The authors attempt to outline an ontological perspective different from the mainstream materialistic ontology. Some aspects of this perspective can be found in the works of eminent philosophers of the past, such as Husserl or Hegel. The authors, however, point out a systematic methodological mistake earlier thinkers made concerning the notion of the Other. The Other is the key factor in the development of consciousness and subjectivity, and this paper seeks to show how the Other moulds and creates subjectivity out of a biological man. Human identity arises in two steps: ontological identity is  created first, from which empirical identity grows, culminating in consciousness and personality. It was logical for philosophical consciousness to contemplate subjectivity which is not yet formed. Tabula rasa is a  biological man, but that structure will not become a human subjectivity if it  does not dwell with other subjectivities. The Other is not simply another Self. There is no elementary sensation to inform a biological organism of the state in which it finds itself; it is a kind of a physical unity for the emerging  consciousness, but in itself it is not yet ready to perceive and act according to it at this stage. Without the influence of the Other, a human organism will never become Self. This unifying perception of the Other depicts an original encounter where there is also fascination. But fascination turns into  frustration when the Other disappears or exits the focused perceptual field. This process of perceptual addition and dissolution is repeated, creating a change in what can be called the game of presence and absence. With the departure of the Other, the cause of the focus goes away, but what remains  is its trace — the attention that is now left to wonder. Attention left without  its source is only to itself and is directed to itself because this is the only direction that remains. Subjectivity, once symbolised by a circle, finally takes the form of a torus in whose interior hole resides the trace of the Other. With  the entry of multiple Others into the relationship, primarily through speech, meanings acquire solid aspects introducing the law of symbolic order. This stabilisation of meanings frees uninitiated subjectivity, by which  one truly enters the field of freedom opening that of ethics. The authors’ point is that accounting for the notion of external world, one should consider the Other first, and only after that simple otherness. 

 The article gives a theoretical survey of the concepts of social consciousness and depicts the history of formation of this concept in the 1950–70s in the works of Vladislav Kelle and Matvey Kovalzon, Evald Ilyenkov, Vasily Tugarinov et al. The philosophy of this period was characterized by the antinomy between the increasing dogmatism of diamat/histmat and the  tendency towards convergence with world philosophical thought. The  struggle between ideological and scientific attitudes in Soviet humanities intensified. The scientific spirit permeated through the formation of  sociology and its increasing influence at both empirical and theoretical levels of analysis. During this period the problems of dialectics of individual and social consciousness, forms of social consciousness and mechanics of their functioning, correlation of social consciousness with public opinion, etc., are  under investigation. Much attention is given to the debate on the nature of  the ideal, which Ilyenkov explicitly linked to social consciousness. The opposition of natural scientific and philosophical approaches to the study of  consciousness is considered. The article draws attention to the scientific breakthroughs of the time: the problem of consciousness for the first time is  discussed in the light of the achievements of computerization in the 1960s and the problem of creating artificial intelligence. Three main approaches to  the study of social consciousness are considered: ontological, epistemological and sociological. The problem of social consciousness has  been actively discussed in Soviet philosophical literature since the late 1950s (although some studies were conducted even in the prewar period). At this time, there appear works in which social consciousness is interpreted not only as a reflection of social being, i.e. of the socio-economic structure of society, but also as a relatively independent phenomenon that requires multidimensional study and has a reverse effect on people’s material relations. Such an approach opened up the possibility of sociological analysis  of consciousness. The key concept of Soviet sociology is public opinion, understood as a peculiar state of public consciousness. Thus, the methodological foundations of empirical sociology, which aims to study public opinion, are laid. Boris Grushin discovers the specificity of public  opinion in its neutrality, equal acceptability for all social classes. The scholar regards sociological research as an effective tool for the formation of civil society and increasing its self-consciousness. The article shows the specificity  of the concept of public consciousness in Soviet sociology, including  empirical research based on mass interviews and study of public opinion. 

