INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CULTURAL RESEARCH

Anatoliy ALEKSEEV-APRAKSIN

St.Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Associate Professor of Institute of Philosophy
St.Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design, Professor of Higher School of Printing and Media Technologies
Doctor of Science (Cultural Studies)

Perspectives of the Network Paradigm in the Study of Transcultural Processes

The modern world is moved by intercultural contacts. It is enriched through interactions and adoptions; revived by collisions; developed by the convergence of meanings and unions of the "different." The intensity of these processes today is stimulated by increasing the mobility of people and the development of mass communication. Emerging conditions contribute to the formation of new types of solidarity between representatives of different cultures and the implementation of transcultural projects that are more difficult subject to study through traditional methods of sociology, religious studies and other humanities and social sciences. In search of required research approaches, the author turns to the network interdisciplinary paradigm where it is more important to understand not the categories of “what”, “where”, and “when”, but “what is the basis” and “how it is supported” regarding relations between subjects and objects to be assigned some purport. The article gives an idea about the evolution of network analytics in various fields of scientific knowledge. The key theoretical concepts, patterns, and effects of networks are revealed, such as synergy, emergentism, cluster structures, cultural hubs, etc. The possibility of using various parameters of the network topology and the dynamics of connectivity in cultural studies is demonstrated with a specific instance. In the new perspectives, the international transcultural Buddhist organization Diamond Way of the Karma Kagyu tradition which has been in demand in fifty countries around the world is being analyzed. The focus of the study is on the Russian component of this network. In conclusion, arguments confirming the adequacy of this approach in the study of not only Buddhist international organizations but also of Buddhism in general, are presented. It is assumed that this approach and research methods can be effective with others, not only religious materials. The questions that can be already answered are formulated, and areas of research in which questions are not even voiced are indicated.

Key words: transcultural, transnational types of solidarity, network paradigm, connectivity, graph theory, cluster structure, network scale, network development dynamics, modern Buddhism.

References

Boris SOKOLOV

St. Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Institute of Philosophy
Professor, Doctor of Science (Philosophy)

Dai Chuang

St. Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Institute of Philosophy
Postgraduate Student

Chinese and European Garden: the Condensation of Two Symbolic Worlds and Two Types of «Viewpoint»

Any phenomenon of our reality is constituted as condensation of "optics" of our consciousness and infected with symbolism of cultural tradition. This symbolism, embedded in objects, phenomena, events, etc., makes it difficult to interpret and understand, because to clarify it, it is necessary to clarify the main dispositions of the culture, of which it is the part. As an example of such clarification of differences in the nomenclature of symbols and their cultural meaning, the article provides a comparative analysis of landscape art of European culture and culture of China. The phenomenon of the European Park (on the example of the so-called French and English types of parks) is, according to the authors, a demonstration of the main dispositives of European culture, namely, the dominance of the subject, the mathematization (geometrism) of reality, total control (method). Unlike the European Park, the Chinese Park (on the example of the so-called private garden Park), the Chinese phenomenon has a completely different symbolic set and reflects a completely different position and "optics of consciousness": a different understanding of change, the lack of position of the subject, saturated symbolism.

Key words: Chinese private garden, French Park, English Park, symbolism, cultural phenomenon, comparative analysis.

References

Boris KUTSENKO

Independent Researcher, Moscow, Russia
PhD in Philosophy

Early Neoplatonism as a Manifestation of Syncretism of Indian and Greek Philosophy

The article discusses the historical conditions that contributed to the intensification of the process of syncretism of the civilizations of the East and the West in the Hellenistic period. Using the Plotinus Enneads as an example, the work examines the penetration of the Indian cultural tradition into Greek philosophy. The analysis of this source allows to reveal whole layers of similar positions concerning ontology, gnoseology and normative anthropology of the studied Greek and Indian philosophical schools. Similar descriptions of philosophical concepts using identical allegories, preserving the same order in the presentation of the same processes, are revealed. The study of similar elements in the work of Plotinus and Vedic philosophical thought revealed both explicit forms of syncretism associated with the penetration of Indian philosophy into the Greek cultural tradition in the Hellenistic period, and the presence of the initial identity of some orthodox positions of the Greek and Indian directions of a single Indo-European culture.

