The collection of materials of the VIII International Likhachev Scientific Readings "Dialogue of Cultures and Partnership of Civilizations", traditionally held under the auspices of the Russian Academy of Sciences on May 22-23, 2008 at the Saint Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions, was published in St. Petersburg. The publication (66 printed pages) contains about 300 speeches by representatives from more than 60 regions of Russia, as well as Austria, Azerbaijan, Great Britain, Germany, Israel, India, Spain, Canada, USA, Ukraine, France, Japan, etc. Among the speakers are former presidents of Indonesia, Portugal, Kyrgyzstan, leaders of numerous public organizations, over forty members of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Education, representatives of leading research centers abroad, world-famous university professors, writers, and film directors.

It is characteristic that the annual collections of reading materials are "analyzed" by various scientific and public publications of the country that publish reports and discussions even before they are published. According to the results of the last readings, there were more than 40 such publications, including about 15 VAKOV magazines. This indicates both the scientific level of the dialogue and the interest of the educated part of modern society in it.

The Likhachev readings continue the cultural tradition of Soviet times-the formation of a truly scientific culture of the masses, enlightenment in contrast to the anti-scientific mass culture that began to assert itself in Russia in the 90s of the XX century. on the Western model.

The materials of the VIII readings will certainly be the subject of analysis by the scientific community, but it seems appropriate to dwell in more detail on the phenomenon of readings as a phenomenon of international scientific life.

Apparently, the personality of its initiator, Academician D. S. Likhachev, and his idea of the need to overcome the ever - deepening differentiation of fundamental knowledge by integrating academic science with university universalism, played a decisive role in shaping the modern image of this forum of humanitarian thought.

It is no great exaggeration to say that the entire history of academic science in the twentieth century is based on the differentiation of knowledge, accompanied by numerous bright breakthroughs at the "junctions" of sciences and relatively rare successes in the construction of large-scale, integrative in essence theories. This fact was accurately noted by Academician V. L. Yanin, reflecting on the scientific path of D. S. Likhachev: "The time of the encyclopedists experienced its pre-sunset surge in the XVIII century... As for the humanitarian field, it has only outwardly demonstrated the unity that has already been lost for a long time... The collision of results obtained within the framework of special disciplines constantly revealed the need for their correction, since limiting the range of sources to the framework of homogeneous material in any case leads to a limited result of their research. The idea that truth is most reliably obtained at the intersection of sciences or scientific disciplines inevitably comes to mind in the process of already overdue integration of sciences, replacing almost exhausted differentiation. D. S. Likhachev is an example of one of the main founders of the integration of humanities " [Yanin, 2007, p. 10-11].

D. S. Likhachev's arrival at the Saint Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions (SPb.GUP) was not accidental. The Pushkin House, the main place of his work for most of his life, a treasure trove of Russian philological science, was a unique opportunity for Dmitry Sergeevich to communicate with the stars of Russian literature. But the logic of his research interests throughout the second half of the twentieth century steadily led him to the horizons of a large-scale, holistic understanding of culture, its role and place in the life of mankind. By the 1990s, D. S. Likhachev needed systematic contacts not only with philologists and historians, but also with philosophers, sociologists, art historians, cultural scientists, lawyers, etc.The University provided such opportunities in the most convenient form - due to the high concentration of specialists in various branches of knowledge. Dmitry Sergeyevich was to create at the final stage of his biography, perhaps, one of the most important scientific documents of his life - the "Declaration of the Rights of Culture". This required a research team of like-minded people, and an appropriate communication environment was needed.

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Dmitry Sergeyevich proposed to the Rector's Office of St. Petersburg.The State Unitary Enterprise annually holds Science Days dedicated to the Days of Slavic Writing (May 24). Thus, their concept was initially based on the symbolic meaning of referring to the roots, which also allowed readings to gradually become a landmark phenomenon. At the same time, it was decided to annually include in the agenda of discussions the most universal and relevant topics of our time, related to contradictory trends in the development of human society, the processes of globalization, the role of humanitarian culture and education in the modern world, problems of interfaith communication, tolerance, morality, etc.

Another important principle of the readings is to gather not specialists, but major, outstanding thinkers. Of course, each of them was a specialist in any particular field of activity, and-a unique specialist.

