Narcissistic Culture in Action: Power, Society, Security, Self-Determination
Vasily Skorev
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2022-14.1.1-214-229
Abstract:

A response to the article by P.A. Orekhovsky and V.I. Razumov “The Onset of Narcissistic Culture: Consequences for Education, Science and Politics” is proposed. Agreeing with the theses of this article, the author offers a look at the problems posed from the standpoint of institutional and communication approaches. This approach seems methodologically justified and no less relevant, since the problems posed require a deeper explanation. It is shown that narcissism as a special cultural phenomenon is not only a factor external to the subjects, but is also a factor affecting class and group interests. Narcissistic culture should not be recognized as an object of manipulation, since it decisively affects state institutions, as well as social, economic, political and spiritual spheres. The ability of any cultural phenomenon to orient the state towards a person and his spiritual development is also expressed in the possibility of disorientation. It is proposed to consider narcissistic culture as a result of the influence of the theory of separation of powers introduced into the domestic state-building, which does not always contribute to the preservation of the state’s right to identity, dissimilarity and originality. The choice of such a principle of state development can be explained by the aesthetic ideal and the desire for beauty and perfection. At the same time, ignoring the influence of narcissistic culture on the relations of executive, legislative and judicial functions of state power, it is impossible to determine the state of group and class interests and the ways of further development of the state, security of its citizens. The influence of narcissistic culture on the activities of state institutions and authorities does not contribute to their consolidation and unification to solve current problems and ensure the real public interests of modern society and each of its members. The culture of narcissism, being a complex social phenomenon, has affected almost all spheres of human existence; from the psychological foundations of intimate relationships to the philosophical understanding of the structure of society. Personalization, narcissism, and the experience of inner emptiness are accompanied by depression, cruelty, indifference, lack of mercy and reverence for the world around them. The connection between narcissism and the materialization of thinking, the influence of the philosophy of science and technology on interference in human nature and its habitat is substantiated. The ways of getting out of narcissistic captivity and filling the deficit of a favorable attitude to oneself are proposed. The author concludes that youth, one of the properties of narcissistic culture, is a strong external factor capable of restoring the ability to live objectively here and now.

Narcissism оr Necrophilia?
Svetlana Zhuravleva
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2022-14.1.1-230-244
Abstract:

Abstract

The subject of this article is the concepts, method and cultural theses contained in the article by Orekhovsky P.A., Razumov V.I. “The Onset of Narcissistic Culture: Consequences for Education, Science, Politics”, published in the 13th volume of the journal “Ideas and Ideals” (No. 3, Part 1, 2021). The authors’ arbitrary use of the basic concepts of ‘high’ culture and ‘narcissistic’ culture is shown. The philosophical methodology in the article is basically absent and replaced by a kind of ‘cultural method’, the essence of which is similar to a postmodern game of concepts, where everything is connected with everything and can be explained as the author pleases.

The main statements of the authors are subjected to critical analysis, namely:

1) the criterion of ‘high’ culture is recognition by the majority of humanity;

2) the mass culture of the twentieth century, contrary to the criticism of philosophers, is a high culture;

3) organization of life and leisure in an industrial capitalist society is an example of a rational organization of life;

4) the service of the spiritual production institutions to the people is an ordinary, banal factor of mass culture in general (including Western);

5) in modern culture there has been an ‘epochal shift’ towards social narcissism;

6) individualism in entrepreneurship, the destruction of classical standards of hierarchy and discipline in education, the transformation of politics into a theater with the support of the ‘silent majority’ and the absence of protest moods, the popularity of a healthy lifestyle are signs of an inevitably narcissistic culture;

7) ‘cultural (or social) narcissism’ can be ‘healthy’.

In conclusion, the thesis is substantiated that a more accurate psychoanalytic definition of the social trends of modern culture will not be narcissism, but necrophilia, which manifests itself in the preference of the dead, soulless and mechanistic, orderly - to all living, rampantly growing, disordered and uncontrolled.