Key words: Plotinus, Enneads, Indian philosophy, soul, metempsychosis, metaphysics, true man, pramanavada, buddha dharma.

References

Evgeniy SOKOLOV

St. Petersburg State University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Institute of Philosophy
Doctor of Science (Philosophy), Professor

Swami Vivekananda and Romain Rolland (Extravaganza of Distortion and Falsification)

The article is devoted to the problem of correlation of one cultural and historical tradition with another, as well as how "semantic injections" are carried out, through which the inevitable non-authentic invested primary culture "receptive zones" appear. S. Vivekananda is one of the key figures in spreading the ideas of Europeans about India and Indian spiritual and religious experience. R. Rolland is an active popularizer of ideas and initiatives Of S. Vivekananda. In many ways, thanks to these figures, a false impression was created about the possibility of comprehending the "Indian" (its correct hermeneutic recoding) as such, in fact, there was another assimilation of the Foreign experience into the European context, the absorption of the former by the latter. The article analyzes the most important texts of S. Vivekananda, which set out his own interpretation of the Indian religious and philosophical tradition, and R. Rolland's works devoted to the life and teachings of the Indian. In both cases, there is not so much adequate, i.e. correct in relation to the transmitted, translation of the principal semantic canons of one thought practice (Indian, in particular – Vedanta) into another (European-Christian), as adaptation of the first under the regimes of the second, which, as a result, inevitably leads to the destruction of the primary source. Thus, there is no sense in any interaction, let alone mutual influence or understanding, between East and West.

Key words: Swami Vivekananda, Romain Rolland, Vedanta, Christianity, the world's Parliament of religions, ecumenism, East, West, cross-cultural interactions.

References

Boris EROKHIN

The Karmapa International Buddhist Institute, New Delhi, India
Lecturer

Vajrayana and Hindu Tantrism

The history of the interaction and coexistence of Hindu (especially Ṥaiva) and Buddhist tantras currently is an actively debated problem, far from final resolution due to the regular appearance of new sources and approaches. This line of research is highly relevant since it demonstrates the patterns of interreligious interaction that remain topical today. The article attempts to create an adequate picture of the process of emergence, formation and flourishing of Tantrism in the 5th - 12th centuries with adjustments to the established scholarly patterns of interaction between Ṥaivist and Buddhist tantras, especially in the perspective of madhyamaka and cittamatra philosophical schools’ influence on advaita-vedanta. Of particular importance for determining the origins of Tantrism is the way of interpretation of the few facts known for us since the early Middle Ages. Concerning the later interreligious interactions of various sects and traditions of medieval India, much more information has been accumulated so that one can suggest the three forms of coexistence - borrowing, rivalry, and violence, the latter being spread far more than peaceful forms of cooperation; finally, it led to the disappearance of Buddhism on the plains of India.

Key words: interreligious relations, tantra, mantrayana, shaivism, shaktism, medieval India, Brahmanism, Vajrayana, network paradigm.

References

Konstantin SHAROV

M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Faculty of Philosophy
Philosophy Department Senior Lecturer, PhD in Philosophy

Points of similarity of Russian and Singaporean cultural narratives: ethno-national, linguistic, religious and gender scopes

The cultural parallelism between Russia and Singapore in the ethno-national, linguistic, religious and gender spheres, is analysed in the paper. The purpose of the work is to identify similarities in these areas in cultural stereotypes, national mentality and legislation of the two countries in question and to offer an explanation for such an astonishing cultural parallelism. The research methodology includes a comparative method of studying cultural symbols, images, narratives and legislation of Russia and Singapore. As a result of the analysis, it is revealed that our countries really demonstrate surprising and striking similarity in the considered four areas of culture with almost complete cultural divergence in other areas. A hypothesis is proposed, according to which this similarity can be explained by the common Eurasian heritage of Russian and Singapore cultures. These four spheres of life and law go back to Yasa (Mongolian code of laws) and are directly derived from it. The codification of these spheres of life was an extremely urgent task for the Mongolian government of the 13th century, which advanced a task to create a single legal and cultural space at the giant Eurasian territory. It is concluded that fixed in law ethno-national indulgence, extreme religious tolerance, linguistic multiculturalism and at the same time traditionalism in relation to marriage, family, growing up children and the sphere of gender social roles, cold attitude to feminist and LGBT discourse in modern Russia and Singapore, are historically predetermined by the common Eurasian mentality and Mongolian cultural heritage of the peoples inhabiting modern Russia and Singapore.

