” where they only use services without contributing anything of their own. A person only stays here, and does not live a full life. He obeys a pre-established order, knowing that violating it will lead to retribution. Expectation of change and desire to leave temporary shelter determine state of mind person.

"Madhouse" This type of space, and hardly a cultural one, also deserves attention. There is relative order in it, but its distinguishing feature will be loneliness. In such a house, everyone hears only themselves and is incapable of dialogue. The hearth that gives warmth is dying out, because no one cares about the common good.

"House-cell". This is a kind of loneliness and imprisonment. The created space is deliberately fenced off from the outside world. People are content with little, all their thoughts are aimed at serving the idea of ​​personal spiritual improvement and creativity. Such a space is little affected by storms and adversities occurring outside its borders. What is most valued is peace and the opportunity to immerse oneself in familiar activities and reflections.

"House is a bowl." It embodies the desire of people to saturate space as much as possible with numerous things, both useful and useless. Hoarding, the desire to keep up with others, to “be like everyone else” make the home a cold and temporary refuge, since no one shows concern for spiritual well-being.

"Home is like love." This is the most accurate reflection of the most important purpose of cultural space. What is important is not only the material from which a house is built, but also those spiritual and emotional relationships that make it possible to feel the joy of being. They begin to build such a house “from the roof,” that is, from those spiritual values ​​that ensure the mutual attraction of people.

“Home as love” defines the entire spectrum of human relationships: to nature and the material arrangement of life, children and the elderly, historical traditions and modern innovation. It reveals a person’s spiritual potentials and contributes to their realization. The cultural space must be “covered” with a loving attitude, only then does it become desirable.

Perhaps “Home as love” is “home as culture.” It is built by the people themselves, and the attitude and behavior of not only those who built it, but also those who did not participate in this process, but ended up in this space, depend on whether this house is truly a culture. Cultural space is a kind of mirror that reflects multiple models of “Home”. Some of them are very firmly rooted in life, others flicker like a dotted line, and others have generally become ghostly shadows of the past.

“Home” can be rich and poor, well-groomed and neglected, desired and unloved, good and evil, warm and cold, open and closed. Everything depends on the saturation of the cultural space with values ​​and the dynamics of change.

Superficial pragmatism and vulgar materialism caused great damage to the cultural space of Russia, causing the spread of primitivism and barbarism. Destruction of city and rural churches, desecration historical monuments, simplification and contamination of the Russian language, disorderly development, ruined reservoirs and dead landscapes, destruction of ancient residential areas, disregard for Russian national origins and traditions of folk culture - all this caused colossal damage to the cultural space of Russia. It will take a lot of effort and time to restore it.

Cultural space is a national treasure of Russia, and everyone is responsible for its preservation and development. Overcoming socio-political barriers and strengthening cultural contacts can become the basis for the process of integration, comprehension of cultural values ​​as a necessary condition for human existence.

The cultural space of both the country, the region, and the cultural center is changing. Being very dynamic in its development, it depends on our efforts, influences and interactions.

Waves of cultural contacts arise in the cultural space, emanating from external or internal regions. Byzantine, Tatar-Mongolian, French, German, American, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese and other waves of influences left a noticeable mark on the cultural space of Russia. They can affect seemingly autonomous areas, be it clothing fashion, new technology, product advertising, “overseas” products, dog breeds, office design or city signs. But in any case, they change the face of the cultural space.

The invasion of other cultures is always accompanied by a whole complex of changes, sometimes more short-term, sometimes longer. Sometimes, over time, many borrowings begin to be perceived as their own achievements.

Due to the integrity of culture, any influences do not pass without leaving a trace, but entail many changes in other, seemingly distant spheres of culture, changing the way of thinking and life, creating new features in the appearance of a person.

A new wave of culture, invading the traditional cultural space, makes significant changes, changing the value system.

When two heterogeneous cultural spaces come into contact, the following options for change are possible.

1. The loss of a people’s culture under the influence of another, which has either greater authority; either more significant means of influence, or special attractiveness that corresponds to already established expectations and attitudes. This process can proceed calmly, gradually changing the cultural space of traditional and original culture.

