Spiritual culture and spiritual life of man. Spiritual and material culture

spiritual culture atheistic religious

Spiritual culture is a set of intangible elements of culture: norms of behavior, morality, values, rituals, symbols, knowledge, myths, ideas, customs, traditions, language.

Spiritual culture arises from the need for comprehension and figurative-sensual mastery of reality. In real life it is realized in a number of specialized forms: morality, art, religion, philosophy, science.

All these forms of human life are interconnected and influence each other.

Morality fixes the idea of ​​good and evil, honor, conscience, justice, etc. These ideas and norms regulate the behavior of people in society.

Art includes aesthetic values ​​(beautiful, sublime, ugly) and ways of creating and consuming them.

Religion serves the needs of the spirit; man turns his gaze to God. Science demonstrates the successes of man's cognitive mind.

Philosophy satisfies the needs of the human spirit for unity on a rational (reasonable) basis.

Spiritual culture permeates all spheres of social life. A person acquires it through language, education, and communication. Estimates, values, ways of perceiving nature, time, ideals are embedded in a person’s consciousness by tradition and upbringing in the process of life.

The concept of “spiritual culture” has a complex and confusing history. At the beginning of the 19th century, spiritual culture was viewed as a church-religious concept. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the understanding of spiritual culture became much broader, including not only religion, but also morality, politics, and art.

During the Soviet period, the concept of “spiritual culture” was interpreted by the authors superficially. Material production gives rise to material culture - it is primary, and spiritual production gives rise to spiritual culture (ideas, feelings, theories) - it is secondary. The origins of creativity and ideas were in production and labor activity.

In the 90s XX century "spiritual culture" is understood in different ways:

• - as something sacred (religious);
• - as something positive that does not require explanation;
• - as mystical-esoteric.

At present, as before, the concept of “spiritual culture” is not clearly defined or developed.

The concept of spiritual culture contains - contains all areas of spiritual production (art, philosophy, science, etc.),

Shows the socio-political processes occurring in society (we are talking about power structures of management, legal and moral norms, leadership styles, etc.).

The ancient Greeks formed the classic triad of the spiritual culture of humanity: truth - goodness - beauty. Accordingly, three most important value absolutes of human spirituality were identified:

• -theoreticism, with an orientation towards truth and the creation of a special essential being, opposite to the ordinary phenomena of life;
• -this, subordinating all other human aspirations to the moral content of life;
• -aestheticism, achieving the maximum fullness of life based on emotional and sensory experience.

The above-mentioned aspects of spiritual culture have found their embodiment in various spheres of human activity: in science, philosophy, politics, art, law, etc. They largely determine the level of intellectual, moral, political, aesthetic, and legal development of society today. Spiritual culture involves activities aimed at the spiritual development of a person and society, and also represents the results of these activities.

Thus, all human activity becomes the content of culture. Human society stood out from nature thanks to such a specific form of interaction with the surrounding world as human activity.

Activity is a form of socio-cultural activity aimed at transforming reality.

There are two types of activities:

• -practical (i.e. materially transformative, aimed at changing the nature and existence of a person, and socially transformative, changing social reality, including the person himself);
• -spiritual (the content of which is a change in people’s consciousness).

Depending on the direction of human activity, sociocultural activity can be:

• -creative (i.e., aimed at the formation of a “second nature”: the human environment, tools, machines and mechanisms, etc.);
• -destructive (associated with various wars, revolutions, ethnic conflicts, destruction of nature, etc.).

There are certain guidelines in human activity. They are called values.

Value is what is significant for a person, what is dear and important to him, what he focuses on in his activities.

Society builds a certain system of cultural values, which grows from the ideals and needs of its members. It may include:

• - main life values ​​(ideas about the purpose and meaning of life, happiness);
• -values ​​of interpersonal communication (honesty, friendliness);
• -democratic values ​​(human rights, freedom of speech, conscience, parties);
• -pragmatic values ​​(personal success, entrepreneurship, desire for material wealth);
• - worldview, moral, aesthetic and other values.

Among the most important values ​​for a person, the one that largely determines is the problem of the meaning of his life. A person’s view of the problem of the meaning of life is formed through his awareness of the finitude of his existence. Man is the only living creature who understands the inevitability of his death.

Regarding the problem of the meaning of human life, two dissimilar points of view have emerged.

The first is atheistic. It has a long tradition and dates back, in particular, to Epicureanism. Its essence is that if a person is a mortal being, then the meaning of life is in life itself. Epicurus denied the significance of the phenomenon of death for a person, arguing that it simply does not exist, since while a person is alive, it does not exist, and when he dies, he is no longer able to realize the very fact of his death.

Appointing life itself as the meaning of life, the Epicureans taught that the ideal of human existence is ataraxia, or avoidance of suffering, a calm and measured life, consisting of spiritual and physical pleasures given in moderation. The end of this process means the end of human existence.

Materialistic philosophy, which continues the ancient tradition of Epicureanism, in all its manifestations proceeds from the denial of the afterlife and orients a person towards the fullest possible realization of himself in the existing reality. However, this does not exhaust the entire content of this concept.

Another point of view on the problem of the meaning of life is religious. Religion solves this problem quite simply, affirming the fact of human existence after death. In its various modifications, religion teaches that earthly, human existence is only a preparation for death and the acquisition of eternal life. This is a necessary stage for the purification and salvation of the soul.

The highest form of human activity is creativity.

Creativity is a human activity that creates qualitatively new, never before existing, material and spiritual values.

Almost all types of human activity include elements of creativity. However, they are most clearly manifested in science, art and technology. There is also a special science - heuristics (gr. heurisko - I find), with the help of which you can not only study creative activity, but also create various models of the creative process.

There are four main phases of creativity:

• -intention (this is the primary organization of the material, identifying the central idea, core, problem, outlining the stages of future work);
• - maturation of ideas (the process of constructing an “ideal object” in the imagination of the creator),
• - insight (a solution is found where no attempt was made to look for it);
• - verification (experimental or logical assessment of the novelty of the solution found).

The process of creating something new brings the creator a sense of satisfaction, stimulates his inspiration and moves him towards a new creation.

Art as the aesthetic consciousness of society

Aesthetic consciousness occupies a special place in the system of forms of social consciousness. Having emerged as a special branch of spiritual culture, it at the same time performs synthesizing functions, since the structure of aesthetic consciousness includes such elements as aesthetic views, ideals, assessments, tastes, aesthetic feelings, needs, aesthetic theory. Aesthetic consciousness is the spiritual foundation that ensures harmonious unity and internal interconnection of various manifestations of the spiritual life of a person and society as a whole.

The synthetic role of aesthetic consciousness and aesthetic activity was already manifested in the “syncretism” (non-division) of ancient culture, in which works of art, scientific, religious, and philosophical works were sometimes created as artistic texts. Aesthetic consciousness is formed in the process of aesthetic activity and is defined as a holistic, emotionally rich reflection of reality. The objective basis of aesthetic consciousness is natural and social reality and socio-historical practice. Aesthetic consciousness represents one of the facets of the spiritual and practical development of the world. Creativity “according to the laws of beauty” arises on the basis of labor activity and is its complement. In the process of work, a person’s spiritual abilities are formed, which include aesthetic consciousness. In the process of labor and aesthetic activity, a person’s feelings are formed, aesthetic needs arise, which have a holistic impact on the individual.

With the division of labor and the separation of art from other types of human social activity, the final formation of aesthetic consciousness occurs. Aesthetic consciousness reflects the world around us, all the diverse activities of people and their results in emotionally assessed images. The reflection of the surrounding world in it is accompanied by the appearance of special complex experiences associated with feelings of the sublime, beautiful, tragic and comic. But the uniqueness of aesthetic consciousness lies in the fact that it contains the complexity and expressiveness of emotional impressions and at the same time penetrates into deep, essential connections and relationships.

A feature of aesthetic consciousness is that a person’s interaction with the real world is perceived, assessed and experienced individually on the basis of existing ideals, tastes, and needs.

Aesthetic consciousness has a complex structure, including needs, ideals, views, assessments, feelings, theories, which are very closely related to each other and interdependent. In aesthetic terms, both the positive and negative aspects of the surrounding world are assessed and experienced to the same extent.

Aesthetic consciousness is one of the ways of reflection, awareness of the world and influence on it. It arises on the basis of human material and production activity, and with the development of this activity, human feelings are formed, freed from the instinctive form, specific human needs arise, which, in turn, have a reverse impact on all aspects of human life. In the structure of aesthetic consciousness, aesthetic needs are an important element; they are the beginning of an aesthetic attitude towards the world.

Aesthetic need can be considered as an objectively existing relationship between a person and the environment, as a result of which there is a need for the production, preservation, assimilation and dissemination of aesthetic emotions, individual and social feelings, views, knowledge, values ​​and ideals and their objectification in human activity.

In the structure of aesthetic needs, three interconnected elements can be distinguished: emotional, rational and active. This should be taken into account when determining the ways and means of its formation. Of course, a complex impact is needed on both the emotional and rational spheres of consciousness to develop the necessary beliefs and attitudes and to further consolidate them in activity.

The concept of “aesthetic need” covers both the need for the perception of aesthetic phenomena of the world and the need for art and aesthetic creativity. Aesthetic need acts as a driving force for the development of consciousness and practical activity of the individual, as one of the main elements of aesthetic consciousness and is manifested in the desire to transform the world. The peculiarity of the aesthetic need is that it can be realized in all spheres of human activity: in work, in relation to nature, in familiarization with art, in moral relations, in scientific knowledge. In terms of its content, aesthetic need is universal, because its object is found in all spheres of life.

Aesthetic need manifests itself as a need for a high degree of orderliness, harmonization of all types of human activity and the need for the organization of all its products, the desire to receive spiritual joys. Aesthetic need is closely interconnected with moral one, for the desire for the beautiful and the good appears in unity. It is also connected with other spiritual needs, including the need for work and acquisition of knowledge.

The structure of aesthetic consciousness includes aesthetic feelings. Psychologists classify them as higher feelings and point out their connection with the intellect. Aesthetic feelings are based on the experience of the mind and themselves cause reflection. That is why aesthetic feelings are called ideological. Aesthetic feelings are unique human experiences that arise when perceiving specific lenses: the beauty of nature, objects of labor, works of art. These feelings stimulate a person’s social activity, have a regulating effect on his behavior and on the formation of aesthetic and moral ideals. They help us perceive the world and art as close to us and stimulate creative activity. Their peculiarity is the complex interaction in them of aesthetic and ethical aspects of mental life.

The elements of aesthetic consciousness are aesthetic taste and ideal, which act as regulators of a person’s assessment of objects of aesthetic perception and their own activities. Aesthetic taste is the ability to understand and appreciate the beautiful and the ugly, the sublime and the base, the tragic and the comic in life and in art. Hegel wrote that the objective basis of taste is beauty and that taste is educated. Aesthetic taste is socially determined and has its own individual manifestation. It is determined by the worldview of the individual, which is why the formation of aesthetic taste based on a scientific worldview and ethical principles is so important.

Aesthetic taste acts as the ability of an individual to evaluate the advantages (or disadvantages) of aesthetically significant phenomena on the basis of his ideas about the beautiful and sublime, about the ideal, and to objectify these ideas in specific activities, for example, when organizing the subject-spatial environment, when spending leisure time, in style communication, in the aesthetic expressiveness of appearance. Aesthetic taste is manifested in any creative activity, in people’s behavior, in everyday life. The peculiarity of aesthetic taste is that it manifests itself directly as a person’s emotional reaction to what he interacts with. According to I. Kant, taste is “the ability to judge beauty.”

In unity with aesthetic taste, the aesthetic ideal acts as an important element of aesthetic consciousness, which also performs regulatory functions, but at a higher level. It contains an understanding of the essence of beauty, reflects the best personality traits, is a model on which people are guided, it not only reflects the past and present, but also looks to the future.

The aesthetic ideal is based on objective trends of social development and plays a connecting role between the past, present and future. In the conditions of modern development of society, special attention should be paid to this moment, because one cannot break the links of continuity between the past and the modern, cross out the past of one’s country or tendentiously idealize it, blindly copy the experience of other countries, without taking into account the pattern of social development. The aesthetic ideal is a leading reflection of the world, it stimulates practical activity and thinking of people aimed at improving the surrounding reality, performs a prognostic function, being an important ideological component that determines the thinking of an individual.

The aesthetic ideal reflects not only aesthetic problems, but also moral, legal, political, and philosophical ones, because it is based on an understanding of the direction of the historical development of society. The aesthetic ideal in a concrete and holistic form represents a harmonious personality in its connections with society and nature.

The aesthetic ideal reflects the complexity of social relations, and it may not be shown in an open form, and therefore sometimes the illusion arises that this ideal is specific and isolated, for example, from politics and law. It should be noted that the process of forming a progressive aesthetic ideal is a very long and complex process in which personal and social experience are organically merged, when the entire surrounding life, art, and educational measures have a significant impact. And the formed aesthetic ideal represents the most complex level of aesthetic consciousness, a high degree of generalization and at the same time retaining a visual and concrete-sensual character. The established aesthetic ideal is a criterion for aesthetic assessment for the further perception of life, and every phenomenon, act or work of art is compared with the existing aesthetic ideal. It becomes a regulator of the aesthetic consciousness of a person or society. But it should be noted that the ideal itself changes under the influence of changing life.

The process of forming an aesthetic ideal, as well as aesthetic consciousness in general, is very contradictory, since life itself is complex and contradictory. In the formation of aesthetic consciousness, art is called upon to play a large role; it opens up wide opportunities for familiarization with spiritual values, forms views on moral and aesthetic values, helps transform knowledge into beliefs, develops aesthetic taste, feelings, develops the creative abilities of the individual, and influences practical activities.

Art is a specific phenomenon: a special type of spiritual, practical mastery of the objective world. Each form of social consciousness records the surrounding world in its own specific means (in science - with the help of concepts, categories, in law - in the form of laws, in religion - dogmas, in morality - norms, etc.). Art is a means of reflecting and expressing life in the form of artistic images. The source of artistic images is reality.

Art is influenced by political consciousness. But the peculiarity of art is that it has an ideological impact due to its aesthetic merits. Any form of social consciousness is connected with reality through its functions. The power of art lies in its direct impact on the individual and society.

