18.01.2021, 12:30 - Baxış sayı: 798

PHILOSOPHY OF THE APPROACH TO THE INTERACTION OF CULTURES


I. R. Mammedzadeh,
National Academy of Science, Azerbaijan

Introduction

In the context of globalization, everything related to the interaction of cultures, in our opinion, has become one of the most pressing problems. Its relevance does not negate the fact that after the famous work of S. Huntington, the problem of the clash of cultures and civilizations has also become the focus of controversy and discussion of scientists. There are many clashes and wars in the world, the end and edge of which are not visible. However, there is a desire to cooperate, develop interaction, and strive for integration. One such project is the New Silk Road. But much in its implementation, in our opinion, depends on how culture will be understood. If previously believed that interests lead to wars, now everything is not unambiguous with a culture that, as a soft or even "sharp" force, also leads to misunderstanding, exacerbating conflicts. In our opinion, the point is not in culture, but in its interpretation and peculiar use in cultural practice, education, and upbringing.
Much today in the world depends on the international order, which is based on dominance. Moreover, authority includes culture. It has become clear to many that such an order is exhausting itself. In essence, the Soviet order was built on the same principles. The project "One belt, one way" is an alternative or may become an alternative to it. But it must be an effective and, at the same time, open and inclusive project. Of course, much depends on China in implementing this project, but its implementation will depend on the countries involved in it. Openness and dialogue depend on many factors. This project should not end with an empire such as the USA or the USSR; it should be capable of reform, etc. But for it to become like a new concept of the interaction of cultures must be proposed, if you want, then the philosophy of the cultural interaction of the countries of "One Belt, One Way". It is based on the fact that cultural foundations along this path are not offered by one country; it is created based on interaction principles (philosophy). First, historical and cultural epistemology cannot be limited to recognizing the dignity of the history of culture, and only one state's history. Secondly, history and culture are archives and the past and modern communication and even a shared future. Third, an understanding of history and culture recreates a sense of actual reality. Fourth, cultural studies' object and subject as an unfinished past involve the addition of documents and have the potential for a new understanding. Fifth, a constant reconstruction of the philosophy of interaction between different cultures on the Silk Road is needed. Sixth, the documents of the New Silk Road should be jointly analyzed. Seventh, we must proceed from the fact that the development and understanding of cultures are associated with their dialogue and interaction.