But there may be another situation when preferences for new values ​​push one’s own culture into the background. This leads to “alienation” and a change in values, loss of connection with historical “roots”.

2. Under the onslaught of a new culture, the forces of counteraction and defense of the traditional basis of ethnic identity are intensified in the cultural space, calls to fight against foreign influence appear and the ideas of “soilism” are affirmed. An example would be the ideas of “Westerners” and “Slavophiles”.

3. Under the influence of the donor culture, new orientations arise in the cultural space. They change some values, but maintain the overall original appearance of the culture. For example, such partial changes have occurred in the cultural space of Japan.

4. Cultural contacts can give rise to the emergence of completely new cultural forms that did not exist in any of the interacting cultures.

The process of change that occurs during the contact of two or more cultures was called “acculturation” in American cultural anthropology (R. Linton, M. Mead, M. Herskowitz). This term is widely used in empirical research.

IN last years the number of studies devoted to the study of the processes of “Japanization”, “Russification”, “Africanization”, “Europeanization”, etc. has increased. Moreover, forms of borrowing and inclusion of music, sculpture, painting of other peoples into European or American culture and the gradual expansion of cultural space have been studied , the emergence of a fundamentally new cultural synthesis. Examples of such influences include the spread of jazz, Japanese wrestling techniques and Indian yoga.

The dynamism of a cultural space is not limited to external influences and contacts. The cultural space is constantly changing its outlines, expanding or narrowing, becoming saturated with new values ​​and cultural symbols, freeing itself from obsolete, outdated historical things, and at the same time resuscitating, restoring, reviving the “hoary antiquity”.

It never remains empty, and discussions about the “vacuum” of values ​​do not reflect reality; it’s just that new guidelines replace the old ones.

The cultural space “pulsates” and “breathes” like a living organism. It has an “aura” of magnetic attraction, which is what explains the pilgrimage to the world’s cultural centers, the desire to enjoy the beauty of cultural monuments. In this space, ascending and descending “currents” are strong, periods of chaos and crisis are replaced by stabilization and harmony, but these cycles of change are always relative. Sometimes these cycles extend over time, and sometimes changes occur in a short time. The cyclical nature of such changes can be traced through the change in fashionable hobbies, the popularity of leaders and idols, and the dynamics of value preferences.

The cultural space has a “porous” structure, that is, very ancient, almost relict layers and artifacts are able to rise into the modern layers of culture along internal “elevators” and be included in cultural process. The paths of their rise and movement from the depths of antiquity are difficult to predict and defy rational explanation. This is what is happening today with esoteric teachings, mysticism, astrology, witchcraft and shamanism. They arose in distant eras, and now they are again in demand, having captured the area in the cultural space of modern civilization. Modern civilization has generated and is generating special types of spaces, including cultural ones.

The history of world culture convincingly testifies to the exploration by man of an increasingly vast space, the creation of new worlds that are transformed into a new type of virtual reality or “parallel world.”

The concept of “virtual reality” has relatively recently entered the scientific lexicon and everyday life. It has a number of meanings - it is a special sphere of information activity; a way to expand the range of cognition, a means of modeling possible situations; the sphere of communication and interpersonal contacts, dialogue of cultures and the way of inclusion in the world cultural space. All these and many other aspects of virtual reality can be the subject of special research.

The information society, the age of electronic technology, the global information network Internet, virtual reality, the “digital revolution” - these are just some of the signs and new contours of the cultural space of modern civilization.

Just recently, futurologists discussed the new era of electronics; their forecast was perceived by many as a distant utopia, but the speed of spread of new information technologies has exceeded all expectations.

American sociologist A. Toffler noted:

The flurry of changes not only does not subside, but is increasingly gaining strength. Change is sweeping through highly industrialized countries at an ever-increasing rate. Their influence on the life of these states has no analogues in the history of mankind.

“Cyberspace” is a new term that characterizes information Technology. It includes areas of distribution of languages ​​of communication, means of transmitting information and broadcasting cultural heritage based computer technology and the Internet. Cyberspace is constantly expanding, including new regions and social groups. It increases a person’s intellectual and emotional resources, his cognitive, creative and communicative capabilities.

