The article is devoted to the problem of the Russian intelligentsia identity formation in the 21st century. The authors trace a historical path that the Russian intelligentsia has gone through. Russian philosophers of the 20th century rated this path as tragic, noting that the intelligentsia itself wrote its own history, having captured it in great cultural texts well known in Russia and in the world. The need to understand oneself, one’s purpose, to understand the peculiarity of the situation in Russia and the world is an expression of the intelligentsia’s self-consciousness. Cultural memory, allowing the intelligentsia to maintain its own integrity, plays a leading role in shaping the identity of the intelligentsia. It allows for its own integrity to be maintained. The Russian intelligentsia is a socio-cultural type, including the complex mix of ideas and values which has been shaped since the end of the 18th century in difficult historical conditions. From the beginning, the intelligentsia tried to solve the problem of Russian modernization through enlightening, initiating social changes and participating in them. The Russian intelligentsia formed a special character - psychological traits and behavior, opposite to the type of European intellectuals. Until now, the Russian intelligentsia argues about itself, becoming sometimes closer to European intellectuals, but affirming sometimes its singularity. Nevertheless, in modern Russia there is a widespread perception that the intelligentsia is being replaced by a class of intellectuals - professionals, experts, and public intellectuals which strive to influence the formation of public discourse and the discourse of power. In the course of post-Soviet transformations, the intelligentsia began to lose not only the role of public and political actor, but also the role of the moral elite. The consequences of this process are destructive for younger generations and society as a whole. The study conducted by the authors of the article shows that the discourse of intelligentsia is changing as well as the discourse about it, although the intelligentsia is being constructed in a process of permanent dispute about the past, present and future of Russia. At the same time, intellectual identity is being formed in this dispute. So, it would be wrong to perceive the Russian intelligentsia as an unchanging phenomenon. Its openness to cultural and social changes allows us to talk about the formation of the intelligentsia of the 21st century. The study also reveals that the attitudes towards the intelligentsia expressed by the young generation of educated Russians living in an open, global world, are changing. The new vision of the intelligentsia is similar to its European perception as an intellectual elite. At the same time, a desire of young Russians to turn to the values historically constituting the moral code of the Russian intelligentsia, is observed. Thus, it cannot be said that the intelligentsia has disappeared from Russian public life; instead, the intelligentsia identity is a cultural challenge for the younger generation of modern Russians.

When attempting to assess what history of science, doubtless an important element of our culture, owes to the French philosopher and scientist Pierre Duhem, one has to emphasise the critical role he played in rethinking the world outlook inherited from the preceding times and in developing a new one more apt to contemporary science. This analysis draws on such key Duhem’s writings as «The World System» («Le système du monde») and «Studies on Leonardo da Vinci» («Études sur Léonard de Vinci»). Two Duhem’s theses deserve particular attention. One is his assertion that Christianity (and the Catholic Church for that) did not impede, but rather contributed to the development of science having dispensed with cosmological assumptions of Greek Paganism incompatible with contemporary science. Secondly, Duhem argues that intuitions to pave way to the scientific revolution were first advocated by such Sorbonne Scholastics as Jean Buridan and Nicholas Oresme. It is noteworthy that the French scientist clearly underestimates the contribution of non-French thinkers to the emerging set of cultural axioms. Duhem’s new ontology of cognition is closely related to the ideas of new epistemology. Viewing evolution of science as a gradual continuous process, he endorsed the holist idea that isolated scientific propositions could neither be verified nor falsified. The truth of any proposition is inseparable from the truth of the system of hypotheses as a whole. Hence science progresses not by rejecting old theories, but by modifying them: in due course old concepts give way to new ones. This topical assumption that progress of science is to be viewed and understood in its specific socio-cultural context delineates the principle on which the answer to the no less topical question of the philosophy of culture, viz. why modern science has emerged in Europe rather than elsewhere, is to be based on.