On the relevance of philosophy

Of course, any national culture, with all its uniqueness and originality, results from a long development. And only at some stage begins to be perceived as a process of contradiction, but interaction and intersection of different cultures, religions, and ethnic groups. Naturally, this attitude should become research one, conceptual and theoretical, evidence-based, and substantiated. In Azerbaijan, this attitude is recorded in the works of academician Ramiz Mehdiyev. It proceeds from the fact that our country's culture and the people are multifaceted, representing the interconnection of cultural traditions of the past and the present and considering that it is necessary to write about these problems using materials from the archives of different countries, involving the works of scientists from various countries, etc. In our opinion, a philosophy of the interaction of cultures is given here that is relevant not only for understanding the cultural development of our country but also for the interaction of cultures of many peoples.
We agree that to know the culture, we need to study history, but philosophy cannot be done in this matter. Of course, philosophers will not be able to do anything because culture will be used as soft or sharp power (J. Nye). Still, they can help with the transition from an emotional and evaluative attitude to a scientific view. Of course, a dynamic attitude can be positive. So we recognize that in our traditions, lifestyle, and beliefs, a dialogue of cultures and traditions from various religions that have spread in the country in the distant past - fire-worship, Christianity, Islam, has historically dominated. Turning to the sources of such an understanding allows us to see the specifics of the Azerbaijani model of tolerance and recognition of the significance of the interaction of cultures and, at the same time, the general view that is in the cultural diversity of a country and culture. In the history of the development of any culture, there is excellent influence. Even repetition, and the intersection of various traditions, religions, myths, tales, and at the same time, there is rarely recognition of these influences, a study of the relationship between knowledge, a rational attitude to culture and emotional, understanding the significance of their differences for the development community. Therefore, it is necessary to go over from emotionality or supplement it with scientificness and objectivity, which allows you to influence the community's cultural development.
The past in culture, as a rule, is emotional, and scientificness and objectivity are primarily related to the modern attitude to the past. This approach is not particularly meaningful in philosophy. We are discussing cultural-historical epistemology in philosophy, methods of reverse proof or conclusion, introducing modern research into the past to obtain new information and knowledge. The concept of "cultural-historical epistemology was used by the famous Russian philosopher B. Pruzhinin in the book "Ratio serviens? The Contours of the Cultural-Historical Epistemology (M. "ROSSPEN," 2009), but it did not define what the qualitative novelty of the cultural-historical epistemology of the present was, there was also no way beyond the European philosophy of the mind, a breakthrough to the philosophy of the interaction of cultures as a new approach. Such a philosophy helps or even paves the way for the inclusion of foreign culture for its development. Of course, philosophy is inextricably linked with the nation's identity, national identity, preservation of historical and cultural continuity. However, it is still able to bring the experience of different philosophies and culture into the national culture for its development and spiritual enrichment.
Cultural-historical epistemology (philosophy) also allows us to identify the causes of variability, dynamics in what is now perceived as an integral culture. As part of this methodology, the inverse method assumes that we are moving from the known to the unknown, and this is our recognition of the importance of the idea of ​​"interaction" of cultures for the development of cultures. It is productive, as it turns out to be the key to understanding the processes of the gradual development of cultures, education in culture, libraries, knowledge, and information about others, Enlightenment, and personal participation. The use of evidence from various scientific fields, for example, topographic, material data, linguistic and historical research, etc. The cultural practice itself, where there was development, undoubtedly changed with understanding and assimilation of new ideas, often coming from abroad. But until now, this recognition in the public mind and philosophy did not become an occasion to rethink the role of cultural interaction in the development of national cultures.
Based on the fact that there are many definitions of culture, we will focus on the fact that "culture" is values, activities, and knowledge, to one degree or another, including in people's lifestyles. With its help, it becomes clear that the multiple foundations of any culture lie in the variability of a person's choice of basic values, knowledge, lifestyle. The individual is not integral, but in the conditions of the dominance of the legal culture and the state, which many modern national cultures are guided by, he will be. Culture is always a clash of people of different values, lifestyles, and choices between their individual, local, and external worlds. Therefore, cultures develop, change; in a word, they are not static, and consequently, the channels of transmission of (cultural) information are so important.