Key words: Russia, Singapore, intercultural parallelism, cultural stereotype, national idea, ethno-national legislation, religion, linguistic legislation, Yasa, gender, gender legislation, gender stereotypes, gender social roles, family, family legislation.

References

Surun-Khanda SYRTYPOVA

Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences (IOS RAS), Moscow, Russia
Leading Researcher, Doctor of Science (History)

Metamorphosis or Convergence: Zanabazar’s Code and Web Ideogram of Like Sign

The first Buddhist ruler of Mongolia Bogdo Gegen Jebzun Damba Khutuhta Zanabazar (1635-1723) is famous as a great artist apart from his educational, religious and political activities. The researchers call him Mongolian Michelangelo, since the sculptural works of the artist are remaining unsurpassed masterpieces of Buddhist sculpture art of the new time. Zanabazar managed to create his own unique art style, where the not only Buddhist iconographic ideals were embodied but also the view, beliefs and aesthetics of the Central Asia's nomads were miraculously survived. His artistic activity was an organic fusion of the philosophical depth of the ancient Indian teachings of the Buddha and the expression of the artistic traditions of the Scythian-Siberian animal style.
The papers present methodological approaches of the identification of national and individual style in the Buddhist fine art on the example of the works of the great Mongolian artist Zanabazar (1635-1723). The ancient nomadic pictorial traditions of Central Asia mingled with the power of his talent to portend the new history of the Mongols, when the ferocious warrior transformed into a contemplative philosopher under the influence of Buddhism. Art-intrigue is that the archaic signs of the Mongolian seals - tamga, which served for Zanabazar as an aesthetic "brick" and skeleton of its creations, are coinciding with some code meanings of the contemporary.

Key words: Zanabazar, Mongolian art style, sources of iconography, golden spiral, elements, ever, erkhiy of the national ornament, web ideogram of like sign.

References

Liubov IAKOVLEVA

St. Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russia
Institute of Philosophy
Junior Lecturer, PhD in Philosophy

Reception of Philosophy of G. Deleuze and F. Guattari in Japanese Architecture in the Second Half of XX Century

This research presents an interpretation of reception of philosophy of G. Deleuze and F. Guattari in architectural theory of Japanese architects in the 80-s. The aim of the article is comparative and hermeneutic analysis of spatial constants in Japanese and European cultures. Such concepts as rhizome, machine, lines of flight, chaosmos were very popular for Japanese architects in 1980-s. Ideas of metabolism and symbiosis of Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, projects and interviews between S. Takamatsu and F. Guattari are used to compare classical European spatial paradigm, Japanese tradition and its transformation in XX century. Interaction of Japanese architects with French thinkers opened up the possibility of dialogue not only between different cultures but also between different types of describing the space: architectural and philosophical. The article considers problems of variability and heterogeneity in architectural buildings; the possibility of its interaction with cultural landscape; a rejection of universal topological model. In this regard the concepts of desubjectivation and autonomization of space deserve special attention in dialogues of F. Guattari and S. Takamatsu. This problem in projects of 80-s concerns the status of modern architecture in it’s algorithmic, digital and nonhuman dimension in XXI century.

Key words: japanese architecture, metabolism, symbiosis, K. Kurokawa, rhizome, G. Deleuze, F. Guattari, machines, desubjectivization, S. Takamatsu.

