№ 3 (2025)
ARTICLES
Appealing and Responding: An Interpretation of the Confucian Canon "Li Ji" from the Perspective of Modern Feminist Critique
Аннотация
The subject of this research is a critical analysis of the Confucian canon "Li Ji" from a feminist perspective, grounded in the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. The study focuses on the ethical status of women within the Confucian ritual-moral system and reveals how female subjectivity is structurally excluded from the realm of ethical expression. Attention is given to both the textual mechanisms that reinforce gender otherness and the forms of female response, which are simultaneously imbued with emotionality and normative discipline. Using Levinas's concept of the Other, the work aims to show that women in "Li Ji" function as ethical carriers but not as recognized subjects capable of calling to account. Thus, the research contributes to understanding the possibility of the female voice as the beginning of ethical relations within the patriarchal canon. The study employs a comparative philosophical method, combining a critical reading of the Confucian text with feminist analysis and the conceptual apparatus of Levinas's ethics to reveal gender asymmetries in the structure of moral recognition. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the interdisciplinary interpretation of the Confucian canon "Li Ji" at the intersection of feminist critique and the ethical philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. The main methods used include hermeneutic analysis, intertextual approaches, and critical-discursive readings of key concepts such as "ritual," "obedience," and "difference." The study shows that despite women's active participation in ritual-ethical practice, their status as a Person remains invisible and unrecognized within the moral structure. The work demonstrates how the normative logic of the text generates an effect of ethical silence, structurally placing women in the position of the responding subject while excluding them from the possibility of being initiators of moral calls. This gender bias in the Confucian model necessitates philosophical deconstruction. In conclusion, the necessity to rethink the very foundation of ethical relations and affirm the female voice as an equal and autonomous source of ethical subjectivity and moral expression is emphasized.
Man and Culture. 2025;(3):1-13
1-13
The urban landscape of St. Petersburg by artists of the academic school of the 2000s and 2020s.
Аннотация
The article reveals the theme of the "urban landscape", formulates the main features, using the example of the works of artists. There are not many images in modern academic painting that harmoniously combine genre subjects and urban views. Among the graduates of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, there are artists who are fascinated by the "living" aspects of the urban environment: A. Gorlanov, K. Malkov, as well as P. Tyutrin, A. Makarov, I. Tupeyko find inspiration in everything they see around them (in passers-by on the streets, in festive events in squares and boulevards). The subtlety of the artists' perception is focused on interesting details and plot. In the works of these landscape painters, the everyday life of the Northern Capital is perceived as an endlessly changing motif. The subject of the study is the urban landscape of St. Petersburg. Research methods such as cultural and historical analysis and formal stylistic analysis are used to study this topic. The study is due to the low degree of study of the modern St. Petersburg urban landscape in the scientific and theoretical field of art criticism. The urban landscape expertly balances between two principles of depicting reality: natural, realistic, and conventional, decorative. In modern academic painting in the genre of urban landscape, various human interactions with the urban environment are shown: images can convey an organic existence in the dynamics of the strict geometry of the city, loneliness and isolation, and the contrast between history and modernity. In the practice of modern academic art, new approaches to landscape largely synthesize genre forms familiar to the viewer. Landscape images can be present in portraits, still lifes, and everyday scenes where nature or an urban backdrop serve to create a certain mood, symbolism, or compositional solution. The urban landscape occupies a significant place in modern academic painting, as it allows artists to convey the dynamics of urban life and its internal contradictions.
Man and Culture. 2025;(3):14-26
14-26
The contribution of the Moscow State Conservatory named after P.I. Tchaikovsky to the establishment of the Chinese school of choral conducting
Аннотация
The subject of this study is the art of choral conducting as one of the most relevant aspects of contemporary musical culture in China. The object of the research is the examination of the creative and pedagogical methods employed by the faculty of the Moscow Conservatory with Chinese students who are choral conductors. The aim of this article is to explore the pathways of forming the profession of choral conductor in China and to determine the role of the Moscow Conservatory in this process. The author examines various aspects of the topic, such as the cultural interaction between the USSR and the PRC in the 20th and 21st centuries, tracing the history of the influence of Russia’s largest music institution on the establishment of a choral conducting school in China. A number of key figures among Soviet and Russian musicians who made significant contributions to this process are identified. The author notes that choral education in Russia is characterized by philosophical-aesthetic depth, semantic concentration, and technical sophistication. The methodology consists of a synthesis of historical-theoretical and choral studies methods. Based on this, the history of training Chinese students at the Moscow Conservatory is revealed. Special attention is given to the independent performing and pedagogical activities of prominent choral conductors in China. The research experience aims to establish connections between the Russian school of choral conducting and the development of contemporary Chinese choral art. The main conclusion of the conducted research is the paradigm of profound mutual influence and enrichment in the musical arts of Russia and China. In particular, this position has become a determining factor in the musical education of Chinese students at the Moscow Conservatory. A significant contribution of the author to the topic is the study of the current state of the educational process for students from China in the choral conducting department at the Moscow Conservatory, which has not previously been the object of special research. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that it presents materials on the education of currently prominent choral figures in China: Wu Lingfeng, Yan Liankun, Cao Tongyi, Wang Chao. Attention is drawn to the need to study the historical aspects of the establishment of the national school of choral conducting in China, linked to the traditional musical thinking of China and the shift towards the assimilation of the Russian conducting and choral tradition.