Speaking about information transmission channels, let us recall the language (state, native, universal languages). Still, not only since the worldwide network and the Internet will increasingly orient the individual towards multiplicity. However, one should not ignore the variability of identity in the past. Moreover, it is clear that migrations of peoples migrations, as a rule, took place in conditions of wars, and therefore this issue as a whole was inextricably linked to violence. Consequently, the interaction and everything connected with it was interpreted negatively and more often was not noticed, being latent, unnoticed. Naturally, today there are enough wars, attacks on sovereignty, and therefore, as before, the whole complex of problems related to control and security risks is relevant. But our article is devoted to another aspect of the problem.
The recognition of any culture's cultural diversity is that part of it that is dynamic, connected with the exchange, and with information transfer channels. And if these concepts themselves are more often used in modern times, this does not mean that they were not in the past. Is there any need to recall books and libraries, papyrus and ancient Greek or ancient Chinese philosophy, logic, and ethics, not to mention the universal potentials of any religions that do not cancel and are often intolerant to the bearers of these religions? So, S. Gordon, in his book, among other things, specifically notes, for example, the role of the Hittites, Egyptians, Babylonians, and many other peoples in the cultural interaction of ancient Jews and Greeks. Reflecting on this, we need to recall the work of Z. Freud, "Moses and Monotheism", in which he deeply touches on the connection between the beliefs of ancient Egypt and the formation of Jewish monotheism. At the same time, as a result of such interaction, some peoples and their cultures (religions) dissolved or left the arena of history.
There is a problem in how we see the interaction of cultures. It (the problem) is related to security and control over these processes, preservation of the kernel, or culture code. The interaction of cultures can be dangerous since it does not cancel the use of culture for political, military, economic, and even cultural (cultural imperialism) purposes. However, without it, there is no development of culture. Still, it can be proved only with the help of philosophy and analysis of how a particular culture interacted and developed in the past and how this process occurs in the present. This is not about disparate facts of interaction, which are many in the history of any culture. For example, about the interaction between the ancient Chinese and Turkic ethnic groups, or the fact that the ancient Germanic and Latin languages ​​formed the French language. Gallic (Celtic) culture influenced the French, Spanish, English cultures. Many facts can be found about the influence and interaction of Chinese, Slavic, and Turkic cultures. However, one should not underestimate the fact that some groups of Turks were then influenced to a greater extent by Greeks and Romans and by other Orthodox Russians. It is clear that interaction, on the one hand, divided ethnic groups, but, on the other hand, formed, contributed to the development of current cultures.
Therefore, our approach offers the identification of a way to unify the facts of different eras and comprehend and explain these facts' contradictions. But most importantly, it recreates the entire chain of changes in culture from era to era, restoring not just how history is written, how it remained in memory, but how the development process went, naturally, checking and double-checking it. For example, it is interesting why the Celtic language's influence is almost not felt in English, but there are many Scandinavian (Danish) ones. For example, for all the similar moments among the Turks, their religions, languages, and races are different. The same can be seen among the Slavs, Germanic tribes. Our analysis should be supplemented by customs, names, place names, etc. The answers to these questions translate emotionality or complement our emotional component about our origin into the category of evidence-based knowledge about how cultures develop.
There are many philosophical concepts about culture, but it explores culture as an object and a part of the culture. It is also a set of some attitudes, programs, rules of instruction,, and upbringing. They allow the community to solve self-preservation problems that confront it so that it does not get upset. The connection of times, consciousnesses, and circumstances disintegrate, but the development process does not stop. The question of these differences in the functions of philosophy in culture is as relevant as ever. Therefore, we focus on the relevance of the following idea that knowledge about the past, while promoting knowledge, should not violate dialogue, cooperation, solidarity, violation of international treaties, etc.
The interaction of cultures was both spontaneous and controlled, conscious, and even ideologically supported. Its spontaneity is historical, so it went in history along with religious wars, the persecution of dissidents, the construction of the ghetto, etc. Enough to pay attention to the interaction of Germans with Jews in the history of Germany. Manageability of these processes and the choice of a particular policy, economy, and cultural course necessarily require an understanding of the significance of its cultural and moral component. The culture of (revealed) diversity today helps to comprehend all that is called communication, ontology, and metaphysics, the history and ethics of the development of various cultures.
In principle, it is clear that culture is inextricably linked with how a person becomes a person, how he learns to understand others, how his attitude towards others changes, and the culture of community changes. Power, interests, politics, economics, and culture become only a manifestation of this essence; at the same time, of course, at different times and with varying degrees of success, they obscure the understanding of man's essence. The crises and confrontations, of which there are so many today, only emphasize the need to return to these issues.
