Abstract: The paper consists of the two parts, general discussion of the nature of war and a case study, specifically, socio-cultural views on the campaigns of Alexander the Great. Based on the work of Kant who believed that it was possible to establish the eternal peace, the author analyzes the current understanding of the war and the difference in motivating the last two plans: pragmatic and transcendental. The former is given by all sorts of practical reasons (to seize someone else's territory, to take revenge on other people for their past wrongdoings, to extend the power and strengthen the economy in the conquered territories, to boost the coffers and slaves, etc.), and the latter is defined by ideas created by a community or state but not individuals. Capmaigns of Alexander the Great are considered from the point of view of the analysis of personality of the great general, his plans of campaigns including messages designed to motivate and inspire the army and the Greek city-states, the implementation of these plans, the basic conditions of implementation, the findings to better understand the nature of war. The study of these topics have been implemented principles of comparative analysis, cultural-historical reconstruction of the campaigns of Alexander the Great and methodological analysis including problematization. As a result, the author could view the problems arising in the process of thinking about war. The author also gives his answer to the question whether it is possible to live without war. The Western world could theoretically live without wars because pacifist and humanist movements contribute to the transformation of traditional wars into the war with a minimum of casualties among the enemy population. But the opposite trend caused by the expansion of barbarism on the contrary constantly renews the traditional war.

Keywords: victory, army, military campaign, general, peace, culture, personality, change, war, condition

Abstract: Used by the Bengal Renaissance thinkers in the process of understanding of Other, a method of dialogical hermeneutics is reconstructed in the article. The method is described as a mental phenomenon and general way of understanding the Other, the latter is being represented by the Western culture and its representatives. The generality of the method depends on both circumstances of colonial urban society and educational and scientific development in India and general aspiration to revive as well as general aspiration of Bengal intellectuals to revive and develop India. Admitting the presence of some general method of understanding, the author reconstructs the method based on the phenomenological approach and analysis of texts created by the key persons of the epoch. The methodology helps to present a structure and peculiarities of the process of understaning as well as working of dialogic hermeneutics. Dialogic hermeneutics is described as a trajectory of the thought moving that proceeds from the aspiration to find universal grounds behind differences of cultures and points of contacts and similarity of traditions, and then it moves from an exposing the deep similarity to an understanding of differences as a result of many-sides of life. This method opened new ways of self-cognition for Indian culture and created “understanding as an event” (M. Buber) owing to which India opened herself to interaction with the modern world.

Keywords: liberalism, hermeneutics, method of understanding, understanding of the Other, the Bengal Renaissance, Indian philosophy, Indian culture, East–West dialogue, conservatism, self-cognition of culture

Abstract: The present article is devoted to the analysis of Bernard Shaw's play 'Heartbreak House' and Alexander Sokurov's film 'Mournful Unconcern' that was made after the play. The analysis is based on the differentiation between the terms 'depersonalisation' and 'repersonalisation'. This concept offered by the author of the article means the revitalization of personality, his going back to being himself, individuation and metanoia. All characters of Shaw's play and Sokurov's film are depersonalised by the war situation and repersonalised at the end when the inevitable death approaches. Appying his own method of psychosemiotics, the author of the article also analyzes associative identifications of the characters of both play and film. For example, Captain Shotover is associated with Stalin, Brezhnev, Moses, Christ, God the Father and Captain Ahab. Ellie Dunn is both Alice in Wonderland and Ellie from The Wizard of the Emerald City. Sokurov's film (1986) is viewed as a film devoted to the depersonalised Soviet intelligentsia before perestroika. In his research Rudnev has used the method that he has been developing for many years. This method involves psychoanalysis, poetics and semiotics and called 'psychosemiotics'. The novelty of the present research is first of all caused by the fact that based on the study of Bernard Shaw's play 'Heartbreak House' and Alexander Sokurov's film 'Mournful Unconcern' Rudnev introduces the concept of repersonalisation along with a generally accepted term 'depersonalisation'. The researcher defines repersonalisation as individuation and metanoia and one's going back to being himself. Using the psychosemiotic method, the author has also studied associative identifications of the play and film characters. 