Man and Culture. 2025;(3):27-37
27-37
Conceptual and theoretical prerequisites for considering impressing as a socio-cultural phenomenon
Аннотация
The object of the study is an impressing phenomenon with a complex biosociocultural nature. References to it in the scientific literature, given its "closely related" relationship with imprinting, primarily evoke associations with its biological nature. However, attention is drawn to the recent growing interest in imprinting / impressing representatives of a wide range of social sciences and humanities. The shift of emphasis in the biosociocultural nature of impressing from its bio-component to the socio-cultural one becomes obvious and necessary. However, the emergence of the concept of "imprinting/ impressing" beyond the limits of natural science knowledge, as a rule, is not accompanied by any reflection on the conceptual and theoretical grounds for considering the phenomenon behind it in the social subject field. Accordingly, the subject of the presented research is the conceptual and theoretical prerequisites for considering impressing as a socio-cultural phenomenon. Modern scientific ideas about the complex unity of nature, society, culture and the place of man in it, which can serve as a theoretical basis for socio-cultural research of impressing, are analyzed and synthesized. Deductive, axiomatic methods and the method of analogy are used in the development of the conceptual foundations of the study of impressing, based on the specifics of modern socio-cultural knowledge. The main results of the work include, firstly, the identified trends in modern knowledge about culture and the person in it, which allow us to assert that the socio-cultural analysis of impressing has theoretical and methodological grounds. The key of the described trends is the idea of a multifaceted and unstable interpenetration of the natural principle, sociality and culture. Special emphasis is placed on the tendency to consider culture as a product of the psyche and the human psyche as a natural and cultural phenomenon. Secondly, based on the trends identified in modern socio-cultural knowledge, and by analogy with them, the conceptual foundations for considering impressing as a complex biosociocultural phenomenon in the functioning of which the socio-cultural component plays a key role are proposed. Conclusions are drawn about the directions of further study of impressing, which is supposed to be debatable, but necessary. The consideration of the conceptual foundations of the study of impressing as a socio-cultural phenomenon seems to be new and theoretically significant for the socio-humanitarian sciences as a whole, since it opens up the possibility of a more fruitful multidimensional understanding of the little-studied phenomenon.
Man and Culture. 2025;(3):38-50
38-50
Sicily between eras: from the power of Sextus Pompey to the reorganization of Augustus
Аннотация
The subject of this research is the historical process of the transformation of Sicily at the end of the 1st century BC, covering the period of Sextus Pompey’s rule and the subsequent administrative reorganization carried out by Octavian Augustus. The article examines the consequences of the civil wars of the Roman Republic for the socio-economic situation of the island, including the destruction of cities, the decline of agriculture, and the demographic crisis. The measures taken by Octavian after the defeat of Sextus Pompey are analyzed, including the confiscation of property, the deportation of opponents, the establishment of Roman colonies, changes in the tax system, as well as social and administrative reforms. The study aims to identify the patterns of Sicily’s transition from a state of political and economic decline to integration into the administrative system of the Roman Empire, taking into account cultural and economic aspects. The methodological framework of the research includes the analysis of ancient written sources, archaeological data, a comparative analysis of literature, as well as historical-systems and structural-functional approaches to identify the patterns of Sicily's transitional period from republican to imperial governance. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time in domestic historiography, a comprehensive analysis of the transitional period in the history of Sicily is conducted, when the rule of Sextus Pompey was replaced by the administrative reorganization carried out by Octavian Augustus. The interconnections between political instability, economic decline, and rehabilitative reforms are traced in detail, as well as the scale of the impact of these reforms on the socio-economic and cultural structure of the island is assessed. The work demonstrates that Augustus's punitive measures were combined with a colonization program, the introduction of fixed taxes, and infrastructure restoration, which allowed Sicily to recover and integrate into the administrative system of the Roman Empire. Special attention is given to the combination of repressive and constructive measures in stabilizing the region, ensuring its long-term sustainability, and forming a new social base.