From 1993 to 2001, the readings were called "Days of Science at the Saint Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions". Among their participants at different times were, for example, academicians and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences: A. A. Akaev, A. G. Arbatov, N. P. Bekhtereva, O. T. Bogomolov, V. N. Bolshakov, A.V. Brushlinsky, Yu. S. Vasiliev, R. S. Ganelin, A. A. Huseynov, I. I. Eliseeva, T. I. Zaslavskaya, N. V. Karlov, V. P. Kozlov, A. A. Kokoshin, A. B. Kudelin, I. I. Lukinov, V. A. Martynov, S. V. Medvedev, N. N. Moiseev, A.D. Nekipelov, A.M. Panchenko, N. Ya. Petrakov, M. B. Piotrovsky, N. A. Plate V. M. Polterovich, V. V. Raushenbach, Yu. A. Ryzhov, N. N. Skatov, A.V. Smirnov, N. G. Smirnov, V. S. Stepin, G. F. Tereshchenko, Zh. T. Toshchenko, A.M. Finkelstein, V. A. Chereshnev, A. O. Chubaryan, Yu. S. Shemshuchenko, V. L. Yanin, R. G. Yanovsky and others; academicians and corresponding members of RAO: Sh. A. Amonashvili, G. M. Andreeva, A. G. Asmolov, I. V. Bestuzhev-Lada, A. A. Bodalev, V. G. Kinelev, V. G. Kostomarov, N. V. Kuzmina, I. S. Kon, N. D. Nikandrov, Yu. U. Focht- Babushkin et al.; writers, cultural and artistic figures: M. K. Anikushin, A. A. Voznesensky, I. O. Gorbachev, D. A. Kolesnikov. A. Granin, N. M. Dudinskaya, R. F. Kazakova, Z. Ya. Korogodsky, V. V. Kozhinov, V. V. Krainev, K. Yu. Lavrov, V. P. Motyl, A. P. Petrov, M. M. Plisetskaya, M. L. Rostropovich, E. A. Ryazanov, G. V. Sviridov, A. Yu. Tolubeev, V. A. Chernushenko and others. etc.

Since 2001, in recognition of the special contribution of Academician D. S. Likhachev to science and culture, the readings were given the state status of "International Likhachev Scientific Readings" by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation V. V. Putin "On perpetuating the memory of D. S. Likhachev". Since then, emphasizing the importance of the readings for the Russian state, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly welcomed their organizers and participants. Since 2007, the readings have also been held with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, and since 2008 - with the use of state support funds.

It is fundamentally important that even with such significant state support, reading has not lost its inherent properties as a social institution independent of the state. In addition to the influence of well-known academic and university traditions, on the one hand, this is due to the independence of SPbSUE as a non-governmental university established by a public organization (the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia). On the other hand, it is determined by the prominent role in organizing the readings of the Congress of St. Petersburg Intellectuals, established in 1999 by Zh. I. Alferov, D. A. Granin, D. S. Likhachev, A. P. Petrov, M. B. Piotrovsky, K. Yu. Lavrov and the author of this publication.

The materials of the readings are published annually in the form of collections and are also presented on the Internet site of St. Petersburg.State Unitary Enterprise "Ploshchad Likhachev" (www.Lihachev.ru).

The focus of the XVI and VIII readings was on the problems of both global and local interaction of cultures. In the scientific work of academician D. S. Likhachev, it became the main one by the beginning of the 90s of the XX century and was reflected in the "Declaration of the Rights of Culture", developed by 1996 under his leadership by a group of St. Petersburg scientists.State Unitary Enterprise [Declaration of Rights..., 1996].

However, the current situation in Russia at that time did not allow us to bring this issue to the attention of the international community in a timely and proper manner. And S. Huntington's book "Clash of Civilizations and Reconstruction of the World Order" (Huntington, 2006), which was published soon after, was perceived by many as a justification for the inevitability of global conflicts between Christian and Muslim civilizations, setting a significant general tone for the subsequent analysis of world cultural processes by specialists from different countries and scientific schools. As a result, the alarmist idea of conflict in cultural development has dominated the minds of mankind for more than a decade.

The efforts of the international community to prevent such conflicts were discussed at the eighth reading in the reports of the Director - General of UNESCO (1987-1999) F. Major

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("Instead of confrontation, dialogue and unification are required"), High Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the Alliance of Civilizations, President of Portugal (1996-2006) J. Sampaio ("Dialogue of civilizations, cultures and religions is possible and necessary"), President of Indonesia (2001-2004) M. Sukarnoputri ("Interaction of all nations is necessary and states"), Secretary General of the Council of Europe (1999 - 2004) V. Schwimmer ("It is necessary to reconsider the idea of the inevitability of a clash of civilizations"), etc. As it follows from the speech of Zh. Sampayu, the Alliance of Civilizations , is the main international body at the United Nations that supports the dialogue of cultures and aims to develop efforts in four areas: education, youth education, media, and migration.

