DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.13532

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.65877

Abstract: The article is devoted to the relationship between culture and civilization. Within the framework of the research, civilization is interpreted as the external expression of culture while culture is the content of civilization. Culture and civilization develop in different directions because civilization moves towards the greatest possible objectivity while culture develops retaining its subjective nature. This creates a growing tension in the relationship between civilization and culture. Civilization does not try to get rid of subjectivity, however, natural or socio-humanitarian sciences are unable to offer ways to do it. The present article was written based on the analysis and synthesis of the terms ‘culture’, ‘civilization’ and ‘subjectivity’ in the history of science. The author of the article also uses the method of rising from the abstract to the concrete. The author offers his own definition of the term ‘subjectivity’ in terms of the relationship between culture and civilization. According to the author, the ‘building’ of modern civilization is built upon the outrageous discrepancy between the speeding movement towards the globalized humanity (following the way of technological progress that involves the society and human himself and transforms the latter into an objective and controlled element) and the level of understanding the nature of this movement.

Keywords: Horror zivilizationis, civilization, culture, subjectivity, progress, natural sciences, socio-humanitarian sciences, noosphere, technical development, rationality.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.13481

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.65878

Abstract: The subject of the research is the prospects of the development of Russian film studies taking into account cause-and-effect dependencies inside the structural-functional bond ‘Film studies – Russian cinematograph – State support’. In particular, the authors analyze the following issues: the level of the development of national cinematograph as the precondition for the development of national film studies, objective need of the state to finance searches for movie ideas depending on the audience demand for national films, actual directions of solving issues of film studies, stages and drivers of film evolution in the Soviet and post Soviet periods, modern challenges for film studies, the need for rethinking over the object and subject of film studies, search for the theoretical consensus between science of screen art and state apparatus regarding the nature and mission of cinematographic art, development of researches aimed at creation of internally integrated multi-disciplinary ‘big science of cinematograph’ (N. Lebedev), importance of intellectual assets that are used for searching for an efficient strategic direction for the development of Russian motion-picture industry. In terms of theory and methodology, the analysis of the aforesaid problems is based on the idea that all national film studies can develop only when they have the following preconditions for the development: film studies have an autochthonous and developing object of research, i.e. motion-picture process that has roots in national culture, government must financially and morally encourage searches for movie ideas and film studies must be useful for both national screen culture and the government as an investor. These objective preconditions are created during the interaction of the three institutions – Russian cinematograph, film studies and the government supporting them. Theoretical and social-practical contribution of film studies and opportunities for the development of film studies depend on the adequate understanding of cause-and-effect consequences in this triangle. Prospects for further development of national film studies as the part of the outlined structural-functional bond are being viewed for the first time in Russian science. The authors concludes that there is a need for a drastic shift of research interests towards solution of the nettlesome problems of national cinematograph. The present market share of Russian movies is quite low which creates a threat for the national film industry, the system of training film workers of the highest proficiency level and national science of cinematograph.

Keywords: Screen culture, national film studies, preconditions for development, Russian cinema, market share, picture of the world, cultural identity, state film policy, film policy in general, the science of cinematograph.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.13173

