Anthropological Significance Research Articles

A rational exploration of personalist bioethics: understanding its foundations

The aim of this article is to elucidate the rational foundations upon which personalist bioethics is built, thereby enhancing understanding regarding its place within the broader discourse of secular bioethics. Personalist bioethics, as a dynamic pursuit, actively engages with scientific discoveries, periodically revisiting them and considering contemporary individuals' diverse perceptions of identity and values. It integrates two foundational trunks: personalism and Aristotelian-Thomistic theology with metaphysical reference. The method employed by personalist bioethics is illustrated through triangulation: the exposition of biomedical reality, an in-depth study of anthropological significance, and the identification of values at stake. Rooted in a substantialist concept of the human person, it follows a systematic interaction of various knowledge spheres, aiming not only to describe problematic relations but also to propose prescriptive solutions. Personalism maintains that the human person is valuable for who he is and not only for the choices he makes; he is a source from which the choices proceed. According to personalist ethics, the ethical value of an act will have to be considered under the subjective aspect of intentionality, but it will also have to be considered in terms of its objective content and its consequences. The natural moral law that urges every conscience to do good and avoid evil, therefore, becomes concrete in respect for the human person in all the fullness of his values, his essence, and ontological dignity.

The Shepherd-King Metaphor in the Light of Interdisciplinary Research

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim of the article is to analyze the sources of the shepherd-king metaphor, mainly from the perspective of social-political ideas, within a broad cultural and intellectual context. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The article focuses on identifying the intellectual sources of the shepherd-king metaphor in antiquity, their anthropological and cosmological context, and the metaphor’s fundamental message. Particular emphasis is placed on the socio-political aspect; thus, analyses of strictly theological significance are left aside. To achieve the research objective, the author makes use of interdisciplinary instruments, referring to archaeological, biological, and historical knowledge and especially to analyses from the field of the history of ideas. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The article’s line of argument reflects the fundamental problems that need to be solved in order to determine the essence and shape of the shepherd-king metaphor. Therefore, the issues analyzed include animal domestication; ancient anthropology understood as the divine domestication of humans; and the distinctions drawn in ancient thought between the essence of the nature of animals, humans, rulers, and gods. RESEARCH RESULTS: As a result of the analyses indicated above, it was possible to capture the main components of the shepherd-king metaphor, their structure and essence, as well as their direct reference to, and significance for both anthropology and socio-political thought. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The article highlights the importance of the shepherd-king metaphor to the history of political ideas, outlining the impact of both its explicit theses and its more implicit, but no less important, elements. Attention was also drawn to the need for further research, which would enable the metaphor’s socio-political aspects analyzed in this article to be combined into one coherent interpretation with the religious and theological aspects.

Ectogestation and Humanity’s Whence? An Exploration with Saint Augustine and Karl Barth

Abstract This essay explores the theological and anthropological significance of birth, in order to discern what might be lost with the adoption of complete ectogestation (“artificial wombs”). Specifically, it considers both Saint Augustine and Karl Barth’s respective accounts of humanity’s whence—that is, their theological answer to the question of the nature and significance of our origins as individuals. I suggest that Augustine’s account of his origins emphasizes both his epistemic and biological dependency on his mother and nurses, while Barth’s stresses the individual’s immediate derivation from God. Those disparate answers affect how they construe the relationships of parents and children and work themselves throughout their theological visions and imaginations. I conclude that careful consideration of humanity’s whence cannot answer whether we ought to pursue ectogestation; but it does help us account for how our understanding of God and ourselves might be altered if we gestate human life outside the womb.

The Exploration of Lingyang Ceremony in Contemporary Gansu, China

This article delves into the "Lingyang" ceremony, a revered ancestral veneration ritual within Gansu's funeral culture in Northwest China. "Ling" meaning "receive" and "Yang" referring to "sheep," encapsulates the ritual's essence of using animals to bridge the spiritual and material worlds. The paper detailed the Lingyang ceremony's complicated practices, particularly in Jingyuan and Jingtai counties, highlighting its profound anthropological significance. The paper draws comparisons between the Lingyang ceremony in Gansu and the animal sacrifice rituals of Haitian Voodoo, highlighting the similarities in their use of animals as conduits between the material and spiritual worlds. Furthermore, the study explores the "Lingyang" ceremony's historical evolution against the backdrop of societal changes and examines its relevance in the modern context of globalization and modernization. This exploration not only deepens the understanding of Gansu's funeral rites but also engages in the broader conversation on the resilience of traditional customs in contemporary society. Through a detailed comparative analysis, the article offers insights into how such rituals adapt while retaining their core identity, reflecting the dynamic interplay between tradition and change.