Keywords: postmodernisn, death, repersonalisation, depersonalisation, Mournful Unconcern, Alexandr Sokurov, Bernard Show, reconstruction, animal, home

Abstract: Based on the example of parallels between philosophical reflections in Maximilian Voloshin's poetry and world views of peoples speaking Nahua (Aztecs), the author of the article demonstrates the similarity and assonance of images and meanings that were created as a result of mythopoetic world perception, the learning style used by human along with the rational cognition. The analysis performed by the author demonstrates that there is neither a direct approach nor a possibility for adoption, following or imitation. At the same time, images and meanings that were created in cultures that had no actual points of coincidence in time or space happen to have very close contents and meanings. A number of general provisions is made by the author based on the comparative analysis of a number of sources, poetic texts and particular aspects of the world view. The examples provided prove that mythopoetics is still a cognitive structure, mostly due to its philosophical content. Mythopoetics is a form of existence and production of knowledge in poetic art forms which considerably contributes to the cross-cultural communication when understanding is the mean and the final goal of communication. 

Keywords: American Conquest, Maximilian Voloshin, Aztec philosophy, parallel meanings, understanding, cross-cultural communication, cultural dialogue, Mexican culture, Diego Rivera, Silver Age

Abstract: The objects of research are the moral imperatives of the Knights of Malta. In his article Lestev in details described the basic concepts of the knight identity: honor, loyalty, justice, mercy and obedience in terms of the formation of a special system of military-religious order. Despite the universal nature of these concepts, their semantic content as well as localization are different  in a variety of military communities and cultures. This determines the importance of examining the spiritual aspirations, spiritual quest of man, his moral imperatives in the study of a particular culture. In addition to the general historical research methods, the author also used socio-psychological and comparative (comparative cultural studies) methods to describe the development of the system of moral imperatives of knights of the spiritual Order and to compare them with similar concepts of secular knights. As the main result of this study, Lestev shows the transition made by members of the Order of Malta from feudal thinking to thinking about whole Christian world, generally good-Christian, which was the forerunner of modern humanistic ideas and international organizations providing humanitarian assistance in all parts of the world. It was the first time the knights of religious orders were able to counter and implement the idea of the common good opposing to the idea of profit and personal advantage. 

Keywords: Crusades, Christianity, Morality, Knighthood, Existential, Imperative, Loyalty, Honor, Order of Malta, Military Culture

Abstract: The main component of culture is the audio sound. The object of study is a musical recording as a socio-cultural institution with its specific corporate policies the study of which is the subject of the publication. In the music business, corporate culture plays a particularly important role as it advocates the axiom behavior for all participants in these relationships and is a powerful strategic tool. To date, there remain issues of the relationship between corporate culture and corporate law in music business. In this regard, the author examines the problem of correlation between corporate culture and corporate law in music business. Particular attention is paid to the cultural significance of the music recording technology. The research is based on the phenomenological concept of organizational culture and the theory of social institutions that are understood as stable complexes of formal and informal rules, principles, standards, attitudes governing the interaction of people in a particular sphere of life and organizes it into a system of roles and statuses. The novelty of the research lies in the scientific substantiation of the provision according to which corporate relationships in the recording business perform the role of a coordinator of common ties, creating a comprehensive communications network with common rules, thereby forming new cultural levels of musical sound recording, sale and consumption of the phonographic products.

Keywords: PR-structure, corporate communication, culture, corporate law, sound recording, music industry, music business, major, label, phonographic products