Cyberspace is acquiring a transnational character, creating a free zone in world culture and civilization, independent of border cordons, economic duties, political prohibitions and censorship. The power of information flows stimulates the development of cultural contacts, opens up the possibility of real dialogue with a mass audience and at the same time creates a situation of extremely individual communication.

Finding the necessary information in national libraries of the world, accessibility of archives and funds, familiarization with the collections of museums in different countries and their detailed study, expanding the circle of personal acquaintances and speeding up correspondence based on e-mail - these are just some of the advantages of cyberspace. Modeling virtual reality using cognitive graphics creates a new understanding of the picture of the world, alternative forms and ways of developing situations. It stimulates artistic creativity, generating new associations and fantastic images, developing imagination and design.

The capabilities of the Internet as a global “web” are sometimes compared to the great geographical discoveries that contributed to the rapprochement of peoples and cultures. Ownership of information space takes on the meaning of “new property”, influencing global recognition, public authority and leadership.

The struggle for sources of information, speed of transmission and reception of messages becomes the basis of competition in making economic and political decisions. On this basis, special communities are created with their own rules of the game, values, norms, laws, style of communication and symbols of behavior. The information space teaches a person to conduct a thought experiment in a short time, simulate various options for the development of situations in various fields of activity and make optimal decisions, choosing the appropriate means for this. Artificial reality, created by the actions of the operator, allows you to observe the changes occurring in it, test hypotheses and conduct experiments.

This finds application in both the natural and human sciences (economics, finance, politics, criminology, diplomacy, cultural history, advertising and art).

In the field of artistic creativity, virtual reality “populates” the world with fantastic images that stimulate the imagination when creating new musical and pictorial compositions, dance plots, literary and poetic forms.

All this significantly activates intellectual activity, forces one to look for alternative options and frees consciousness from habitual stereotypes. A person, immersing himself in virtual space, retains all the signs of “live” communication and empathy, connects emotions and imitates the reaction of the environment. Often a unique situation arises, completely new and unlike anything else, and the search for solutions is accompanied by responsibility and risk.

The social, psychological and cultural consequences of human interaction with cyberspace remain to be studied in more detail. It is possible that this will reveal both positive and negative influences on the individual, since the created virtual world has an extremely wide range of actions.

The famous Italian writer and publicist Umberto Eco, during a visit to Russia, gave a lecture entitled “From Gutenberg to the Internet.” When asked whether the Internet is only a tool that facilitates work and communication, or is it still a new meta-reality, Eco replied:

Without a doubt, this is a new reality. And today we are not able to predict where it will lead us.

Not so long ago, the Internet connected only 2 million people, then 20, now 200 million. At such a pace of development, it is almost impossible to make any reasonable forecasts. It is completely unpredictable what the impact that the Internet will have on third world countries will be. For example, today in India or China it plays a much more important role than in Europe, since it is almost the only means by which contact between cultures is carried out.

It’s difficult to talk about it now, but it is possible that the development of cyberspace will have not only positive, but also Negative consequences. On the one hand, in countries where dictatorial regimes are in power, increasing the amount of information is a direct path to revolution. On the other hand, too much information does not bode well. Too much is the same as zero. I used to go to the library, recalls Eco, rummage through catalogs, order two or three books on a topic that interests me, take it home and read. Today I go online and from one single request I receive ten thousand titles, and what do you want me to do with them? In such a situation, ten thousand books are equivalent to zero. However, books will not go away, the writer assured, if only because the Internet cannot yet be read “while lying in the bath,” but books can. Of course, prophecies about the “death” of the book are greatly exaggerated. They appeared repeatedly in history, and the book continued to live and delight people. It is not simply a matter of replacing one medium with another.

The computer brings with it new cultural norms, different mental stereotypes and everyday habits. Today, more and more often, instead of the usual concept of “reader,” a “user” of special programs is used, a participant in a virtual action that can unfold unpredictably each time, according to the law of random numbers, like in a lottery. And this will undoubtedly bring intellectual pleasure, just as it once was a pleasure to “rummage through books” or sort through them on the shelves.