Аnthropological Description of a Modern Urban Wedding
Ksenia Yarushina
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.3.2-373-388
Abstract:

The article applies K. Geertz scientific approach of ‘detailed description’ to a modern urban wedding. The work is based on materials of field research into the marriage practices among young Perm families. The research techniques included semi-formal interviews and case-studies of 26 persons (13 families) during the period 2016-2020. These qualitative methods were necessary to get information about an important life event: from the first meeting a future partner to the wedding ceremony. Such methods helped identify cultural bases for the bride and groom’s practices. The paper provides a detailed interpretation of only one case, consisting of several narrative sections. Every narrative is a personal view of the participant at the wedding ceremony. The narrative “wedding as a drama” shows a woman’s interpretation of the celebration. The bride’s story has some negative connotations. The bride expresses rejection of the wedding procedure and some of its attributes. The narrative “wedding as a holiday” represents the man’s view. The groom’s comments contain mostly positive connotations. His story highlights the status elements of the celebration. He stresses his family’s contribution to the wedding ceremony. Analyzing both narratives, an additional aspect of the topic was explored: “wedding as a parents’ project”. It shows the older generation’s role in the organization of the wedding. In addition, the paper describes some stories which are repeated in the narratives, including various forms of objectification, gender roles in the young family, and shifting of social roles.

Performative Function of Voice in Early Speech Acts
Antonina Ledovskikh
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.3.2-313-323
Abstract:

This study is aimed at the early practice of speech (or speech acts) as a functional tool in performative constructions, which can be considered as an integral part of the cultural heart and the reflection of an important semantic and pragmatic connection between the intentions and actions in mythical thinking. This way of thinking created images on the interpretation of the world as a system determined by supreme forces (gods). Communication of people with higher forces as an early speech practice of Indo-European cultures is traced in ancient prayers, rituals, incantations, spells, etc. They not only reflect the fixed language formulae which are a base of a cultural matrix but also offer a whole picture of the mythical thinking functioning. The following fundamental cultural phenomena are noted: the power of the word, as a primary vocal image; the act of assigning a name as giving birth to a creature (what is not named, does not exist), voice as a ritual constitutive force in prayers, and in the tabooing. The study of performative constructions in ancient Indo-European language data (Avesta, Upanishads, Edda, Old /New Testaments, Old Church Slavonic, and Anglo-Saxon spells) has revealed a strong relation of the functional power of voice to the ritual actions, which reflect in the traditional performative constructions - first person singular verbs: 1) prayers - I pray, I ask; 2) naming - I name, I give a name; 3) actions taken during incantation - I stretch out [my hands], I order; 4) and also the representation of voice as a divine being, which reflects in the concept of true godly knowledge and corresponds with the physical ability to attract attention and ask to follow with voice. In early performative practice, to legitimize the action it must be followed with words said out loud properly. And this interdependent phenomenon forms the heart of culture.

Multiculturalism as the Basis for the Formation of Legal Consciousness in the Period of Antiquity
Tamara Rubantsova
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.3.2-324-336
Abstract:

The relevance of the study of the formation of legal consciousness in the ancient period lies in the lack of study of this phenomenon from the point of view of multiculturalism in the process of the formation of ancient legal consciousness. The ancient world of antiquity developed in conditions of multiculturalism, yet researchers hardly pay any attention to this side of the development of society. Ancient legal consciousness had a difficult and long process of development, and the problem of its formation is still debatable. The subject of the study is the process of influence of multiculturalism on the formation of legal consciousness in the ancient period, which had passed a long and difficult period of formation, development and design. The article uses the category ‘social representation’, which is used in the analysis of social legal preferences from the point of view of moral values. Law, as a specific social and legal phenomenon closely connected with other forms of regulatory and cultural social systems of various ancient states, was a leading factor in the process of the formation of legal consciousness in the Ancient World. The peoples of the ancient world actively interacted with each other and replenished their legal culture by borrowing the best legal patterns in the process of mutual cultural exchange. Roman lawyers assimilated the best achievements of the law of other peoples, and they were among the first to actively apply the multicultural legal models of other peoples in their legal practice. The ideas of ancient society concerning law differed from our modern understanding. They were based on cosmic harmony, justice, duty and morality. These ancient legal patterns are entrenched in stereotypes of the mentality of society, cultural patterns of antiquity, and with their help the process of forming a legal consciousness through the acculturation of legal consciousness takes place. Philosophical ideas about the law of Ancient Greece go back to mythology, however, it was these mythological ideas about divine justice, duty, morality in the process of cultural exchange, multiculturalism that became the basis for Western legal consciousness, the origins of which lie in Ancient Greece and Rome.

Methodology. The study was carried out using the culturological method in the analysis of the concept of multiculturalism of the formation of ancient legal consciousness. The historical method, analysis and synthesis, abstraction, concretization and generalization were also used.

