Consequences of the dialogue of cultures social science. Three examples of the dialogue of cultures in modern society. Ethnic level of interaction of cultures

Dialogue of cultures in the modern world

As you know, history is filled with the constant struggle of different cultures. The whole world history is a process of interaction between peoples, each of which possessed or possesses a specific system of values and mode of activity. The nature of relations between peoples, of course, is determined by current economic and political interests. However, very often behind them are hidden factors of a deeper order - spiritual values, without taking into account and understanding which it is impossible to establish normal good-neighborly relations between peoples and predict their future.

The interaction of cultures is an unusually relevant topic in the conditions of the modern world as a whole. It is quite possible that it is more important than the problems of economic and political relations between peoples. Culture constitutes a certain integrity in a country, and the more internal and external ties it has with other cultures or with each other, the higher it rises. Culture is a powerful factor in human activity: it is present in everything we see and feel. Our worldview is based on our culture: we see the world through glasses colored by it. What people do is directly dependent on what they believe, and their beliefs, in turn, depend on a culturally colored vision of themselves and the world around them.

The concept of dialogue is especially relevant for modern culture. The process of interaction itself is a dialogue, and the forms of interaction represent various types of dialogical relations. The idea of dialogue has its development in the deep past. The ancient texts of Indian culture are filled with the idea of the unity of cultures and peoples, macro- and microcosmos, thoughts that human health largely depends on the quality of its relationship with the environment, on the consciousness of the power of beauty, understanding as a reflection of the Universe in our being. Dialogue permeates our whole life. In its reality, it is a means of implementing communication links, a condition for mutual understanding of people. The interaction of cultures, their dialogue is the most favorable basis for the development of interethnic, interethnic relations. And vice versa, when there is inter-ethnic tension in a society, and even more so, inter-ethnic conflicts, then the dialogue between cultures is difficult, the interaction of cultures can be limited in the field of inter-ethnic tension of these peoples, carriers of these cultures. According to Danilevsky, cultures develop separately and are initially hostile to each other. He saw the "spirit of the people" as the basis of all these differences. "Dialogue is communication with culture, the realization and reproduction of its achievements, it is the discovery and understanding of the values of other cultures, the way of appropriating the latter, the possibility of relieving political tension between states and ethnic groups. It is a necessary condition for the scientific search for truth and the process of creativity in art. Dialogue - this is an understanding of one's "I" and communication with others. It is universal and the universality of the dialogue is generally recognized ".

The concept of dialogue in the cultural process has a broad meaning. It includes the dialogue of the creator and consumer of cultural values, and the dialogue of generations, and the dialogue of cultures as a form of interaction and mutual understanding of peoples. With the development of trade, migration of the population, the interaction of cultures inevitably expands. It serves as a source of their mutual enrichment and development. The dialogue of cultures involves the interaction, interpenetration of various cultural formations within the framework of large cultural zones, as well as communication, spiritual convergence of huge cultural regions that formed a unique complex of specific features at the dawn of human civilization. It should be noted that the dialogue of cultures is not limited only to humanitarian contacts of cultural formations of various scales, it is also about the familiarization of an individual with these cultural worlds, the internal rethinking of the values of a "foreign" culture. The interaction of European and non-European cultures can be carried out in different ways. It can occur in the form of the absorption of the Eastern civilization by the Western civilization, the penetration of the Western civilization into the Eastern ones, as well as the coexistence of both civilizations. The rapid development of science and technology in European countries, the need to ensure normal living conditions for the population of the globe have exacerbated the problem of modernizing traditional civilizations. However, attempts at modernization had disastrous consequences for traditional Islamic cultures. Any phenomenon of culture is comprehended by people in the context of the current state of society, which can greatly change its meaning. Culture retains relatively unchanged only its external side, while its spiritual richness contains the possibility of infinite development. This opportunity is realized by the activity of a person who is able to enrich and actualize those unique meanings that he discovers in cultural phenomena. This indicates a constant renewal in the process of cultural dynamics. The very concept of culture presupposes the presence of tradition as a "memory", the loss of which is tantamount to the death of society. The concept of tradition includes such manifestations of culture as the cultural core, endogeneity, originality, specificity and cultural heritage. The core of culture is a system of principles that guarantee its relative stability and reproducibility. At the same time, culture is distinguished by the integrity of all its structural elements, which is ensured by its systemic nature, the presence of a hierarchy, and the subordination of values. The most important integration mechanism of culture is tradition.