References

Anna BERTOVA

St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia Institute of Philosophy
Senior Lecturer, PhD in Religion Studies

The Samurai and Christianity: on the Question of Social Affiliation of Japanese Christians in the Second Half of the XIX Century

In the second half of the XIX century numerous Christian missionaries, mainly Protestant, came into Japan. First Japanese converts and leaders of the growing Christian community mostly belonged to the samurai warrior class. The main goal of the article is to find out the reasons of popularity of Christianity among representatives of the samurai and to analyze specific features of their reception of Christian faith. Christianity was regarded by young samurai intellectuals as the main reason of the progress of Western countries, so by converting to Christianity they tried to help the development of their own country. Confucian moral principles were not inconsistent with Christianity, and the idea of revering single God was close to the concept of the samurai’s serving to the master deriving from Bushido, ethical code of a warrior. However, eventually many samurai Christians came to the idea of creating a variant of Christianity for the Japanese, different from the Western one. As a result, a number of indigenous Christian movements combining Christian principles with the concepts of traditional Japanese religions emerged. The main idea they propagated was the uniqueness of Japanese culture and messianic role of Japan in spreading true Christianity around the world.

Key words: Christianity, Japan, Protestantism, samurai class, intellectuals, bushido, traditional Japanese religions, Shintoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, indigenous Christian movements, uniqueness of Japanese culture.

References

Yuri SMERTIN

Kuban State University, Krasnodar, Russia
Professor, Doctor of Science (History)

In Gyu KIM

Kuban State University, Krasnodar, Russia
Postgraduate Student

The Foundation of Korean Protestantism: the Translation of the Bible into the National Language

The history of Korean Protestantism is no more than a century and a half. In this short time, it turned into a religion that is not only rooted in Korea, but is now spreading throughout the world through the efforts of Korean missionaries. The article examines the initial stage of dissemination and adaptation of Protestantism in Joseon, opened to external influences in the 80-ies of the XIX century. It deals with activities of the first missionaries, who sought to work in close contact with the lower classes of Korean society. The striking success of the new religion is largely due to the fact that the missionaries started their activities with the translation of the Bible into Hangul, the national written language, which was considered the educated class as a vulgar one. In addition, based on their attitudes, they allowed Koreans to interpret the Bible in accordance with their own cultural traditions and themselves sought parallels with local religious beliefs. The author comes to the conclusion that the translation of the Holy Scriptures in Korea had an important historical and cultural significance: many Koreans in Protestant churches for the first time gained access to literacy; the Hangul was perfected by the efforts of translators; the Protestant labor ethic became part of the Korean mentality; through the Bible and missionary schools, Koreans became acquainted with democratic ideas. All this, multiplied by nationalism, contributed to the further creation of a political nation, looking to the future.

Key words: Bible, Korea, Christianity, Catholicism, Protestant Church, missionaries, translator, Hangul, evangelism, proselytism, Neo-Confucianism, traditional culture, Korean Bible.

References

Polina KOMAROVSKAYA

St. Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russia
Institute of Philosophy
Junior Lecturer, PhD in Cultural Studies

Marxism-Leninism Ideologists Images in the Chinese XXth Century Political Poster and their Place in the Mao Zedong Personality Cult

Propaganda poster has reflected the hightights of twentieth century PRC politics. It was based on Mao Zedong personality cult, which stands on the cults of Marxism-Leninism ideologists – K. Marx, F. Engels, V. Lenin, J. Stalin. The Chinese political poster developed under the direct influence of Soviet art, from which Chinese artists borrowed Mao Zedong iconography foundations. In the course of time it acquired individual features that were not typical for Soviet socialist realism. They appeared due to the political line changes. The origins of these traits can be traced in Chinese traditional art, despite the fact that it was considered a relic of the past. An important place in the Chinese political poster was occupied by the image of an overhuman, in whose role Mao Zedong was most often represented. Among the ideologists of Marxism-Leninism, Chinese poster artists commonly chose the images of Stalin and Marx, while Lenin was rather rare, and the image of Engels practically never met. In the form of an overhuman, other characters could also appear: except the Marxism-Leninism ideologists, it could be collective ideal images, or real "model" personalitiesи.

Key words: Marxism, Leninism, personality cult, PRC, Mao Zedong, political poster, J. Stalin, K. Marx, V. Lenin. Socialist realism.

