Conservative Aesthetics in the Context of M.O. Menshikov's Worldview1

Abstract

In the present work the concept of “conservative aesthetics” is analyzed for the first time in Russian historiography and the significance of this phenomenon for understanding the originality of European, American and Russian traditional culture, as well as its essential role in opposing destructive postmodern tendencies in the life of society is shown. This concept is interpreted from the historical, cultural and socio-philosophical aspects. On the basis of the domestic and foreign conservatives’ ideas, the authors of the article propose a number of theses characterizing «conservatism» as ideological attitude and show its interpretation in the sphere of aesthetic perception of the world. Special emphasis was placed on the similarity of a number of features of conservative aesthetics in Russian, English and American historical traditions. The revealed characteristics of the conservative view of the world through the prism of aesthetics were used to show additional facets of the philosophical heritage of the outstanding Russian publicist of the late 19th – early 20th centuries Mikhail Osipovich Menshikov.