"Homo currens": the experience of philosophical research of ego texts of modern Russian fans of stayer running

The current stage of the development of amateur stayer running practices can be characterized as personality-building, since the main goals of runners (especially marathon runners and super marathon runners) are not so much related to strengthening health, as to the sphere of personal improvement and self-knowledge: the development of will, character, testing yourself in an extreme situation, testing previously inaccessible emotions and states of consciousness. The object of the study is ego texts (books for a wide audience, including the online "samizdat") of modern Russian running enthusiasts. The method of studying these texts is the biographical method, which makes it possible to determine the multidimensional influence of running activity on fundamental changes in personality development and the formation of her life path. The analyzed biographies inherit both the confessional tradition of Augustine (the contrast of the aimless and vicious "pre-race" life, as well as the traumatic experience of running neophyte and significant achievements in many areas of personal development after the adoption of the values expressed through running Coubertin's "religio athleticae"), and the adventurous and heroic biographical tradition noted by M. M. Bakhtin, inherent in the Renaissance, as well as romanticism and Nietzscheanism with their focus on the formation (in our case, through a stayer run) of a new (or "super-") person. The qualitative result of running activity is the achievement by the subject of a new stage of development – a person running (homo currens), which is characterized by activity, mobility, heroism, asceticism, striving for maximum self-realization, achieving harmony of body and spirit. Homo currens opposes both virtual pastime and the fetishization of comfort culture, suggesting, referring to the concept of Viktor Frankl, filling life with new meanings and values through overcoming the inevitable suffering for a stayer run. Amateur running is considered by writers as a publicly available and effective means of gaining physical, mental and social well-being, which expresses its humanistic essence and gives philosophical and anthropological significance to the works under study.

EXPLORING THE LEGACY OF GREAT BABUR: JUSTICE AND TOLERANCE

In this article, the author presents research findings within the realm of Eastern philosophy's discourse on the philosophy of love. The entry of love into the history of world civilization highlights the philosophical and anthropological significance of its role in human understanding. From this perspective, there arises a theoretical and practical need to analyze the place of love within the morphology of the individual from both a philosophical and anthropological standpointExamining the concept of love in its theoretical and practical dimensions becomes imperative in the context of exploring the human imagination's spiritual journey. This journey grapples with the challenges posed by the issues of human existence and its relationship with the phenomenon of love, a universal and all-encompassing force. Emotions' vulnerability, diversity, the primordial nature of love, and its role in modern human existence all converge in the complex tapestry of human life. Amidst the challenges posed by emotions, ambiguity, the reconfiguration of love, and the liberalization of sexual ethics in contemporary society, the enduring presence of love stands as a guiding star in the constellation of human existence.

The Significance of Philosophical Anthropology in Determining the Methodology of Modern Scientific Research

Purpose. This research involves revealing the methodological significance of the anthropological understanding of values for conducting modern scientific research. Theoretical basis. Philosophical anthropology acts as an epistemological basis for answers to ontological questions that are part of the structure of such problems in modern science as the construction of a scientific picture of the world, the ordering of data of natural attitude, and anthropocosmism. The ontological basis for the formation of the anthropological theory of values is the teaching of Wilhelm Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, Rudolf Lotze, and Martin Heidegger. Originality. The creation of a scientific picture of the world, the research of natural attitude, and an anthropological approach to cosmology carried out from the viewing angle of the philosophy of values show the close mutual conditioning of these scientific issues. A successful determination of one’s value positions by a scientist-researcher is impossible without his/her agreeing with his/her picture of the world with the prevailing ideas about the world in their society. Such ideas are studied by anthropocosmism, which researches not so much the world in itself, but a view of this world from the standpoint of the existing state of society and the main intentions of its development. Conclusions. The value attitude of scientists at a certain stage of the development of scientific knowledge forms their picture of the world, which has the form of self-explanatory scientific provisions. The facts of modern physics must always, one way or another, receive their legitimation through the world of the human natural attitude. Even the unobservable characteristics of the microcosm are explained by appealing to knowledge about the observable characteristics of the world. The anthropocentric nature of cosmology is determined by the fact that in modern philosophy, the values of a person explain not only the way of one’s cognition but also the way of one’s inclusion in the world.