For the existence and development of any culture like any other person, communication, dialogue, interaction. The idea of a dialogue of cultures implies the openness of cultures to each other. But this is possible if a number of conditions are met: the equality of all cultures, the recognition of the right of each culture to differ from others, and respect for a foreign culture.

The Russian philosopher Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin (1895-1975) believed that only in dialogue does culture come close to understanding itself, looking at itself through the eyes of another culture and thereby overcoming its one-sidedness and limitations. There are no isolated cultures - they all live and develop only in dialogue with other cultures:

"Foreign culture is only in the eyes another culture reveals itself more fully and deeper (but not in its entirety, because other cultures will come and see and understand even more). One meaning reveals its depths, having met and touched another, alien meaning: between them begins, as it were, dialog which overcomes the isolation and one-sidedness of these meanings, these cultures... With such a dialogic meeting of two cultures, they do not merge or mix, each retains its unity and open integrity, but they are mutually enriched."

The exchange of spiritual values, acquaintance with the achievements of the culture of other peoples enriches the personality. The core of the activity of the subject of culture, in the process of which he himself changes, changing, developing at the same time the state, the content of the national culture. The interaction of cultures also takes place at the level of interpersonal communication, since the generally significant values of cultures are realized in sensation. Interpersonal communication, expanding the sources of social and cultural information, can thus be an important factor in overcoming stereotyped thinking and this contributes to the mutual enrichment of the spiritual image of people.

The current state of culture causes reasonable concern. One of the global problems of the development of society is the erosion of spiritual culture, resulting from the total dissemination of monotonous information, isolating its consumers from the work of developing ideas about the meaning of existence in the socio-cultural process, exacerbating the situation of "meaning loss" in culture.

The dialogue of cultures has been and remains the main thing in the development of mankind. For centuries and millennia there has been a mutual enrichment of cultures, which formed a unique mosaic of human civilization. The process of interaction, dialogue of cultures is complex and uneven. Because not all structures, elements of national culture are active for the assimilation of accumulated creative values. The most active process of the dialogue of cultures takes place during the assimilation of artistic values close to one or another type of national thinking. Of course, much depends on the correlation of stages in the development of culture, on accumulated experience. Within each national culture, various components of culture develop differentially.

In the XX century. the science and technology culture of the West has spread across the globe. Non-Western cultures are now faced with the dilemma of whether to open up to Western culture, or to shut themselves up and continue to follow traditional paths while maintaining their traditional lifestyles, occupations, and cults.

Western culture is individualistic and person-centered. She considers personal values, freedom and the pursuit of happiness to be sacred. Nature and all other creatures are prepared mainly for the benefit of man. In addition, Western culture is pragmatic: it rejects a significant part of what cannot be seen or grasped - i.e. that which cannot be "presented" to the hand or the eye.

In recent years, despite "Coca colonization" and "McDonaldism", the values and concepts of Western culture have begun to run into resistance. A new kind of cultural nationalism has emerged in South America. Latin Americans resent their dependence on North America and express dissatisfaction with their role as recipients rather than creators of the cultural currents that shape the modern world. The dominance of foreign culture is also in its death throes in the mentality of educated Arabs who perceive Western tradition as an element of Western hegemony over their countries. The Arabs consider themselves to be the passive side of the intercultural dialogue linking them almost exclusively with Western Europe and North America.

India and the countries of South Asia, although continuing contacts with British culture, assimilating many of its distinctive features, began to actively defend their own cultural heritage. Russia has accumulated extensive historical experience of an ambivalent attitude towards Western culture; this attitude continues to this day. Its main features are admiration for the achievements of the West both in the field of technology and in the field of high culture, but at the same time - the fear that these achievements can suppress the Russian cultural heritage and thereby deprive the Russian people of their identity. Mutual enrichment of national cultures in terms of the perception of other national values occurs at an unequal level. In one case, the supposed foreign work of culture is perceived as foreign and does not become a factor in national consciousness, self-consciousness, and is not included in the value system of the spiritual world of the individual. At a higher level of mutual enrichment of national cultures, it is not limited to simply acquaintance with a foreign work of art, but the creation of a new one takes place on the basis of the actual national and the knowledge of the foreign. In such cases, foreign values enter into national self-consciousness, enrich the spiritual world of the individual. value culture generation spiritual

The more developed the national culture, the more capable it is of including the values of the culture of various nations into the sphere of spiritual communication, and the more opportunities it presents for the spiritual enrichment of the individual. The nature of perception depends both on the content of the values of culture, and on the complex of individual and personal characteristics of the perceiver. The perception of cultural values is carried out on the basis of a comparison of previous experience and new.