Man and Culture. 2025;(3):51-61
51-61
Walking and running: humanistic potential and cultural continuity (Part Two)
Аннотация
The subject of the study is the cultural content of walking and running as anthropologically universal types of locomotion and the peculiarities of the translation of the metaphysical components of these "body techniques". The article examines five types of running based on the corresponding types of walking: walking/running for pleasure; walking/running for health; walking/running for personal development; walking/running to achieve political goals; walking/running as sports practices. The names of the presented types of movement concretize the expression of their humanistic potential, and the way to preserve and develop it in the history of mankind is cultural continuity, which is comprehended based on the content of the concepts of "(bodily) embodied memory", "universals of culture", "traditions", "actualization of tradition", "innovations". The second part of the article explicates the humanistic potential and cultural continuity of walking and running, used for personal development, to achieve political goals and as sports practices. The research methodology used was the historical method, the method of categorization, the descriptive method, and the method of analysis. In the aspect of personal development, the deepest concretization of the concept of "humanistic potential of walking/ running" is recorded, achieved on the basis of the study of a special kind of experience that opens up to a person through prolonged cyclical bodily tension and is not accessible to "pure", "out of body" consciousness. The political content of walking is revealed on the basis of R. Solnit's identification of three prerequisites for pedestrian movement: the struggle for free time, for access to walking areas and for freedom of movement. The political dimension of running practices was provided by such properties of running locomotion (in comparison with walking) as more pronounced energy consumption and speed, playfulness and visibility of the runner. Walking/Running acquired a sporting dimension at the end of the XVIII century, when money bets on walking/running over significant open (and later closed) distances for a certain time became popular, demonstrating the outstanding endurance of representatives of the bourgeoisie entering the arena of world history. The modern passion for overcoming super marathon distances is becoming part of a new consumer culture focused on making their own life project unique, mainly by representatives of the middle class, in whose value system the pleasure of a disciplined body has taken root, health has become an area of individual responsibility, and success is understood perfectionistically as achieving new levels of perfection and expanding their capabilities.
Man and Culture. 2025;(3):62-86
62-86
Walking and running: humanistic potential and cultural continuity (Part One)
Аннотация
The subject of the study is the cultural content of walking and running as anthropologically universal types of locomotion and the peculiarities of the translation of the metaphysical components of these "body techniques". The article examines five types of running based on the corresponding types of walking: walking/running for pleasure; walking/running for health; walking/running for personal development; walking/running to achieve political goals; walking/running as sports practices. The presented types of movement concretize the expression of their humanistic potential, and the way to preserve and develop it in the history of mankind is cultural continuity, which is comprehended based on the content of the concepts of "(bodily) embodied memory", "universals of culture", "traditions", "actualization of tradition", "innovations". The first part of the article explicates the humanistic potential and cultural continuity of the first two types of walking/running. The historical method, the method of categorization, the descriptive method, and the method of analysis were used as the methodology of the subject area of the study. It has been established that running for pleasure is formed on the basis of free (not practically forced) walking, which has turned into a game form, that is, carried out solely for the sake of achieving the bodily and mental states generated by running locomotion and not acquired outside of it, which a person likes. The continuity of health-forming walking and running lies in the fact that optimally selected running activity intensifies the health-improving properties of walking, allowing you to achieve a greater health-improving effect during the same time of movement. The peculiarity of the positive effect of running on the human body is seen in the jumping component of this type of locomotion (which is absent in other cyclic types of movement), thanks to which the runner achieves significant biomechanical resonance, which has a pronounced healing effect. Within the framework of health–forming walking and running, an intermediate form of movement is understood and practiced - jogging, which clearly shows both the physical and cultural continuity of these types of movement.
Man and Culture. 2025;(3):87-110
87-110
Defense of Lombardy in 1705. Situational successes of Duke Vendôme and prospective failures of Eugene of Savoy
Аннотация
The subject of the study is the military art during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). The focus of the scientific inquiry is on specific aspects of military affairs of the era: the development of strategies and the determination of campaign plans, the strategies and tactics of conducting operations, and the forms and methods for achieving operational objectives. The author pays special attention to the role of maneuver and field combat, as well as the provision of reliable logistics and lines of communication between troops and the rear. The aim of the article is to identify the features of European military art in the early 18th century. The center of the article is the military actions between the Franco-Spanish army of Duke J. Vandome and the Imperial troops of Eugene of Savoy in Northern Italy during the summer and autumn of 1705. The methodological basis of the study is a historical-systemic approach, which involves the analysis of the research object as a coherent complex of interrelated elements. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the article, using memoirs, letters, and military-historical sources, presents a specific military campaign that has not yet been reflected in domestic historiography. As a result of the study, the author concludes that the military actions in Lombardy in 1705 exhibited both typical and specific features of military art of the period. The distinctiveness manifested itself in the active and decisive nature of military actions, and in the persistence and determination of military leaders such as Duke L.-J. Vandome and Prince Eugene of Savoy. Typical features included a tendency towards constraining methodology and templates in command, the dominance of logistics over operational tasks, the predominance of maneuvering to disrupt the enemy's lines of communication over field battles, and a positional character of warfare.
