Antropological Concept in Mystical Poetry of Parvin Etesami

The essay reflects on the creativity of Parvin Etesami (1907 – 1941), a distinguished Persian poet, little known abroad. We highlight anthropological teaching based on the religious worldview as one of the aspects of her mystical poetry. Created in the era when Persian literature and its classical tradition were breaking, Parvin’s poems affirm loyalty to the mystical tradition and the ways of self-creation of an individual laid down in it. The article shows that the Muslim science of behavior guides a person striving for wisdom and determines their path. The preaching of morality in Parvin’s poems, coupled with her mystical enlightenment, attempts to return her contemporaries to the classical world of their tradition. This research investigates the concept of man and is based on the only collection of 60 poems published in Russian (Journey of Tears, 1984), as well as on the new poetic translations. Two of the poems translated by M. Yahyapour and M. L. Reysner are introduced to the readers for the first time. The paper describes different facets of personality and fate, found in poetic self-reflection, the most significant of which is Parvin’s Auto-Epitaph. The values corresponding to Parvin’s spiritual personality are revealed: purity of soul, strictness, restraint, intellectualism, moral seriousness. Following the Sufi teachings about men, Parvin criticizes deviations from the true path —such as susceptibility to passions and pride. The poet considers them the destroyers and believes that they occur because of the evil forces distorting the human soul. The poet proposes a way out for the soul captured by the world — the knowledge of the Truth and the appeal to the experience of the righteous. The essay demonstrates that in Parvin’s poetry, fidelity to a thousand-year-old spiritual tradition and individual creativity appear as an organic unity. In the era that leads a person of the West and the East away from the spiritual roots of culture, the poet becomes a gnostic and a mystic in his individual creative life and, abandoning modern trends, consciously takes the path of mystical enlightenment and brings to her readers the wisdom found on these paths.

Interview with Vladimir M. Alpatov

This paper is an interview with Vladimir M. Alpatov, Doctor of Philology, full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, distinguished linguist, and expert on Japanese studies. The focus of the interview is intercultural communication and the problems associated with translating languages and cultural realities. The difference between cultures makes it necessary to provide extensive commentaries to make the text comprehensive to foreign readers. Though, Vladimir M. Alpatov notes, the comments depend on the purposes and types of translation, such as academic or literary translation. Symbols are part of a greater symbolic and cultural system. Often it is not the symbol but one’s attitude towards the object that causes misunderstanding and requires clarification. Vladimir A. Alpatov gives many examples of how the Japanese view and treat life differently from Russian people. Many discrepancies come from domestic life and economic practices: the Japanese are less knowledgeable about cattle than many other nations. At the same time, insects that are found all around the world receive special treatment and admiration. Vladimir A. Alpatov makes a critical point on the absence of a proper method of studying cultural differences. We observe and list numerous cultural differences, but explanations and theories we come up with have no solid methodological basis. Another topic discussed is machine translation and AI Linguistics used to be considered exact science that implied the possibility of machine translation not assisted by humans. However, it did not happen yet, and the need for human-to-human translation or post-editing is obvious. With literary translation and translation from unrelated languages, the case against AI is stronger — human intuition in translating cultural specifics is indispensable, and various translations rather than a single canonic one should be welcome. Differentiation of sciences brought about cultural studies and linguistic-cultural studies that finally embraced the study of language as one of the vital elements of culture. Today many students study foreign languages and are interested in intercultural communication. They need to learn that we can overcome bias and prejudices through personal contact. One more way to promote a different vision of one’s culture and country — is to speak about it in an understandable language, for example, on the Internet.