Managing Toxins and Making Water ‘Safe’: Consumer Buffering Practices in Contexts of Chemo-Uncertainty

When it comes to water quality, seeing is not believing; even clear-looking water can harbour nefarious elements that are harmful to health. To protect against water’s hidden toxins, Indian consumers are adopting technologies designed to filter and mechanically ‘heal’ the waters they consume. This paper ethnographically examines the use(s) of household water management technologies based on ten weeks of ethnographic fieldwork in the city of Kochi, Kerala. It contemplates the socio-economic and anthropological significance of measures to filter and alkalinise tap water and to transform ‘dead’ municipal waters into healing waters with the power to ‘cure cancer’. Technological and infrastructural innovation is a means to an end in these safeguarding efforts; it enables what I argue are ‘buffering practices’ that allow a potentially dangerous element to feel restorative and wholesome once more. These insights add to scholarship exploring the rise of middle-class solutions for water safety in contemporary urban India.

Anthropological significance of Tilia trees in Japan.

Tilia (Malvaceae) is a genus of deciduous trees widespread in the northern hemisphere. Tilia species native to Japan include three endemic species, T. japonica, T. maximowicziana, and T. kiusiana, as well as the more widespread T. mandshurica. Other species were also introduced, the most important being T. miqueliana, brought to Japan with the arrival of Buddhism and planted on temple grounds as Bodaiju. Both historically and at present, Tilia trees are valuable to the people in Japan. Some Tilia trees are considered sacred in both Buddhism and Shinto. They are also prominent ornamental and park trees, albeit less popular in Japan than in Europe. Japanese Tilia spp. are used in the manufacturing of honey, cosmetics, lumber (especially plywood and veneers), and traditional bast cloth. Many Tilia trees are significant hubs in pollinator and mycorrhizal networks, but research on Japanese Tilia ecology is scarce. Despite their importance, Japanese Tilia trees have received less scientific attention in comparison with European Tilia species. The most striking example is T. kiusiana, with virtually no scientific literature regarding the species (save for a series of publications studying its secondary metabolites and potential medical uses). Furthermore, most published resources concerning Tilia in Japan are available only in Japanese, restricting their accessibility. This review seeks to translate, collect, and organize the information available on Japanese Tilia species. By doing so, areas are highlighted where new studies are necessary. A better understanding of these important trees would also be instrumental in their conservation.

From experience to a method. The significance of Karol Wojtyła’s habilitation dissertation in the development of his concept of philosophical cognition of man

The purpose of the article is to show the significance of Wojtyła’s habilitation dissertation in the development of his concept of philosophical cognition of man. His assessment of the usefulness of Scheler’s ethical system for Christian ethics occupies an intermediate position between the demand to take into account first-person experience in cognition in his initial phase of practising philosophy and the proposal to use the phenomenological method to analyse this experience, and the transition from experience to a system, contained in Person and Act. In his habilitation dissertation, Wojtyła analysed the question of man’s inner experience, emphasising its significance for ethics and anthropology. A proper approach to this experience is possible through the phenomenological method. The analysis of Scheler’s system allowed Wojtyła to conclude that although the use of the phenomenological method is necessary in philosophical cognition, it is not sufficient. This method does not cover everything that experience brings. It should also be applied appropriately so that the essential contents of experience are not overlooked. He showed a concrete manner of application of this method to philosophical cognition, and of the combination of this method with the metaphysical method in Person and Act.

Earthen Architecture as a Community of Practice: A Case Study of Neolithic Earthen Production in the Eastern Mediterranean

This article analyses the development of Neolithic earthen architecture in the Eastern Mediterranean as a concrete example of ‘communities of practice’. Recent studies on earthen architecture have highlighted its adaptability to different climates, architectural forms and craftmanship levels, focusing on the technological aspects of earthen construction. This paper explores the anthropological significance of earth as a building material. It provides evidence on the development of earthen building techniques, interactions between different communities regarding building practices and an understanding of the dynamics ofchaîne opératoirein relation to various materials. A review of archaeological case studies provides compelling preliminary evidence for the existence of early specialized architecture in Neolithic Aegean contexts.

FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN ANTHROPOLOGY AND ELITOLOGY IN PHILOSOPHY

The article explores the theoretical and practical significance of philosophical anthropology, the relationship and difference between anthropological elitology and philosophical anthropology.