It remains highly relevant to analyze international relations with a special emphasis not only on the political, but also on the cultural dimension of the «East-West» dichotomy. If we need to maintain control over the process of intercultural communication, it needs to be reconsidered from a philosophical standpoint. In this case what is crucial is to further deepen our understanding of China and its ability to create synthetic political and economic doctrine. This article investigates the mechanism of self-reproduction of Chinese ideology. The author names it «borrow-and-interpret». During the era of Chinese empire this mechanism was applied to Confucianism when it was attacked by opposing philosophical teachings (like legalism, Taoism, Buddhism and western liberalism) threatening to undermine the Confucian-based political regime. Sinceearly Confucian texts were highly condensed in meaning, it offered Confucian bureaucracy to interpret them in various ways. They borrowed some relevant thoughts and concepts from other philosophical doctrines and integrated them into the commentaries of Confucian thought. Confucianism therefore always remained up-to-date and nominally coherent. Today China’s President Xi Jinping, along with his predecessors, tries to make Marxism more relevant to Chinese day-to-day practice. It is now Marxism that is updated through applying «borrow-and-interpret» mechanism to it. Xi Jinping merges core socialist values with Confucian ethical maxims. In doing so he hopes to eliminate the negative influence of western values on Chinese society and further consolidate the power of CPC.

The problem with M. Foucault’s method, foundations and limits of applicability is one of the central issues in the discussions of his many followers. Reconstruction of the method, per se, involves various strategies for working with his texts. The article proposes a comparative analysis between the interpretations of R. Descartes’s philosophical ideas and Manet’s artistic paintings in the works of M. Foucault. Such an approach through a collision of analysis of visual and verbal objects allows us to identify the general contours of Fucoldian methodology. Interpreting Cartesian ideas, M. Foucault actively uses the metaphors of light and darkness and refers to the possibilities of verbalized visibility. R. Descartes’s ideas turned into a basis for switching to a new register of attitudes towards madness in European culture. In turn, the interpretation of E. Manet’s paintings, proposed by M. Foucault, is based on an analysis of the revolutionary changes in the understanding of art introduced by an outstanding French artist. It affects not only the aesthetic context itself, but leads to new relations between a painting and an audience and also helps to establish new sociocultural practices. Foucault’s verbalization of visual is radically different from approaches of traditional art history. Thus, in Foucault’s work, verbal and visual are closely intertwined with each other and his method can be successfully applied when working with verbal and visual objects.

Histories of the end of the Cold War that have focused on the roles of the top leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union have neglected an important dimension of the ending of the antagonism between the West and the East. Before Ronald Reagan and M.S. Gorbachev met at Geneva in November 1985, citizens of the USA, the USSR, and European nations who were alarmed by the danger of nuclear war formed new organizations dedicated to overcoming the hostility between their nations. British members of European Nuclear Disarmament and American activists in groups such as Beyond War and Peace Links established connections to independent groups in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union as well as the Committee of Soviet Women and the Committee for the Defense of Peace in the USSR. These relationships made it possible to organize very ambitious citizen diplomacy projects. Hundreds of Soviet citizens made extensive speaking tours in the United States while numerous British and American activists visited the Soviet Union. These exchanges dispelled negative stereotypes and helped to end the mutual demonization that had been central to the Cold War since the late 1940s. Analysis of the experiences of the citizen diplomats in the 1980s yields lessons for contemporary international relations about the importance of avoiding one-sided blame for conflicts and the need to move beyond recriminations about the past in order to develop cooperation in the present and future.

The paper considers the role of antique philosophy in medieval theology. Dante’s «Divine Comedy» was chosen as an object for a comparative study of philosophy and theology. A «сomplicated» relationship between theology and philosophy is due to the question of the creation of the world. According to Aristotle and his medieval successors Averroes and Siger of Brabant, the world was not created by God but, he is needed as the source of its movement. Despite Aristotle’s overwhelming authority as a Philosopher and a Teacher, Dante placed antique thinkers led by Aristotle, in Limbo, Hell canopy. So they were unable to pass through Hell and Purgatory and face God one day. Ancient thinkers were to blame for living before Christ and therefore not knowing him. It is underlined, that all real-life hostilities become meaningless in Heaven, where everyone is equal before God. That’s why Thomas Aquinas and Siger de Brabantt are side by side in Heaven. The article states that the theme of wisdom is a keynote of Dante’s «Divine Comedy». It is noted, that Dante’s journey through the circles of Hell, ascension into Purgatory and «getting» to Heaven is because of Beatrice – allegory of philosophy. It was philosophy (in the form of beautiful Beatrice) «coming» to help when Dante found himself in an «impassable forest» of his soul. Philosophy in the form of Beatrice presents wisdom. Theology, in turn, is intended to purify the minds, which is possible just in Purgatory. Heaven is the embodiment of justice and perception of truth, the place of some conciliation between theology and philosophy.