Art has always played a big role in the life of society, performing a cognitive and educational function, therefore in history there has always been a sharp struggle around the question of in what direction works of art will educate people, how they will influence human psychology, his views and tastes, his needs. Works of art influence all forms of social consciousness, especially political and moral consciousness, and the formation of an atheistic or religious worldview. Through public consciousness, art influences practical activities, the creation of material and spiritual values. At the same time, art itself is influenced by social conditions and needs.

Art, as a specific form of social consciousness, reflects the system of social relations that develop in the process of material and spiritual production, refracting in ideals, needs, and tastes.

The role of art is also significant as a regulator of people’s social activities and their personal behavior. The efficiency of art consumption, i.e. the degree of its influence on the feelings and views of the individual, on his creative development, depends directly on the artistic development of the individual.

The most important function of art is educational. Reflecting the world in its aesthetic originality, showing the beautiful or ugly, tragic or comic, sublime or base, art ennobles the emotional world of a person, educates feelings, shapes the intellect, awakens the best sides of the human soul, and evokes a feeling of aesthetic joy. The enrichment of a person’s spiritual world largely depends on how fully various types of art influence the individual.

The most important function of art is hedonistic. Works of art give a person aesthetic joy, activate his spiritual and physical powers, and satisfy the need for emotional and intellectual pleasure. By aesthetically influencing a person, enriching him spiritually and delivering aesthetic pleasure, art thus satisfies various spiritual needs.

The communicative function of art, spiritual communication with other people as a means of communication between people, generations, and nations has a great influence on the formation of the social qualities of an individual and the satisfaction of his aesthetic needs. Art serves as a means of introducing a person to social, aesthetic and moral ideals. Communication with art, the active empathy of viewers, readers, and listeners enriches the personal experience of artistic perception of the world.

A major role in people’s lives is played by the compensatory and entertaining function of art, the satisfaction of those emotional needs that cannot be realized in other areas of life. With the current level of development of technical media, filling a person’s free time with communication with art is a very valuable way of spending leisure time.

Art has always played a big role in the life of society. Therefore, in history there has always been a sharp struggle around the question of in what direction works of art will influence a person. Art, while influencing practical activities and the creation of material and spiritual values, at the same time itself is influenced by social conditions.

So, aesthetic consciousness and its highest product - art - are a necessary element of social consciousness, ensuring its integrity and direction towards the future. Currently, there is a slight decrease in the level of artistic appreciation and requirements for both the organization of production and everyday environments, and for the works of individual types of art, for example applied, design. Sometimes reality is filled with kitsch instead of truly artistic examples, which, unfortunately, does not escape architectural structures, small architecture, decorative design and even fine art.

It seems that the opinion that such a change in the level of aesthetic taste is the result of its degradation, a sharp deterioration due to external circumstances, is incorrect. Radio and television, book publishing, theaters, concert halls and museums today provide everyone with fairly wide opportunities for developing artistic taste and choosing aesthetic guidelines. The point, apparently, is that the currently sharply increased freedom of personal manifestations and self-expression has, as it were, exposed, revealed and shown without embellishment the real level of artistic and aesthetic consciousness and aesthetic education of the Russian population. The reason for this is a fundamentally incorrect approach to the aesthetic education of the younger generation, pupils and students, and in particular to education through the means of art.

It’s time for us to abandon the propaganda “popular” and “amateur artistic” approach to aesthetic education and look at it as a complex psychological and pedagogical task that requires the serious creation of a didactic system, introduced everywhere into the educational process and capable of ensuring the implementation of systematic aesthetic and artistic education and upbringing.

Many years of familiarization with serious classical art among the broad masses and nurturing a love for it most convincingly substantiate the view of art as an elitist phenomenon. However, this does not mean that art, in principle, is not accessible to everyone. The perception of art inevitably requires deep special systematic preparation for it.

Having defined art as a special way and form of reproducing reality in artistic images, we thereby assume that the perception of a work of art is the comprehension of an artistic image as an abstract idea in a specific sensory form (according to Hegel) and material means, methods of its creation, i.e. means of artistic expression, the language of art. From this alone it is clear that the main condition for understanding art is the special development of a very specific artistic perception.

The condition for the formation of truly artistic perception and taste, understanding of the artistic image is the creation of a system of training and development of the ability to perceive the artistic content of a work (including comprehending the essence of the phenomenon, the main idea), artistic and organizational means: form as a material structure and composition, rhythmic organization, the logic of connections between the internal and external sides, and finally, the perception of artistic and expressive means and their role in creating the image and mood as a whole - the content of the work.

For example, in order for the viewer to fully perceive, evaluate and enjoy a work of fine art, he must be taught to isolate and, what is especially important, determine the meaning of each element of the entire system of form and style-forming means: the nature of the line and pattern, color, light, type of coloring, composition (spatial or on a plane), texture, as well as to see and understand the purpose of using this or that material, execution technique. To prepare for the perception of works of architecture, it is important to develop the ability to evaluate a work in the trinity: function - design - form, to analyze ways of organizing space and mass, composition and, in general, creating an architectural image.

It seems that it is precisely such a system of preparation and organization of the development of artistic perception and aesthetic education that can lead to an adequate aesthetic assessment of reality, the aesthetic interests and needs of each person, to the correct reading of any work of art and aesthetic pleasure in the perception of the truly artistic. This path leads to the creation of the foundation of a person’s spiritual culture, since it is able to expand the horizons of one’s perception of the world, change the structure of thoughts and images, see the world in other dimensions, highlight the ideal-shaped and spiritual in it.

— its production, distribution and preservation. In this sense, culture is often understood as the artistic creativity of musicians, writers, actors, painters; organizing exhibitions and directing performances; museum and library activities, etc. There are even narrower meanings of culture: the degree of development of something (work or food culture), characteristics of a certain era or people (Scythian or Old Russian culture), level of education (culture of behavior or speech), etc.

In all these interpretations of culture, we are talking about both material objects (paintings, films, buildings, books, cars) and intangible products (ideas, values, images, theories, traditions). Material and spiritual values ​​created by man are called material and spiritual culture, respectively.

Material culture

Under material culture usually refers to artificially created objects that allow people to adapt in an optimal way to natural and social conditions of life.

Objects of material culture are created to satisfy diversity and are therefore considered as values. When speaking about the material culture of a particular people, they traditionally mean such specific items as clothing, weapons, utensils, food, jewelry, housing, and architectural structures. Modern science, by studying such artifacts, is able to reconstruct the lifestyle of even long-vanished peoples, of which there is no mention in written sources.

With a broader understanding of material culture, three main elements are seen in it.

• Actually objective world, created by man - buildings, roads, communications, devices, objects of art and everyday life. The development of culture is manifested in the constant expansion and complexity of the world, “domestication”. It is difficult to imagine the life of a modern person without the most complex artificial devices - computers, television, mobile phones, etc., which lie at the basis of modern information culture.
• Technologies - means and technical algorithms for creating and using objects of the objective world. Technologies are material because they are embodied in specific practical methods of activity.
• Technical culture - These are specific skills, abilities, . Culture preserves these skills and abilities along with knowledge, transmitting both theoretical and practical experience from generation to generation. However, unlike knowledge, skills and abilities are formed in practical activity, usually by example. At each stage of cultural development, along with the complexity of technology, skills also become more complex.

Spiritual culture

Spiritual culture unlike material, it is not embodied in objects. The sphere of her existence is not things, but ideal activity associated with intellect, emotions, etc.

• Ideal forms the existence of culture does not depend on individual human opinions. This is scientific knowledge, language, established moral standards, etc. Sometimes this category includes the activities of education and mass communication.
• Integrating forms of spirituality cultures connect disparate elements of public and personal consciousness into a whole. At the first stages of human development, myths acted as such a regulating and unifying form. In modern times, its place has been taken, and to some extent -.
• Subjective spirituality represents the refraction of objective forms in the individual consciousness of each individual person. In this regard, we can talk about the culture of an individual person (his knowledge base, ability to make moral choices, religious feelings, culture of behavior, etc.).

The combination of spiritual and material forms common cultural space as a complex interconnected system of elements constantly transforming into each other. Thus, spiritual culture - the ideas, plans of the artist - can be embodied in material things - books or sculptures, and reading books or observing objects of art is accompanied by a reverse transition - from material things to knowledge, emotions, feelings.

The quality of each of these elements, as well as the close connection between them, determines level moral, aesthetic, intellectual, and ultimately - cultural development of any society.

The relationship between material and spiritual culture

Material culture- this is the entire area of ​​human material and production activity and its results - the artificial environment surrounding humans.

Things- the result of human material and creative activity - are the most important form of its existence. Like the human body, a thing simultaneously belongs to two worlds - natural and cultural. As a rule, things are made from natural materials and become part of culture after human processing. This is exactly how our distant ancestors once acted, turning a stone into a chop, a stick into a spear, the skin of a killed animal into clothing. At the same time, the thing acquires a very important quality - the ability to satisfy certain human needs, to be useful to a person. We can say that a useful thing is the initial form of existence of a thing in culture.

But things from the very beginning were also carriers of socially significant information, signs and symbols that connected the human world with the world of spirits, texts that stored information necessary for the survival of the collective. This was especially characteristic of primitive culture with its syncretism - integrity, indivisibility of all elements. Therefore, along with practical utility, there was symbolic utility, which made it possible to use things in magical rites and rituals, as well as to give them additional aesthetic properties. In ancient times, another form of thing appeared - a toy intended for children, with the help of which they mastered the necessary cultural experience and prepared for adult life. Most often these were miniature models of real things, sometimes having additional aesthetic value.

Gradually, over thousands of years, the utilitarian and valuable properties of things began to separate, which led to the formation of two classes of things - prosaic, purely material, and things-signs used for ritual purposes, for example, flags and emblems of states, orders, etc. There has never been an insurmountable barrier between these classes. So, in the church, a special font is used for the baptismal ceremony, but if necessary, it can be replaced with any basin of suitable size. Thus, any thing retains its sign function, being a cultural text. With the passage of time, the aesthetic value of things began to acquire more and more importance, so beauty has long been considered one of their most important characteristics. But in industrial society, beauty and utility began to be separated. Therefore, many useful, but ugly things and at the same time beautiful expensive trinkets appear, emphasizing the wealth of their owner.

We can say that a material thing becomes a carrier of spiritual meaning, since the image of a person of a particular era, culture, social status, etc. is fixed in it. Thus, a knight’s sword can serve as an image and symbol of a medieval feudal lord, and in modern complex household appliances it is easy to see a man of the early 21st century. The toys are also portraits of the era. For example, modern technically sophisticated toys, including many models of weapons, quite accurately reflect the face of our time.

Social organizations They are also the fruit of human activity, another form of material objectivity, material culture. The formation of human society took place in close connection with the development of social structures, without which the existence of culture is impossible. In primitive society, due to the syncretism and homogeneity of primitive culture, there was only one social structure - the clan organization, which ensured the entire existence of man, his material and spiritual needs, as well as the transfer of information to subsequent generations. With the development of society, various social structures began to form, responsible for the everyday practical life of people (labor, public administration, war) and for satisfying their spiritual needs, primarily religious. Already in the Ancient East, the state and cult were clearly distinguished, and at the same time schools appeared as part of pedagogical organizations.

The development of civilization, associated with the improvement of technology and technology, the construction of cities, and the formation of classes, required a more effective organization of social life. As a result, social organizations appeared in which economic, political, legal, moral relations, technical, scientific, artistic, and sports activities were objectified. In the economic sphere, the first social structure was the medieval guild, which in modern times was replaced by manufactory, which today has developed into industrial and trading firms, corporations and banks. In the political sphere, in addition to the state, political parties and public associations appeared. The legal sphere created the court, the prosecutor's office, and legislative bodies. The religion has formed an extensive church organization. Later, organizations of scientists, artists, and philosophers appeared. All cultural spheres existing today have a network of social organizations and structures created by them. The role of these structures increases over time, as the importance of the organizational factor in the life of mankind increases. Through these structures, a person exercises control and self-government, creates the basis for the common life of people, for preserving and passing on the accumulated experience to the next generations.

Things and social organizations together create a complex structure of material culture, in which several important areas are distinguished: agriculture, buildings, tools, transport, communications, technology, etc.

Agriculture includes plant varieties and animal breeds developed as a result of selection, as well as cultivated soils. Human survival is directly related to this area of ​​material culture, since it provides food and raw materials for industrial production. Therefore, people are constantly concerned about breeding new, more productive species of plants and animals. But proper soil cultivation is especially important, maintaining its fertility at a high level - mechanical tillage, fertilization with organic and chemical fertilizers, land reclamation and crop rotation - the sequence of cultivating different plants on one piece of land.

building- places where people live with all the diversity of their activities and life (housing, premises for management activities, entertainment, educational activities), and construction- results of construction that change the conditions of economy and life (premises for production, bridges, dams, etc.). Both buildings and structures are the result of construction. A person must constantly take care to maintain them in order so that they can successfully perform their functions.

Tools, fixtures And equipment are intended to provide all types of physical and mental labor of a person. Thus, tools directly affect the material being processed, devices serve as an addition to the tools, equipment is a set of tools and devices located in one place and used for one purpose. They differ depending on what type of activity they serve - agriculture, industry, communications, transport, etc. The history of mankind testifies to the constant improvement of this area of ​​material culture - from a stone ax and a digging stick to modern complex machines and mechanisms that ensure the production of everything necessary for human life.

Transport And communication routes ensure the exchange of people and goods between different regions and settlements, contributing to their development. This area of ​​material culture includes: specially equipped communication routes (roads, bridges, embankments, airport runways), buildings and structures necessary for the normal operation of transport (railway stations, airports, ports, harbors, gas stations, etc.), all types of transport (horse-drawn, road, rail, air, water, pipeline).

Connection closely related to transport and includes postal services, telegraph, telephone, radio and computer networks. It, like transport, connects people, allowing them to exchange information.

Technologies - knowledge and skills in all listed areas of activity. The most important task is not only the further improvement of technology, but also the transfer to next generations, which is possible only through a developed education system, and this indicates a close connection between material and spiritual culture.

Knowledge, values ​​and projects as forms of spiritual culture.Knowledge are a product of human cognitive activity, recording information received by a person about the world around him and the person himself, his views on life and behavior. We can say that the level of culture of both an individual and society as a whole is determined by the volume and depth of knowledge. Today, knowledge is acquired by a person in all spheres of culture. But gaining knowledge in religion, art, everyday life, etc. is not a priority. Here knowledge is always associated with a certain value system, which it justifies and defends: in addition, it is figurative in nature. Only science, as a special sphere of spiritual production, has as its goal the acquisition of objective knowledge about the world around us. It arose in antiquity, when there was a need for generalized knowledge about the world around us.

