«Concept» Notion as the Base of Contemporary Culture Studies

Abstract

The article is devoted to the topical notion of contemporary human science – «concept». The main aim of this research work is the problem of methodology of research on concepts at culture studies and discovery of mechanisms of concepts’ studying. One part of the article is a survey of the contemporary tendencies of definition of «concept» term at discourse of the contemporary Russian human science. The sources referred are dictionaries of culture studies issued at different times and fixing both the tendencies of development in the attitude to «concept» term at science and important monographic research works devoted to concept. «Concept» notion of the discourse of the philosophy of postmodernism is left out of the bounds of this investigation. The other part of the research work is devoted to the methods of exploration of the concept of culture studies. There are the following basic methods of exploration of concepts: etymological, historical, and sociological investigations, analysis of philosophical and artistic texts, philosophical and art critical analysis of a piece of art. According to the suggested methods of exploration of concepts, the investigation of «state» concept in Old Russian culture of the boundary of the 15th-16th centuries is taken as an example in the article. In particular, there is an adduction of etymological history of «state» word in the Russian and European languages. The ideological and religious contradictions between the Josephists and the Judaizers, eschatological feelings of the epoch before 1492, and the theory «Moscow is the Third Rome» are considered as the basic determinants of historical formation of «state» concept. The architecture of the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin on the Red Square is examined as the piece of art representing «state» concept in Old Russian culture. The conclusion of the article is reduced to a number of advantages of the methods of conceptual investigations at culture studies.

Рассмотрена методология исследования концептов в культурологи, показаны механизмы изучения концептов. В качестве примера проанализирован концепт «государство» в древнерусской культуре рубежа XV-XVI веков.