A proposed new classification of maxillary sinus using panoramic radiograph

Maxillary sinus is the largest among the paranasal sinus which is of surgical clinical and anthropological significance. Classification of maxillary antrum based on shapes and sizes using panoramic radiography have not been developed till date. Different shapes and sizes of maxillary antrum were taken into notice while tracing orthopantomogram. As panoramic radiograph is the most commonly available and feasible technology, a deeper study of this topic felt compelling.: To classify maxillary antrum based on its shape, presence of septa, shape of the floor and presence of recess employing digital panoramic radiographs. A total of 1000 panoramic radiographs available in soft copies in Department of Oral Radiology, Sree Anjaneya Institute of Dental Sciences were analysed for developing this classification. The panoramic radiographs were taken using KODAK 8000 carestream machine with exposure parameters 73kVp, 12mA, 13.9 seconds. The shapes identified included cloudy, rectangle, round, trapezoidal, square, ovoidal, pentagonal, hexagonal. In which cloudy marked the highest and hexagonal the least. Among the maxillary sinuses observed a few showed septations. The sinus floor contours observed comprised scalloped, wavy, curved, straight and v-shaped. Out of which a few showed recess. This is a proposed new classification of maxillary antrum using Panoramic radiograph. From this study, eight distinct shapes of the maxillary sinus were identified, wherein cloudy type was predominant and hexagonal was the least commonest. Only a few had sepatations and recess. Six distinct shapes of floor were identified, of which scalloped marked the highest.

Art in the bark: Indigenous carved boab trees (Adansonia gregorii) in north-west Australia

Found only in a restricted area of north-west Australia, the Australian boab (Adansonia gregorii) is recognisable by its massive, bottle-shaped trunk, and is an economically important species for Indigenous Australians, with the pith, seeds and young roots all eaten. Many of these trees are also culturally significant and are sometimes carved with images and symbols. The authors discuss the history of research into carved boabs in Australia, and present a recent survey to locate and record these trees in the remote Tanami Desert. Their results provide insight into the archaeological and anthropological significance of dendroglyphs in this region and add to a growing corpus of information on culturally modified trees globally.

Les concepts dans les contes populaires : les manifestations des visions du monde incarnées

The semantics of linguistic units is not an object of study, but in some cases purely linguistic information is used to support the conclusions of semiotic, textual and intertextual analyses. The term “semantics” is not used in this work in a narrow sense (study of the meanings of linguistic units), but in a more global sense (study of the structure of the meaning of the work as a whole). Thus, the semiotic structure and the textual organization of literary tales, as well as the structure of the links of these works with other texts, are considered to be characteristics of their deep semantic structure. The tale has been studied from different angles. The formation and sources of the fairy tale genre have been studied (Propp 2000), E. Meletinsky (1977, 1995, 2000), folklorists have collected and classified the patterns and types of fairy tales (Aarne, Thompson 1964 ; Delarue, Hold 1957-1977). The historical and anthropological significance of fairy tales was first seriously studied by V. propp (2000) and K. Levi-Strauss (Levi-Strauss, 1973). This theme is developed in the works of N. Belmont (Belmont, 2002), J. Calame-Griaule (Calame-Griaule, 1984), M. Carrin (2002). Fairy tales also attracted the attention of psychologists who studied them from the point of view of psychoanalysis (B. Bettelheim 1960, M. Schneider 1980). The structural and semantic study of the fairy tale in the semiotic aspect was first undertaken by V. propp, laying the foundations of modern narratology (V. propp, 1998). In the 1970s, French philology tended to consider semiotics as a science of meanings: thus, the structural and semantic approach to the literary text involved the isolation of units of meaning at different levels and their analysis. Research in this area was conducted by both domestic (Meletinsky, Novik, Putilov, etc.) and foreign (Greymas, Kurtes, Coquet, Fontanius) scientists. Currently, the discursive study of the fairy tale, which takes into account both the structural (textual) aspect of the fairy tale and its connections with other texts and with the socio-discursive context, is also relevant. However, only a folk story has been so thoroughly studied, while the literary tale has been studied only from the point of view of literature (Kovtun 1999, Lipovetsky 1992, Bakhtin 1979). In recent years, some literary tales have been studied from the linguistic point of view of the text (Adam, Heidmann). The genre of the literary fairy tale, due to the vagueness of its borders, as well as a strong dependence on the individual style of the writer, has not been studied as thoroughly as the tale of folk fairies. Thus, the relevance of the work is determined by the need to study the French literary tale of the twentieth century as a genre, highlighting its inherent structural and semantic characteristics in relation to the folk (popular) tale. The study of specific tales by French writers as unique works is also important and promising.