At the same time, knowledge occurs not only on a rational, but also on an irrational basis. Feelings stimulate understanding or hinder understanding, set its boundaries. The perception of the foreign is carried out by comparing the element of the culture of another nation with a similar one in one's own national culture. Comparison is the basis of all understanding and all thinking. A foreign culture is assimilated only in the process of any practical, educational or other activity. Comprehension of the new, assimilation is impossible without the thought processes associated with the language. Language contributes to the mutual knowledge of nations, the assimilation of cultural heritage. A person achieves the highest cultural development when a great spiritual work takes place in himself. But he can come to this only through communication. The knowledge of the spiritual culture of another nation presupposes the emotional and intellectual activity of the subject of perception, the systematic accumulation of knowledge about the content of foreign cultural values. Within the framework of globalization, the international dialogue of cultures is growing. International cultural dialogue enhances mutual understanding between peoples, makes it possible to better understand one's own national image. Today, Eastern culture, more than ever before, has begun to have a huge impact on the culture and way of life of Americans.

In general, the problems of openness to dialogue and mutual understanding in the modern world are becoming profound. However, for mutual understanding and dialogue, goodwill alone is not enough, but cross-cultural literacy (understanding of the cultures of other peoples) is necessary, which includes: "awareness of the differences in ideas, customs, cultural traditions inherent in different peoples, the ability to see the common and different between diverse cultures and look at the culture of one's own community through the eyes of other peoples "But in order to understand the language of a foreign culture, a person must be open to the culture of the native. From the native to the universal, the only way to comprehend the best in other cultures. And only in this case the dialogue will be fruitful. Participating in the dialogue of cultures, one must know not only one's own culture, but also neighboring cultures and traditions, beliefs and customs.

State educational institution of higher professional education

Leningrad State University named after A. S. Pushkin

abstract

In the discipline "Culturology"

Topic: Dialogue of cultures in the modern world .

Is done by a student

Group No. MO-309

Specialty "Management"

organizations"

Kiseleva Evgenia Vladimirovna

checked

Teacher

Saint Petersburg

Introduction

1. Dialogue of cultures in the modern world. Traditions and innovations in the dynamics of culture.

2. The idea of a dialogue of cultures

3. Interaction, mutual enrichment, interrelation of cultures.

4. Problems of dialogical relations.

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

The whole history of mankind is a dialogue. Dialogue permeates our whole life. It is in its reality a means of implementing communication links, a condition for mutual understanding of people. The interaction of cultures, their dialogue is the most favorable basis for the development of interethnic, interethnic relations. And vice versa, when there is inter-ethnic tension in a society, and even more so, inter-ethnic conflicts, then the dialogue between cultures is difficult, the interaction of cultures can be limited in the field of inter-ethnic tension of these peoples, carriers of these cultures. The processes of interaction of cultures are more complex than it was once naively believed that there is a simple “pumping” of the achievements of a highly developed culture into a less developed one, which in turn logically led to conclusions about the interaction of cultures as a source of progress. Now the question of the boundaries of culture, its core and periphery is being actively explored. According to Danilevsky, cultures develop separately and are initially hostile to each other. He saw the “spirit of the people” as the basis of all these differences. “Dialogue is communication with culture, the realization and reproduction of its achievements, it is the discovery and understanding of the values of other cultures, the way of appropriating the latter, the possibility of relieving political tension between states and ethnic groups. It is a necessary condition for the scientific search for truth and the process of creativity in art. Dialogue is an understanding of one's "I" and communication with others. It is universal and the universality of the dialogue is universally recognized. Dialogue presupposes active interaction of equal subjects. The interaction of cultures and civilizations also implies some common cultural values. The dialogue of cultures can act as a reconciling factor, preventing the emergence of wars and conflicts. It can relieve tension, create an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. The concept of dialogue is especially relevant for modern culture. The process of interaction itself is a dialogue, and the forms of interaction represent various types of dialogical relations. The idea of dialogue has its development in the deep past. The ancient texts of Indian culture are filled with the idea of the unity of cultures and peoples, macro- and microcosmos, thoughts that human health largely depends on the quality of its relationship with the environment, on the consciousness of the power of beauty, understanding as a reflection of the Universe in our being.