 One of the key features of Colombia’s development over the years is the lack of personal security that the local population has experienced for many decades. Apprehension, fear for one’s life and life of one’s friends and family, instability and social inequality have been shaping the local mindset for a long time. Populism and caudilism (cult of the leader), typical phenomena in the historical development of the continent, have gained prominence in the 21st century Colombia. In order to determine the characteristic features of anti-democratic regimes the author analyzes earlier works on authoritarian systems, the instruments they employ to assert dominance and the  psychology of the masses that submit to authoritarian leadership. The article  addresses the causes behind authoritarian features in the psychology of Colombian society that have certain influence on local politics and trends in the country’s development. The author introduces a hypothesis that individual mindset and crowd psychology are somewhat important in this regard since Colombian political system as such is rather consistent in demanding strict compliance with procedures and principles of democracy. Therefore, a pattern of submission to authoritative figures stands out among the reasons that encourage a significant part of the Colombian society to give up their freedom. For nearly twenty years Álvaro Uribe has been an authoritarian leader who meets expectations of a large part of the society and whose dominance in the country’s politics (uribism) has not been noticeably affected by his questionable reputation tainted with suspicion of corruption and complicity in grave crimes. Official statistics demonstrating his popularity, his protégé’s victory in the 2018 presidential election and the cult of Uribe’s personality indicate the stability of his key role in Colombian  politics. However, the analysis of mainstream and alternative media, which play an increasingly visible role in Colombian society, the protest movements in late 2019 and early 2020, the growing importance of social media in the society and Colombia’s experience in protecting the system of checks and balances shows that the psychological need for submission to a caudillo,  such as Uribe, is less manifested or completely absent among the wider  population, especially among the young who tend to orient themselves towards other values.  

The iconography of late antique Judaism became a research area in the second quarter of the 20th century. Before this time there was no such a large number of murals, mosaic pavements and other artworks available for examination. When scholars started considering monuments from late antique synagogues, they seek to find a relevant approach to studying the phenomenon of Jewish art in this period, its emergence and development. In the course of different periods in historiography of the subject various topics came to the forefront of research and became more important than the others. In the West this scientific area went through several stages in its development, while issues of iconography of late antique Judaism have not been on the agenda of the Russian-speaking scientific community till the present moment. This review of English-language major research seeks to compensate for the lack of a systematic view of the problem in Russian-language science, which is also touched upon in the present work. The subject of the present survey is historiography of Judaism iconography in the late antique period. The most cited English-language works on this subject are systematized in accordance with the periods of historiography and of the dominant direction of research. The review demonstrates three periods of historiography: early period with the stress on description; the second period with the question about existence and affiliation of Jewish art in late antiquity; and the latest period, observed in the present moment, that concentrates on systematic examination of art in general and some objects in particular. There are two main vectors of the study of the subject, which were formed by the end of the 20th century. The first is aimed at exploring symbols within the Jewish cultural paradigm without affecting the surrounding cultures. The second considers the symbols of Jewish iconography as included in the general cultural context of the regions of the Roman Empire, where worldviews were in constant interaction, and sometimes in opposition. Scientists have been developing both of these areas of research until present days. In the 21^st century Jewish late antique iconography is an important area of research for Western science, which not only continues the development of problems indicated in the 20th century, but also formulates new ones, corresponding to modern trends in religious studies. The work shall attract the attention of readers to a significant number of little-known and highly specialized texts on the problem of the iconography of late antique Judaism.

The relevance of the given problems is due to the church, state and socio-cultural veneration of the saints Cyril and Methodius as the creators of the Slavic alphabet and translations of the Holy Scriptures and hymnography into the Slavic language, which distinguishes the Slavic world into a separate cultural type, which often interacts with the multicultural paradigm of the modern European paradigm of the civilizational space. A significant place in the article is occupied by the problem of broadcasting the cult of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Catholicism in the coverage of official documents of the Roman Catholic Church, in particular, the encyclical as a separate type of papal documents that correspond to the social concept of the Roman Catholic Church. The purpose of the study is to analyze the encyclicals of the popes Leo XIII and John Paul II in different languages, discovering the general and the particular in their structure, which will serve as an incentive for further interpretation of the cult of the Holy brothers in the Roman Catholic world in the context of the formation of ecumenical communication of Christian churches and interfaith dialogue. The objective of the study is to identify the reception of the cult of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Western Christian religious culture. The novelty of this research is an attempt to analyze and interpret the structure and composition of papal encyclicals and the subsequent identification of the reception of the cult of the saints in Western European religious culture due to the absence of such works in Russian science. The methodological basis of the research is, first of all, an interdisciplinary approach, as well as historical, comparative historical, chronological and textological methods. All analyzed documents raise questions of the primacy of the Pope, missionary work, Catholic piety and the establishment of liturgical veneration of Saints Cyril and Methodius. An analysis of the texts shows the significance of these documents in the context of the formation of the Cyril and Methodius tradition in the West and the dialogue between East and West. The results obtained allow us to speak about the significance of the cult of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the context of individual Slavic countries and the entire Christian world as a whole.