References

Julia MALTSEVA

St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia Institute of Philosophy
Senior Lecturer, PhD in Philosophy

Theater as an Object and the Object at the Theater (on the Example of Receptions of the Stanislavsky System by Chinese Theater)

This article analyzes some aspects of the reception carried out by the Chinese drama theater with respect to the «Stanislavsky system». It is demonstrated as the complexity of the perception of psychological theater by the tradition of the theater of plastic, non-dramatic tradition in essence devoid of psychologism, and ideological and metaphysical «stress points» formed in relation to the «system» during the Cultural Revolution in the PRC. The article also analyzes the prerequisites for the mechanics of implementing Stanislavsky “system” by Chinese theatrical traditions in the period preceding the Cultural Revolution, during the Cultural Revolution, and focuses on the impact that the Cultural Revolution made on the process of perception, analysis, popularity, teaching, studying the “system”. Wider systemic conclusions are also being made regarding the correlation of things in the theater in comparison with the western theater and the eastern theater; in the context of the Cultural Revolution, it is shown how theater can be taken as a thing, and demonstrates its universalistic essence, which breaks through the limits of thingness, plasticity, and figurativeness.

Key words: cultural Revolution, Peking opera, theater, Stanislavsky system.

References

Vlada KOROLEVA

Independent Researcher, Saint Petersburg, Russia

The Usage of Traditional Chinese Calendar-Poster Yuefenpai at Advertising of International Companies in China in the First Half of XXth Century

The article discusses the traditional Chinese calendar poster Yuefenpai, as a cross-cultural phenomenon in the Chinese advertising market in the first half of the 20th century. Yuefenpai, as one of the symbols of China in the 20th century, is not only part of the cultural heritage of China, but also serves as a rich source for cross-cultural research. Yuefenpai, as an advertising poster that was introduced by foreigners to Chinese consumers, allows us to analyze how the interaction of cultures creates new cultural images, and how the existing change.
The author considers the situation in the political and public life of China, which led to the possibility of the emergence of this new advertising genre. By analyzing Chinese and foreign sources, the author tries to determine what influence Chinese and Western cultures had on the formation of the image of Yuefenpai. In the course of studying the advertising samples and theoretical sources, the author tries to establish what impact on the society, economy, culture, art, and the development of modern Chinese advertising had Yuefenpai.

Key words:Yuefenpai, nianhua, pin-up, calendar-poster, advertising, Chinese advertising, East-West, transnational companies, cross-cultural research, company, Chinese culture.

References

Nataliya SHMELEVA

Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Associate Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences
Ph.D. in Philology

Alisher SAIMIDDINOV

Kozma Minin Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences
Postgraduate Student

The Metamorphosis of Cultural Self-Identification

The influence of cross-cultural communications on contemporary human consciousness is considered in this article. Intercultural dialogue has become an integral part of the cultural space, and therefore acculturation brings to the surface those layers of culture that were previously hidden. The main lines of the development of intercultural interactions are: interaction with modern cultures, interaction with cultures in historical retrospect and interaction with an imaginary culture created on the basis of existing cultural variety and on the man’s need to create an ideal culture for oneself. The possibility of varying cultural values is largely determined by visual practices in art, where a person turns out to be an actor/co-actor of a new culture, built on rational values. Acculturation is associated not so much with the comprehension of a foreign culture, as with the desire of a person to create/contemplate other cultural worlds in which he can feel freedom from culture and take a fresh look at it from the perspective of the Other, which becomes a cause to rethink the tradition. In a situation of convergence between real and imaginative cultures, there is not so much a rejection of one’s own culture, but an expansion of its possibilities. Visual practices of an innovative understanding of cultural material represent the fundamental process of producing meanings and affects, and erasing cultural boundaries becomes the basis for changing the qualitative characteristics of culture and for expanding the space of culture from the sphere of reality to the sphere of hyperreality and postreality, where the role of man turns out to be above traditions.

Key words: intercultural identity, postcultural identity, acculturation, visual culture, postmodern, tradition, imaginary.