1. Dialogue of cultures in the modern world. Traditions and innovations in the dynamics of culture.

The exchange of knowledge, experience, assessments is a necessary condition for the existence of culture. When creating cultural objectivity, a person “turns into an object” his spiritual powers and abilities. And when mastering cultural wealth, a person “de-objectifies”, reveals the spiritual content of cultural objectivity and turns it into his own property. Therefore, the existence of culture is possible only in the dialogue of those who created and those who perceive the phenomenon of culture. The dialogue of cultures is a form of interaction, understanding and evaluation of cultural objectivity and is at the center of the cultural process.

The most productive and painless is the interaction of cultures that exist within the framework of their common civilization. The interaction of European and non-European cultures can be carried out in different ways. It can occur in the form of the absorption of the Eastern civilization by the Western civilization, the penetration of the Western civilization into the Eastern ones, as well as the coexistence of both civilizations. The rapid development of science and technology in European countries, the need to ensure normal living conditions for the population of the globe have exacerbated the problem of modernizing traditional civilizations. However, attempts at modernization had disastrous consequences for traditional Islamic cultures.

However, this does not mean that the dialogue of cultures is impossible in principle or that the modernization of traditional civilizations brings the population only value disorientation and a total crisis of worldview. When carrying out a dialogue, it is necessary to abandon the idea that European civilization is called upon to be a standard for the world cultural process. But the specificity of different cultures should not be absolutized either. While retaining its cultural core, each culture is constantly exposed to external influences, adapting them in different ways. Evidence of the rapprochement of different cultures is: intensive cultural exchange, the development of educational and cultural institutions, the spread of medical care, the spread of advanced technologies that provide people with the necessary material benefits, and the protection of human rights.

Any phenomenon of culture is comprehended by people in the context of the current state of society, which can greatly change its meaning. Culture retains relatively unchanged only its external side, while its spiritual richness contains the possibility of infinite development. This opportunity is realized by the activity of a person who is able to enrich and actualize those unique meanings that he discovers in cultural phenomena. This indicates a constant renewal in the process of cultural dynamics.

At the same time, culture is distinguished by the integrity of all its structural elements, which is ensured by its systemic nature, the presence of a hierarchy, and the subordination of values. The most important integration mechanism of culture is tradition. The very concept of culture presupposes the presence of tradition as a "memory", the loss of which is tantamount to the death of society. The concept of tradition includes such manifestations of culture as the cultural core, endogeneity, originality, specificity and cultural heritage. The core of culture is a system of principles that guarantee its relative stability and reproducibility. Endogeneity means that the essence of culture, its systemic unity is given by the cohesion of internal principles. Identity reflects the originality and uniqueness, due to the relative independence and isolation of the development of culture. Specificity is the presence of properties inherent in culture as a special phenomenon of social life. Cultural heritage includes a set of values created by previous generations and included in the socio-cultural process of each society.

2. The idea of a dialogue of cultures

The idea of a dialogue of cultures is based on the priority of universal human values. Culture does not tolerate like-mindedness and like-mindedness, it is dialogic in nature and essence. It is known that K. Levi-Strauss has always resolutely opposed everything that can lead to the destruction of differences between people, between cultures, violate their diversity and uniqueness. He was for the preservation of the unique characteristics of each individual culture. Lévi-Strauss, in Race and Culture (1983), argues that "...integral communication with another culture kills...creative originality on both sides." Dialogue is the most important methodological principle of understanding culture. Through dialogue to knowledge. The essential characteristics of culture are manifested in dialogue. In a broader sense, dialogue can also be viewed as a property of the historical process. Dialogue is a universal principle that ensures the self-development of culture. All cultural and historical phenomena are products of interaction and communication. In the course of the dialogue of people and cultures, the formation of linguistic forms took place, creative thought developed. Dialogue takes place in space and time, permeates cultures vertically and horizontally.

In the fact of culture there is the being of man and his practice. Everything. There is nothing more. A meeting between civilizations is always, in essence, a meeting between different types of spirituality or even different realities. A full meeting implies a dialogue. To enter into a worthy dialogue with representatives of non-European cultures, it is necessary to know and understand these cultures. According to Mircea Eliade, “sooner or later, the dialogue with the ‘others’ – with representatives of traditional, Asian and ‘primitive’ cultures – will no longer have to begin in today’s empirical and utilitarian language (which can only express social, economic, political, medical realities, etc.), but in the language of culture, capable of expressing human realities and spiritual values. Such a dialogue is inevitable; he is inscribed in the fate of history. It would be tragically naive to believe that it can be carried on indefinitely on the mental level, as it is happening now.