Values ​​- ideals that a person and society strive to achieve, as well as objects and their properties that satisfy certain human needs. They are associated with a constant assessment of all objects and phenomena surrounding a person, which he makes according to the principle of good-bad, good-evil, and arose within the framework of primitive culture. Myths played a special role in the preservation and transmission of values ​​to subsequent generations, thanks to which values ​​became an integral part of rites and rituals, and through them a person became a part of society. Due to the collapse of myth with the development of civilization, value orientations began to be consolidated in religion, philosophy, art, morality and law.

Projects - plans for future human actions. Their creation is connected with the essence of man, his ability to carry out conscious, purposeful actions to transform the world around him, which is impossible without a previously drawn up plan. In this, a person’s creative ability is realized, his ability to freely transform reality: first - in his own consciousness, then - in practice. In this way, a person differs from animals, who are able to act only with those objects and phenomena that exist in the present and are important for them at a given time. Only man has freedom; for him there is nothing inaccessible or impossible (at least in fantasy).

In primitive times, this ability was fixed at the level of myth. Today, projective activity exists as a specialized activity and is divided in accordance with what projects of objects should be created - natural, social or human. In this regard, design is distinguished:

• technical (engineering), inextricably linked with scientific and technological progress, which occupies an increasingly important place in culture. Its result is the world of material things that create the body of modern civilization;
• social in creating models of social phenomena - new forms of government, political and legal systems, methods of production management, school education, etc.;
• pedagogical to create human models, ideal images of children and students, which are formed by parents and teachers.
• Knowledge, values ​​and projects form the foundation of spiritual culture, which includes, in addition to the mentioned results of spiritual activity, the spiritual activity itself in the production of spiritual products. They, like the products of material culture, satisfy certain human needs and, above all, the need to ensure the life of people in society. For this, a person acquires the necessary knowledge about the world, society and himself, and for this, value systems are created that allow a person to realize, choose or create forms of behavior approved by society. This is how the varieties of spiritual culture that exist today were formed - morality, politics, law, art, religion, science, philosophy. Consequently, spiritual culture is a multi-layered formation.

At the same time, spiritual culture is inextricably linked with material culture. Any objects or phenomena of material culture are based on a project, embody certain knowledge and become values, satisfying human needs. In other words, material culture is always the embodiment of a certain part of spiritual culture. But spiritual culture can only exist if it is materialized, objectified, and has received one or another material embodiment. Any book, painting, musical composition, like other works of art that are part of spiritual culture, need a material carrier - paper, canvas, paints, musical instruments, etc.

Moreover, it is often difficult to understand what type of culture - material or spiritual - a particular object or phenomenon belongs to. Thus, we will most likely classify any piece of furniture as material culture. But if we are talking about a 300-year-old chest of drawers exhibited in a museum, we should talk about it as an object of spiritual culture. A book, an indisputable object of spiritual culture, can be used to light a stove. But if cultural objects can change their purpose, then criteria must be introduced to distinguish between objects of material and spiritual culture. In this capacity, one can use an assessment of the meaning and purpose of an object: an object or phenomenon that satisfies the primary (biological) needs of a person belongs to material culture; if it satisfies secondary needs associated with the development of human abilities, it is considered an object of spiritual culture.

Between material and spiritual culture there are transitional forms - signs that represent something different from what they themselves are, although this content does not relate to spiritual culture. The most famous form of sign is money, as well as various coupons, tokens, receipts, etc., used by people to indicate payment for all kinds of services. Thus, money - the general market equivalent - can be spent on buying food or clothing (material culture) or purchasing a ticket to a theater or museum (spiritual culture). In other words, money acts as a universal intermediary between objects of material and spiritual culture in modern society. But there is a serious danger in this, since money equalizes these objects among themselves, depersonalizing objects of spiritual culture. At the same time, many people have the illusion that everything has its price, that everything can be bought. In this case, money divides people and degrades the spiritual side of life.

I. Introduction.

II. Spiritual culture.

3.1. Spiritual culture of the individual.

3.2. Elements of spiritual culture.

2.2.1. Ecological culture.

2.2.2. Moral culture.

2.2.3. Aesthetic culture.

2.2.4. Creation.

III. Traditions and innovation in culture.

3.1. Cultural traditions: their essence and structure.

3.2. Innovation in culture.

IV. Problems of modern national culture.

V. Unclaimed culture.

VI. Conclusion.

VII. Bibliography.

I. Introduction

Our Fatherland is going through difficult days. The tragedy and despair of the Time of Troubles, previously known to us from history textbooks, have today in many ways become our everyday life. The spiritual fortress, built with God's help, efforts and exploits of our ancestors, is being destroyed today. That life-forming, fertile layer in people is devalued, without which the concepts of Honor, Home, service to Truth and the Fatherland are not instilled in a person.

Culture is the mother of the people; A people devoid of culture is like an orphan without a clan, without a tribe, and there is nothing for this people to cling to and nothing to hope for. The culture of Russia is its backbone, folded like vertebrae from the cultures and aspirations of all the nations and nationalities inhabiting it. How many times has evil fallen on this ridge. How many times have they tried to break, crush, tear apart this mighty ridge! But even after the turmoil, after riots, negotiations, revolutions, after all the blows that other states could not withstand, Russia is alive. Culture unites peoples and connects nations with each other.

We live in a new century; many great discoveries that the past century, the twentieth, brought to us have not yet been made. As if opening a new page in the history of mankind, we are given the opportunity to learn more than our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers knew. They contributed their share of knowledge to the wheel of progress, giving us a basis for development, just as we will later give the best to our children.

Everything in our lives is changing so rapidly that it is impossible to predict what the coming century will bring us, what other trials and problems await us ahead, what humanity will bring to reality, and what will be left behind the next turn of the wheel of history. And yet there are still things in the world that have not been touched by the hand of progress, these are the most beautiful things, what has been created for centuries, what was sacredly preserved by our ancestors and taken care of, so that future generations could appreciate, pay tribute and increase, adding that -new is our culture.

II. Spiritual culture

In addition to the economic, social and political spheres of people's lives, civilization includes another very important point - culture. The degree of cultural development shows the achievements of a particular historical civilization and determines its place among existing, modern and future civilizations. What is culture, what elements does it consist of, and what place does it occupy in the life of a person and society?

The term “culture” is of Latin origin. Initially it meant “cultivation, cultivation of the soil,” but later acquired a more general meaning. Culture is studied by many sciences (archaeology, ethnography, history, aesthetics, etc.), and each gives it its own definition. It is no coincidence that there are up to 500 definitions of culture in world literature. Let us turn to one of them, the most frequently encountered in the social sciences. In the most general sense, by culture social scientists understand all types of transformative activity of man and society, as well as its results.

There is a distinction between material and spiritual culture. Material culture is created in the process of material production (its products are machines, equipment, buildings, etc.). Spiritual culture includes the process of spiritual creativity and the spiritual values ​​created in the form of music, paintings, scientific discoveries, religious teachings, etc. All elements of material and spiritual culture are inextricably linked. Man's material production activity underlies his activity in other areas of life; at the same time, the results of his mental (spiritual) activity are materialized, transformed into material objects - things, technical means, works of art, etc. For example, our knowledge of electronic technology belongs to spiritual culture, and computers, televisions created on the basis of these knowledge belong to material culture.

So, culture is an essential characteristic of the life of society, and, therefore, it is inseparable from man as a social being. Biologically, a person is given only an organism that has a certain structure, inclinations, and functions. In the process of life, a person is formed as a cultural and historical being. His human qualities are the result of his mastering the language, familiarizing himself with the values ​​and traditions existing in society, mastering the techniques and skills of activity inherent in a given culture, etc. And it will not be an exaggeration to say that culture represents the measure of humanity in a person.

2.1 Spiritual culture of the individual

Analysis of the problems of the spiritual life of a society, issues related to its culture, largely depend on the characteristics of the approach to defining the latter. Nowadays there are a large number of definitions of this concept. This diversity is primarily due to the objective polysemy of culture. “The richer the subject to be defined,” Hegel wrote, “i.e. The more different aspects he presents for consideration, the more different the definitions given to him turn out to be.”

Each of the sciences that study cultural issues, based on its subject of research, identifies those aspects and relationships that fall within the spectrum of consideration of this science. The increasing role of culture in the life of society, the successes achieved in scientific and theoretical thought, have largely determined the increased attention of social scientists to theoretical and methodological issues of spiritual culture.

The history of the development of philosophical theoretical problems of culture dates back to the 18th - 19th centuries. Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Herder, and many other philosophers viewed culture in line with classical idealism, where, as K. Marx wrote, “only one type of labor, namely abstract spiritual labor,” was taken as the basis.

In contrast to nature, culture denoted the spiritual principle, spiritual abilities and capabilities of a person, all of whose cultural and creative practice was recognized in pre-Marxist cultural studies “as a purely spiritual practice, entirely determined by the activity of consciousness and summing itself up in the ideological products of this consciousness.” With the emergence of materialist dialectics, which recognizes the fundamental role of material production in the life of society, the concept of a dual structure of culture - material and spiritual - is naturally affirmed.

The formation of the spiritual world of a comprehensively, harmoniously developed personality involves the use of comprehensive and systematic approaches in the process of its upbringing. A comprehensive and systematic influence on all factors in the formation of spiritual culture - from socio-economic relations to the moral and psychological atmosphere surrounding the student - is necessary in the process of vocational guidance of schoolchildren.

The formation of a personal culture, which includes the action of both objective and subjective factors interacting with each other, occurs not only as a result of conscious and purposeful influence on it, but also spontaneously, under the influence of objective living conditions of people.

The world of material objects, reflected in the child’s mind, gives rise to a certain attitude towards them, creates a need for them, criteria for their evaluation. This determines his objective inclusion in social life in addition to his desires and aspirations. It would seem that this feature of human existence does not give grounds to talk about the possibility of forming the spiritual world according to a given model. However, in the process of creating material wealth, people objectify their goals and will in them, enter into relationships with other people, i.e. act in accordance with established norms of social communication. Taking this into account is one of the important conditions for developing the concept of personality formation and its spiritual world.

The objective conditions for the formation of the culture of the younger generation do not always accurately and completely reflect the characteristics of its age, professional and individual typological nature. Only an organic connection between the influences of objective conditions and the subjective factor can ensure the purposeful formation of the spiritual world of the individual according to a given model.

This explains the importance of the complex, systemic nature of the formation of students’ spiritual culture. This process must strictly meet the requirements of social life, which is an integral system.

In his work “The Spiritual Life of Society” A.K. Uledov defines the spiritual life of society as a real process of people’s existence, a way of social activity and at the same time an independent sphere associated with the production and dissemination of consciousness and the satisfaction of their spiritual needs. Spiritual culture is considered as an education that expresses what is common to spiritual life as a system.

Acting as a qualitative indicator of the spiritual life of society, spiritual culture in its structure is identical to the structure of the spiritual sphere of public life, which as a system represents the unity of such components as spiritual activity, spiritual needs, spiritual consumption, social institutions, spiritual relationships and communication.

One of the advantages of the systematic approach is that it makes it possible to explore all components of spiritual culture in unity and interconnection, to analyze the processes that determine the formation of the spiritual world of schoolchildren in the country, the restructuring of all spheres of public life, to reveal the patterns of formation of a harmoniously developed, socially active personality .

“Spiritual survival is possible” - this was the opinion of the participants in the discussion, which took place on November 15, 1991 at the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences at an extended meeting of the Bureau of the Department of Philosophy, Political Science, and Culture. It was attended by: B. Nemensky - corresponding member of the APN, People's Artist; E. Kvyatkovsky - full member of the APN; V. Lakshin - editor-in-chief of the magazine “Foreign Literature”; N. Kushaev - candidate of pedagogical sciences; L. Bueva - academician, secretary of the department of philosophy, political science, culture of the APN and many others. The concept of art education as the foundation of the system of aesthetic development of students in school (work leader B. Nemensky) and the modern concept of aesthetic education of students in secondary schools (edited by E. Kvyatkovsky) were discussed.

B. Nemensky, in particular, argues that various types of art are capable of introducing a child to the world of nature, to the world of characters of the people around him, to history, to the world of beauty and morality. And they do it better and easier than scientific disciplines. Artistic disciplines, by their very essence, can and should be aimed at shaping the inner world of a growing person. “What place in time should the study of art occupy in school? Now, for example, it has been reduced from 7th to 6th grade. By the way, the decline continued throughout all the years of Soviet power... Is it possible without art in high school? Where has it been proven that a high school student can develop without music and fine arts? Without art - from the first to the graduating class - a school cannot exist, developing its students harmoniously. So, art is the most important means of introducing a person to all phenomena of existence and to himself. This determines the special possibilities of the artistic cycle on the path of humanizing the school. It must take an equal position in the structure of education and become a growth point for a new, humanized education system.”

2.2 Elements of spiritual culture

Comprehensive personal development, the formation of aesthetic, environmental, moral and creative elements of spiritual culture among schoolchildren is one of the tasks of career guidance work at school. And the task of teaching staff is to educate future young workers and specialists so that, upon leaving school, they are able to bring beauty into life, into work, into people’s relationships. The basic elements of spiritual culture cannot be formed individually. They are closely interconnected. Speaking about ecology, man’s relationship to the environment, one cannot fail to mention the beauty of the living and inanimate world, the honor and duty of people to nature. And immediately the creative aspect arises. It is necessary to learn to live on Earth without disturbing other inhabitants, without maiming, without destroying what has been created by our planet and the great cosmos, but to intelligently and harmoniously complement and ennoble it with our creations.

Let's consider each element separately, determine the importance of each of them and show the need to educate these qualities in the younger generation.

2.2.1. Ecological culture

Peace and ecology. These words have become unique slogans of our time, urgent calls addressed to the entire human community and to each of the people. But if the word “world” has been rooted in the vocabulary of different peoples since ancient times, the term “ecology” (translated from Greek - the science of home, location) appeared only in 1866 and until recently was used mainly by biologists. Indeed, planet Earth, its nature - continents and oceans, green and animal world - is the home of humanity. This is the habitat of people, and the workshop in which they work, and a storehouse of vital resources, and a source of health and inspiration. That is why preserving the natural foundations of society’s life support is a global, universal task. But due to the fact that the scientific and technological revolution and world production have not yet acquired an ecological orientation and continue to unfold without taking into account the capabilities and limitations of nature, the negative consequences of these trends have sharply increased: environmental pollution, disruption of ecological balance, a decrease in the ability of natural components to self-heal, depletion non-renewable resources. The list of global and regional environmental threats is very long. The “Ecological Map” of our country reflects both these threats and the various sources of environmental tension in the Fatherland.

