European Tradition Research Articles

Учительство Христа в классической западноевропейской иконографии

The article examines the visual embodiment of the theme of Christ's teaching in the European visual tradition. The author shows that the pedagogical metaphors of the Teacher and the Educator, vivid in the New Testament texts and the works of the first Christian writers, were reflected in the fine arts through certain iconographic formulas. An assumption is made about the possibility of a pedagogical interpretation of the symbolic image of the Good Shepherd (basing on Clement of Alexandria). Variations in the image of the Teacher in the works of the 4-5th centuries are also analyzed: these are compositions with Christ the Wonderworker and Christ the Philosopher, which had different iconographic prototypes. Regardless of the characteristics of the portrait interpretation of Christ, special attributes (rhetorical gesture, pallium, scroll or open codex) allow to identify Him as a Teacher. The view on Christ as the Teacher and righteousness and divine wisdom, incomparable with earthly knowledge, is a specific of the patristic tradition. The development of Christian art under the influence of liturgical theological the formation caused appearance of new subjects and interpretations in medieval art. Plots previously associated with the theme of Christ’s teaching receive a different view within the framework of typological exegesis. The author shows that the main “pedagogical” plot, which received consistent development in the art of the Middle Ages, is the image of the young Christ in the Jerusalem temple (Luke 2:41-51). The plot was popular due to the veneration of the image of the baby Jesus, general interest in His childhood, and also in connection with the cults of the Mother of God. In the iconography of the 15-17th centuries the polemical component of the plot is often emphasized, with the scene being interpreted as a variant of a dispute. In apocryphal texts dedicated to the childhood of Jesus, there are episodes of interaction between the Divine Youth and school teachers, who generally showed pedagogical carelessness towards the child and recognized His “disability to learn.” In illustrations of the plot children sympathize and support their “classmate” and even glorify Him as God. Finally, in the late Middle Ages, the story of the giving of the Lord's Prayer was spread, with the direct interaction of the Teacher and Preacher with their listeners articulated.

Възможната свобода: от логосна метафизика към метафизична постъпка Метафизиката е „първа наука“ защото е и „последна наука“

The article highlights the main points of the specificity of metaphysics in the European philosophical tradition. The division of wisdom as a unity between knowledge and practice in ancient philosophy is emphasized. Kant's thesis that metaphysics is possible only in the realm of practical reason and only as a metaphysics of freedom is recapitulated. The forms of transcendence are revealed. Two approaches regarding metaphysics are analyzed – as a metaphysics of “questioning”, the logos type, and of a metaphysical act as overcoming causal dependencies in human individuality and truly achieving freedom.

Reform of Decentralization of Power in Ukraine under Conditions of War: Legal Regulation, Management Features and Directions for Improvement

The purpose of the article is to reveal the reform of the decentralization of power in Ukraine under conditions of war. In the concept of the territorial community of Ukraine, ancient European traditions of Ukrainian local self-government and modern standards of the European Union have been successfully embodied. The productive interaction of citizens, the state, and international organizations contributed to formation of Ukrainian territorial communities. It has been proven that the personal income tax is one of the main sources of filling community budgets. For 9 months of 2022 local budgets of the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine received 16,364,124 Ukrainian hryvnias (UAH) as personal income tax, which is 34% more than for the same period in 2021. Methodology:  The specifics of the research subject, as well as its purpose and tasks determined the use of general scientific and special methods of scientific cognition. Stabilization and restoration of territorial communities in Ukraine require the introduction of a new three-level effective and transparent system of strategic planning: state strategy — regional strategies — community strategies. For restoration and stimulation of regional development strategizing should contain definition of the following four functional types of territories: territories of recovery, poles of economic growth, territories with special conditions for development, territories of sustainable development.  