Definition is a logical and linguistic category that for a long time has been the subject of logicians’ and philosophers’ research. Today we understand a definition as a logical method that allows us to discover a word’s content, i.e. what it means in everyday use or what a speaker intends it to mean for this speaker’s own specific purposes. A definition consists of two parts: definiendum (that what is defined) and definiens (that which defines). The definiendum refers to the exact object, action, state etc., that is to be defined. The definiens contains the information necessary to define this object, action, state etc. This information is obtained during the process of definition. In the language, a definition can mean both the process of developing a sentence and the result of this process, i.e. the sentence itself. When composing an explanation of a word’s lexical meaning, we should draw on the vast experience of Russian lexicography. Practical lexicography gave us a wide range of kinds of word definitions which are now being extensively researched as theoretical generalizations and conclusions. This article explores methods of explanation of word meanings in the context of different possible logical relations between definiendum and definiens: inclusion, overlap, complementarity, adjacency. The existing word definitions (hyponymic, identifying, enumerative, synonymic, antonymic) can be distributed between those kinds of logical relations. Descriptive explanations are regarded as a specific kind of definition. Theoretical generalizations and conclusions are backed by examples from the main explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language.The conclusion is drawn that parts of a word definition can enter into different kinds of logical relations. Exploration of those relations is highly important for educational purposes as methodological basis for correct definitions of word meanings as well as for the composition of lexicographic explanations. At the same time, we shouldn’t forget that there are various ways to define a word’s lexical meaning. One and the same word can be defined in a number of ways, so the lexicographers’ main task is still to choose the best way or combination of ways that can fully and accurately discover the meaning of the word being defined.

The purpose of the study is to trace the origins of E. V. de Castro’s «poststructural anthropology», and the possibility of its application in Religious Studies in contemporary Russia. For the purpose of the study, the methods of description, historical and comparative analysis and modelling were chosen. The objectives of the study are: 1) to create an analogous 3D model of «the shaman’s universe», according to the factography of E. V. de Castro’s «poststructural anthropology»; 2) to verify its heuristic potential using the material of the belief in the existence of werewolves; 3) to verify whether the postmodern thesaurus, as a language of description, could be adequately applied to the worldview of Amazonian shamans. The author concludes that: a) the immediate origins of «poststructural anthropology» lie in the views of J. Deleuze and F. Guattari, and that the achievements of the British school of social anthropology and Cl. Levi- Strauss’s structuralism served as the general background for E. V. de Castro’s and E. Kohn’s work; b) the conceptual framework of postmodernism is able to serve as an appropriate language of description of the shamanic experience which was clearly demonstrated by Amazonists E. V. de Castro and E. Kohn; c) the shamanic model of the universe (the Chaosmosis) has sufficient heuristic potential to be applied to other phenomena of religion, mytho-ritual, virtual fantasy worlds, fairy tales, and folklore.

The article is devoted to the first stage of the life and work of the scientist and researcher of minority religious groups, V.D. Bonch-Bruyevich (1873-1955). This choice is not accidental, since the beginning of the scientist’s creative and research journey is inextricably linked with his development as an individual and personality, his human qualities, desires and aspirations. Based on the methodology of intellectual history, the article attempts to reconstruct the history of the life and work of Bonch-Bruyevich. Thanks to the friendship with V.I. Lenin and active revolutionary activities, an important role was played by organizational work, as well as propaganda (from the early years of the 20th century, when he was an editor, publisher and employee of social democratic and Bolshevik newspapers and magazines). V.D. Bonch-Bruyevich entered the nomenklatura elite of the new state and in 1918 occupied the position of business manager of the Council of People’s Commissars. But unlike many activists of the revolutionary movement who before the revolution of 1917 perceived representatives of minority religious groups as «companions», he defended the believers’ rights to freedom of conscience before and after the revolution. At the same time, Bonch-Bruyevich never left his scientific activity and continued to practise until his last days, combining organizational and scientific work. His huge contribution to the study of religion in Russia and the formation of Soviet religious studies can not be overestimated. Studying the life and work of Bonch-Bruyevich, like other researchers of the Soviet period, is quite important, especially in the context of modern debates about Soviet humanities.

