Ideas and Ideals

The article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon "aestheticization of politics". The authors present political aesthetics within the boundaries of "symbolic politics" concept. "Symbolic politics", as a special kind of political communication, fits into the modern context of political life "virtualisation". The aesthetic mode of politics perception is viewed by the authors as socio-cognitive practices that are relevant to modern standards and principles of rationality. The paper studies the discourse of an "information war" in the context of correlative coherence of aesthetic and pragmatic elements of symbolic politics.

The article focuses on the modernism/postmodernism terms definition. The author conceptualizes the two terms in the three theoretical frames. Firstly the dichotomy of modernism/postmodernism is described in the context of artistic practice and aesthetic programs. Secondly the two notions are analyses as the stages of cultural evolution. Thirdly the dyad is comprehended as the two ways of world understanding. The core issue in the differentiation between modernism and postmodernism, in the author’s opinion, is the category of integrity. The article is addressed to philosophers, specialists in cultural studies and aesthetics, cultural scientists and educators.

The article focuses on research of the language of architectural forms. The author considers the language of architecture as the artificial language living under the same laws of syntax and semantics as a natural language. The researcher’s attention is paid to simultaneity of the language of architecture perception as its characteristic feature, in contrast to linearity of natural language, which is perceived sequentially. The author considers the interdependency of the language dynamics of architectural forms and the historical period of their existence as well as social and political structure of the society. It is highlighted, that the language of architecture serves as a tool of a person’s orientation in space and as one of the forms of practical activities organization. Architecture is the art which combines not only decorative and esthetic functions, but primarily the pragmatic one.

The article is devoted to identifying the lessons of national history in the context of the processes of transformation of history education in the XIX-XX and XX-XXI centuries. Their relevance is linked with the development of modern historical culture and the problem of formation of historical consciousness and self-consciousness of youth. The theoretical foundation of the study is the results of a comparative analysis of undertaken investigations on the issue of school history education in the conditions of social transformations. The empirical basis is the results of research performed by the author on the problem of historical consciousness and self-awareness of school youth in 2014-2015. Theoretical and practical importance of identifying the lessons of history is being revealed during the process of reforming and further development of national history education, which is a factor of historical culture and socialization. The author presents the identified trends of the historical culture formation, historical consciousness and self-consciousness of the post-Soviet generation, philosophical, methodological principles of teaching history in schools in accordance with the contents and the condition of historical consciousness and self-consciousness of modern students.

The authors consider the quality of education, its structure and content and how they meet the demands of an individual and the country's economy. The article highlights the idea about the restructuring of the Russian economy as a priority task and a necessary prerequisite ensuring the quality of education. The role of education is shown in achieving the economic growth and reducing social inequality in the country. The article identifies the "bottlenecks" in the modern Russian educational system, secondary and higher educational systems are among them. The authors offer to take into account the international educational activity, its positive and negative effects, as well as to preserve education in Russia as a public good, not a commodity.

  The article studies cultural processes of immense complexity at the turn of the millennium on the example of academic musical practice. In Western philosophy this period is specifically described as 'a farewell to the era of New time'. The author emphasizes the dominant character of shocks and losses in modern culture and scarceness of positive, creative tendencies. In artwork it has resulted into open rejection of the foregoing tradition, at the basis of which there is an understanding of discrepancy between the traditional conceptual and technical framework and the demands of the modern age. In the article the author attempts to single out, describe and evaluate a positive vector of searches in the sphere of musical art, confronting powerfully destructive tendencies of the era. It is shown that this vector appears at the intersection of mythological and reflective impulses of modern cultural self-consciousness. The author shows how close it is towards the phenomenon of 'non-classical rationalism' (M. Mamardashvili's term) and, basing on the concept of 'new mythologem', analyses the process of formation of adequate tools in art. Finally, on the example of different genre layers (symphony and 'new ritual') the non-classical patterns of the newest academic music are demonstrated. The article defines the essence of the 'new mythologem' as a special testing of classical rationalism by a new myth giving a new aesthetic result. The variants of its artistic repetition unfold in different genre conditions. Kancheli's Symphony No. 4 is a mythopoetic allegorical novel containing genetic memory of classical drama-symphony in its 'intonational consciousness'. A different algorithm of mythologem connected to the author's understanding of a ritual element is formed in the scores of the 'new ritual' dramas. As a result, two modes of mixing modernization and archaization become apparent; they are: archaic modern (symphony) and modern archaics ('new ritual').

The authors present the main statements of the original Mongolian religious and philosophical doctrine – Аrga bilig, which means the unity of two opposites. This doctrine is considered as the culture constant. The authors analyse the Mongolian fine-art works on the basis of Arga bilig. The article substantiates the hypothesis of the universal character of the doctrine for the world view of Mongolians. The analysis and interpretations are made on the basis of works of art.

  A quiet town of Ascona, located on the shores of Lake Maggiore, became a place of concentration of public life in Switzerland in the late XIX-early XX centuries. The colony of vegetarians "Monte Verità" (“Hill of Truth”) studied and tested new philosophies, developing new special systems of dieting and physical exercises. Zurich artistic community concentrated in that very colony "Monte Verità" in Ascona at the end of the First World War. It was there in 1924, where an artistic association "Big Bear" was formed, which included seven artists: W. Helbig, O. Niemeyer, E. Frick, A. Kohler, G. McCoy, O. Rice and R. Zivald. The ideological leader of the group was Marianne Verevkina. She actively participated in exhibitions of “Big Bear” artists in Zurich, Lugano, Berlin. In Ascona M. Verevkina was the first director of the Museum of Modern Art. It was she who persuaded many artists to donate their paintings to the museum. Marianne Verevkina had a leading role in the cultural life of Ascona right up to 1938.

The article "Russian Universities and the Russian Intelligentsia" was written at the request of Inna Kizhner to work with students. According to Inna, it was in 1996, when she was working with a group of economists. She might be wrong. I remember that year very well: A.I. Fet was in America for a long time and returned to Russia only in December. Apparently, he started writing this article not earlier than in 1997. He wrote about half of the text at once up to the chapter "Russian Universities before the Revolution and the Emergence of the Russian Intelligentsia," and then he gave it up for a few years. At some moment, Inna reminded him of her request. A.I. Fet half-heartedly returned to the writing of his manuscript, having marked in it that it is necessary to insert a certain section from "Instinct." At that time, he was absorbed in the work on the book, but, yielding to Inna’s insistence he wrote the last half, ending it with the words "Russian universities, Russian science and science education will have to be rebuilt. We need to overcome this tragedy quietly. You cannot be angry with these swindlers: they do not know what they do". As such, the article was ready in 2001; then A. I. Fet added the chapter "The Russian Intelligentsia" from "Instinct", prefacing it with a small foreword.

Modern science transformed our notion of the universe which appears now as an integrated, continuously developing system which is characterized by the interaction of the chance and the law. Philosophical comprehension of the new picture of the world demands essential changes in the worldview of people. Many western Christian theologians suppose that Christianity in this connection also must and may improve its doctrine of the Creator and creation. The author considers the conception elaborated by one of the most prominent specialists on the problem «science and the modern Christianity», an English scientist and an Anglican theologian A. Peacocke, which is directed at solving that problem. He motivates the legitimation of a new vision of God where the Creator appears as dynamic, limited in His power and knowledge, suffering, loving, personally connected with His creation, exploring it and developing with it. Peacocke’s conception enriches not only Christian theology but also our notion of it.