The problem of religious tolerance is becoming more and more relevant both for the Russian Federation and the modern world as a whole, since not only the media, but also academic publications almost every day inform us about conflicts between religious communities of local and global scale. The article examines a number of new aspects of the phenomenon of religious tolerance that are revealed when it is described as an autopoiesis of a specific intercultural communicative discourse. This specific discourse is explicitly presented in the texts of the 19th centuries and later texts included in the database of the academic linguistic resource National Corpus of the Russian Language. The texts manifest special forms of implicit tolerance, which is formed, developed and transformed in the global context of intercultural communication, which seeks to distribute the true (“due”, “normative”) and superstitious (“false”, “forbidden”). Starting with the most ancient texts supersticious is intended to mark the difference between permissible (“tolerant”, “ridiculed”) and the unconditionally forbidden (“dangerous”, “intolerant”). The development of communication from the most ancient face-to-face communication to written forms in urban cultures and mass media images of global reality contributes to the formation of an imperial understanding of local features in modern culture. A number of materials from the Russian history of the 19th century show us in detail the development of discourse of tolerance in dialectics with the discourse of intolerance. We can see it from the era of the creation of the Holly Alliance by Alexander I, in which Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Lutherans were proclaimed one Christian people to protective triad of Uvarov and national romanticism, which sought not only to distance itself from everything different, but also to enter into a multifaceted intercultural dialogue. This development placed issues concerning true

In 1999, Rodney Stark announced that the secularization theory had died and should be buried in a graveyard of failed doctrines. He presented the rationale for this verdict in Secularization, R.I.P., which was supposed to show that the theory of secularization is not capable of correctly describing either the past or the current state of religiosity in European countries, and even more so in the rest of the world. While Stark’s findings have been accepted by many scholars, the current researches show that Stark was too hasty with his conclusion, and the theory of secularization still has significant descriptive and explanatory potential. Thus, the results of recent research by Ronald F. Inglehart show that, although religions continue to play an important role in the modern world, their importance is steadily declining even in countries and regions that were previously considered permanently religious (for example, in the United States or in South America). Accordingly, Inglehart speaks of “recent acceleration of secularization” as the reality in which most countries in the world live. In the situation of the ongoing discussion about how fully and accurately the secularization theory is able to describe the laws and mechanics of social changes, it also becomes relevant to consider the question of why the previous criticism of the theory, including that of Stark, was not very effective. It seems that in Stark’s case the following factors have played a negative role: an ideologized approach equating the theory of secularization with secularism, the interpretation of the subjective religiosity of some societies as an unchangeable constant, which, moreover, should be accepted as constant for all other societies, and an extremely simplified interpretation of fundamental principles of secularization theory, which, according to Stark, is no more than the prophecy about the end of religion. The incorrectness of some Stark’s critical ideas is demonstrated by a statistical analysis of long-term trends in the religiosity of Iceland, Great Britain, and the United States. The most telling example seems to be that of Iceland, whose religious landscape has changed dramatically over the past three decades and bears little resemblance to the image of rural religiosity of the 1980s that Stark drew in Secularization, R.I.P., and which he considered unchanged.