In the realities of the millennium the transcendent is banalized – at any moment the user of web 2.0 can find himself in the meditation space of the Buddhist ritual of building a sand mandala or order a moleben in one of the Orthodox churches of the world. The Internet and new media technologies provide an opportunity to host and store data that is potentially accessible to many people. Sacred texts of various religious traditions, rituals and practical instructions to them, liturgies, molebens, magic formulas and so on, are no longer the domain of a narrow circle of charismatic professionals. And that in itself raises the question of authenticity and authority to any user of such information and practices. Are genuine and credible online ritual practices, digitized sacred and teacher texts, symbolic images, icons, tanks, vlogs with detailed instructions on the rules of prayers by agreement or online collective pujas? And, if the adept of the religion is an offline authority to which this question may be forwarded, what should do a neophyte, an interested person or a researcher of religions? The focus of the article is the methodology of studying digital discourse of Orthodoxy concerning the epistemic authority and the legitimacy of online rituals. The author analyzes in detail the key concepts of digital studies interdisciplinary research field. The typology of online religious epistemic authorities by H. Kempbell, the concept of «strategic arbitration» by P.H. Chon and the concept of «religious digital third space» by S. Huve and N.Ash-Sheibiare examined in depth. The results of the author’s probing online study of the Orthodox online practices and digital discourse around them are of particular interest. As a final chord, the article offers specific promising directions of online research of digital Orthodox discourse of Orthodoxy. As such, the paper presents the narrative practices of theological bloggers and theo bloggers, the strategic arbitration of theological bloggers regarding the epistemic authority of the repertoire of variations of the practice of «prayer by agreement» on the digital platforms of the Orthodox social network «Elica» and the mobile application «Prayer by Agreement» and, finally, the hybrid digital proposal on rituals and practices of the network «Elica», «Notes».

This article is devoted to the study of the mediatization technologies, the theatricalization of politics, and the penetration mechanism of mass culture into politics using the example of 2019’s bright phenomenon - Greta Thunberg and her «climate strikes». In this case, various aspects (political, sociopsychological, international, environmental, and ethical) are viewed and need analysis. However, the study of the interaction between the modern information environment and digital natives (generation Z), and the latest tools of modeling mass consciousness is of particular interest. Hybrid forms including elements of mass culture, communication strategies, manipulation technologies, and role-playing avatars present, nowadays, a serious threat to conservative politics. These politics present poorly calculated schemes of latent influence on mass consciousness. «Greta Thunberg - an angry girl in the struggle for the Earth» is a beautiful story, well created and produced with all modern social technologies, efficiently embedded in the world political agenda. A year after its appearance, it is a lever of pressure on high politics, a tool for man aging mass consciousness and a role-playing avatar for young people from 10 to 20 years old and, what’s more, a rooted sociocultural meme. The complexity of the study of this topic is due to the relative freshness of the case, its interdisciplinary character, and most importantly, its incompleteness. The final case can be modeled in different aspects, depending on the creativity of the «producers» behind the project. However, in the heyday of social media «in the global village» such hybrid entities will appear again and again. If, until recently, the most labile and manipulative audience was young people and students, in a short term society may face a «revolution of children» led by Hameln Pied Piper through social networks.

The literature of modern France vividly expresses the cultural element of the form of «métissage» the essential features of which are today conceptualized by the concept of «European home». Undoubtedly, its examination through the lens of cultural studies allows the tracing of not only the logicalconceptual but also the empirical content of the concept is of particular interest. In addition, our huge interest lies within the identification and the description of the contradictions between «general» and «special» in the private lives of individuals as well as in that of entire nations in the context of globalization, European integration, and technological revolution. The work of the famous French writer Michel Houellebecq provides rich material for the study of the above topic. In his books, M. Houellebecq identified several problems that, according to him, contribute to the accelerating decomposition of unique European cultures. Among them, one can distinguish the dominance of the European and national bureaucracies, the destruction of the historically established cultural and casual lifestyle, and their standardization. The writer also raises a more general issue about the causes of the modern man’s distorted identity. In his opinion, these problems basically originate from the loss of religious and moral values, leading to confusion and weakness of will, turning the daily existence of a demoralized individual to a routine of simulated consumption. Inevitably, such simulation destroys emotionality, depriving a person of proper human feelings, and prevents them from creating stable relationships with other people. Houellebecq describes the tectonic shifts in the cultural life of France along with the perception of a tragic change in the identity of the European people, whose home is «everywhere» and «nowhere».

