THEORETICAL GROUNDS FOR CULTUROLOGICAL APPROACH TO PROBLEM STATEMENT

Abstract

The problem set in the article is of actual importance as culturology is a new constituent part in the structure of up-to-date humanitarian knowledge which requires constant research or development of its own theoretical opportunities as well as research potential justification and prospectives for further gaining new scientific knowledge within the process of culturological analysis. Culturology should clearly and consecutively develop notionally  categorical basis as up to now it has been formed by the way of borrowing from other spheres of humanities. It should be noted that the fundamentals of culturology are shaped by the history of culture, in the process of which such phenomena as ‘cognition’, ‘knowledge gaining’, ‘knowledge application’, ‘inventing’, ‘experience accumulation’, ‘transfer of skills’, ‘traditions attaching’ were aimed at the human and one’s shape and contents formation. In modern culturology ‘human –oriented’  history  of Ukrainian culturology is vividly reflected which basis was laid by Hrigoriy Skovoroda (1722–1794). As a realization of this tradition,  most  scholars  are close to personalization of the  material  highlighting  the  role  of  an  individual and his personal contribution to the process of culture formation. The principle of personalization expects that scientists should fulfill a detailed reconstruction of an  individual  as  an  analysis  object  as  well  as  factual historical period which come together  with  his  life  and  creative  work.  Due  to this the portraits of specific people, their fates, dreams, wishes, joys and sorrows, victories and failures are  gradually  blended  with  the  context  of  general historical and cultural frames. In fact, ‘cultural space’ gains personalized creation features. Thus, within culturology such capacious phenomenon as ‘cultural creative work’   is   shaped   whose   potential   for   modern   humanities   is   progressively realized by the scholars. The  author  thinks  that  the  significance  of  personalization  phenomenon  is confirmed by  the  fact  that  it  is  a  subject  of  serious  interest  by  those European  scientists  who  are  analyzing  the  epoch  of  postmodernism.   The article studies the views of a well-known French philosopher and sociologist Jil Lipovetskiy. His works represent an individual of postmodernism epoch as the one who needs to  live  through  strong  emotions.  But  “a  person’  obtains  content as the process of personalization is included in value environment of postindustrial society. J. Lipovetskiy makes rather specific use of French semantic field and shows that a term «personne» has in French-speaking world the meaning of ‘nobody’ and ‘nothing’. J. Lipovetsky concludes that a modern person is personalized not just because of one’s creative potential or vivid personal goal, and not because of experiencing ‘strong emotions’, but he/ she rather pays for it with ‘isolation neurosis’ or ‘automatic conformism’. In the author’s viewpoint, due to culturology at the end of the 21st  century biographical method returned into the theoretical use and was highly appreciated by Ukrainian humanitarians. It was grounded by the famous French writer and literary scholar Charles Augustin de Sainte-Beuve (1804–1869). Within theoretical context the emphasis on the culturological angle of biographical method has led to volume and fundamental interpretation of both biographical method and culturological approach potential. Charles Augustin de Sainte-Beuve paid significant attention to epistolary heritage of writers and creators. In the middle of the 19th century correspondence was an important part of people’s everyday lives and specific means of communication and information transfer. In such a way, correspondence is a powerful source which is able to personalize the history as well as  execute function of human creation. Outlining the theoretical grounds for culturological approach, the author draws attention to ‘inter-science’, as such humanities as aesthetics, art history, ethics provide culturology with its humanology, its ability to promote cultural formation. The author of the study also emphasizes that for concrete definition of this process it makes sense to employ such theoretical term  as  ‘problem  space’  in which the problem or a set of problems are concentrated. This problem should be analysed  with  the  use  of  different  sciences  potential,  in  its  way  providing  their organic as well as mechanic interaction within the logic of research process. ‘Problem space’ expresses the core and inter-science of both biographical method and personalization, as well as dynamics of new terms formation which are of necessary requirements of culturological analysis much more vividly. In the article the idea defined is confirmed by Ukrainian avant-garde movement, the peculiar episodes from its history are used as evidential material. Focused on Ukrainian avant- garde movement as ‘problem space’, the idea of new terms formation is highlighted, e.g. ‘cinema-origin imagery’. Ukrainian avant-garde movement is a powerful phenomenon of national cultural formation in the 1910-1930s which is actively investigated for the last decades. Starting from single literary and art  history  studies,  avant-garde movement is gradually becoming the phenomenon of ‘problem space’ whose reconstruction employs representatives of most humanities. As an important problematic feature of art in general and each creative work in particular transformation  of  a  term  ‘image’  into  term  ‘imagery’  is  considered.   This allows using widely other structural indications as contents, form, style, symbol and pictorialism. To sum up, the author concludes that grounding for culturological approach specific nature is still in the process of establishment though there is some progress. Such fundamentals as inter-science, biographical method, personalization, formation of a new notionally categorical basis and  transformation  of  existing terms  within  culturology  gradually  develop  research  potential  of  culturological analysis.