Ecological culture is a capacious concept, but the main content captures the peculiarity of the modern stage of interaction between society and nature, when the contradiction between them has reached unprecedented severity.

On the one hand, nature’s “response” to destructive actions gives a powerful impetus, encouraging, or rather forcing, society to rethink its attitude towards nature, abandon the old view of it as a sphere of free play of human forces and abilities, and take the path of developing an ecological culture.

On the other hand, the process of formation and development of ecological culture becomes an impulse for spiritual and practical activity aimed at overcoming the crisis state of the “society-nature” system, at improving this state, and in the future at harmonizing relations between society and nature.

“Charge” on improving environmental management should become a common feature of all social groups and generations, but especially young people. And it is no coincidence that during the international conference of scientists “Environmental protection and protection of world peace” (1986), a round table “Youth and the struggle for the protection of nature and peace” was held.

The younger generation represents not only the immediate future, but also the more distant future, and therefore is especially interested in ensuring that the future is peaceful and environmentally friendly. The generation entering independent life is the most receptive to new principles and norms of relationships with nature, and is distinguished by the spirit of innovation, energy and other qualities so necessary for the implementation of these principles and norms. Finally, today's children in the future - very close - will take full responsibility for the fate of the planet - the cradle and abode of humanity. Alarming changes in nature, both personally perceived and lying beyond the threshold of sensations, but identified as a result of research and made public, lead to the fact that increasingly wider sections of the population are aware of the urgent need to improve the natural environment of their lives and activities.

The ecologization of modern knowledge, determined by social needs, puts forward the task of giving the education system an environmental orientation. Scientific knowledge underlies education, including environmental education. This is the basis for the UNESCO-UNEP international program on environmental education and the environmental education programs being developed in our country.

During the educational process and preparation, students need to:

1. Strengthening the environmental and ideological content of education, and above all, broader coverage of philosophical problems of interaction between man and nature;

2. Connection of various school subjects with environmental issues, the formation of interdisciplinary connections identified in the course of the development of interdisciplinary research into problems of nature conservation and environmental improvement;

3. Development and introduction of holistic educational courses in nature conservation and general ecology, which reflect in the educational process such a trend of scientific knowledge as the formation and development of holistic, comprehensive areas of environmental research;

4. Inclusion in environmental education of the results of scientific research in the field of the environment that are related to regional and sectoral specialization.

These lines of environmental education should not only permeate the educational process, but also unite all the knowledge that young people acquire with a cross-cutting idea about the unity of society and nature.

2.2.2 Moral culture.

The enormous importance of moral education in the development and formation of personality has been recognized in pedagogy since ancient times. Many outstanding teachers of the past noted that the preparation of a benevolent person cannot be reduced only to his education and mental development, and moral formation was put at the forefront in education. In his treatise “Instruction of Morals,” the Czech teacher J. A. Komensky quoted the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca, who wrote: “Learn first good morals, and then wisdom. For without the former it is difficult to learn the latter.” There he cited a well-known popular saying: “Whoever succeeds in the sciences, but lags behind in good morals, falls further behind than he succeeds.”

The outstanding Swiss democratic teacher Pestalozzi assigned a major role to moral education. He considered moral education to be the main task of children's education. In his opinion, only this forms a virtuous character, perseverance in life’s adversities and a sympathetic attitude towards people.

However, of the classic teachers of the past, K.D. Ushinsky most fully and vividly characterized the transformative role of moral education in the development of personality. He wrote: “Of course, the education of the mind and the enrichment of its knowledge will bring a lot of benefits, but, alas, I in no way believe that botanical or zoological knowledge ... could make Gogol’s mayor an honest person, and I am completely convinced that if Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov was privy to everything secrets of organic chemistry or political economy, he will remain the same slickster, very harmful to society. ...No intelligence alone and knowledge alone is not enough to root in us that moral feeling, that social cement that sometimes, in accordance with reason, and often in contradiction with it, binds people into an honest, friendly society.” (Ushinsky K.D. About the moral element in education.)

V.G. Belinsky pointed out the enormous role of moral education in the process of learning and personality formation. He noted that education and the knowledge and skills acquired by a person will bring more or less benefit depending on what kind of morality he learns.

The child is in a state of quiet, hidden from prying eyes mental work - the work of growth and development. In rain and hail, as well as in the scorching rays of the sun, a young tree does not grow well. Likewise, constant emotional shocks, including scolding and excessive praise, are harmful to a child’s normal development.

The Bulgarian writer P. Vezhinov has a fantastic story “Blue Butterflies”. Butterflies and caterpillars live on a distant planet. Butterflies are endowed only with a refined emotional nature, and caterpillars are endowed with only a mental principle. Butterflies live sublimely - frivolously, in the end, their life comes down only to procreation. They are light, slender, graceful, their body seems to be covered with delicate, soft, iridescent fabric. They look at the astronauts with curiosity, excitement and lively interest, flocking to the music sounding from the tape recorder, as if enchanted. Meek and trusting, they approached the tape recorder closer and closer, forgetting about everything in the world, they were worried about music, nature, love. Caterpillars are blind, deaf and dumb, they are devoid of emotions and passions and lead a dull and joyless existence. They are blind to the miracle that surrounds them; they do not hear the voice of truth. Ice bound their hearts. They have a cold mind and a dead heart.

The life of both is devoid of creativity, because it requires harmony of mind and feeling.

In the same fairy tale, there is the robot Dirac, who flew with the astronauts in a spaceship. He showed no interest in the beautiful planet: he was deprived of the ability to feel. Everything around him was only a reason for conclusions. Once on the new planet, the robot, first of all, killed a butterfly in order to take the strange specimen to Earth; he did not want to take into account that this was not an insect, but an intelligent creature.

Only the unity of intellectual, emotional, moral development makes a person capable of beautiful, sublime forms of mental state that need to be preserved and cherished in a child, these are feelings of patriotism, love for nature, people, and the Motherland.

Moral education begins with exercises in moral actions, with manifestations of feelings of love and gratitude, and not by teaching moral truths. Conversations about duty, teachings, if they precede moral actions, are like shadows appearing at sunset before real things, Pestalozzi argued.

Developed moral and mental demands encourage the child to be diligent in work.

Belinsky assessed inharmonious development as a ugliness hidden from view. In one person, he noted, the mind is barely noticeable because of the heart, in another the heart seems to be located in the brain; This one is terribly smart and capable of action, but he can’t do anything, because he has no will: but this one has a terrible will, but a weak head, and either nonsense or evil comes out of his activities.

The extremely important task of the teacher is the volitional development of each student. The will will not be formed - the person will grow up to be an empty flower, a creature fit for nothing. All his good impulses will be dashed by his own cowardice, cowardice and laziness.

It is the achievement of a goal, overcoming obstacles on the way to it that indicates a strong will. However, one must distinguish between will and stubbornness. It happens that the desire to achieve something, to insist on one’s “I”, becomes painful and becomes more important than the final result of the planned activity. Remember Gogol's main characters - Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich - real stubborn people. Stubbornness - inappropriate persistence - is a negative personality quality. When developing your will, you must remember one of the most important laws of life - the law of expediency.

The ethics and aesthetics electives held at school allow students to more deeply study the history of the culture of human behavior in society and in everyday life, learn about honor and duty, justice and the manner of communication.

Students need to know that when they come to work, colleagues will form their first impression of their character based on their manner of communication with others. To do this, you need to teach schoolchildren to organize their communication, observing the following rules.

1. It is important to learn to listen to another person without interrupting him during a conversation.

2. It is important to understand the other person. Hindu philosophers came up with such a rule of argument. Each interlocutor must first state the thought of his opponent in a dispute and only after receiving confirmation from him that his thought is understood can he refute it. This rule is very useful to use, at least in cases where disputants put different meanings into the same words.

3. You need to learn to sincerely appreciate people. A cultured and developed person will always find good qualities in another. It is important to be generous with praise, to highly appreciate the true merits of people.

4. You need to be attentive to people. They say: it is better to deprive a person of food than attention.

5. Communication is the cultivation of useful habits, training in actions and worthy behavior. Therefore, everything in communication is important: how you dress, how you sit, how you walk, dance, talk to your neighbors.

All this and much more shapes a child’s character.

Analysis of the above shows that from a social and aesthetic point of view, the content of moral culture education should, first of all, include the involvement of students in such activities as socio-political, patriotic, labor, material, environmental and communication.

2.2.3 Aesthetic culture.

The goal of educating an aesthetic culture cannot be deciphered in isolation from other aspects of personality formation, all possible manifestations of its relations to the surrounding world. Aesthetic education is an essential element in the formation of the entirety of an individual’s spiritual wealth. The very process of aesthetic growth in the formation of the consciousness of youth must be democratic. It is necessary to introduce into the consciousness of children the aestheticization of various spheres of social life, as a way of identifying self-fulfilling creative inclinations.

Aesthetic education is carried out by a whole system of purposeful activities aimed at achieving the development of relevant abilities, skills, as well as obtaining knowledge, which in their totality constitute the level of aesthetic culture of an individual necessary for society.

The task of aesthetic development in the process of career guidance is to identify and develop creative and aesthetic inclinations that are inextricably linked with initial work skills.

The problem of aesthetic perception is revealed in the works of psychologists L.V. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinstein, B.M. Teplov, P.Ya. Yakobson, who emphasized that the aesthetic development of reality is primarily an active-emotional perception.

In the concept of artistic upbringing and education of B. Nemensky, it is noted that the foundation of aesthetic education of schoolchildren should be the teaching of subjects of the artistic cycle, which continues throughout the child’s entire school life. However, at different stages of training, this should happen in different ways, both in terms of content emphasis and in organizational terms, taking into account the logic of the subject itself and the age characteristics of children. The artistic development of schoolchildren is considered as part of the system of aesthetic education, which begins in kindergarten, in the process of introducing children to the surrounding reality and preparing for entry into adulthood.

The first stage is grades 1-4. The aesthetic attitude to life is the common basis for all types of artistic creativity, therefore the initial course of aesthetic education should not represent separate historically isolated types of art, but a holistic course of general aesthetic development.

It is advisable to devote a year of study (six-year course) to the course of aesthetic development, after which it is transformed into the teaching of individual artistic disciplines. This differentiation is initially necessary, because Only specialists in certain specific fields of art can competently guide the creative work of children, introducing them to the necessary professional techniques as interest arises.

During this period, the emphasis in teaching artistic disciplines is on the child’s emotional responsiveness when perceiving the world around him.

The second stage is grades 5-9. The increased analyticity of a teenager and his age-related characteristics in mastering the “standards” of human activity and behavior create favorable conditions for conscious involvement in the artistic culture of mankind. At this age, co-creative perception of works of art is already possible.

The third stage is grades 10-11. The leading goal of aesthetic education in adolescence is to help high school students solve their own ideological problems, such as the search for the meaning of life, moral guidelines, ideals, their individuality, which ultimately will help them to know themselves more correctly and find their place in their future life.

In high school, different types of art are again integrated into a single subject, allowing schoolchildren to comprehend world artistic culture as a whole. However, this course must be supplemented with mandatory practical elective classes - design, fine arts, music, amateur cinema, videography, etc.

Already in the middle classes, it is necessary to provide ample opportunities for those who want to test themselves by engaging in various types of art in creative circles and studios of free choice. As a result, a group of students with special abilities and a strong interest in a particular form of art will emerge in high school. In turn, the given opportunity to deepen knowledge, abilities, skills in the form of art you like will give impetus in the future and become a kind of compass in choosing a profession.

An effective way to increase students’ aesthetic literacy can be to conduct an additional course in aesthetic education during the career guidance process. Classes can be taught by a teacher of aesthetic education, a librarian or invited specialists.

2.2.4. Creation

The fact that there have been creative eras and creative societies in history, that in our schools first-graders have more pronounced creative abilities than tenth-graders, suggests that social, including school, conditions can be favorable and unfavorable for creative education.

In the lower grades, excessive regulation, strict discipline, and routine are harmful, as a result of which the creative ability itself is sharply suppressed.

In high school, lack of initiative, the inculcation of tailism (“like everyone else, so am I”) and, again, the routine suppress intellectual activity and, at the same time, creative productivity, which can be simplistically considered as creative ability multiplied by intellectual activity.

At a seminar on scientific and technical creativity at the Moscow House of Scientific and Technical Propaganda, recommendations were given to parents on how to “corrode” creative productivity in children. This humorous recommendation has a very serious basis, as it gives an idea of ​​what not to do. So, in order to make a non-creative personality, you need to tie the child very strongly to yourself, not allow him to play alone, keep him in front of adults more, but at the same time never take him with you to work, on a visit, on business trips, leaving him in the care of other adults, develop a strict regime and daily routine and adhere to it to the minute, enroll the child in an extended day school and send the child to a pioneer camp for two shifts every summer.

In adulthood, creative productivity continues to be suppressed by routine and highly regulated work, and by the persecution of innovators.

Creative education is, first of all, a fight against routine: one day should not be like other days, not a single lesson should be like other lessons. The child’s day is planned in such a way that there is no time for doing nothing, but all the time there is an alternation of tasks: planned, necessary, unplanned necessary and optional.

Each person, according to his temperament, has a norm of “loneliness” - large or small, and everyone must fulfill his norm: be alone, collect his thoughts, fantasize, communicate with friends, play with abstract toys, cubes, buttons, nuts, transform them with the power of his imagination into real objects.

If a child is very prone to solitude, the teacher from time to time organizes communication with peers and adults. If on the contrary, the child is taught to spend some time alone - with a game, with a book, with a drawing.

Creative education itself is carried out on this basis. A probabilistic-statistical worldview is instilled: do not divide everything into black and white, bad and good, wrong and right: strive not for the maximum, but for the optimum, making a choice from many options, while losing in one and winning in another; calculate the probability of possible events, understanding that

0% and 100% - there is never a guarantee; and for this you need to look at the world through the eyes of an extra. This means that there are authorities, but there are no indisputable authorities; It is impossible to divide literary heroes into absolutely positive and absolutely negative: a new idea is always unusual, controversial, contradicts the old idea, and when it wins, an even newer idea will appear that will contradict it and in turn win - this is the dialectic of the nature of development.

