Methodological Aspects of the Development of Socio-Cultural Resources in the Expanse-Time Context

In the context of the current state of socio-cultural resources, its preservation and use, consideration of all this heritage in a historical context is of very important urgent importance. Almost every historical aspect of the development of sociocultural resources to one degree or another, regardless of their scale and level, not only plays a socially significant function, but is also aimed at solving historically important problems associated with the restoration of the traditions and culture of certain societies, including the issues of preservation this sociocultural environment in the unity of its natural landscape. Sociocultural resources, relying on the internal values of culture (memory, creativity, tradition, etc.) and influencing the dynamics of its further development, sometimes discard the historical aspect of the past culture. It is no coincidence that a “renaissance” of interest in folklore has been outlined in the works of modern researchers: “heritage” and “traditions”, along with “innovation”, become the concepts around which scientific discussions unfold, which have not only theoretical significance, but also practical application. The above makes the problem of studying historical models of cultural heritage integration actual. Many scholars define “historical experience” in different ways. For example, Alekseev [1] defines historical experience as “a concentrated expression of the social practice of the past and the functioning of society in the environment, focused on identifying the patterns of social development, on gaining knowledge that provides an increase in the validity of solutions to modern problems”. Here, historical experience is not just a memorial exhibit, it is a necessary, vital strategic resource of society, helping to solve vital problems, to form effective programs of life. Historical experience is a necessary component of social life, at the same time, its role (function) in society can be different: it can act as a decisive factor or as an important, but not decisive factor in the complex texture of the sociocultural life of society. This factor can enter as a component that consolidates society or destroys it. Finally, historical experience can serve as a stimulus for the self-development of society or as an obstacle to this kind of self-development. The role of historical experience in a society is determined primarily by the attitude towards it prevailing in this society.
According to Yarkova [2] there are three main positions regarding the perception of historical experience. The first of them can be designated as historical idealism, the second - historical nihilism, the third - historical realism. Historical idealism enters here as an attribute of traditional culture, the ideological basis of which is the attitude to the world as an unshakable condition of human existence, as a set of requirements that must be met. In essence, these requirements are nothing more than a tradition, and the latter, in turn, is some frozen, concentrated and sublimated historical experience.
For example, Guliev [3] defines a cultural tradition as a group experience expressed in socially organized stereotypes, which is accumulated and reproduced in various human collectives by means of expanse-time transmission. Abasov [4] synonym for traditional culture is post-figurative culture, which is characterized as a culture that is alien to awareness and doubts about the existing historical experience.
Nihilism is an attribute of the intercivilizational era, when “complete dismantling of the previous civilization” is carried out [5,6]. At the same time, a nihilistic attitude to the world is not associated with a denial of the world, but with a denial of the ideas of the sociocultural value foundations of the world that have historically developed in a particular society, that is, ultimately, a denial of historical experience. This is how Heidegger [7] understands the nihilistic attitude to the world: “Nihilism is a process of devaluation of the former supreme values. When these supreme values, which for the first time give value to all existence, are depreciated, the existence that rests on them is deprived of value. There is a feeling of worthlessness, insignificance of everything”. Nihilism is decomposition, the disintegration of the value order that has developed in culture, the chaotization of culture. Of course, a new order can subsequently grow out of nihilistic chaos, therefore nihilism can be viewed as a kind of prerequisite for value creation, creativity, nevertheless, the latter lies beyond the boundaries of nihilism. Of course, this point of view differs from those prevailing in philosophy, in particular from the point of view of Nietzsche [5] and Heidegger [7] who see in “classical nihilism” a phenomenon associated not only with the denial of old values, but also with the establishment of new ones [8]. Something similar can be found in modern religious movements calling for a complete renunciation of previous religious and cultural values (ISIS, Al-Qaeda, etc.). This includes some researchers who distinguish between destructive and constructive nihilism and argue that nihilism is “a factor that transforms culture and society” [6]. However, if you follow strict logic, nihilism is an attitude towards denial, destruction, but not towards affirmation and creation. Nihilistic denial sets a precedent for a critical attitude to historical experience. Of course, this criticism can hardly be called constructive, moreover, it often does not contain an analytical, let alone a reflexive attitude, but it is in the expanse of a nihilistic attitude to historical experience that the transition from unconditional apologetics to criticism and partial revision of historical experience, its revision takes place. The period is not far off when, along with extremist