According to Huntington, the diversity of cultures initially implies their isolation and requires dialogue. Local cultural isolation can be opened through dialogue with another culture through philosophy. Through philosophy, the universal penetrates into the dialogue of cultures, creating a chance for each culture to delegate its best achievements to the universal fund. Culture is the property of all mankind, as a historical result of the interaction of peoples. Dialogue is a true form of interethnic communication, which implies both the mutual enrichment of national cultures and the preservation of their identity. Human culture is like a tree with many branches. The culture of the people can flourish only when the common human culture flourishes. Therefore, taking care of the national, ethnic culture, one should be very concerned about the level of human culture, which is united and diverse. United - in the sense of including the diversity of historical and national cultures. Each national culture is original and unique. Her contribution to the universal cultural fund is unique and unrepeatable. The core of each culture is its ideal. The historical process of the formation and development of culture cannot be correctly understood without taking into account the interaction, mutual influence, and mutual enrichment of cultures.

Dialogue presupposes active interaction of equal subjects. The interaction of cultures and civilizations also implies some common cultural values. The dialogue of cultures can act as a reconciling factor, preventing the emergence of wars and conflicts. It can relieve tension, create an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. The concept of dialogue is especially relevant for modern culture. The process of interaction itself is a dialogue, and the forms of interaction represent various types of dialogical relations. The idea of dialogue has its development in the deep past. The ancient texts of Indian culture are filled with the idea of the unity of cultures and peoples, macro- and microcosmos, thoughts that human health largely depends on the quality of its relationship with the environment, on the consciousness of the power of beauty, understanding as a reflection of the Universe in our being.

Intercultural interactions cannot occur otherwise than through the interactions of individual worldviews. The most important problem in the analysis of intercultural interaction is the disclosure of the mechanism of interactions. Two types of interaction: 1) cultural-direct, when cultures interact with each other through communication at the language level. 2) Indirect, when the main characteristics of the interaction are its dialogical nature, while the dialogue is included within the culture, as part of its own structures.

The methodology of the interaction of cultures, in particular, the dialogue of cultures, was developed in the works of M. Bakhtin. Dialogue according to M. Bakhtin is the mutual understanding of those participating in this process, and at the same time the preservation of one's own opinion, one's own in another (merging with him) and maintaining distance (one's place)”. Dialogue is always development, interaction. It is always a union, not a decomposition. Dialogue is an indicator of the general culture of society. “Dialogue is not a means, but an end in itself. To be means to communicate dialogically. When the dialogue ends, everything ends. Therefore, the dialogue, in essence, cannot and must not end.” According to M. Bakhtin, each culture lives only in questioning another culture, that great phenomena in culture are born only in the dialogue of different cultures, only at the point of their intersection. The ability of one culture to master the achievements of another is one of the sources of its vital activity. “An alien culture only in the eyes of another culture reveals itself more fully and deeper.... One meaning reveals its depths, having met and come into contact with another, alien meaning..., between them begins, as it were, a dialogue that overcomes the isolation and one-sidedness of these meanings, these cultures... In such a dialogical meeting of two cultures, they do not merge and do not mix, but they are mutually enriched.” Imitation of a foreign culture or complete rejection of it must give way to dialogue. For both sides, the dialogue between the two cultures can be fruitful. “We pose new questions to a foreign culture, which it did not pose to itself, we are looking for an answer from it, to these questions of ours; and a foreign culture responds to us, opening before us new sides of itself, new semantic depths.”

Interest is the beginning of a dialogue. The dialogue of cultures is the need for interaction, mutual assistance, mutual enrichment. The dialogue of cultures acts as an objective necessity and condition for the development of cultures. Mutual understanding is assumed in the dialogue of cultures. And in mutual understanding, unity, similarity, identity are assumed. That is, the dialogue of cultures is possible only on the basis of mutual understanding, but at the same time - only on the basis of the individual in each culture. And the common thing that unites all human cultures is their sociality, i.e. human and human. “The mutual understanding of centuries and millennia, peoples, nations and cultures ensures the complex unity of all mankind, all human cultures (the complex unity of human culture), the complex unity of human literature.” There is no single world culture, but there is a unity of all human cultures, which ensures the “complex unity of all mankind” - the humanistic principle.