The Internet “has everything” (hot news, sensations, metropolitan and provincial newspapers and magazines, stock quotes on world exchanges and interest on loans, exchange rates for a given week and international flight schedules). Without leaving your computer, you can meet with the president, ask him a question and get an answer. You can make a date and discuss the most exciting problems.

The computer changes the usual rhythm of work and rest, creating special zone either work or leisure. But almost always the “man at the computer” evokes respect and reverence. This is akin to the sacred awe with which in the recent past they treated a “literate person.”

Disputes about the impact of computerization on social and cultural life societies are becoming more tense and acute, and enthusiastic euphoria is giving way to discussion of serious problems.

Already, the issues of legislative regulation of the use of the Internet, making appropriate adjustments to copyright and international law, prohibiting piracy and plagiarism, collecting and distributing compromising information and false information, and conducting illegal operations are coming to the fore.

It is difficult to calculate economic costs and set fees for services.

Uneven distribution of the Internet in different countries and regions, social and age groups will increase differentiation cultural level, differences between generations. They will live in different cultural worlds, use different sources information, have different opportunities for creativity. The intellectual resources of some groups will develop faster than others, and this will create inequality in the initial stages of professional activity.

It is especially difficult to predict the influence of the Internet on the moral values ​​and psychological attitudes of an individual, his emotional sphere. Self-sufficiency and loneliness, the replacement of real communication with virtual contacts, the ability to hide under an anonymous mask or create a fictitious image, to join the game and evade responsibility - all these new facets of human relationships require discussion. Under these conditions, emotional stress, disharmony, drama and conflicts, depression and self-doubt, fears and new complexes arise.

Medical and biological problems of health protection, work and rest schedules, methods of psychological protection, vision correction and stress relief are widely discussed.

Under the influence of computerization, personal preferences and interests, value orientations and life positions, moods and views. A new habitat in virtual space, expansion of the sphere of communications, changes in intellectual and emotional resources individuals influence the process of the emergence of a new form of mentality, a person of modern civilization.

The ideas of V.I. Vernadsky that real time created by the movement of life, cause undoubted interest. Time goes in the direction in which the vital impulse and creative evolution are directed, since this is the main condition for the existence of the World. The process cannot go back, says V.I. Vernadsky: “Time is a manifestation of the creation of the creative world process.”

Muravyov brings together the history of the Earth and Space. Culture is part of the Universe and has cosmic energy. Entropic processes of loss and dissipation of energy occur in the World, but along with this there is a movement towards collecting and concentrating energy. It is this organizing property that belongs to Culture. Reason, embodied in works of culture and human activity, expresses this universal property that contributes to the preservation of the Universe. The creative act of a person animates the material world, has the ability to “ignite” consciousness in different places of the world, and create individual power centers of energy concentration. This process occurs over time and resembles “crystallization of a saturated solution.”

The Universe is subject to the powerful intellectual activity of mankind. Accumulated energy is communicated through symbols, words, numbers, and the language of arts and crafts. Human activity in the cosmic balance of forces acquires time-shaping significance, prolonging the life of the Universe and the Earth as its part. The purpose of man is to generate and accumulate time in the process of activity, thereby saving the world from falling into the abyss, from the irreversible process of disintegration and dying.

Ideal values, works, cultural monuments are literally charged with the energy of creativity. This is a kind of condensate of energy accumulated on Earth and affecting the Cosmos. Man “makes time” a property of active, active nature. Time is a property of those things and processes that have internal energy and passion, the desire for harmony and perfection. Cultural-creative activity, which transforms the world from chaos into harmony, is at the same time a time-forming activity.

Overcoming death, conflicts, wars creates a positive tension in the flow of life, connects the creative act and organized collective action. “Time formation” occurs wherever active creative activity occurs.

This provision changes the idea of ​​culture as a “secondary” sphere and gives it the importance of an active factor contributing to the renewal of life and creative longevity.

Culture gradually overcomes random, spontaneous time and opens up space for creativity and projective activity. Different personalities and social strata are charged with unequal creative potential and therefore make different contributions to the process of energy accumulation. Time is another name for life, concludes V. A. Muravyov. Man's conquest of space expands the horizons of his capabilities, creates an incentive for the realization of creative energy and mastery of time.

