To the technology of civilizational development: updating the cultural code content

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Belarusian state university

To the technology of civilizational development: updating the cultural code content

Danilov Aleksandr

Minsk

Abstract

The aim of the article is to propose technology of civilization development, to reveal the role of culture in this process and to substantiate the mechanism of updating the cultural code. Research methodology: the comprehensive methodology employed in the study includes historical, logical and systematic methods, as well as comparative analysis. The methodological basis includes the concept of the types of civilizational development by V.S. Stepin, as well as the author's development of problems of systemic transformation of the post-Soviet world. The novelty of the studyis to substantiate the technology of civilizational development, to reveal the role of culture in this process, as well as to substantiate the existence of a cultural code and its constant updating, its fundamental life meanings and basic values. It is suggested that destructive changes can occur when changing the cultural status of basic values. Findings. As the main findings of this study, the author considers, firstly, the concept of mechanism of transition of society to a new state, where new types of sociality arise and fundamental life meanings and basic values are updated; secondly, the author shows that the formation of a new matrix of values and the renewal of life meanings is a condition for the transition to a new type of civilizational development, which grows within modern society; thirdly, the revolution in the field of communication allows to transfer «pseudocultural» or «extra-cultural» values into the traditional cultural status, thereby opening the way for the destruction of the foundations of culture.

Keywords: culture, culturalcode, life meanings, basicvalues, type sof civilizational development, technology, growthpoints.

Аннотация

Данилов, А.Н. - доктор социологических наук, профессор, член - кореспондент НАН Беларуси, заведующий кафедрой социологии Белорусского государственного университета (Республика Беларусь, Минск)

К технологии цивилизационного развития: обновление содержания культурного кода

Цель статьи - предложить технологию цивилизационного развития, раскрыть роль культуры в этом процессе и обосновать механизм обновления культурного кода. Методология исследования: использована комплексная методология, а именно: исторический и логический метод, метод компаративного анализа, системный метод. В качестве методологической базы выступает концепция В.С. Стёпина типов цивилизационного развития; а также авторские разработки проблем системной трансформации постсоветского мира. Научная новизна исследования заключается в обосновании технологии цивилизационного развития, раскрытии роли культуры в этом процессе, а также в обосновании наличия и постоянного обновления культурного кода, его фундаментальных жизненных смыслов и базовых ценностей; высказывается предположение о возможности деструктивных перемен при смене культурного статуса базовых ценностей. Выводы. В качестве основных выводов, автор статьи рассматривает, во-первых, механизм перехода общества к новому состоянию, где возникают новые типы социальности, обновляются фундаментальные жизненныесмыслы и базовые ценности; во-вторых, автор показывает, что формирование новой матрицы ценностей и обновление жизненных смыслов выступает условием перехода к новому типу цивилизационного развития, который вырастает внутри современного общества; в-третьих, революция в сфере коммуникации позволяет осуществить перевод в традиционный культурный статус «псевдокультурные» или «внекультурные» ценности, тем самым открыть путь для разрушения основ культуры.

Ключевые слова: культура, культурный код, жизненные смыслы, базовые ценности, типы цивилизационного развития, технология, точки роста.

Анотація

civilizational cultural communication

Данилов, О.М. - доктор соціологічних наук, професор, член-кореспондент НАН Білоpyci, завідувач кафедри соціології Білоруського державного університету (Республіка Білорусь, Мінськ)

До технології цивілізаційного розвитку: оновлення змісту культурного коду

Мета статті - запропонувати технологію цивілізаційного розвитку, розкрити роль культури у цьому процесі і обґрунтувати механізм понволення культурного кодуц. Методологія дослідження: використана комплексна методологія, а саме: історичний і логічний метод, метод компаративного аналізу, системний метод. В якості методологічної бази виступає концепція В.С. Стьопіна типів цивілізаційного розвитку, а аткож авторські розробки проблем с итсемної трансформації пострадянського світук. Наукова новизна дослідження - в обґрунтуванні технології цивілізаційного розвитку, розкритті ролі культури у цьому процесі, а також в обгрунтуванні наявності і постійного обновлення культурного коду, його фундаментальних життєвих смислів і базових цінностей; висловлюється припущення про можливість деструктивних змін при зміні культурного статусу базових цінностей. Висновки. Як основні висноки, автор статті розглядає, по-перше, механізм переходу суспільства до нового стану, де виникають нові типи соціальності, оновлюються фундаментальні життєві сенси і базові цінності; по-друге, автор показує, що формування нової матриці цінностей і оновлення життєвих сенсів виступає умовою переходу до нового типу цивілізаційного розвитку, який зростає усередині сучасного суспільства; по-третє, революція у сфері комунікації дозволяє здійснити переведення у традиційний культурний статус «псевдокультурні» або «позакультурні» цінності, тим самим відкрити дорогу для руйнування основ культури.