References

Lyudmila KLYUKINA

Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russia
Institute of History, Political and Social Sciences, Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies
Professor, Doctor of Science (Philosophy)

Uses of Notions “Mytheme” and “Mythologeme” in Modern Russian Philosophy of Culture

This article explores how such notions as “mytheme” and “mythologeme” are used in modern Russian philosophy of culture, and how they lay the foundation for new discourses at the intersection of philosophy and culture. As these terms are borrowed from foreign philosophy, author of this article unravels the original substance contained in mytheme and mythologeme. In Russian philosophical tradition, these terms have been used in works studying the irrational foundations of culture, which is why their substance has not been clearly defined. Having analyzed the usage of notions “mytheme” and “mythologeme”, the author reached the following conclusions. “Mytheme” has not taken hold in the research vocabulary of modern Russian philosophers. This is explained by certain difficulties with the construction of a methodology that would be able to identify mytheme as a relationship between various levels of system of communication, where archetypes of the collective unconscious are interpreted. “Mythologeme”, in its turn, is commonly used by researchers to identify a universal of consciousness, as well as a unique method of modeling reality. “Mythologeme” can also be used for developing a strategy, the implementation of which enables the researcher to appeal to acts of consciousness that constructs the objective reality within its own laws, as well as to the object that is itself constructed through acts of consciousness.

Key words: archetype, myth, mytheme, mythologeme, culture, structure of consciousness, philosophy of culture, discourse at the intersection of philosophy and culture.

References

Irina BYKHOVSKAYA

Moscow City Pedagogical University, Moscow, Russia
Institute of Natural Sciences and Sport Technologies
Professor, Doctor of Science (Philosophy)

Irina LYULEVICH

Moscow City Pedagogical University, Moscow, Russia
Institute of Natural Sciences and Sport Technologies
Associate Professor, PhD in Pedagogical Studies

Axiology of Human Body and Health: Verticals and Horizontals of Cross-Cultural Analysis

The article deals with such direction of cross-cultural research as the analysis of body culture and health culture, including body / physical education closely related to it. This segment of society’s life is so far very limited, if we compare it with other subject areas of cross-cultural analysis in the space of cultural researches in Russia. This situation is largely determined by deep roots, the traditional (for a long time) opposition between “high” (internal), i.e. truly cultural components of person, and his "low" (external) characteristics. This position has also found its reinforcement (in our country) in the moral and ideological canons of the Soviet era. However, the “rehabilitation” of body which has taken place in recent decades produced its coming back as a subject of socio-humanitarian studies.
Based on the results accumulated both by the investigations in culturological studies and in related scientific fields (ethnology, sociology of health, etc.), as well as considering the prospects for studying this topic, the article substantiates the social actuality and scientific relevance of the development of “cultural somatology”, including cross-cultural analysis of body and health culture (with an emphasis on the axiological component). The article includes three subsections reflecting such directions as: cross-temporal /“vertical” comparison of the axiology of body in different cultural epochs; cross-cultural analysis of the values of body and health in a “horizontal” dimension, in particular, through their comparison in research conducted in Western and Eastern parts of Europe; comparative analysis of approaches and programs for the physical culture formation that reflects the concepts and practices developed in different European countries.

Key words: cross-cultural research, cross-time analysis, cultural factors, physical education, body, body culture, axiology of body, physical culture, health, health culture, lifestyle, education, sports, active leisure.

References

Marya GURYANOVA

M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Faculty of Philosophy
Department of History and Theory of World Culture
Postgraduate Student

The Fashion Body: Reconsidering of Corporeality in the Field of Vestimentary Fashion Through the Discourse of the Master

The aim of this article is to reconsider the status of the body in the vestimentary fashion. This paper is based on the hypothesis that the phenomenon of fashion in Western European society arose in the Middle Ages with underlining of bodily boundaries in clothes. It is the introduction of corporality into the discourse of fashion that has launched the process of incessant changes in fashion, which in its vestimentary forms transform the boundaries of the private body by imposing new boundaries of social identity – social body as the canon of "correct" representation of the body in a particular historical period. The relations between the individual's private body and the social body, imposed by fashion, are analyzed in this article through the discourse of the master. In relation to the phenomenon of fashion, it allows us to reconsider how the process of alienating one's identity in favor of the Other as inherent part of fashion, which was originally part of the feudal vassal system of service from being compulsory and mandatory was transformed into a matter of desire in the context of consumption.