Joseph Reményi and socialist world literature

Hungarian American scholar, Joseph Reményi’s concepts of “minority literature,” “small nation literature,” and “world literatures” highlight the shift from the singular forms Deleuze and Guattari’s “minor literature,” Pascale Casanova’s “small literature,” and Marx and Engels and Karl Radek’s “world literature” to their plural counterparts. In the discourse on “minor literature” and “small literature,” Reményi offers a nuanced categorization of Hungarian literary production following the First World War. He delineates it into three distinct strands: “literature in Hungary,” “literature of Hungarian exiles,” and “Hungarian literature in the Successor States.” This tripartite classification not only encapsulates the varied loci of Hungarian literary expression but also underscores the emerging literary dichotomy between Hungarian and Slavic & Soviet literatures in the aftermath of the Second World War. As for “world literature”, Reményi’s conceptual framework, which pivots on the axes of “regionalism” and “internationalism,” segments world literature into four stratified layers: minority and marginal → local → national → world. This theoretical model facilitates a repositioning of the intrinsic diversities inherent within each stratum, mapping them onto a spectrum of diverse nations, cultural groups, and minority populations. Furthermore, Reményi’s concept of “world literatures” represents a shift from the singular notion of Geothe’s “eine allemeine Weltliteratur”, Marx and Engels’ “eine Weltliteratur”, and Radek’s “contemporary world literature” to a pluralized understanding. For “socialist literature”, Reményi’s categorization of Hungarian literature within the Western European tradition, as opposed to Eastern European literature, signifies the multifaceted nature of socialist literature. This concept, initially introduced by Marx and Engels in 1848, further elaborated by Radek in 1934, is eventually expanded by Reményi into a more pluralistic form as socialist literatures in 1956. The fusion of Reményi’s concept of “world literatures” and “socialist literatures” provided a gateway to construct Socialist World Literature.

Neoliberalism and the Mutations of Social Realism in Contemporary European Cinema

Over the last couple of decades film scholars have begun building a critical vocabulary to theorize the new kinds of social relations depicted in the new European cinema of precarity, from “flexible solidarity” and “precarious intimacies” to “the gift economy” and “cruel optimism”. Although the European cinema of precarity continues the legacy of older film traditions like French poetic realism, Italian neorealism and British kitchen sink realism, thus inscribing itself within a well-established European tradition of social realism, the realism of precarity films is often refracted through specific genre tropes or filmic devices—e.g., allegory, experimental cinema techniques, black comedy, cinema verité cinematography etc.—as though social realism is no longer able to render visual the hidden pathologies of neoliberalism or to capture the complexity of Europe’s current political, economic, and moral crisis.

Idols and Icons: Franciscan Theology and Artistic Inculturation in Mexico, 1524–1699

Indigenous people in Mexico encountered and interacted with the visual images of Mary, Jesus, and the Saints via Catholic missionaries in the sixteenth century. I examine the complexity of Franciscan changing attitudes and practices toward transforming what they perceived as idols into icons in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Indigenous Christians also adapted and synthesized artistic forms and meanings. Furthermore, artists from various cultures drew sources from Indigenous Mexican, European, and Asian traditions and created a visual Christian culture.

A Historical Introduction to Continental Pedagogics from a North American Perspective

AbstractThis article aims to serve as an introductory discussion of the European Continental tradition of pedagogics, specifically from a North American perspective. It begins with an overview of the Continental tradition and its main figures. Here, we find a philosophical and, thus, language‐sensitive attitude toward the human, the child; and a specific pedagogical terminology, i.e., descriptions and interpretations about the reality of education, such as educational practices, goals, norms, and organizational forms of educational institutions. John Dewey's educational theories exemplify the North American perspective on Continental pedagogics and its study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. Dewey's writings diverge notably from this tradition, as he integrated into his work American pragmatism and an interest in the scientific method, an interest that plays a role in today's policy trends in the United States and elsewhere. Then again, Dewey took a critical stand toward instrumentalizing pedagogics for political aims. On this point, the German‐born political philosopher Hannah Arendt agreed with him. As Arendt can be seen as an example of a Continental perspective on philosophy that includes a strong warning to separate politics and education, she relates to Dewey's argument against instrumentalization. Thus, this article also features some of her work. The overall intention is to contribute to a renewal of a language for pedagogics by delineating a historical‐philosophical perspective on this specific field of professional practice.