This article focuses on prerequisites for the establishment of feminism in Portugal, history of main Portuguese feminist organizations and basic conditions for their functioning. This research is based on the comparative analysis of socio-political environment in Portugal and in several other states (mainly located in Western Europe) in different periods of their history. Basing on the aforementioned analysis, the author comes to the conclusion that feminism in Portugal has generally been moderate and has passed three phases in its development. These phases are in line with three waves that are basically seen as the key milestones in the history of the feminist movement around the world. The first wave lasted from the middle of the 19th century until the 1930s and was characterized by the struggle of Portuguese women for such common rights as the right to work and electoral rights. At this stage Portuguese feminism developed in line with the traditional trend. The second wave in Portugal lasted from the 1960s until the 1990s. During this period scientists working created numerous books and articles, criticising the patriarchy and the problems of women. The discussion of reproductive rights of women, problems in the family and sexual sphere was also typical for this period. The feminist theory of the third wave was developing since the 1990s and continues to develop up to the present moment. It is based on the gender approach: women assert their rights to abortion and affordable contraception, combat against oppression from men and gender-based discrimination. At the same time, the feminism of the third wave is becoming more diverse and can be characterized as intersectional. The feminist movement in Portugal triggered deep social transformations. Most of the achievements of the feminist movement today cannot be put into question. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go to achieve a change in mentality of Portuguese society, to reduce female unemployment and gender inequality at work, to combat domestic violence.

The article analyzes how the attitude of the Finnish population to Finland’s policy of military non-alignment correlates with the official foreign strategy. The question of public opinion can act as a possible sociocultural tool for its change is examined. The author explains the main reasons for the formation of stable public opinion in favor of neutrality, based on national and cultural identity. The role of public opinion in the Finnish internal debate on the «NATO option» is shown. The thesis that public opinion plays only an auxiliary role in comparison with external circumstances affecting the foreign policy of Finland, which is widespread in research circles, is considered. The author argues that public opinion on Finland’s possible entry into NATO is crucial in two key ways. First, at present, it’s a factor supporting the stable foreign policy decision, which is carried out by the state government. Secondly, in the future, public opinion may become a factor capable, under certain conditions of having a significant impact on the change of the Finnish course in foreign and security policy. The second option assumes that public opinion can play its own role by changing the pre-planned foreign policy scenario.

During World War II, the inhumane Nazi policy condemned millions of people to death. The National Socialist ideology having anti-Semitism as one of its pillars was consolidated during Hitler’s tenure in Germany, descending into taking the villainous crimes against humanity for granted. More than 18 thousand European Jewish emigrants arrived in Shanghai in the late 1930’s seeking refuge. No special permission to enter this multinational city was required and the local community provided all assistance to make their adaptation easy. Despite the cultural and linguistic differences between the local community and the refugees, the latter succeeded in adaptation, contributing to the city`s development. Quite quickly a model of adaptation to new political, economic and sociocultural conditions was found. Over time, however, the pressure and volatility of the policy of Japan, which occupied Shanghai in 1937, placed Jews in a difficult, unpredictable and dangerous position. The study reveals the concealed chapter of the history of the Holocaust describing the hardship of the Jewish population forced to emigrate to the other parts of the world to save their own lives from Nazi persecution. The name «Shanghai» has become a synonym of «salvation» for the participants of those events who have always gratefully remembered the hard, but life-saving years spent there. Along with the historical context, the cultural issue is considered in this study based on evaluation of the Jewish refugees’ assimilation in the Asian metropolis, analysis of the crosscultural interaction having arisen in the new communication space and the research on maintenance of the Jewish community’s fundamental values in an unfamiliar environment.