The influence of one culture on another is realized only if the necessary conditions for such influence exist. Dialogue between two cultures is possible only if their cultural codes are brought closer together, if a common mentality exists or emerges. The dialogue of cultures is the penetration into the value system of a particular culture, respect for them, overcoming stereotypes, synthesis of original and other national, leading to mutual enrichment and entry into the global cultural context. In the dialogue of cultures, it is important to see the universal values of interacting cultures. One of the main objective contradictions inherent in the cultures of all peoples of the world is the contradiction between the development of national cultures and their convergence. Therefore, the need for a dialogue of cultures is a condition for the self-preservation of mankind. And the formation of spiritual unity is the result of the dialogue of modern cultures.

Globalization and global problems contribute to the dialogue of cultures. In general, the problems of openness to dialogue and mutual understanding in the modern world are becoming profound. However, for mutual understanding and dialogue, goodwill alone is not enough, but cross-cultural literacy (understanding of the cultures of other peoples) is necessary, which includes: “awareness of the differences in ideas, customs, cultural traditions inherent in different peoples, the ability to see the common and different between diverse cultures and look at the culture of one's own community through the eyes of other peoples” When participating in the dialogue of cultures, one must know not only one's own culture, but also neighboring cultures and traditions, beliefs and customs.

Culture is the most important factor that organizes the spiritual life of people. The meaning of the concept of "culture" is very broad and not always definite. It is understood as the state of society, and its characteristics, and the totality of beliefs, technologies of the inhabitants of a certain area. Culture does not arise by itself, in a natural, natural way, it always appears thanks to a person, it is a product of his activity.

Symbiosis of peoples

And it is very similar to the relationship between people. They can be in hostile, antagonistic relations (remember, for example, one culture can displace another (how much is left of the culture of the North American Indians?). They can mix into one whole (the interpenetration of the traditions of the Saxons and the Normans led to the emergence of a new - English - culture) However, the current state of the civilized world shows that the optimal form of interaction between cultures is dialogue.

Examples of the past

The dialogue of cultures, like the dialogue between people, arises from mutual interest or urgent need. The young man liked the girl - and he asks where he could see her before, that is, the young man begins a dialogue. No matter how much we like the boss, we are forced to conduct a business dialogue with him. An example of the interaction of antagonistic cultures in relation to each other: even during the Golden Horde, there was an interpenetration and mutual enrichment of the ancient Russian and Tatar cultures. Where was it to go? The spiritual and material life of a person is very heterogeneous and diverse, so it is easy to give an appropriate example. There are a lot of dialogues, their vectors and spheres: the dialogue of Western culture and the East, Christianity and Islam, mass and past and present.

Mutual enrichment

Just like a person, culture cannot be isolated for a long time, alone. Cultures strive for interpenetration, the result is a dialogue of cultures. Examples of this process are very clear in Japan. The culture of this was originally closed, but later it was enriched by the assimilation of the traditions and historical identity of China and India, and from the end of the 19th century it became open to the West. A positive example of dialogues at the state level can be observed in Switzerland, where 4 languages (German, French, Italian and Romansh) are the state languages at the same time, which contributes to the conflict-free coexistence of different peoples in one country. International film festivals, song contests (“Eurovision”) and beauty contests (“Miss Universe”), exhibitions of oriental art in the West and western art in the East, holding the days of one state in another (Days of France in Russia), spreading the Japanese dish “sushi” around the world, Russia's acceptance of elements of the Bologna model of education, the popularity of martial arts in Europe and the USA - this is also an endless example of dialogues of cultures.

Dialogue of cultures as an urgent need

Naturally, each culture strives to preserve its own identity, and there are realities that different cultures will probably never accept. It is unlikely that a Muslim girl will dress like her European counterpart. And it is unlikely to be able to come to terms with polygamy. But there are many more things that you can agree with or at least reconcile with, endure. After all, a bad peace is still better than a good quarrel, and peace without dialogue is impossible. An example of dialogues, forced and voluntary, constructive and fruitless, is preserved by world history, reminding contemporaries that any conversation implies respect for the values of another original people, overcoming one's own stereotypes, readiness to build bridges, and not destroy them. A constructive business dialogue of cultures is a necessary condition for the self-preservation of all mankind.