Time Background and Theoretical Pursuit: Comparison of Arendt's and Marx's views of labor

Marx's and Arendt's views of labor are rooted in different contexts. Marx's theory originated in the 19th century during the industrial revolution and the rise of capitalism in Europe, and by inheriting Hegel's dialectic, he developed a historical materialist approach, focusing on the elimination of exploitation under capitalism and the struggle for the emancipation of the working class. Arendt's view of labor was formed in the twentieth century during the crisis of modernity in the West, and, drawing from the European tradition of political philosophy, attempted to rebuild the community and reestablish the freedom of the individual through a call to political action. Although the two thinkers had different theoretical aims, together they demonstrated a deep reflection on human labor and social institutions.

Whose Soul Is It?—Destinative Magic in East-Central Europe (14th–18th Centuries)

This study explores destinative elements in late medieval and early modern learned magic in East-Central Europe, focusing on names, images, characters, invocations, and addresses facilitating communication with transcendental entities. It contends that a thematic shift occurred in the early modern era, witnessing a decline in destinative talisman texts, replaced by a surge in treasure-hunting manuals. Drawing from legal cases and treasure-hunting manuals, the research aims to categorize the “souls” frequently invoked in these practices. The term “souls” is interpreted as either spirits or the souls of the deceased, reflecting the significant role of the dead in treasure hunting, often conducted in cemeteries. This shift is linked to changes in the sociocultural background of practitioners, marking a transformation in magical practices from destinative talismans to treasure hunting, revealing a nuanced evolution in East-Central European magical traditions.

Рубежность и сущностные характеристики театрального танца в России конца XIX – начала ХХ века

Innovation and experiment as sources that expand and deepen the space of theatrical dance in Russia in the late 19th – early 20th centuries had a complex connection: from “traditional” and “local modern” to “systemic” and “natural”. Unlike Western European ballet theater, in Russia the aesthetic concepts of expressionism, constructivism and abstractionism were the first poetic experiments “with” choreography and “in” choreography, which received reinterpretation not only at the level of off-dance plans and free formative laws of movement, but also at the level of artistic coordinates of space and the semantics of academic ballet art. The paper aims to substantiate the position that after the era of romantic ballets by Marius Ivanovich Petipa (1818-1910), a milestone of the choreographic system begins in Russia, associated with the tasks of rethinking the language of theatrical dance, its architectonic structures (scenic and bodily), as well as the essential characteristics of the content and form of the ballet text. The study is novel in that it develops the following hypothesis: the architectonic space of the stage and architectonic bodily forms become figuratively and expressively evidence-based. The connection between the lexical potential and the creation of tectonic tasks in the system of academic movement is revealed, the verbal, temporal and visual continuum of space is correlated. As a result, the paper systematizes European and Asian theatrical traditions in the study of artistic and physiological processes of movement in order to determine the specifics of the architectonic bodily structures of the period under consideration.

The communal art of Roman poetry – CARMEN, an innovative training network

The communal art of Roman poetry – CARMEN, an innovative training network CARMEN explores Roman verse inscriptions as an important manifestation of communal art in Roman society. Our project helps to regain an eminent body of European folk art tradition. The reconceptualisation of this heritage emphasises the diversity of social and cultural performance. CARMEN ITN enables 11 doctoral students to engage in academic research, issues of cultural heritage and knowledge transfer.

How Formal and Nonformal Education Shapes a Student: A Case of Minke from Pramoedya A. Toer’s Buru Tetralogy

Objective: The study aims to investigate the interplay between formal and non-formal education and their cumulative impact on the character development of Minke, a central figure in Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s Buru Tetralogy. Method: Drawing upon a comprehensive analysis of the tetralogy, the research meticulously examines Minke's educational experiences within and outside the institutionalized academic framework. By categorizing and evaluating his cognitive skills, linguistic proficiencies, and cultural identities acquired through formal education, juxtaposed with his extracurricular engagements and interactions outside the school, the study provided a nuanced portrayal of Minke's holistic learning journey. Results: The findings underscore the pivotal role of both formal and non-formal educational paradigms in shaping Minke's multifaceted persona. While formal education endows Minke with foundational skills and introduces him to European intellectual traditions, non-formal experiences enrich his character by exposing him to diverse societal challenges, fostering critical thinking, and nurturing a voice against colonial oppression. The synergistic integration of these educational modalities emerges as instrumental in molding Minke into a discerning, empathetic, and critically astute individual, distinctively depicted across the tetralogical narratives. Novelty: Contrary to prior singular emphases on formal or non-formal education, this research presents a holistic exploration that underscores the complementary nature of both educational realms in character development. The nuanced analysis provides fresh insights into the transformative potential of integrating diverse educational experiences, emphasizing their collective influence on individual and societal narratives as depicted in literary representations.