Review of Apophatic Literary Criticism. Notes of a Non-philologist

Apophatic Literary Criticism. Notes of a Non-philologist’ by Marianna Dudareva demonstrates Russian spirit and reflects the immense variety of characters and plots that influence people and manifest the creative power of literature. The author introduces a number of writers, from Sergei Yesenin to Vladimir Korolenko, with unique literary styles and a common apophatic approach to reality. The term apophatic comes from the Greek word to deny and initially referred to religious studies where it served both as a concept and a method. Apophatic theology attempted to approach God by negations rather than affirmations of what God is. M. Dudareva’s work showcases how literature studies instrumentalize the apophatic method of philosophy. This review complements the study with a reflection on the topic of death and its inextricable connection with life. Literature speaks of life and dwells on the struggle for life, that is also key to philosophical thinking. Enough to mention Arthur Schopenhauer and his idea of the will to live. In contrast to philosophy, literature uses a vivid, colorful, and copious language, while philosophy is concerned with universal principles. Some distinguished authors managed to bridge this gap. For instance, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, and Sartre created works of both literary and philosophical nature. The same can be traced in the short stories by B. Zaytsev and A. Grin, analyzed in the book. B. Zaytsev writes about death approaching us first through others, this idea is also found in V. Jankélévitch’s work Death. Death is never ours for it is always we or our death, but when we see it around it causes anxiety and fear. In Avdot’ya-smert’ (Avdot’ya-Death) the main character says a prayer to be relieved of her mother and son, whom she considers a burden. Once death enters their home it never stops, it gets closer, and at the end of the story it takes Avdot’ya too. In Grin’s Fighting Death, death struck Lorkh falls asleep and herein dreaming is not a harbinger of the darkness of eternal sleep. On the contrary, Lorkh wakes up willful and hopeful, he fights for his life and succeeds. These stories vibrantly illustrate the victory of life over death and death over life as the result of exercising one’s free will. Color in literature is another topic touched upon by the author. M. Dudareva refers to Goethe’s Zur Farbenlehre to speak about contrasts, and R. Steiner to underline the importance of black in creating an image where color range matches the emotional range.

Intercultural Communication in Confessional Legal Relations (Common and Particular in Russia and Japan)

The study of particularities of regional cross-country images of confession and intercultural communication as well as the semantic image surrounding these concepts is vital in today’s social life. The article analyzes denotations and connotations of the terms confession and intercultural communication in the Russian and Japanese sociocultural contexts from the point of view of a new research discourse — glocal religious studies with the focus on vernacular specifics of religiosity in Russia and Japan. The case study methodology includes description and analysis of how various views on certain aspects of religiosity correlate. It makes possible to adjust the theoretical understanding of the problem and weigh it against the variety of real-life communicational practices. The article investigates the complexity and dramatism of communication between members of the ingroup and others. The study bases on the materials from the history, media and academic discourses where in the internal and external of particular communities in the given historic circumstances may not only vary significantly, but also be intentionally marked to divide one from the other. Sometimes this demarcation takes a form of stigmatization that label one’s perspective as not-true or lawless. The paper describes two major types of culture: the first one (ethnocentrism in terms suggested by M. Bennet) derives from the idea that other’s statements are sealed and cannot be translated thus must be destroyed. The second type — ethnorelativism — comes from the idea of affinity and openness. It is presumed that taking one a different perspective and accepting diversity is empowering and gives start to an intercultural dialogue. Common and particular are the two basic viewpoints on any identity, when both positive and negative promotes understanding. The phenomenon of unity as similarity of indistinguishable (like grains of sand) on the one hand, and systemic unity of the different (like people) on the other hand, are considered within the framework of distancing extralinguistic social facts from the term that stand for them. The latter shown as special imaginary unities and descriptions of autopoietic systems.

State Image of Mongolia: Between National Identity and Globalization

The article studies the construction of the state image of Mongolia and its peculiarities. Mongolia is a country undergoing social and cultural transformation that includes reevaluation of image strategies. State image is an international statement based on highlighting one’s original characteristics that make a country attractive to investors and international partners. At the same time, it should reflect real cultural practices and allow for advancing national interests. The present study deploys the methodology of case study, SWOT analysis, thematic analysis of connotations that form the external and internal image of Mongolia. The purpose of this article is to investigate the strategies of image construction in today’s Mongolia. The article is aimed to give a semantic vision of the external image of Mongolia by identifying the most common words and expressions that are used in media to describe modern Mongolia. The second objective was to lay out the problematic aspects of creating an image of Mongolia as a promising and growing country despite the fact that now it goes through a challenging period of its history. The third objective is to investigate the ways Mongolia attempts to address these problems. For this purpose, the authors analyze government programs set to form and establish a modern image of Mongolia. These programs include a variety of documents, such as the National Program for the Promotion of Mongolia Abroad and others. Another line of research included the analysis of the work on the inclusion of Mongolian natural and cultural heritage on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The novelty of the research comes from a unique perspective on the construction of state image of Mongolia as an ethnic and cultural brand from the point of view of marketing strategies. The authors conclude that building brand and image of Mongolia is based on the civilizational approach. This approach to re-evaluating and re-creating Mongolia’s image leads to combining opposite characteristics. The country is presented as both ancient and modern, traditional and responsive to change. Such combination of controversial aspects makes allows for implementing archaic elements into the discourse of the catch-up modernization resulting in a positive state image. Mongolia’s experience in making a new image shows the potential of equating national and ethnocultural identity.