It is important for a person to develop the habit of getting up from the “all fours” of current affairs, looking around, looking at things from above, connecting them with global affairs, thinking, thinking through and inventing. To do this, try to see the unusual in ordinary things: dramatically change the scale (as Swift did), endow them with unusual properties, place them in an unusual setting, make them mysterious and funny.

The main task of labor education and vocational guidance in particular is to form in each student a general orientation towards conscientious creative work, to bring him to the line of spiritual choice of profession.

Let's take a closer look at the process of production and accumulation of cultural property.

III. Traditions and innovation in culture

Culture, like any dialectically developing process, has a stable and developing (innovative) side.

The sustainable side of culture is a cultural tradition, thanks to which the accumulation and transmission of human experience in history occurs, and each new generation of people can actualize this experience, relying in their activities on what was created by previous generations.

In so-called traditional societies, people, having assimilated culture, reproduce its patterns, and if they make any changes, then within the framework of tradition. On its basis, culture functions. Tradition prevails over creativity. Creativity in this case is manifested in the fact that a person forms himself as a subject of culture, which acts as a certain set of ready-made, stereotypical programs (customs, rituals, etc.) for activities with material and ideal objects. Changes in the programs themselves occur extremely slowly. This is basically the culture of primitive society and later traditional culture.

Such a stable cultural tradition under certain conditions is necessary for the survival of human groups. But if certain societies abandon hypertrophied traditionalism and develop more dynamic types of culture, this does not mean that they can abandon cultural traditions altogether. Culture cannot exist without traditions.

Cultural traditions as historical memory are an indispensable condition for not only the existence, but also the development of culture, even in the case of the creative qualities of a new culture, dialectically denying, includes continuity, assimilation of the positive results of previous activities - this is a general law of development that also operates in the sphere of culture, having particularly important. The practical importance of this issue is demonstrated by the experience of our country. After the October Revolution and in the circumstances of the general revolutionary situation in the society of artistic culture, a movement arose whose leaders wanted to build a new, progressive culture on the basis of the complete negation and destruction of the previous culture. And this has led in many cases to losses in the cultural sphere and the destruction of its material monuments.

Since culture reflects differences in worldviews in the value system in ideological attitudes, it is therefore legitimate to talk about reactionary and progressive tendencies in culture. But it does not follow from this that the previous culture can be discarded - it is impossible to create a new, higher culture from scratch.

The question of traditions in culture and the attitude towards cultural heritage concerns not only the preservation, but also the development of culture, i.e. creation of something new, increase in cultural wealth in the process of creativity. Although the creative process has objective prerequisites both in reality itself and in the cultural heritage, it is directly carried out by the subject of creative activity. It should be noted right away that not every innovation is a cultural creation. The creation of new things simultaneously becomes the creation of cultural values ​​when it does not carry a universal content, acquiring general significance and receiving echoes from other people.

In the creativity of culture, the universal organic is merged with uniqueness: each cultural value is unique, whether we are talking about a work of art, an invention, etc. Replicating in one form or another what is already known, what has already been created earlier is dissemination, not the creation of culture. But it is also necessary, since it involves a wide range of people in the process of the functioning of culture in society. And cultural creativity necessarily presupposes the inclusion of something new in the process of historical development of human culture-creating activity, and therefore is a source of innovation. But just as not every innovation is a cultural phenomenon, not everything new that is included in the cultural process is advanced, progressive, corresponding to the humanistic intentions of culture. There are both progressive and reactionary tendencies in culture. The development of culture is a contradictory process, which reflects a wide range of sometimes opposing and conflicting social class and national interests of a given historical era. We must fight for the establishment of the advanced and progressive in culture.

3.1 Cultural traditions: their essence and structure

In the life and culture of any nation there are many phenomena that are complex in their historical origin and functions. One of the most striking and revealing phenomena of this kind are folk customs and traditions. In order to understand their origins, it is necessary, first of all, to study the history of the people, their culture, come into contact with their life and way of life, and try to understand their soul and character. Any customs and traditions fundamentally reflect the life of a particular group of people, and they arise as a result of empirical and spiritual knowledge of the surrounding reality. In other words, customs and traditions are those valuable pearls in the ocean of people’s lives that they have collected over the centuries as a result of practical and spiritual comprehension of reality. Whatever tradition or custom we take, having examined its roots, we, as a rule, come to the conclusion that it is vitally justified and that behind the form, which sometimes seems pretentious and archaic to us, there is a living rational grain. The customs and traditions of any people are their “dowry” when joining the huge family of humanity living on planet Earth. Each ethnic group enriches and improves it with its existence.

Traditions are elements of social and cultural heritage passed down from generation to generation and preserved in a particular community for a long time. But what definition of traditions is given by I.V. Sukhanov: Traditions are not regulated by legal regulations, supported by the power of public opinion, forms of transferring to new generations ways of implementing the ideological relations that have developed in the life of a given class, society (political, moral, religious, aesthetic). There are many types of traditions, for example, the author of the book “Customs, Traditions and Continuity of Generations”, I.V. Sukhanov gives an example of revolutionary traditions, and defines them as the process of reproduction in new generations of Soviet people of those moral and political qualities that were developed by the Russian working class during the period of three revolutions and the civil war. The ultimate goal of traditions comes down to introducing the activities of the new generation into the channel along which the activities of older generations developed, believes I.V. Sukhanov. And I completely agree with this opinion, because it was not in vain that our ancestors passed on the traditions of, say, arable farming, from generation to generation, so that their sons would not repeat the mistakes made by their fathers, but for some reason we believe that according to tradition, we should do everything the way our ancestors did, and this is a deeply wrong opinion. After all, if we repeat what has been done, then progress will stop, so humanity has introduced and is introducing something new into what previous generations were doing. Meanwhile, it is difficult for the previous generation to pass on all the socially accumulated experience, because activities related to traditions are so multifaceted that the generation tries to direct development in line with these traditions, rather than following exactly in the footsteps of their fathers. That is, tradition does not regulate behavior in detail in specific situations, but solves the problem through the regulation of spiritual qualities necessary for correct, from the point of view of a given class, society, behavior in one or another area of ​​public or personal life. From here we see that traditions function in all social systems and are a necessary condition for their life. Thus, traditions transmit, consolidate and support diverse social experiences and thereby create a spiritual connection between generations. Traditions perform two social functions: they are a means of stabilizing the relations established in a given society and carry out the reproduction of these relations in the lives of new generations. Tradition carries out these functions in the following way: traditions are addressed to the spiritual world of man, they fulfill their role as means of stabilization and reproduction of social relations not directly, but through the formation of the spiritual qualities required by these relations. The ideological content, the formula of tradition, is directly the norm or principle of behavior. The latter, unlike rules, do not provide detailed instructions for action. They indicate the direction of behavior (honesty, truthfulness, simplicity and modesty, hard work and frugality, etc.). Traditions, in their essence, do not have a strict connection with a specific action in a certain situation, since those spiritual qualities that tradition instills in us are necessary for any specific actions and the implementation of these actions is not an end in itself, but only a means for the formation of a person’s spiritual appearance.

Traditions also have an educational effect on a person; they form complex habits - a certain direction of behavior. A complex habit is an active form of reflecting the demands of life; in any situation related to it, within the boundaries of the direction of behavior it affirms, it provides a person with the freedom to choose a specific action (I.V. Sukhanov). Based on a complex habit, there is always the opportunity to improvise behavior. Traditions, as mass complex habits, guide behavior not only in established relationships, but also in those new variants of them that arise unexpectedly, sharply different from the usual. For example: the tradition of a creative attitude to work encourages a person to search for more productive techniques, methods in new types of production activities, to deeply master new specialties.

Tradition directly and directly establishes the connection between actions and spiritual qualities. Moreover, it is very important that in this regard, spiritual quality always becomes the cause of the corresponding action. For example, someone invariably keeps his word, accurately fulfills his obligations. We see the reason for this behavior in the decency and commitment of a person. Actions in tradition are subordinated to the conscious goal of education. “Show me,” says an Indian proverb, “how you raise children, and I will tell you what’s on your mind.”

Reactionary traditions, which, as a rule, carry an openly expressed hostile idea, can be successfully combated by means of direct ideological influence. Each of these, for example, reactionary traditions, which are relics of the past in the minds of some of our people, such as nationalism, careerism, acquisitiveness, parasitism, has its own set of views, perceived by some of the youth from some representatives of the older generation. But the views hidden by a person are necessarily manifested in his behavior, which helps those around him to fight their carrier, so that they do not spread to other people. In overcoming reactionary traditions, criticism of their ideological content and convincing demonstration of their failure and incompetence play a huge role.

Tradition is the earliest way to ensure the unity of generations and the integrity of cultural subjects. Tradition does not allow any logical follow-up, and does not require rational evidence for existence and legitimacy, and in economic manifestations it is stable and sustainable.

Traditional forms of activity and behavior are focused not on achieving a specific goal, but on repeating a given pattern or stereotype; in this sense, tradition ensures the stability of any society. Admiration for the tradition of its culture is the characteristic features of such societies and cultures that differ in the traditional features of cultures that primitive, Asian and patriarchal social forms possess to the greatest extent. Their peculiarity is intolerance to any innovations in the mechanism of traditions. And also the preservation and strengthening of an appropriate social order, intolerance to even the slightest manifestations of individualism and spiritual independence. Obviously, these features were most characteristic of other cultures such as the cultures of India, Japan, China, etc. A characteristic feature of traditional cultures is their so-called anti-historicism, the denial of the possibility of historical development and any change at all. Time in traditional societies is, as it were, rolled into a ring, that is, it rotates in a circle.

However, traditions, despite their stability and conservatism, are being destroyed. In the process of development of society, tradition is supplemented by other means of reproduction and is subject to the integrity and sustainability of culture (ideology, law, religion, politics and other forms of spirituality). This is where a historical trend arose, which is called traditionalism, the essence of which can be reduced to the assumption of the existence of some “original tradition” that expresses the universal, deep meaning of the universe and in the course of historical development, the “original tradition” that manifests itself in a certain way is considered uniform in all cultures and standing at their origins as the original state of the world, the unity of all cultures is postulated, and the plurality and division of cultures is postulated as regression, decline, retreat to the original position.

Spiritual culture is a unique integrity of art, science, morality, and religion. The history of the formation of culture has a number of features. The accumulation of cultural values ​​proceeds in two directions—vertically and horizontally. The first direction of accumulation of cultural values ​​(vertically) is associated with their transfer from one generation to another, i.e. with continuity in culture. Continuity as a pattern of development, for example in science, can be illustrated by the following well-known facts: the discovery of invisible rays by V. Roentgen led A. Poincaré to the hypothesis of a connection between these rays and the phenomenon of fluorescence; A. Becquerel, testing this hypothesis, accidentally recorded the previously unknown spontaneous radiation of uranium, which, in turn, led the Curies to the discovery of radium and the phenomenon of radioactivity in a number of other elements. Based on this pattern, we can safely say that without Euclidean geometry there would be no Lobachevsky geometry, and without Newton’s discoveries there would be no Einstein’s theory of relativity. The most stable side of culture is cultural traditions, elements of social and cultural heritage that are not just passed on from generation to generation, but are also preserved for a long time, throughout the lives of many generations. Traditions imply what to inherit and how to inherit. Traditional can be values, ideas, customs, rituals, etc. Many traditions familiar to us came to us from different eras and civilizations. Thus, the customs of celebrating the spring holiday of Maslenitsa have been familiar since the time of the ancient Slavs, and the rule of etiquette to let a woman pass first has come to us from the period of matriarchy. The creators of traditions were people who lived in different eras, representatives of different social groups and classes, which is why traditions are sometimes so contradictory. Each generation selects certain traditions and in this sense chooses not only the future, but also the past. The second line of accumulation of cultural values ​​(horizontally) is most clearly manifested in artistic culture. It is expressed in the fact that, unlike science, it is not individual components, actual ideas, parts of theory that are inherited as values, but an integral work of art. The works of Shakespeare cannot replace the works of Dante any more than the works of Dante can replace the works of the great tragic poets of antiquity. However, a work of art created in the 19th century by readers of the 20th century. is perceived completely differently. This happens not only because society has changed (its economy, politics, social sphere), but also because its spiritual world, its culture has changed. New creators appeared who, with their works, influenced the consciousness of people who lived in the 20th century. And in such simultaneous existence and interaction today of works created in different eras, the culture of modern civilization is born.

3.2 Innovation in culture

Let us turn to the problem of cultural development, because the formation of culture involves not only preserving the best elements of the old, but also creating a new one, increasing cultural wealth in the process of creativity. We are talking about innovation in culture. Of course, not all innovation is creativity. The creation of something new becomes a creation of cultural values ​​only when it acquires social significance and receives recognition from other people. Suppose a poet in lyrical poetry talks about his feelings and experiences, joys and sufferings, but it is possible to claim that he “creates culture” only if the content and form of his poetry evoke a response in the souls of people, awaken reciprocal feelings in the perceiver. the public, giving it aesthetic pleasure. And if someone’s rhymed text does not possess such properties, then it cannot be called either poetry or cultural creativity. True, it also happens that works of art or scientific discoveries do not find recognition among their contemporaries. But if these are genuine spiritual values, then their time has come and subsequent generations will pay tribute to them. This was the case, for example, with the works of K. Tsiolkovsky, the principle of conservation of matter and movement of M. Lomonosov, paintings by impressionist artists, etc. In cultural creativity, the universal is organically fused with uniqueness. Each cultural value is unique, be it a work of art, an invention, a scientific discovery, etc. Replicating something already known in one form or another is dissemination, not the creation of culture.