International Symposium on Sculpture "Stone Melody (Tash Mony)" in the Kazan Kremlin: a space for artistic research and experimentation

The article analyzes works of sculpture, created during the international symposium in Kazan under the guidance of the author, that, after being installed in the Kazan Kremlin, became objects of attraction for tourists and guests of the Republic. Various stylistic approaches are described in detail in the disclosure of the theme performed by sculptors representing the national schools of the Turkic world (Azerbaijan, Bashkortostan, Crimea, Turkey, Tatarstan), accumulating Eastern and Western European traditions in their worklong or recent past.

Propagating the Rosary in the Early Qing—A Case Study of del Rosario’s Comprehensive Manuscript

Studies on the Rosary in the late Ming and early Qing usually focus on works written by Jesuits and mostly stem from an artistic aspect. This article, however, shifts the focus to The True Peace of Humankind, a manuscript written by the Dominican missionary Arcadio del Rosario in the seventeenth century, the first comprehensive book on the Rosary in Chinese. It first summarizes the early-stage propagation of the Rosary in China by the Jesuits and then examines the structure and content of The True Peace of Humankind. It is noteworthy that the manuscript repeatedly uses an analogy with flowers to highlight Mary’s intercession. Dating back to the Catholic tradition in Europe, the propagation of the Rosary through analogy with flowers resembles the propagation of reciting Buddhist prayers in Chinese society. This article applies contextual studies to explore two main questions: how is del Rosario’s manuscript different from the previous texts on the Rosary written by the Jesuits? What is the significance of the manuscript in the context of the Chinese Rites Controversy?

Theoretical approaches to the impact of culture on the economy through the prism of the European course of the countries’ development

This paper tries to synthesize the history of economic thinking regarding the correlation between culture and the economic development during the last centuries. The use of culture to explain the economic performance has not been popular among social science researchers in recent decades. Most economic models are based on the idea that people are essentially rational beings and make decisions in their own interest. What people choose to do depends on their beliefs. But culture can give rise to a set of rational beliefs. In economic history, some economists have questioned the classic concept of the „rational economic man” mentioning the increasing role of non-economic behavior in modern economies. These two positions can be reconciled if we reduce the social norms that govern entire societies based on the actions of individuals who look out for their own interests. Regardless of which models of economic thinking a historical retrospective is based on, an important conclusion is that throughout history, social and cultural factors have been among the important catalysts of the economic life. In the paper, it is argued that some factors such as European culture and European political traditions, etc., have an essential contribution to the economic success of those countries that follow them.

Theories of Interpretation: Islamic Law v. International

Whereas Europeans exercised influence over Muslim areas in the last century, Muslim countries and its legal systems were expected to be considered and to interact with international rules. The Hague Conferences of 1896, 1902 and 1905 were established for the purposes of developing agreement on private international law. These conferences did not invite Muslim countries though these states situated outside Europe could have treaties applied on their territories when they were under the jurisdiction of European states. In the same line several conferences and arenas have called and recommended the study of the Islamic legal rules. For example, North Sea case the judge argued that the principle of ‘sovereign equality’ protected in Article 2(1) of the United Nations Charter, necessitates the court to refer not only to European legal traditions but also to Islamic legal principles when seeking for a general principle of law. This paper argues that the Islamic law has its unique methodologies of interpretations, can share common views compared to the rules of interpretations in international law, and can offer unprecedented solutions to many international disputed issues. This article questions the ways in which the international scholarship and legal community could benefit from such an ‘exquisite understudied art.’