Ключові слова: культура, культурний код, життєві сенси, базові цінності, типи цивілізаційного розвитку, технологія, точки зростання.

Main part

Introduction. Civilization has entered the stage of global instability and volatility. The world has accelerated its rhythm of life and the events, which are not embedded in ordinary logic, have occured. The world turned out to be so imperfect, unbalanced and selfish, that the expected consolidation in the name of saving Planet Earth did not happen.

It turned out that life is changing too quickly, and the conceptualization of the changes is lagging. Any major changes in human life presuppose a change in culture, and they, as a rule, are the result of rethinking deep life meanings of human existence and its values. The ideas born during this process «set a special angle on the problem under discussion, focusing on the role of values and archetypes of consciousness, the transformation of which is largely determined by this or that type of civilizational development of humanity» [3, p. 8]. Most often, strategies that preserve the basic values of the previous type of development compete on this path with innovative aspirations focused on the search for new life meanings and updating the content of values that respond to present-day realities. Of course, new values begin to take shape in the bowels of the old culture and humanity is extremely interested in making them into the reality of a new civilization. «…we have entered the era of the search for new values, but they will not be borrowed from somewhere outside and ready-made by modern civilization. They must grow inside it. Like Hegel, something in development raises something else» [2, p. 739].

Main part. In conditions of global instability, at the turning stages of human history in the most diverse spheres of culture, an intensive update of values and life meanings takes place, and behavioral preferences, attitudes and the information environment are changing. Building a new ideal of civilizational development is fixed through updating the value system. The transformation of political and economic systems can be carried out in a relatively short time, while the consciousness that is based on values and life meanings, which were formed throughout life in the cultural environment of a particular time and era, cannot undergo rapid changes. V.S. Stepin saw this process through a gradual transition to sustainable development. «The ideal of progress as accelerating innovative changes in our time is modified into the ideal of sustainable development: priority is given to the innovative scenarios that not only crack and destroy traditions, but, adapting to some of its aspects, selectively and gradually transform tradition» [4, p. 10].

Today, humanity is still unable to find answers to the many challenges that modern development poses to it. The symptoms of a global crisis are obvious when «a form of disorganization, displacement, inconsistency appears in a social structure or culture, in other words, when the context of human life and social actions loses homogeneity, coherence and stability, becoming a different, even opposite, cultural complex» [5, p. 8]. In such a situation, it is important «to comprehend the changes taking place in various areas of modern culture, and to learn if new life meanings and values arise here, which then become germ forms of a new cultural and genetic code that provides a new type of civilizational development» [2, p. 737].

The culture encodes the historical experience of the civilizational development of humanity. Globalization, informatization, digitalization of modern society actualize the problem of the phenomenon of the cultural code and the need to study its mechanism of work and features of functioning. Culture is associated with the environment of preservation and possible transfer of cultural civilizational heritage. Although the problem of the existence of a cultural code, as a kind of technological system by which information that is reflecting traditions and values is transmitted and inherited, the role of historical experience of previous generations is still not fully clarified. The concept of «code» and its derivatives, as well as the entire problems of coding, its theoretical and practical results have not received proper attention in domestic philosophy and social knowledge.

Turning to the works of V.S. Stepin, he interpreted culture as a set of supra-biological programs of human activity, performing in society a role similar to the one which genetic codes play in the life of biological organisms. Sociocodes of this kind are worldview universals (categories of culture) that set systemic and historical integrity for certain (covered by them) aspects of activity, behavior and communication. Ideas, concepts, meanings, models, values, frames, patterns, memory, psychological reactions, etc. appear as the contents of a cultural code. Cultural codes, as symbolic forms of information processing, perform the functions of compressing, rubricating and transmitting information, revealing the content signals, transcription and interpretation.