organizations (“Red Spring” in France, “Red Brigades” in Italy), there were still such peace-loving movements as “Red Roses”, hippies, etc. Nietzsche [5] writes about his critical attitude to history: “A person must have and from time to time use the power to break and destroy the past in order to be able to live on; he achieves this goal by bringing the past to the court of history, subjecting the latter to the most thorough interrogation and, finally, passing judgment on him” [6]. Nevertheless, historical nihilism in its radical form is socially unconstructive since it makes a person and society completely unarmed in the face of emerging problems. Denial of historical experience turns into the transformation of the trial-anderror method into a universal strategy for solving problems, and this strategy is far from always effective. In addition, the frozen, solidified nihilistic chaos can turn into a kind of order that makes up the semantic fabric of being (the formation of ISIS). At the level of society, this means entering a dead-end branch of evolution, that is, social regression that turns society into a crowd. The negativism inherent in nihilism is especially prominent in the personal and psychological aspect. For example, Reich [9] defined nihilism as “character neurosis”, “character armor” inherent in individuals of a pathological organization. Modern psychology interprets nihilism as one of the mechanisms of psychological defense - an unreflected attitude towards an emphasized denial of established sociocultural norms and rules to demonstrate their uniqueness [10]. The denial of all authorities is a way of proving one’s worth, a conscious or unconscious desire to satisfy the needs for respect from others, recognition, achievement of success, and high appreciation. However, individual nihilism, unlike social nihilism, is more stable and viable, since it is not nihilism in its pure form, it is a conscious or unconscious utilitarianism, since denial is not a goal for it, but a means of self-affirmation [11,12]. In essence, idealism and nihilism in relation to historical experience can be seen as two sides of the same coin. Historical nihilism, in turn, contains the potential of idealism, because, rejecting the past, it idealizes the present and the future. A realistic attitude to historical experience is characterized by the actualization of a critical-analytical approach to historical experience. The latter arises because of the development of reflection as in Jaspers [13] - “the ability of thinking to make thinking its subject” [13], that is, a special ability to rise above one’s historical experience and look at it from a critical and analytical height. The basic principle of this kind of design is the principle of finding a certain “golden mean”, a measure between tradition and innovation, past and future, historical experience, and modernity. Moreover, this search is not a one-time action, but a process directed towards the future. Akhiezer [12] considers the criticism of historical experience as an aspect of history itself, associated with the revision of the goals and conditions of human development to change the subject of history, its reproductive functions [14]. This kind of criticism, in his vision, is ultimately aimed at the driving forces of history, at mass activity, the corresponding culture, the level and scale of creativity [12].
The worldview basis for this kind of worldview is set by the concept of the noosphere, within which the human mind is manifested as a creative force that changes the appearance of our planet and the nearest expanse, which is designed to reconstruct the biosphere in the interests of the thinking majority [15]. This kind of perception of the world lies at the origins of the creative attitude to historical experience, which is viewed not as a rigid structure that must be entered into or that must be destroyed, but as scaffolding that creates a support for creative creation, without which creativity would degenerate into empty fruitless fantasy. Self-actualization, according to Maslow [16], is the realization of the creative potential of an individual - her abilities, capabilities, talents, the achievement of personal maturity and psychological health. In essence, the presence or absence in a particular society of a realistic attitude to historical experience is an important indicator of the ability of this society to self-development [17-19]. The historical experience of a society is formed from the historical experience of its members; therefore, it is not a homogeneous, but heterogeneous formation [20]. An example of this is the modern Russian society, whose historical memory and the very attitude to the historical past are heterogeneous. In the modern scientific community, two positions prevail regarding the assessment of the past - historical idealism (“varnishing” attitude) and historical nihilism (defamatory attitude). This is especially true of the Soviet past: some consider the Soviet period “dark ages”, wasted by time, Soviet power - anti-popular, totalitarian, practicing a policy of genocide in relation to its own people; others see the Soviet period as a “golden age,” Soviet power as the embodiment of humanity, social justice and freedom. As a matter of fact, Berdyaev [18] noted a tendency towards dualism in assessing various phenomena, who wrote a lot about the dualism of a human character (meaning the citizens of tsarist Russia) and its pernicious influence on the historical fate of the people. He argued that the inconsistency of the consciousness of these citizens leads to the fact that society lives an “inorganic life”, there is no integrity and unity in it [20]. And today Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis are often viewed as in contradictions within the line of national character. The fact is that in the development of the Azerbaijani society, the “middle culture” has not been fully formed.
