Tyugashev E.A. Pitirim Sorokin: At the Origins of the Sociocultural Research of Philosophy

Abstract: Philosophy is the central issue in Pitirim Sorikin's book 'Social and Cultural Dynamics' as the main types of cultures - ideational, sensate and idealistic - differentiate based on their philosophical grounds and represent the types of philosophical cultures that influence the order of social life. Based on the ideas of cultural and social dualism, Pitirim Sorokin initially described philosophy as a cultural phenomenon. Understanding culture as the internal and external experience, Pitirim Sorokin was able to introduce the concept of philosophical mentality that is usually expressed in items, life style and behavior. As a result of his researches, Pitirim Sorokin proceeded to describing philosophy as a social phenomenon. Such an ambivalent vision of philosophy as a cultural and social phenomenon creates the perspective to view culture as a sociocultural phenomenon. In his research the author of the article uses the version of the sociocultural approach that describes society as an assembly of cultures. Based on that approach, Pitirim Sorokin's method of philosophical research can be defined as a sociocultural phenomenology. The author of the article emphasizes the importance of the principle of isomorphism for describing the invariant structure of the cultural phenomena (philosophy, religion, science and art) as well as the need in preliminary theoretical development of associated abstrac models. The author of the article also uses quantative methods to analyze statistical data provided by Pitirim Sorokin and to compare the influence of different cultural mentalities in the XVIth - XXth centuries. The author of the article: 1) provides his interpretation of Pitirim Sorokin's teaching on social and cultural dynamics as the experience in the research of sociophilosophical dynamics, i.e. development of the society from prehistory to the modern age as it was determined by the fluctuations of philosophical cultures; 2) shows the philosophical nature of cultural mentalities described by Pitirim Sorokin and associated cultural types - idealistic, ideational and sensate cultures; 3) pays attention to the relation between interpretation of culture as the internal and external experience and solution of the so called 'main question of philosophy' about the relation between the ideal and the material; 4) through summarizing ideas of Pitirim Sorokin, the author also demonstrates the need to introduce the terms 'philosophical mentality' 'philosophical behavior', and 'philosophical activity' in metaphilosophy; 5) systematizes Pitirim Sorokin's views on the sociocultural content of the phenomenon of philosophy; 6) describes a complex spiritual and practical structure of the phenomenon of philosophy including both mental formations of different levels and behavior and lifestyle that have been changing during long historical processes of social and philosophical revolutions; 7) corrects Pitirim Sorokin's statement about the triumph of sensate culture in the modern period and the decline of sensate culture in the XXth century and concludes that sensate culture will only strengthen its positions in the future. 

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