ЦИВИЛИЗАЦИОННЫЙ СТАТУС КАВКАЗА: ОБЗОР СОВРЕМЕННЫХ ПОДХОДОВ

Abstract

The relevance of the civilizational approach to the consideration of the Caucasus is due to the need to study it as a subject capable of countering the processes of entropy, providing protection from innovations that threaten the integral identity of ethnic groups. A separate group of scientists, highly appreciating the centuries–old unique cultural heritage of the Caucasian peoples, comes to the conclusion that the Caucasus is, first of all, a contact zone between the West and the East, and not an independent civilizational phenomenon. This position has found its consolidation in the works of L. N. Gumilyov, V. V. Chernous and others. The second group of scientists expresses the opinion that the interaction and interpenetration of ethnic groups served to the emergence and development of the distinctive Caucasian civilization. Despite the differences of the peoples of the Caucasus, they are characterized by a significant similarity of historical and cultural features that allow us to consider the Caucasus as a unique cultural and historical civilization. This position is held by such researchers as R. G. Abdulatipov, B. H. Bgazhnokov, V. E. Davidovich, K. F. Dzamikhov, T. U. Ktsoeva, A. A. Magomedov, G. H. Mambetov, S. H. Mafedzev, K. H. Unezhev, etc. The article considers the argumentation of the authors of both approaches. In addition, the main elements of civilizational identity – mentality, locality and globality – are considered in relation to the Caucasian Civilization