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.65879

Abstract: Modern cities are endlessly heterogeneous and always changing. Culture experts, psychologists and sociologists dispute with each other trying to win the right to talk about this changeability in terms of their science. This is probably the reason why discussions touching upon ‘urban culture’, ‘structure of urban society’ and ‘urban everyday life’ usually have an interdisciplinary nature. The object of research lies at the crossing point of the aforesaid sciences, too. The author of the article raises a question whether taking into account such ‘interdisciplinary autism’ it is possible to make a theoretical statement using sociology terms and this statement can be relevant to terminology of interdisciplinary sciences. What acts as a ‘cross disciplinary bridge’ that can convey the theoretical content overcoming the disciplinary borders between sociology, psychology and cultural studies? According to the author, metaphor can serve as such a bridge. Therefore, the present article is devoted to the analysis of the two types of metaphors, self-descriptive and meta-descriptive metaphors in urban ideologies and urban studies. The research is based on the IPA methodology (Interpretative Policy Analysis), frame-analysis and analysis of metaphoric grounds of sociological conceptualization. Metaphors can be coherent or consistent. For example, metaphors of our country as a ‘rust-bucket in the ocean of world policy’ or a ‘train on a side route of history’ are coherent metaphors, i.e. they agree with the general concept of ‘transport’, but these metaphors are not consistent, i.e. they do not create a single image. On the contrary, metaphors ‘Our country is a ship’ and ‘Party is our steersman’ are consistent but not coherent. Applying to the scope of the present article, this means that epistemic metaphors (researher’s self-description) and theoretical metaphors (meta-description of an object) are more consistent than meta-description of an object and selfdescription of an object. The relationship between metaphors in the triangle ‘Self-description of cognition – Meta-description of an object – Self-description of an object’ reflects the nature of contingency and these metaphors are not precisely correlated. This conclusion allows to solve Ankersmit’s case. If Frank Ankersmit is right, then the two key operations of a researcher’s mind, problematization and conceptualization, are opposed to each other. Conceptualization is based on metaphoric mechanisms of reasoning and is the process of presenting the unfamiliar as something familiar, i.e. describing an unfamiliar object in terms of the existing system of categories and concepts. On the contrary, problematization is a process of ‘defamiliarization’ or transformation of the familiar into the unfamiliar. Ankersmit establishes that logically a metaphor cannot serve as a tool of problematization. If we follow his logic, we can tell that problematization – i.e. defamiliarization of an object – creates some kind of ‘beyond transcendence’ grounds for cognition. However, the author of the article rejects such a thesis. According to the author, ‘comprehensibility’ or ‘incomprehensibility’ are not ontological properties of an object but an attribute of the relation of an object to the above mentioned cognitive scheme. As the results of the research show, inconsistency of metaphors of different orders, first of all, metaphors of self– and meta-description of an object, is a source of such problematization.

Keywords: Metaphor, self-description, meta-description, urban researches, sociologism, urbanicism, social urban studies, Ankersmit, Latour, Black.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.13538

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.65880

Abstract: Despite the fact that there is a great variety of anthropological concepts and schools, anthropology is guided by the paradigm of human reason. It is the awakening mind tentatively learning the world and producing a bunch of strange and exotic practices the ancestors of human paid much attention to. The dichotomy ‘instinct or reason’ confine most of anthropological researches. The present article is aimed at undermining the authority of this dichotomy and carrying out a research of something the third, something between instinct and reason – a strange instinct excluding reflective performance algorithms. The author solves the Gordian knot by reconstructing and comparing a number of factors which create a rather limited picture of the alternative logic and the meaning of human evolution. As a result, a new vision of the outcome of history has been created. This is the vision of the history developing within the framework of species competition and driven by the initiation of the defensive instinct when an individual stands above the irresistible circumstances of isolation and his dedication is approved in the cult as the historically the first instrument of retaining humanity.

Keywords: Instinct, consciousness, spontaneity, ritual, genotype, phenotype, evolution, archanthrope, competition, sacrifice.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.13781

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.65881

Abstract: The subject of research is the discussion of the popularity of science fiction in the second half of the 20th century which faded away by the end of the last century after creating the fantasy genre. At first the author analyzes how fiction is interpreted and reconstructed in general and how their meaning is explored. Rozin shows that science fiction performed the two tasks. Firstly, it released the historical tension of the 60th and allowed to fulfill the myths of those times in a form of art. Secondly, it took the reader to the reality where, no matter how strange it may seem, those myths and expectations were falsified and uncovered. At the end of the article Rozin explains the reasons why science fiction decayed as a genre. According to the researcher, writers and science fiction authors depleted and to a significant extent falsified the main scientific myths and expectations of those times. Moreover, it became obvious that fulfillment of many aspirations of the humankind that appeared in the mid 60th (outer space exploration, replacement of humans with robots and nature management) would be achieved only in a distant and uncertain future. The research described in the article was based on a number of methods such as problematization, historical reconstruction (genetic analysis), comparative analysis as well as methodology of the humanitarian approach. The main conclusions made by Rozin are the following. As a literary genre, science fiction has undergone through certain stages of development and performed important functions in the cultural environment of those times allowing a representative of certain culture to achieve his aspirations and implement his values. When the latter were partially devalued and achieved and the time offered new problems and challenges, science fiction went off the scene.