Maintaining quality in teacher education: a contemporary global challenge?

The purpose of this paper is to scrutinise what the term quality means in the context of teaching and teacher education and to discuss how we maintain those aspects of quality that do appear to be important in the contemporary development of policy and practice in teacher education. The paper draws on some comparative studies in teacher education that have been undertaken in recent years. Initial consideration is given to the macro and meso levels of policy and practice, through looking at state institutions and at the roles of educational institutions. The focus then turns to the micro level, considering the quality of the participants in the provision and experience of teacher education. The paper identifies the anthropological significance of teacher education and the wider social insights that may be gained from such study in the twenty-first century and in conclusion some contemporary global challenges to the maintenance of quality in teacher education are considered.

축제의 교육인간학적 의의

The purpose of this study is to reveal the educational anthropological significance of festivals by understanding the human nature inherent in festivals based on the meaning and types and characteristics of festivals. In order to understand festivals according to the purpose of this study, after examining the definition, origin, function, types and characteristics of festivals, the human nature seen through festivals was considered based on the methodological principles of educational anthropology. Also, based on this, the educational anthropological significance of the festival was presented. Festivals have a religious ritual function to wish for safty and abundance, a play function that serves as the purpose of the festival itself, and a function to break away from daily routines and social norms to break away from daily routines and social norms. In addition, the festival has a social integration function that shares the spiritual value of society and strengthens the bond between members. Through the functions, types, and characteristics of these festivals, it can be seen that humans are religious beings, fun-seeking beings, deviant beings, and relationship-oriented beings. Based on these considerations, the educational anthropological significance of this thesis is presented as follows. It becomes a place for humans to experience freedom and rest away from daily life, confirms the meaning of their one’s existence in common values, sublimates suppressed emotions in a healthy way, and plays a direct educational role in human life as a festival itself. In this respect, it can be said that it is meaningful from an educational anthropological point of view. Therefore, it can be said that the festival is not an act of consumption and useless, but rather an essential phenomenon of life that allows us to discover the meaning of human existence.

Scheler and Zambrano: on a transformation of the heart in Spanish philosophy

ABSTRACT This paper compares the concept of the heart in the works of Max Scheler and María Zambrano. Both authors use the heart as a metaphor for distinct human affective phenomena that have a central anthropological, epistemological, and ontological significance. The comparison between authors’ use of the metaphor is organised around three main topics: the order of the heart; the idea of a primordial feeling and its place in the affective life; and the primacy of love in relation to negative affective attitudes. Our aim is twofold: to investigate the influence of Scheler on Zambrano’s thought and to demonstrate how Scheler’s phenomenology of affectivity transformed in Spanish philosophy and, in particular, in Zambrano’s work. After introducing the topic (section 1), the paper focuses on Scheler’s model of affectivity (section 2), presents an overview of Scheler’s reception in Spain focusing on Zambrano’s knowledge of his works (section 3), and examines Zambrano’s notion of the heart tracing parallelisms in Scheler’s works (section 4). The paper concludes with a discussion on Zambrano’s extension and transformation of the metaphor of the heart in the context of Spanish philosophy.

Paul, Politics, and New Creation: Reconsidering Paul and Empire by Najeeb T. Haddad