Report of the Associate Professor of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy of SSU, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences
Irina Viktorovna Kutyreva at the Plenary Session of the X Pimenov Readings

A person living in the modern era, the era of the rapid development of all spheres of public life, the endless production of personal goods, is accustomed to frequent changes in various areas. Having replaced the 20th century with its sometimes bizarre historical upheavals and dynamic development and often equally dynamic destruction, the 21st century forces humanity as a whole and each individual to turn to the issues that humanity has lived throughout its history. It was during this period that our society, as never before, turned out to be cut off from its spiritual roots, it was during the period of progressive development (later it turns out that progress meant only scientific development and technical improvement) that primordial values and traditions were destroyed with particular force. Losses in the field of spiritual culture resulted in the almost complete loss of national identity. A person begins to remember his history and his culture, unfortunately, only when he realizes the need to remember it. The unfolding of the world political situation indicates that the moment of this kind of need has arrived. The need to revive traditional culture (including as a means of overcoming the current spiritual and moral crisis) is currently recognized by society as one of the priority tasks.

The designated theme puts on the central place the problem of culturological character. At first glance, it may seem that the problems of an economic nature, social insecurity of some segments of the population, environmental security, for example, are more important than the problem of preserving the “heritage”, which will not be vital for the starving population, say, at the time of an environmental catastrophe. Nevertheless, if we remember all the tragedies in the history of mankind, then to the question: “what helped the people/country/inhabitants to remain a people, and not just an uncivilized community of representatives of homo sapiens?”, then the first thing that helped them was unity and awareness belonging to unshakable values. This is due to the fact that a person is brought up in culture and socialized in it. Culture is a memory, a system of values, life ideas and patterns. In science, none of the terms has such multiple definitions as the term "culture", which unites everything: both material and spiritual components. It is precisely the fact that EVERY person has his own deep cultural self-awareness, has a cultural memory that forms his value ideals throughout his life, which indicates that one born in a culture cannot imagine life outside of it.

But history shows that each culture cannot exist in isolation. Just as other cultures exist in interrelationships or went through the stage of formation under the influence of an external dominant tradition, it is so difficult to imagine Russian culture as an “ideally” integral, historically continuously developing phenomenon. Unfortunately, it is not so difficult to imagine the humanity of the 21st century included in the process of globalization, to see developed cultures enriched by the previous mutual influence, having individual self-awareness, but not hearing each other. This is a paradoxical reality. That is why the problem of "dialogue of cultures" today comes to the fore.

For Russia, as a multinational state, this topic is also important at the internal level. As already noted, our culture has developed very heterogeneously, however, it is worth noting its main focus: Russian culture is predominantly a spiritual culture.

Misunderstanding of cultural characteristics is often associated with the study or perception of culture from the standpoint of other people's stereotypes. Russia in previous eras tried to find its own path of development by imitating Europe. Such ambivalence - on the one hand, to borrow the archetypes of European cultures and often forcibly plant them for external resemblance, on the other hand, to recognize their originality, which has an unshakable foundation - spirituality - is characteristic of Russian culture.

Today the West is setting clichés by which the level of cultural development should be judged. One of the main clichés is freedom, which is opposed to enslavement into an artificially created form of culture. The level of development is considered through the prism of freedom. But we should not forget that even freedom has limits, otherwise it turns into chaos. Russian culture is distinguished by the fact that it understands the boundaries of what is permitted and cuts off the unacceptable. These boundaries are based on moral values, the religious component, which for a long time was a model of correct perception and understanding of what is happening around.

In connection with the close interaction of all countries in solving global problems, there is a knowledge of external cultures, which has an impact on internal cultural self-awareness. Under such influence, modern culture in Russia is in a changing state. There is no single direction in its development. Today, religion, and in particular the Orthodox Church, is separated from the state, but is recognized as leading in the spiritual and moral direction and education. To preserve cultural diversity and cultural identity, it is necessary to perceive each of the cultures as equal in rights and necessary for preserving the historical memory of our people. Dialogue of cultures is possible only if it takes place with the participation of representatives of different cultures. Talking to yourself is not a dialogue. In addition, the dialogue presupposes the equality of participants, which should be based on mutual respect. Respect for another, foreign culture is based on respect for one's own and is brought up from childhood. The notion of one's culture as the only form of true cultural assimilation and presence seems primitive. If a person appreciates the culture in which he was brought up, respects himself as a person, then he must also respect the "I" of another person who also has a cultural consciousness and was brought up in a different cultural tradition. Such a consciousness should be inculcated from childhood to minimize the possibility of conflict on interethnic grounds or religious enmity. Naturally, the development of culture is not limited only to the religious component, however, as the last decade of the 20th century clearly demonstrates to us, the gap between secular and religious culture was so significant that it could lead to a vulgar cultural rethinking of the entire historical heritage. Today we see an attempt to establish a dialogue between secular and religious culture. And once again, when attempts to reach an agreement through business language fail, it becomes necessary to turn to the unshakable value bases, the attitudes on which Russian self-consciousness has been based for centuries.