This scientific forum has taken on an unprecedented public character in recent years. In 2007 and 2008, the readings brought together more than 1,500 participants, including not only scientists, government and public figures, but also graduate students, students, teachers and schoolchildren, museum workers, librarians, etc., as well as dozens of the world's leading experts on the global dialogue of cultures. Many of them have participated in similar discussions held in various centers of the planet several times a year for about the past 10 years. In their general opinion, serious progress in understanding this issue has not yet been achieved. The only thing that all the participants agreed on was that " dialogue is better than confrontation." In the speeches of a number of speakers, there were very disturbing theses that the alternative to dialogue is the actions of fanatics and extremists, the opposition and clash of nations based on cultural characteristics. The persistent cultivation in the world community of the image of a modern civilization doomed to conflicts ("fear and suspicion have gripped the world community"), the impotence of state bodies in countering cultural "cracks" and "fractures", and the almost universal growth of the influence of religion against this background were noted. It turned out that once again, after a break of almost 20 years, the concepts of 50 years ago have returned to the terminology: "East-West confrontation", "defusing tension", "peaceful coexistence".

On a number of aspects, the discussion at the readings became very acute. Professor of Sociology at Yale University. Wallerstein (USA) devoted his speech to the problems of the existence of small cultures in multinational states. In his opinion, dialogue, partnership, and union between different cultures are possible only if there is actual military and political equality of opposing groups, peoples, cultures, and civilizations. This view was challenged by a number of participants. The head of the Center for Arab Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, V. V. Naumkin, drew attention to the fact that the equality of forces and influences of different cultures is rather a utopia, and productive dialogue is often a reality. It is another matter (as speakers from India, Japan, and others emphasized) that the United States is not ready for dialogue within the international community and continues to rely on the "civilizing" model of a unipolar global structure, which is forcibly imposed on other cultures and countries.

An impressive panorama of modern scientific research on various aspects of the dialogue of cultures has been created in the collection of forum materials that is being presented to the scientific community. Thus, Academician O. T. Bogomolov analyzed the role of democratic values in this dialogue, Academician A. A. Akaev-the origins of confrontational approaches and the history of relations between Russia and Central Asia, corresponding member. RAS M. B. Piotrovsky - problems of collision of the culture of historical heritage and modern business culture ("culture of money") in St. Petersburg, corresponding member. RAS N. N. Skatov-the role of deep fundamental foundations of culture, hierarchy, and the system of positive values in the development of changing economic formations, corresponding member. RAS V. P. Kozlov-the nature of myth-making in historical science. Academician V. M. Polterovich analyzed the problems of economic development in the context of partnership of civilizations, focusing on catch-up development strategies for Russia. P. Dudkevich (Canada) considered the problems of post-globalization restructuring of world markets and prospects for harmony between civilizations. E. G. Yasin's speech (Higher School of Economics) was devoted to the interaction of economies in the course of the dialogue of cultures. school of Economics), and the development of law as part of world cultural processes - Ukrainian Academician and Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yu. S. Shemshuchenko.

A.V. Yakovenko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, G. Ryabykh, Secretary of the Department for External Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, and a number of other speakers focused on the problems of contemporary interreligious dialogue.

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A. Gat (Israel) focused on the problems of cultural dialogue between Russia and the West, A. Gat (Israel) - on the geopolitical reasons for the historical differences between East and West countries, Kinhide Musakoji (Japan) - on the role of Asia in creating modern social development projects, V. Popov(MGIMO (U) Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation) - on the dialogue of Christian and Muslim civilizations, E. Schneider (Germany) - on the analysis of the essence of European culture, V. V. Naumkin (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences), and F. Petitot (Great Britain) - on the peculiarities of the dialogue of civilizations as a mechanism for the development of world architecture.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to the Russian Federation P. Bulbul oglu analyzed the problems of intercultural dialogue in his country. Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation A. E. Busygin-in Russia, Director of the UNESCO International Institute of Central Asian Studies Sh. Mustafayev - in Uzbekistan.