The purpose of this article is to reveal the causes of national and cultural identity crisis of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the period of Austro-Hungarian occupation and annexation, which led to modifications of their self-identity. The paper meets this research aim through an extensive study of the relevant literature presenting the views of Serbian and Russian scholars. On the basis of comparative-historical and socio-cultural approaches, the authors collate the existing definitions of ethnic, national and cultural identity and define the crucial factors that make the cornerstone of cultural identity: mother tongue, ethnicity, territory, religion, habitat, food, mode of life, customs and traditions, folklore and literature, artwork and historical past. They go on to chronologically identify the developments and changes of society on the territory of the present-day Bosnian state. The article further analyzes the position of the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina within Austria-Hungary comparing their status in society and explains the choice of Bosnian Muslims and Croats as the pillar of the new government. The research produced a number of key findings. The key determinants that formed and helped to preserve Serbian cultural identity through ages are Orthodox Christianity based on St. Sava sacred tradition and the Kosovo myth, a half-historical, halflegendary event that formed the heroic and spiritual code of values and serves as a gospel in preserving Serbian cultural identity. Another feature that produced a significant impact on transforming cultural identity of Bosnian Serbs was conversion to Islam on part of some Bosnians who came to be known as Bošnjaks. Along with Islam and Orthodox Christianity, part of the Serbian population of Bosnia and Herzegovina belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, identified themselves as Croats who spoke Croatian and used Latin script. Thus the indigenous south Slavonic ethnic group of Serbs who had the same historical background and spoke the same language was divided by religion and, partially, the language — the pivotal determinants of identity. The paper demonstrates the joint efforts of the peoples inhabiting the present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina in their struggle against the occupants which were manifested in the activities of Young Bosnia, an organization that aimed at preserving national identity and creating a united Serbian state. The authors conclude that the problem of national and cultural identity crisis of Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbs finds its roots in the historical clash of three civilizations and cultures — south Slavonic, oriental and western. The article identifies the markers of national and cultural identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina Serbs, the disintegration of which led to a crisis.

The question of the nature of speech modalization has been repeatedly considered in linguistics from various positions, which is partially reflected in the text of the article. The authors of the publication propose to look at the points of intersection of the process of metaphorization of statements within the framework of one type of discourse with the expression of the author's attitude to and/or assessment of its content. To substantiate the validity of this approach, the authors refer to the methodology of logical analysis of language, the theory of intersubjectivity and the theory of evaluativity, linking cognitive methods of analyzing the process of metaphorization with a broad understanding of the category of modality. This formulation of the problem fits into the modern scientific paradigm of interdisciplinarity and the actualization of interdisciplinary relations, which reflects the relevance of the proposed text. The scientific novelty of the topic is an attempt to determine the correlation of the category of modality in its axiological and ideological aspects with metaphorization as a means of actualizing evaluativity in economic discourse. Commonly, denoting phenomena, processes or results is not limited to their nomination, but the producer of the utterance gives them a modal assessment. The empirical material containing fragments of texts of the German-language mass media on economic topics reflects the validity of the proposed interpretation of the issue, shows the potential relationship of phenomena in the intersection of various connotative meanings of a cognitive metaphor, potentially serving to express the attitude to the proposition of an utterance at the level of intersubjective assessments that create a modal frame of the text. The given examples clearly demonstrate that cognitive metaphors in various forms of their implementation could serve to express ideological modality from the standpoint of intersubjectivity, since the producer of the text relies on the reflection of a fragment of reality in the communicative and cognitive activity of subjects of the national-cultural community of people. The article recognizes a certain ambiguity of the proposed interpretation of the category of modality, which is considered in the traditional grammar as an expression of possibility, ought and desirability, or as a confidence, doubt and assertion that the action is carried out at different time levels using phrases with modal verbs, modal words or adverbs, particles, etc. Thus, the article can be considered as an indirect invitation to a discussion on the issue.