XIII RISA Convention: Intercultural Communication Section

On October 15–16 the 13th Russian International Studies Association Convention took place in MGIMO, Moscow. The Department of Philosophy named after A. F. Shishkin and the editorial board of the journal Concept: Philosophy, Religion, Culture hosted the Intercultural Communication section with the great support of the organizers of the Convention. Researchers that took part in the Section represented many countries such as Abkhazia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Spain, Iran, Moldova, Serbia and the USA, and many Russian cities — Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Chita, Rostov-on-Don, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, and Irkutsk. Online streaming gathered a wide audience from all over the world from Russia to Uruguay and Japan. Specialists from various academic backgrounds in social and cultural studies discussed intercultural communication in several sessions. Philosophers, linguists, political and cultural reseactors, specialists in arts, media, and regional studies were engaged in active debates on the presented reports and talks. The exchange of viewpoints and perspectives is beneficial for both experts in their field and interdisciplinary research: it introduces inspiring ideas, impressive results, and new visions. Moreover, the dialogue itself was an example of intercultural communication with the academic community involved in a fruitful and engaging conversation on the most exciting topics in the field.

Structures and Meanings in the Agenda of The Scientific Community: an Overview of the International Conference

On October 22, 2021, MGIMO University hosted the international scientific conference Risks to the Human Capital of the Scientific Community in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic, organized by the Department of Sociology. The agenda of the conference included a wide variety of topics and issues related to self-identification of the scientific community in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its relevance and importance of the topic attracted participants from Russia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Belarus, Vietnam, Lebanon, Armenia, Brazil, Austria, China, Finland and Israel making it diverse and international. During the plenary session possibilities and boundaries of the use of the terms capital and risks in the sociological discourse were considered. The participants discussed global dilemmas of the civilization of the future, philosophical education in conditions of social turbulence, psychological factors in inflating risks and social instability as well as the demand for longterm humanistic trends to minimize risks for human academic capital in times of the pandemic. There were three sessions. The first one concentrated on the issue of human academic capital transformation in times of the pandemic. Its focus was on the effects of COVID on the sociological research agenda, new risks for social sciences (such as pseudoscientific arguments) and many others. The second session as devoted to digitalization with its influence, paradoxes, challenges, and risks. The speakers made it clear that digitalization today is not only a new research area, but a factor of producing social knowledge. This idea was illustrated by the analyses of advantages and disadvantages of scientometrics. The third session discussed the risks associated with digitalization of education and overall implications of the pandemic for the learning process. Both explicit and implicit, these implications of distant learning need to be considered. The participants spoke about digital competences and digital capital of university lecturers and professors, students’ academic mobility, etc. The sociological academic community welcome new perspectives and ideas, thus graduate students and masters were invited to participate in the conference together with experts. The conference bridged two main sociological trends: structural knowledge and comprehension. The former studies social institutions and structures and their functioning, while the latter investigates social actions and interactions, coupled with the meanings and intentions behind them. The current situation made it necessary to combine both approaches so that qualitative and quantitative methods would help study social structures, nuanced contexts, and values alike.

Mori Arimasa’s Concept of Experience

The article introduces and reconstructs the main ideas of the book Experience and Thought by Mori Arimasa. Released in the form of journal publications in 1970–1972, it has never been translated into European languages. The Japanese philosopher who spent a large part of his life in France undertakes a comparative analysis of the socio-cultural and linguistic foundations of the experience of the Japanese and Europeans. The article examines the main aspects of Mori’s concept of experience: understanding experience as a reality and as a subject, separation of two forms of experience — universal and personal, the relationship between experience and language and between experience and thought, the theory of binary connections and second person world, designed to identify and explain the underlying prerequisites that determine the specific character of the experience of the Japanese. The author of the article shows that Mori confirms his own thesis that the primary experience of a person is conditioned by original cultural deep predisposition and linguistic affiliation. Notwithstanding his life abroad and passion for Western philosophy, Mori thinks in about the same way as his fellow philosophers who lived in Japan, sharing their empiricism, understanding the subject as a relatum, perceiving an individual subjective experience as a segment of the universal experience, interpreting a subject as a sum total of relations. In conclusion, Mori’s ideas are assessed in terms of ethno-epistemological approaches. Undoubtedly, Mori’s analysis of the experience provides arguments for epistemological pluralism. It allows us to talk about the variability of the perception of reality in different cultural and historical contexts and about the possibility of different ways and perspectives of its comprehension, the spatial and temporal dynamics of epistemological terminology, despite the apparent commonality. Mori Arimasa taking experience as the starting point and the main task of his analysis, by his own example, demonstrated the importance of the empirical form of acquiring knowledge for Japanese epistemic culture, along with its inherent specificity of understanding experience. His linguistic studies of the structures of the native language resulted in the creation of a memorable image of the second person world and outlined the field of joint collective experience without a clearly expressed single autonomous subject of cognitive activity. Mori demonstrated an approach to cognition, in which the knower feels oneself a part of the cognized reality, and is not alienated from it, as a result the cognition turns into self-cognition of reality.