Key words: body, identity, fashion, Other, master signifiers, social body, Master’s discourse, object a, consumption, alienation.

References

Elena BLAGORODOVA

Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia
Institute of Philosophy and Social and Political Studies
Associate Professor, PhD in Philosophy

The Identity of the Victim: a New Trend of Culture (Theoretical Analysis)

The article is devoted to the analysis of the problem of the formation of the identity of the victim as a new cultural trend. The author supposes we can name the modern culture as victims culture. Nowadays practically everybody calls himself or himself as a victim who solves this or that problem. «Victim» becomes a desired from of an identity both individual and collective levels. In modern realities a victim is not a real sufferer but a person who can get some benefit from it. The main problems of transformation of modern culture are considered in this article which lead to the formation of this problem. The phenomenon of victim an construction if identity are investigated through the prism of analysis of social, political and family factors. Development of democracy, appearance of the Net, transformation if the family relations are considered by the author as a part of reasons forming a mass worldview based on complaints. Getting a victim status, a person achieves, different benefits and realize his or her wishes. Identity of the victim becomes a desired construction and its main problem is to get benefit in an easy way, but not a searching of justice and punishment. Complaint becomes a style of peoples life and leads to distortion of interpersonal relationships and the harmonious development of the society as a whole. Its dangerous that having a victim status is modern and even prestigious. Modern means of communication provide a person with a mass audience and the opportunity to talk about their misfortune in public speaking. Its difficult to understand who is a real victim and who attributes this status specially for themselves in this situation. A theoretical analysis of this problem is provided based on current sources the main signs of identity of victims are found out, sequence of transformation and construction of this identity in modern Russian culture. The following conclusion is drawn its necessary to avoid of identity of victim in fight for justice and own rights for the formation of a harmonious and holistic personality.

Key words: identity, hero, victim, victimhood, victim culture.

References

Vadim PROZERSKIJ

St. Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russia
Institute of Philosophy
Professor, Doctor of Science (Philosophy)

Cluster Analysis of Non-Classical Aesthetics

The article concerns the intercultural clusters of non-classical aesthetic practice and the first steps of creation of non-classical aesthetic theory in the late XIX - early XX century. The first step was made by the introduction by A. Riegl of the concept of “artistic will”, which explained the reasons for the departure of the late Roman artistic culture from classical principles. A follower of A. Riegl W. Worringer, discovered in the history of art two intentional tendencies: the will to form and the will to abstraction. His discovery coincided with the time of the emergence of non-figurative art of the twentieth century. An important role in the creation of non-classical aesthetics was also played by the English philosopher and art historian G. Reed, who showed that a new trend in art was based on the traditions of three artistic cultures – Russian, German and Dutch, represented by V. Kandinsky, P. Klee, P. Mondrian. The author concludes that non-classical aesthetics should occupy an equal position with classical in modern philosophy of art.

Key words: classical aesthetics, non-classical aesthetics, cluster, style in art, non-figurative art.

References

Dimitry SPIVAK

D. S. Likhachev Russian Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Russia
Head of Center for Basic Studies in the Sphere of Culture
Human Brain Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
Principal Research Fellow
Doctor of Science (Philology)

Natalia SHEMIAKINA

I.M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry,
Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
Senior Researcher
PhD in Biology

Zhanna NAGORNOVA

I.M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry,
Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
Researcher
PhD in Biology

Nelli SAMUS

Federal Budgetary Health-Care Institution ‘Saint Petersburg Boarding House of Veterans of Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences’,
St. Petersburg, Russia
Head
PhD in Medical Sciences

Andrey ZAKHARCHUK

S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy, St. Petersburg, Russia
Lecturer
PhD in Medical Sciences
St. Petersburg State Institution of Healthcare – Hospice No.1

