REASON AND CIVILIZATION

There are three types of inaccurate approach in civilization studies. Firstly, interpretation of civilization as an “imaginary community” resulting in denial of validity for “civilization” concept. Secondly, classifying civilizations on the basis of a peculiar randomly specified feature, most often religious (“civilizational approach” elaborated by historians and sociologists). Thirdly, explaining civilization as one and universal for humankind developing along a single line of progress. N. Ya. Danilevsky developed a theory of vsechelovecheskoye (embracing and gathering humanity but not “unifying” it by certain common criteria) way of civilizational progress for humanity, arguing that it cannot be explained as obshechelovecheskoye (universal in the sense of a single basic model for any “progressive” society). According to Danilevsky, the “basics” (nachala) for civilizational development are created by every cultural-historical type independently and cannot be imported from others, unlike specific civilizational achievements which mutually enrich all of them as they borrow them from one another. Since civilizational progress of any cultural-historical type is based on a specific type of sense-positing and specific type of reason, only vsechelovecheskoye, and not obshechelovecheskoye way of human civilizational progress is possible. To clarify the distinction between vsechelovecheskoye and obshechelovecheskoye, two other sets of notions are introduced: culture, big culture, civilization; consciousness, sense-positing, reason. Culture is always concrete and empirically experienced as a super-rich alloy of linguistic, ethnic, religious, socio-psychological, historical, geographical and other characteristics. Big culture is an abstract concept denoting a community of cultures sharing the same type of sense-positing. The cultures that the big culture embraces change over time, coming into existence and vanishing, though the big culture persists. Civilization is the institutional expression of the forms of socio-political and spiritual life developed by the big culture. Typology of sense-positing and reason is proposed as a set of lines along which human consciousness is capable of developing svyaznost’ (linkage, coherence, connectivity) as its basic specific ability. Russian civilization elaborates different aspects and forms of vsechelovecheskoye society and culture developed as a common deed. Vsechelovecheskoye type of civilization creatively heals the discord between different types of sense