The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, believes that Azerbaijan's policy aims to a dialogue of cultures, religions, and multiculturalism. So, at the opening of the Baku International Humanitarian Forum in October 2013, he said that if we want to strengthen cooperation in the world, the dialogue of civilizations, we should use all the opportunities. These opportunities can be understood as the "soft power" of the state. Still, they also include humanity, morality, tolerance of people about people of other cultures, and the search for ways to expand cooperation. It is also important to emphasize that for the Baku International Humanitarian Forum (2011-2018), attention to these issues has become traditional, as evidenced by the issues submitted for discussion of each of the previous forums, texts and participation of famous philosophers, religious and political figures and attempts arrange their constructive discussion. For example, a round-table discussion "Philosopher in Culture" was held with the editor-in-chief of the journal "Questions of Philosophy" B. I. Pruzhinin in October 2012 Institute of Philosophy Law of ANAS. These issues were also reflected in books under the auspices of "The Aliyev Readings", conducted with Azerbaijani and Russian philosophers' participation.
In our opinion, the following points are philosophically and theoretically productive for us in pursuing our approach: first, how to study the past of imperial peoples, whose fate has now diverged to individual states, or even when they are at war, or even at war. You can learn many interesting things by reflecting on facts and materials on the differences and similarities of Slavic, Iranian, and Turkic cultures, on their cooperation in the present, on how to avoid negative past experiences in it. This is a very big topic, which should be given worthy of attention. This is a rhetorical question, as the answer is clear. Joint scientific groups should be created with the inclusion of representatives of various countries and various disciplines.
It is possible to erect because of hostility, injustice in the past, the so-called "Iron Curtain", "Berlin, or the Chinese Wall." There are also attempts to shield the wall from migrants and refugees under the idea that they represent foreign cultures. But it is hardly possible to stop the interaction process. We must also think about the reasons for the prevalence of such errors in the public mind and try to "explain, supplant, remove" them.
Secondly, the interaction of cultures is not only the interaction of ethnic groups, people; it is also the ability to absorb knowledge from other cultures. Studying Chinese or Greek philosophy, we become somewhat different from what we were before. If it occupies a definite and large place in the educational system, then the results may be more noticeable. Information about the processes and variability of cultural diversity in different countries is collected in politics, economics, morality, law, history, etc. But they should also be comprehensively comprehended. A nation's culture is its constituent parts and a common understanding of what makes it a part of a single world.
Thirdly, philosophy is closely related to its transformative moral function. For the humanity of cultural practices, this is its main function; without it, culture is dehumanized. In the end, culture is explored to make the world a better, more humane world. It makes sense to think about updating all that is related to Enlightenment, philosophy, and Enlightenment ideology. Recall that Voltaire introduced the phenomenon of respect for Chinese culture into European culture. Many of our enlighteners at the end of the ХIХ and the beginning of the ХХ century considered mutual cultural influence for the development of Azerbaijan to be positive and considered it necessary to use the experience of others.
Fourth, time and space are among the main categories in understanding each culture's cultural diversity. We need to reflect on the universal metaphysical foundations of any culture to understand how individuals' activities become diverse while striving to be holistic in different countries and societies. World religions are universal, not because their current adherents are stubborn, but because they formed as different reactions to the mixture of cultures and peoples. Here the correctness, correctness, logical interpretation of philosophers and scientists' ideas of past eras is important. When we turn to the ideas of Azerbaijani philosophers of the Middle Ages - Bahmanyar, Nizami, Fizuli, M. Shabustari, Nasimi, and many others, we will see that, as a rule, they affirm the ideas of love between people of different origins, about the greatness of the prophets Musa, Isa, Muhammad, that knowledge, fa, and reason should lead to good. We may recall that N. Tusi talked about ways to establish harmony between people. No less distinctly, these ideas are presented in the views of Azerbaijani philosophers, historians, scientists, and enlighteners of the ХVIII, ХIХ, and XX centuries. For example, M. Kazembek wrote about the unity of the foundations of cultures of different peoples, the need for comparative studies of cultures, and Seyyid Azim Shirvani argued about the need for harmony different cultures. It should also be noted that scientists and philosophers and travelers, publicists, who are somehow interested in moral and social issues, played their role in disseminating these ideas. Hence, fifthly, the interaction of cultures has a clearly expressed personal, personal context. And the matter is not only that the dialogue is conducted by people with a personal position, upbringing, knowledge, but also that often in the past and now, strong leaders, politicians, prophets, scientists made a special contribution to the development of a particular culture, making her "borrowed" ideas.