Undoubtedly, the study of the spiritual culture of the people should begin with religion, as with the primary source of spirituality. The religion of Russia - Orthodoxy - has always played a decisive role in the formation of the main life values, the principles of interpersonal interaction, worldview and moral attitudes, thereby being one of the main factors in the formation of Russian spiritual culture. Of course, it is necessary to understand that the originality of Russian culture is not limited to the influence of Orthodoxy. The Western European tradition has had a certain impact on Russian culture in recent centuries, the influence of which has always been talked about a lot and colorfully. In any case, it should be said that there has never been a ban on studies of the influence of Western culture on Russian. Orthodoxy, especially in the Soviet era, for a long time belonged to closed topics. Thus, the long-term suppression of the spiritual component in Russian culture has created a heavy vacuum, which is felt more than ever today, and there is a vital need to fill it.

At the end of the last century, the interrupted connection of the continuity of cultural life became acutely felt in Russian culture, the process of spiritual production changed, which was reflected in the change of personality. It is with this that the modern anthropological crisis is connected - more than one generation has grown up in isolation from their spiritual roots. Therefore, today, more than ever, the process of reviving cultural traditions and instilling moral values is needed. A decisive role in the creation of our culture is played by the upbringing of a spiritually healthy generation with cultural self-awareness, respecting its origins and traditions. Today, the concepts of secularism and religiosity have ceased to act as mutually exclusive. Now we see the process of creation, the process of rooting of moral ideals, the development of respect for one's history and one's culture, the elimination of illiteracy and ignorance in the perception of the religious foundations of culture. The educational space today is designed to reduce the gap between total ignorance and understanding of value orientations, to eliminate existing gaps. The introduction of the foundations of religious cultures and secular ethics into general education schools testifies to a gradual return to moral origins.

The readiness of higher education for implementation within the framework of the Federal State Educational Standards for the training of bachelors and masters in the direction of "Religious Studies", "Fundamentals of Religious Culture and Secular Ethics" within the framework of Pedagogical Education, "Theology" is due to the social need for the formation of well-trained personnel who educate at the proper high professional level of the current generation.

But still, the attitude towards "Theology" of some part of the Russian elite is surprising. The introduction of one of the many educational areas enshrined in the state list is interpreted as a total clericalization of the university system.

It seems that theological education, with its powerful humanitarian and humanistic message, is a reasonable addition to the range of specialties that are being implemented in universities today. Specialists in theology today are in demand both by the church itself and, to no lesser extent, by modern society, where there is an acute shortage of theological ideas and specific knowledge. Only after receiving a university theological education, a graduate is able to carry out relevant expert work, patiently and professionally understand the most complex socio-political and interfaith relations, competently interpret works of art and literature, and fully understand the laws of the world order. Saratov University understands this well, and we plan to expand the range of educational services in the theological field. We understand that today theology in the academic space is an integral part of the entire educational sphere, responsible for the formation of religious culture. University theological education is currently being implemented in 34 cities of the Russian Federation. 37 state educational institutions received a license to train theologians, among which Saratov State University occupies a place of honor. This year, one of the important events took place in the university environment, which marked a return to tradition, namely, the re-creation of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. Already this year, the first set of master students in the direction of "Theology" was made at the university.

In the upcoming 2013, it is planned to begin training bachelors and masters in the "Fundamentals of Religious Culture and Secular Ethics" within the framework of pedagogical education, which is due to social demand, which determines the demand for graduates of religious studies and theologians in various government institutions, public structures, educational and cultural institutions, in mass media.

I would like to hope that the trend built today, including in the educational space of Saratov University, will soon lead to the long-awaited results, and in general will contribute to achieving a balance in the disrupted dialogue in modern culture between material and spiritual values.