A cultural code is not a mechanical analogue of a genetic code. There is no a clear-cut sequence of ongoing processes taking place by nature, no distribution of responsibility for certain areas of spiritual development, no possibility of mechanical reproduction and repetition. Social engineering isn't possible by analogy to genetic engineering, when by means of surgical intervention it is possible to replace a damaged element in the genetic code with a new healthy one and prevent the possibility of unwanted development. The question of building a predetermined future, controlled by certain structures, is also complicated. There is no way to surgically protect a person from hostility, envy, hatred or to vaccinate him from violence, rudeness, betrayal.

For the natural sciences everything is extremely accurate: if it is possible to decipher the human genome, find out what each link is responsible for, then you can repeat it at any time, experimentally verify it, and finally, if necessary, replace it in order to forestall the undesirable development of the situation. Obviously, in this case there are unlimited possibilities for conscious managing the evolution process, since this process is technological and its technology is clear. But, according to V.A. Lektorsky «…humans have always been and continue to be not only natural, but also artificial beings, that is, they are constructed by culture. And the latter has a number of features that distinguish them from natural formations.

Meanwhile, there are processes that cannot be controlled, because it is in principle impossible to predict their course accurately. Such processes, as it has become clear today, also exist in nature. As for humans, their defining features such as creativity, dialogue, love, free actions (on which morality rests) cannot be managed, because they cannot be controlled and predicted from the outside. It is possible to create more or less favorable conditions for the development of science or art, but they cannot be controlled. As well as it is impossible to control the values that a person accepts or not, but acts in accordance with them only on the basis of internal freedom» [1, p. 339].

Usually, there are two factors which influence is taken into account in biological evolution - mutations in the gene apparatus and subsequent natural selection. If we look at the development of society from this angle, then «the functions of natural selection are fulfilled by the development of production and the economy, and mutations in the gene apparatus of social organisms are changes in the worldview universals of culture. It occurs due to the emergence of new types of activities, which for the time being fit into the old structure of life meanings, but as they develop they can go beyond this framework and raise contradictions. In such epochs, the former universals of culture as programs for the reproduction of social life no longer ensure its reproduction in all necessary variations and suppress the types of activity required for society. And then begins the era of criticism of previous worldviews and life meanings» [2, p. 728].

Consequently, the foundations of culture are worldview universals that select experience, in some way they select all that is worthy of cultural transmission and also form a categorical system of consciousness of people of a particular era. They also create a holistic image of the human world, expressing the attitude to nature, society and consciousness. Filling the existing values with new content is the result of the rooting of new worldview meanings, which reflect the state of culture as an environment in the bowels of which the synthesis of traditional and emerging new civilizational experience is constantly taking place. As a result, there are worldview attitudes that determine the life priorities of the active part of society. When a society enters the phase of transition to a new state, its active part becomes that breeding ground which determines the direction of changes and their content. The soil, where the growth points of the new begins, where values are updated, filled with new meaning, enriched or rejected, is our reality, the human social life.

So, according to V.S. Stepin, the universals of culture simultaneously fulfil at least three interrelated functions in human life. Firstly, they provide a kind of sorting of diverse, historically changing social experience, and categorize it according to the meanings of cultural universals into peculiar clusters. In this form, it is included into the translation process and is transmitted from person to person, from one generation to another. Secondly, the universals of culture are the basic structure of human consciousness, and their meanings determine the categorical structure of consciousness in each concrete historical era. Thirdly, the interconnection of universals forms a generalized picture of the human world, what is commonly called the worldview of the era. This picture, expressing general ideas about a person and the world, introduces a certain scale of values accepted in this type of culture, and for informational violence. At the present stage, the role of the dominant scenario is claimed by the scenario implemented in the consumer societies of the West, which is based on the idea of consumption growth as a condition for economic growth, including scientific and technological revolutions that form new types of techno-economic paradigms.

