THE HISTORICAL PROCESS THROUGH THE PRISM OF THE CULTURAL CIVILIZATIONAL APPROACH: THEPAST AND THE PRESENT

Abstract

The purpose of the researchis to analyze the place and role of the culturalcivilizational approach within the problem field of historical research studies. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, interdisciplinarity. The authors used hermeneutic, cultural historical, historical logical, transdisciplinary, and integrative approaches. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the justification of the feasibility of further development and use of the cultural andcivilizational approach in contemporary historical science, which has become especially relevant in the context of nowadaysglobalization processes. The Conclusions. The results of the study allow us to conclude that the cultural civilizational approach has a powerful potential to become one of the most fruitful tools of the historical exploration in the new millennium. As the approach enables scientists to combine the study of general and specific in history; to analyze the development trends of both planetary society and local civilizations from the standpoint of contemporary achievements and problems; to understand their logic within the worldview and value system of any given culture. The expansion of the functional field of cultural civilizational approach will promote intercultural dialogue of the members of different regional communities, as well as the representatives of historical science; in this dialogue, the various vectors of socio cultural interaction will not exclude, but will mutually complement each other. Reflecting the long-lasting experience of the thinkers who have sought to build a logically consistent and historically accurate image of the past, the cultural civilizational approach will contribute to a well-grounded explanation of the present and predict the future of the world community. The cultural civilizational approach is a promising tendency in the development of the methodology of historical science, which is able to become the basis of mass historical consciousness contributing to the successful human activity in the contradictory postmodern world. The contemporary cultural civilizational approach has to be “embedded” in a broader context, which requires the joint efforts of historians, philosophers, sociologists, political scientists, theologians, psychologists, anthropologists, etc.

Key words:culturalcivilizational approach, culture, civilization, historical process, theories of local civilizations.