IV. Problems of modern national culture

Any complex phenomenon of social life cannot be assessed unambiguously as “good” or “bad”, since it may contain both. Much depends on the evaluation criteria. Thus, in the spiritual culture of any society, two equally real images are distinguished: one is the image of stability, harmony and unanimity, the other is the image of change, conflicts, tension and unresolved problems. This should be kept in mind when analyzing and assessing the state of culture of any society, including ours. The level of development of spiritual culture is measured by the volume of spiritual values ​​created in society, the scale of their dissemination and the depth of assimilation by people, by each person. When assessing the level of spiritual progress in a particular country, it is important to know how many research institutes, universities, theaters, libraries, museums, nature reserves, conservatories, schools, etc. it has. But quantitative indicators alone are not enough for a general assessment. It is important to take into account the quality of spiritual products - scientific discoveries, books, education, films, performances, paintings, musical works. The purpose of culture is to form every person’s ability to be creative, his receptivity to the highest achievements of culture. This means that it is necessary to take into account not only what has been created in culture, but also how people use these achievements. That is why an important criterion for the cultural progress of society is the real possibilities of people in introducing them to the values ​​of culture. For example, it is known that not everyone can attend performances at world-famous opera houses - the Bolshoi in Moscow and La Scala in Milan, firstly because they do not have the opportunity to come to Moscow or Milan, and secondly , due to the high cost of tickets. Does this mean that those who have never been to the Bolshoi Theater or La Scala have not been introduced to the high musical culture that famous theaters bring to people? Today we can say with confidence: no, it doesn’t mean that, because viewers can get acquainted with the masterpieces of opera classics without leaving home - on radio or television, in recordings. Thus, the media contribute to equalizing the opportunities for all people to become involved in culture, regardless of the geography of their residence and income level. There would be a desire. The same can be said about theatrical creativity and fine arts. Another criterion for the cultural development of society is the presence of the necessary conditions for the manifestation and development of a person’s creative powers, abilities, and talents. Such conditions include a variety of educational institutions, music and art schools, studios, interest clubs, amateur theaters and much more. The realization of the creative potential of both adults and children is also facilitated by the proximity of cultural centers or well-established transport, which shortens the road to them, i.e., what is commonly called cultural infrastructure - a set of means serving the production and consumption of spiritual values. After all, not least because of the poorly developed infrastructure in our country, so few children study in music schools, although there are many more who want, but do not have the opportunity, to learn music. The crisis situation that has developed in Russia is manifested with particular force in the spiritual life of society. The situation in the culture of our fatherland is assessed as extremely difficult and even catastrophic. With the inexhaustible cultural potential accumulated by previous generations and our contemporaries, the spiritual impoverishment of the people began. Massive lack of culture is the cause of many troubles. The decline of morality, bitterness, the growth of crime and violence are evil growths based on lack of spirituality. An uncultured doctor is indifferent to the suffering of the patient, an uncultured person is indifferent to the creative quest of an artist, an uncultured builder builds a beer stall on the site of a temple, an uncultured farmer disfigures the land... Instead of native speech, rich in proverbs and sayings, there is a language clogged with foreign words, thieves' words, and even obscene language. Today, what the intellect, spirit, and talent of the nation has been creating for centuries is under threat of destruction—ancient cities are being destroyed, books, archives, works of art are perishing, and folk traditions of craftsmanship are being lost. The danger for the country is the plight of science and education. According to international standards for the intellectualization of youth, developed at the initiative of UNESCO, the USSR in the 50s. ranked 3rd in the world after the USA and Canada, in 1985 - 42nd, in 1990 - 50th. Where are we today? The difficult state of national culture is associated with the crisis state of the country's economy as a whole, and the material and technical support of culture in particular. Today, a tiny part of the state budget is spent on culture. Many centers of culture (theatres, art galleries, clubs, houses and palaces of culture, cinema and concert halls, studios for children's and youth creativity, etc.) are closing, unable to cope with financial difficulties. The majority of those who remain, in order not to fade away completely, instead of bringing high and bright art to people, giving them the joy of creativity, are forced to engage in commerce. And the commercialization of culture, as the experience of many countries in the world, including ours by the way, shows, significantly reduces its level and, along with it, the cultural level of the people, slows down or completely stops the cultural progress of society.

The revival and further development of culture is the most important condition for the renewal of our society. But culture, as you know, does not stand still; it is constantly changing. Hence the question: what kind of culture should we revive? According to Academician D.S. Likhachev, we should talk, first of all, about classical culture. There is another opinion, according to which it is necessary to revive folk culture, but this means only the old, peasant-patriarchal culture. However, supporters of this point of view have opponents who rightly ask the question: was there really nothing worthy of preservation and revival in the culture of the merchants, philistines, nobility, and other layers of Russian society of previous eras? Resolving the dispute in this case is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. After all, in no society does there exist a single “true”, “correct” or any other ideal culture. It is impossible to cross out something from a culture that has been developing over centuries, or leave something behind only for ideological reasons. As a rule, life itself selects (and does this gradually and carefully) the most valuable works in a moral and aesthetic sense. Any subjective assessments based on their personal perception are fraught with great losses, especially since the criteria for positive and negative in each historical era are clarified in relation to the new spiritual values ​​that it develops. There was a lot in the previous culture that is clearly not worth transferring into today’s life. Remember from stories from history the general atmosphere of life in Russian society in the last century. You probably haven’t forgotten that back then peasants were flogged, workers were beaten with whips, and students were buried alive in stone sacks... “Hazing,” when an older man forces a younger one to wash his footcloths, clean his boots, etc., isn’t it just appeared today? Yes, she is a thousand years old! It is unlikely that there will be anyone who wants to bring back into our lives such moments of ancient folk everyday “culture”, when the head of the family beat his wife to death with boots, dragged his daughter by the braids, and whipped his adult son with the reins. Most often, the idealization of the past occurs when they do not want or are unable to truly appreciate modern achievements. In our time, a new, humane way of life, based on the best national traditions of the past and present, is still timidly making its way, discarding everything that prevented people from developing their spiritual world, ennobling everyday life, creating according to the laws of beauty and moral purity . After social upheavals, wars, revolutions, people each time have to decide what and how to restore, what and why to build, in what direction to create. And people always demolished some completely dilapidated houses, built and rebuilt others. But at the same time they sacredly guarded what they considered a national property. The problem of protecting and preserving the cultural heritage of the past, which has absorbed universal human values, is a planetary problem. Historical cultural monuments are also dying from the inexorable destructive influence of natural factors: natural - sun, wind, frost, moisture and “unnatural” - harmful impurities in the atmosphere, acid rain, etc. They are also dying from the pilgrimage of tourists and excursionists, when it is difficult to preserve a cultural treasure in its original form. After all, let’s say, when the Hermitage in St. Petersburg was founded, it was not designed to be visited by millions of people a year, and in the New Athos Cave, due to the abundance of tourists, the internal microclimate has changed, which also threatens its further existence. The problem of preserving the cultural heritage of the past has its own characteristics in each country. For our country this problem is most acute. The fight against religion, which took place in the 30s. the nature of the natural disaster resulted in the massive destruction of churches, and at the same time in those and subsequent years, part of the Kitai-Gorod wall and the Red Gate, the Sukharev Tower in Moscow, the Assumption Cathedral in Yaroslavl, and the Trinity Cathedral in Arkhangelsk were demolished. Many historical cities suffered greatly: St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Tula, Vologda, etc. D. S. Likhachev noted that losses in nature can be restored to a certain extent... The situation is different with cultural monuments. Their losses, as a rule, are irreplaceable, because cultural monuments are always individual and associated with a certain era, specific masters. Every monument is destroyed forever. The “stock” of cultural monuments and cultural environment in the world is extremely limited and is being depleted at an ever-increasing speed. Any suppression of living traditions, skills, and methods of creation is dramatic for the future development of culture. An example is the sad fate of wooden architecture in Kizhi: master carpenters familiar with all the intricacies of wooden structures disappeared on Russian soil. Old people who remember folk songs, recipes for folk cuisine and healing are dying, ancient crafts are being lost... Our culture is becoming poorer. Domestic culture suffers greatly from vandals, modern mankurts. In the novel Ch. Aitmatov’s “Burany Stop Station” (“And the day lasts longer than a century”) tells a legend about how, as a result of monstrous torture, a mankurt slave was formed, not remembering his past, not realizing himself as a human being connected with other people, never bearer of responsibility. These days, this character has become a household name. Such a mankurt can be anyone who is indifferent to the past and future of his people - a simple worker, a cultural figure, and a person in power. Let us give a sad but very typical example. Polish restorers volunteered to selflessly help restore the former beauty of the palace in Tsaritsyn. They painstakingly and diligently brought back to life all the architectural decorations of one of the wings of the palace. But one morning, starting another section, they discovered that all their previous work had been destroyed. The turrets and battlements of the once beautiful walls were broken and damaged. Everything was interrupted and ruined by some people who can only be called Mankurts... The Poles left, left forever, leaving an inscription on the unfinished wall of the palace: “Russians, what are you doing?” But the Mankurts have no nationality - they are slaves of their own ignorance.

The experience accumulated by humanity during its sociocultural history provides invaluable assistance in solving cultural problems at the present stage of transformation of our society based on the principles of humanism and democracy in the conditions of rapid scientific and technological progress. It should be noted that cultural problems are acquiring paramount, in fact, key importance today, because culture is a powerful factor in social development. After all, it permeates all aspects of human life - from the foundations of material production and human needs to the greatest manifestations of the human spirit. Culture plays an increasingly important role in solving the long-term program goals of the democratic movement: the formation and strengthening of civil society, the discovery of human creative abilities, the deepening of democracy, and the construction of a rule of law state. Culture affects all spheres of social and individual life - work, everyday life, leisure, area of ​​thinking, etc., on the way of life of society and the individual. Its significance in the formation and development of a person’s lifestyle is manifested through the action of personal-subjective factors (attitudes of consciousness, spiritual needs, values, etc.) that influence the nature of behavior, forms and style of communication of people, values, patterns, norms of behavior. A humanistic way of life, focused not on adaptation to existing conditions, but on their transformation, presupposes a high level of consciousness and culture, increasing their role as regulators of people’s behavior and their way of thinking.

Culture acquires social influence, first of all, as a necessary aspect of the activity of a social person, which, by its nature, involves the organization of joint activities of people, and, consequently, its regulation by certain rules accumulated in sign and symbolic systems, traditions, etc. The very course of reforms, the goal of which is to achieve a qualitatively renewed society, requires addressing the colossal cultural potential accumulated by humanity during its existence. The development of the spiritual treasures of the peoples of the world, the careful and, at the same time, appropriate to modern tasks handling of the cultural wealth of previous generations makes it possible to comprehend the meaning of the forgotten lessons of history, makes it possible to identify living, developing cultural values, without which neither social progress nor personal improvement itself is possible.

Since the center of culture is a person with all his needs and concerns, a special place in social life is occupied by the issues of his mastering the cultural environment, and the problems associated with his achieving high quality in the process of creating and perceiving cultural values. The development of the cultural riches of the past performs an integrating function in the life of every society, harmonizes the existence of people, awakens in them the need to comprehend the world as a whole. And this is of great importance for the search for general criteria of progress in the conditions of an unstoppable scientific and technological revolution.

These questions are posed with extreme urgency by the very life of our society; orientation towards a qualitatively new state of society leads to a sharp turning point in the understanding of traditionalist and innovative trends in social development. They require, on the one hand, the deep development of cultural heritage, the expansion of the exchange of genuine cultural values ​​between peoples, and on the other, the ability to go beyond the usual but already outdated ideas, to overcome a number of reactionary traditions that have developed and been implanted over the centuries, constantly manifesting themselves in the consciousness , activities and behavior of people. In resolving these issues, knowledge and an adequate modern understanding of the history of world culture play a significant role.

The dynamics of cultural values ​​are revealed by comparing them in the past and present. The depth of the social demand for the interpenetration of historical times is so great that the established formula “past to the present” is easily transformed today into another: “present to the past.” It is precisely by rotating in this duality of values ​​that modern man finds his “memory horizons,” his path from vanity to essence. It is known that history is dotted with stripes of antique fashion, but today’s turn to the values ​​of the culture of the past is by no means a tribute to fashion, but a symptom of deep social changes taking place in the world. It takes place at that critical moment of historical and cultural development, when not individual countries, but humanity as a whole already feels itself on the edge of an atomic abyss and an environmental catastrophe. Under these conditions, there is an increase in the general social need to look closely at the past in order to turn its valuable experience into the present and future.

The current realities of the modern world have led to a turning point in a person’s consciousness - his gaze is directed towards an ever deeper exit beyond the boundaries of his life, which is not limited in the individual’s consciousness to the dates of birth and death. A natural trend is becoming aware of oneself in the context of historical time, in orientation both to one’s historical and cultural roots and to the future, to socio-cultural ideals and the possibilities of their implementation within the framework of expanding international relations, involving all countries of the world in the global cultural and historical process . Significant sociocultural changes affecting almost all aspects of social life in various countries and peoples raise with particular urgency the question of intercultural interaction, its role in the evolution of local ethnic cultures and the development of global culture.

V. Unclaimed culture

The spiritual wealth accumulated by humanity, replicated with the help of the latest achievements of the scientific and technological revolution, makes spiritual values ​​more accessible to everyone than before. The information transmitted by modern mass media can bring these values ​​closer to every person, but he still needs to “touch” them in order to become spiritually richer. However, despite the fact that, one way or another, everyone gets to know them, few “touch” them. There is a sea of ​​books and other printed materials in front of a person, but does everyone even read world and domestic classics? During school years they still read according to the curriculum, and then?.. And this is not only in our country, but also in other countries, even the most civilized ones. Or another example. Young people are interested and listen a lot to modern music, but their knowledge of musical culture is very superficial. A specially conducted survey among the youth of our country showed that young men and women can name only a few super-fashionable domestic and foreign pop-rock ensembles and, as a rule, know little or nothing about other musical trends, about the achievements of domestic composers and performers, about ongoing international competitions, etc. It has been noticed that those types of culture and art that require serious thought and work of the soul from a person, that is, which need to be “touched” with the mind and heart, are often regarded as “tedious”, “boring” , “difficult” and requiring too much time to comprehend. Indeed, a modern person, tired of work, transport hassles, and the ever-accelerating pace of life, needs breaks, which means rest and entertainment. And here everyone has the right to decide for themselves: read a book, go to the cinema, the theater, watch TV, or get drunk and fight. The whole point is that those who seek only entertainment in culture, without finding it, easily find a substitute. As a result, instead of culture, ersatz culture appears. However, it would be unfair not to notice the positive changes in culture that are taking place in our country today. They are manifested primarily in the return of cultural heritage in all its diversity to the spiritual life of the people, in the de-ideologization of culture, the elimination of the state monopoly in the field of culture, the creation of conditions for creativity and free choice by people of cultural values ​​and types of cultural activities, the expansion of international cultural relations and much more. .