According to Akhiezer [19] definition, “middle culture” is “cultural innovation, new meanings obtained as a result of mediation, as a result of overcoming the differences of the dual opposition in the subject being comprehended, searching for a new measure between the meanings of the poles by means of creatively building up a new content of culture, beyond the original opposition ... All new content of culture, new meanings are formed through the formulation of molecules of culture, through the middle culture” [19]. This has always manifested itself in periods of socio-political refraction of society, on the eve of great socio-political upheavals. In this regard, Gobozov [21] remark that science should not play along with the wishes of the authorities seems to be fair [19]. The dualism of the historical consciousness of modern citizens, the underdevelopment of a realistic position in relation to the historical past makes it problematic to raise society to new levels of self-organization that meet the requirements of the present. Overcoming the obsession with the idealistic-nihilistic perception of historical experience is ultimately a task simultaneously moral, political, economic, etc. And this burden falls on the shoulders of the national intellectual, creative elite. For example, the famous literary critic Jafarov [20] defines classical Azerbaijani literature as a significant enclave of the formation of an advanced socio-cultural environment in Azerbaijan. He considers the work of MS Ordubadi as the beginning of understanding the history of Azerbaijan from the standpoint of the socio-cultural environment [20]. The role of representatives of Russian historical science in solving this problem is no less significant, since it is they who have a decisive voice in the formation of the historical worldview of the masses: “Each nation forms a certain archetype throughout its entire history, and as long as this archetype exists, the people continue to live and work. ... But the formation of an archetype is impossible without historical memory, and the presence of this memory largely depends on historians. If they represent history as a chain of continuous mistakes and crimes of previous generations, then the new generation will form an exclusively negative attitude towards their own past. And this new generation will eventually dissolve into other nations. Therefore, historians have a huge responsibility for the formation of the historical worldview” [21].
Summing up our reasoning about historical experience, the types of its perception, about the creative role of a realistic, but not idealistic or nihilistic perception of historical experience, we can state that historical experience, of course, is not a book of useful advice and not a guide to the labyrinths of life, rather it can be designated as knowledge, information on the general laws of life of a particular people and humanity as a whole. This information is also valuable in that it, to one degree or another, contributes to paving the way to the future, opens up possibilities for its modeling [22]. The latter seems to be extremely important, since “to predict at least to some extent the future means to be able to influence it [23]. In fact, tomorrow the winner will be the one who turns out to be the best futurologist” [24]. Of course, modeling the future is achievable only on condition of a realistic attitude to historical experience. Only such an attitude towards it is a guarantee of the fulfillment of the main function of historical experience as a sociocultural institution - the function of ensuring the survival of the community.

1. Alekseev VV (1995) Historical experience as a subject of study. XVIII International Congress of Historical Sciences. Montreal, Yekaterinburg, Russia, p. 6.
2. Yarkova EN (2014) Philosophy and society. Historical experience as a sociocultural institution 3(75): 2.
3. Guliev G (2007) Scientific strategy of small countries. In: Teknur B (Ed.), Azerbaijan, p.152.
4. Abasov AS (2013) The era of ICT globalization: Sociocultural processes. Collection of materials of the international scientific and practical conference on the topic: ICT and globalization. In: Canon M (Ed.), Azerbaijan, pp. 25-39.
5. Nietzsche F (1990) On the benefits and dangers of history for life. In: Nietzsche F (Ed.), Works: in 2 volumes, M, -T.1, Russia, p.161.
6. Pavlov AV (2012) Civilization and the inter-civilizational era. Bulletin of the Perm University-series“philosophy. psychology. Sociology 3(11): S21.
7. Heidegger M (1993) European nihilism. In: Heidegger M (Ed.), Time and being: Articles and speeches M, Russia, p. 79.
8. Mosienko LI (2003) Nihilism as a factor of socio-cultural development: dis. Cand Philosophy Sciences, Omsk, Russia.
9. Reich V (1997) Look at you, little man! The world of gestalt, Russia.
10. Pavlenko NG (2012) Negative self-presentation and demonstrative nihilism as a reflection of the social situation of personality development. Modern studies of social problems. Electronic Scientific Journal 12 (20).
11. Yarkova EN (2002) Utilitarianism as a stimulus for self-organization of culture and society. Social Sciences and Modernity 2: 88-101.
12. Akhiezer AS (1990) Russia: criticism of historical experience (Sociocultural dynamics of Russia). (2^nd edn), -T. II. theory and methodology, Novosibirsk, Russia, p. 242.
13. Jaspers K (1994) The meaning and purpose of history: Per. with him. (2^nd edn), M. Republic, Thinkers of the XX century, Russia, p. 527.
14. Vernadsky VI (1990) Living matter and biosphere, Russia.
15. Ankersmit FR (2007) Sublime historical experience, Russia.
16. Maslow A (1999) New frontiers of human nature, Russia.
17. Bespalova Yu (2013) Possibilities of using the existential paradigm in the science of genealogy. In: Baikina AI (Ed.), Problems of preserving historical memory. Tenth Tyumen Genealogical Readings: Materials of the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference, Russia, pp. 27-30.
18. Berdyaev NA (1990) Soul of Russia, Russia, pp. 5-14.
19. Akhiezer AS (2012) Decree op, Russia, p. 488.
20. Jafarov MJ (1964) From the history of Azerbaijani-Russian literary ties, Baku, Azerbaijan, p.184.
21. Gobozov IA. Decree Op, Russia, p.6.
22. Larin Yu (2012) The problem of the future in the projection of human nature. Society and Power 2: 119-123.
23. Grinin LE (2005) Russia - a philosophical power. Philosophy and Society 3: 199.