The Political in the Anthropocene: Reflections on a Ministerial Veto, 2021

Abstract This article was prompted by a Ministerial veto (2021) of the Australian Research Council’s decision to fund a research project by the authors to explore the student-led climate movement in Australia. It was also prompted by criticism of the veto which accused the Minister of bringing “politics” into what was represented as a scholarly matter. It addresses two questions: How should we understand this idea of “politics” in the context of Australian climate politics since the 1990s? Secondly it considers dominant ways of thinking about “the political” devised by ancient Greek writers and politicians which still inform the European liberal tradition. We question how fit for purpose this approach is in the Anthropocene? Our key argument is that the western tradition of thinking about “the political” is deeply anthropocentric. Historical traditions have encouraged inegalitarian and anti-democratic accounts of who can be political by excluding different kinds of people from political life. The Anthropocene requires a new, critically reflexive account of “the political” that is inclusive of people currently marginalized and excluded as well as nonhumans and nonliving components of ecosystems on which we all depend. This extends the idea of democracy beyond the human and points to a politics of climate justice.

“Скиты” веселой Елизавет: Русские эрмитажи середины XVIII века

The article is devoted to the history of the appearance of garden pavilions and Russian palace chambers also known as "hermitages." The tradition of building hermitages as special-purpose premises, adopted in Russia in the early eighteenth century, had acquired during the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna a meaningful national character and scope. Hereby, this tradition may be considered as one of the major cultural phenomena of that time. At the same time, Russian hermitages were significantly different in their function from the British and continental European hermitages. Their main function throughout the eighteenth century remained that of a private, isolated dining room equipped with a special table volante mechanism that allowed those who had gathered to eat without servants. The article therefore also pays attention to the role of mechanical tables and mechanical amusement machines in the baroque court culture. It also compares the design of Elizabeth Petrovna's dining hermitage in Tsarskoye Selo with European architectural treatises. The reader is also acquainted with the reasons for the development of such functional and iconographic features of Russian hermitage architecture, which occupies a special place in the vast and varied European tradition of hermitage construction.

Co-creating experiences through the use of arts in social work education

ABSTRACT The inclusion of citizens in social work education was initiated over 30 years ago and continues to travel a ‘long and winding road’. Social work education in the UK faces increasing pressure from a range of stakeholders including citizens who use services, regulatory bodies and the media to demonstrate that newly qualified social workers are competent and uphold public trust. While social work education and practice within England and Wales draw on similar traditions in theory and practice, there are important differences in the national and institutional frameworks within which they operate. This article illustrates some of these differences through a focus on social work education provision in one English and one Welsh university. Drawing on the experience and views of the student participants, we examine the benefits of creative approaches that promote citizen involvement and suggest how European traditions can contribute to this process. We define key terms and summarize the literature, followed by presentation of the results and identification of the key learning. We identify that emancipatory models of education can encourage recognition of learners’ different strengths and can help to assist social work students’ readiness for practice. Finally, we acknowledge the need for cost-benefit outcomes research into if and how citizen coproduction influences subsequent service delivery.

Correlation between classical Roman law and English common law: comparative historical analysis

The term ‘correlation’ can be interpretated in a wider meaning than the presence of a frequency of connection between two collignial indicators. This semantic content as "a relation existing between phenomena" is present in the discourse of liberal arts, in contrast to parametric statistics. The purpose of the study is to verify the existence of a correlation between basic conceptual ideas in Ancient Roman law and English common law and to evaluate the scope and manifestations of this issue. The research problem is complicated by the fact that the overwhelming majority of modern historians traditionally contrast the legal systems of continental European countries with Anglo-American law. And there very few famous scientists who consistently reaffirm the opposite position and consider that the common legal tradition in Europe exists. The article shows three groups of key evidence of Ancient Roman Law influences on the English Common Law. The historical arguments explain the fantastic ability of English law to export to other countries. In world history, this property was only one legal culture, namely Old Roman. These abilities to transfer and reception are defined as the most significant parallels between the legal traditions that are investigated.