As it stands, today there is no country in the world that could be a role model, there is really no ideal that others would like to borrow. In the ensuing universal chaos, priority is often given exclusively to profit - no ideology, historical and spiritual kinship, common values or traditions. Pragmatism dominates, priority is given to strengthening economic and military potential, i.e. force is again becoming the main argument in the modern geopolitical game. Today, the solution to the problem of an adequate response to new global challenges of the time, the development of national culture, which naturally is in dialogue with world culture, the formation of new life meanings and values, are the conditions for the transition to new strategies of civilizational development.

«We need to look for growth points of new values within the technogenic civilization itself. I think that this is one of the main tasks of philosophy today» [2, p. 740]. «At the center of philosophical discourse, there are questions which are directly or indirectly related to the problems of the fate of modern civilization and culture and to possible scenarios of the future of humanity» [2, p. 761]. «To find a way out of crises, a radical therefore determines not only understanding, but also the emotional experience of the world by a person [2, p. 79-80].

In all these functions, the meanings of the universals of culture must be assimilated by individuals, become an internal framework for their individual understanding of the world, their deeds and actions. At this level, the meanings of cultural universals are concretized taking into account group and individual values. Moreover, even in stable states of social life, the universals of culture can admit a very wide range of concretizations, be supplemented by the values of social groups that are opposite in interests and, in so doing, they don't lose their basic meanings.

People always put their personal sense into the universals of culture according to their accumulated life experience. As a result, in their minds the picture of the human world acquires a personal coloring and acts as their individual worldview. Individual variability of worldview attitudes is an important prerequisite for changing and developing the fundamental meanings of cultural universals. The transformation of the basic meanings of the universals of culture and, accordingly, the change in the type of culture are always associated with the crucial stages of human history, since they mean the transformation not only of the image of the human world, but also of the personality types produced by it, their relationship to reality, their value orientations.

It opened up wide possibilities for manipulating public consciousnesschange in the previous strategy of civilizational development is necessary. Such a change, in turn, requires the transformation of basic values. They are inextricably linked with the fundamental life meanings that constitute the content of the concepts of culture, its worldview universals - « «human», «nature», «human activity», «personality», «rationality», «power», «good», «evil», «justice», «freedom», etc.» [2, p. 762].

Conclusions. Having diagnosed the crisis of modern civilization and its transition to the stage of volatility and global instability, he devoted all his efforts to focusing his attention on solving the problems of modern civilization and culture. Moreover, he paid special attention to the implementation of prognostic function by the philosophy. And it refered not only to science, but also to other spheres of life of culture. The focus of his direct scientific attention was on the mechanisms of transition to a new type of civilizational development in complex systems. Growth points of new values V.S. Stepin associated with his post-non-classical scientific rationality, which is oriented towards considering the developing human-sized systems. Among such values that already exist, but have not yet become universal, V.S. Stepin attributed the ethics of nonviolence, the humanization of science and technology, personal improvement, universal human values. Humanity, of course, is interested in the fact that the existing germs of values of a new type become the reality of a new civilization. The soil, where the growth points of the new begins, where values are updated, filled with new meaning, enriched or rejected, is our reality, the human social life, generalized in culture.

The transition of society to the information phase really actualized the problem of the programming role of culture. V.S. Stepin identifies culture as an environment where new life meanings and values arise, which then become the the germ forms of a new cultural and genetic code that provides a new type of civilizational development. According to V.S. Stepin, the foundations of culture, represented by worldview universals, act as a kind of basic genes of a particular type of sociality. Just as the generation of new species of organisms is impossible without genetic transformations that change the genome of the organism, the emergence of new types of society and new types of sociality involves a change in the fundamental life meanings represented by the universals of culture and their transformation.

Currently, the solution of the problem of forming a new matrix of values is a condition for the transition to new strategies for civilizational development. It should be borne in mind that with the modern information and communication revolutions, the mechanism of perception and influence of information has radically changed, and it basically began to shape the individuals' perception and subsequent behavioral reaction to events taking place in the country and in the world.

Список использованных источников

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2. Стёпин, В.С., 2018. Человек. Деятельность. Культура. СПб.: СПбГУП. To the technology of civilizational development: updating the cultural code content 27

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