New approaches to the study of the properties of time are opened by synergetics, which has received wide recognition and application in both the natural and human sciences. One of the founders of this direction was I.R. Prigogine, a Nobel Prize laureate for his work on the thermodynamics of nonequilibrium systems.

Synergetics productively uses many provisions of probability theory, information-cybernetic approach, structural functionalism, interaction in dialogue mode to substantiate the principles of self-organization complex systems, to which culture belongs.

The concept of dynamic instability allows for a new understanding of the role of “chaos”, as a result of which alternative development paths arise that can lead the system to renewal and prosperity, and not to the “heat death of the Universe”. Synergetic methodology is focused on studying the diversity of trends in cultural development, the relationship between traditions and innovation, East and West, North and South, and the multipolarity of the cultural world.

The idea of ​​the birth of something new through chaos interested Academician D.S. Likhachev. Chaos is an extremely unstable and varied state that can be limited and long-lasting.

But chaos cannot last forever. In chaos itself there is a will to overcome it, to establish a relative order, but different from before. D. S. Likhachev emphasizes: “Without generating chaos, the transition to a new system in any area of ​​culture cannot be accomplished.” The heterogeneity and instability of chaos makes it a convenient “building material” for the emergence of new systems.

Chaos and system are related to each other, since they mean a transition from one state to another, each of which is not an absolute.

The transition takes time. It can be short or long. It is gratifying that the state of chaos is a temporary phenomenon that cannot be eternal. In chaos, evil can prevail as failed good. This is convincingly shown by F. M. Dostoevsky in “The Brothers Karamazov” and M. Bulgakov in “The Master and Margarita”. The peculiarity of chaos also lies in the fact that several systems arise simultaneously in it, which can mix, layer, and exist in parallel. This makes it “redundant”; different styles and alternative possibilities arise in it. The culture of the Silver Age was famous for its diversity, a chaotic accumulation of various trends: Acmeism and Futurism, Cubism and Suprematism. They created an extremely motley picture of culture. Art was in constant motion and changing forms, while explaining Russian reality, stimulating the emergence of a new ideology and new values. All this allows us to conclude that chaos is not as terrible as it is imagined in everyday consciousness. The aging of any system confirms the importance of the time factor, which gives impetus to the dynamic development of culture. Time determines the framework and boundaries of the maturation of the new, performing the function of a catalyst and enzyme during the transition period.

Ideas about the meaning and meaning of time have changed repeatedly in the history of world and domestic culture. The ancient philosopher Plato proposed two terms to designate it: “eon” (Greek) - eternity, age, divine time; “chronos” (Greek) - earthly time, which has duration and measure.

In mythological representations during the era of the Roman Empire, Eon was depicted as a powerful old man with a lion’s head, grinning his mouth, and a snake entwined around his body. This was the image of eternal time. Chronos, or Kronos, is also an image of Greek mythology, and in Roman mythology he is known under the name of Saturn. These gods personified time. Kronos was depicted as a bearded old man devouring his own children, since, according to prophecies, his own son was supposed to deprive him of power. In this endless struggle, a person’s life passes over time. The statue of Kronos is located in St. Petersburg, at the entrance to the Summer Garden, and always attracts the attention of children and adults.

Kronia (in the Roman Empire - Saturnalia) - festivals in honor of the god of time - were popular in Olympia and Athens. They lasted seven days and were completed in December. During Saturnalia, all public affairs ceased, children were freed from classes, gifts were made, and fun reigned everywhere. Many of these festivities became part of Christian Christmastide.

In ancient Indian mythology there is also a deity who embodies the image of time, his name is Kala. It is described as consisting of days and nights, months and seasons, consuming human beings in its endless succession. The rotation of the wheel symbolizes the creation, preservation and destruction of the world.

IN Chinese mythology the great deity of time is Tai-Sui. Before the start of all significant work, sacrifices are made in honor of Tai-Sui. In ancient engravings he was depicted with an ax and a goblet or with a spear and a bell that caught souls.