Irina SPIVAK

Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
Senior Research Fellow
St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of Biology, Associate Professor
St. Petersburg State Politechnical University, Chair of Medical Physics, Associate Professor
PhD in Biology

Psychological Effects of Perception of Traditional Music by Elderly Persons and their Brain Correlates Article 2. Brain Correlates

Electric activity of the brain of 19 Russian-speaking urban dwellers, aged 84±7, was registered in the EEG and ultraslow frequency bands, two times in each case, prior to passing a two-week course of light classical music, and right after it, in ‘eyes closed’ and ‘eyes open’ states. The music course comprised treks of light classical music, which belonged to the realm of cultural heritage of the subjects. Control group was formed by 20 young normal subjects (aged 22±4), who were observed in strictly similar conditions. Thus two of the three basic ‘brain languages’ were studied. The main tendency in the short wave consisted in general reduction of the spectral power of signals. In some cases (alpha-1, alpha-2 brainwaves), this effect proved to be statistically significant. In the other ones (theta, delta, beta EEG activity) the aforementioned reduction, being present, failed to reach the threshold of statistic significance. Taking into account the fact that, judging by psychological tests,, cognitive performance of the aged group improved quite strongly as a result of passing the music course, the aforementioned depression of alpha activity could form part of a specific, energy-saving strategy, providing neural basis for withholding definite level of alertness, which was necessary to provide a certain level of problem solving. In the ultraslow frequency band, spectral power of signals tended to increase in a statistically significant manner in members of the aged group. Both male and female ones followed this common trend, when the registration was done with eyes closed, although in somewhat different ways, which allowed us to suppose possible presence of gender-specific dynamics. When the registration was conducted with eyes open, the aforementioned tendency dominated only in the case of the female part of the aged group, In the case of the male part, the opposite trend prevailed, so that finally both old male brain and old female brain, moving from different sides, reached a common level of activation in the ultraslow frequency band. Thus tendency towards general relaxation of the functional state was most characteristic of old women, when registration was done with both eyes open and closed. As to the male part, this tendency tended to be not so distinct. To sum up, we feel authorized to state that in the EEG frequency band, aged brain tended to be much less agile than the young brain. As to the ultraslow waves, brain activity of the aged group was no less agile than that of the young group, and tended to pursue quite comparable strategies, which were most probably gender-specific. Thus data of the present study support the correctness of joining the study of aged subjects, and of the young ones, in a common paradigm, in terms of both brain science and psychology.

Key words: Perception of music, cultural inheritance, functional state, brain correlates, EEG frequency band, ultraslow frequency band.

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Valeriy SMIRNOV

N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory, St. Petersburg, Russia
Principal Researcher
Doctor of Science (Art Studies), Professor

«Daphnis et Chloé» by Maurice Ravel: Reception of Antique Images in the French Musical Culture at the Beginning of the XX Century

This article is focused on details of the history of creation and premiere of M. Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé”. A compositional constructing process of the score and novelties in spheres of melody, harmony, timbre, and rhythm are analyzed here. Ravel’s mastery on embodying of antique theme in the “choreographic symphony” is seen as one of examples of common trend of the Russian as well as European culture of the border of the 19th–20th centuries with its attention to mythological plots of the Ancient Greece. Ravel’s work, from one side, inherited and developed the experience of the predecessors. From the other side, his artistic findings and independent aesthetic course naturally fit with common flow of searches of new means of musical expression of that time. Thorough analysis of text of the libretto is given here in compare with analogous plots in the French arts, and is complemented with figurative-poetical parallels to the matter of “Podrostok” (“The teen-ager”) by F. Dostoyevsky. In conclusion, it is underlined the significance of the ballet, which summarize the middle period of the composer’s work, as well as its importance in European cultural context from the position of Ravel’s assertion as a France’s national composer, who proved his artistic self-sufficiency.

Key words: Maurice Ravel, C. Debussy, Mikhail Fokin, Sergey Diaghilev, Léon Bakst, “Daphnis et Chloé”, antiquity, ballet.

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