Novoye Vremya (The New Time) newspaper was considered as the leading daily periodical of the pre-revolutionary Russia. In 1876, Aleksey Suvorin, an outstanding Russian publisher and literary figure, became its owner and chief editor. He turned the newspaper into a source of information, which seriously influenced the public opinion in Russia. Novoye Vremya provoked constant interest among readers of all social levels. It was popular both among high-ranking government officials and people without any ranks, conservatives and liberals, people with higher education and those who did not even graduate a gymnasium. Newspaper stories were apprehensible not only for educated people but for any common person. Young and old, men and women liked Novoye Vremya. It had never forced its opinion and suggested the readers to make personal judgement through its reports. Suvorin managed to form the audience that valued the newspaper and believed in it. Not only Novoye Vremya stood out for its excellent materials on politics, economy, and non-fiction. In its reviews the newspaper gave a fair evaluation of the Russian authors’ works. Moreover, it became famous with the literary works of the top writers, the classics of Russian literature. Therefore, it is not by accident that the author of this article pays special attention to the cooperation between Novoye Vremya and the most known Russian writers of the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century. Thanks to Suvorin, the talent of Anton Chekhov, who started publishing his works in the newspaper under a different name, opened up. Novoye Vremya published the stories which were later included into his collection In the Twilight. Here he also published his famous novella The Duel. Despite the fact that Novoye Vremya was considered to be a newspaper rather than a literary magazine, it worked together with such writers as Leo Tolstoy, Nikolay Nekrasov, Nikolay Leskov, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, for whom the newspaper was not only a serious periodical but also a source of education and knowledge. In Soviet times the directive was to forget about Suvorin. And when they did remember, they certainly wrote about him as a reactionary, chauvinist, notorious monarchist. And if another major pre-revolutionary publisher I.D. Sytin was recognized by the Soviet government, although he lost his printing house and real estate, then Suvorin was in disgrace.

 The article examines the book Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 written by Margaret Fuller (1810–1850), an outstanding American romantic writer, about her journey to the Great Lakes; the book was based on her experience in the Midwest and a study of relevant works in the Harvard college library. The life of American Indians confronting the expansion of white immigrants and removal is in the focus of attention in the book. The article offers an analysis and interpretation of Fuller’s views on the matter; methodologically it is based on a close reading of the book in its cultural and historical context and is to show the cultural forms Fuller describes, define her perspective as an  observer and characterize her position as a thinker and publicist. The analysis  demonstrates that Fuller’s ethnographic observations and  descriptions have important innovative features: her perspective is a woman’s view, her eye is keen, she is attentive to the details of women’s lives and the behavior of women of different ages; she points out common features in the age and gender aspects of the life of the Indians, as well as their individual, personal traits; the Indians appear in her description not only as objects of her observation but as subjects — persons who participate in the interaction with white settlers and travelers, including Fuller herself; she points out their delicacy, courteousness, and the good manners they show in her contacts with them. The analysis proves that the romantic worldview forms the matrix for Fuller’s observations and deliberations but she rejects  the poeticized view of the Indians and the concept of the noble savage  introduced in the Enlightenment and elaborated in early romanticism. Creatively absorbing the ideas of Herder and Goethe Fuller wants to understand the culture of the Indians in its wholeness as an original, organic  expression of the spirit of the people. The author draws attention to the contradictions in Fuller’s cultural approach: sharing to a great extent the dominant concept of history as a linear progression (the concept that was  part of the colonial discourse) Fuller believed that, with the onward progress of civilization, the Indians were doomed to removal and extinction; at the  same time she had her doubts concerning the linear concept of history and sympathized with the Indians, was convinced that the attitude of the white people towards the Indians contradicted Christian values. 