About national identity and culture

The philosophy of the interaction of cultures also presupposes the recognition that there are a national philosophy and identity. That there are many factors, trends in the world that contribute to the separation of people. Globalization has revealed that the world consists of culturally diverse communities, calling this phenomenon globalization; each of these communities and its constituent groups is diverse. History, language, culture, and national identity can create conflicts, share a community, and contribute to its development and enrichment. A lot of nations in the current conditions are fragmented; they cannot maintain their unity. We recognize that often culture, history, and ideology seem to serve these processes. Of course, the point is not in history, culture, but in how we interpret it, how we relate to our past.
Each national culture is multicultural. This is evidenced in particular by DNA analyzes, the biological history of each ethnic group. And such studies become habitual, which means that we must think about how to avoid a split. It would seem that legal concepts should become priorities for nations: political citizenship, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. In this way, all citizens become part of a single culture, regardless of their ethnic origin in a specific area. These standards were formed in the legal field of European culture of the twentieth century. The history of individual ethnic groups in Europe and modern non-West did not prevent establishing the priority of legal culture. They were once escaped in the past empire, but they fell apart. The current integration associations are oriented towards combining the local, national, and civilizational components of identity. However, empires fell apart, but the consciousness remains, and it cannot be ignored.
On the one hand, globalization contributes to the appearance of common features in each of the cultures. On the other hand, variability and differences remain, but many may assume that their role is increasing. Moreover, to such an extent that, without taking this factor into account on politicians and economists, the road opens to interethnic conflicts within single, as it seemed before, nations. These facts were earlier, but they became significantly more. They are recorded not only in Europe (for example, Spain and Catalonia). In Eastern Europe, there are much more of them. There are a lot of them in Muslim and Eastern ecumenical societies. Therefore, it is theoretically important to understand how to explore and use local, regional, and local specifics globally. We know that with the help of education and knowledge, it is possible to change ideas about ourselves and others. As a rule, for various reasons, information, and scientific texts about these issues are still not enough.
In our opinion, in the current conditions, to understand these trends, it will be productive to formulate a new vision of modern national culture and the identity of globalization. Of course, a nation is a product of certain conditions, but it is peculiar, let us say so, to unite its past and future. The way the past is interpreted by scientists changes its present and future. It is also clear that she "sees and reads" it in different ways. In this regard, much depends on the social sciences, national ideology. They are effective in explaining reality and thereby contribute to the development of the community. In this case, they form a dominant view of culture in the collective national consciousness. We have repeatedly touched on this issue in our works.
Therefore, the state maintains uniform standards of education, culture, attitude to languages, upbringing, science, history, and ideology, thus determining the community's common destiny. Only the state legitimizes the community, the nation, and all its basic institutions, considering them as national - language, history, kinship, territory, course, and attitude. But the way philosophy (and ideology) defines culture turns out to be a force (soft or sharp, aimed at development, or against it). However, not everyone accepts the state's priority, and not every state chooses the right path in the implementation, approval, and implementation of these principles, and it is clear that often neighboring and non-neighboring states use these technologies to influence these processes. This issue is addressed, for example, in an article by R.E. Barash, who notes that "The worldwide trend today is the rapid complication of both individual identity and intercultural communication of communities. In turn, the tendencies of the ethnocultural "renaissance" are manifested in the spread of unique national mythology (Antonovsky, Barash 2017), which often leads not only to the growth of ideas of cultural exclusivity and autonomy but also to a kind of avalanche of centrifugal moods."
In one of our articles, we wrote that "... more often there were works that analyze the impact of politics, law, economics on culture, and not the impact of specific forms of multiculturalism that existed in a particular region, on politics, law, and ideas about justice, etc." Such a statement of the problem requires us, as was noted above, a new understanding of how the analysis of a culture in all its multifaceted nature and scientific nature should be carried out. Knowledge of culture must be verifiable, evidence-based, and therefore influential. Of course, the evidence here is of a different kind. It is achieved by choosing a specific philosophical approach to culture, clarifying, and explaining how they interact with each other. So knowledge passes into practical experience, specific recommendations for politics, economics, etc. If earlier in science, multi and interdisciplinarity were more associated with fundamental sciences, they are now needed to analyze the culture and use it in other areas. Naturally, we are talking about the internal areas of politics, economics, and external relations.
To understand what is happening in the world, it is necessary to apply these approaches in the social sciences to study culture as a significant phenomenon in the life of any modern society. Above all, to clarify that there is a culture in the universal sense of the word, it affects social life in all its integrity, diversity, and discreteness. Without this, one cannot understand our knowledge of societies, states, civilizations.

Conclusion

Finally, in conditions when the world is threatened by war, migration, resettlement of peoples, strange, the idea may sound that we need to turn to the methodology and philosophy of the interaction of cultures, the education of identity and tolerance. People expect a lot from states and sound political practices and projects like the New Silk Road. But they are difficult to achieve without knowledge of culture, without their dissemination in the public consciousness, without explaining its significance in the community's development. Therefore, without the interaction of cultures, national cultures will not develop, a truly philosophical and theoretical context of its research will not develop. But along with the recognition of this thesis, the understanding of the importance of the interaction philosophy, problems are also being created that should be investigated, analyzed, and knowledge translated into the concrete practice of educating citizens. Attitude to the interaction of cultures determines the fate of a particular culture, its modernity, its understanding of the past and the future, its significance, its participation in integration and globalization. Secondly, national culture is inextricably linked with the state, its cultural policy, its connection with science and philosophy, the ability to form on their basis the cultural core of the national ideology and the collective consciousness of the community, open to new information about the culture. Thirdly, national culture development also depends on how it understands its past and how it can abandon old and false stereotypes in its understanding. Fourth, any unique culture's philosophy can become such when it understands another community's culture, evaluates it, and can perceive, comprehend, and process this information for its development. Fifth, problems in the interaction of cultures are associated with exaggerating the significance of other cultures (westernization) or exaggerating their identity. The interaction of cultures has its risks, which can be predicted, can take measures only if the interaction is understood as a philosophical and methodological problem.

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