Reviewed by: Paul, Politics, and New Creation: Reconsidering Paul and Empire by Najeeb T. Haddad Timothy Gombis najeeb t. haddad, Paul, Politics, and New Creation: Reconsidering Paul and Empire (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2021). Pp. xiii + 213. $100. This volume, a revision of the author's doctoral dissertation completed at Loyola University in Chicago (2018), critiques counterimperial interpretations of Paul. Haddad argues that Paul's theological outlook and instructions in his letters demand a more nuanced description than being either "anti" or "pro" imperial (p. 3). The first two chapters consider the state of the question and examine arguments that Paul's rhetoric was counterimperial. In a third chapter, H. explores the manner in which foreign cults existed within the Roman Empire. Haddad then describes, in chap. 4, the relationship of Paul's assemblies to associations as they existed in the ancient Greco-Roman world. His final chapter articulates the thrust of Paul's preaching, focusing on the distinction between kosmos ("cosmos") and kainē ktisis ("new creation") "and their cosmological and anthropological significance in Paul's eschatological soteriology" (p. 139). Haddad's opening chapter describes the state of play in scholarship and highlights substantive criticisms put to those who argue for a counterimperial Paul. He notes the diversity of its forms throughout various regions to support his claim that "the imperial cult was not a sort of unified doctrine across the Roman Empire" (p. 7). Further, the manner in which the emperor was regarded as a deity is ambiguous, at the very least. That the emperor was "divine" was more of an honorific title than a recognition that he held a place among the gods (p. 9). Sacrifices and prayers were not made to emperors, but rather on their behalf. H. regards this as important in order to demonstrate that it is misguided to compare as competing claims the attribution of the title divi filius to Augustus and Paul's reference to Jesus as "the Son of God." These terms function differently in Roman ideology and Pauline christology. In his second chapter, H. questions the claim that Paul's letters contain "coded speech" meant to undermine the empire by exploring "figured speech" in ancient rhetoric: "a rhetorical device that communicates a covert message" (p. 43). He notes that ancient rhetoricians commonly referred to three forms of such speech: implied meaning, deflection, and [End Page 327] saying the opposite. He reviews the circumstances in which these forms would be employed, along with how they would be created and detected, before then analyzing Pauline passages that interpreters claim to be hidden transcripts. Especially pertinent is Rom 13:1–7. Reviewing several proposals, H. finds that their claims do not hold up to close scrutiny against the conventions of ancient rhetoricians. Taking into account Paul's Jewishness, his noting that civil authorities are "servants" and not divinities is not a subversion but is consistent with how Paul's Jewish contemporaries regarded earthly rulers. And Paul was aware of Greco-Roman rhetoric, so the absence of clues indicating figured speech is notable. In treating the relationship of Roman imperial rule to the religious practices of subjugated peoples in far-flung locations, H. notes that there was little interest in converting foreigners to a Roman religion. While foreign cults within Rome itself would have invited more intense scrutiny and, occasionally, suppression, Rome was far more tolerant in the Greek east. Further, when it comes to identifying contemporaneous analogous social realities with the kinds of communities Paul saw himself creating and nurturing, H. asserts that Paul was creating something completely new (p. 129). This new reality, H. asserts in his final and concluding chapter, is the kainē ktisis, a new cosmic reality into which people are delivered by God, who rescues them from enslavement under various powers within the kosmos. According to H., this is the cosmic reality within which Paul conceives of the Roman Empire. Along with the kosmos, which is fading away in light of the dawning eschatological salvation God is bringing about in Christ, the Roman Empire will pass away and so is not a prominent target of Paul's rhetoric (p. 154). Overall, H. presents a satisfying account of how...

Reception of Social Education Ideas of Foreign (late 19th – early 20th centuries) and Soviet Pedagogy in the Theory and Practice of Transbaikal Scientists

In accordance with the current relevance of the issues of socialization of the younger generations, the article analyzes the development of methodology and methodology of social education in foreign and Soviet pedagogy of the 1920s–1930s. Two directions of the social education implementation are identified: one focused on the preparation of a citizen subordinate to the state interests, considered from the standpoint of an authoritarian approach, and the other – related to the education of an initiative active, creatively self-fulfilling personality, conditioned by a humanistic approach. The author of the article emphasizes the anthropological significance of the social development of the individual, formulated the fundamental principles of positive social education. It shows the departure in subsequent years from the leading positions of humanistic reform pedagogy and the ideas of the classics of Soviet pedagogy. At the same time, the continuity of the personal orientation of social education in the theory and practice of V. A. Sukhomlinsky and such Transbaikal historians of pedagogy as G. A. Barkin and A. F. Verkhotina is revealed. The author of the article characterizes the contribution of the Transbaikal scientists who reveal their own understanding of the process of social formation of a person on the basis of understanding the humanistic component of the concept of the founders of Soviet pedagogy. The article indicates that the accumulated significant historical and pedagogical potential of positive socialization can be useful for solving modern problems in the field of social education. Despite the fact that considerable experience of positive social education has been accumulated in the history of pedagogy, the entry into the digital age, which has not only a positive but also a negative impact on a person, presupposes the creative development of the heritage of the past and requires new approaches to social education issues.