DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2015.6.15231

Abstract: The article offers a reconstruction of the ideas of an outstanding American cultural scientist Leslie A. White. Attention is focused on the analysis of his ideas of cultural communication. Reflecting on the origins of language, the author, following White, turns to the philosophical comprehension of man. The main idea of the article is that man should be regarded in three contexts: as a physical object, as a representative of the natural world, and as a human being. White insists on the difference between human beings and animals. He relates this demarcation to the symbolic nature of culture. In his opinion, man has a unique aptitude for symbolic behaviour and hence in each his action and state man experiences the influence of cultural traditions. The author gives a critical assessment of methods of cultural anthropology and introduces important points of the philosophical comprehension of man into analysis of L. White’s conception. The reconstruction of the ideas of L. White creates a need to develop polemic attitude to some of his statements. The conception of L. White and his contribution to cultural science have been discussed by many Russian researchers. However, the scientific legacy of the American scientist is multi-faceted. White’s desire to surpass the framework of evolutional anthropology and to integrate philosophical and anthropological approaches to the analysis of man as a symbolic subject is of special value. L. White saw the significance of his conception in showing the difference between man and animal. In this sense, his ideas are significant for debates with post-modernist approaches that proceed from the principal unity of man and animal.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2015.4.14849

Abstract: The article deals with the problem of an ethnic group as interpreted by the evolutional concept of culture. Almost for two centuries cultural anthropology has been studying man. In its interpretation, the world of human being appears to be an expression of ethnographic factors. In the middle of the past century the concept of cultural evolutionism took shape. Its outstanding representative was Leslie A. White (1900-1975). He was an active participant of theoretical discussions of the middle of the 20th century. In 1949 a book of his essays was published in which he discussed not only general problems of culture but also the role of ethnic groups in interpretation of cultural dynamics. The book contained selected essays that defended evolutionary theory of cultural development (he united them in Part I), several works where Leslie A. White introduced his concept of culture (part II) and articles dealing with particular problems of anthropology (parts III-VI). With some exceptions, the composition of the book belongs to L. White. All works except for the two – «Satellites and Gods; or the Press, the Clergy, and an Anthropologist» and «Anthropological Approaches to Religion» (1957) – had been published before in journals and books, many of which are currently hard to get. Together they give a complete idea of the creative method and concept in general.For the past century there were the following three fundamental methods of explaining cultural changes – historical, structural-functional and evolutional ones – that were engaged in dispute on the scientific arena. Each of them, as it is shown in the article, reflected one of the aspects of cultural dynamics or one of the levels of the cultural process or subprocess.The novelty of the article is related to the analysis of the problem of an ethnic group in the evolutionary concept of culture. The author critically reviews the main ideas of this ethnological essay and shows that it is possible to reveal the specificity of an ethnic group as a phenomenon only within the framework of the philosophical-anthropological discourse. Understanding of human nature permits to deeper and more fundamentally understand an ethnic group as a constructive idea.

DOI: 10.7256/2409-8728.2015.2.14658

Abstract: The subject of the study is an ethnic group in the philosophical-anthropological perspective. Social and cultural behaviour of ethnic groups and nations is usually studied by cultural science. Great empirical material has been accumulated that characterizes specificities of different cultures, uniqueness of their traditions and customs, diversity of mental and emotional habits and ways. Meanwhile, there is a historical and philosophical tradition that permits to understand the phenomenology of an ethnic group through philosophical comprehension of man. In the modern period many philosophers and sociologists related the specificity of ethnic groups to human nature and attempts at clarify that new aspect of the problem. In his research Shazhinbatyn uses a historical and philosophical approach that permits to trace this tendency – comprehension of the essence of an ethnic group through philosophical-anthropological knowledge. Also, the method of hermeneutic analysis of a philosophical text is applied. The novelty of the article is in tracing differences in approaches to the phenomenon of an ethnic group in the research tradition of primordialism and in various constructivist schools. The author for the first time in Russian philosophy shows that constructivism has appeared as a result of superposition of cultural-philosophical views and methods of philosophical anthropology. Such a direction of research work has led to the conviction that an ethnic group and a nation in many respects are the products of active imagination, collective fantasy rather than results of a particular historical practice and socio-historical achievements.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2014.8.12572

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DOI: 10.7256/2454-0757.2014.1.10103

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DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2013.12.9836

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DOI: 10.7256/2306-0425.2013.9.10693

Abstract: The author of the article makes an attempt to create the social and historical image of a Japanese. The author emphasises the main qualities of a representative of this culture: status, social functions, values and role behavior. A typical Japanese is compared to a typical European. Unlike Western people, Japanese people have such qualities as irrationality and illogical perception. Another group of qualities analyzed by the author is the conformity and discipline. General features of this type of personality are associated with the peculiarities of the culture, cultural and historical traditions. The author also describes the dominating features of Japanese personality. In his research the author uses the comarative method of research and provides a detailed analytical review of literature including writings by Western European, American and Japanese researchers. The novelty of the topic is conditioned by the overall attempt of modern humanities to compare Western and Eastern personalities and to create images of the two cultural worlds. Individualism is viewed as the value system that caused the 'Western civilization disease'. The author also shows the feautures of the Japanese model of development that is based on the group orientation. 

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0676.2013.4.11759

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