Mythological Subtext as a Specificity of the Writer’s Idiostyle
Larisa Zakhidova
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.3.2-337-347
Abstract:

The best works of modern literature often have mythological overtones that allow us to raise the deep layers of human experience. Mythologism of the XX - XXI centuries is a wide, complex and contradictory phenomenon, requiring also serious penetration into the linguistics of the text of the studied work.
The analysis of the literary process, from the 19th century to the 21st century, clearly shows that it is traditional to have vocabulary referring the reader to various cultural subtexts, which we call mythopoetic paradigms that have an associative connection with mythological images and are a means of creating mythological subtext, as well as a means of enriching a literary text with additional meanings. Mythopoetic paradigms help in creating the subtext of a work by their ability to evoke certain models, images, whole cultural traditions in the reader’s mind.
A.A. Potebnya believes that the doctrine of ‘mythological devices’ of thought should be given a place in the history of literature: if the previous content of our thought is not a subjective means of cognition, but its source, and the image (being recognized as ‘objective’) is completely transferred into meaning, then in this the case the researcher comes across myth-making. Many myths are generated by the external and especially the internal form of the word.
The research of Yu. M. Polyakov’s texts convincingly shows a mythopoetic type of thinking of this writer, since mythopoetic paradigms are cross-cutting and cover almost all of the author’s texts. In this regard a novel “The Mushroom Tsar” by Yu. M. Polyakov is especially specific.
Yu. M. Polyakov’s works are rich in mythologemes of various types that allows us to talk about his texts within the framework of the neo-mythological tradition, which provides a deep understanding of the writer’s texts and the system of his idiostyle as a whole.

Novosibirsk Contemporary Art in 2009-2019
Irina Kuznetsova
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.3.2-348-372
Abstract:

The work examines the contemporary art scene of Novosibirsk from 2009-2019. In the first part of the article we carry out a sociological analysis of the artistic life of the city and highlight such features as: the prevalence of self-organized forms of art presentation over institutional forms, non-publicity and “diffusivity” of a significant part of art practices. We also analyse the influence of these factors on the perception of art and discuss what kinds of methodological challenges they provoke. Further we give a brief overview of some significant exhibitions of the past decade (such as “Siberian Underground. 20 Years Later”, “Repetition of the Untrodden” etc.), examine artistic circles of the city and their transformation from 1990 to our time, discuss principles of their formation and the nature of interactions among them. We also propose a schematic representation of the artistic circles under consideration, their interactions and attractions from a historical point of view. The second part of the article examines the aesthetic features of contemporary art in Novosibirsk from 2009-2019. The transition from the art of the 00s and early 10s to the art of younger generations of the late 10s is characterized by a change in the emotional tonality: from vitality and expressivity to fragile and melancholic sensitivity, from political irony and grotesque to ethical complexity and vulnerability. When considering art of individual artists of the specified period we outline two possible ways of their analysis based on the allocation of a common motive: neo-expressionist and post-conceptual. The first of these is united by the motive of “toys” as a way of working with corporeality and doubleness (for example, in the works of Konstantin Skotnikov, the Cosmonauts art group, Denis Efremov, Alexei Grishchenko, Mayana Nasybullova, etc.). The post-conceptual line is presented through the works of such artists as: Alexander Limarev, Mikhail Karlov, the BERTOLLO art group, Irca Solza. Here we propose a unifying motive of “a game” as a dichotomy of rule systems and their failure that is viewed as an opportunity to conceive another world. In the conclusion of the article, we suggest that such an integrated approach to the analysis of regional art of the last decade is promising.

The Kingdom of Heaven and the Temporal Kingdoms: Controversy between V.S. Solovyov and Antony (Khrapovitsky)
Ksenia Vorozhikhina
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.2.2-369-381
Abstract:

 

The article considers the controversy between philosopher V.S. Solovyov and Antony (Khrapovitsky) on the relationship between the Kingdom of Heaven and temporal kingdoms, i.e. about the relationship between the church and the state. The study touches upon certain biographical moments – the circumstances of the acquaintance and the first meeting of Solovyov and Antony, as well as the history of their personal communication. The article analyzes in detail Antony’s criticism of the book “Russia and the Universal Church”, written in French, which was banned in Russia, examines the dispute between the philosopher and the future church hierarch about the nature of the church, about the essence of Christian love, true Christianity, the essence of papist teaching and the truth and untruth of Catholicism.

The research methodology involves a comprehensive historical and philosophical analysis of sources. In order to analyze the basic concepts discussed in polemics (“church”, “state”, “love”, etc.), to trace the ideas of thinkers, it is necessary to see the integrity of their worldview and views, and for this to carry out a certain synthesis based on the corpus of works, as well as public letters and personal correspondence of the authors. At the same time, philosophical and categorical analysis is required to clarify the discussed ideas and concepts. In addition, the research involved the methods of historical and philosophical reconstruction, comparative analysis, systematization of conclusions and results, as well as historical and biographical analysis.