Abstract: The subject of the present research is the nature and functions of publicity as a cultural phenomenon. However, the concept of publicity as it is viewed by the author of the article has a very distinct chronological framework. In particular, the author views the process of creation of a new form of publicity in the cities of the Modern and Contemporary Periods. If we apply the sociological approach to the matter, we can see that the creation and development of a new form of publicity relates to the transfer from the pre-industrial society to the industrial society. Generations of the second half of the XXth century have already faced another kind of transfer, i.e. the transfer from the industrial soiety to the post-industrial society. As far as publicity in the cities of the Modern Period are concerned, it retains most of its traditional forms. However, as public communications develop based on new technologies, publicity loses its traditional forms and becomes an expression of space virtualization. The author tries to define anthopological features of publicity both in traditional and virtual forms. The main methological approach to the analysis of publicity is the sociological approach. In addition, the author has used the historico-genetic approach. Khrenov has also appealed to observations made by experts in social and culural studies who study early forms of the society. The author of the article believes that archetypical dual formulas that appeared at the early stages of history can become active at the later stages of the social development. As an example, the author analyzes the playful opposition between Great Russians and Lesser Russians described in ancient Russian chronicles. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that as a research object the author views different forms of publicity starting from archaic funny rituals, behavior of merchants at fairs, noble and merchant clubs and ending with publicity forms realized in virtuality. The author tries to define and specify such features of publicity as theatricism, spectacularity, playful and festive nature. Special attention is paid to the relation between the society and theatre. 

Keywords: publicity, public space, duality, theatricism, emotional deficiency, emotional contact, festivity, identity, society, public

Abstract: The subject of research is the work of a renowned American composer, music theorist, artist and a pioneer of aleatory (chance music) in electroacoustic music John Milton Cage (05.09.1912 - 12.08.1992), author of the famous "prepared piano" and the piece  4'33'', the comosition of 'music silence'. Conceived by the composer in 1947-1948, the piece became for Cage the epitome of his idea that any sounds may represent and constitute music. The composer developed the idea of expanding the space of the academic performance of concerts by the use of natural sounds as elements of the music that changed not only the notion of music but also the concept of the musical material. Music critics evaluated John Cage as one of the most influential American composers of the twentieth century and one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. In his research Lipov has used the philosophical - aesthetic method for studying the diverse creative work of the composer that formed the basis for the evaluation of the piece 4'33'' as a model of the music of silence and examples of the and music of noise and aleatoric music because it forms random sounds of the environment . The author examines the experimental work of the composer as one of the most radical attempts in the history of music to transform the musical text, to extend the boundaries of the art of music and the use of new sound materials for composing music. The main contribution of the author's research is that the research fills in theoretical gaps in Russian academic literature on the art of music and aesthetics of music in relation to the creative work and personality of the composer. Moreover, this article is the first most comprehensive theoretical and aesthetic research devoted to the main musical composition of John Cage 4'33", the piece that fills an important niche in the history of music between the usual musical production and the sounds of nature. Cage's music consists of imitations of natural sounds and human voices which helps Cage to complete a brilliant musical process and overcome the cultural distance that has developed in classical music. 

Keywords: aleatory music, creative work of a composer John Cage, American experimentalism, philosophy of music, acoustic sound, uncertainty principle, the music of silence

Abstract: The object of the present research is the famous Parisian music theatre “Opera-Comique” which has celebrated its 300th anniversary this year. The author traces back the history of the theatre and describes the main stages of its development and its role in the history of music and theatre art in France. Attention is paid to the repertoire policy of the theatre during those three centuries as well as to the famous productions, important for opera history, the first nights of “Carmen” by Bizet, “Manon” by Massenet, “Pelleas and Melizande” by Debussy and others. Information is given about the works of Russian composers - Musorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov which were staged in the theatre and about Russian opera artists who performed on this stage. While preparing for the research, work has been done to find more information, electronic archives of the theatre “Opera-Comique” as well as the first-hand sources such as memoires of a number of musicians have been studied. The main methods of research involve textual and semantic analysis of the sources and historical and cultural analysis of the context of the theatre’s activity. The novelty of the present research is caused by the fact that in our country it is the first systematic analysis and description of the history of the Parisian music theatre “Opera-Comique” since its foundation till our days giving the full idea of all periods and important events in its history. This research is an innovative project of presenting empirical facts as an evidence of historical dynamics of culture and evolution of a cultural form in a combination of synchronic and diachronic analysis.

Keywords: music, music theatre, Opera-Comique, comic Opera, genre, history, opera, culture of France, art, Paris