Civilization code and mentality

The essence and content of the concepts «code», «cultural code» and «civilization code» are analyzed in prposed article and it forms the aim of the study. All cultural phenomena, including ethnic, national and religious cultures, civilizations, any pictures of the world created by the mental activity of culture have their own code. Any code is a system of signals that can be opened using a certain key. The code sends signals into the world, which are refl ected in such forms of culture as signs, symbols, artifacts, norms and regulations, stereotypes and standards of action. It is possible to understand the code only when contrasting one’s own and someone else’s, our own and others. This study uses such research methods as descriptive, historical and comparative. Cultural and civilizational codes are hidden in the structure of the human psyche, the essence of the common and ethnos at the level of «I», so they feel themselves as a whole entity, the subject of their individual and collective activity, become the subject of knowledge and transformation of culture and civilization. This thesis highlights the novelty of the given research. The process of birth and development of the mentality of each nation, including the Ukrainian one, having a long progressive and evolutionary character, acts as a priority sign of the establishment of the cultural- historical and genetic code of civilization as the personifi cation of the way of thinking and perception of the world, manifestations of national character, the core of social consciousness, a set of established traditions, social- psychological and behavioral norms and forms of communication of one or another community, which means mentality. Conclusions. It manifests itself at the individual, group, ethno- national and civilizational levels, it is actively infl uenced by geopolitical, natural, economic, social and other factors. Accordingly, the Ukrainian regional civilization embodies the distinctive cultural- historical code and the corresponding mentality developed by the Ukrainian ethnic group over the course of centuries of history