As a result of the study, the author examines personal relationships between Solovyov and Antony, which remained respectful and friendly, despite the worldview and ideological differences, as well as the controversy of the philosopher and the hieromonk about the Kingdom of God and the temporal kingdoms, about common good and personal salvation. Solovyov’s theocratic project, which presupposes the transformation of the Christian state into a universal church, was unacceptable to Anthony, who believed that church and state should be separated in order to avoid the redemption of the church. If Solovyov is convinced that individual salvation is impossible without concern for the common good, that salvation is carried out in the collective organism of mankind, Antony comes to the conclusion that for a Christian concern for his own soul is primary, and the common good by itself grows around the righteous

Text-Mentative in Russian Literature of the XX-XXI Centuries
Yana Glembotskaya,  Ilya Kuznetcov
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.2.2-382-394
Abstract:

Abstract

The subject of the article is the text-mentative and its functioning in the Russian literature of the XX-XXI centuries. The concept of ‘mentative’ (which appeared in linguistics since the beginning of the XXI century by analogy with ‘narrative’) means a text with a mental reference, dialogically responding to the word and thought of the other. In linguistics, there is a typology of communicative strategies of the mentative in relation to the speech of the other. There are 8 strategies, they are equal logically, but unequal in dialogical and, consequently, heuristic relations.

In Russian fiction, the text-mentative was established in the middle of the XIX century. That was due to the beginning of the stage of convergence of the artistic and non-artistic word in Russian literary evolution. The novel “War and Peace” by L. Tolstoy, containing multiple mentative fragments and entire chapters, became a clear sign of the mentative appearance in fiction. The stage of convergence of the artistic and non-artistic word continued until the end of the XX century, and all this time the specific weight and importance of the mentative in Russian fiction were steadily increasing.

The article shows functioning of the mentative in the ideologically and artistically most important works of Russian literature of the mid – late XX century. These are novels by B. Pasternak “Doctor Zhivago”, A. Bitov “Pushkin’s House”, V. Pelevin “Generation ‘P’”, A. Chudakov “The Mist Falls on the Old Steps”, texts by A. Solzhenitsyn, V. Rasputin, V. Makanin. In all these works, the mentative allows us to formulate the key thoughts for the self-consciousness of the XX century Russian literature: morality, truth, the meaning of life and the danger of consumerism. In the XXI century, in the works by M. Kucherskaya, E. Chizhova, E. Vodolazkin, the mentative also occupies a large place, appearing in ideologically important fragments of works.

As a result of the above, it is concluded that the role of the mentative in Russian literature of the XX century was steadily increasing. The authors of the article suppose that we witness starting of the stage of mental thematization of writing in the Russian literary evolution in the XXI century.

The Knightly Ideal of N.A. Berdyaev and the World War
Vladimir Boyko
DOI: 10.17212/2075-0862-2021-13.2.2-395-417
Abstract:

The knightly ideal of N.A. Berdyaev is one of the major components of his creativity: “the spirit of chivalry” is a unique alternative to “the spirit of the bourgeois”, to “world philistinism” and total, self-sufficing, godless statehood. Berdyaev believes in the great historic mission of Russia – to become a connecting link between the East and the West, to unite two streams of world history. The First World War adds an urgency to these themes. The Russian thinker interprets this war as an epoch of great tests, hopes that it will lead to spiritual awakening of Russia, will give courage and nobleness to the Russian people, provide the Russian person with attributes of the knight. Berdyaev is convinced of the necessity of qualitative changes of Russian national consciousness and being. War as a phenomenon of a spiritual order shows that only spiritual power can eradicate violence in the world. According to the well-known concept of “the new Middle Ages”, the barbarity of war overcomes bourgeois decadence and opens the potential of the humane person; war expands culture horizons, opens new resources. Russia needs people of dignity and honour, people who realize the greatness of divine power. Russian society should join the world civilization; internally accept Christian revelations about humanity. Berdyaev confirms that the idea of knightly service is anticipated in Christian morality, it’s crucially important for the history of personal formation. The precondition of success of the historic world mission of Russia is the liberation of the ‘Russian soul’ from domination of womanly, natural, potentially chaotic elements. The problem of choosing between the East and the West, declares Berdyaev, defines the fate of Russia. Russian national consciousness should accept the cultural heritage of the West imminently. Only focusing on the self-forged knightly courage and responsible creative personality will allow Russia to change spiritually, and successfully solve problems on a global historical scale.