The author studies the Latin American writers’ visits to the USSR from 1954 till beginning of 1960s realized via the Foreign Commission of the Union of Soviet Writers. After Stalin’s death, the activity of all departments of the Commission expanded significantly; the lists of those invited from abroad now included writers who were absolutely loyal to the USSR as well as new and yet unknown names. As a result, the staff of the Foreign Commission had to face an unprecedented pluralism. Based on the Commission’s Spanish and Portuguese translators’ reports, stored in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the study analyses the criteria based on which the stay of a guest was perceived as favorable or undesirable for continuing cooperation in order to improve the image of the USSR in foreign literary circles. The study also analyses somewhat of a loyalty marker, reflecting the guests’ perception of the results of the 20th Congress of the CPSU and the state of Soviet-Chinese relations as sensitive topics important for the political self-determination of communist writers. The study of these new sources allows us to conclude that when choosing new foreign partners, the Foreign Commission often relied on the advice of its’ faithful friends, and the protégés of the latter did not always withstand the test of compatibility with the Soviet regime. At the same time, there was no specific criteria for the new friends’ selection. The translators, who were the first to report on the visit, were invited from outside, sometimes just for one particular job; they did not receive clear instructions from the Commission and were guided by their own ideas about the importance of the writer in their care and the expediency of cooperation with him. Later their opinion could not be taken into account; presumably, it was the journalistic and novelistic production of the invited writers published as a result of the visit to the USSR that was of greater importance to decide whether they were worth further attention. The study reviews Soviet Writers’ Union cooperation with P. Neruda, F. González-Urízar, N. Parra, V. Teitelboim, A. Cassigoli, F. Coloane (Chile), J. Amado, M. Rebelo, E. de Moraes, G. Figueiredo, H. Silveira (Brazil), I. Abirad, J.C. Pedemonte, M. Rosencof (Uruguay), N. Guillen, C. Leante, O. Hurtado, Samuel Feijoo (Cuba), E. Barrios Villa (Bolivia), C.A. Leon (Venezuela).

The article discusses the issues of preserving the genre of Russian folk oral musical creativity in the village of the Argun and the city of Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, located in the northern part of China. The issue is viewed in the context of intercultural communication between descendants of Russian immigrants and Chinese locals. The article considers the factors in the formation of the ethnic group of Chinese Russians in Hulunbuir, an area of Russian immigrants’ compact settlement, and the markers of their distinct ethnic identity. Chinese Russians are a specific ethnic group since over several generations they fused with the local ethnicities yet preserved their unique cultural background. One of the peculiar aspects of Russian culture observed within the community of Chinese Russians is chastushka, or ditty, a short witty song expressing an individual’s attitude to any happening. The authors give records of the texts of ditties on various subjects, such as love, daily life, politics, etc. The folk genre of chastushka indicates intercultural communication between China and Russia and the integration of ethnic Russians into Chinese society. The article reveals the problems of protection of the Russian chastushka in the region and possible measures of state provision of its protection as intangible cultural heritage. Both national and local authorities take steps to ensure the continuity of various identities within the national identity of China. Several proposals have been put forward for the protection of the local heritage of this genre of the city of Hulunbuir. Such measures may include further research of cultural materials, enhancing tourism in the region, and incorporating ditties into local festivities Based on the historical and cultural significance, the research points to the real impact of Russian folk oral musical creativity in the processes of Russian-Chinese intercultural communication. The authors underline the significance of the ditty as intangible cultural heritage and the need to include the ditty in the list of the cultural heritage of Chinese Russians. The need to create conditions and state-organizational support for various forms of popularization of this genre, especially for those studying the Russian language, to preserve the oral folk musical creativity of Chinese ethnic Russians is substantiated.

Looking into affective topics such as historical memories often starts with a very personal story. It was not the case with Santiago Morello, whose curiosity inspired him to research social history and historical memories of Cádiz. Thus he managed to remain objective when answering a simple WHY question. Moreno grew up in Spanish Andalusia and had a first-hand experience of what education is like when there is no consensus on local history — important topics tend to be avoided. As a researcher, Santiago Moreno took a special interest in the repressed participants of the carnival and the prohibition of the carnival in 1937: he defended a thesis, published a collection of carnival-related songs, and produced a documentary Murieron Cantado. The book under review is his latest work on the topic. Moreno posits that sensitive issues of local history should find a wider audience via diverse channels. For this purpose, he initiated thematic excursions, including Cádiz and the Banned Carnival. Today carnival in Cádiz is one of the biggest in Spain, and as of 2021 is being considered to be included in the UNESCO Convention on the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage. The reviewed book comes out as a separate volume in the series of historical records of the Province of Cádiz and presents a unique collection of carnival songs. The first part of the book gives an overview of the historical context, the social background and even managerial and financial aspects of holding a carnival. Lyrics are analyzed in terms of their reflection of the social agenda of the time taking into consideration the censorship. The texts presented in the second half of the book come from different origins since few of them were preserved in the official archives. The author believes is that carnival rests upon enthusiasts who take part in it for generations. During the Civil War, especially after Cádiz was taken over, many of them had to destroy their collections of songs for fear of oppression and a great number of valuable documents were lost. Moreno’s work is a precious yet not comprehensive source for culture studies: the collection includes songs of 94 out of 108 participants of the carnival in 1932–1936. Some of the songs were not submitted to censors, many others were never recorded. Nevertheless, the book will be of interest to specialists in cultural studies, history and folklore, and those fond of the carnival.