VI. Conclusion

Russian culture is a historical and multifaceted concept. It includes facts, processes, trends that indicate long-term and complex development, both in geographical space and in historical time. Most of the territory of Russia was settled later than those regions of the world in which the main centers of world culture developed. In this sense, Russian culture is a relatively young phenomenon. Due to its historical youth, Russian culture faced the need for intensive historical development. Of course, Russian culture developed under the influence of various cultures of the West and East, which historically defined Russia. But, perceiving and assimilating the cultural heritage of other peoples, Russian writers and artists, sculptors and architects, scientists and philosophers solved their problems, formulated and developed domestic traditions, never limiting themselves to copying foreign images.

The specific features of Russian culture are determined to a large extent by what researchers have called “the character of the Russian people.” All researchers of the “Russian idea” wrote about this. The main feature of this character was called faith. The alternative “faith-knowledge”, “faith-reason” was resolved in Russia in specific historical periods in different ways. Russian culture testifies: with all the different interpretations of the Russian soul and Russian character, it is difficult not to agree with the famous lines of F. Tyutchev: “Russia cannot be understood with the mind, nor can it be measured with a common yardstick: it has become something special - one can only believe in Russia.”

In history one can find numerous examples of how states disappeared, whose people forgot their language and culture. But if culture was preserved, then, despite all the difficulties and defeats, the people rose from their knees, finding themselves in a new quality and taking their rightful place among other peoples.

A similar danger lurks today for the Russian nation, that the price for Western technology may turn out to be too high. Not only is social inequality within our society sharply increasing, with all the negative consequences, but social inequality between the Russian people and the so-called Western ethnic groups is also deepening. It is extremely difficult to regain lost positions in world culture, and to come to terms with the loss means to find yourself on the edge of an abyss in cultural and historical development.

Russian culture has accumulated great values. The task of current generations is to preserve and increase them.

VII. Bibliography:

1). Bogolyubov L.N. Man and Society 10-11. Moscow, 2000

2). Bachinin V.A. Spiritual culture of the individual. M. Politizdat, 1986

3). Dobrynina V.I., Bolshakov A.V. Current problems of culture of the 20th century. M. "Knowledge", 1993

4). Introduction to Cultural Studies - a textbook for universities, ed. Popova E.V. M. "Vladas", 1995

5). I.V. Sukhanov “Customs, traditions and continuity of generations”

6). Drach G.V. Culturology. Rostov-on-Don, 1996

Spiritual culture: definition, structure, varieties.
Plan.

Introduction.

Spiritual culture – definition.

Spiritual culture - structure.

Varieties of spiritual culture.


Myth.

Art.

Philosophy.

Ideology.

Moral.


Conclusion.

1. INTRODUCTION
The world community is paying more and more attention to the state of culture. It is understood, first of all, as the content and process of people’s life, the result of their active and purposeful, although not always expedient and successful, productive social activity. Culture is one of the leading signs of planetary civilization; it distinguishes the life of people from the life of other living beings on earth and possible extraterrestrial civilizations.

Culture– (Latin) cultivation, education, education, development.

This is a specific way of organizing and developing human life, ideas in the products of material and spiritual labor in a system of social norms and institutions, in a system of spiritual values, in the aggregate, the relationship of people to nature among themselves and to themselves.

In the broad sense of the word culture – a set of manifestations of life, achievements of creativity of a people or groups of peoples.

In the narrow sense of the word culture – ennoblement of a person’s physical, mental inclinations and abilities.

Culture– processing, design, spiritualization, ennobling people of others and themselves. This is a design that has a value meaning. Culture begins where the content takes its perfect form.

Culture is an integral system object with a complex structure. At the same time, the very existence of culture acts as a single process that can be divided into two spheres: material and spiritual.

Material culture divided into:
- production and technological culture, which represents the material results of material production and methods of technological activity of a social person;
- reproduction of the human race, which includes the entire sphere of intimate relationships between a man and a woman.
It should be noted that material culture is understood not so much as the creation of the objective world of people, but rather the activity of shaping the “conditions of human existence.” The essence of material culture is the embodiment of various human needs, allowing people to adapt to biological and social conditions of life.

2. Spiritual culture - definition.
Spiritual culture- multi-layered education, including cognitive, moral, artistic, legal and other cultures; it is a set of intangible elements: norms, rules, laws, spiritual values, ceremonies, rituals, symbols, myths, language, knowledge, customs. Any object of intangible culture needs a material intermediary, for example, a book.

Spiritual culture- the sphere of human activity, covering various aspects of the spiritual life of man and society. Spiritual culture includes forms of social consciousness and their embodiment in literary, architectural and other monuments of human activity. Acting as a qualitative indicator of the spiritual life of society, spiritual culture in its structure is identical to the structure of the spiritual sphere of public life, which as a system represents the unity of such components as spiritual activity, spiritual needs, spiritual consumption, social institutions, spiritual relationships and communication.

Spiritual production- the activities of society in the production, preservation, exchange, distribution and consumption of ideas, ideas, ideals, scientific knowledge and other spiritual values. In the sphere of distribution and development of spiritual values, spiritual production includes education, moral and aesthetic education and other forms of familiarization with spiritual culture. Spiritual development is the process of enriching the spiritual development of a person and society, aimed at realizing the ideals of spiritual development of culture: humanism, freedom, individuality, creativity, etc. The spiritual development of society is embodied in the development of forms of social consciousness: morality, religion, philosophy, science, art, political and legal understanding of social progress.

The concept of spiritual culture:
- contains all areas of spiritual production (art, philosophy, science, etc.),
- shows the socio-political processes occurring in society (we are talking about power structures of management, legal and moral norms, leadership styles, etc.).
The ancient Greeks formed the classic triad of the spiritual culture of humanity: truth - goodness - beauty. Accordingly, three most important value absolutes of human spirituality were identified:
- theoreticism, with an orientation towards truth and the creation of a special essential being, opposite to the ordinary phenomena of life;
- thereby subordinating all other human aspirations to the moral content of life;
- aestheticism, achieving the maximum fullness of life based on emotional and sensory experience.
The above-mentioned aspects of spiritual culture have found their embodiment in various spheres of human activity: in science, philosophy, politics, art, law, etc. They largely determine the level of intellectual, moral, political, aesthetic, and legal development of society today. Spiritual culture involves activities aimed at the spiritual development of a person and society, and also represents the results of these activities.
Thus, all human activity becomes the content of culture. Human society stood out from nature thanks to such a specific form of interaction with the surrounding world as human activity.
3. Spiritual culture – structure.
The spiritual culture of society includes:

Reproduction of individual and social consciousness;

Folk artistic culture;

Art as a professional form of artistic creativity;

Aesthetic culture;

Culture of scientific life;

Culture of education;

Educational culture;

Culture of freedom of conscience;

Culture of moral and spiritual life;

Information culture.
4. Varieties of spiritual culture.
A person can realize his creativity in different ways, and the fullness of his creative self-expression is achieved through the creation and use of various cultural forms. Each of these forms has its own “specialized” semantic and symbolic system. I will further try to briefly characterize only truly universal forms of spiritual culture, each of which expresses the essence of human existence in its own way.

The development of culture is accompanied by the emergence and formation of relatively independent value systems. At first they are included in the context of culture, but then development leads to ever deeper specialization and, finally, to their relative independence. This happened with mythology, religion, art, science

In modern culture we can already talk about their relative independence and the interaction of culture with these institutions.

4.1. Myth

Myth is not only the historically first form of culture, but also changes in the mental life of man, which persist even when myth loses its absolute dominance. The universal essence of myth is that it represents the unconscious semantic twinning of a person with the forces of immediate existence, be it the existence of nature or society. If myth acts as the only form of culture, then this twinning leads to the fact that a person does not distinguish meaning from a natural property, but a semantic (associative) relationship from a cause-and-effect one. Everything is animated, and nature appears as a world of formidable, but related to man, mythological creatures - demons and gods

Myth - the most ancient value system. It is believed that in general, culture moves from myth to logos, that is, from fiction and convention to knowledge, to law. In this regard, in modern culture, myth plays an archaic role, and its values ​​and ideals have a vestigial meaning. The development of science and civilization often devalues ​​myth and shows the inadequacy of the regulatory functions and values ​​of myth, the essence of modern sociocultural reality. However, this does not mean that the myth has exhausted itself. Myth in modern culture creates means and methods of symbolic thinking; it is capable of interpreting the values ​​of modern culture through the idea of ​​the “heroic”, which, say, is inaccessible to science. In the values ​​of myth, the sensual and rational are given syncretely, together, which is little accessible to other means of culture of the 20th century. Fantasy and fiction make it easy to overcome the incompatibility of meanings and content, because in myth everything is conditional and symbolic

Under these conditions, the choice and orientation of the individual becomes liberated and, therefore, using convention, it can achieve high flexibility, which, for example, is almost inaccessible to religion. Myth, humanizing and personifying the phenomena of the surrounding world, reduces them to human ideas. On this basis, a person’s concrete sensory orientation becomes possible, and this is one of the simplest ways to organize his activities. In early and primitive cultures, this method played a leading role, for example, in paganism. But in developed cultures, such phenomena are more likely to have the nature of a relapse or are a mechanism for the implementation of one or another archetype, especially in mass culture or mass behavior. Mythology is often used in the 20th century as an amplifier of values, usually through their exaggeration and fetishization. Myth allows us to sharpen one or another aspect of value, to exaggerate it, and, therefore, to emphasize and even stick it out.

4.2. Religion

Religion , like myth, expresses a person’s need to feel his involvement in the foundations of existence. However, now man no longer seeks his foundations in the immediate life of nature. The gods of developed religions are in the realm of the otherworldly (transcendent). Unlike myth, here it is not nature that is deified, but the supernatural powers of man, and above all, the spirit with its freedom and creativity. By placing the divine on the other side of nature and understanding it as a supernatural absolute, developed religion freed man from mythological unity with nature and internal dependence on elemental forces and passions

Religion began to dominate culture following myth. The values ​​of secular culture and the values ​​of religion are often not harmonious and contradict each other. For example, in understanding the meaning of life, in understanding the world, etc. The main thing in almost every religion is faith in God or faith in the supernatural, in a miracle that is incomprehensible by reason, in a rational way. It is in this vein that all the values ​​of religion are formed. Culture, as a rule, modifies the formation of religion, but once established, religion begins to change culture, so that the further development of culture occurs under the significant influence of religion. E. Durkheim emphasized that religion operates mainly with collective ideas and therefore unity and connection are its main regulators. The values ​​of religion are accepted by a community of fellow believers, therefore religion acts primarily through the motives of consolidation, through a uniform assessment of the surrounding reality, life goals, and the essence of man. Religion establishes a gradation of values, gives them holiness and unconditionality, which then leads to the fact that religion orders values ​​“vertically” - from earthly and ordinary to divine and heavenly. The requirement for constant moral perfection of a person in line with the values ​​​​proposed by religion creates a tension of meanings and meanings, falling into which a person regulates his choice within the boundaries of sin and justice. This gives rise to a tendency towards the conservation of values ​​and cultural traditions, which can lead to social stabilization, but at the expense of restraining secular values

Secular values ​​are more conventional; they are more easily subject to transformation and interpretation in the spirit of the times. The general trend is manifested here in the fact that in the development of culture the processes of secularization, that is, the liberation of culture from the influence of religion, are gradually intensifying.

4.3. Art

In parallel with myth and religion, art existed and operated in the history of culture. Art is an expression of a person’s need for figurative and symbolic expression and experience of significant moments in his life. Art creates a “second reality” for a person - a world of life experiences expressed by special figurative and symbolic means. Connection to this world, self-expression and self-knowledge in it constitute one of the most important needs of the human soul.

Art produces its values ​​through artistic activity and the artistic exploration of reality. The task of art comes down to the knowledge of the aesthetic, to the artistic interpretation by the author of the phenomena of the surrounding world. In artistic thinking, cognitive and evaluative activities are not separated and are used in unity. Such thinking works with the help of a system of figurative means and creates a derivative (secondary) reality - aesthetic assessments. Art enriches culture with spiritual values ​​through artistic production, through the creation of subjective ideas about the world, through a system of images symbolizing the meanings and ideals of a certain time, a certain era.

Art reflects the world and reproduces it. Reflection itself can have three dimensions: past, present and future. Accordingly, there may be differences in the types of values ​​that art creates. These are retro values, which are oriented to the past, these are realistic values, which are “exactly” oriented to the present, and, finally, avant-garde values, oriented to the future. Hence the peculiarities of their regulatory role. However, what all these values ​​have in common is that they are always addressed to the human “I”. This contains both positive and negative aspects, that is, artistic values, refracted in the consciousness and subconscious of the human “I”, can give rise to both rational and irrational motives, and incentives for choice in human behavior

The role of art in the development of culture is contradictory. It is constructive and destructive, it can educate in the spirit of lofty ideals and vice versa. In general, art, thanks to subjectification, is capable of maintaining an openness of the value system, an openness of search and choice of orientation in culture, which ultimately fosters a person’s spiritual independence and freedom of spirit. For culture, this is an important potential and factor in its development.

4.4. Philosophy

When discussing the spiritual components of culture, one cannot fail to mention philosophy. Philosophy strives to express wisdom in the forms of thought (hence its name, which literally translates as “love of wisdom”). Philosophy arose as a spiritual overcoming of myth, where wisdom was expressed in forms that did not allow its critical understanding and rational proof. As thinking, philosophy strives for a rational explanation of all existence. But being at the same time an expression of wisdom, philosophy turns to the ultimate semantic foundations, sees things and the whole world in their human (value-semantic) dimension. Thus, philosophy acts as a theoretical worldview and expresses human values, human attitude towards the world. Since the world, taken in the semantic dimension, is the world of culture, philosophy acts as comprehension, or, in Hegel’s words, the theoretical soul of culture. The diversity of cultures and the possibility of different semantic positions within each culture lead to a variety of philosophical teachings that argue with each other.