In Christian theology, the unity of past, present and future is represented in the idea of ​​the Trinity. God, whose essence is one, but being is presented in three hypostases: the Father - the beginningless First Principle, the Son - the Logos, embodied in Jesus Christ; the Holy Spirit - the life-giving principle.

The unity and equality of the “three persons” are embodied by Andrei Rublev in the “Trinity” icon, a recognized masterpiece of world culture. Christianity brings a new dimension to the historical time of European culture. Christian doctrine is different from natural mythology, as it gives a new understanding of the movement of human history. The Old and New Testaments, the divine beginning of the Creation of the world and man, the coming and resurrection of Jesus Christ - these are the main events of biblical history. Biblical time is determined by a linear vector “from beginning to end,” from the creation of the world to the Apocalypse and Last Judgment. The connection of times acquires a final meaning and is accompanied by hope for atonement and repentance. Biblical history is magnificently reflected in art.

The regularity, rhythm and repeatability of the flow of time influenced the traditional nature of behavior, regulated the beginning and end of seasonal work, the alternation of everyday life and holidays, marriages, registration of birth and death, and submission to strict rituals and ceremonies. Sacred time is full of sacred events; it cannot be postponed “to another time,” since this will entail the wrath of the gods and cause danger, which can have fatal consequences for subsequent life.

Sacred places (temples, chapels, cemeteries, places of ritual events, monuments) are under special protection and patronage of church and secular authorities. In these places, time connects with eternity.

The past was a “mirror” of the future; it predetermined all the events that would arise in a person’s life. Myths, legends, tales, lives of saints, and the genealogy of ancestors were unique systems for counting time. The past, present and future were not separated by a clear line, but were transparent for comprehension and understanding, located on the same plane of historical time. This time was determined by the movement of the heavenly bodies, the length of the path to the settlement or to the shore of the sea, river, or to the pass over the mountains. All this information was stored in memory and passed on to subsequent generations. Archaic consciousness was subject to cyclical time, observed in all natural phenomena. The periodic change of sunrise and sunset, the duration of the seasonal periods of the year, the growth, maturation and withering of plants, the birth and death of a person - all this had a certain duration, inevitably took place and was repeated at a set rhythm and pace. Therefore, the cycle of movement in time exists in all ancient civilizations. Often the cyclical nature of history was associated with periods of solar activity, the movement of the Moon and Jupiter.

The archaic idea of ​​time constitutes the “lower” layer of popular consciousness. This relict layer forms the foundation of all subsequent concepts of time. Moreover, it not only does not disappear as obsolete, but in one form or another is always present in the consciousness of mankind at all stages of history. Linear and cyclic time are not opposed, but complement each other. Signs, proverbs and sayings, images of the “arrow of time”, “wheel of fortune”, “Departure-Return” are still used.

Despite the very long history of knowledge of the properties of time, it still remains mysterious, acts inexorably and requires special caution from a person.

In 1905, the writer Andrei Bely noticed the 12-year cycle of Russian history of the 20th century, noting the significance of the “year of the snake”, predicting significant events in 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953.

Economist D. Kondratiev identified cycles of history lasting approximately 50 years.

The cyclical nature of world history was also noticed by many cultural scientists. The concept of a cycle was used by the Italian philosopher D. Vico in his work “Foundations of a new science of the general nature of nations”; N. Y. Danilevsky in the book “Russia and Europe”; historian A. Toynbee, sociologist P. A. Sorokin and others.

An interesting calculation of the cycles of human creative activity was presented by researcher A. Zhabin. Having examined 11,842 biographies of famous people - from antiquity to modern times, he found that every 15 years there comes a period of maximum activity. At 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 years of age, a person’s creative take-off and renewal of his plans occur. At the age of 75, creative activity was characteristic of Goethe, Leonardo da Vinci, L. Tolstoy, C. Chaplin. A very optimistic prospect for maintaining creative longevity!

A person masters time and treats it differently at different stages of life. When you are young, time seems like an endless distance with a lot to do. In old age, “the clock goes faster”; not only weeks, but also years flash by. In different historical conditions, a person is able to overtake time, becoming incomprehensible to his contemporaries and gaining recognition from future generations.