The article presents the problems of philosophical scientific and scientific-educational work in the border region of Russia, which is the greater Orenburg Region, which is adjacent to Kazakhstan in the south, and borders with Bashkiria in the north. Following the scientific and educational tasks that contribute to the strengthening of ideological attitudes in the region, the philosophical club Arete (Greek. virtue, dignity), based in the Orenburg library named after N. K. Krupskaya, attracts students, teachers, researchers and all those interested in science to participate in discussions on philosophy. In the midst of the pandemic, the library uploaded videos of Arete meetings to make them available to a wider audience. The discussions do reflect the club’s name — participants focus on virtue, perfection, problems of freedom and responsibility. The meetings have a therapeutic, pedagogical effect, they help refrain from passions and make a dignified and deserving member of society. This sociocultural project rekindles understanding philosophy as an art of living. Philosophy teaches to resort to reason in decision-making and leads to a true virtue, bridging the gap between everyday life and a higher plane of thought. The young when introduced to philosophy get an invaluable help in finding answers to the most profound questions of what it is to be a human and how to find where you belong. In this respect, the topics of the club’s meeting indicate the scope of problems that need consideration and discussion with a younger audience: core values of a civil society; philosophical basis of legal culture; the problem of individual’s self-determination; the phenomenon of fear in the philosophical discourse; the study of axiological problem of social memory; philosophy of family; abandonment and solitude at home; problems of modern aesthetics and environmental challenges etc. From our point of view, initiatives that raise the profile of Russian regions are in the best interest of cities and towns suffering depopulation. Such projects are vital since they give the sense of empowerment and belonging, let them feel involved in the real economy, politics and culture, and thus encourage the young generation to develop their home area. We hope that Arete will set a good example of a project that brings philosophy back to people.

On April 19–21th, 2021, Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (Saint-Petersburg) hosted the 43rd Annual Session of St Petersburg Arabists in tribute to professor O. G. Bolshakov (1929 – 2020). The conference was held for two days under the chairmanship of Associate Professor S. A. Frantsuzov and included morning and afternoon sessions, which covered interesting reports by Arab scholars from St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kazan in person and online. Arabic messages were accompanied by scholarly discussions on various topics on the history of the Middle East and cultural linguistics. More than 35 speakers from different countries including Canada and Switzerland took part in the conference and were able not only to meet their colleagues, but also to take advantage of a spare day between the sessions and to visit unique sights St. Petersburg has to offer. MGIMO University was represented at the scientific conference by N. G. Antonova, lecturer of the Department of Middle East Languages, with a report on the topic The History of Arabisms in the Spanish Language devoted to the analysis of words borrowings, their introduction into the Spanish language, main groups and levels at which the linguistic process took place. A. O. Bolshakov and F. A. Asadullin delivered their reports about a prominent historian and Arabist O. G. Bolshakov who dedicated his life to the study of the history of Caliphate and Islam. Researchers in the field of linguistic cultural studies spoke about Moscow Arabs, development of the theory of jihad, and various aspects of the Arabic language. A lot of speakers touched upon the topic of religion, including pre-islamic beliefs, and the Quran, its translations and editions kept in the museum collections. The representatives of Saint Petersburg State University gave reports on a wide range of linguistic, historic and ethnographic issues. A. A. Mokrushina made an interactive presentation on the special aspects of commercials in Arab countries. Participation in the session of St. Petersburg Arabists served as a valuable opportunity to make a presentation of one’s current research to colleagues-Arabists, to carry out professional and scientific communication, to hold scientific discussions and to gain a deeper understanding of the history and culture of the Arabic language.