4.5. The science

The science has as its goal a rational reconstruction of the world based on the comprehension of its essential laws. It is inextricably linked with philosophy, which acts as a universal methodology of scientific knowledge, and also allows us to comprehend the place and role of science in culture and human life

Science is one of the new institutions in the structure of culture. However, its importance is growing rapidly, and modern culture is fostering profound changes under the influence of science. Spiritual evolution through myth, religion and philosophy led humanity to science, where the reliability and truth of the acquired knowledge is verified by specially developed means and methods. Science, therefore, exists as a special way of producing objective knowledge

Objectivity does not include an evaluative attitude towards the object of knowledge, that is, science deprives the object of any value significance for the observer. Science, giving knowledge to man, equips him and gives him strength. "Knowledge is power!" - stated F. Bacon

But for what purposes and with what intent is this power used? Culture must answer this question

The humanistic value and cultural role of science are ambiguous. If the value of science is measured by practical consequences, then, on the one hand, it gave the computer, and on the other, nuclear weapons. The highest value for science is truth, while the highest value for culture is man. Science, being a powerful means of rationalizing human labor, can successfully “roboticize” a person. By suppressing other forms of truth, science limits the possibilities of spiritual development. In an effort to control the content of education, science indirectly controls the system of human guidelines, which further leads to the creation of conditions for the formation of a one-dimensional person, that is, a narrow and deep specialist

Knowledge, being a vital human need, took on the appearance of an alienated force of human progress when it began to develop in the form of science. N. Berdyaev emphasized that the thirst for knowledge, divorced from values, ideals of Good and Beauty, turns into fate in the fate of humanity. Since the main social function of science is to improve the means of human life, that is, the task of increasing efficiency, it gives rise to pragmatism as a lifestyle. The constant desire to rationalize, improve and update equipment, materials, and technology has cemented in the public consciousness the ideals of progress, which increasingly weigh heavily on other meanings and attitudes of human life. The same N. Berdyaev noted in this regard: it is the idea of ​​progress that turns every generation, every person, every era in the history of mankind into a means and instrument for achieving some “ultimate goal”

The most important result of scientific progress is the emergence of civilization as a system of rationalized and technosocialized forms of human existence. In a certain sense, civilization and culture are incompatible. Technified forms of human existence oppose the inner principles of the spiritual essence of man. Culture embodies these principles in values ​​and ideals. Culture is rather a creative laboratory of the human spirit, while science can rather be understood as a creative laboratory of the mind alone. The first consequence of the gap between culture and science is manifested in the increasing replacement of the spiritual meanings and values ​​of life with the material results of progress.

Modern human history is unimaginable without science. Science belongs to modern culture, gives rise to civilization and, thus, connects them into a holistic formation. Science has become a fundamental factor in the survival of humanity, it experiments with its capabilities, creates new opportunities, reconstructs the means of human life, and through this it changes the person himself. The creative possibilities of science are enormous, and they are increasingly transforming culture. It can be argued that science has a certain cultural role; it gives culture rationalistic forms and attributes. The ideals of objectivity and rationality in such a culture become increasingly important. But this leads to the fact that the values ​​of subjectivity are supplanted: personal, emotional and sensory components of culture, without them there is no real person. Culture is always morally charged; in this sense, it is more organic to the essence of man, while science is more alienated, it is more conventional. The value of scientific knowledge is proportional to its usefulness, but this is essentially a technocratic characteristic. Science expands the space for technocratic attributes, enriches human consciousness with technocratic meanings and meanings, but these are all elements of civilization. It can be argued that in the history of mankind, science acts as a civilizing force, and culture as a spiritualizing force. Science creates, according to V. Vernadsky's definition, the noosphere - the sphere of reason, rational living. Rationality does not always fit into the requirements of morality. In the culture of the 20th century, the struggle here is intensifying, and it is unclear how this situation will be resolved. For this reason, modern culture is not harmonious and balanced. Most likely, the contradiction between rationality and morality will not be resolved until the history of mankind fulfills the ancient commandment: “Know thyself!” The knowledge intensity of culture is increasing and this is an indicator of the progress of human history. But “humanity” must also grow, because it is an indicator of the humanity of historical progress. Only the synthesis of both gives hope that a humanistic civilization will be built.

4.6. Ideology

Until recently, special attention was paid to another component of spiritual culture - ideology . For the first time, the problem of ideology was posed and resolved in the most detailed way by the German philosophers K. Marx and F. Engels. In “German Ideology” and other works, they use the category “ideology” in accordance with the tradition that developed at the end of the 18th-19th centuries, when this term was used in a negative sense, characterizing “dreams alien to reality” and “false consciousness.” But K. Marx and F. Engels bring social characteristics into the analysis of ideology. They view ideology as a complex social formation that is formed and functions within the framework of superstructural systems. Ideology is defined as a functional characteristic of social consciousness, reflecting social existence from the standpoint of the interests of certain social groups, classes, communities and serving these interests

Hence, ideology represents the self-awareness of a social subject: social groups, national and other communities, class. Only in ideology do the specific interests of social groups, classes and communities find their awareness, justification and systematized expression. It should also be borne in mind that certain forms of social consciousness take on an ideological character only within the framework of certain social institutions and social organizations representing them: the state, political parties, churches, corporate associations, etc. It should be noted that the opposite tendency is expressed by humanism. As an example of an ideological direction, we can cite the method of socialist realism - this is a certain artistic canon. But this canon has a pronounced ideological character. The characteristics of this method contain formulated ideological guidelines for the process of artistic creativity, as well as certain social assessments and criteria applied to this creativity. The method of socialist realism acted as dogmatic and because it was interpreted as the only true one, closing the possibilities for the manifestation of all other creative methods

Thus, one cannot consider ideology only as a separate component of culture - it is most likely a kind of superstructure over spiritual culture itself, since it permeates all areas of spiritual culture.

4.7. Moral.

Moral arises after the myth goes into the past, where a person internally merges with the life of the collective and was controlled by various magical taboos that programmed his behavior at the level of the unconscious. Now a person requires self-control in conditions of relative internal autonomy from the team. This is how the first moral regulations arise - duty, shame, honor. With an increase in a person’s internal autonomy and the formation of a mature personality, such a moral regulator as conscience arises. Thus, morality appears as internal self-regulation in the sphere of freedom, and moral requirements for a person grow as this sphere expands. Developed morality is the realization of man’s spiritual freedom; it is based on the affirmation of man’s self-worth, regardless of the external expediency of nature and society.

Perhaps I paid excessive attention to the spiritual component of culture, to the detriment of the material, as you know, according to Marxist-Leninist philosophy, it is being that determines consciousness, and this fact is, as a rule, relevant, but we should not forget the centuries-old wisdom: “In the beginning was the word.. ". Therefore, in my opinion, it is the spiritual component that is the fundamental driving mechanism for the development of culture and society.

5. CONCLUSION

Spiritual culture- the most important type of culture, including the intellectual and aesthetic activity of mankind, undoubtedly has priority importance, since satisfying the high spiritual needs of mankind is a much more sublime and significant mission.

Literature.

1. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. 2nd edition, volume 18, pp. 507-510.

2. Cultural studies. Textbook for students of higher educational institutions. Rostov-on-Don: “Phoenix”, 1998 – 676 pp.

3. Cultural studies. History of world culture: textbook for universities, ed. prof. A.N. Markova, - M.: UNITY, 2000 – 600 pp.

4. Culturology: textbook, ed. A.A. Radugin, - M.: Center, 2000 – 352 pages.

5. Simichev D.A. Culturology: a textbook for universities, - M.: “Prior”, 1998 – 352 pp.

6. Cultural studies. edited by Dracha G.N. – Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 1998 – 576 pp.

Introduction

1. The concept of spiritual culture. Criteria for spirituality

2. Law and science in the system of spiritual culture

3. Religion in the system of spiritual culture

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Culture - the area of ​​human spiritual activity, objectified in material actions, signs and symbols; its essence is revealed in contrast with nature (as the totality of natural conditions of human existence) and civilization (the level of material development of a particular society).

The primary sphere of human spiritual activity is mythology , which included knowledge from various fields, manifestations of artistic exploration of the world, moral regulations, religious and worldview ideas.

In the theological tradition, the connection between culture and cult is updated; religion acts as the basis of culture. Science views religion as one of the elements of culture, a specific spiritual activity aimed at supernatural objects. In different eras, religion covered different areas of culture.

Religion plays a cultural-creative role; it sets the spectrum of universal cultural concepts, determines the meaning of life, the highest values ​​and norms of human existence, and shapes the structure of the spiritual community. Religion contributes to the affirmation of personality, the formation of personal consciousness; When it goes beyond the limits of narrow-earth existence, Religion also transmits culture, transferring it from one generation to another.

1 . The concept of spiritual culture. Criteria for spirituality

The concept of spiritual culture:

· contains all areas of spiritual production (art, philosophy, science, etc.),

· shows the socio-political processes occurring in society (we are talking about power structures of management, legal and moral norms, leadership styles, etc.).

The ancient Greeks formed the classic triad of the spiritual culture of humanity: truth - goodness - beauty. Accordingly, three most important value absolutes of human spirituality were identified:

· theoreticism, with an orientation towards truth and the creation of a special essential being, opposite to the ordinary phenomena of life;

· this, subordinating all other human aspirations to the moral content of life;

· aestheticism, achieving maximum fullness of life based on emotional and sensory experience.

The above-mentioned aspects of spiritual culture have found their embodiment in various spheres of human activity: in science, philosophy, politics, art, law, etc. They largely determine the level of intellectual, moral, political, aesthetic, and legal development of society today. Spiritual culture involves activities aimed at the spiritual development of a person and society, and also represents the results of these activities.

Spiritual culture is a set of intangible elements of culture: norms of behavior, morality, values, rituals, symbols, knowledge, myths, ideas, customs, traditions, language.

Spiritual culture arises from the need for comprehension and figurative-sensual mastery of reality. In real life it is realized in a number of specialized forms: morality, art, religion, philosophy, science.

All these forms of human life are interconnected and influence each other. Morality fixes the idea of ​​good and evil, honor, conscience, justice, etc. These ideas and norms regulate the behavior of people in society.

Art includes aesthetic values ​​(beautiful, sublime, ugly) and ways of creating and consuming them.

Religion serves the needs of the spirit; man turns his gaze to God. Science demonstrates the successes of man's cognitive mind. Philosophy satisfies the needs of the human spirit for unity on a rational (reasonable) basis.

Spiritual culture permeates all spheres of social life. A person acquires it through language, education, and communication. Estimates, values, ways of perceiving nature, time, ideals are embedded in a person’s consciousness by tradition and upbringing in the process of life.

The concept of “spiritual culture” has a complex and confusing history. At the beginning of the 19th century, spiritual culture was viewed as a church-religious concept. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the understanding of spiritual culture became much broader, including not only religion, but also morality, politics, and art.

During the Soviet period, the concept of “spiritual culture” was interpreted by the authors superficially. Material production gives rise to material culture - it is primary, and spiritual production gives rise to spiritual culture (ideas, feelings, theories) - it is secondary. The origins of creativity and ideas were in production and labor activity.

In the 21st century “spiritual culture” is understood in different ways:

· as something sacred (religious);

· as something positive that does not require explanation;

· as mystical-esoteric.

At present, as before, the concept of “spiritual culture” is not clearly defined or developed.

The relevance of the problem of the formation of personal spirituality in the modern situation is due to a number of reasons. Let's name the most significant of them. Today, many ills of social life: crime, immorality, prostitution, alcoholism, drug addiction and others are explained primarily by the state of lack of spirituality in modern society, a condition that causes serious concern and progresses from year to year. The search for ways to overcome these social vices puts the problem of spirituality at the center of humanitarian knowledge. Its relevance is also due to economic reasons: as social, economic, and political reforms are implemented in society, the conditions and nature of human labor and its motivation are rapidly changing; and this economic situation emerging before our eyes places new demands on the improvement of personality, on its development, on such personal qualities as morality, responsibility, and a sense of duty, which ultimately are indicators of a person’s spiritual maturity.

True spirituality is “the trinity of truth, goodness and beauty” and the main criteria of such spirituality are:

· intentionality, that is, “outward focus, on something or someone, on a business or person, on an idea or on a person.” Man needs a goal that elevates him above individual existence; This is how he overcomes the isolation and limitations of his existence, and this ability to set ideal goals for himself is an indicator of a spiritually developed personality;

· reflection on the basic life values ​​that constitute the meaning of a person’s existence and act as guidelines in a situation of existential choice. It is the ability to reflect, from the point of view of Teilhard de Chardin, that is the main reason for the superiority of man over animals. In a spiritual person, this ability takes on the character of a manifestation of a “taste for reflection”, for knowledge of the specifics of individual existence. One of the conditions for the formation of the ability to reflect is seclusion, exile, voluntary or forced loneliness. “Exiles and imprisonments, always so terrible and fatal for a person, are not so terrible and deadly for the spirit. He loves voluntary seclusion, the loneliness of cells and escape from the bustle of the world, but just as successfully takes advantage of the forced loneliness of an exile, a prisoner... Without a choice oneself, turning inward, into one’s loneliness, a conversation between a person and the spirit does not begin.” All the greatest representatives of the Spirit - Jesus, Socrates - were exiles. And this expulsion is a punishment that befalls one who has entered the world of the Spirit, a tragic punishment for the courage to be different from “like everyone else”;

· freedom, understood as self-determination, that is, the ability to act in accordance with one’s goals and values, and not under the pressure of external circumstances, as “gaining inner strength, resistance to the power of the world and the power of society over a person”, “existential detachment, freedom, detachment of his - or its center of existence - from coercion, from pressure, from dependence on the organic;

· creativity, understood not only as an activity that generates something new that did not previously exist, but also as self-creation - creativity aimed at finding oneself, at realizing one’s meaning in life;

· developed conscience, which coordinates the “eternal, universal moral law with the specific situation of a particular individual,” because existence is revealed to consciousness; conscience - that which should exist; this is what a person is responsible for realizing his meaning in life;

· responsibility of the individual for the realization of his meaning in life and the realization of values, as well as for everything that happens in the world.

These are the main criteria for personal spirituality as interpreted by Russian and foreign philosophers: N.A. Berdyaev, V. Frankl, E. Fromm, T. de Chardin, M. Scheler and others.

2. Law and science in the system of spiritual culture

Science and law are part of culture, therefore any scientific picture reflects the mutual influence of all elements of culture in a given era. In the system of human culture, consisting of material, social and spiritual culture, science is included in the system of spiritual culture of humanity. Below are definitions of a cultural system and its elements.

Culture is a system of means of human activity through which the activity of an individual, groups, humanity and their interactions with nature and among themselves is programmed, implemented and stimulated.

Material culture is a system of material and energy means of human existence and society. This includes elements such as tools, active and passive technology, physical culture, and people's well-being.