But another situation is also possible - a lag behind the passage of time, conservation of consciousness and behavior, loss of a sense of reality. In politics, time was used to justify the idea of ​​​​the possibility of acceleration, movement on higher speeds in order to fulfill planned plans ahead of schedule.

In the novel by V. Kataev “Time, forward!” it was seen as a factor capable of hastening, forcing people to work faster, and taking on additional obligations in order to bring the future closer. Time acquired an ideological meaning; it became an accomplice of historical events and plans.

Free use of time is manifested in the practice of combining and postponing holidays, reducing the service life “a year in two,” changing time zones, and switching to seasonal time. Individual perception of time is connected with the rhythms of society.

The subjective perception of time may not correspond to its actual course. With strong emotional stress and extreme concentration, concentration, the sense of time becomes more acute. Time “flies” when a person is in love, passionate or full of impressions. The French philosopher and sociologist J. Gurvich identified eight states of time in modern society: continuous, deceptive, unstable, cyclical, slow, variable, forward, explosive. Cultures compete with each other to choose the appropriate type of time. In addition, there are “macro and micro” structures of time, i.e. the same person can live in different time worlds, moving from one system to another.

Under all circumstances, time is an important resource for the development of society and individuals.

So, we have examined different understandings of culture and its values, value meanings. We revealed its connections with space and time. But no matter how we interpret culture in its value and semiotic aspects, no matter how we understand its anthropological meaning, our understanding of all this is to a certain extent verified and verified historical development what is called culture, one or another vision of the real processes of its emergence and transformation, historical dynamics. And in this regard, culture not only exists, but exists in time, although it itself gives rise to some features of time, relationships with it, and its values.

Naturally, all cultural problems acquire the greatest urgency in the time period that is called modernity, no matter how its essence and specificity are understood.

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Culture can be studied based on the dynamics of socio-historical development, when a change of generations occurs. Each generation masters what it has inherited and continues the inherited activities; at the same time, it changes this activity due to new conditions. In this regard, the concept of “culture” captures the human content aspect of social relations; it can be defined through the objects involved in the process of social production (objects, knowledge, symbolic systems, etc.), ways of activity and interaction of people, mechanisms for organizing and regulating their connections with the environment, criteria for assessing the environment and connections with it. Here culture is understood as a process, result and field for the implementation of human potential at a given time.

Culture acquires social influence, first of all, as a necessary aspect of activity public 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 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.

The history of world culture is based on the concept of the interconnection of the cultures of the world, their interaction. Associated with this concept is the cultural diffusion model, i.e. intercultural borrowing is carried out using the following mechanisms: conquest, when essential elements of a more developed culture are introduced into a less developed culture (weapons technology, elements of strategy, elements of the power structure, certain methods of political integration), peaceful borrowing and voluntary imitation of examples of another culture (art, urbanization, professional specialization, organizational differentiation).

Culture is distinguished by the everyday layer and its specialized spheres - art, religion, philosophy, science, as well as political, economic and legal areas, which are focused both on maintaining social order and ensuring the social significance of people's knowledge and behavior.

World culture is variegated in time and space, inexhaustible in its individual manifestations, amazingly rich in forms, and diverse. In its current state, it is represented by bourgeois and socialist culture, the diverse cultures of developing countries, etc. Along with this, in the modern state of world culture, there are both the peak manifestations of cultural creativity, expressed in the successes of developed science, the latest technologies, achievements of art, and its relict, archaic formations, similar to those that are still found among the aborigines of the Andaman Islands, the wilds of the Amazon or inland areas of New Guinea. The manifestations of culture taken in their past historical existence are even more multifaceted and multicolored. Not to mention the primitive forms of human life at the dawn of history, even starting with the firmly established Sumerian and ancient Egyptian cultures, the gaze of the researcher encounters an innumerable number of sometimes almost incompatible facts of cultural existence, the unique originality of the facets and shades of cultural phenomena.

Today, in different parts of the world, original, inimitable, unique cultures live and operate, sometimes so different from each other that you are amazed. In any case, there is no doubt that culture, from its origins to the present day, has never been pattern-monotonous, faceless monotonous, it does not resemble sadly identical, assembly-line serial products.