The networking format becomes the most widespread form of international cooperation in the field of culture at the present stage. First, it attracts subjects of the international market of culture and art by reducing costs and the price of implementing projects. Both previously existing organizations and new partner projects have adopted this format and transformed themselves into networks, building their structure on the principle of horizontal communications. Along with representatives of state structures and international organizations, there are networks initiated by independentexperts interested in the development of international private partnership. In 2020, the 3rd panoramic exhibition of contemporary Italian art «Italiartkremlin» will be held in the State Museum of Modern Art of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Apart from the worksof Italian masters, the exhibition will present the works of Russian artists, winners of the annual contest «My Italy» and «Italy through the eyes of Russian artists». «Italiartkremlin» is one of the projects of the ITALIART cultural network that unites the efforts of representatives of the Italian art market, as well as amateurs and collectors of contemporary Italian art in order to promote it in Russia and Europe. The partner network RUART specializes in the promotion of Russian art in the world, and especially in Northern Europe, through the organization of thematic art events, including art exhibitions, contests and seminars. The idea of sharing a single exhibition space of works of art from different countries allows to compare and see the difference between national schools and modern art concepts.

The article is devoted to the historical and cultural aspects of the development of Czech art in the late Middle Ages on the example of an exhibition held from August 16 to November 3 at Prague Castle, which was dedicated to the 600th anniversary of the death of the Czech and Roman King Wenceslas IV. The author of the article considers the significance of the Czech culture and sacred art in the context of the political and historical specifics of the development of medieval Bohemia and the features of the reign of Vaclav IV, who wasthe son of the Holy Roman Emperor and the Czech King Charles IV . Wenceslas IV is a complex and controversial figure in Czech history, who stood at the «crossroads» of epochs and cultures, around him various disputes persist in historiography up to our time. This article provides an overview of the nature of the sacred artifacts of culture and art presented at the exhibition «Czech and Roman King Wenceslas IV: «beautiful style» of Gothic art», as well as the characteristics of the artistic style , defined in terms of historical and cultural, internal and external political development of the Czech Republic, crosscultural dialogue of the Czech Republic with European countries on the background of the emerging religious controversy in the country. The work takes into account the features of the Late Gothic style in the Central Europe. On the example of the remarkable works of painting, sculpture, fragments of architectural monuments, decorative and applied art and manuscripts, first of all the monumental Wenceslas Bible, many of which were brought to Prague from various European Galleries and Castles of Poland, Germany, France, New York, as well as from private collections, can demonstrate the rise of Czech culture and art in the late XIV-early XV centuries, which was presented the process of cultural accumulation of the European style of the late Gothic, received Czech national artificial identity.

The study of the phenomenon of the Louvre Abu Dhabi (the Middle East Louvre Museum) from the historical and cultural points of view is relevant in several aspects. Firstly, the very fact of the creation of this museum is of interest. It operates as a kind of «successor» and «interpreter» of the Western tradition, which determines its Kulturträger activity. The history of the acquisition of the Mesopotamian collection by the Louvre Abu Dhabi serves as a case study. Secondly, based on this material it is possible to trace the main characteristics of modern identity-building strategies and the build-up of «soft power». Moreover, it allows to reveal how alternative cultural-centric versions of social development are elaborated. This alternative reconsiders the thesis of the dominance of the «center» not in favor of the West. The analysis of the original way of presenting the «Western» cultural content within the framework of the «nonwestern» cultural code allows us to raise the question of the probable relapse at a symbolic level of cultural imperialism. It has its reflections in the specifics of the organization of the museum space and the features of the exposition of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The analysis allows to predict more clearly the possible cultural consequences of the museum’s creation. Thirdly, an attempt to model the museum’s cultural practices through appeal to the concepts of «mythology» and «myth» developed by Roland Barthes is of a theoretical value. The modeling comprises culturological interpretation of the museum’s activities through the prism of Roland Barthes’ Mythologies. It allows us to raise the questions regarding the possibilities and boundaries. E.g., whether traditional cultural symbols could be used as elements of «soft power». Furthermore, it becomes possible to describe the limited nature of «soft power» as a means of symbolic authority.