Keywords: Science fiction, fantasy, cycle, fulfillment, myths, values, genre, piece of work, completion, human.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.65882

Abstract: The article is devoted to the activity performed by UNESCO in the sphere of art education. The author of the article analyzes the goals of creating such a policy of UNESCO as well as particular activities and events organized within the framework of international cooperation in the sphere of art education. The author also studies recommendations and guidelines of UNESCO in the sphere of education in general and art education in particular. Shilova describes UNESCO programs aimed at development of art education and identifies why the international cooperation policy was created in the sphere of art education. Based on the analysis of UNESCO documents, the author defines the following reasons for creating the aforesaid policy: development of creative thinking; growth of social peace, tolerance and mutual respect and a growing contribution to sustainable development. Shilova also emphasizes the two functions of art education that were conceptualized in UNESCO documents: instrumental function of art education, i.e. using art as a mean and method of teaching general disciplines, and the function of creating the picture of the world. Based on the author, documents prepared by UNESCO to be used in the sphere of art education have rather insignificant influence on national educational programs due to their non-regulatory nature. At the same time, Shilova focuses on the implementation of particular projects under the guidance of UNESCO which still turned out to be quite efficient.

Keywords: UNESCO, international relations, art education, international cooperation, art, education, recommendations, observatories, principles, projects.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.13628

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.13691

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.65883

Abstract: The article is devoted to the theatrical interpretation of Eugene Ionesco’s play ‘Exit the King’ that was first staged at Taganka Theatre in Moscow in 2012. The play was directed by a famous Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi and the major part in the play was played by Valeri Zolotukhin, the People’s Artist of Russia, who played his last role in that play. Later the play was removed from the repertory but the question about the mutual understanding with the audience was left unanswered. The author of the present article focuses on how the theatre, based on a wide range of theatrical communication tools that had been accumulated for centuries, tried to help the audience to stand above the ‘isolated situation’ and get closer to universal human values. The author draws attention to the contemporary search for the universal language of art as a method of involving the audience into the dialogue built upon the principle of using such cultural universals as time, space, faith, home, love and etc., i.e. eternal existential constants of human existence and, which is equally important, upon the principle of shifting the emphasis from the word to the visual image in the play. The stage director Krzysztof Zanussi rethought the concept of ‘absurdity’ as a genre and overcame the atmosphere of despair which was typical for plays back in the 1960th. The tragic ending symbolized the release of spirit and therefore gave hope. The main theme of the play was the study of an ability of an individual to orient himself in the world when ‘culture does not provide a meaningful history and emotional experience and events cannot be included in the organic relationship between cultural generations’ (P. Kozlowsky). The play of Eugene Ionesco as a neo-classicist and avant-gardist showed the path to such interpretation as well.

Keywords: Theatre of the Absurd, culture, cultural universals, interpretation, communication, myth, hero, visual imaginary, spectator, dialogue.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.13677

Abstract:

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2015.1.65884

Abstract: The article presents commentaries on a famous book written by N. Volkov ‘The Color in Painting’. In his book Volkov tried to create the theory comparable to the theories in music studies. However, comparison of color in painting with the musical sound shows that it is rather impossible. Rozin points out that Volkov distinguishes between the color as an art form and coloristic art events which refer to artistic reality. Rozin discusses peculiarities of artistic reality in painting and analyzes the two color systems (offered by Newton and Goethe) compared by Volkov. Rozin also establishes and substantiates the hypothesis about the role of these color systems in painting being comparable to the ‘single point perspective’ concept. The other hypothesis is based on Rozin’s analysis of the concept of ‘expression’ of human feelings and ideas as it is presented in art studies. Rozin questions this concept and proves quite the opposite. Based on Rozin, the development of art and ‘color practice’ constitute the emotional life of human but not vice versa. The research article is based on such methods as the comparative analysis, problematization, reference to the author’s teaching about psychic (mental) realities as well as his studies of art and music. As a result, Rozin has managed, in some ways, to distinguish between music and color practice, provide a substantive commentary on N. Volkov’s book emphasizing the most interesting provisions of that book, discuss peculiarities of artistic reality which events are described based on the color and establish the hypothesis about the role of the color concepts offered by Newton and Goethe.

Keywords: Color, sound, music, color practice, creation, art studies, theory, system, painting, music studies.