Man and Culture. 2025;(3):111-122
111-122
The experience of reconstructing the intellectual culture of the gentry based on the material of estate libraries
Аннотация
The study focuses on intellectual culture of the nobility in the Russian Empire from the 18th to the first half of the 19th century. The research aims to reconstruct the cultural practices of the intellectual elite among the enlightened nobility by analyzing their reading circles and literary practices. Special emphasis is placed on manor libraries, as this period witnessed the flourishing of Russian manor culture, a time when many nobles, freed from obligatory service, relocated to their manors. This led to a redistribution of intellectual capital across the empire and the emergence of a unique phenomenon: manors as semi-autonomous "states within a state," often forming self-contained microcosms. Manor culture, largely independent and minimally influenced by church or academic intellectual elites, continued to evolve, showing the results of intra-class intellectual practices, particularly self-education. Personal libraries, serving as the cornerstone of this development, adapted to the changing needs of the nobility. The research employs the method of cultural reconstruction, utilizing estate library catalogs, archival and ego-documents (memoirs, letters), and material sources (estate interiors) to restore elements of noble intellectual culture. The methodology includes source identification, content analysis, comparative studies of library catalogs, and a biographical approach. The key findings of the study are: firstly, from the late 18th century estate libraries functioned as hubs for accumulating practical, scientific, and life knowledge, sustaining and disseminating the culture of the noble intellectual elite from the capital to the provinces. Secondly, the growth of estate intellectual culture, driven by personal libraries, fostered patronage, educational support, and scientific-technical advancements in remote regions of the empire. The novelty of this work lies in its introduction of previously unexamined sources (data on specific publications in estate libraries) as well as in the integration of research findings and materials that had previously been confined to different academic disciplines.
Man and Culture. 2025;(3):123-131
123-131
The tradition of vaudeville in the dramaturgy of B. Ratser and V. Konstantinov. The structure of the genre in vaudeville "Natural Disaster"
Аннотация
The object of this research is vaudeville genre in dramaturgy of Boris Ratser and Vladimir Konstantinov, whose works enjoyed wide popularity among audiences in Soviet theater during the 1970s and 1980s, yet remained on the periphery of scholarly and critical attention. Despite considerable contribution these playwrights have made to the development of Soviet theater, their plays were rarely subjected to analysis, and the genre-specific characteristics of their works remained practically unexplored. The play "Natural Disaster" was chosen as the subject of study, representing a typical example of Soviet vaudeville. Author has attempted to fill the gap in the study of the co-authors' legacy, focusing on the structural and genre features of vaudeville as presented in the works of Ratser and Konstantinov. The study examines characteristic traits of comedic and musical elements, the interaction of stage action with elements of satire, and the features of dramaturgical construction that reflect the specifics of vaudeville. Article is based on use of structuralism, cultural-historical, comparative-historical, descriptive, analytical, and other methods. Novelty of study lies in the fact that, despite well-documented nature of the vaudeville genre in the 19th and early 20th centuries by theater scholars, a significant oversight is the lack of attention to playwrights of the second half of the 20th century, whose work includes vaudeville themes, among whom are certainly Vladimir Konstantinov and Boris Ratser. Result of research includes the gaming strategies of the mentioned playwrights at both plot and stylistic levels, first discovered and studied within the framework of this article. In terms of plot, co-authors employed a popular vaudeville thematic group (matrimonial relationships), combining themes of matchmaking, quarrels between loving spouses, marriage of convenience, courtship of the bride in a competitive manner, and the relationships of lovers hindered by external obstacles. The author studies both the plot-compositional structure of the play and the language of the said vaudeville, which became an essential component in creating a comic effect. The lightness of the dialogue, rich in puns, metaphors, aphorisms, and wordplay, which forms the basis of the play, provides the necessary sparkle and expressiveness to the characters' remarks. The representation of Konstantinov and Ratser’s repris demonstrates a play of wit that finds expression in wordplay.
Man and Culture. 2025;(3):132-146
132-146