Spain as a Reference in Wine Culture

The culture of wine as a traditional drink in the countries of Southern Europe is determined by the geographical, ethnographic, and historical context, at the same time it is associated with national identification. In the case of Spain, wine plays the role of a friendly union, an element of active communication, is a sociocultural behavioral norm. Through the history of wine-making, the key stages of the country’s development can be traced: from ancient settlements to the European Union, variety of backgrounds, traditions and religions, etc. adding to the long history of wine on the territory of today’s Spain. The theme of wine is reflected in the works of famous Spanish philosophers, writers and artists as a stable tradition, a symbol of community, celebration, creativity, at the same time melancholy and sadness, as a typical Spanish dualism of attitude to life. It is noted that wine was not only viewed as a means of recreation, but also a powerful double-edged social factor, both pacifying and disorganizing. Taverns became people’s universities, and cafes with their tertulias became the center of intellectual life. Wine is an important economic component, the vineyard zones cover the whole country, with its main wine-making regions — from Rioja to Jerez — renowned around the world. Hundreds of varieties of wines are produced, which differ in denomination, aging, reputation, and popularity on the world market and with tourists. Spain has a leading position in this area. At present, bars, restaurants, and taverns, as public spaces suitable for big parties and family gatherings alike, have become not only a place of spending one’s pastime, but also a platform for political discussions, a place where certain political forces manipulate their influence, where polar views on the current and future agenda are in confrontation: the globalization of the society and cultural unification, or the preservation of unique customs and traditions. Wine culture is dynamic, it manifests itself in a new form in the younger generation, the latest gender and progressive norms appear, the simple, down-to-earth consumption characteristic of the bar culture displaces the spiritual component. The loss of traditions, including the wine culture, is dangerous for the society. It will have negative consequences for the country, will cause damage to its attractiveness for investors and tourists, and hurt the very image of their motherland the Spanish hold dear. Wine remains an important part of the national heritage, material, and spiritual culture of Spain.

EUROPE IN OUR BLOOD... About the Nadezhda Venediktova`s book Caesar and Venediktova. Cultural excavations

Cultural Excavations by Nadezhda Venediktova were published in late autumn 2021, at the time most suitable for philosophical speculations. This way of thinking brings us close to a collapse that might equally turn out productive or catastrophic. Its anaemic academic manner stands out among full-blooded well-crafted literature of saturated and inspiring reality. Pandemic or not, we seek to know whether there is a need to distinguish between various cultures if at the end of the day people are still people. The author does not provide the answer but rather invites us to join a sophisticated mental game in fine textual decorations. And readers will walk away a little confused about simplicity of binary oppositions, and straightforwardness of the logic that a bored visitor so happily lays their hands on, eager and happy to get down to work. The book evolves around the topic of meeting thyself in different cultural surroundings. Sunlit essays bear the imprint of the bitter rationalism of the French enlightenment coupled with a weathered love of personal presence in the world. In her latest work, Nadezhda Venediktova ‘ambitiously comments on life’s creative abilities’. Vivid sketches entitled Passions for Europe may take place by a nameless lake in Zurich but remind readers of Michel Houellebecq’s concrete jungle, of Spengler’s mathematics. But nothing here speaks of The Decline of the West, under the author’s thoughtful gaze Europe comes to life fresh and real — a proverbial sphynx with its intriguing riddles. The author’s underworld meetings with the world literature alternate with colorful Italian landscapes. Vibrant images of friends are so true to life that remind of the immortality of soul. The soul of Europe is truly immortal and found across the continent — Italy, Britain, Austria, Germany, France, Greece, Switzerland, Spain — gave their name to the chapters but cannot be reduced to a dusty catalogue. Nadezhda Venediktova presents European countries through effortless florid metaphors. This what happens when Europe looks into the author’s soul, though it might look otherwise from an outside perspective.