On May 4, 2021, an international scientific and practical conference Preservation of the cultural heritage of Russia was held in Surgut. Masters and young scientists from Russia, the USA, Northern Ireland, Spain, Italy, Estonia and Moldova took part in the conference to gain new experience and share findings of their research on the topic. The main theme stated in the name of the conference determined its theoretical and practical focus. The conference comprised two major sections — Topical issues of preserving Russian culture and Implementation of projects for the preservation of Russian cultural heritage in Russia and abroad. N. K. Murnova opened the plenary meeting with a talk about Doctor of History Tatiana Vyacheslavovna Tobolina and her contribution to the study of Russian emigration of the 20th century. Orthodox Archpriest G. A. Zavershinskiy presented his books on history and religion. One of the key ideas of his report is that the common dichotomy of East and West is no longer viable and should be rejected in favor of antinomy and analogy of cognition. K. A. Frolova representing the Department of international relations of the Orthodox Church spoke about the problem of anti-Russia prejudice and integrity of Russian culture. Delegates representing MGIMO University (Moscow, Russia) presented their reports on periodicals published by Russian emigrants, identity as a general phenomenon, local museums preserving memories of unique events in regional history. Doctor of Philosophy V. S. Glagolev turned to the dimentiality of seeing beauty depending on historical and cultural peculiarities. N. L. Krylov from the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Science devoted his report to the role of women in the conservation of Russian language and traditions in Northern African countries: Russian-speaking women living in Africa manage to assimilate in their countries of residence and nevertheless preserve their Russian identity. Moreover, they take an active part in social and religious local organizations. The conference gave a platform for many other exciting reports on tourism, museology, religious art and education. It was a special joy to hear a talk by T. D. Dzenlyuk, a fourth-generation Russian emigrant, about the work of an Orthodox church in Miami, USA, and the lifestyle of Russian emigrants there. The conference was rich in fascinating reports on diverse topics and ended with a folk concert.

On April 16th and 17th, 2021, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education (MSUPE), Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education (RAE), the Philosophical Society Dialectic and Culture together with the ANO Institute of Problem Educational Policies Eureka and informational support of the journals Cultural-Historical Psychology and Voprosy Filosofii held an international scientific conference The Riddle of the Self. The scientific conference took place in MSUPE in connection with the 90th anniversary of Felix Trofimivich Mikhailov (1930-2006), Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Academician of the RAE and the author of the book under the same title. The Riddle of the Self was originally published in 1964 and advocated for a general study of human nature based on the study of cognition, consciousness, and language. This lapidary book was reprinted in 1976 and determined a whole new paradigm of multidisciplinary knowledge of person and personality across various research fields. The focus of the Self of F. T. Mikhailov came into being through his idea of appeal (obrashchenie). This concept is vivid in his works and multi-author books Public Consciousness and Individual Self-consciousness (1990), Self-Consciousness: Mine and Ours (1997), Human as Object and Subject of Medicine (1999), Selected Works (2001), Self-determination of Culture. Philosophical Search (2003), and in multiple scientific articles in the journals Voprosy Filosofii, Philosophical Sciences etc. F. T. Mikhailov viewed appeal as a mechanism of creation, development and transformation of culture, as well as the mechanism of its appropriation in ontogenesis and phylogenesis. According to F. T. Mikhailov, culture is nothing less than an antecedent, process and result of people’s creation of their appeals to each other and themselves, appeals that are essential to their very life. Culture as intersubjectivity of human collectivity is deeply rooted in the fabric of education and determines the appeals of the participants of the educational process. F. T. Mikhailov considered education a meeting point of generations, where different age groups face each other and appeal to each other in a way that generates, reconstitutes and conserves culture. The key to the above-mentioned riddle can be found in the domain of human freedom of thought, feeling and action. And every person can advance the emergence of a free and creative Self, both personal and universal. The conference comprised multiple lines of research into philosophy, culture, communication, psychology and education and made it clear that we are still students of F. T. Mikhailov.