Speeches by writers D. Granin and A. Likhanov, film director E. Ryazanov and Professor D. Ch Kapoor (India) were devoted to the role of morality as the basis for the dialogue of cultures; Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation V. E. Churov - the role of culture as the support of a democratic state.

In the general context of the discussion, one cannot ignore the reports of the Director of the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician A. A. Huseynov and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. A. V. Smirnov's works, which, in our opinion, can be characterized as an important contribution to the philosophical understanding of the essence and mechanisms of the dialogue of cultures.

Already at the previous readings, A. A. Huseynov drew attention to the fact that cultures themselves, in principle, cannot be subjects of dialogue. As such, in reality, people act. For this reason, it is advisable to extend the principles of interpersonal dialogue to the dialogue of cultures, which are quite well developed by the historical development of ethics [Huseynov, 2007, pp. 57-62]. A. A. Huseynov's report at the VIII readings was entitled: "Dialogue of cultures: opportunities and limits" [Huseynov, 2008, p. 65-70]. Opening this topic at an exceptionally high philosophical and theoretical level for modern cultural studies, he also formulated a number of fundamental provisions regarding the formation of a global, "supranational" culture and a global ethnic group, which open up a new vision of the horizons of world cultural development.

A. V. Smirnov's report was devoted to real cultural differences. Based on the works of Academician V. S. Stepin, he revealed the existence of serious methodological problems in the comparative analysis of cultures, in fact, in their mutual understanding: "The contrasting discrepancy in the content of key concepts of the cultures being compared, their untranslatability, and the lack of recognition of their terminological status in the culture being studied are three main pitfalls on the way to a recklessly optimistic statement about the comparability of cultures" [Smirnov, 2008, p.71]. In addition, the set of universals and categories that are important for each culture is structured differently in them, which in some cases leads to serious differences in the logical and semantic functioning of cultural mechanisms. The main areas in which this happens are "understanding the relationship of the Self to the Other, which means ethics, politics, organization of power, etc., attitude to the world, understanding the purpose of life, the relationship between the earthly and the otherworldly" [Smirnov, 2008, p. 72].

Of course, even a cursory listing of all the reports of readings is impossible here. The collection also includes the materials of breakout sessions: "Personality and society in a multicultural world", "European Mentality: Spirit and borders", "Actual past: realities and Myths of history", "Legal cultures of our time: from the contrast of civilizations to civilizational unity", "Economics in the context of partnership of civilizations", " Higher Education: problems of development in the context of globalization", " Dmitry Likhachev's Ideas and Modernity (Likhachev Forum of Russian High School Students)", etc.

The introduction of reading materials into scientific circulation will certainly contribute to strengthening the leading positions of Russian cultural studies-a field of scientific knowledge, at the origins of which among the outstanding Russian thinkers is the figure of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences D. S. Likhachev.

IX readings are scheduled for May 14-15, 2009.

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list of literature

Huseynov A. A. O kachem mije talke, pri razmechke o dialoge tsivilizacij [About what we say when we talk about the dialogue of civilizations]. St. Petersburg: SPb.GUP, 2007.

Huseynov A. A. Dialog kul'tury: vozmozhnosti i predel'ni [Dialogue of Cultures: Opportunities and Limits].GUP, 2008.

Declaration of Cultural Rights: project: [dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Academician D. S. Likhachev's birth] / Introductory article by A. S. Zapesotsky. SPb.: SPb.GUP, 1996. Note: the project was developed under scientific supervision. Academician D. S. Likhachev.

Dialogue of cultures and partnership of civilizations. VIII International. Likhachev Scientific Readings, May 22-23, 2008 / RAS, RAO, Congress Petersburg, intelligentsia, SPb.State Unitary Enterprise, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A. S. Zapesotsky, chief editor of sections L. A. Sankin. St. Petersburg: SPb.GUP, 2008.

Smirnov A.V. How do cultures differ? / Dialog kul'tury i partnerstvo tsivilizatsii [Dialogue of Cultures and Partnership of Civilizations]. SPb.: SPb.GUP, 2008.

Samuel P. Huntington Clash of Civilizations / Translated from English by T. Velimeeva, Moscow: AST, 2006.

Yanin V. L. Izuchenie trudov D. S. Likhachev stetelem prilozheniem ego zhizni [Studying the works of D. S. Likhachev will be a continuation of his life]. Zapesotsky A. S. Kul'turologiya Dmitri Likhachev. SPb.: SPb.GUP, 2007. (New in humanit. sciences; Vol. 27).

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